Battle Mage: Winter's Edge (23 page)

             
He glanced at the window and the gray skies surrounding Windmeer once more. It was so gloomy the man wished he could just hide under his covers until the sun returned.

             
With a big sigh, the Sebastian turned back his blankets and let the cool air of the room wake his skin with its brisk touch. It was time to get up. He had already heard the second bell earlier. The often cursed bells went off at the beginning of the castle’s first shifts. During the summer that would be dawn. In the winter, the bells were magically set to go off at the same time despite being dark.

             
Sebastian was glad that he could wait until the second bell to get up since he was technically a visitor to Windmeer this time, despite the previous summer’s tour here and his subsequent medical recovery. That had been before he was transferred to Falcon’s Keep.

             
He was the rank of falcon now, unlike his first trip to Windmeer, and the battle mage had more responsibilities than as a cadet. Even with his injuries and the lack of current work, Sebastian knew it was still just a matter of time before someone hunted him down and put him back to work.

             
After a brief bit of healing magic transferred into the wood of the sill to knit the wood together and seal off the draft, Sebastian finished dressing before heading down to find some breakfast. Another unfortunate side affect of the extra use of magic, was that his stomach had been reminded that it was time to be hungry.

             
The mage had barely set foot outside the door before he felt a new breeze in the hall. It wasn’t the chill breeze that caused him to pull up short but surprise at the sight of a wizard in blue half rushing towards him. The woman was in such a rush that she nearly crashed into him as her eyes darted to his face, but even with a mere instant to take her in, Sebastian realized that he knew her.

             
“Fala!” he greeted his air wizard friend warmly. She had not been in the courtyard to greet him so he had just assumed the wizard had been transferred back to White Hall or one of the other forts in his absence. Fala had served in more than one mission with him the past summer and some of those had ended with one or both of them nearly being killed. Near death experiences did tend to bond people together, however, and Sebastian considered the wizard one of his best friends now.

             
“Sebastian! By the gods, you startled me! I had heard you were back again. I can’t believe you actually braved this winter weather to travel all the way from Falcon’s Keep. Has the shield spell been your friend this trip?” she grinned knowing the magic taught to him by the wizard herself. It had been one of the first wizard spells that he had translated into a battle mage spell.

             
“Of course and with the snow and sleet we encountered I was glad of it. With the trick of binding the spell in place, it lasts all day. Some of the wizards in my party couldn’t keep theirs in place long enough to outlast the weather and wound up as wet as the poor soldiers with us,” the mage grinned, even though he felt slightly bad for those who could not use such a spell in the kind of weather he had just described.

             
With an appreciative smile, the woman continued, “I had heard you were returning, though not how soon. I wish I could have been there to greet you, my friend. It’s been too long.”

             
He nodded. “Though my time for greetings was cut short when Yara and Deyla got a hold of me. I was rushed to medical for a patch up job from Yara.”

             
“You were injured again? What happened this time?” she asked incredulously.

             
“We ran into some of the emperor’s creatures in the mountains and I was knocked over a cliff. Some of your air magic prevented me from fully killing myself at least,” Sebastian finished with a laugh, a gesture he could do now without wincing from his ribs, he noted appreciatively.

             
Shaking her head, the wizard questioned, “How do you keep finding so much trouble? You know most research wizards tend to stay holed up in the libraries or their studies. Maybe you should consider changing professions?”

             
He laughed. “Perhaps, but then who would the emperor’s minions pick on without me there?”

             
Giving him a quick hug, which was a bit of a surprise, Fala asked, “Are you headed down for breakfast? Maybe we could catch a quick bite together before I find my new apprentice. You’d like her too, I bet. Lodia has been a bit of a magnet for trouble as well.”

             
Chuckling at her need to joke at his expense, he gladly accepted the invitation and the two quickly found their way to the meal hall. It was already bustling with activity by the time they arrived. The winter made for less work for many of their professions so most people used the second bell for getting up for breakfast. Even during the summer, many preferred the second breakfast over the first. First bell was most often for missions and the servants that virtually ran the castle.

             
They had barely seated themselves when Sebastian heard his name.

             
“Bas! Thank goodness,” Rilena declared as she rushed up with her tray.

             
Looking askance of the wizard across from her friend, she added, “Sorry, it’s just that I don’t know anyone here. I was getting a little lonely and its not like Markun’s my usual cup of tea. The old fuddy duddy’s been busy with the higher ups and all the reports anyway.”

             
“Did you get called in as well? By the way, Rilena, this is my good friend, Fala,” the mage tried to politely introduce his two friends despite the abrupt arrival.

             
“Hi ya,” Rilena proffered a hand and returned her attention to Sebastian. “As to your question, yes, I’ve had to give reports to two falcondi and a raven about the fortress and that strange giant we ran into also. I guess you got lucky being injured,” she laughed.

             
Fala held a polite smile and nibbled a hot cake from her fork. The warm circular cakes with their elparam syrup were very refreshing in the cold of winter and this syrup was pretty fresh if the mage’s taste buds were accurate. His family had gathered syrup from an orchard near their house when he was young. It was one of the few childhood memories that remained after all his years away from his family.

             
“A giant?” a new girl’s voice asked as a petite young woman in the white of an apprentice came up behind Fala. The silver and blue stripes at her neck peeked from beneath her long, dark hair and more ran along her sleeves revealing her chosen school as that of an air wizard. Sebastian noted her dress was rather light weight for winter besides but noted no air shield holding her body heat close. She was also less than ladylike as she simply stepped over the bench to sit next to Fala.

             
“My apprentice Lodia,” the wizard gestured to her left with her hand. “Lodia, this is…”

             
“Falcon Trillon!” the girl blurted over her teacher as her face lit up with excitement. “The castle’s been talking about you ever since I got here. You’re supposed to have invented a whole bunch of new battle mage techniques. You’re kind of a prodigy or something. You also fought the Dark Emperor’s forces in several big battles last year.

             
“They won’t tell me much about them and there’s pretty much nothing written that an apprentice like me can read about, but I am sure that you are quite amazing! Maybe you can even show me a few things. You’re a teacher also aren’t you?”

             
The girl looked ready to keep on talking until Fala covered her mouth with a hand and frowned at the girl. “It’s breakfast, Lodia; do you have to start so soon? Eat your food and let me speak with my friend for a bit.” She turned towards Sebastian still rolling her eyes. “Perhaps I misspoke about her nature of getting into trouble like you, Sebastian; I think she causes most of her own problems. My apprentice likes to chatter rather than listen to instruction too much of the time.”

             
Lodia’s excited attitude wilted almost like she had been whipped at her teacher’s admonition, but Sebastian could still see the look in her violet eyes remained.

             
Smiling politely and extending a hand in greeting Sebastian simply said, “Nice to meet you. This is my friend Rilena, by the way. She’s also a falcon.”

             
Rilena half kicked him under the table. Apparently, she had hoped to evade the girl’s radar, but it was too late. Lodia’s eyes brightened once more and the girl began to greet Rilena in her chatty way.

             
Fala looked away with a sigh and ran a hand through her hair loosening a strand in a curl along her cheek from her freshly brushed, long, brown tresses.

             
As the girl, bent Rilena’s ear, Sebastian asked Fala, “So has anything new happened since I left and took my abilities to find danger with me?”

             
The wizard smiled, but shook her head. “Nothing much. Most of the talk around here has been over the spring tournament.”

             
“Oh, you should definitely join that!” Lodia jumped in with a grin. The girl’s long brunette hair flew wildly as she whipped her head to look at Sebastian.

             
His right brow lifted a little bit in query towards Fala.

             
“She seems to think that you’re like some legendary warrior or something,” the wizard nearly groaned. “Ever since she arrived, Lodia’s been trying to grill me about you.”

             
“Are you a newly found wizard? I don’t think I recognize you from White Hall, though admittedly wizard apprentices and cadets rarely mingle even at social meetings like a dance.”

             
Shaking her head and sending her hair in a whipping cloud once more as she did, Lodia replied, “No, I’ve been at Red Hall for five years, but my tutors there decided that if I was to grow I should try a change of schools.”

             
Rilena barely suppressed a giggle next to him as Fala looked to the heavens. He had a feeling that Red Hall wanted her growth elsewhere if only for a break from the girl’s exuberance. Sebastian simply nodded and asked, “And what makes you think I should be in the tournament anyway? Battle mages usually don’t participate in the magic side of tournaments and it’s considered unfair to join the dueling of the soldiers.”

             
The girl frowned and threw her hands in the air as she attempted to refute his logic, “I’ve heard that you’re as good as any wizard with magic and supposed to be quite good with weapons of a more mundane type as well.” She seemed to be trying to get more flowery with her words even though it was obvious that her upbringing had been more common. “If you think you’d be cheating against soldiers then you should try the wizards’ competition! I bet you’d do very well there.”

             
“You’ve never seen him perform even a little magic,” Rilena refuted in mild disbelief. “How would you know that he’d have a prayer against a full wizard?”

             
“Mistress Fala said you dueled a fire mage and clobbered him,” the girl informed the others even as the wizard in mention covered her eyes with her hand in embarrassment. Sebastian hadn’t thought too many knew of the duel from his trip to Windmeer where he had finally confronted his schoolyard tormentor. It was probably best for all concerned since there could have been consequences from their respective guilds for such actions. He also wouldn’t have thought Fala would spread such a tale.

             
“You what?” Rilena asked with a little smirk. All battle mages had been considered second hand citizens of the magic schools by their wizard peers. Their strength of magical power basically ranked wizards within their own guilds as well. As they matured, such natural strength could mean a higher position in their ranks and only the strongest and most skilled would be given the chance to become white wizards, the leaders of all wizards in Southwall.

             
A mere battle mage cadet defeating a wizard, even a wizard’s apprentice, was against the whole thought of their hierarchy, which was why Sebastian and his group hadn’t said anything. Or so he had thought. He simply stared at Fala in surprise.

             
“I only mentioned something off handedly when she was getting frustrated that she couldn’t learn some of her spells. A battle mage like you can learn almost any magic and can even defeat a supposedly more powerful opponent like a wizard of Magnus’ level. He’s known pretty well at White Hall for being a talented fire wizard after all.

             
“The boy was raised to his colors last summer as well and long overdue according to some of my peers. I hadn’t meant for Lodia to speak of such things even as a rumor, however,” she added with a frown for her apprentice, who shrank back once more quietly.

             
Deciding to do some damage control, Sebastian spoke quietly enough that nearby tables wouldn’t over hear without trying. “I challenged him into a duel circle. Magnus might be more powerful in magic, but the whole point was to show him when I had been trying to ignore his personal attacks that I wasn’t doing so because I couldn’t defend myself. Magnus liked to bully me and some of the other cadets. I simply proved to him that we weren’t useless next to wizards.