Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) (21 page)

Wearing a heavy winter jacket, his gloves sitting on the table waiting, Palose made sure that he had both food and the components for his travel spells ready. Three corrinuts with their lodestones buried inside already bore his magic. He placed four more stones in the middle of the floor creating a square. If the mage understood the portal magic properly, those stones would act as the place of summoning for his return. He planned to use the house as his personal travel anchor while the dark mage began to expand his abilities.

The young mage pulled his hood over his blond hair before placing the pack over his shoulders to rest against his back. He picked up his gloves tucking them into his pockets as he readied to cast his spell.

Taking a deep breath, Palose summoned his power searching for the lodestone which held his power somewhere in the Dimple Mountains. A light shown on his face after a moment and grew to a gate barely large enough for the man to walk through. As it was Palose turned sideways to pass through the slim doorway.

A wind seemed to rush past his face and a silver light enveloped him momentarily before the gray light of a cloudy morning broke over the mage. Palose looked around to see a clearing surrounded by trees. A hill overlooked an altar a dozen feet from where he stood in one direction and a mountain loomed over the trees in another.

Looking for the bright light of the sun to get his bearings wasn’t easy, so the mage drew out a compass with the thick clouds overhead. The cold was already stinging the bare skin on his hands by the time he learned the mountain was to the south, while the hill was north. Miles to the east should be the lands he was familiar with: Windmeer, White Hall and the rest. Though he knew them, the mage had never explored the mountains directly west of castle Windmeer. The path between White Hall and the castle barely touched the eastern foothills, and those trips had been designed to simply go from school to castle and back.

He placed his gloves over his hands after placing the compass in his right pocket. With a big sigh, Palose began to walk. He wasn’t sure of his path, but it would be working towards the east. While Garosh’s fortress had to be nearby, he hoped that his path would avoid the place and his minions. This trip wasn’t to find such a place. Should he need it, the mage was within easy walking distance since the altar was where the mining teams and supplies always returned to go to the fortress after all.

Turning his feet towards the east to skirt the hill to the north, Palose walked through the deep snow. It was the heart of winter and few would bother to travel the hills at such a time. The mage had the wilderness to
himself and that was what he wanted.

He had to watch his time as he walked. Being away too long would make people suspicious. At most, he had four hours to safely hike his way through the mountains before he had to be back. Forcing the march to a tiring pace in the foot deep snow, the battle mage hurried towards the east as fast he could push his pace and even ate lunch without stopping.

Early afternoon came and the mage had to return to Ensolus to show up at the library. He hadn’t scheduled battle mage training this morning, though the others could practice what they had learned on their own anyway. Digging through the snow, Palose placed two touchstones prepared with his magic before casting his spell of return. The four stones accurately brought him to the square on the floor as he exited the portal once more.

Removing the heavy jacket and gloves, the mage rubbed his arms a minute to work the blood flow into them. It had been cold even when the sun found gaps in the clouds. A quick walk to the library caught him up with his friends and no one was the wiser.

Chapter 11- Winter Storms

A week had passed since Palose had begun to journey to the east a few hours at a time. He had found the trail on the second day. Little more than a snow covered path through the hills in the shadow of the mountains, the mage found it just as difficult as the day before. Snow covered everything and before his return more had come. He had pushed his way through the snow and even been caught in one storm as he walked. Each walk took him closer to Windmeer, but each day was a challenge to the young man and he was alone.

Always before he had traveled with others, falcons, wizards, soldiers, so each trek had been spent with comrades, even if he was a typically quiet person in crowds. The comrades helped to push each other on their walks, and of course, Palose usually had a horse to make the trip easier.

As he sat at his table in the library with his feet on a chair beside him, the mage could feel the ache in his feet and legs from all the hard exercise. Today he was tackling the book Acheri had found for him. An interesting book concerning his kind, the resurrection men, Kolban expanded upon their powers. He noted a possible strength that the mage had never found in the other tomes he had read, a wizard who was returned was believed to be able to develop a second sight. Most wizards and mages could see auras, but his ability to see the shift and flow of their power had already expanded on what he could previously do.

‘True Power’ suggested that such sight had led other resurrection men to try and take the power they could see for their own. Directed magic had been able to be redirected before, like fireballs being pushed aside from fire masters. Unlike wind or shields, they could reach out for the fire and turn them aside and occasionally throw the power back at its creator.

Along with the ritual spell that had been given to him to deal with Atrouseon, Palose thought such redirection could possibly add to his magical strength. Getting away with the actions that it would take would be the hardest part of such magic; though if Acheri’s help meant that the emperor was pushing for him to try, then he wondered if there would be any repercussions. It would be a risk even so. Falling out of favor with Emperor Kolban would be as much a death sentence as the rest, he bet.

“You look like you have sunburn or maybe windburn,” Sylvaine stated as she sat next to the mage. “Have you been visiting the outer city?”

A pair of spell books was placed on the table by the girl before she brushed back her curly hair on the side he faced. The violet eye nearest him looked at him out of the corner as if warily trying to see if her words might upset him. As far as he could remember, Palose had never raised his voice to her let
alone thought to harm her, aside from the occasional strikes to her padding during combat training of course. None of their other regulars had joined them yet, though it was still early in the afternoon. Some had classes or chores in the afternoon, so not everyone found their way to the library every day.

“Something
like that,” he replied mysteriously. His business was his own and the less who knew what he was doing the better. Even a friend like Sylvaine was a liability. Whether any punishment would come down on him, if his extra curricular activities were found out or not, he couldn’t be sure; and he preferred to never find out.

“
Mmhmm,” Sylvaine replied sounding unconvinced and disappointed in his distortion of a real answer. “So now you have another secret from me, Palose Rosaren. This doesn’t bode well for us if you have to keep hiding things from me. First, you can’t tell me about Acheri and Lanquer and now this. I must say that I am very sad.” The girl stuck out her lip feigning the emotion letting him know that she wasn’t really that concerned, though women often were passive aggressive in their dealings with men, so maybe she wasn’t exactly playing, he considered.

“The first is still not my secret to tell, and I am sure they will let you know when they are ready. As for my activities, it just involves practicing what I have read. There is no real secret or concern to worry over.”

She remained silent a moment before turning her legs to face him so that her eyes could look at him easier. Palose noted her grey slippers and bare lower legs. It was still cold out and often the girl wore leggings, but for some reason she wasn’t today and his eyes enjoyed the sight of her shapely calves and slim ankles. Unfortunately for the mage, his slip was noticed bringing a slight smile to her lips. No matter how long they had known each other or even his position as a mentor to the girl, Sylvaine continued to enjoy toying with him. He wondered if her bare legs were simply a new ploy to try and get some of the secrets out of him.

“Well, I can be patient, I suppose, but if you tell me that you can’t tell me about your book, then I may have to drop you as a friend,” the girl sighed before tapping the top of the book with a finger. “I don’t think that I have ever seen or heard of this one. ‘True Power’ by someone named Kolban. What is this power the cover talks about?”

He shrugged and replied, “I am not sure about the title from what I have read. It does deal with resurrection men who have been able to see magic auras and found a way to steal such power from another warlock. I had never noticed it, until Acheri pulled it off the top shelf. Why she gave it to me is another mystery that I can’t answer for you, though I don’t have the answer either.”

Pulling the book from his hands to peruse the first few pages without truly looking at it, Sylvaine’s voice turned quiet as she asked, “If I were killed, like during a patrol or training, would you find a way to make me a resurrection... girl?”

The question was unexpected and Palose’s gut instinct was to say yes, but his mind went to the reason he had yet to try the spell on the subjects Wakaraq had offered him. Could he be responsible for someone like Sylvaine? His heart said yes and he wondered if he had become so attached to the apprentice that he would offer a part of himself to bring her back. Deflecting her question with one of his own, Palose asked, “Would you want to be brought back like that?”

She didn’t seem upset by the putting off of his answer and the girl looked like she was considering the implications such magic would bring. The two teens were quiet as they examined their faces for emotions and their own thoughts for the answers. Finally a nod from Sylvaine announced her thoughts to him. “If I had the kind of freewill you have, then I think I would rather get the second chance and, if I am tied to you for the rest of our existence, I believe that I could live happily with that as well. Now if I am like sixty and hobbling around like some old scarecrow that refuses to die, then you can leave me to rest.”

“Maybe I like scarecrows?” he jested and received a punch to the arm from the apprentice.

“Does that mean you would resurrect me, if I died young?” she asked jumping on his slip as the girl always seemed to do. It was usually Sylvaine who teased him and Palose who simply took the teasing without much reaction to it. Still she continued to try, it always seemed.

“As long as you don’t grow fat and ugly maybe,” the mage chuckled as he chose to give her a taste of her own medicine.

Groaning a little too loud, as some of the wizards on the first floor looked up for the growl; Sylvaine punched him again with both hands. “That is so mean! I can understand growing fat, but how are you making me turn ugly now?”

“Maybe a spell will go wrong and change your face into that of a troll? I might have to let you go just to put you out of my misery... and yours of course,” he joked again.

Her eyes narrowed as she leaned a little closer pretending to check his sincerity. “Since when do you have a sense of humor? I try to tease you all the time and today you decide to crack jokes when I am asking if you would save my
life?”

He could tell that she was still toying with him and he refused to give in so easily this time. “Oh, well saving your life is completely different from bringing you back to life. If I am there to save it, by all means I will do so. Even if you have the head of a troll and become fat,” the young man chuckled causing the girl to roll her eyes.

She pushed on his chest causing the chair to slide back and his feet to fall to the floor. Planted on the ground he was surprised when Sylvaine moved to sit on his lap. With an admonishing finger, the girl stated, “If I have a head like a troll and can still do this,” she held his head with both hands gently kissing his lips firmly.

Her tongue touched his lips pressing between them to play with his. He had heard of such things from some of the cadets who had found maidens in the city willing to educate a young man in such
things, but this was the first time he had experienced a kiss like this. She didn’t relent as they continued to kiss for more than a minute, before Sylvaine finally leaned back to look in his eyes and ask breathily, “If I can still do that, with a troll’s head, do you bring me back?”

“Would you wear a bag over your head?” Palose laughed as he wondered what else she might try to convince him. The kiss had certainly made him want to say yes to her request and pretty much anything else she might want to ask. The feel of her on his lap, her breathing caressing his face as she sat staring at him, even the smell of her perfume, all just seemed so right when it was just the two of them alone.

The girl looked to the ceiling and breathed out in frustration, “Why do I continue to put up with you?”

“I have wondered that since you first happened upon me sitting on the floor and joined me. Then I asked that question again when you kept coming back to see me,” he replied with a sad smile. This was the truth. The man truly had no idea what had drawn the pretty girl to him each day, but he was glad that she continued to return.

She started to open her mouth a moment, before closing it again as if she was unsure of what to say to his question of her attention. The girl knew they were friends, but did kissing him mean that she wanted more and should she tell him so? Suddenly Sylvaine appeared to have too many questions to answer and new secrets to withhold from him until she felt safe to tell him her heart.