Battle Mage: Winter's Edge (12 page)

             
Like an echo from deep in a cave, the mizard spoke, “My mind isn’t there for you to control, wizard, but I can control my body as you can tell. Stand down. I was merely defending myself against your apprentice. If you really wish to test what I’ve learned, I warn you that I won’t go easy on you.”

             
The man’s eyes glanced around wondering where the mage’s mind could possibly be, but the wizard could also feel the power gathered by the mizard and had no idea what magic was about to be used against him. If there was one thing a trained diplomat wizard knew, it was caution and that was revealed by Leryn’s next actions. When faced with a completely unknown force, he knew when to retreat.

             
“Fine. Release my apprentice, mage.”

             
“Please,” Sebastian demanded with a smirk. He couldn’t help himself. This new power he had found was intoxicating.

             
“Please, release the boy. I won’t raise my magic against you. These men will be my witnesses,” Leryn added gesturing to a dozen other wizards and mages that had come following the sounds of battle.

             
“Cease,” he ordered the stone back into the ground freeing the apprentice easily. The power gained from the earth made it all so simple now. His staff remained touching the ground forming the perfect conduit, even as he waited on the black robed wizard’s next move.

             
Moving to check on Gildoyne, Leryn seemed ready to follow his words of surrender, but Sebastian was not so certain of his younger charge.

             
Sebastian returned to his body without anyone’s notice as all their attention remained focused on the stupefied apprentice and his teacher. So when the mizard spoke to order his next spell, all eyes turned in surprise to face the powerful battle mage. With the added strength of the earth bolstering him, Sebastian knew that this spell would resist all attempts from the wizards to break it. “Stealth,” he declared as they watched his every move and simply disappeared from their sight.

Chapter 6- Judgment

              Late in the afternoon, Sebastian was led by soldiers of the keep to a chamber which was dimly lit as he entered alone. It was smaller than the official greeting room of Lord Dorwyn and certainly much smaller than the dance hall where their evening entertainment was held. This was a room that the mage had never found himself in before and he doubted that he would enjoy his time there.

             
A dark piece of furniture like a raised judge’s desk stood to one side and a penitent’s rail faced it from the floor. There were few other chairs in the room and no other tables or desks save the one. Two guards remained outside the door maintaining their privacy. This was not a meeting for the public.

             
Looking up at the desk, Sebastian realized that he was indeed looking up at the judges of what he had done, though the mage didn’t really think that he had truly done anything wrong. The apprentice had attacked him with magic first after all and that was while his body had appeared undefended. Had the mizard not returned to the sight of his entranced body, who knows how far Gildoyne would have gone in his attempt for revenge?

             
Three men sat at the judges’ bench looking down on the young falcon. Centermost was Lord Dorwyn and to his left, sat Falconi Saren who appeared to be a stern yet blank slate of emotion. The man refused to be read for angry or glad. Sebastian had a feeling that it certainly wasn’t the latter, however.

             
The final man in attendance was a wizard dressed all in white. A white wizard could be one of two things. The first was a wizard who had mastered more than one type of magic. Such a wizard was above the regular guild wizards since his talents had been acknowledged for being extraordinary in each field. The other type was above even those wizards. High wizards were leaders of their sects in the varied keeps. There was always at least one high wizard leading a city or the school he was assigned.

             
The white wizard was the polar opposite of the falconi as he hid little of his emotion. He was red faced and very angry, but it was the lord of Falcon’s Keep that started the proceedings.

             
“Falcon Trillon, it has come to our attention that you were in a fight with a wizard, who is just an apprentice besides. You know our rules. There are ways to go about dueling and this fight used strong and potentially deadly magic. No apprentice or cadet should ever be in a duel with a full mage or wizard without appropriate supervision or approval. You had neither from what I am told.

             
“What is your answer to these accusations?” Lord Dorwyn led the discussion down a dark path which Sebastian had never given any thought.

             
“I was experimenting with some new magic in the courtyard, my lord, when the apprentice found me in a trance. Had my mind not been separated when the apprentice found me, I am not sure what conversation you would be having right now. While achieving the spell of wind riding and sending my mind out on those winds, apparently Apprentice Gildoyne came across my unprotected body.

             
“I am not sure what he did that first alerted me to his presence, but I felt pain on my chest even from a distance where my mind was preoccupied.

             
“When I returned to the area to check, I warned the apprentice to leave me alone. He then attempted both mind control and fire magic against me without being provoked. While I kept my mind outside my body, the apprentice could not harm my mind and luckily I can still control my body separated from it. I cast a burst of lightning as a warning but the apprentice still continued to escalate his attacks.

             
“I did finish the fight, if that’s what you want to call it since it was mostly one sided. I simply used an earth spell that I had read about which merely traps the enemy within a case of stone. It prevented him from using his magic any further ending the exchange.

             
“Once it was over his mentor, Wizard Leryn, attempted to use a couple more spells against me, which again were countered by leaving my mind free. Unlike his student, Leryn knew to not continue the fight and I released the apprentice to his care.

             
“Since I couldn’t trust my safety with either of them nearby, I escaped using our standard stealth spell.” Sebastian finished without mentioning the staff or the added power behind all the spells including the wind spell which had been beyond him until today and the power increase.

             
The high wizard had calmed as his curiosity was peaked and seemed to not notice the omission at first as he questioned a different part of the declaration, “You finally conquered riding the winds by yourself, falcon? I had heard that you were never able to start the spell on your own. Air wizards have always pulled you along like an apprentice new to the art, I thought. Though I had heard that you could move your body or change magic outside yourself, I am impressed that you also figured out how to use that to protect your mind from a diplomat’s attack.” Sebastian nearly breathed easy, but then the high wizard pierced him with a question hitting closer to what he had hid. “The air riding spell takes a fair amount of strength, falcon, how do you account for this sudden increase in power that you have shown?”

             
Falconi Saren’s eyes flitted towards the wizard revealing a bit of surprise. For all that the falconi led the Falcon’s Keep battle mages; he was not incredibly knowledgeable about full wizard magic. That was a domain that only Sebastian and the full wizards would understand. The falconi went with the more knowledgeable man’s opinion, however, and added, “Answer High Wizard Krennel, Sebastian. I would like to know this myself.”

             
Sebastian didn’t doubt that the falconi was curious about how he had increased his power as much as the high wizard. It was just part of the general thirst that all the battle mages had shown for the mizard’s new conquests.

             
“I have experimented with many different spells, ones that I may not always learn the first time or even tens of times”, Sebastian said as he tried to cover. “I revisit them when I get new insights on how to approach the magic. This was merely one spell that I revisited several times and it’s not the first time I have actually accomplished the spell, just the first time while I have been consciously trying.”

             
The white wizard nodded, but Sebastian sensed that the movement did not signify agreement. The mage waited for the boot to fall. “And what of this staff Wizard Leryn noted in his account? He stated that you held a staff before you touching the earth, and that he felt an increased amount of power output from you as well as if you had the strength of a true wizard.” Discerning eyes noted the covered staff in the bow case curiously. “Is that it, falcon? I know you were ordered to bring it before us.”

             
Wanting to sigh in frustration but knowing that he needed to tap into some of the falconi’s control before making things worse, Sebastian merely nodded as he tried to maintain a stone face. Krennel gestured for the falcon to reveal Bairh’loore. As the mage turned to fetch the staff, the high wizard continued, “I confess, Falcon Trillon, that I am somewhat impressed that you found a weakness in the diplomat’s magic. To think of leaving your mind free was an interesting tactic, though I question how you would know that the apprentice attacked you with said magic. Are you trained in their arts as well? The diplomat magic is not spoken of in any of our beginner or basic texts since it is both complicated and a dangerous magic. How do you know that either the apprentice or his master actually used such powers against you, futilely or otherwise?”

             
Sebastian began removing Bairh’loore from its case and responded easily as if he was half preoccupied with the work of his hands. “I know because I could feel the attempts striking for my mind. Even though I was not within my body, it doesn’t mean that I couldn’t feel the attempt, sir. I also didn’t miss the apprentice’s attempts at harming me with a group of fireballs when he failed.”

             
The mage noted a slight frown to Krennel’s eyes even though the man had meant to hide it. The look changed quickly as Bairh’loore was revealed, however. Eyes nearly bulging out of his head, the high wizard stood and quickly rushed towards Sebastian surprising everyone in the room. A judge should not be running from his place at the bench without warning. Eyes blazed as Krennel grabbed for the staff. “Where did you get this, boy? You should not have such a thing! No battle mage uses this type of staff.”

             
Feeling the link from Bairh’loore wanting to want to recoil from the wizard or perhaps the conflict of his magic, it was Sebastian’s turn to frown. It was an accusation that felt like the wizard was trying to call him a thief, which threatened to exceed his boiling point. “I made it yesterday,” he replied tightly. “Now if you wish to check it out that is fine, but I would appreciate a little respect. You act like I am some thief, but why? It is just a staff,” he knew the last part was a lie. It was like comparing a farmer to a wizard, both were men, but the similarity ended there.

             
The high wizard’s eyes narrowed, “That is impossible. This staff has magic imbued in it somehow. Though rare in this age, the scrolls do tell of other such magical weapons created by wizards or by the elves and dwarves said to populate Taltan. No mage could possibly have made this!”

             
A response of the mizard’s annoyance and anger seemed to suddenly echo in Bairh’loore. The wizard’s foreign touch repulsed his staff. It was as much alive with Sebastian’s personal magic as anything, and his will was reflected in his creation. Extending his hand outward from his waist, Sebastian willed Bairh’loore back to him. Krennel found the staff aggressively wrench itself from his hands nearly sending the man sprawling. The white wizard looked ready to challenge the mizard, but as Bairh’loore met his hand and the ground beneath him. Power surged into the mizard as he created more of a thick, blue wall than a simple mystic shield in protection. He had uttered no word to trigger the spell; the staff seemed to know his request instinctively and had called forth the massive defense.

             
Recoiling in shock, a look echoed in the wizard’s face as well as the other two men in the room, High Wizard Krennel looked ready to defend himself or attack the mage depending where he landed from the surprise. The other two judges had leapt to their feet with the act and sudden tension of magic power being summoned between the two. Saren appeared ready to defend someone, but looked unsure of who actually needed protecting.

             
The mizard’s quiet words stilled the men as he said, “Do you believe me now? Who else can call their own weapon, but he who created it? You called me a mere mage. If you haven’t heard by now, Krennel,” he addressed the man by name as a mere equal, “I am not just a mage. I am the mizard. If you haven’t noticed, I am always looking at magic and trying to figure it out. When you’ve actually designed a similar staff or weapon and want to compare your experience, then you can talk to me about who should have Bairh’loore.”