Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11) (23 page)

Sebastian frowned slightly. With the stones removed, there had to be magic remaining inside the girl preventing her change. Asking permission before placing his hand on the girl, Sebastian said, "Is it all right to touch you? I can probably reach out with my magic, but contact is easier."

At her nod and reply, "Of course, I can remove my shirt too if you need to see my skin as well, though the pieces were inside of me and I could never see them at all."

He shook his head and said, "No, just a touch. Heal."

With his hand on her forearm, the owl used his magic to move into the body of Cheleya. His eyes closed. The mage could feel everything about her and marveled that she felt like any human he had ever healed. Both Ashleen and Yara, who he had known intimately using their shared ability to heal, were different only in shape. Little things were different because all humans were unique to a point, but nothing was glaringly different about her until he looked deeper searching for the magic trapping her.

He started with her forehead and noted something odd. "Ashleen, could you grab some paper quickly."

Opening his eyes, Sebastian saw a thick handful of paper stolen from the desk in front that Serrena had steered the wilder too. The fire wizard had been to the school as well and knew that the front desk was the teacher's and often had supplies that students might need.

The sheets were large and Sebastian separated one from the pile unsure if he would actually need more. Closing his eyes, the mage held Cheleya's arm with his off hand and drew what he felt from the magic attached to the bone of her skull. It had a shape that felt like a rune. Drawing it was easy, since it was a fairly simple form. It also felt incomplete.

Moving to each point the girl had pointed to; Sebastian repeated drawing the runes he saw in the remaining magic. When he had finished with all nine points, the mage looked at what he had drawn. Then he picked up Kel'lor's amulet placing it beside the paper. Like a puzzle, he picked out the pieces of each rune he had drawn.

He took a second piece of paper after numbering the nine runes. Luckily he had thought to arrange them on the paper roughly in the position they held in the dragoness' body. On the second sheet, Sebastian placed the amulet in the center and redrew eight of the nine runes around the amulet making sure to put the number it corresponded with just outside of the circle of runes.

He lifted the amulet free and noted how each rune combined. Taking the last unused rune, the mage had to turn it to match the position on the amulet; but when he was finished they found the pattern of runes matched that on Kel'lor's amulet.

"The magic of the amulet was bonded to you beyond just the physical stone. When he placed them inside you, this wizard rearranged them making it impossible to change. The center was twisted and moved to your back. Those on your ribs are turned and out of place as well. Only the one on your forehead is roughly in place."

Cheleya looked surprised as were the rest looking over at the sheets of paper and amulet. The girl asked, "Is there anything that you think you can do to fix it?"

Chuckling, Sebastian nodded and said, "Actually it should be rather easy if it works like the runes I already use."

"Simple?" Cheleya disputed before countering with a frown of discontent. "I have had che'ther, who were familiar with the amulets, the healers at Hala, and High Wizard Darius all try to fix this; and you say that it is simple? I know that you may have wizard tendencies, but you are saying that you can fix this where a thousand year old che'ther and a seven hundred year old human wizard could not?"

He shrugged, "The rune magic is something none of those have seen most likely. I only know of two tribes that use similar markings and only one of those can use them for magic.

"Even someone a thousand years old, doesn't know everything. That should probably be of some comfort to us if the Dark One is as old as he is said to be."

Mecklin and Frell returned with a couple platters of food and bottles of water and juice. Sebastian took a moment to eat and drink a little to feed his reserves and restore his strength as much as he could. While the owl was pretty sure that the bonds of the runes, which had bound the curse to Cheleya, would respond similarly to those he knew; there was the possibility that the warlock magic known as a curse spell could have been involved.

He had come across a few pieces of such magic on his journey and been able to destroy some with the help of combining magic with Yara. If this was a similar spell, the mage wasn't sure he could force them to move at all. Hopefully, the spell used by a single caster could be countered in a similar way.

After eating and drinking his fill, Sebastian closed his eyes running his hand over the amulet once more to fix the markings in his mind. When he was certain that the pattern was fixed, the owl took Cheleya's hands with both of his hands. Used more as a gesture of support for the che'ther girl, only contact with Cheleya was really needed. Sebastian said, "I will try to pull the rune magic free of the different points and assemble them at the center of your chest. If they move the way I hope, I should be able to move them to your skin like the rune tattoos.

"If everything goes to plan, I think I can even remove them entirely; but let's see if the first part works before I start something else."

"Let's," Kel'lor grumped with his arms folded defensively. Sebastian looked to the mar'goyn'lya warily thinking that he would hate to have to try and fight off a disgruntled monster like him. He had defeated larger creatures like armored viles, but somehow he had a feeling Kel'lor would be more difficult than most of those if he were angry.

Nodding to the gargoyle and again to Cheleya, Sebastian uttered his single word to heal. The spell wasn't always used for what he said. It was just a word of power designed to send his mind into the body of another being. Unlike wizards, who had a set of words and gestures specifying nearly every exact detail of individual types of healing, the mage worked closer to the instinctual casting of a wilder.

He closed his eyes and entered the girl returning to the point on her forehead first. Pushing his magic into it like he had to copy runes, Sebastian worked to lift it free enough to make it move. Though the dragoness couldn't feel the change of the position of the rune, Sebastian could have placed his finger on it as it moved towards her chest.

Repositioning the marks and turning them to face the proper direction, Sebastian moved to the rune on the left side of her collarbone to repeat the process. Like assembling a puzzle consisting of just nine pieces, the mage made each of the nine runes leave their current places to reassemble them on the upper part of Cheleya's chest.

Once the owl had them all aligned, he slid them together and felt a new kind of magic as they drew together. He lifted the magical form from the girl's bones raising it to be seen like a glowing tattoo in the upper part of her chest. Between her smallish breasts where the breast bone joined the ribs, the circle resembling Kel'lor's amulet could be seen by those watching.

Cheleya looked down to see what everyone else had already noticed. Kel'lor stepped forward looking at the glowing skin with wide eyes, but looked unsure of what to do with his hands. The others moved slightly closer unable to stop their feet. Sebastian had pulled off another miracle and they could all feel it.

Sebastian released the girl's hands and stated, "This should work the same as your amulet did before it was broken and rearranged. We should probably try the next part outside in an area where Cheleya can have room to change into a che'ther."

They all noted the limited space and thought that a dragon, even a small one, might wind up crushing all the humans inside the closed room.

Tossing the amulet back to Kel'lor, Sebastian rolled up the sheets with the drawings of the runes of the amulet. If this was one of Mar'kal's secrets, having it in his mind would be the only copy once he used fire to burn the drawings. Until they were certain that everything had worked, however, the owl didn't want to destroy them before they were sure. He only had one chance at seeing the runes in their original positions and angles, but that was gone now.

Serrena replaced the other sheets of paper and the group began walking to the Tower of War once again.

Ashleen walked beside him and noted, "You used your magic to draw runes on paper with just your finger. You moved Cheleya's runes and made them come to the surface of her skin to look just like the amulet besides.

"How did you know to do either of those things? I've never seen you do them before. Obviously we just met Cheleya, but still, did you just create new magic while trying to figure out how to help her?"

He shrugged noting the girl's hand in his. Ashleen could be possessive when he would let her. It wasn't that Sebastian didn't want the warmth of her touch, but the mage couldn't focus on other tasks if he had to be distracted by the beautiful wilder all the time. Besides that, her inability to stop the flow of the earth into her completely meant that there was always a tingle of electricity when he touched Ashleen. The tingle wasn't bad, but it was certainly another distraction of the pretty girl.

"It isn't exactly new as much as it is another step along the line of understanding the runes. Once I saw Kel'lor's amulet, I sensed that the writing on the stone was very similar to the tattoos of the tribe," he said substituting the word tribe for the merfolk bound to the Grimnal and his people. They were another secret that Gerid had asked him to keep.

Ashleen understood less of the runes than Sebastian. He had tried to show her a little of the magic, but he had been distracted by other things like working to make Hollow Swords and portal magic. Understanding her limitations and finding it would be hard for him to show her while walking through the halls of White Hall, Ashleen let the matter rest.

Cheleya, on the other hand, was filled with energy. Having seen what the battle mage had done, and physically able to see the tattoo form of her amulet on her skin; the che'ther was certain that she was about to be free of her human body and the curse set upon her. Malaketh had been a mentor and teacher. He had been someone the girl had trusted, but the man had hidden his evil well. His attempt to kill her and destroy her magic had been a complete shock.

Now the dragoness was sure that she was nearly free.

The group went outside and Cheleya asked as she spotted all the mage cadets practicing in the courtyard, "Should we maybe try this outside the school? The land outside the courtyards should be safe, I would think."

Sebastian shrugged and asked, "Just how big a che'ther are you?"

Wincing slightly, Cheleya said, "I am small for a che'ther just like I am a little small as a human. Nose to tail, I was only about twenty feet long; but when the amulet was messed up I once turned into a true dragon. Then I was at least a hundred feet long with giant wings capable of letting me fly."

The second form was certainly something to worry about for space, Sebastian thought. He replied, "Well, you should be just as you were. The magic should be exactly the same except that it isn't on an amulet, but is on you."

There was a door in the north wall. Though the school could be fortified using magic to wall up the doors to make the outer wall a solid defense, it wasn't war time. The school was a school and not a guardian city. With a wall protecting the west side of the city and school, the inner walls helped keep the sound of explosions from wizards training inside as much as they could. The river protected the city to the north and east, so the school wasn't the primary defense when there was no reason to make it a fort.

Passing through the door, which could be locked from the inside, the small group followed Cheleya beyond the school walls. The girl was like Evie in that she had never retrieved her shoes from the roof, but she wore a pair of brown shorts reaching to her knees and a blouse of light blue. The girl stripped off her shorts making the men start to look away, except for Elzen who began to grin.

Rilena placed her hand against his jaw turning his face away with a growl of anger, "Elzen!"

Sebastian's forehead wrinkled and he asked a question of the girl without turning away yet. She wore silk panties keeping her somewhat covered at least. Before Cheleya finished giving Kel'lor the piece of clothing, Sebastian asked, "Doesn't your magic alter both your body and the clothes you wear?"

Giving him a shrug before pulling her top off without a thought, Cheleya replied, "We used magic to create clothing as humans. Kel'lor's amulet makes his clothing change with his size as well, but che'ther don't wear clothing. Also since we have no idea if this new amulet you created in me will work at all, let alone the way it originally did; I would rather not take the risk in destroying my clothes.

"I have magic to repair things, but even a small che'ther would destroy them utterly. To remain somewhat decent and to test out your theory, I can leave these on," the nearly naked blonde said gesturing to the single piece of cloth left on her.

Sebastian had forgotten to look away more from the curiosity to see if the amulet would work as he thought it would. "Well, then we'll give you space to change then."

The group stepped back. Kel'lor holding his 'little sister's' clothing looked worried. Wondering at the magic, Mecklin and Elzen looked towards the girl, who most men considered extremely beautiful. Sebastian had noticed a scent to her that was entrancing as well. While she appeared very human, his healing magic had noted the slight difference to her skin and hair which produced a scent similar to pheromones. Kel'lor had a scent as a human also, but it was different. As a mar'goyn'lya, the monster's scent was barely noticeable and completely different from his human one.