Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11) (61 page)

Again Magnus looked slightly confused and the fire wizard interrupted Sebastian's explanation. "You can find and use portals that you haven't been to before? How is that possible?"

"If I am familiar with the magic of a gate's creator, I can search for it with the map. Once found I can use the map to get there, even if it is the first time and I have never been to the city before.

"I know Palose's magic and even that of someone he has started using to mask his gates. There is also the generic magic of portals designed to allow warlocks to find and use them. My guess is that those are usually permanent gates made by the Dark One's warlocks. Darius lent his magic signature to those used in Southwall, but we could adjust them similarly. For now, using the high wizard's magic is probably safer than a gate of shared magic."

Though Magnus appeared to have more questions, as did his friends listening to the conversation; they waited quietly as the mage closed his eyes before running his hand above the paper. The map already had the marks he had found in the past. Most of Palose's lodestones had disappeared, but new marks in pink marked those made from the dark haired girl's magic lodestones.

Whether Palose had ever taken the girl with him didn't matter, all he needed were the stones marked by her magic.

No new pinks dots were added, but he felt the generic magic in several places ranging from the east where they believed the first influence of the emperor beyond his empire in the Dragon Spine Mountains existed to a few towns along the north coast all the way to the west where they had begun driving out the people of Sileoth. The new marks in the north didn't matter since they were too far away to be very useful. It would take weeks to march their armies to the west coast and there were other portals ahead of those already. The danger of finding guarded portals aside; the western gates were the best possibility of harassing the emperor's forces sooner rather than much later.

He placed his forefinger on the one furthest north with an allied town listed on it and said, "Well, I guess that would be the most likely to be a safe place to start."

Magnus snorted derisively before replying, "It's so far to the north there's no way that will be of much help for supporting Helsen or whatever might be left of their defenses to the north even. I suppose you are right that I can't imagine such a useless gate would be guarded, however."

Nodding despite the tone, Bas confirmed, "It would be useless for the army to use; but for a dragon mage, even without testing a closer gate, it would be the perfect start for a flight towards Helsen. Once I make sure that it is safe, I can transport any of our dragon mages or carry lodestones southwest myself. We can create new gates that will be in easy reach of their rear forces."

The dark haired fire wizard, beside Magnus said, "With our power of flight, a few dragon mages could shift the lines of battle quickly. All we need are the stones used to create a gate, even if we can't make them ourselves."

Sebastian nodded at Embrell, though the wizard was stating something fairly obvious to them all. "Now all I have to do is figure out if I can make a gate on a moving ship to start."

"You've never tested the idea?" Magnus shook his head giving the mage a disappointed look as if it was a question that should have been answered long ago. "If you can't make a gate on the ship, then you'll be stranded here until we make landfall in Helsen in a few more days."

"No," the mage countered immediately comprehending how it would look to someone unable to make a gate. "If a gate can't be tied to the ship to travel, I will simply have to make one and fly through it instead."

Ashleen paled at the idea. The wilder was tied to the ground in a way that was unhealthy for her to try to become a dragon mage. Her lightning was always on thanks to the girl's innate ability to pull power from the earth. Unlike most wizards who risked burning out drawing too much power from the ground, Ashleen's body seemed to instinctively know how to draw the power without killing her in the process, even though she didn't use a staff as a buffer. Conversely, they feared that being too far off the ground might be just as deadly to the wilder.

"You don't have to come if it comes to that," he stated to the lightning wizard drawing a determined look from Ashleen.

"You won't be rid of me that easily. I can suffer for a little while without feeling ill, if it comes down to it," the girl stated confidently, though Sebastian had seen her grow weaker and ill from simply climbing too high in a tower at Falcon's Keep several months ago.

He shrugged unwilling to fight about it. If Ashleen was that determined to join him this trip, then there was no point in arguing.

"Well, then there is only one way to find out if the gate will work," the owl decided as he folded his map up to return to the pocket dimension within the black oval rune.

The five magic users went out to the aft deck and, after taking a breath to steady him, Sebastian took Ashleen's hand. He would borrow the power needed to open the gate from the wilder to avoid using a staff. Being a battle mage, Sebastian could summon a gate using up much of his power; but sharing the load with a wizard or calling the magic from the earth meant he wouldn't need very much time to recover.

"Door," he ordered trying to affix the magic doorway to the wood decking under his feet.

A golden doorway opened holding fast to the deck as planned. Though the waves caused the ship to rise and fall, as well as the fact that they were moving steadily south with the wind; the portal seemed capable of shifting in space as long as it was bound to the ship's planking. It was a positive note taken from a test that had been thought of on the fly when making the plan.

Sebastian drew out a pair of corrinuts and tossed them through the golden glow. Disappearing from sight, the mage waited for only a couple seconds before drawing Ashleen after him through the doorway.

The feel of a deck rolling beneath his feet disappeared, but even the solid stone beneath him couldn't get the echo of the ship out of his body. There were groans and excited voices complaining coming to his ears rather than the creaks of wood planks or waves crashing against a hull. The sound of voices was more worrisome than the first as Sebastian regained his comprehension of the world around him.

Scanning around quickly, the battle mage readied his spells. While there could certainly be harmless refugees coincidentally hiding near the gateway, it was much more likely that members of the dark army were awaiting him. As he figured, Sebastian spotted several orcs and men rubbing their eyes in an effort to dispel the spots blinding their vision. Some held their ears as well. Those closest to the gate had felt the thump of the concussive force held by the light grenades.

"Sleep," the owl mage ordered casting a spell that released a red mist from his hands spreading out from his position catching the closest soldiers and rendering them unconscious in seconds.

His rune shield pulsated with his adrenaline and concern. Ready for a fight beyond those caught by his sleep spell, Sebastian was at first surprised to see just a dozen soldiers nearby. All asleep from his second spell, the owl thought he had rendered the enemy defense useless; but his elation was short lived as he noted several dark stones sticking out of the ground beginning to shake.

"Is it safe?" Ashleen asked as she exited the doorway blinking at the change in light. He could feel the spark between them as her lightning was held along her skin from the girl's own anxiety at being attacked.

"Nope," Bas answered quickly as he debated snuffing the gateway behind them or escaping back through it.

Ashleen gasped as the stones rose up taking more humanoid looking forms. Radiating heat as well, the monsters known as fire urchins looked towards the gate from all around them. Towering over the duo, Sebastian wondered if the monsters could even make it through his human sized doorway of light.

"Get ready to fly," he ordered the wizard quickly knowing that Ashleen would require him to do so.

The wilder cursed seeing the stone beings. They were so well grounded that her lightning would have a weaker effect against their at least three inch thick stone skin. The creatures had only appeared recently on the plains north of the wall, so there was less information on them; but their encounter let the two know that these monsters wouldn't be easy to fight.

Sebastian let the gateway close, even though it was a possible escape route.

"Bas?" the girl questioned turning to see more of the rock beasts stirring behind them.

Making out more than a dozen fire urchins surrounding them, the mage found his arm held in front of Ashleen as if it could ward her against something as large as a troll with even greater mass. Luckily the urchins seemed unsure of what to do without the men and orcs to lead them.

One before him opened its mouth making a strange series of noises like rocks grinding against each other. Each breathed sound brought wisps of fire to lick the stone teeth of the monster. As if the unintelligible sounds were their language and the words an order, the stone beasts stretched or began to stride forward with slow deliberate steps. Having the two humans surrounded, the urchins didn't seem worried over their escaping and didn't need to rush in case their small prey proved more dangerous than they looked.

Lightning erupted from the lightning swirling around Ashleen's body striking the closest monster. Though it recoiled with the blow, the urchin seemed to shrug off the attack which could kill most creatures of flesh. It hadn't been intentional from the wilder, but the lightning was certainly one of her stronger bolts.

Sebastian extended the rune shield ahead of him using the strength of his magic. The closest urchins pulled up in surprise before punching the glowing orange runes. He could feel the blow jarring through his link making the mage's teeth rattle in his mouth, or so it seemed.

"Drop your shield," Sebastian requested moving closer to the girl. "Dragon wings," he added preparing to run from the fight. Even if the mage didn't feel a need to protect Ashleen, he doubted that staying to use everything he had learned would keep him from being killed. Her lightning was powerful, but these creatures were the perfect match to destroy a wizard like her.

Grabbing Ashleen around the waist, even as the girl started to protest worrying that lifting into the air would be as likely to kill her as the beasts around them; Sebastian bent his knees before striking downward with his wings. The two of them lifted quickly. Unlike those who used two wings for each strong thrust, the dragon fly wings beat faster with four doing the work of just two.

The closest urchins lunged for the couple, but the mage's wings were too quick for them even carrying Ashleen with him. Flying upward as quickly as he ever had, Sebastian soon looked down from more than forty feet above the fire urchins.

"That was close," he stated calmly believing that there was nothing more that the enemy monsters could do now that they were out of reach.

Ashleen's breathing was already ragged, however, and the girl moaned feeling ill from the rush. Knowing that she wasn't good with heights if only because of her magical attachment to the ground and its energy, Sebastian asked into her ear even as he tried to scan the land around them, "Are you all right?"

"I feel a little sick," she said weakly.

He nodded and said, "I was thinking that since your magic draws from the earth, but you also use air spells, maybe you can try reaching out to the air."

Turning her head enough to look him in the eye, even as her blond hair whipped in the breeze; Sebastian could tell that she was a bit pale from the combination of heights and sickness. "Is this really the time to be experimenting?" Ashleen asked breathily.

"There's power in more than just the earth. I've felt it and even managed to draw on the energy a few times," he replied looking down at the urchins. A few were picking up stones large enough to weigh a couple hundred pounds. The first projectile thrown towards the flyers was only short by a few feet. Its landing sounded in a thump that Sebastian thought he could feel from the air. A small crater formed around the stone before it broke into several smaller pieces. "We may also need to move higher, so if it is possible to change the way you draw power, this might be a good time."

"You've drawn on the power of the wind?"

"And water too," he confirmed.

"You mean during the tournament when you were standing on the wall watching Annalicia and Magnus fighting?" the wizard asked thinking of a time where no one could figure out how Sebastian had managed to lift a pair of ponds more than fifty feet into the air to put out the wizard's fires killing their friend Annalicia from the far off country of Malaiy.

He nodded and said looking down as several more stones were thrown towards them, "There is energy all around us. We just need to learn to tap into it safely. The wind blows and can knock down houses and walls. Water can sweep away bridges or toss ships. They are equal in power to fire or the earth, aren't they?"

"How do you propose that I tap into the air then?" the girl asked.

"I think you already are," Sebastian stated noticing the color in her cheeks had changed. "Do you feel as sick as before?"

Ashleen noted that he was correct in his supposition posed by the question. "I thought it was because you were distracting me by talking."

"Close your eyes and feel for the energy around you. You are a wizard who uses the earth and air similarly to create lightning. If you can use one so strongly, then I would guess that you can use the other to compensate at times like these."

The wilder closed her eyes trying to feel for the power in the air. Water and earth were too far away, but the air was all around them. Ashleen noted the flow of the air. She could ride the winds after all, so sensing the air wasn't hard for the wizard.

She felt the winds and the energy in the flows before noting that each breeze seemed to restore her despite the loss of the touch of the earth. Her link to the land was broken, but power was in the air too. Breathing in the air appeared to restore her magic settling her stomach as well. The weakness faded and the air wizard asked, "How did you know?"

"It was pretty obvious. If I can draw from the land with the staff where the power is always just beyond our touch, then why not the wind or water? Your strength comes from one all the time. Why not choose to use the air the same way?"

Ashleen could feel the flow of air around them and noted that her body seemed to already be adjusting to the change of sources instinctively. "It's a bit weaker, but I think I am already adjusting. Unlike walking up a tower, the change to air is a more obvious choice like you said."

Looking down at the monsters, which seemed less certain of what to do with their flying quarry; the girl asked, "Well, I'll live, now what?"

"I want a quick look at what they left behind in that town," Sebastian replied leading her to look downhill. More than a mile away, buildings from a decent size town could be seen; but it was too far to be able to make out any destruction. If there had been fires, they had likely gone out weeks ago. This war for Litsarin had been going on long enough that such things had happened long enough before their arrival to be less obvious.

He paused as his wings slowly moved in the direction the mage planned to go, but it was a movement caused more by the idle buzzing of his wings than the intended traveling.

"Holding you like this isn't going be possible for too long," the mage mentioned and Ashleen turned to look back at him. His voice had a tone that suggested he was about to try something. She knew him well enough to know Sebastian's mind by now and wondered what he had in mind. "Hang on. I'm going to try something.

"Dragon wings," he commanded as the man seemed to let her go. They had been hugged together. To hold onto the wizard with just his arms would have exhausted him even though she was relatively light and he was fairly strong thanks to wielding a sword and blacksmithing of late. However, Ashleen gasped in surprise at the sudden release of all but her left arm.

She barely dropped as his magic created copies of his wings along her back. The wilder heard the buzz of new wings from behind her and turned her head to see them working like Sebastian's had been up to this point.

"That's better," the owl mage replied even as he continued to hold her hand. It was both to steady the fledgling flyer as well as necessary to maintain the magical wings with his power.

"You created wings on me. I don't remember seeing that trick used by Cheleya or Kel'lor," Ashleen commented even as they picked up speed flying side by side. Their arms were outstretched to near their limit allowing room for their two sets of wings to beat without quite striking each other. The wilder had no control over her wings and she guessed that Sebastian could adjust them to avoid each other with just his mind.

"Dragon mage spells can be manipulated for training like most magic apparently," he replied with a smile for Ashleen. They were putting the fire urchins well behind them already. The monsters were confused without strong leadership to guide them. A handful began to chase them, but the rock legs were slow to move. So much mass and the nature of their thick skin didn't allow for great speed. That was a welcome surprise for Sebastian as the mage directed their flight to the defeated town.

The town had been written on his map as Culleras. A mere dot on a map, Culleras had been a town continuing to grow. Only the lack of rich land for farming kept the port town from becoming as great as Helsen to the south from what he had heard in the briefings. Still as the two flyers closed on the hundreds of buildings from the air, Sebastian thought that it looked large enough to be better known even to someone from north Southwall.

"Careful," Ashleen's voice reached him a bit muffled by the wind passing between them. Her right hand pointed to a group of black armored soldiers moving away from the edge of the town.

He noted more than a dozen figures dropping into a better position for firing arrows from bows already raising to point in their direction.

Cursing under his breath, Sebastian pulled up short of what he believed was their maximum range. The addition of height added to distance made it harder to judge, but no arrows were released even after they halted their advance. "I guess that answers part of my question as to what happened to the town. Even if there are survivors left in Culleras, the Dark One's army controls the town."

Ashleen nodded, "So what now?"

"We fly south. The enemy might have defeated Sileoth's towns and armies, but they won't have them covering every inch of the way to Helsen."

She didn't debate his belief. No one would spread their army across such a distance. It was the one advantage Southwall and Sileoth had as this war progressed. The emperor would need to protect his interests by setting guards in the defeated towns or risk them being lost to an invading fleet. With the portals available to both sides, conventional defenses and strategy were likely to be thrown out the window; but for now Sebastian was pretty sure that they played the game as they always had.

Knowing the next gateway was almost fifty miles to the south, Sebastian set a course headed that way for now.

Chapter 32- Lightning Point

Looking out from the land high atop the cliff overlooking the sea, Sebastian stood taking a drink from the canteen produced from the dark oval on his arm. His magic had made it large enough to extract the canteen and a second for Ashleen. A pack was at their feet and had already been pilfered for food to resupply their energy.

Sharing the touch of their hands allowed the battle mage to share some of the wizard's power as well. His strength seemed to continue to grow, but keeping two sets of wings in motion was a great strain on the mage. Not only his magical strength, but his mental willpower was taxed more than double the use of a single set of wings on his back.

Ashleen looked ready to ask the same question she had almost from the start. Knowing her mind, Sebastian spoke his mind aloud, "Well, after I regain my strength, maybe we should try the next gate."

"Won't we be running into the same problem there as we did at the first doorway? They left guards for that gate and yet there didn't look like there was too much left to guard," the wizard countered voicing the same worries already in the mage's mind.

"I can't fly the entire way to Helsen looking for new places to seed our gates. Besides, will they bother to guard every point on the way south? The emperor and his warlocks always seem overconfident in their approach to dealing with Southwall. I am betting that at least a few won't be protected even if they are near a town. Not every town is a worthwhile asset for them to hold."

"They'll believe every town is more important to hold onto than you think," Ashleen retorted with a shake of her head. "If they guard one gate, then I think they will guard them all. We can fly and set our own gates like you said."

Sebastian turned to look out over the waves rolling towards land. They broke against the base of the cliff shaking the stone beneath their feet, but barely any mist rose up to touch them so high above the water. It wasn't as great a height as Hala's towering cliffs, but the sheer stone was still a significant obstacle to climb from where the water touched the land.

Producing a pair of lodestones from his pocket, the mage considered the defensive nature of the cliff. They were about thirty miles south of the gate at Culleras and there was perhaps a hundred more miles to the next gate. Perhaps a compromising position between the two would be acceptable for their first point of retaliation.

Ashleen noted the action and said, "If you are looking for a defensible position, the emperor can't strike from the sea; but," her hand swept from south to north as the girl faced the east, "there isn't much here for a camp."