Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) (47 page)

After her change, the woman sitting before Frell pled with her captors, “Please let us go.”

Frell snorted and replied sarcastically, “Not likely. You tried to kill our men, but I would still like to know to why.”

Eyes filled with concern, the mermaid looked to Sebastian, who remained separated from his body just to be safe. She had dark hair tied into a pony tail and with dark purple eyes that had actually become more human with her change. All the mermaids had eyes almost completely colored to the edge with almost no white. Their pupils were much larger as well and even in the waning light, the women were blinking in their mermaid forms as if it were too bright.

“Nara, let the rest of them change, but make sure that they can’t escape,” Sebastian requested of the tired wizard.

Brushing her brown hair back as a few loose strands had fallen into her eyes as she fought with her spells, Nara flicked her head back before nodding to the mage. A simple twist of her fingers adjusted the vines wrapping around them to allow the remaining mermaids to use their hands. Simple commands changed the women to human form and their language changed with their legs.

The woman in his arms had dark hair as well while only one of the women broke that mold. She looked to be their youngest and was blond. Like the rest, she looked fearful, but not of them, he thought.

Frell continued to point her sword at the woman in front of her and she grilled the mermaid fiercely, “You still haven’t explained why you tried to kill our crew. Why shouldn’t we just kill you instead? We won’t have to worry about your magic anymore.”

A little defiance returned to the woman’s eyes. “They forced us to do it,” she nearly spat the words. “The rest of our people are held prisoner and will be killed if we fail, but we can’t use our magic in these forms. We need the water to enchant your men.”

“Who holds your people?” Sebastian asked and noticed Frell and Serrena frown at his apparent pity for the women.

The woman in his arms looked like she could be a sister of the woman in Frell’s charge and she looked to try her womanly charms on him as she turned to answer the mage. “Corradine Nall led a band capturing some of our children. When we tried to save them, she captured the rest of my people and forced us to work for them.”

“Pirates?” Frell asked the woman in front of her.

“They use us to lure away the crews of any ships that come close. There have been few, but like yours we used our songs and most drowned. We have saved the ones we could, but they watch us closely enough that we only have a little time when they are looting the ships.” Her eyes showed sadness for the ones killed by their magic, but Frell wasn’t going for it.

“Why can’t you use your magic on them and free your people?”

The dark haired woman sighed, “They have wizards which have nullified our magic near their fort. We can maybe get their raiding party, but not before they would kill everyone in their prison.

“They made us change to human with our amulets and then either stole or broke all save these six. We only have these to use our magic for their purposes. When we go to the fortress they make us change and take our amulets until we need them again.”

Sebastian thought about the problem and made a decision. “Take them back to the ship and wake everyone as you go,” he said to the ladies surrounding him. “I’ll scout for this fortress and if it looks the way they say, then we’ll see. Ashleen, stay here to guard my body while I am gone.”

He knew there would be objections with his choice of guards, but the wilder was formidable and her lightning would be noticeable if a fight should occur. Not waiting to hear the complaints, the battle mage moved to the south looking for the fortress the mermaids had spoken about.

With the islands being so close together, it didn’t take Sebastian long to find it. A large compound with an outer wall of wood was built less to keep people out and more to keep their prisoners inside. Six towers along the outer walls guarded the twenty foot wall with an inner walkway built four feet lower than the outer logs. Built of roughly square planks, the walkway was built on a scaffold of wood beams and braces. It wouldn’t take much for a wizard or battle mage to break through alone, but without magic it was enough to keep out any animals that couldn’t climb.

Set up like a fort, several wood buildings stood to one side looking very basic for living, but they only had to hold the number of pirates living inside the walls he supposed. On the other side of the compound sat three covered cages large enough to hold more than a dozen people in each. Men, women and children dressed similarly to the mermaids were divided between the three cages verifying their story for Sebastian.

Looking closer, the mage looked for traps and flaws in the design. If they were going to help these people, he needed to know how best to take down the pirates without endangering the prisoners. First, he noted that the cages looked like simple wood bars crossing each other reminding him of stalls for keeping animals. Surrounding each cage was a foot wide path of oil soaked tinder. If someone tried to free the captives, they would seek to burn them all alive the mage thought angrily.

He looked for the means of lighting them and noted a bored looking man sitting nearby. Sebastian could sense magic about him and figured this to be one of the fire wizards the women had mentioned. As he searched, he found the two nearest towers had archers with flame pots sitting near their feet. It wasn’t for heat in this climate, so the mage could assume these were the back up to a wizard who decided not to go through with the plan.

They would have to be taken out in such a way as to avoid raising an alarm and the mage was pretty sure that he could arrange that. Another source of magic could be felt from within the largest building east of the cages. At least two more wizards were running with these pirates and that meant he would have to ensure that neither of these could accomplish anything more. Beyond them, the compound looked to only be guarded by perhaps a score of men. He could feel a magical barrier around the compound similar to his air shield. Testing it, Sebastian entered the shield and noticed the sounds of the woods and waves disappear immediately. It was a shield against the siren songs, which meant that was how they avoided being caught off guard by the women as they sang. He wasn’t sure what enchantments kept the raiding parties safe, but this scouting mission wasn’t about them.

As he watched a wild looking red haired woman strode out of the large building backed by one of the wizards and another man. She shouted to the guard tower to the northwest, “Any sign of the raiding party, Thoman?”

“No sign yet, captain,” the man called back down.

“What is taking those idiots so long? Those mermaids better not have decided to get a backbone and turned on us,” the woman frowned as she spoke aloud. Her eyes went to the captives and Bas noticed several shrunk back in fear.

“Their song can’t break the enchantment protecting them and if they fail to sing they know what will happen to them,” the wizard stated from her shoulder.

She nodded. “We’ll give them a little more time, but ready a pair of scouts with the enchantments. They may have to go check on the mermaids through the forest. If they’re not singing and doing their jobs,... well I guess there will be a lot of cooked fish people,” the women stated loudly and received whimpers from the several of the beaten people.

He had no time to waste the mage realized and retreated back to his body startling Ashleen when he stirred.

“Well?” she asked.

“Their people are definitely captives of these pirates. The raiders sent out haven’t brought back the ship or loot, so I can assume Maura threw a wrench in their plan. We need to hurry and put together our own plan. Come on,” Sebastian urged the wilder to follow by taking her hand in his. He missed the girl’s brief look of enjoyment at his touch as he hurried back down the beach.

By the time they were back to the cook site, Ashleen was looking winded by the quick pace set by the battle mage. A boat was waiting for them along with Collin and Nara, the latter being there in case of a second surprise siren spell. The mermaids had told them they were the only ones capable of the spell, but having the nature wizard there ready was a necessary precaution.

Collin smiled and quickly updated him on their status, “Maura must have known a counter spell to the weird song. She cast some sound deadening shield that kept the men from jumping off the Sea Dragon. When two boats loaded with pirates showed up to loot the ship, they found Idenlare and Vewen ready with the remaining crew.

“It wasn’t much of a fight from what they say. They captured most, though a few weren’t so willing to give in at first.”

Sebastian nodded as the longboat started back for the ship with the remaining two returned from their mission. “Did anyone think to ask what the pirates do with the ships? Do they simply raid and sink it or do they take it back to the fort?”

Looking a little at a loss, the earth wizard sat quietly realizing he didn’t know the answer. Nara jumped in for her boyfriend, “We didn’t stay long after learning that the ship was secure. Collin and I went to wait for you. If the others have asked that question we weren’t there for it.” The woman sounded almost annoyed at his slight to those waiting to give him a ride back to the ship.

He smiled gratefully and replied, “And I appreciate you waiting for us. It would have been a long swim for me.”

Collin smiled in return, but Nara still looked slightly annoyed.

Ignoring her ill will for the moment, Sebastian went on, “If they tend to take the ship, which I would do if I were them, then we will need to send the Sea Dragon down to the next island before the pirates kill the hostages. If they just leave the ship and return with their longboats, then we will need to mimic their movements instead. Their leader is getting anxious so I need to make the right move as quickly as I can.”

“So we are going to help them,” Ashleen clarified for them.

“I can’t leave these people slaves to these pirates or worse left to burn to death while I can do something about it,” he assured them as he lapsed into silence trying to lay out in his mind the steps needed to save the captive merfolk and disable the pirates.

Once they were onboard, Sebastian quickly asked the mermaids about how the pirates worked. They told him and it was as he had believed.

“All right, we’ll drag their longboats behind the Sea Dragon and hide most of the crew. Take the pirates that we’ve captured down to the store room or cargo hold, wherever we have the room to hide them.

“I won’t be able to lead this group,” he looked to Annalicia and Maura standing there listening to his mind work quickly. “Anna, have the captain take the ship at half sail to the next island and look for a river or deep harboring point as close as he can manage. Maura, if more pirates come down from the fortress, you can’t let them realize that their men have been captured. Have Idenlare delay them until I can give a signal.”

He wanted to make sure to include the woman and Idenlare could pass for one of the pirates long enough to buy him some time.

“I’ll need Nara, Captain Drayden and my battle mage team to come back with me. Liam, can you assist us with a swim?” The water wizard nodded and Sebastian continued, “Then we need to head back to the mermaid’s ambush point and cross the channel.”

“We could help,” the dark haired mermaid that seemed to be the leader of the six offered. “If we had the amulets, we could swim you all across and help any other way you might need. We want to save our people.”

Frowning slightly as he wondered if he could trust the mermaids to follow his orders, Sebastian realized he was less worried about trust. These women had too much to lose, if they failed, to worry over a double cross. Seeing his eyes giving askance, the spokeswoman introduced herself, “I am Yaroma. My sisters and I want to help.”

He could see some of his team looking unsure of the mermaids, but the mage only needed to ask, “Will you be able to run fast enough to keep up with us? I noticed that you don’t seem that used to walking on land.”

A half smile played at her lips, “If we had our tails, we could swim back to the channel faster than you can get back to shore.”

He had Annalicia and Serrena hand the amulets back to the girls. Pointing to the south, the mage ordered the women, “Meet us there and don’t do anything until we meet you. I don’t want you six going off and getting your people killed. I have a plan.”

Yaroma nodded and made her sisters, as she called them, promise as well, “We will alter our change to be able to speak your language still and wait for you at the channel.”

Jumping over the rail as they changed, the mermaids hurried back to their position. Sebastian and his team hurried back to boat. He caught Yara’s hand gesture a little wave as her eyes revealed some concern. Giving her a wink, the mage climbed back down to the longboat below to return for the run back to the channel.

Nara and Frell expressed their concern about a betrayal as the team set a strong pace in a near run down the beach. He assured them that they were as much a safe guard as he needed, but Sebastian didn’t fear a betrayal. He had seen the cages.

As they jogged, the mage informed him of their part in the plan. “Nara will need to use her magic on the wood walls when she gets to the fort. Mecklin, Olan and Frell will accompany her through the forest and wait for the guards in the towers to fall asleep before doing anything. It will require stealth so it is up to you until Liam, Drayden and I can get to you.”

Frell asked the question brought to mind by his explanation, “Their guards will fall asleep? All of them? You said there are six towers and at least one wizard guarding the captives.”

“I am pretty sure that I have a solution that will take care of them without killing them. If it doesn’t work, I will be forced to take them out with wind arrows. Either way I will use my wind riding to strike from this island while you four move through the forest to the wall. Once I take out everyone I see, we will join you and help mop up.”

The blond haired falcon looked stunned by his answer, but she had seen him accomplish far more in her time following the young mage. She didn’t question him anymore than the others did and they were at the channel with little more to say.

Yaroma stood on the beach on human legs waiting while her pod waiting in the channel to do their part.

“We will be sending four across now,” he informed the woman.

She nodded and called to the young, blond haired mermaid, “Shefar to me.” Turning to the mage once more, Yaroma added, “She is young, but if we need to bring three at once, my little sister and I can pull you all.”

Looking unhappy to change back to human, the blond haired mermaid used her amulet to change and joined the rest on the beach. The girl quickly sat between them and the water as she waited for her task.

The four that would go ahead waded into the water and were ferried by the mermaids across the channel in short order before disappearing into the forest on the other side.

Sebastian looked to the west for the Sea Dragon, but the beach had turned back west and large stones protruded from the ocean masking it. Too small to be called islands, the rocky protrusions were tall and flat and sometimes ten to twenty feet across.

“Can you have one or two of your sisters move past the rocks to let us know when the Sea Dragon is close to the pirate’s harbor?” he asked and the woman called out to the mermaids. Two moved to the west quickly while the other two made the swim back to them to help when they were ready.

After twenty minutes, the two scouts came swimming back pointing behind them to let him know the Sea Dragon was crossing in front of the next island. With that cue, the battle mage took to the winds.

Riding over the forest, the mage could see the ship sailing slowly southward towards the small harbor hidden beyond the trees from him. He hoped the others had hurried to the wall, but knew that even if they were there he wouldn’t see them. Sebastian might feel their magic slightly, but they were hidden with stealth spells making them nearly impossible to sense. It was a small matter and the battle mage moved into position to try his spell.

Moving into range to see the wizard sitting on a chair leaning back against the outer wall, Sebastian thought he was probably close to sleeping from boredom anyway so no one would notice if he were to fall asleep on the job. “Sleep arrow,” his body mumbled startling those around him. Raising his left hand before him like he was holding a bow, his right pulled back an arrow that looked much like a small wind spear. He was merging the two kinds of magic in an attempt to send his spell across the distance to the fortress.

Releasing the arrow, the battle mage guided the shaft into the compound striking the wizard. He jumped a little and nearly fell off of his chair, but he was sound asleep within seconds.

He moved to the closer of the two archers guarding the captives, and sent another arrow. Sitting on his stool already, the archer simply slumped against the wood wall of his enclosure asleep. Repeating it twice more, the second fire archer and near guard in the middle tower joined their sleeping fellows when the door opened letting the redhead back into the courtyard.

It was getting dark as the last rays of the setting sun were being blocked by the forest to the west. The trees were supposed to hide the fort from any passersby from the west, while the east was more protected by dangerous jutting stones and the reef.

“Thoman!” the woman yelled to the western guard and one that wasn’t asleep yet. “Where is that ship at?”

Scanning the west, the man pointed to the tops of the three masts working their way into the harbor. “I see the masts, captain. They have it in the harbor.”

Shouting back inside the building, Corradine Nall pounded on the door frame trying to excite the men to move, “Come on, you louts, let’s go see what kind of haul we’ve brought in this time!”

Various complaints came from within, but soon a dozen men exited belting on swords, including two of their wizards. Hurrying after their pirate captain, the men ignored all but the loot they expected to find in the harbor. Corradine shouted a last reminder to her guards to watch the prisoners and headed out of the wood gate.

Sebastian waited for the gate to be secured by a pair of pirates inside before finishing his work. The far tower guard within easy shot of the prisoners was next followed by the last two to the west. Walking back towards the main building, the pirates on the ground with mugs of ale in hand never even noticed them fall into their chairs. Singing a bawdy song, the two men walked with arms over the friend’s shoulder acting like they didn’t have a care in the world.

Releasing two arrows at once, the mage took out the carolers before they were halfway to the building. He fired a last wind arrow striking a wood post making up the guard wall with a reduced thud. It was his signal to Nara and the others that it was all clear.

The nature wizard released her invisibility spell and began to work on the wall. Made of wood, it quickly moved at her command letting the battle mages enter the compound through a newly made door.

Sebastian followed the wind quickly back to his body and stated to those remaining, “They’re in. Let’s go.”

Both mermaids’ faces brightened at the thought of freeing their friends and families. Yaroma and Shefar quickly moved to the water changing back into mermaid form as the men waded into the channel.

Yaroma pulled Sebastian through the water like a dolphin cutting through the waves. Shefar assisted the captain, but their water wizard decided to show off using his magic. Hardening the water, Liam strode across the surface as he ran forward. As quick as he moved, the mermaids easily outpaced the wizard, but he was on land by the time the women had changed back to their human forms to run through the forest.

The mermaids were barefoot and uncomfortable with their forms and soon all but Yaroma fell behind. Their part was over, so Sebastian hurried onward with his men and the remaining mermaid.

Chapter 30- The Nature of Fire

While the sky still held blue above the archipelago, the world beneath the forest canopy was already dark. Night ruled as the four Southwallers neared the shadowy wall of the fort. As much prison as defense, the place appalled Nara as much as any of them. She had not complained when Sebastian had decided to help these people. The nature wizard strove to preserve life in her profession and these people, no matter how foreign, were still being used by cruel taskmasters.

The sound of the wind arrow striking the wood wall was the warning signal that the mage had promised. Letting her spell go as she trusted in his skill to safely put the enemy to sleep, Nara moved forward calling the power of nature. In a simple gesture, the wood trunks used for the barrier flowed and shifted to create a large door for the four to enter the compound.

Mecklin gestured for Olan to join him as he moved quietly to the doors of the main building. They had been warned ahead of time that there could be trouble there. Sebastian had warned of wizards and more pirates waiting on the return of their fellows and they would not take any chances on being caught off guard.

Nara, with Frell guarding her back, moved to examine the cages holding the frightened merfolk. The closest held several women and children ranging from only about ten to one young woman holding her fragile baby in her arms. The nature wizard’s anger for such cruel treatment of another life rose inside her, but she could feel magic and worried over a trap. It was a horrible trap that wasn’t designed to hurt those outside, but was aimed instead at killing those held prisoner.

The mermaids had said that the pirates threatened their people’s lives and this spell felt malevolent.

Frell moved towards a bound gate. Appearing like mere rope wrapped around the poles of wood making up the gate and cage, it would seem easy enough to free the captives. It looked so simple that they could wonder why the merfolk hadn’t simply untied the rope themselves.

“Stop,” Nara warned the mage before an impetuous move cost anyone’s life. “There’s magic here and I think that it is designed to kill these people if the cage is tampered with at all.”

Frell frowned and asked as she crouched before the gate, “Can you disarm it? We could always break a different part of the cage and remove them from there instead.”

Looking at the magic closely, the nature wizard noted the crude but effective way the magic worked. These wizards seemed barely trained in the use of magic. She wondered if they were merely wilders that had managed to survive without any training, or were they the type to start with one of the schools only to drop out when they grew dissatisfied with those who taught them how to respect the power. Nara had known a few wizards that had dropped out when they were young. Most had a problem with the authority figures trying to mold them into true wizards of skill and maturity.

She looked for the lines wrapping each pole. Strands of power went into the oil soaked tinder lining the ground along the outer part of the cage. It was all tied together, the wizard could tell.

An older woman moved closer. Her dark hair seemed the most common for the folk living here. Legends of merfolk told her little of what they looked like or how they were as individuals. Yaroma and her sisters were concerned for their families and friends as anyone of Southwall would be. That was a point that united them all as people, she realized and ignored the fact that they once lived beneath the sea.

“Can you help us?” the woman asked in the broken common that most used in the countries of both North and Taltan to the south.

Frell answered as Nara worked, “That’s why we’re here. Do any of you know what they did to the cages?”

“Our clan has no true wizards. Only the girls who can sing have any magic,” she replied.

Nara had worked out the design of the magical trap and began to work the threads of power carefully. Her hands moved like a child playing with string in a cat’s cradle. Each move had to have purpose and adjust the threads carefully or the trap would go off killing the people inside their prison.

Quiet gasps as horizontal bars stretched and curved vertically came from within. Ignoring the frightened people, Nara pushed the vertical bars aside gently as possible. Using her magic to fill in the gaps that might otherwise occur to trigger the deadly fire magic, the nature wizard finished her work on the first cage.