Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11) (33 page)

She smiled as he pulled her close to kiss her lips and let the rest of their night go where their hearts wished.

A mouse slipped across the hallway from the girls' room hurrying from one side to the other. Ears twitched and whiskers moved as she sniffed at the air all while little legs speedily brought her to the door of Sebastian and Ashleen.

Squeezing under the door, the gap was tighter than the mouse thought making her back legs flail a moment until the flexible bones of the mouse allowed her passage through the small space. She could hear the slow breathing of the couple sharing their bed. Unsure of what to do next, the mouse looked between their bed and the one next to it which remained covered after days of the couple sharing the same bed. Being so tiny, she couldn't see the couple though she was pretty sure that Sebastian slept against Ashleen with his back towards the other bed.

The coverings which had been pulled down from the pillows rested against their feet running to the floor. Like a massive highway for her size, the mouse climbed the bed spread finding the mage where she thought. There was a lot of space behind his back as well, the mouse thought as she began to grow and change.

As Evie knelt in her naked human form on the open space of mattress, her weight caused the mage to awake. Her eyes widened in surprise as his arm swung towards her face glowing with the rune starting to come alive on his right arm. A spear like point started to grow from his hand catching the girl's eyes unable to move with his speed. His instincts were something beyond normal men and rivaled some animals, Evie's mind thought numbly, with only the ability to close her big green eyes to protect herself.

"Evie!" the mage cried out at the level of a strong whisper. He had awoken to near full awareness quick enough that the harpoon rune remained only a foot long grasped in the palm of his hand. Looking surprised by her sudden appearance one moment, his mind quickly realized that the little redhead was also completely naked. Not swayed by the sight of her body, the mage asked warily, "What are you doing in here? Where are your clothes? You can't be running around naked in an inn like this!"

"I turned into a mouse and squeezed under the door. No one saw me and I was covered in fur."

"What are you doing here?" he asked slowly as Ashleen sat up looking confused as she awoke. The wizard liked to sleep in and once in bed tended to remain asleep no matter what the world did around her.

Ashleen hadn't always been that way. The security of sleeping beside Sebastian had increased her tendency to sleep in, but his presence helped her sleep sound even if he moved next to her. Ashleen had never told him how being beside him made her feel safe, so when Evie spoke her next words, the wilder could understand.

"There is too much sound here. It is frightening. Yaroma and Naoromi left our room making noise, but Rilena didn't seem to notice it at all. I didn't want to wake her, but I couldn't sleep there any more either," the younger girl stated still kneeling on the sheet pinning the mage's legs between hers and Ashleen.

His eyes couldn't help glancing at her naked body as Sebastian tried to focus on her face. The girl was pretty and would have been popular with boys if she wasn't so shy. That he had managed to break through her tough shell probably came mostly from protecting her from Arrimus, the young man thought to himself.

"What sounds are you talking about? I am guessing that Yaroma went to join Olan, so that means Naoromi and Elzen must be meeting somewhere as well. Still, you could have stayed with Rilena. I'm sure that she isn't going anywhere tonight."

The girl bounced on her legs nervously a moment before replying, "Can't I sleep here? The floor and walls keep hissing. There is water and air moving through the inn. More sound comes from the city making it feel like it is shaking. Surely you can hear and feel it too?"

Wondering at her description, the mage thought that she must be speaking of the pipes carrying water and the ductwork which carried heat during the winter. The Black Smith didn't have a cooling system like the school of White Hall or the most expensive homes and inns of Hala. If she could hear the air from around the city, Evie must have had hearing that exceeded human. Her ability to change into various animals must go deeper than just the visual appearance, the mage thought.

"The wizards of Hala use magic to bring water and cooling air to some buildings in the city. There are sewers beneath the streets too, but none of it will hurt you, Evie," he managed to say without a sigh. "Just go back to bed or Rilena will wake up worried about you."

Bouncing slightly on her legs again, Evie glanced to the door as her hands moved to her arms hugging herself tightly.

Unlike Sebastian, Ashleen did sigh. Sliding out of bed, the wizard pulled off his shirt that she had worn to bed and threw it to the younger girl. "She's frightened, Bas. She can stay, but only if she covers up," the pretty blonde stated standing naked save for her panties. Her breasts were larger than Evie's, which were likely small from her young age but most likely would never be large based on her body type as well. "There's a second bed. She can sleep there."

Without bothering to find something else to sleep in, Ashleen slipped back into their bed as if showing the younger girl that it was her bed and Sebastian was hers as well. The mage glanced to the blonde sitting beside him without any apparent shame. She was comfortable with him in any state of dress and seemed to want to cow the other girl with her presence despite her permission to stay.

Evie sniffed at the shirt with a bit of a content smile and said quietly, "It is his, but you wear it?"

Ashleen's arms wrapped around his left arm pressing her breasts against him possessively while making sure that Bas knew that he was hers also. Her chin rested on his shoulder as the young woman stated clearly, "I am his. He is mine. I like the smell of him on me too," the young woman stated with a slight frown for the girl. "I am being nice enough to share the shirt, but I don't share everything."

Evie rose up as she drew the shirt over her head. Still smiling, the girl let the shirt drop down to her legs covering her better than the smocks she wore most of the time. After pulling her long hair free of the collar to fall over her left breast, Evie looked at the other bed with a bit of a worried frown. 

"Would it be all right if I slept with you two? There is enough room for three and I don't want to sleep alone," she asked with a face that reminded him of a puppy or perhaps a toddler plying her parents for permission to sleep with them.

He glanced to Ashleen, who in turn groaned and moved back a little more. "Whatever," she complained, "but I'll warn you. He tends to get up early too, and I better not find you snuggling me in the morning!"

Evie smiled and quickly found her way beneath the covers while Sebastian found Ashleen pulling his right arm over her to sleep in his arms once more. Trying to ignore the younger girl, Sebastian closed his eyes feeling her behind him.

Soon both girls settled into even breathing surprising the mage. It didn't surprise him when during the night he eased back only to awake with both girls' heads on his shoulders and their arms crossed over his stomach. Caught between the two, he did his best to sleep, but the sun was upon them before he knew it.

When Sebastian awoke, the man tried to remain unmoving with his eyes closed to the light peeking through the thick curtains. It was cool enough that they didn't need to have the windows completely open, though the mage was warm thanks to the girls.

His mind played to the younger girl and realized that she did seem like a child, but he also feared that Evie was more cunning than most might give her credit. Using her looks to get her way, might just be something the girl might do. He didn't know her well enough to know if she could be manipulative, but Sebastian didn't get the same feeling from her that the more sensual Ashleen gave him.

When he could no longer take it, the mage tried to extricate himself from the two young women. He pulled the sheet off of Evie moving arms and legs from them both to try to climb over her. She was the intruder, so if he woke her, Sebastian figured it was the price that the girl should pay.

Green eyes opened as the man straddled the girl. His right foot was on the floor already, but he paused in surprise as Evie looked at him. Her vision seemed clear of her night's sleep and her mind knew what was going on very well.

Sebastian stood and moved to the dresser to find a new change of clothes. He heard footsteps and turned to see Evie pulling off his shirt to hand it to him.

With a frown on his face, he asked, "What are you doing? Keep it on, Evie."

"I thought that you would need it?" The girl questioned still holding the brown shirt before her. At his words, she pulled it back to her body. Her hands held the collar just beneath her chin as if using it as a security blanket as she stood in front of him.

"I have others and that will be placed with my other dirty clothes for cleaning. You can't be running around naked. I know that you are a shape changer, but surely you know better!"

Blinking as she drew back from his annoyance at her, Evie's green eyes sparkled with tears threatening to flow. "But..." she began and seemed unsure of what to say.

Breathing an exhausted sigh, Sebastian went to the wardrobe holding Ashleen's clothes. "Ok, that does it. If you want to stay with me and the others, things need to change.

"You will wear dresses or pants and shirts, like wizards or mages. You are too old to be running around in an oversize shirt. Men will be looking at you differently. You're pretty and old enough to be viewed as a woman, even if just barely."

He pulled out one of the Kardorian style dresses that Ashleen had bought in the city. His companion liked clothing and only the fact that she needed to be able to move without the clutter of bags weighing her down for travel kept her from buying them like the young noble's daughter that she was. Her father also had money, which was tied to Southwall's banks as well. Much of what she bought came from her family account that the wilder had drawn from using a ring and document to verify her family name.

A summer dress of a southern cut was placed beside the first before a blouse and pair of shorts that Ashleen often wore due to the warm weather.

"You can pick, but you will wear one of them. You aren't in the wild and you don't have to be afraid, so changing into an animal isn't going be something that you do on a whim.

"There will be time to undress if you ever need to change. You are a human wizard, so act like that and dress like one; if you wish to stay with us."

Evie looked like she wanted to try her tears on him again, but seeing that he was set on this and would brook no discussion, the girl moved to touch the two dresses. The summer dress was closest to what she wore normally, but the silk of the Kardorian made her smile and lift that one.

Pulling it around her, she was surprised when Sebastian added, "Ashleen will take you shopping this morning. You will wear proper clothes including underwear.

"I am tired of the chaos you women keep throwing into my life. There need to be some changes around here," he complained.

Placing a pair of leather boots and a pair of slipper like shoes beside the clothes, he added, "Shoes or boots too."

Sebastian led the girl wearing the dress and carrying the boots to one of the bathrooms on their floor. He took his clothes and went into the other room after telling the girl to wash up before shooing her inside.

They went downstairs after bathing. Evie looked a little uncomfortable in the dress and short leather boots, but the girl wanted to stay. Madam Hilda noted the change approving of the girl's new clothing.

He asked, "Hilda could you put together a list of places that Ashleen can take Evie to pick up more clothing for a young girl like her?"

The inn keeper paused in pouring from a pot warm enough to use a glove to hold the handle. It held kaffe, the local heated drink that could help wake a man. Some mages brewed their kaffe so strong in the field that the fumes alone could wake Sebastian up in the morning.

"Doesn't the poor girl have her own clothes?" she asked noting the outfit and probably realizing that it came from Ashleen's wardrobe. "Have you taken in a homeless girl now? First, you house those two dark haired women and now this little mouse?"

Her words caused the two to smile, but Evie replied, "I have no true home. My master would take me back, but I can't live under that mountain. It feels like it is crushing me and I don't want to run with the wolves because I prefer a bed.

"Master Darius has kept me in Windmeer, but that isn't home either," the little redhead said turning her big eyes on the woman more seriously than the woman had expected.

"Oh, you poor dear, and now you are in Sebastian's care?" the woman asked looking motherly in her emotion. She had six children of her own, most of which worked in the inn. Being a mother came naturally to the woman.

Smiling slightly at the notion, Evie's eyes flicked to him and he wanted to sigh again. She was another stray, but his mind had become made up in the night. It was time to straighten up his house, so to speak.

"Technically, she is Rilena's ward more than mine. She's kind of like a little sister to her," he explained vaguely.

The conversation ended shortly as Hilda moved on to some of her other early risers. Evie bravely spoke up, saying, "I would rather be your ward. Rilena is like a big sister, but you could be my big brother."