Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) (20 page)

Looking confident, Lanquer took his wood sword twirling it in his hand using the guard to maintain control. “You can just say that I am good or bad. What will let us know that you tell the truth? Perhaps we need a goal,” the boy urged.

“Fine. If I disarm you five times, you have to face Sylvaine,” the teacher decided even as the boy tried to remain confident.

Palose took a spare wooden blade and moved away from those near the benches. Unable to keep from mouthing off to the mage, Lanquer goaded him by saying, “Where are your pads, teacher? Aren’t you afraid of getting hit?”

“By you? No,” the battle mage stated emphatically making the boy darken. For a child birthed only a little more than two weeks before, Lanquer had an arrogance and confidence of someone who had been fighting for years, or more like someone who had trained alone thinking they knew how to fight a veteran soldier.

Since the goal was to disarm him, Lanquer gripped the sword with two hands quickly proving that his confidence was all bravado. If he was trying to put on a show for Acheri or the others, Palose was unsure, but as the boy stepped forward to fight it was obvious that he had almost no skills or training. What knowledge had been imparted to him from the emperor was also unknown, but the battle mage had never heard of his strength being that of the sword.

“Start,” he commanded knowing his opponent would try to attack first. Lanquer approached him with the two handed approach coming at him nearly square exposing his entire body. Palose went into a fencer’s pose leading with his right and sword.

With a shout announcing his attack, the novice swung with both hands in a slow over head strike giving it his all. Parrying lightly to redirect the path, Palose stepped aside as Lanquer stumbled past. Rapping the boy’s hands from the side pushing the point of the sword into the earth, Lanquer caught the
pommel in the stomach. A burst of air at the surprise attack of his own weapon made him gasp a moment before the sword hit the ground ownerless.

“One,” Palose stated.

Gathering his weapon in his hands, Lanquer frowned as he squinted his eyes in anger. “Lucky shot. I tripped or you’d be in trouble now.”

Shrugging, the mage nodded and said, “Again.”

Lanquer took a page from Palose and tried a single hand approach turning sideways to avoid exposing his body. It was a more careful attack that nearly inched forward as the boy tried to learn from his mistake. Swiping at Palose, he had three swings of the sword before the mage used his blade to tap his opponent’s weapon three times before twisting to lift the sword free of Lanquer’s grasp. It flew into the air to be caught by the mage.

He heard a short bit of clapping and a giggle from Acheri, who clearly didn’t have her half brother’s feelings in mind. The girl stifled her laugh at Lanquer’s angry look.

Palose noticed several soldiers had caught the exchange. Her voice was lilting and bright. A girl on the training field, especially one who was obviously a lady, was a rarity and had drawn their interest. Keeping an eye on the men, the battle mage passed the wood sword back to the boy who was already beginning to wilt in confidence.

“Again,” he stated.

Each strike was now precipitated by a grunt of effort as Lanquer sought to put strength before skill in an attempt to dislodge Palose’s blade. Each swing was batted aside as the mage began to lead his student in a longer exchange. He back away as the sword continued to counter the other blade easily. Unlike the duel with the sergeant, Palose had no fear of his opponent showing something that he couldn’t handle.

Nearly a minute into the exchange, both swordsmen had
sweat building on their brows despite the cold air. Lanquer was breathing out of his mouth loudly and Palose questioned his basic endurance. A quick set of blows wrapped up the session tossing the weapon from the novice’s hands.

Lanquer had built a little confidence in the extended session. The boy thought maybe he had found some technique, though he also could tell that Palose had been letting them play out the fight longer than he needed to. He was getting his time to spar with someone he wanted to fight. Sylvaine and Turless stood watching in the field away from the benches and were enrapt in the duel to the point that they hadn’t noticed three men standing near the benches lining the outer part of the field. They were only a bench away eyeing both the two men who had been fighting and the girl clapping for them as she sat on the bench crossing her legs exposing some skin as Acheri always seemed to do.

After the novice retrieved his weapon once more, Palose stated, “Again.”

Taking a deep breath, the novice guardian tried again. It started much like the last match as the battle looked like he would lead the boy around in a circle, but suddenly he pointed with his left hand ordering, “Shield.”

Cast horizontal to the ground, the blue shield caught Lanquer’s hand as he was slashing in an overhead blow. The shield stopped his hand completely and the sword flew end over end to be caught in Palose’s left hand. He threw the blade back once more as the boy turned red with anger.

“You cheated!” he complained.

“If you have combat magic, then feel free to use it. Your swordsmanship is about to hand you your fifth loss unless you can change something,” Palose answered as his eyes strayed to the men not only by the bench and Acheri, but gathering just behind Sylvaine and Turless. They numbered a dozen already and the first three men were uncomfortably close to the girl, who had already glanced to them several times as they edged nearer.

He could tell by Lanquer’s expression that he had neither combat magic, nor had he noticed the potential danger to the girl he was supposed to protect. As a guard, the boy had neither the skill nor the awareness that could save his charge if the situation escalated. The mage had guessed the former and feared the latter. The emperor had declared the boy would be a guard to them. He had the power of magic in him, but nothing else made Palose believe he could become a guardsman anytime soon.

“Again,” the teacher ordered as his eyes caught Sylvaine and Turless looking a bit uncomfortable with the added crowd of men behind them.

Lanquer attacked and to his surprise, Palose tossed his sword away from him. Shifting his feet took the mage out of the blade’s path. His hands caught Lanquer’s wrist and elbow twisting the boy into a hold that put enough pain and leverage into it to drive him to his knees. His arm wrenched up and behind him to lose enough feeling to drop his blade once more.

Releasing his opponent, Palose gave him his blade turning the boy to face Acheri and the men who had begun talking to the girl on the bench causing her to frown. Their words were low enough that he couldn’t make them out from the distance. He turned Lanquer’s shoulder to face his two apprentices and said, “You’ll practice with Sylvaine next, but first go grab a drink from the container on the table. You’ve earned a break.”

Too caught up in his own problems, Lanquer seemed to miss the threats gathering despite his teacher trying to lead him to recognition. He complained instead, “But this is why I need to fight you! I don’t need to spar with a girl that is still learning to fight. Kolban wants me to become a guardsman as soon as possible.”

They closed on the table which was close to Acheri, and Palose stated, “You aren’t even close to being a guardsman when you can’t even see your ward in trouble.”

The words finally brought awareness to the boy’s eyes. “Hey, leave her alone!”

Looking up at Lanquer, the rough men appeared unimpressed.

“Run on home, pup,” the man closest to Acheri replied dismissively. His two friends laughed at Lanquer’s angry look. “We are talking to the lady. She’s a pretty one. We don’t get her kind out here very often.”

Charging the men, Lanquer brandished his wooden sword. Acheri started to move her hands in an attempt at a spell. At the sound of her words the man caught her left wrist pulling her from her seat disrupting the enchantment. Swords left their sheaths, not only from the two other men, but a few more from those who gathered behind the apprentices.

“Shield,” Palose ordered a large battle mage shield glowing blue walling off Lanquer’s charge. “Reflex,” he added and in a burst of speed he was in front of the boy. “Air lance,” the mage added putting
himself before the soldiers. “Shield,” announced a second smaller blue shield that struck the first man in the face causing him to release Acheri’s arm.

Pulling the girl behind him, Palose stood before the soldiers in warning. Echoes of the shield and reflex spells signaled his two apprentices readying for a fight. They moved quickly to put a little distance between them and the men becoming aggressive towards the others. A small bit of satisfaction at their instincts to use combat magic was felt in his chest, but his attention remained on the three men immediately before him.

“You have had your fun at the girl’s expense, now return to your training and I won’t report you to your commanders,” he warned the men.

“Get him!” the first man ordered as his nose began to bleed from the strike of the shield.

Like watching the men moving in slow motion, Palose’s reflex spell gave him time to decide each strike of the air lance. The two men were still falling to the ground stunned and relieved of their weapons before the third could draw his sword. A strike to the throat from a bare hand left him on his knees choking for air.

Joining his apprentices in the stand off against a dozen men in a blink of an eye, the remainder of the men hadn’t even had the time to notice their fellows on the ground. Palose warned them once more, “Go now or you’ll join your friends. Attacking a noblewoman will get you all thrown into a dungeon to be hung tomorrow. Your officers won’t even be able to save your worthless lives.”

Heads turned to see the three men as realization seeped into their minds. Seeing the men disabled in a split second, they realized that these were no ordinary soldiers or nobles they faced. Turning away to move deeper into the training field to give them space, Palose watched the threat end.

Clapping drew his attention back to Acheri, who looked both unharmed and unphased by the encounter. She quickly rebuked Lanquer as the girl gestured at the fallen men, “Now do you see why you have to learn from him? Stop being an idiot and do as he says. I’ll tell our brother otherwise and I don’t think he’ll be as understanding as Palose. Do you?”

“No, Acheri,” the boy answered to the last part. “I can see that he knows how to fight better than even the wizard hunters.”

“Don’t let them hear you say that until you have learned to be as skilled as Palose or you might end up dead. They don’t like to be belittled, especially by someone new to the sword like you,” the girl chided. Her face brightened as she looked at the battle mage.
“Very good, Palose! Brother would be impressed even.”

She walked over towards the other three who released their spells now that it was safe once more. “You and your apprentices look like you could have killed all of them easily. I think I would have liked to see that, but I suppose we need their kind for the army as well,” Acheri stated looking a bit disappointed. “You probably should have killed those three, however. I don’t think brother will be happy that they touched me or threatened us with their swords. Maybe I should just execute them now?”

Palose marveled at the girl’s lack of compassion. Her words that threatened to kill three men without a bit of regret seemed more bemused with the situation than concerned. “My lady Acheri, I can have Turless go bring the imperial guardsmen. They can be taken for judgment. I don’t think the emperor would want his wizards just killing his soldiers without being involved first. We wouldn’t want anyone thinking just anyone could start killing his soldiers with impunity, would we?”

Hoping that Acheri would take his lead to hide her identity even from his friends, he wasn’t disappointed since the girl had the intelligence of the emperor making up her creation. Weaving a spell, Acheri cast a coercion spell on the men who had begun to recover from Palose’s attacks. Once locked, the soldiers’ eyes glazed over and they stood at attention.

“There,” she stated, “I can bring them to the guards once we’re done here. No need to ruin your practice.”

Waving them towards the field, Acheri added, “Go. Please impart some knowledge to my idiot half brother. The gods know that he needs improvement, and I believe only you can teach him what he needs to know.”

“As you command, my lady,” he replied bringing looks of confusion to his friends. They still had no idea of Acheri’s identity, and he doubted they would ever guess, since the emperor had never had a sister before.

Returning to the practice field, Palose led the others in both sword skills and the spells of a battle mage.

Standing in the main room of his little house, Palose worked on his pack sitting on the table he had brought in along with a set of chairs. While he hadn’t told anyone of his secret hideaway, the mage had a feeling one day all six chairs surrounding the table would be filled. A padded chair sat in the corner near the fireplace. He hadn’t bothered to buy more for the main room so far, since it seemed a waste when it was just him and even he rarely visited the place to prevent anyone noticing his activities.

Today was the first of a series of tests that he had planned. Wakaraq hadn’t discovered any interesting bodies to attempt his necromancy spells upon just yet. He had sent notes on three so far, but Palose found that he was feeling extra careful in his choices. If the spell worked, whoever he resurrected would be his responsibility. They would have to be persons of little interest to others and more importantly still be someone he could feel worth reviving. The mage wasn’t sure what had held him back from those offered and the orc seemed a little annoyed that he had yet to pick from the bodies. He wanted to be paid for his time; but Palose hadn’t found anyone calling to him, so to speak.