Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) (45 page)

Yara had slept much of the next day after her efforts and many of the team and crew remained exhausted into the second day. The wizard hunters had pushed them to their extreme, but they had prevailed and most were alive to see another day.

His eyes strayed from the sky to watch some of his friends as they tried to enjoy the day and put the death and fighting behind them. Ashleen had become fast friends with Annalicia. The two air wizards shared common magic and now the lady’s clothes as well. Ashleen was only slightly bigger than the petite Malaiy wizard and the northern woman looked as stunning in the soft silk sundresses that Anna liked to wear. She had even found dresses in her favorite colors apparently. Like a shopping trip in an elite tailor’s store, Ashleen had come back with stories of all the rich clothes that the Malaiy lady had brought along for the trip to Hala. 

With the warm weather, many had begun following Anna’s barefoot ways. Her sailors were first but Ashleen didn’t have her clothes so that meant she had come barefoot anyway. As long as she and the others were on the warm decking, it mattered little at least. Sebastian found Serrena and Yara in their spring dresses and bare feet looking almost like the little girls he had once watched as a boy in his home town of Mera. It gave him a warm feeling in the middle of so much darkness.

He looked south and tried to be positive.

“Hmmm, you almost look like a sea captain or sailor looking out over the waves,” Yara remarked as she and Ashleen walked up to visit with the mage on the foredeck. Turning to face the girls looking like spring time in their pale yellow and light blue dresses, Sebastian raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

Ashleen shook her head, and remarked, “Yes, but there is something wrong with this picture.”

Hands reached for the base of his shirt batting his arms out of the way. The dark brown falcon shirt was part of his uniform and they were all he had taken in his pack. Pulling the shirt completely over his head, the girls didn’t have the garment in mind at all as Yara tossed it on the deck and admired his muscular upper body.

Rolling his eyes and sighing, Sebastian didn’t fight the attention as Yara and then Ashleen stroked his chest and stomach a moment before stepping back. Yara had always enjoyed playing with him when they had snuck away together and he was used to her touch. A little bit of a jealous look made its way into the healer’s eyes noting the other girl’s interest after a moment, however.

There had been a little bit of tension between the two almost from day one. Unfortunately for Sebastian, he knew that he was the cause of it. The girls had tried to bury it and been friendly enough, but there were times where he could read their minds through their eyes. Both were beautiful and he knew had he met Ashleen first, the situation could easily have been in reverse. There was nothing he could truly do to change things. He was committed to Yara and had given more than just his heart to the girl.

The look passed as the two stepped back and nodded to each other.

“Much better,” Yara said first, but was echoed by Ashleen.

“Will you be joining my crew working on the ship now?” Annalicia asked as she moved towards the three with Serrena in tow. Both had smiles of amusement playing at their lips watching the two girls teasing Sebastian.

Just what he needed, the mage thought. So much for being a leader, when the women in his life could manipulate him this easily. He noticed Collin and Liam laughing at the situation while Nara merely smiled as she leaned against Collin. The nature wizard was barefoot, but being more practical the woman still wore brown breeches and a green tunic with short sleeves. Her eyes stole to Collin appraisingly before Sebastian’s vision was pulled back to the women closest to him.

“I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be much of a sailor, Anna,” he replied trying to ignore the feeling of just being their eye candy and source of amusement at the same time. Perhaps it was just their way of getting back at the quiet mage, who watched others often and admired the beauty of all these women from time to time. “I will just have to stick with being a mere battle mage, I think.”

Serrena looked especially evil as she mentioned to the others, “I wonder if we could get more off of him?”

Yara’s face pinched slightly at the thought, but Bas was faster. “Reflex,” he stated the spell and slipped from their tightening circle. Jumping up onto the rail of the deck, the battle mage felt his footing as steady as if the ship were not moving. Walking the rail backwards as he kept his eyes on the flirtatious women, Sebastian wagged his finger warningly. “Ladies, we are not on some vacation cruise. I know we’ve been cooped up for over three weeks, but we’re still on a mission here.”

Seeing worry on all their faces at his daring escape and even more dangerous walk along the rail, Sebastian leaped down rolling past the girls catching up his shirt. Once more dressed appropriately as he finished the roll and stood up, the mage added, “We also still have the enemy’s ships lurking ahead of us, so you may want to be a little more ready.”

He was sweating a little, but not from the warmth of the sun and shirt on his back. Sebastian had lived a quiet and solitary life amidst the training of White Hall. Women were still quite a mystery to him in many ways. One less mystery was that getting too many of a similarly playful sort together could prove dangerous for him.

“Land ahead,” the cry from above warned and Sebastian wished he could thank the man wholeheartedly.

“Freedom,” he released his mind and moved to the winds after taking hold of a rail. He could see the disappointment on the girls faces as he had not only eluded their grasp but had quite literally jumped ship with his mind. 

The island ahead of them was not charted or even mentioned by the locals when he had tried to get information on the portion of the sea called Four Ways by the sailors of the island. Men avoided the area, since it had been a danger for generations going back nearly to the Cataclysm.

Once in the air, the wind rider climbed a bit higher gaining perspective on both the island and the sea around it. There wasn’t just one island in his sight, but a small chain of islands. They had their own natural protection due to black porous stone jutting up in jagged teeth to the north and east. Perhaps the stone raised from beneath the ground by the Dark One’s twisting had created underwater volcanoes in the area which had spewed the dark rock and created some of the other islands. A coral reef had also formed between some of the other islands. The ocean waves became choppier there reacting to the coral that was sometimes only covered by mere feet.

Seeing the underwater dangers beneath the surface so clearly as a wind rider made him understand how so many ships could have been lost here. Without knowledge and the right size ship, a vessel could easily be destroyed and left for debris.

Sebastian returned to the northern island to check the west end. The natural harbor just south of the jagged teeth looked sheltered and calm. A beach ran along the entire western side hemmed in by the lush forest holding most of the remaining island. It would be safe to anchor, but he wondered if they should waste the time. There was no dot leading to the island. There was no artifact of the Grimnal to find at all.

Moving along the island he followed the reef to the next which was a short distance from the first. Similar to the first, he thought a strong swimmer or someone in a small boat could make the trip fairly
easily. He would have continued through the remaining islands, if he didn’t need to report back before they neared the dangerous outer rocks of the archipelago.

A lot of eyes were on the battle mage when he returned, and he started with the word of warning, “There are a lot of rocks that could break a ship and a coral reef wanders between the islands. It would certainly be easy to see why ships might not make it back if they weren’t careful here.”

Annalicia inquired quickly as the owner of the vessel, “Do we plan to stop and check any of them out, Sebastian? The crew could probably use a little break after three weeks and the battle.”

Collin nodded as someone who still fought seasickness from time to time, “Half a day in Trillian and Karas, where most of the crew didn’t even leave the ship for more than an hour or so; is too little time for shore leave and it has been a long trip.”

Seeing that most of them felt the same, Sebastian understood their feelings. Some of the crew had spent a little time on Crab Island and Temple Island, but those had hardly been pleasure visits and fewer still landed on Maldus Island. More than three weeks aboard a ship with virtually no breaks was beginning to weigh on them all. He broached one last worry, “What about the black ships?”

A surprising remark from Maura answered him first, “They already have a lead on us and know where to go. You can’t outrun them and running the crew ragged won’t make them any readier for a fight. We barely beat one ship. You’ll be pushing it with two. We may as well take a day to rest them.

“But you are in command,” she added with a tilt of the head and a wave of her hand.

If even the normally business first researcher felt a need for a rest, and she might after the battle’s close calls and resulting deaths among their crew, then perhaps it was worth the time spent. Shrugging, Sebastian replied, “If everyone is of the same mind, then we need to alter course to enter a small harbor on the west side of the north island. There are too many dangerous areas to the north and east for the Sea Dragon.”

Annalicia gave him a smile and went to the captain with the decision and recommended course change. With a break coming, most of the crowd broke to watch as the island grew closer.

From the remaining few, Yara smiled and said, “I think it’s a good decision. We do need a break. It is beginning to feel like we’ve had to fight every inch of this journey.”

Collin and Nara nodded in agreement and even Sebastian felt the same when it was put that way. “True,” he began, “though I felt there might be some challenges to finding the Grimnal when the idea was broached, I never envisioned the Dark Emperor guarding his whereabouts so fiercely. If ever I wondered if the man was still alive, I think it has been answered. No one would guard the dead so determinedly.”

“You’re probably right,” Collin agreed, but continued, “but if he is alive why hasn’t he found a way back to his home?”

Ashleen brought up another question, “After almost two hundred years, does he even think of it as home? The world was rebuilt and changed during the Cataclysm. His home isn’t even the same as it was three hundred years ago let alone since.”

Shrugging, the battle mage replied, “They are all good questions, but until we find him, we won’t have any answers. He still has family and nations that remember him as a legendary hero to come home to, but we won’t know his mind until we find him.

“Now you all wanted this little vacation, so let’s stop talking about our mission and think about taking a break,” he finished shooing them away.

The Sea Dragon sat anchored about five hundred feet out from the beach with a skeleton crew watching enviously from the deck as the remaining crew and their passengers enjoyed the beauty and warmth of a summer like day. In Southwall, they were maybe just beginning to feel the warmer air of spring, but this far south it was closer to summer.

Sebastian looked at the cook fires on the beach and dozens frolicking in the shallow water. The ladies wore only underwear bottoms and tops, which for most was bikini like. Nara who was a little more conservative wore shorts, while most of the men were enjoying not having to wear their shirts.

Food had been broken from their stores and meat roasted with vegetables scenting the air making everyone hungry. Swimmers paused long enough to come eat the grilled foods and some lay on the grass near the edge of the beach.

Sebastian had made sure to check the forestation before allowing the crew to let down their guard. It wouldn’t be the first place that seemed safe that they had found danger, but the island seemed to be what it appeared, an island paradise. Standing off to the side watching over his people, Sebastian waited as Yara, returning from playing in the water, took some of the grilled food on a plate brought from the ship to join him.

Dressed in only her winter top, thicker than her light weight underclothes for modesty, and white cotton bottom, the beautiful blond looking a little red from the sun still looked incredible to him. She could see from his look how much he enjoyed her form and smiled after swallowing a bite of the grilled carrot.

“You could join us, you know,” the pretty girl said as she stepped into the shade of the trees. “Just because you’re our leader doesn’t mean you can’t have any fun.”

He smiled and wrapped an arm around her as they stood alone watching the others. “I hate to say it, but I’ve always been like this. While I manage to be friends with people and enjoy company, it is also nice to be able to be in quiet for a change.”

The sound of sea waves canceled most of the sound of the frolickers and those enjoying the grass further away. Birds were in the trees making sound deeper into the forest as well. They didn’t have to speak loudly, but the world seemed to insulate them in a bubble of sound.

A slight frown crossed the girl’s forehead. “If you need quiet, I can head back to the others.”

Moving behind Yara, he put his arms around her waist saying, “Quiet isn’t just the sound and it doesn’t mean I need to be alone. Certainly I’ve never had a reason to not be with you.”