Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) (33 page)

“Did the emperor seal you here himself?” he asked the wizard who quietly thought of the experiments that he wished that he could have performed on the immortal giant.

Snorting in amusement, the wizard replied, “Of course not. He had much more important things to do. The emperor was going to conquer this world and destroy whatever he hated here. Supposedly some champions from this world imprisoned the master and all he held in sway in an empty world, but the emperor used his will to build there also and found the way to leave in time.

“Such greatness was needed to finish mastering this world after he shook it up. No, one of his lieutenants and his warlocks came driving my creations away before sealing me with some binding spell. To make sure that I paid for my crime, they even placed a spell on me so that I can not die. I thought that a blessing at first, but now I hunger for death. There is nothing to learn in here and my mind has been bored for decades, but I can’t leave or take my life.

“Welcome to this doom, but now I tire of your questions. Make yourselves at home, since you won’t be leaving. I’d remove the barriers for you on those rooms, but they weren’t placed there by me either.”

Before Sebastian could protest, the wizard simply faded away and disappeared without ever moving a step.

“A ghost?” Olan asked fearfully

Sebastian shook his head. He had learned a lot from the wizard, though never his name the man noted almost regretfully. There was power in a name, but there was time. First, he needed to know what the barriers protected if the wizard didn’t trap the men and wolves here. There had to be a reason the emperor’s lieutenant had placed those spells there.

“Only search the first floor,” the mage ordered being wary of any more traps. He had a thought on how the men had been trapped in the far room and didn’t want anyone to trigger another barrier before he figured it out. “Don’t go through the doorways either. If there’s a closed door, you can push it open but don’t move the rest of the way through.”

Maura didn’t even budge and she wasn’t the only one. The researcher looked at his face trying to read what he was thinking. “You know something,” she stated emphatically.

Yara, Mecklin and Idenlare remained by the table where Sebastian and Maura faced each other. Serrena and Olan searched the remaining rooms from the main hall while Captain Drayden began to examine the entry door. Even though they all knew that it must be a magical trap, the man seemed unphased and perhaps thought that he might find a hidden trigger as he had on the safe.

Sebastian turned and began to walk towards the purple barrier. “I have a few ideas,” he informed them calmly.

Chapter 22- Maldus

The sound of someone beating on the thick wood door could be heard throughout the hall, though it sounded deadened by the magic sealing the portal. The magic held them inside and the others were equally held in check from the outside. Sebastian examined the inner barrier that had once held the skeletal warriors. They had been soldiers traveling with the Grimnal, which led the man to think that they must have failed to follow the trail in the right order, but that mattered little. They could go to Trillian after dealing with the castle.

Smiling slightly at the thought. The owl mused, that was if his assumptions about the magic and how to break it were correct. Going to Trillian would be an impossibility and his mission would end here, if he was wrong. He did have at least one ace up his sleeve that would make the mad wizard envious, however. Meanwhile there was this barrier.

Placing his right hand against the glassy looking purple magic, the mage felt the barrier as solid as any wall and slick like the glass that it resembled. Making a fist, he struck the barrier and it felt stronger than the bones in his hand. “Stone skin,” he channeled his magic spell over his hand and forearm. He punched it again, but harder knowing that his hand was protected. A thump from the contact was the best that he could do, even after a few more blows.

He went to place his left hand beneath his chin to think and noted a change in the color of his skin. From the point of contact with the skeleton’s hand on his arm to the fingers of that hand, all was gray like dust. “Yara, check everyone for a reaction to those skeletons,” he ordered gently.

His skin was itching, though perhaps that was just from knowing of the change. Avoiding touching himself with the corrupted hand, Sebastian worried that his time would be limited in this prison. If he could just buy some time before some strange curse took him over and potentially his team as well, the owl thought that he could solve the puzzles here.

Gasps and voices rising in fear brought Yara hurrying over to him. “Bas, Olan, Mecklin and Captain Drayden have gray spots from where they were struck or made contact with them. The rest of us were able to avoid contact with them. Do you...?”

Her voice stopped as he raised his hand. “Can you try to heal the others? Touch them on the back or somewhere that isn’t showing signs of corruption. That should keep you safe from this new curse.

“Between the emperor and the merfolk, we sure are seeing a lot of this kind of spell. I don’t think I’ve heard of anything like them in any of the books I’ve read.” Giving a rueful smile, Bas added, “Maybe Southwall is a little behind on deceitful tricks like these, but I think I prefer a straight up fight face to face myself.”

“Bas, your hand...,” she began.

“Will be fine for now,” he assured her. “Take care of the others first. It may actually be helpful, if my grasp of this barrier is correct.”

Wanting to ask more of him, Yara fell back on her healer training. Asking unnecessary questions when lives were on the line was the last thing they needed. She just hoped that Sebastian knew what he was doing.

The mage looked at the gray skin. Maybe the outer layer of skin was dying unusually quick, but the hand remained otherwise unaffected. Pushing on the barrier with the left, he felt the glassy magic begin to give way. A grim smile took place on his face. He would have to fool the barrier into letting him through or break it down. Unsure of how much time they would have before the spell might try to take them over from just being in the castle, the mage felt he had to work towards the quicker solution.

Bringing out the device, Sebastian quickly checked the green stone and its red lights. A frown came to his face as he noted that there was nothing left beyond the barrier. The red light was in the room where they already stood. Disappointment struck him cold. The Grimnal’s close presence to his men had worn off on these soldiers bringing the device’s attention. It was a waste of time beyond learning what he had from the wizard.

Now the only reason to defeat the barrier was to bring that knowledge to the door or windows to free them.

With that knowledge in mind, Sebastian replaced the compass in his pocket and prepared to use what he had learned to break the barrier spell. Stomping on the bones of the fallen skeletons, he summoned his air shield letting it spin in the air around his body. Dust swirled up from the floor. Dust of the ash and broken, dried out bones entered his shield and appeared to coat the mage without actually touching his skin.

Armored with his coat of death in the swirling magic shield, Bas walked to the barrier. A soft push and he was through. Once inside, the mage tested that he could return through it again. He had fooled the magic. Letting the dust pool in one area, Sebastian let the shield go. Searching the room, the mage found a diary kept by one of the soldiers. It chronicled a matter of days as the men waited for their lord to find a way to free them. They had walked into the room and the trap had been sprung. A pair of skeletal wolves had risen from behind the only barrier that they had seen before exploring. They had believed them dead and harmless, but the undead creatures passed through both barriers attacking the men before retreating.

The soldier hadn’t realized that they had been cursed by the wolves. It was the second part of the trap apparently. The wizard had spoken to them a few times, but only to tease them. As the curse took root, one by one the men died as the undead curse made it to their hearts stopping the vital muscle.

There had been no wizards among them and only the Grimnal had been able to escape their prison.

Placing the diary in his pocket to be looked at closer later, Sebastian decided it was time to try his other plans to deal with the barrier.

“Sun,” he had ordered his spell and cast it into the purple glass. The magic wavered, but did not fall. A battle mage alone wasn’t enough, he thought seeing his weakness for what it was. For all the amazing things that he had figured out over the last year, he was still just a mage in power.

Sighing, Sebastian took the Grimnal ring from his pocket. Placing it on his right hand, the mage pushed it into the barrier. As he surmised the barrier gave way, but only his hand passed through this time. Once the ring passed through, its area of affect was apparently limited to only a few inches up his arm. Cursing his luck, Sebastian found that he was stuck. His left hand could move up to the end of the rotten skin, but he pushed it too far and that too was trapped in the barrier.

Giving a curse and feeling like a fool, Sebastian called to the others, “I’m stuck!”

No one heard him and the mage realized as he stood there that he couldn’t hear any noise from beyond the barrier. There was no drumming on the wood door or voices talking though he could see mouths moving. He thumped his head against the glassy barrier twice futilely.

While the ring and using the dust to pass through the barrier was correct, Sebastian had fooled himself into believing that he understood the magic in full. Another trap had been set and he had fallen into it in his arrogance.

“Sun!” he tried to order his spell in the hopes of at least getting his arms free. Nothing happened. The barrier effectively kept his magic from reaching his hands. A new wrench thrown into the mechanism, he thought in frustration.

There was only one other way that he could think to cast the spell, but he had sworn that he wouldn’t try something like it again. Once he had tried to cast fire from his mouth. The pain and resulting hoarse voice had made it nearly impossible to cast for hours. He just hoped that there were no horrible consequences if he dared try using the spell. The magic was one of his newest and he had never dared try it in such a way, but his hands were useless and it was the only other way he knew to try the spell.

Desperation was about to push him to try the spell in the unconventional way when Yara noticed him. Jumping up, the girl drew the team’s attention as she saw his arms trapped in the magic barrier. The others moved to join her and the mage could only feel embarrassment as they looked on him in worry.

“Sun,” he mouthed to Yara and the others. Luckily, he had taught the spell and the way to use it to most of his team.

Mecklin and Olan struck the barrier with their spells as one, but it barely reacted at all. It was a surprise, since Sebastian had thought that he had made more of a dent in the barrier by himself than the two men together. Serrena joined in and the wall rippled violently but refused to let him go or fall.

Yara looked increasingly worried as the three continued to try and break the purple glass. Sebastian watched as they vainly fought the powerful magic. He had thought that a full wizard using the spell to vanquish darkness would surely break the spell.

In desperation, Yara grasped his hands. He could feel her touch though his magic refused to pass through the barrier. The girl began to try to heal his hand. “Heal,” he said letting the spell flow into him as he tried to feel for her part of the loop. Amazingly Sebastian felt the flow connecting them both.

Eyes widening slightly, Yara looked at him in surprise. She could feel his magic as he did hers. Speaking slowly, he asked, “Can you use the sun spell with me?”

She nodded and he began a short count, “One, two, three, Sun!”

Closing his eyes as the spell went off, Bas felt Yara’s strength within him as she joined her power with his. Even before they had finally been together physically, the two had been able to join together through their magic, but this felt like they were joined as one. He had no other thought as they released the power of the light into the barrier from both sides and in the glass where his arms were trapped by the purple magic.

The sound of breaking glass came to his ears and suddenly he could hear more sound. Voices crying out his name happily were there now and the steady drumming on the wood door.

A scream came from the second floor surprising them and silencing those inside the castle.

“What have you done!” the wizard appeared in the hall looking desperate. His robe had changed to a pale gray and his hair seemed almost the same shade now. “Oh, this is bad. How could such unruly children do such a thing! Oh my, he will not be happy with this.”

The man wasn’t even looking at them now. Muttering to himself and beginning to pace worriedly, the crazed wizard had become even more so.

Sebastian stood straight and witnessed the destruction of the barrier with his eyes. There were still a few spots from the sun spell, but he could see well enough to know that the barrier was gone.

“What is your name, wizard?” the mage asked the man in gray.

“Name?” the man looked stunned to be asked such a thing and went back to rambling as he asked himself, “Name? What is my name? Was it? No, that wasn’t it? It has been so long, but wait. Maldus, wizard and experimenter extraordinaire, that is who I am. Yes, that is it.”