Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) (41 page)

With only the research wizard at odds with the idea, Sebastian began to organize the wizards and mages for a ship to ship battle unlike any he had ever heard of before.

Chapter 26- Sea Horse Save

The mid afternoon sun had begun descending the sky by the time Sebastian took to the winds. Blue green waves rippled below him as the mage raced towards the black ship knowing that the distance was much closer now. He knew where the ship was from the angle the compass now faced. It was also how the Sea Dragon knew how to tack with the wind without losing track of the enemy.

Veering slightly more south to hopefully make the black ship think that they were unaware of the pursuit, the Malaiy frigate also moved west closing the gap to make the meeting happen at a time of their choosing. A black ship in the night would have too many advantages. Sebastian wanted the fight to happen when they could clearly see their foe.

Mere minutes passed and the mage spied the black sails of the ship. A handful of black armored warlocks stood near the front of the deck using magic in a way that made him believe this was how they were following the Sea Dragon. Swooping closer, Sebastian moved to check on the captives finding them exactly where they had been the first time he had seen them. Still tied to a mast with magic, he worried how they could fight the enemy whole heartedly with at least one friend likely to be caught in the friendly fire.

While he hovered near the Southwall wizards and Ashleen, he noticed confusion between the warlocks using the seeker magic. Two of the warlocks were pointing towards his very position and the mage knew that even his mind held enough of the scent they were chasing. Flying upward with the air current and towards the rear of the ship, the mage hoped to confuse them further as he called for a trio of light arrows.

One, two, three, the arrows flew from his hand where he stood on the Sea Dragon’s deck. The first took only seconds to arrive catching a warlock from behind piercing his black helmet. A hole formed from the back straight through the man’s cheek. The sight made the mage sick, but this was war.

The second arrow took another warlock in the back piercing the black armor plate. Sebastian had missed the mark of the heart unaccustomed to targeting someone on a moving ship and the bolt entered from beneath the shoulder blade and out through his stomach. Clutching at the point in front spurting blood through the split in the armor, the warlock fell to his knees gasping in short, pain filled breaths.

Reacting quickly, one of the warlocks cast a spell of great power. He whitened from the massive use of magic, but his magic proved more than a match for the third arrow. The light struck a barrier of red glass similar to the cursed purple glass in the castle and shattered on the shield.

Moving to a position south of the ship and beyond the reach of the barrier only visible when struck, Sebastian watched as the doors on either end of the deck burst open flooding the area with more warlocks and soldiers. Everyone looked for the archer, but no eyes could see a mind riding the winds. That they had discovered his presence at all was worrisome enough, but Sebastian used the chaos to launch a handful more of the arrows in quick succession and two at a time.

The mage manipulated his constructed arrows as they neared making them veer to come in from the north, south and east. Red glass reacted with each hit as they arrived within a second of one another. Like six slaps of rain, the barriers appeared around the black ship drawing fingers to point at each strike. They were all defeated, but it wasn’t his desire to defeat the warlock’s shields. Instead, the chaos of men
trying to decide where they were truly being attacked from took over the soldiers and even many of the warlocks looked confused.

Two warlocks were down, one dead and one wounded. It wasn’t his original plan, but the odds were more in their favor now.

Ashleen had seen the wind arrow and an orc just fall over dead in a matter of seconds between each incident. Her mind quickly flew to the only known person to tell of such a spell. Sebastian had made mention of the spell in an off hand manner one day as they had compared some of their magic. She knew that it was his message that he knew they were there.

Tears formed in her eyes and when asked why she cried, the girl blamed it on the wind. An air wizard without her air shield just wasn’t used to the strong air on her eyes, she had insisted loud enough that the warlocks snickered at her weakness.

In a lower tone, Ashleen had confided to the men beside her that it was Sebastian.

Hours passed and now two warlocks fell to new arrow attacks. She spotted the light as the third arrow caught the red barrier quickly erected for their protection. A flurry of strikes from the front to the back of the ship had the warlocks and soldiers looking for an enemy they could not see.

Ashleen marveled at the skill of the battle mage. To be able to strike from so far away would be something a wizard should have discovered, but the owl of the mages was more inventive than anyone she had ever known.

“Sebastian has them really confused now,” the girl stated quietly to the two men.

Themenor looked almost angry as he whispered to Ashleen, “You’re saying this is from a mere battle mage? I don’t see a ship anymore than our enemies do. You claimed that strange shaft of wind was
from him as well. That was hours ago and the ship has been chasing their vessel the whole time. How far could they be to have him reach us with magic?

“He is a mage! He shouldn’t have the power to do such a thing,” the man reaffirmed his disbelief in protest.

Hyren mused, “If a mage can do it, then a wizard might be able to as well, Themenor. If this strange mage saves our lives, perhaps you can ask for a lesson.”

Sputtering, the air wizard retorted as nonplused as the warlocks running about on deck, “A wizard asking a mage for a lesson on magic? Are you insane, Hyren?”

The man shrugged with a slight smile on his face.

Ashleen warned the men, “Keep it down before someone hears you. Now we just need to find a way to free ourselves to help them save us.”

It was Hyren who responded, “I wish that it were so easy. If only your friend had managed to break our bonds as well.”

“We can’t leave it to a Bas to get us out of this,” the girl stated before nearly begging. “Now try and think of a way to break free.”

The three wizards were forced to wait as they worked in vain to free themselves, however.

A spotter cried out from the crow’s nest high above the deck.

Sebastian waited with the others ready for battle. The frigate was armed with cannon, but he wasn’t sure even cold iron could penetrate the might of a curse spell. He had spotted the wood windows for the enemy’s cannon and there were a handful on the deck as well.

The black ship was larger than the Sea Dragon and probably held a larger force, but it was the warlocks and their magic that was their real danger.

“Ready the cannon and ready wizards!” he ordered. It was Annalicia’s ship, but for this battle the mage had control of their forces. A small spot in the back of his mind cried that he wasn’t ready, but Sebastian was a falcon and knew that he had to be ready.

Moving to the high foredeck, the mage watched as the black ship moved to intercept. They had managed to keep the enemy from realizing that they knew where they were, though perhaps Sebastian’s arrows had given away that they had been discovered. He had tried to confuse them as to where they were and, as the black ship altered course to meet the frigate, Bas was pretty sure that they had been caught slightly off guard. Instead of chasing their prey, the prey had turned the tables to chase them.

The distance shortened quickly and Sebastian tested the enemy with another light arrow. Seeing the red barrier flicker to life blocking his arrow, the mage knew that it would take more than that to defeat the enemy.

“We’re going to have to work together, Bas,” Yara stated seeing the enemy’s shield from his side.

Nodding, the man picked up the wrapped staff of Bairh’loore. His wizard staff, though he was the mage that had created the artifact of power, was one point of contest for Yara in his plans, but he had won out.

“I still don’t think you should use that, Bas,” the girl warned nervously. “You know what it did to you in the tournament and Darius gave us that warning about tapping the earth for power.” Her words stopped as she realized that they were at sea. The dirt making up the bed of the sea was far beneath them. “How will you use it without the earth to power your staff anyway?”

Knowing he was about to get another lecture, the mage confided, “I snuck onto the deck to test that theory.”

A slap to the arm and an accusatory, “Bas!” was his quick punishment.

“Do you remember that last time I pulled power to save Annalicia during the last fight of the tournament?”

Frowning at him, Yara stated in annoyance, “You mean when you tapped the earth without even using the staff and nearly killed yourself in the process?”

Despite her words, the man nodded, “I didn’t just get the power I needed from the earth. We were on a stone wall fifty or sixty feet up. The higher you go the more separation there is even with the stone wall to conduct some of the power. I received energy from the air as well.

“A wizard can use power beyond his own not just from the earth, but any of the elements. Water has a different kind of energy, but with the ship and Bairh’loore I can moderate more power than I can hold in my body.

“We may need the extra power to break their curse barrier.”

Yara sighed and reminded him, “You and I broke the castle barriers together. We didn’t need Bairh’loore or to tap the earth in some other way.”

Leaning in to kiss the pretty blond on the cheek before standing up straight to watch the oncoming black sails, Sebastian mused. “I think we tapped into a different force that day. We have a bond that is different from any others here. Collin and Nara might have the same thing in the near future, but our time on the island connected us to make both of us stronger. Together I think we can do more than any two wizards trying to share power.”

“Are you trying to saying we tapped into the power of love?” Yara played with the words in amusement to tease him.

Slapping the healer on the butt making her squeak, Bas laughed, “Something like that. Anyway with Bairh’loore as back up, I am hoping that we can defeat anything they throw at us.

“This isn’t going to be an easy fight. Anyone who can use that level of magic is truly dangerous.”

The time had come and the two ships came at each other passing with only a short distance between them.

“Water and air defenses ready! Shield teams ready!” their leader ordered as they began to cross into cannon range.

Booms of cannon fire shook the Sea Dragon as the ship’s forward deck guns fired. As they continued to pass each cannon would boom delivering its payload into the other ship. Echoes of the enemy’s cannons with accompanying light and smoke made ears ring on both sides.

Winds gusted driving back arrows. Waves rose in swirling spouts or massive walls absorbing balls of iron. Iron could break magic shields if pure, but the mass of the waves could not be destroyed as easily.

Fireballs were lobbed by Serrena, the three battle mages and a handful of Malaiy wizards borrowed for a fight everyone aboard needed to win. Malaiy and Southwall alike, they were all in this fight.

As expected the red glass met the fire just beyond the wood of the ship, and the warlocks fired black bolts in exchange. Spells of night, Sebastian ordered up the black shields that he had taught them. Collin anchored the defense with the mages and other wizards not engaged in air and water defense. Shields met the ebony bolts and held. Beams of light from the warlocks were met by the blue energy of battle mage shields in turn countering the reversal.

He could see disbelief among the warlocks. Arguing began and the two ships were quickly beyond the range of cannon. A new game began. The ships both turned away trying to use the wind efficiently to bring them back around to attack once more. If they could beat their enemy to a superior angle, they might be able to fire from a position that would receive minimal retaliation.

Minutes passed mind numbingly slow. Wizards and mages took drinks and ate snacks. The upside of naval battles was the time between passes. On the other hand, with magic, no one could become too complacent. Sebastian chose to remind his enemies of that fact.

“Light,” he charged the Hollow Sword with the spell and swung the blade in attack at the bow of the black ship. Knowing to close his eyes after the last time, the sword magnified the magic launching the light in a cutting arc.

Opening his eyes as the attack met the red shielding, he watched as it cracked. Pieces of the light spell slipped through the ward striking sails and the third mast. Holes in cloth would slow the black ship’s movement giving the Sea Dragon an advantage, especially if he could do it a few more times.

Surprise and confusion could be seen on the deck of their enemy. He had little time to relish the minor victory as the two ships finished their turns coming back in line to attack again.

“Yara, hold onto me. It’s time to show them what we can do.”