Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) (36 page)

Unsure just how long she slept; the falcon blinked her eyes sleepily in response to a knock on her door.

Swinging her legs onto the stone floor made the girl wince at the cold beneath her feet, but it did help to wake her more as she crossed the room to the door. Cautiously opening the wood door, Rilena spied a washer woman with a cart.

The older woman smiled at the girl peeking through the small gap and declared, “Mahildy sent me with your clothes, miss, as soon as they were dry. Would you like to have me bring them in for you?”

Nodding, the falcon opened the door wide and asked, “Do you need help?”

It had been a full bag that she had brought down to the washer room, but added up to only enough clothing to last a few days travels. The washer woman shook her head and smiled, “We folded them for you, but they still make an easy pile for one person.”

As she said, the older woman carried in three pants and shirts, two sweaters and some underclothes all in a single pile. Setting the pile of brown and black falcon uniforms on the dresser, the woman added, “I hope these aren’t all the clothes you own. You are such a pretty girl. I would hope that you would have a dress or two as well.”

Giving a sad shake of her head, Rilena replied, “No, that is pretty much all I have. Even this robe is borrowed. Being a falcon, I need to be able to pack light to travel at a moment’s notice. I don’t have the luxury of dresses.”

The woman looked disappointed and said as she exited the room, “Don’t waste your youth, dear girl. Get a nice dress or two and drive the young men wild while you still have your figure and beauty. If I had looked like you as a girl, I would have ruled this castle wearing the right dress.” Laughing at the thought, she left to push her cart leaving Rilena to watch her go before closing the door behind her.

“You know she’s probably right,” a male voice stated startling the mage. The scuff of a boot on the stone floor and creak of wood from the dresser drew the girl’s eyes in turn.

When Elzen released his stealth spell, he was sitting next to her clothing on the dresser with a big grin on his face. There was no apology on his face for earlier and, in fact, he seemed to be relishing the girl’s embarrassment and mortification at being caught off guard by the boyish falcon.

Her embarrassment was quelled quickly as Rilena smoothed her emotions to try and distract Elzen from her disadvantage. “What time is it? I fell asleep for awhile.”

Letting her put his amusement aside for a moment, the boy replied, “There’s an hour before dinner.”

He looked around the room, empty save for the bed, end table, dresser and a chair before commenting. “I can see why you would have no concept of time in here. At least the bed looks comfortable.”

Refusing to let him get under her skin, Rilena asked, “Why are you here, Elzen? This is the women’s wing. If you get caught here, you could get into some serious trouble.”

Waving off her concern nonchalantly, Elzen answered, “That’s why I used stealth and followed the washer woman to find you.”

“Did you think that you would watch me remove my robe and see me naked, you little pervert?” the woman asked aghast at his apparent audacity.

With a bemused smile as his fingers touched his lips contemplatively, he admitted, “Well, that would have been a plus, but I was more concerned with how you were doing actually. Admittedly catching you in just a robe earlier was an unexpected surprise. Sure it covers up all the important parts, but then again all clothing just keeps us a layer or so from being naked. It is the tied belt that I have to say does intrigue a boy’s mind,” Elzen finished with a chuckle pointing towards the belt bringing a blush to the young woman’s face and chest.

Refusing to let him win, Rilena pointed to the corner ordering, “Face the corner and no peeking or you won’t have to worry about getting caught by anyone else.”

Using the robe to prevent him from seeing anything that she didn’t want him to, and wondering why she didn’t just kick him out to prevent the risk, Rilena took a pair of panties stepping into the holes and pulling them up quickly enough that she was pretty sure he couldn’t have cheated a look. Her pants were next as the girl kept her eyes on the intruder. With little choice left, she turned her back to him taking off the robe before picking up a bra. As if on cue, Rilena could have sworn that she felt his eyes on her back, but soldiered on as she finished sliding on her shirt.

“Fine, you can turn around,” she said turning to see him obediently facing the wall as her eyes found him. Somehow Rilena doubted that he hadn’t found a moment to peek and for some reason found the idea more flattering than embarrassing.

As she sat on the bed pulling on a pair of warm stockings over feet that were becoming cold from touching the stone, the girl watched as he returned to the dresser to sit there. His eyes looked at the top of her pile of clothes before he flicked through with one finger as if judging her taste in apparel.

“You really are a pervert, aren’t you?” the girl said shaking her head before picking up a boot. It was close enough to dinner that she figured to dress and be ready to go to the main hall.

Wrinkling his mouth as if the words disgusted him, Elzen shook his head looking back to the girl as she sat on her bed pulling on the boot. “No, just curious about what you use to put together what we see. You’re slim, but have nice curves where they work best, so it’s a bit of a mystery even for someone with a healthy imagination. I find women interesting after all as a man, but since I have been a mage and been stuck in White Hall or castles training and we’re always separated from each other in these wings, I only get to do research occasionally.”

After nearly scoffing at his judgment of his officially being a man instead of a boy, Rilena managed to pick at a different word, “Research? Is that what you called it when you caused the girls at White Hall to run out of bath house from... what was it? A stink bomb or smoke?”

“Lizards actually,” he stated with a smirk. “I did get some research in that day, though my friend Sylvie nearly killed me for it later that day. She didn’t appreciate being one of the girls caught in the prank. Her legs are almost as nice as yours I think, though she didn’t have as full of a bosom back then.”

Groaning with annoyance even as he managed to make her blush again, Rilena complained, “Gah, Elzen, why do you always have to do that? Every time I think that I might like you when you act like a caring man, then you turn into this annoying little boy!”

His smile caused the girl to blink in surprise and, even more shocking; he simply let it run off of him with a simple shrug. “I have my moments. Being a boring, old adult who can’t have any fun isn’t what I plan to be anyway. If you want that kind of a man around you, I’m sure there will be enough of those to be found in the main hall tonight.”

Standing up from the dresser, Elzen offered her a hand up from the bed as he said, “Well, it’s probably close enough to dinner time that we can head down and find a couple seats.”

Rilena looked from his hand to the quiet smile on his face before allowing him to pull her up. His hand was very warm and for some reason she felt her face heat up as well.

Chapter 19- A Tentative Dance

When they walked through the women’s wing, Rilena was faintly surprised that Elzen had boldly walked beside her as an escort to the main hall. While men as a rule weren’t allowed in the wing unsupervised, in the presence of a woman it might be permissible. It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard of other falcons inviting a man back to her room before, but she had never been so bold to do so herself.

Thinking of those women, some of whom had been good friends, Rilena considered her own lack of love life almost forlornly. She had certainly kissed a few men and been propositioned by more, but the falcon had always put her duty to the corps first. Some of those falcons were no older than her and their mistakes had given them children already. It also meant most of those couldn’t currently work in the field and many no longer trained.

Rilena thought it was such a waste of promising cadets and falcons. With women who were talented dallying with men, instead of maintaining focus on their duty, the corps seemed to continually be holding back its potential. She guessed that many put family first, and that was admirable, but there were also those who became afraid. Afraid to fight and risk their lives, those women actually looked for an out and having children was one such way.

Suddenly realizing where her mind had taken her, Rilena wondered why it had taken that path. Elzen walked beside her, but it wasn’t like they were like those couples or even truly a couple at all. They weren’t holding hands and making those disgusting
lovey dovey eyes at each other that Rilena always found so annoying. Friends had disappeared into relationships without a backwards glance to the friends they came to ignore for some love of their life, which often ended horribly anyway. Then they came back wanting emotional support for their love war wounds.

She looked to Elzen’s hand and wondered if she had some of what held those girls’ hearts inside of her. Blushing as she looked away, the falcon grew angry at this continual strange set of feelings that seemed to follow being with him. Elzen was little more than a boy, no taller than she besides, and had never truly suggested he had the same feelings for her. Then again, he had made his way to her room, though whether from interest in her or just her naked body was still debatable.

Pushing away the annoying thoughts plaguing her as they entered the main hall where the noise of a fair crowd preceded walking through the door, Rilena took in the room cautiously. Men gathered in knots and seemed to be gauging the women who were no better. Several eyes found her and she began to feel a bit like a cow at auction. She had been to a few as a child and now knew what the cow might have felt like.

Elzen led her and once she realized that she had been led, the girl found that it had been easy to follow. First, she was a near stranger among these people, so having Elzen as one of her few friends, meant he might know more to introduce her. Second, it was conditioned from childhood that girls seemed to follow boys. Even though training in the schools as a battle mage helped strengthen a woman’s mind and resolve, there were still those old familiar traits they seemed to fall back on in life.

The table did have a few familiar faces for the girl at least. Elzen’s friends Rodgren and Fielther were seated together with another female mage who she didn’t know but who was quickly introduced as Ayrienne. With light brown hair flowing loosely framing her face, her blue eyes caught Rilena with a shy smile.

“Ayrienne missed out on the campaign while riding north of the wall on maneuvers,” Fielther said putting an arm around her shoulders as if to comfort her after failing to have such a chance. “We missed her like a sister riding through that blizzard and all the battling along the way to the mountain.”

Rilena replied, “We could have used more competent mages along for the fight, but I’d hardly say she missed out on the long, cold nights while the blizzard trapped us there. She missed out on the ambush by wolves and lions also. If her trip north was uneventful, I think I would rather have been there.”

Her words weren’t meant to be negative, but the men both frowned a little. Ayrienne, however, managed a smile and a nod before saying, “Rodgren and Fielther seem to think fighting for your lives to gain glory is something that everyone wants. We didn’t miss out on the poor weather though. That blizzard probably delivered us a lesser blow to the north, but we had to go into our tents for a couple days as well.

“I might have missed tugging on Fielther’s beard, but it doesn’t sound like it was very pleasant on the trail. You spent three weeks in the deep snow fighting for your lives. I’ll take the two weeks north of the wall where we only spotted a few wolves and deer for our efforts,” she finished giving Fielther a playful tug on his bearded chin making Rilena wonder just how close the relationship was between the falcons.

Elzen spoke up, “Well it wasn’t pretty and we lost quite a few good men and women along the way, but we’re home and we won. At least we have that.”

The men raised their mugs joined slower by the two women before taking a drink to those lost.

Rilena could smell the food cooking in the kitchen with its doors swinging open as servers moved in and out carrying the smells with them as they started serving the closest tables. Her stomach rumbled embarrassingly. At Elzen’s questioning look, the girl answered, “I haven’t eaten since breakfast at camp this morning. With trying to get my clothes clean and visiting the bath house, I forgot to eat lunch.”

“You must be starving then,” Ayrienne said sympathetically. The men nodded.

“If you had smelled my clothes after three weeks of wearing the few I had with me, I think you would be happier that I bathed or you might not be able to eat,” Rilena laughed as her eyes wandered to the servers hoping that they would hurry.

Rodgren mused thoughtfully at her remark and said, “You know, I don’t think I saw even a rabbit or squirrel the last few days of the journey. I bet they smelled us coming and hid.”

They all had to nod and laugh at that, even Ayrienne who had spent a shorter time afield. When the mage suddenly looked up past Rilena’s shoulders just before a swirl of blue robes moved to sit beside her, the new girl’s face sobered and her eyes widened.

“Good evening everyone,” the chipper voice of Wizard Teven greeted them. Sitting beside Rilena, she hugged the mage with her right arm as she sat. “I hope you don’t mind me joining my new friend, Rilena, do you?”