Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) (4 page)

Yara gave a significant sigh and remarked, “I am not going to get into an argument about men and women with you, Falcon Trillon. You brought me to the dance floor now I expect to be suitably entertained and not working out yet another mizard type theory about relationships.”

“Yes, dear,” he said unable to keep a straight face bringing yet another sigh from the girl.

The banquet went on well into the night, but Sebastian was worn down from the week long tournament and his overuse of magic. With his stamina gone, the mage was forced to retreat well before the festivities slowed. The trip back to the Black Smith’s Inn was blissfully short as it lay within a close walk from the castle, but by the time he climbed the flight of stairs and rolled into bed the mage was nearly asleep.

With his leaving, the remainder of the battle mages left with him as the only real reason they were allowed inside the banquet was that they were with Sebastian. Knowing the thin ice they stood on with the nobles and wizards, the dark uniformed guests joined him leaving the party as well as most of the wizards of their group.

Yara readied herself for bed slipping off the lovely dress that Sebastian had bought for her and placing it gently on a hangar in the wardrobe. The girl was tired as well. She had used a lot of energy healing the mage during his tournament also and that meant the healer needed sleep by this point, but she couldn’t help wanting to talk to Nara before going to bed.

The nature wizard was a bit older than she, but the two of them had gotten along extremely well. One reason for the relationship was Nara’s own budding relationship with Collin, their earth wizard.

“Do you believe that?” the blond stated to the air vaguely.

Nara was like the exact opposite of the petite little blond healer. A tall and slender brunette, the wizard’s green eyes showed confusion related to the statement. “Believe what?”

“Those girls and the way they virtually threw themselves at Bas and then he seemed to play it off as nothing besides. I mean, I know that he did something special in the tournament and even saved that Malaiy wizard’s life.”

“Lady Annalicia?”

A little growl preceded her curt reply, “I know her name. Still the woman goes and kisses him without any shame. I mean what kind of self respecting woman does that… in public no less.”

Nara dressed in cotton pants of green with a long sleeve shirt of a more feminine pink was again the opposite of the healer wearing her night dress of yellow cut just at the knee. The two worked with a similar mind putting out extra lamps reducing the light in the room to a single lamp on the night stand between them.

As the two slipped under the covers of their twin beds, the elder wizard sighed and having given Yara’s words some thought she said, “At least you have someone that could tell you he liked you without him being nearly forced into it.”

“Bas said that men tend to look without the women they were interested in actually knowing it until they had a better idea if she would like him back. He also said most looked at pretty women whether they had any hope of that or not. Maybe Collin was doing the same thing with you?”

Shaking her head, Nara answered, “I wouldn’t be surprised. Wizards are trained to learn magic and be confident on the field of battle, but even so we hide behind soldiers and battle mages while we cast those spells. We aren’t supposed to have feelings for each other, especially as women since our magic gets disrupted by sex, so I guess we aren’t exactly trained to express our feelings that way.

“Then there’s the fact that we serve the country. When they tell us to leave our home, we have to do it. In fact, after awhile we find we really have no homes and little ties to people. We’ll just be leaving them again when our orders come anyway.”

Sitting back against the flat headboard, Yara mused, “I think Bas was trying to change that when he helped get me promoted to full wizard. Maybe he thought that with us both being a full rank then we could be together.”

Surprise showed in the other woman’s eyes as she exclaimed, “You two haven’t…?”

“No,” she shook her head, “nothing like that, though I think I might want to. Sebastian’s too much of a gentleman to get me in trouble with my guild anyway.

“No, what I mean is, I think that he’s trying to get us to the point where we can stay together, maybe even marry.”

Yara’s eyes lost a little focus trying to imagine the idea. In Southwall, a wizard’s life wasn’t her own, but weren’t they supposed to have a reason to keep on fighting? If they couldn’t have love or a certain amount of freedom, then what were they fighting for anyway?

“That’s what we always pretend when we are little girls, isn’t it?” the dark haired woman questioned. “We will grow up and marry some handsome man, have little babies and live happily ever after. But then the wizards come when you are barely more than a child and tell you and your family that you have magic. You must learn how to control your magic so that people aren’t in danger. You must serve the kingdom and keep the people safe, but you must also remain pure as a woman or your powers will be disrupted.

“No one dreams about that, do they?”

Pondering her friend’s words and thinking that for all their differences the two were very similar in thought, Yara questioned aloud, “I’ve been wondering about that more and more. Do you think that a woman having sex really disrupts or even ruins her magic? I mean, a male wizard goes out and finds a tavern girl without fear, but for some reason a female wizard becomes broken?”

“I’ve been wondering the same thing of late,” Nara replied with a wistful smile. Knowing that she spoke of Collin and Nara knew that she spoke of her desires for Sebastian, the two felt a little better that they both felt the same way.

Chapter 3-Belief

There was a gentle knock from outside Sebastian’s door. Glancing to the shuttered window, the mage could see sunlight trying to push past the wooden obstacle covering the sole opening to the outside. It may have been considered nearly spring from the calendar, but the north didn’t exactly follow such manmade things. Cold weather remained and seemed invulnerable to the sun.

Pushing from his place on a bed with its coverings pulled mostly into place, Sebastian glanced at it a last time to make sure that it was presentable. The inn keeper wouldn’t leave the sheets on the beds once they were out for the day, but the mage preferred the neat look of a pulled up spread. Though the bed was a little softer than he was used to, it had served him well through their stay at the Black Smith’s Inn. After a long draining week and the previous day’s overuse of magic nearly killing him, last night’s sleep had been a godsend; but even the good night’s rest wasn’t enough to completely relieve that faintly hollow feeling that he felt in his chest and stomach.

After multiple years of training as a battle mage, the previous week had been a new learning experience on a completely different level as he fought head on against the powers of true wizards. Unfortunately, a mage had more certain limits than his wizard cousins. At a fraction of their natural power, Sebastian had been forced to use a new method of finding energy to supplement his own and he now knew that there was a significant price for that use.

Crossing towards the door, Sebastian glanced to Collin who was finishing straightening his clothes. With a little smile, the mage knew that the earth wizard wasn’t just fussing for his own sake, but for the woman he sought to impress now that he had professed his love for her. The mage felt some of that with Yara, but their relationship was older and the girl had seen him bloody and broken without leaving him, so a wrinkled uniform was hardly a deal breaker.

“Ready?” the mage asked the wizard who simply nodded in return as he moved to meet at the door. Opening the wooden barrier, Sebastian gave a warm smile to the two women standing waiting for them on the other side. “Morning, ladies,” the young man greeted as he extended an elbow to Yara to escort the wizard downstairs.

“You two certainly took your time getting up today,” Yara chastened him lightly.

Closing the door behind him, Collin took Nara’s hand in his before lifting it to kiss the back of her hand and moving to follow the other two. “That was more my fault,” the wizard admitted sheepishly.
“I think Bas has been awake since dawn, but was just being nice to me. I haven’t been a first bell riser since I was back at Green Hall or maybe on my first trip to the wall anyway. He let me sleep until about half an hour ago.”

“Collin’s being kind. I may have been awake with the sun, but I don’t think I could have dragged myself from bed that early today,” Sebastian said over his shoulder to be heard by the couple behind them. “I’m still pretty drained from this week.”

“Aw, my poor little mage,” Yara babied him sarcastically. “Well, the tournament is over, so now maybe you can recover before our long trip home to Windmeer.”

Cringing at the reminder of the long ride halfway across the huge, peninsula like, southern projection that constituted Southwall and with the possibility of riding even further to Falcon’s Keep his original station before the tournament, Sebastian made the healer laugh as she knew he was exhausted and not looking forward to it. They rode the amusement downstairs to the common room of the inn where they found a number of men including Darius waiting at the tables. Sebastian was surprised at the apparent state of readiness from the High Wizard of Eirdhen.

“We did agree to meet after breakfast, did we not?” the mage questioned worrying that he had made a mistake by lounging in his room to rest.

The silver haired wizard smiled before nodding in response. “Of course, you’ve had a strenuous week after all, but unlike you I have had my rest. Watching a tournament is much more relaxing than participating in it, I would think,” he answered gesturing to four free chairs across from him and the young man sitting beside him. Sebastian knew the brown haired youth with his pointed ears was the High Wizard’s grandson, Elias, though with a seven hundred year old grandfather, one would still be hard pressed to believe they were a generation apart. If not for the silver hair associated with old age, Darius could easily be believed to be about the same age as his grandson.

As Sebastian sat, he couldn’t help releasing a bit of a groan. He felt about seven centuries old this morning. “The tournament was certainly taxing. I think I may have overdone it.”

“May?!” Yara rebuked as her eyes opened wide in disbelief.

Returning a smile to the pretty blond beside him, the mage turned his attention back to Darius. “So what you need to talk about can’t be done here?”

Darius nodded. “Our discussion will involve a few more ears than I had planned, however. It comes from some of what you had told me, but also pertains to the second reason that we are here.”

“You mean aside from the tournament?” the mage questioned curiously.

Nodding again, the High Wizard remained mysterious as he replied, “I was charged with a duty from my masters when I was still young and have had a long standing relationship with Southwall since meeting the former king of Marshalla and Staron, Gerid Aramathea. Of course, that was well before the Cataclysm and the North Wall was built giving Southwall its name.”

Hearing the ancient names of countries long since gone reminded Sebastian once more of Darius’s true nature. Called an immortal for the unusual life spans and virtual indestructibility of their bodies, the rare people born like Darius watched centuries pass by standing ageless before them. Lifetimes came and went for a man like him. Sebastian thought of those he loved and knew that many lives would likely end before his own span ended. Those loved ones lost hurt a normal man, but to live ten times that and see even more pass had to take its toll.

After the latest arrivals ate, Sebastian and Yara joined Darius and Elias for a walk to the gates of Grimnal, the king’s castle and center for Hala and all of Southwall. Made of black stone, the keep seemed to absorb the light of day in contrast to the city walls of white that gleamed brightly. Shadows still ruled the streets making the keep seem to be an extension of those shadows. The Grimnal was an impressive sight made all the more impressive when one considered the mighty fortress’s age. As old as Darius was,
the keep was centuries older and had survived generations of kings, wars and even the Cataclysm that had shaken the world raising islands and sinking countries with its violence.

Sitting atop a long line of cliffs overlooking the North Sea, Hala was virtually unassailable from the east. Situated so close to the cliff wall, all entries to the main keep were from the west, though Darius drew them towards the smaller gate to the north. With just a quick reveal of a signed document of admission to a set of guards, the wizard acquired a guide deeper into the stone walls of the Grimnal. Another set of guarded doors revealed a large meeting room surprising Sebastian slightly, though Darius had said that there would be more people for this discussion he didn’t expect to see so many prestigious men in one place.

To one side, a pair of wizards dressed in the white robes of high wizards sat waiting in their chairs drinking from gold goblets and talking together. Opposite them stood a trio of men in black uniforms. The raven of Halas, whose uniform was only differentiated from his falconi by the gold bars on his shoulders, seemed on guard despite the strong castle walls around him. He was also the elder raven of their order making Sebastian a bit nervous himself. The remainder of the men and women were made up of royalty. As nervous as Sebastian was made by the leader of his order, the presence of the king and his queen increased that feeling tenfold.