Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) (32 page)

“Bas!” Nara was the first to notice him while using one of her nature spells to watch for the monsters and those of the forest as well.

The rest of the group all jumped up in surprise. Yara’s eyes started to tear up as she caught sight of him. Not worrying over anyone’s thoughts, the healer came over and hugged him wrapping her arms around his neck nearly choking him to death in the process. The girl wasn’t the only one as most of his friends joined in a group hug around them.

It was Collin who voiced what Yara and many of the others were thinking. “Do you have to do things like that? You must have a death wish, my friend.”

Shrugging slightly, the mage informed them, “When was I going to get a chance to get what we came for, if not during the distraction your golems made?”

Tossing the heavy double bladed war axe on the ground between the feet of those gathered around, Sebastian took out the device to confirm his suspicions. Sure enough, only the bright red dot to the east and the darker orange believed to be Trillian remained to be seen.

“You got it?” Idenlare questioned forgetting his often stoic silence. The three sent to watch over Sebastian and his team often seemed to talk only amongst one another staying away from his people as often as possible. To break that silence proved the man was impressed. Even Maura’s eyes widened slightly as she tried to mask her emotions.

“It looks like it,” Sebastian nodded as he noted a second faint orange dot on the screen. It was far to the south apparently and was likely the true path of the Grimnal that might even have gone beyond the North Sea. “Now we can concentrate on the castle unless a third point appears on the island.”

The sounds of creatures fighting made Nara ask what many were wondering, “What about them?”

Sebastian leaned over to regain the battle axe. As he stood once more, he shrugged. “I get the idea that this isn’t the first time they’ve squabbled. The best thing we can do is get back to the beach and away from both sides. Let them work it out.”

For a nature wizard who had interfered with the course of nature by her very presence, Nara could be seen to be conflicted with the idea. She wanted to smooth out the things upset by her traipsing through a creature’s territory, but the woman knew that he was right. The sooner that they were out of this area, the more likely that the territories would reset and life would return to normal on the island.

Chapter 21- Seaside Castle

Back on the beach the team settled down to rest and eat lunch from their packs. Yara forced Sebastian to sit and let her examine him after noticing his limp getting progressively worse as they traveled through the forest.

“I can’t believe you were still walking on this,” the girl complained after finding he had managed a severe sprain.

Sweat had begun to drench the man’s forehead and shirt with the pain. While he had tried to hide how much he had been hurt during the quick exit from the danger of the forest, Sebastian knew that he was close to doing even more damage if he didn’t let the healer mend him now. No one wanted to waste time in case the forest army decided to come after them next, but he would slow them down without treatment. Any enemy, that could cow the mighty giants that had nearly been the end of them, was certainly nothing to mess with especially worn down as they were.

“How about the others?” the mage asked as he bit into a thick sandwich made from half a loaf of bread and the cheese brought in the pack. A pouch of dried meat waited for him to finish with the sandwich. Yara held his hand letting her magic work his ankle. One of the benefits of healer magic meant you could touch the patient anywhere and be able to work anywhere within the body.

“They’re tired, but the food and rest will help. They all managed to stay out of harm’s way, unlike you. Owl indeed. Where was your common sense when you thought to tackle the largest monster in that field?”

Chuckling at the girl’s choice of words, Sebastian replied, “I never claimed to be wise as an owl. That was a name put on me by the others, you know. As to common sense, I think mine went out a window long ago.”

Giving a little growl of annoyance, Yara demanded, “You need to stop taking such ridiculous risks. Having to heal you every time you go on a mission is getting to be a bad habit that I would like to break.”

“Well, in my defense I did have a plan when I went after the axe,” he replied. “I could tell that, once I made it onto his back, it wouldn’t be able to reach for me. Their arms are set too far forward for good maneuverability. Apparently their bodies are more easily able to use all fours than stand like a human and their shoulders were formed to help set that weight. Once I was there I was perfectly safe from him.”

“Until its friends came after you and, of course, there was the whole danger of getting onto its back in the first place,” the pretty blond frowned as she refuted his attempt at logic.

Yara was so cute in her annoyance that the mage nearly forgot himself and almost leaned in for a kiss. The movement started involuntarily, but Sebastian managed to stop before letting Maura or her wizards see. While they technically were old enough to do what they wanted and of a sufficient rank requiring less rules as to their personal lives, they also knew that a relationship like theirs would be highly scrutinized by someone like Maura.

“True I hadn’t taken into account how quickly its pack mates would come to his rescue, but I was pretty certain that my speed was enough to avoid the beast once the darkness spell blinded him,” he admitted. His ankle was feeling better and Yara released her magic. Offering the girl a bite of his sandwich, the healer took it and broke off part instead of eating from the main piece.

Sharing was even something that might draw attention. Either that or she had suddenly decided to avoid sharing germs. Since they had kissed too often to believe that, the mage assumed Yara was thinking of Maura instead.

Seeing that Yara was finished, much of his team moved closer to check on the status of their mission. Collin asked, “Do we still want to try to get to the castle before night fall?”

Liam nodded and looked at the sun nearing its summit in the sky. “It took all morning to get to here. If we run into more trouble, we might be fighting more monsters in the dark.”

With a shrug, the owl rebuffed the worry saying, “I think we all have vision spells and, for those who don’t, I’ve been able to transfer the night vision spell to people without magic before so even they will see as well as by day.

“The only worry I would have is if people are getting too tired. We did have a pretty intense fight. If everyone feels well enough to continue, I would like to check out the castle today. Hopefully, there will be more information inside those walls than we will find from this axe.”

Serrena moved to sit near to Sebastian before picking up the handle end of the weapon. It was heavy and someone without martial training would be unlikely to be able to use the axe very capably.

“Do you really think this belonged to the Grimnal?” the wizard in red asked curiously as her fingers traced the pitted handle. The leather that had once wrapped it was long gone revealing a metal haft. It was rare to see a weapon made of so much metal, since most men couldn’t use such a heavy piece for long, but Gerid Aramathea was no ordinary man. According to legend, the Grimnal was a giant with the strength of ten men or more. Unkillable despite records of him allowing people to test the theory with knives to his heart, he was a force beyond mortal men.

“I can’t see very many men being able to use such a thing without his strength,” the mage stated thinking that alone made it likely. “It’s also very well made and probably of a similar metal as the sword I used to make the Hollow Sword.”

It was Olan who asked eagerly, “Are you going to do the same to the axe?”

Looking at the piece and judging it a high grade metal that could take the stress of the spells he would imbue into a weapon like the Hollow Sword, Sebastian knew that this was not a piece to play with in the same way. “No, when we find him, I will give him his axe as I found it. For some reason, I think it will be more meaningful to him that way.”

“Sentimentality over an axe?” Maura questioned as she listened in to the conversation. “Why would he care about a weapon left in the back of some beast a hundred and fifty years ago?”

Captain Drayden surprised them by answering her question instead. “The better the weapon the more that it becomes a part of the swordsman or axe man. A master treats his blade like a child that he loves. Some treat them better actually. There is a bond between men and a truly great sword. It is his life and protection in that life.

“I know it sounds a little over dramatic, but it is true enough,” the captain finished looking a little chagrined over his flowery words.

Frowning slightly, Maura ignored the speech and added, “Well, do with it as you will, but I doubt that it is as important as all that.”

“You are also not a master of weapons, madam,” Drayden finished with a smug smile. Though a soldier, he was in no way intimidated by the wizards around him. “So you are no expert in such things, but trust me that it is true.”

Not wanting to preside over an argument between the two, Sebastian stood offering a hand to Yara and Serrena each to help them from their seats. The fire wizard began to blush at the attention, but he didn’t acknowledge the look to avoid drawing negative attention to her.

“Well, we still have about two miles left I would guess. If we want to make sure that it is clear to bring the Sea Dragon here to avoid walking all the way back, then we should get moving,” the mage stated as he picked up his pack.

Knowing that their leader was ready and a man of action, the rest of the team quickly stood gathering their gear to begin the final part of their walk to investigate the lonely castle.

Gray clouds had moved in during the afternoon making the gray stone of the castle almost black against the back drop of the sky. Bare stone ran from the beach all the way up a steep cliff side to the base of the castle, while the trees and brush of the forest seemed to stall at the base to the west of the dark hill as if avoiding the castle’s domain. Windows that had once held glass looked like the stark eye sockets of a dead fortress, but the stone blocks appeared strong and had resisted the weather of more than a hundred years at least. While it looked old, Sebastian thought that it was probably a younger castle than most of those he had been to and lived in since leaving White Hall.

In the protection of a small harbor, they had taken note that the remains of an old dock or pier still held a ragged line in the water directly beneath the shadow of the castle and its hill. It had been made of wooden, but the pylons that had been set were stone. Even the stone columns were worn and broken, but the uniform nature of the pieces could still be seen by the investigators despite time’s attempts to destroy.

Taking a short break to ready for the climb, the team soon set out towards the top of the hill using the twisting line of stone stairs. It was a little more steep than expected and the footing was a little suspect in places, but eventually the men and women of Southwall stood before the stone fortress. Looking at a building over forty feet high and twice as wide, Sebastian actually found it a little underwhelming. He wondered if the castle was more like a fortified home instead, since it was large, but nowhere near the size of the central keeps of Windmeer or Hala.

Worn wood doors that had gashes in the surface, perhaps from the beasts of the forest, were bound in iron pitted with age. No one had lived here in ages, Sebastian thought, and wondered if they would find any clues in the dead skeleton from a former age.

Mecklin and Olan took the possible risk of pushing the doors open. It required two men, so that they could move to the side offering less of a target to anyone that might be inside. The doors were also heavy and their hinges rusty. Putting their shoulders into it, the men had to fight to open the portal for Sebastian and the others to go inside.

Peering into the entry, Sebastian found an abandoned hall and was almost disappointed. While the forest and fields were so full of life, this castle only seemed to be dead inside.

The mage led the way cautiously into the dimly lit hall. A pair of gray, stone stairways ran up from either side of entry doors. Windows nearest the door let in the sunless light from outside while a pair of rectangular openings running beneath each stairway focused their elongated squares against the far wall. A balcony encircled all but the front wall and Sebastian could make out empty doorways and open rooms from the lower floor. Down below, a room directly across from the entry sat with its two heavy wood doors cast wide open. A decrepit looking heavy table of blackened wood barred the way in the center of what must have been a gathering hall for meals and meetings.

Peering through the open doors, even from the front door, Sebastian could make out the skeletons of men dead long ago. Spider webs and dust covered everything. Candleholders still sat on the table along with some plates, though most of those were broken shards. A toppled metal goblet lay against one of the candleholders webbed together by some spider. Most of the wood chairs were rotted down to termite eaten boards, though one straggler held its place at the head of the table.

As he moved carefully into the castle, the mage looked for more details while he tried to figure out what had happened here. There were enough broken pieces and even a few weapons laying around that the mage thought perhaps a fight had occurred, but why hadn’t someone cleaned up afterwards. Were there no victors or perhaps the beasts had found their way inside and left such trinkets behind while eating the new meat? Then there were the skeletons in the far room. No animals had torn them apart. Their armor and weapons still looked ready to fight though the men inside were long dead.

Looking closer, the mage noticed a strange purple gray light barring their doorway. It shimmered and seemed to move, but was as clear to look through as looking through a pane of glass made with a wave pattern. He could see through it, but little ripples of distortion caught his eye once he noticed it.

He glanced around and noted two more doorways with the strange magic on the ground floor and a third across an open room from wall to wall on the second. The magic felt different from any he had witnessed and he turned to Maura with the question, “You’re the researcher. Have you ever seen anything like those lights?”

“I would assume that they are barrier spells, but they feel like dark magic. It is like the darkness shields of the gray wizards. You deciphered that magic, I gather, so I am surprised that this escapes you, mage,” the older woman finished without appearing surprised despite her words.

“I’m better at figuring out magic when it is cast in front of me,” he admitted only giving half of his attention to the woman. “Is there death magic used to hold them inside or is it designed to keep others out?” the man mused as he stepped a little closer.

To his left, he could see the rotted skeletons of a pair of what was once wolf men or the mutations they had seen in the forest. On his right, the third barrier sealed the only door still in place. A handle was within a few inches reach, if not for the barrier guarding it. It was also the only piece made of wood that appeared unphased by age.

“If you were guests, I would have thought that you would have knocked,” a voice spoke loudly startling them all. Looking up above the room with the skeletal soldiers, a man in a black robe tinged with blue runes stood with both hands on the rickety looking handrail. “Now if you are merely here to rob my castle then I suggest that you turn away now.”

Sebastian answered as he looked up at the man that seemed to have appeared from nowhere, “We didn’t know that there was anyone left alive in here. If this is your castle, then you have certainly let it become run down with time. Even your table has only dust and webs on it. A true host would have kept the place clean and ready for guests.”

A smirk appeared on the man’s face. With a tightly trimmed mustache and line of beard dropping from the center of his lip to chin, the dark hair looked slick as it receded from the temples in a high widow’s peak. He nodded at Sebastian’s astute observation and replied, “Admittedly we haven’t had guests in ages. The beasts came long ago, but even they avoid this place now. I don’t know what could have made them desert their master, but a father can only expect so much from unruly children.”

Maura spoke up frowning at the robed man, “You say that you created them? Are they monsters created for the Dark Emperor?”

Giving an exaggerated sigh, the man said, “I worked day and night to create soldiers beyond the might of anything the emperor had in his forces, but he didn’t appreciate my vision. For all my sacrifices and toil, he left me to while away my days here in exile. There have been few visitors so it has just been me and my men left here for so long.”

The researcher stated bluntly, “If these soldiers are your men, then they are dead. I don’t think that they would be much company.”

“Well they are mostly dead as are my pets, but on occasion they can be surprisingly lively though I admit they aren’t much for conversation anymore,” the man said with a sigh. “Perhaps they should introduce themselves? Maybe you intruders would like to know them better? If we become the right kind of friends then you may stay to keep me company as well.”

The front doors moved with a will all their own closing in the faces of Frell, Collin, Nara, Vewen, Liam and Sergeant Kulvayr who had been waiting outside to keep an eye out for trouble. Sebastian could hear their cries and fists striking the doors. Barriers like those around the inner doors arose in the empty windows keeping anyone from leaving or entering the castle through any obvious escape routes in a blink.

A sound of metal creaking and stones rustling across the floor brought Sebastian’s eyes back to the far room. The skeletal soldiers were on their feet as one. As the first pushed on the purple barrier, it stalled only for a moment before pushing through the glass with just a slight effort.

From the left, the wizard’s pets rose stalking the edge of their barrier before leaping through in quick lunges that seemed to slow only for the merest of moments. Reduced to eight in the wizard’s trap, Sebastian was quick to order his men into defensive positions, “Olan, Mecklin, the wolves. The rest of you with me.”

The two falcons were veterans and well trained. Shields raised and fireballs launched to interrupt the wolves’ attack as they pulled their swords and leaped to put themselves between the skeletal beasts and their teammates. Sebastian and the captain took point with the fire wizards beginning their attacks from either side. Maura and Yara remained ready to help as best they could since they weren’t fighters.

“Gust,” Sebastian tested his wind spell against the skeletal soldiers. There was still some flesh wrapped around bone, but they looked as if they had been dried out and mummified. With skin turned dark gray, the creatures looked like their bones had been burned. Eye sockets were dark, but the dried remains of their eyes could still be seen attached from behind.

The wind was strong and pushed the nearest two back from the two men. Fireballs grew slightly larger as the wind fed their power and struck the undead soldiers driving them back. Old dried cloth and leather caught fire around the metal of their armor, but the spells weren’t enough to deter the eerily silent warriors.

As quiet as the skeletal attackers were, the sound of the wizard’s laughter echoed through the hall. Loud pounding from the front door let him know that the others were also attempting to free or at least create an exit for the ones inside. Unfortunately, the mage couldn’t worry over the ‘if’ of whether the others could free them. He and those with him had to deal with what was in front of them or risk becoming dead instead.

The Hollow Sword met an attacker’s blade and powered by a wind spell split the enemy’s weapon in two. A bony hand grabbed his left forearm, but he turned his hand beneath the clutching arm releasing a fireball up and through the appendage. Free of the skeleton’s arm, Sebastian used his right hand to rip the gripping hand and remaining bones free.

“Shield,” he ordered but instead of using it over his left arm, the mage cast it forward severing a skeleton’s neck. Its head freed of the body still didn’t stop the remains from reaching for him. Sightless, the headless skeleton still nearly cut Serrena at his side and only a quick parry with his blade managed to avoid an injury to the wizard.

Surprise instilled a greater fury in the woman and a torrent of flame engulfed the skeleton nearly burning Sebastian as it passed so close to him in her haste. Her overwhelming flame sent the creature to the floor burning the last of the flesh or magic from its body stilling it finally.

Another tactic came to Sebastian’s mind. If this was dark magic, perhaps a spell of light would be enough to put these tortured souls back to rest. “Sun,” the mage cast his spell directing it with his free hand striking the nearest undead soldier. He could feel the heat of the magic striking so close to him, but the skeleton didn’t seem harmed at first. The soldier struck at him again and again, but as the mage parried each thrust, the mummy slowed. The blackened flesh began to turn to gray ash and fall away. A second try at the spell expanding the light as much as he could to cover the creature in bright white light finished reducing the soldier to bones letting it crash to the ground.

“Fire and light seem the best actions,” he shouted loud enough to be heard over the sounds of battle.

Mecklin and Olan were suddenly beside the others pushing back at the undead soldiers. Their wolves were done as they had reduced the creatures to ash with their fireballs. His instruction hadn’t been that necessary seeing that most of the men and women were strongest in fire spells, he supposed, but it had seemed good at the time. The three battle mages used the power of light from then on reducing the enemy one by one with their overwhelming power.

“No, no, no, no, no,” the wizard’s voice had been going on and on as he watched his skeletal soldiers dropping one by one. “This can’t be happening! Nooooo!” the man cried even as the last fell.

Breathing a bit hard, Sebastian and the others drew up looking for more. When it was obvious that only the wizard was left to fight them, Sebastian called up to the wizard, “Your forces are through. Give up, wizard, and if you answer my questions maybe I’ll let you live.”

His voice pulled the wizard out of his moaning and his face turned from crying to a snickering smile, “Those weren’t my soldiers, you fool. They were trapped here like you and I. The Dark Emperor didn’t like my tampering with his pets. Oh no, he couldn’t see the genius of my experiments. His armored viles were no match for my scalors. His kiriaks and wolves couldn’t hold a candle to the black kairaks and gray kilven. Sure a few orcs and trolls were needed, but they’re a stupid lot anyway. They were beautiful and strong if a bit willful. They could have been tamed and trained to fight for him, but they exiled me here and let my beauties rot on this island.”

The wizard’s eyes looked on them and declared, “I will answer your questions only because no matter how hard your friends strike with their magic, they won’t get in and even if they do none of you will leave. The walls resist all manner of magic. If they didn’t I would have left decades ago, only that giant who resisted all forms of magic was able to leave. His force of will pushed through the doorway, but his men remained until you destroyed them.”

He laughed and they could tell that the man was unhinged, but the mage worried that this spell might be powerful enough to trap them inside as he had said.

“These soldiers were the Grimnal’s men?” the mage asked and hoped that he heard the answer he would need to free them all.

“Was that the giant’s name? It was so long ago, but yes I think that is what some of them called him,” the crazed wizard mused seeming to calm now that the fight was over. Perhaps he figured that Sebastian and his team were his new cell mates, so he could afford to be civil.

“Where did he go after he left the castle? I can not imagine that he didn’t try to free his men.”

Tapping his chin, the wizard turned on his heel twice as he thought. “Perhaps he tried, but the Emperor sprung his trap before he could truly do much to free them. All those men outside drowning in the harbor while the giant raged. He wasn’t happy at his ships burning in the harbor you see. The black ships appeared and they were trapped. I could see the beautiful spells cast by the warlocks incinerating the trapped ships from my window.

“Maybe he should have brought more, but then again the emperor would just send more until they couldn’t fight. Even the giant was captured, I don’t know why they didn’t kill him right there. Perhaps there was something that the emperor needed from him.” The man had a sudden idea that brought a smile, “If I had just been able to experiment on him, I might have been able to break the spell. He was quite unique at fighting magic.”

A sudden idea came to the owl’s quick mind, but he had the wizard talking and hoped to learn more. He had met the Grimnal and possibly even fought the man. It also sounded like this was where the immortal had been captured. His mission to map the islands and discover what the emperor was up to foiled all at once, but it wasn’t the end to his story. The device had shown a faint orange dot to the south. It was far away, but Sebastian had a feeling that it may be a prison of a different kind that kept the Grimnal from returning to the fore of history.