Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11) (58 page)

Though the emperor's eyes continued to study the mage considering his words for longer than he would have thought, Palose didn't have any more to add. The dark mage had trained and studied in White Hall believing that speaking less both let him see more and, he believed, made him look more intelligent. Those who just blabbed into a pause without understanding had always appeared fools to him.

In Ensolus, being quiet was best to avoid making enemies as well as concealing what he did and did not know.

When Kolban spoke again, it proved his restraint correct. The boy's facade made one forget the truth of the intellect and wisdom of centuries inside of him.

"If something were to change the war for not only Litsarin, but happened to bring it to our doorstep here. Could I trust you to protect Acheri for me?"

The question was not only oddly timed but held worry that Palose wouldn't have expected from someone who had conquered nations and rocked Alus with the Cataclysm. Looking to the boyish face, however, the mage didn't actually see any concern and realized Kolban's voice was calm enough to think there was no worry despite the words of his question.

"It is my duty to protect you and your family, emperor," Palose said without truly committing. He wanted to ask what would make Kolban ask such a thing, but that would have revealed his ignorance.

Seeming to read his mind even so, the boy ruler continued, "I can guess that you wonder why I would ask such a thing."

The boy had cut through as if reading his mind, so Palose contributed, "Southwall and its allies have never gotten close to penetrating Ensolus or its outer defenses. It would seem an unlikely scenario that you and your armies would ever let her be in danger here."

Palose noted that the request had been for his sister and not Lanquer his brother. The feeling of inferiority as the weaker entity, weaker than Acheri even in magic power, had often seemed to make the lesser brother work harder to compensate. Lanquer had proved himself on the assault against Garosh and his fortress, so Palose had thought the two closer now.

Looking away in thought for a moment, Kolban seemed to choose his words as carefully as the mage tried to do. With his centuries of being emperor behind him, Palose could assume that the boy was in fact better at it than he was by now.

"Lanquer has taken your training and has enough knowledge to lead an army or fight for himself. My sister has great power but lacks a military mind. She is no soldier and relies too much on her magic for her safety.

"You have shielded her before and I know that, with enough strength in you, you could control her more destructive nature.

"I have had... dreams that tell me a time will come where I will have to leave my siblings to their fates without me. I need you to promise me that you will protect Acheri should that come. You have access to portal magic and points that I am sure that even I don't know about. You can get her to safety, but you will need to protect her along with those you choose to save."

The last words instilled worry in the mage instead. His small gathering of resurrection people had been a secret from everyone as far as he knew, but if the Dark Emperor had the powers of a visionary or seer he might have discovered his secret. They were both a source of additional power and friendship. He loved Sylvaine as well.

If it came down to fleeing with only one of his resurrection men and women, the dark mage would run as far as he could with Sylvaine.

"Who else would I save?" Palose countered managing to sound convincing to his ears. "I serve you and would be certain to do what I can to save Acheri and Lanquer too if he is near. If I must lay my life down for you, I will."

The last was a lie. Palose would do what he could to survive. He just hoped that Kolban couldn't see that about the dark mage in front of him.

A small smile, that said the boy understood the truth, touched the emperor's lips and sent a chill down his spine. "You have lived here long enough to have made friends with someone, I am sure. Let's just leave it at that.

"All I need is your word that you will protect Acheri as I say. No games or trying to hide behind that mask you keep up to prevent others knowing your mind, Palose. I can use my magic to make it certain, but I would like to believe that I can trust you at least this much."

Palose tried not to pale. He wanted to ask why this being before him would trust him so much. It would be a mistake to ask, but it was in the front of his mind none the less.

"Of course I will swear to protect her, but does this mean you want me to become her personal guard in your castle?" the mage asked using the closest word he could think of to describe the massive spire used for the emperor's home.

Kolban shook his head. "You can continue as you are, but when... if... the time comes you must find her and get her to safety."

The change to a less certain time wasn't lost on Palose. He didn't answer as he had already made the promise to be there for the princess. Unfortunately, the mage didn't truly trust Acheri. He believed that the girl had become jealous and been the one who had used others to kill Sylvaine just to separate him from the apprentice. Her jealousy would be reignited once Acheri saw Sylvaine again and it would happen if he had to take them away from Ensolus together for sure.

The sound of a door opening behind him made the mage turn, but he already knew who it was likely to be as he heard the sound of high heeled shoes clipping along the floor before the dark haired princess called out, "Palose! Why is it that I always have to find out he is here on my own, Kolban? I thought you loved me brother. Why keep his return a secret from your own sister?"

Kolban rolled his eyes unnoticed as her dark blue eyes remained focused on Palose. "It was no secret. Palose just got here to report on the war. Frankly, I thought that you would be bored by such a meeting.

"Besides, you always seem to know when he is here. One would think you had a magic spell to track him or maybe spies willing to tell you once he has arrived," Kolban replied with a certain amount of humor.

Acheri gave a sniff and a toss of her head sending her long brunette hair trailing in a wave of night. "Well then, once you have finished grilling him we should have him join us for dinner. It will be time for supper soon enough."

"My men are waiting on me," Palose started as he tried to find a way to escape from the girl. She had seemed too interested in him in an unhealthy way from the moment Acheri had come out of her birthing chamber. While she was a beauty, the mage didn't feel the same about the princess. The girl was more trouble than she was worth to be told.

Kolban barked a laugh and retorted, "I am sure that your wraiths and dead men will be fine without you. Do any of them even eat anymore? I'm sure that they can wait until you have eaten to return.

"Besides if they are destroyed while you are gone, then it is safer here and you can make more once you return," the boy said refusing any excuse.

Managing to avoid a sigh, Palose nodded and knew that he would have to do as he was asked. When an emperor suggested something, it was really an order and not to be ignored as anything less.

"Goodie!" Acheri said hugging the mage's arm tightly with both hands. She was slim and already taller than Kolban, though the boy was likely not full grown. Her eyes looked up at Palose from a few inches below his smiling as charmingly as she could.

He guessed that dinner in the castle wasn't too bad a thing at least. Sylvaine and the others in his house would simply have to eat without him. His wraiths were used to being alone with the others he had raised over night while Palose returned home to Sylvaine each evening. The war was going smoothly and like the emperor had said, if his creations were destroyed, he could just make more.

Chapter 30- Dragons on the Wind

The sound of wind and waves mixed with the gentle creaks of wooden boards as the battle ship cut through the water of the North Sea. Sebastian looked to the sky feeling the powerful vessel lifting and falling with each wave. The passage between Sileoth and Litsarin was typically gentler than being out in the main sea or in the ocean south of the large islands, but the winds had picked up agitating the channel creating larger waves.

With the western winds pushing hard against the sails, the fleet had to adjust canvas regularly to make sure that the slowest ships didn't fall too far behind. It was the first attempt of the combined forces to bring the much needed troops to the beleaguered cities of Litsarin using part of Sebastian's preparations. So far, too few of their reinforcements had been able to make the crossing with the black ships of the emperor patrolling the main route to the island.

Sebastian and those he had once trained to fight the wizard hunters and their ships had needed to spend time training Sileoth's wizards before the push. With such a small number of dragon mages to guard the fleet, the remaining wizards on each ship needed to know the best way to counter the warlocks that they would be facing. Such precautions were the best that the mage could accomplish in such a short time. The leaders of Mar'kal had yet to make up their minds and Gerid with his entourage were still talking with the merfolk to see if they were willing to join the effort as well. Thanks to the magic portals capable of bridging great distances in an instant, they had a chance to do what they could in a short time.

Still, as the mage looked at those gathered on the deck around him all nervously looking out at the water with trepidation; Sebastian felt like they had a good chance of making it this time even without the extra help. They had even fewer dragon mages than he wished to bring, however. Cheleya had remained behind, their most veteran dragon mage, to work with their newest recruits. The search had expanded from the veteran wizards and mages of White Hall to those in the other northern castles joined together by the portals. Twelve more men and women were a week into their training by now, but he couldn't risk them so soon. Few of them could fly well yet, which left the original class of dragon mages available to guard the fleet.

"I am surprised that you let them come along," Magnus spoke up sauntering up to the mage where he leaned against the forward wall of the center square built onto the deck. The battle ship was large enough to have multiple rooms on the deck concealing and protecting multiple stairways as well as the bridge and wheel house.

Following the wizard's gaze towards Ashleen standing beside Katya alongside the rail, Sebastian didn't comment right away. He didn't always see eye to eye with Magnus, but the man understood his worry. Sebastian loved both women and his sister was young. Still technically a novice, the thirteen year old girl wasn't even supposed to be a dragon mage.

He hadn't heard the full story, but if Sebastian knew one thing about his little sister, Katya did know how to get her way. If she wanted to become a dragon mage, the girl would somehow manage to become one and she had. His little sister was also a diplomacy wizard. He had heard that Katya was a natural, a prodigy perhaps, and had taken to her particular brand of magic as well as could be expected of a girl who had nearly become a wilder.

A few of her teachers were friends and one complaint was that his sister took after him as well. She tended to learn spells like a battle mage, more accurately, like Sebastian did. It was an annoyance to the wizards, but Katya was also determined to master each spell as a wizard would as well.

The girl was a novice, but only few a months ago, her class of novices had been caught in a battle. Katya had done well and been judged capable of being an apprentice diplomacy wizard given her skill, but her age and lack of knowledge would put off the promotion for a time even so.

"Katya fought with you, didn't she?" the mage asked without mentioning the specifics.

"In the Dimple Mountains during a routine training exercise, you mean?" Magnus questioned, but seemed to understand enough that it was rhetorical so he continued. "She joined the dragon mage class for flying exercises when the others were attacked by some unknown creatures we had never seen. When most of us used our ability to fly to stay safely out of reach, your sister landed and used her diplomacy magic to disrupt the enemy even more.

"She has courage, like her brother, but that doesn't mean a little girl should be put in danger again," the wizard admonished him.

"Unfortunately, everyone tells me that she is as capable as a dragon mage as any of you," he replied ruefully. "Even if Katya is just a young girl, and a novice, we have too few trained to do what she can."

"And what about the other one?" Magnus gestured towards Ashleen with a frown. "A Kardorian wilder following you around is odd enough, but she can't even fly with us. Why is she here?"

"Ashleen knows how to fight the wizard hunters. She may not be a dragon mage, but she can help out if we see their black ships."

The wizard looked at the mage and asked, "Which leads us to asking, why are you here? I'm surprised that the ravens would risk their golden mage out at sea like this, even if you have fought these wizard hunters before. Don't they need you some place safe thinking up new magic and training the rest of your corps?"

Frowning as Sebastian kept his gaze from Magnus, the mage hated the idea that such a thing might happen to him. To be kept captive somewhere just trying to learn new magic when he was a trained battle mage, was against everything he had been trained to become. Unfortunately, the wizard's question wasn't something that hadn't been asked by others before. At least the mage always had his ability to create portals to prevent such things from happening.