Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11) (71 page)

Magnus took the pack and shrugged, "There were blankets, pillows and even beds available in the village. They offered them freely after yesterday's battle.

"In fact, even without a change of clothes, I probably slept better than I had the last couple nights onboard those ships," the wizard finished with a laugh. His face looked healthy to Sebastian, so the mage assumed that he was well fed and rested as the other man said.

Magnus noted the other faces, all of whom he recognized from the fleet. "Can the fleet spare so many wizards? They haven't made landfall in Helsen since we left, have they?"

"Not quite, but they will by midday," Sebastian answered easily. "The black ships are unlikely to try to attack this fleet again. We've given the emperor too much to worry about by beating his forces here as well as defeating the black ships once already.

"A few more hours sailing will end the worry, but we will need to give them protection on the way back to Sileoth."

Magnus noted one missing face despite seeing the other reinforcements. "Where's Ashleen?"

"Recovering in Hala. She needs another day before using her magic," the mage stated already starting to look beyond the wizard. "Have they started to move yet?"

Magnus didn't bother to look behind them where the battlefield lay beyond the walls, defensive ring of raised hills, and dredged trenches. "The morning sun hasn't come up from the mountains yet. They don't have to attack at first light though. A battle rarely lasts a full day after all, so they can wait for better light for their warlocks and archers."

Nodding at the man's assessment, Sebastian wondered if he had time to use his gate to Sileoth. If the mage could bring more reinforcements for the village, they might hold out indefinitely keeping a foothold further north than they had originally hoped. The fact that the generals leading the dark army had considered this village contained had the possibility of turning the war effort on its ear.

"Maybe I should contact Sileoth and Southwall? The wizards can be taught to use a gate here for reinforcements."

Falconi Martina had been listening in and said, "This position isn't fully determined. Wait until the end of the day to decide to bring more troops here."

"But I can have portal wizards and more here to make our winning more likely," Sebastian countered, though he was willing to listen to the falconi. She was his superior after all, but the owl knew the approximate numbers in the village. There was enough room to add to the defenses without overcrowding. More hands, more magic, more everything should be a positive point to his mind.

"You can open a portal when and where you need it before sending messengers to get your point across while the other portal wizards hold them open from afar, correct?"

He nodded.

"Then we can wait as we are. Using your gate magic gives the enemy an opportunity to sense your magic as well. Keep the fact that we can open more portals a secret as long as you can then," the falconi ordered.

Sebastian wanted to sigh, but he understood her side now. As he and other wizards could track a strong use of magic, it was likely that the enemy could also. Limited portals were less likely to be noticed, while doorways held open for a longer time were opportunities for a warlock to sense or even use the gates against them. Even for someone who had figured out this new magic, Sebastian still had to learn all the tactics to go along with it.

The gray of early morning was eventually exposed to the golden rays of the sun. While the morning continued to lengthen, the combined forces of Sileoth and Southwall waited to see what the dark army would do. They were on the defensive against superior numbers. Waiting where they were the strongest was the best tactic for them now.

When the dark armored soldiers wheeled their siege weapons into sight and formed their encircling lines Sebastian was watching from the village wall with the other dragon mages. It wouldn't be long before the next stage of battle began.

Chapter 37- Clash of Swords

The winding of the ropes to create tension for the catapult arm sounded so casual and unhurried to Palose. His squad stood nearby while the two sides exchanged blows. Most of the fighting consisted of catapults and other siege weapons hurling their blocks of stone or loose shot at the village defenses and in turn the defenders did the same. Only those unlucky would be struck, but this strategy was designed to be more of a psychological ploy than something that would win the battle.

Warlocks were kept out of range thanks to the siege weapons greater range as well. Unless Lord Liev or General Suva ordered the army to charge, they would remain in a stalemate. From what the lord had said, he planned on doing something aggressive along that line despite the report of unusually powerful magic being used by the enemy the previous day. If they relied on the abilities of the Wizard Hunter armor to save them from the elemental magic, they knew that similar spells would kill those foolish enough to believe the armor was invincible.

As Palose stood waiting to see where the day's battle would take him, the dark mage closed his eyes training his mind to look for things beyond the ability of normal sight. He could feel portal magic in the village. It was fairly fresh, though the dark mage would guess that it was hours old already. As if he needed to be told that the enemy had discovered how to use gate magic, this alone could prove that.

Even so, what were the odds that Sebastian had learned the spell or mastered it? It was more likely that the mage had worked with the girl who had disrupted his gate with her lightning and figured out how to escape the Silver World as Kolban had called it. Unfortunately it seemed like no matter how often Palose was certain that he was rid of the mizard, Sebastian found a way to return to plague him some more.

Opening his eyes, Palose barely saw the projectiles or their impact on the ground and raised stone walls. The dark mage sighed and wondered if he was glad that Sebastian was still alive, no matter how inconvenient it remained. With the mizard out there, the warlock could continue to measure how he had grown; but then again it was no longer a fair fight. Palose had the strength of a powerful wizard, not just some mediocre one. When he had fought the other mage last time in New Harbor, he had sensed growth in Sebastian; but that was only the growth of a battle mage. The mizard might have become stronger, but it was still a clash of two battle mages with one having the power of a wizard behind his attacks.

"Master, there is a shift in the lines. Lord Liev looks ready to attack," Balish stated bringing his attention to the world around him.

The dark army's flanks had begun to shift and break up creating points along the line of troops. He felt powerful magic rising among the warlocks near each point as well. Balish couldn't read the magic preparing to be cast, but the wraith's eyes had definitely caught the rest.

"We will need to be ready to move to," Palose stated to his wraiths.

Looking behind him, two new wraiths had been added to their number. These two were a prize that he had not thought he would get to have. Warlocks of good strength, Palose would have preferred incorporating them into his coven of resurrection men; but using the magic was complicated. These were also seasoned warlocks with strong magic and minds. Bringing them back without more of a relationship or knowledge of them would make it difficult to control them.

Not everyone he had brought back had necessarily required more than gratitude for being saved and returned to life; but normal humans like Stasia and Talia, who were made to love him with the magic, weren't the same as warlocks used to magic with goals and ambitions of their own. One only had to look at the dark mage himself to realize the folly of using the magic indiscriminately. Atrouseon was dead now and the necromancer had used wards to keep him from killing his master, yet he had accomplished that task even though it had been from self preservation.

"You two can keep to the rear when we attack. Your magic will be more useful than your swords," he stated probably without need to the warlocks. A man and a woman, Nalack was much older with light brown hair, while the woman, Oween was still in her twenties. She reminded him slightly of Sylvaine with her long dark hair or maybe Acheri except older. Either way, the dark mage was already feeling a little more protective of her and not just because she was a prize that he could change to part of his coven when he had the time.

Nalack smirked and said, "You wouldn't want us to stand before you as just another set of meat shields." The warlock gestured at three armored viles standing near the front of over twenty men raised from the dead to fight. Some had the wizard hunter armor, though most were from the basic rank and file wearing normal armor instead. Being undead puppets, it barely mattered which equipment they wore.

The woman glanced at the older warlock frowning slightly at the man with her eyes, though it was mostly a tightening of her eyes which Palose caught. Wraiths or not, these two had enough will power to be a concern without the natural bond created between wraiths and their masters.

Nodding at Nalack, Palose replied, "It would be a waste of talent as well, though I suppose pointing out that your power in magic wasn't enough to avoid death, might raise a question of just how much talent you had."

The wraith frowned at his master. Palose was maybe half his age and, in life, Nalack would have been one of those condemning the wisdom of creating resurrection men like him. Now the dead warlock was at the mercy of what he considered an inferior being. If that attitude couldn't be changed in some way, Palose knew that this man would have to be cast away when he was done with him. Oween was yet to be judged so unfavorably.

She spoke up next, but sounded bored with the conversation as she said, "Well, the enemy did surprise us. We used the power of over twenty warlocks to create that fog. It should have resisted anything the enemy could have thrown at us, especially in smaller numbers.

"Unfortunately the fog kept me from seeing what they used to destroy our weapon. The power of light was incredible though and the fire, from what I saw of it before it struck my shield, was like someone unleashed the power of a volcano on us."

The woman added with a slight nod, "I doubt that even a resurrection man would have survived such an attack head on, but perhaps you are more powerful than I was led to believe."

Palose wanted to ask who had given her such an evaluation, but he could tell that she wanted him to ask. Even under his spell, this woman chose to test him.

"Keep your attention on the enemy and perhaps we will see if I am to be tested the same way. Of course, your existence rests on mine, so you might hope that I can withstand their power. There were warlocks who survived that assault, though there were also those so burned that I couldn't bring them back at all; so I guess you two fall somewhere in the middle.

"Now ready yourselves. When we advance, you will need to support the others until we can reach the enemy to rout them."

He wondered why was wasting this much effort on the two warlocks, but guessed that it was just his hopes for the future that made him speak to these two like novices. They were newly made into wraiths, but their minds were those of trained warlocks, he had to remind himself.

Palose closed his eyes again and immediately opened them again. The feeling of familiar magic made him curse in surprise. Sebastian had joined this battle after all. He would have his rematch with his foe and this time the dark mage would make sure to destroy him once and for all.

Sebastian stood with the other dragon mages talking strategy for a time, but when the enemy began to move the horns sounded bringing the eyes of all the defenders to the advancing forces. The catapults continued to fire, however, so even the impending attack could only receive so much of their attention.

He had given Falconi Martina the Hollow Sword that Ashleen had used the day before. With three of the weapons in play, Sebastian could only hope that they would give them the ability to drive the enemy back once more.

"They've broken up their lines into wedges," Magnus commented as the dragon mages remained together. "We can assume that they have some defense ready for our magic, but what do they think they can do to stop us? We hit them pretty hard yesterday and that was with them pooling their magic."

Sebastian used his magic to enhance his vision. Even from a distance the mage could look for powerful auras. It was far from a perfect idea since trained wizards could stifle their auras when necessary, but with the battle just beginning he was rewarded. A handful of powerful individual auras identified warlocks stronger than anyone on his side of the field. Even Magnus, who had a powerful aura and above average talent, would have trouble standing up to a single one of them.

"They've brought reinforcements and some of the warlocks might be as powerful as you using the sword," the mage warned the fire wizard.

Falconi Martina placed her hand on the Hollow Sword buckled to her hip and asked the mage with her eyes before the words came to her mouth. "Maybe I should yield the sword to one of the wizards to increase our power?"

Shaking his head, Sebastian replied, "We aren't going to win this battle with sheer power alone. Talent and skill will be as important today."

He evaluated what the owl had seen and knew that not every powerful warlock had been committed to the initial attack. The enemy waited to see how they would act and were ready to counter if it should be needed.