Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) (50 page)

A rap on the window behind him drew Palose’s gaze to see Sylvaine’s bare arms waving him inside. Entering the dress shop once again, the mage took in the curly haired girl with her hair pulled back in a red, braided cord. The cord matched a sundress covering her lower chest and held in check by strings going over her shoulders. Below her breasts the dress clung to her torso making the skirt and bodice seem to flare in greater curves to accentuate Sylvaine’s hips and chest.

The girl looked slightly uncomfortable and asked cautiously, “Is it too much? I’ve never worn something like this and the red might be a little bolder than I intended.”

Her hands began to wave with each worry from her nerves and the girl started to look away as if looking for help or a place to flee.

“It looks marvelous on you,” he stated in a calm gentlemanly voice.

Sylvaine pointed to the woman holding another dress in violet that would match her eyes. The cut reminded him of what the ladies wore to the dances in the castle and even White Hall where some of the girls bought dresses for the evening instead of continuing to wear apprentice white. “That one shows less, but this sundress feels good on a warm day.”

Shrugging, the mage replied, “You could get both and save the decision except for what you will wear today.”

Like a true predator, Arlaean drew another dress from behind the one in violet. A sky blue color, it too probably looked very nice on Sylvaine’s form. The saleswoman sensed an opportunity and said, “The young lady was also interested in the blue.”

Looking apologetic, Sylvaine submitted in an abashed nod.

Palose struck the smile he had assumed earlier and offered, “As long as the fashions of Hala aren’t priced for royalty, we can probably make it happen.”

Clapping her hands happily, Sylvaine reminded him that she was only just heading into adulthood. A few childish traits surfaced from time to time making him smile more truly.

After parting with a little more gold than he had planned, but not more than he could afford, Palose escorted the apprentice along the river front. Though there were docks and ships along each river, the locals had managed to maintain a quaint river walk to enjoy the beauty that few cities had access to, especially in Southwall. Houses were well back from the river, a precaution against spring flooding, he supposed, but that made the trees overhanging the walkway grow more freely. With early spring leaves and young buds still opening, they provided less shade than they would in less than a month, but it was still enough.

Leaning against him and holding his left arm, the one free of the bags which he carried with the other, Sylvaine’s bare arms touched his forearm giving warmth since he had rolled up his sleeves due to the spring warm up. Her touch held more than just body heat and Palose nearly blushed as he wondered at her attention. She had rarely acted like more than a close friend and that had been his take on their relationship, though he would have come for her if she had been harmed at the fortress as he had said. The necklace chain was also the only ornamentation she wore aside from the red cord in her hair and Palose wondered why the girl would continue to wear it when she was protected in Ensolus.

“I wish we could have done this sooner,” Sylvaine sighed with her eyes half closed in the bright sunlight.

Her escort half laughed as he replied, “You might have been stranded in the void between the gates if I had tried before this. I only gave it a shot since Acheri was able to keep my portals open by force. I figured if I could give more of a charge to the spell it would hold long enough for at least two moving quickly through it.”

The girl’s head leaned away, even as she continued to hold his arm. “Acheri still forces herself on you?”

“Well, it’s not exactly forcing when the emperor makes it part of my duties, though the girl doesn’t take no for an answer very easily.”

Her finger nails suddenly bit into his arm as Sylvaine clenched her hands.

“Ow,” he stated pulling her attention from her thoughts. From her frown, the mage guessed that they weren’t warm thoughts.

“Sorry,” she breathed releasing the pressure. Her hands slid further along the arm away from six new depressions from both hands clutching him. Six out of ten, Palose guessed he was lucky that her thumbs hadn’t been in position or her littlest fingers. “You know if she gets too involved with you, she might try to force you into other things as well.”

“She’s still a child,” he rebuffed her worry strongly, though at heart he wondered and sometimes was bothered by the princess’s attention. “I doubt that Acheri is thinking of me beyond a ride to my touchstones.”

Shaking her head, Sylvaine replied, “Acheri found you in the library and initiated the training for Lanquer. Whether she has the mind of a woman or a child, even children get jealous of someone else sharing their parents and others they love.”

He hadn’t thought of the love of a child. Children also had less restraining those emotions, but Acheri always seemed more adult in her mentality. Whether her emotions were as developed, the mage was unsure. Jealousy was something found in all ages, however, and could be a problem especially dealing with the power of the princess.

Again the mage changed the subject, “Well, if you are done spending my money and enjoying the warm weather. I think we had better get back before it gets much later. Atrouseon has been acting a little strangely as well lately, and I know that he is no child. Still I would rather keep him satisfied until I can arrange to separate from his... care.”

Sylvaine shifted to holding his hand as if the girl was afraid that he would leave her. Hurrying their steps, Palose found a safe spot away from prying eyes to cast another gateway. The two stepped through like before, but stepping into the dim lighting of his hideout they felt the chill of the room like a slap to the face.

Placing the bag on the table, the girl quickly found her apprentice dress and hurried into one of the rooms closing the door behind her. He had barely pulled his jacket on when the door reopened revealing the girl already changed.

“That was quick,” he said in surprise.

“It’s very cold in here. I miss Cadmera already,” the girl said with a pout.

After the apprentice replaced her warm stockings while sitting on the couch, where she seemed to reveal each bare leg farther than she needed to pull the long stockings back in place, they placed her new dresses in a wardrobe. They agreed aloud that Sylvaine wouldn’t get to wear them unless they returned to Cadmera and the warmth of spring. Palose felt a different agreement knowing that the girl now shared a piece of his hidden house.

It was getting late, but they had time to stop at the library, so they directed their steps there. They said little as they thought fondly of their day in the sun.

Chapter 26- Emancipation

Over a week had passed and Palose had found his world moving at two completely different speeds and in different ways. On the one hand, he had snuck off with Sylvaine to Cadmera twice more after his other duties. The quiet time of enjoying the spring weather with someone he liked was calming after the months of tension he had felt working in his new city. There was no worry over what Atrouseon might say or want him to do. There was no emperor with his machinations against Garosh and his people. The mage also didn’t have to worry over his studies.

Tired of the race to be declared more than an apprentice to a warlock who didn’t seem to want one most days, their walks through the river front city had been a surprising treasure to a man who thought he was beyond such things. He had always been working towards bettering himself, either in his studies or upgrading his relationships for a better position in the hierarchy of the falcons. While he had people that called him friend, very few had managed to get under his skin like Sylvaine. There was just something that always felt right when she was around, even when things went wrong.

While Acheri was another girl who had found a way to attach herself to him, wrongness began to seem more common with her of late.

They were in Windmeer trying to determine if there was a way to get to Garosh as his mind considered these relationships. Lanquer was at his back and Acheri by his side when the girl asked, “Where do you go when you take Sylvaine out of the city?”

Surprised by such a question, especially while doing work that she had insisted they do for Kolban, Palose held his composure and returned a question in response, “What do you mean?”

Turning to face him and partially skipping to move forward with the mage, Acheri’s eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance, “You know what I mean, but I’ll clarify. You and Sylvaine have been
disappearing to the human side of Ensolus on occasion. After going there, I know that you have created portals to leave the city with the apprentice in tow, so where have you two been going?”

Snorting in derision of such a notion, the mage acted bored as he jokingly asked, “Have you been stalking me again? I thought that you were over that.

“You have me for these trips to Windmeer and if you want to travel to Cadmera, Fort Maridith, Blackwall or Norcrom I would be happy to take you there instead. We have been to Cadmera a couple times to enjoy the weather. It has been warm there for at least two weeks unlike Windmeer which has just begun to feel like spring.

“As you know, Ensolus still feels like winter in that cave, so I took my friend to the river city to let her get warm as a treat. I assume that I am allowed to give my friends gifts.”

“I’ve noticed her necklace,” the girl informed him moving slightly off the topic already answered. “It isn’t very expensive looking, but she seems to always keep it with her. There is a touchstone on the setting, if I am correct in feeling your magic on it.”

“Sylvaine was afraid when she went to the fortress, so I gave her a touchstone to make her feel safe,” he stated with a shrug. The only way to put off the girl was to avoid giving her satisfaction in her meddling, and he was good at feigning disinterest; but Palose filed each comment away watching for possible warning signs for the future.

“Sounds reasonable,” Lanquer spoke up as he heard the conversation as they walked. “Now can we get back to our mission?”

The other two looked at him like he was an idiot. Using the word mission while among the enemy was tantamount to trying to just going out and telling everyone they were spies.

Stopping near a vendor, but not so close that they were pulled into the merchant’s sphere of interest, Palose pulled them closer and said, “This is about as far as I can go here. There are too many guards and mages this near the castle gates.”

They had been working around the central castle’s walls for days looking for ideas of how to hit the giant where he believed himself safe. Only Acheri and Lanquer had been able to enter the castle safely. She looked like a young lady and he her fledgling guardsman. The pairing was one Palose had seen for lesser nobles in the cities he had lived in most of his life. Unimportant young nobles often had young guardsmen who were more or less in training to become truly skilled. Those relationships often had the guardsmen become lifelong guardians to that individual.

With the disguise of royalty in place, which wasn’t much of a stretch for the princess; they had managed to eat lunch in the great hall, watch wizard duels in the courtyards and sparring among the soldiers and battle mages. All of that time, the two had barely drawn a glance; which was extra impressive since the two had to forcibly mute their magical strength to pass for normal people near the wizards and mages.

The girl could be bubbly in her dealings with other people one minute and somehow blend into the background in another instant. She was a natural spy. Acheri was pretty enough to sway soldiers, but young enough to seem less of a threat to other women if she held back. With a powerful wizard’s magic to back her, the girl could be formidable as an opponent and she had Lanquer with her for physical protection.

For now the adult side to the girl came to the fore as she said, “We will come back to our conversation later; but since you can’t follow us inside the castle, you might as well return home. We will take it from here.”

“I can remain and wait for you to return if you want,” the mage said unsure of leaving them completely on their own. They were just children in some ways, babies in true age, but the facade was
that of teens. Even assuming the emperor extended much of his knowledge to them, they were just two walking into the den of the enemy.

“And do what exactly?” Acheri questioned looking put out. “We can go inside because we have no real enemies. If for some reason we came under attack, what could you, someone wanted dead by all of Windmeer and most of Southwall, do to help?

“You would just make things worse. If we come across Garosh, he might recognize us, but it is a big castle and we are looking for him, while he isn’t looking for us. Now go. You are trying my patience today,” the girl said lifted her nose and giving a little sniff to show her annoyance. She was certainly every bit the princess when she wanted to be, he thought.

“As you wish, your highness,” he said with a tight nod. Bowing, even in jest would have brought stares, so the mage simply turned on his heal looking for a good quiet place to use his spell.

Left so abruptly, Acheri blinked in surprise; but regained her composure before waving Lanquer to follow.