Battle Mage: Winter's Edge (4 page)

             
There were many reasons for that, the young man thought, as he wandered into the library of Falcon’s Keep. Wizards and scholars alike would use the room. While a warrior by nature, Sebastian had found the library surprisingly good for finding a degree of peace. Perhaps it was the soft rustling of pages, the occasional footfalls of a slippered foot, or maybe it was just the quiet, but Sebastian found it had become a sanctuary for him. The only minor annoyance was the attention a battle mage tended to draw entering such a place of learning and study.

             
Several wizards glanced at Sebastian’s entry this day as well. Most people tended to glance at new arrivals, but the frowns he received from the wizards were unique to him. Wizards tended to frown upon battle mages at the best of times. Mages were known to have a lesser magical ability innate to them. With that major limitation, they could not achieve the complicated and powerful spells of the haughty wizards who saw them as inferior. The wizards themselves had factions as well that probably disliked each other, Sebastian guessed, but they all had that common dislike for their assumed lesser cousins.

             
That was until Sebastian had come along. In one summer, he had discovered how to crack many of their spells. Healing like that which had surprised the Kardorians, was limited to a smaller number of wizards for example and no mage spells for it had ever been created over the last one hundred fifty years. But Sebastian had met an apprentice healer on his first trip to the wall, and she had shown him some of her magic. Being a surprisingly quick study, the mage had taken spells that required many gestures and chants for a wizard and broke them down into a single word. Speaking the word `heal’ was merely one minor part of what he actually did. It was the way he ordered his mind at the same time and called forth the magic from the single word that truly set the magic’s work for him.

             
While learning the power of healing was helpful for battle they found that, just like the wizards, of the battle mages only a limited number of them could learn this intricate skill from Sebastian much like their wizard rivals. On the other hand, Sebastian had broken down dozens of other spells. A variety of fire, air and earth spells mainly; the bulk of the battle mages seemed well qualified to master almost any of these and he had become a teacher to his fellow falcons for most of the summer and fall.

             
All that was well and good for the battle mages, but being the first mage to create a spell in over a hundred years, they constantly wanted more from him so here he was again. Between missions and training his body to the weapons of his order, the falcon would go study the tome and sometimes others lent to him from the library. Working to create more magic for battle mages had become his mission in life, and it had virtually become a mandate ordered from his superiors. Unfortunately for Sebastian, the ravens and falconi knew that he was capable of more as did he, but the way many mages looked at him as if to see if he had come up with yet another spell for them did get old. He often felt a bit used, even if many of the mages seemed to worship him as a hero in return.

             
He was referred to as the mizard as well these days. Once a joke originally implying that he was half wizard and half mage, the name had caught on and now many called him that. It was also a lonely title, he thought. Being a mage or a wizard, you were one of many even if the other type disliked you, but being a mizard meant you were alone. The battle mages considered him theirs, but Sebastian traveled between both worlds often. He had made many wizard friends while at Windmeer. The love of his life, the healer apprentice, Yara, was but one of many after the battles this past summer.

             
That set of friendships hadn’t followed him here so far unfortunately. Hundreds of miles from Windmeer, Sebastian was even further from the school he had called home for nearly a third his life. Add more than a hundred more to his birth home and the family he hadn’t seen in a few years, the mage thought.             

             
Sighing softly, Sebastian looked at the book trying to concentrate. The more he looked at this book, the more the mizard seemed to feel like he was maybe tapped out on ideas from it. It was merely a beginner book after all, though it covered most of the branches of magic to at least a point. Most of his magic ideas hadn’t come from the thing anyway, Sebastian realized, it had come from seeing others using their magic.

             
Forcing himself to read some more, the mage missed the presence of someone stepping towards the table from behind him.

             
“How curious,” a female voice stated somewhat amused, “a battle mage studying a wizard’s tome? I know Kardor has few battle mages, since they are more unique to your lands, but I thought you were more of a soldier than a wizard.”

             
Sebastian turned his head to watch the apprentice Ashleen take a seat beside him. The young woman seemed to move like a cloud. Her long silver hair swept in after the flowing blue robes gilded with silver. She dressed like a full wizard would in Southwall, the man thought. The robes seemed richer than an apprentice would have and many full wizards merely wore more basic cotton or wool versions depending on the season. This material seemed to glisten. Could it be satin overlaying the outer portion? Sebastian was no tailor and his fashion sense ended with what the military gave him for uniforms, so he had no idea.

             
Layers of pale blue and dark blue material were nearly dazzling in their richness. These were not her normal traveling clothes, the man thought, but more like a gown for the dance for after dinner tonight perhaps. It was also a design that seemed more like a true robe, cinched with her silver belt, which was revealed as she sat. The leg nearest the mage bared above the knee as the robe split and the left side slid away. The right remained half covering her lap preventing true indecency in that position. Seated, the maneuver also revealed her silver slippers. They were also not designed for the winter weather of the northern continent.

             
He assumed that she must have felt his glance, but the young woman seemed not to care as her crystal blue eyes watched his face with a slight smile.

             
Getting back to her question with a marginal shake of his head and a quick return of his eyes to hers, the young man replied with a rueful smile, “I’m a bit unique, I think. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen another falcon here now that I think about it.”

             
“Hmmm,” Ashleen hummed in thought, “I thought it strange. So why do you read it, if the wizards books aren’t designed for you? Are you able to learn their magic… our magic, I mean?” The girl seemed to start at her misuse of words. Sebastian almost wondered if it actually was a mistake.

             
“I can understand the book easily enough, but deciphering how I can use the magic is the trickier part. If I can wrap my head around how a battle mage can tap into it, I can reproduce it. I will say that seeing magic performed is easier to understand than just reading about it. The more I see of a spell the more likely I can actually translate it into something I can do.”

             
Smiling wistfully, the woman took her eyes off him as she raised her right hand revealing the porcelain skin of her forearm in the process. Her elbow still on the table, Sebastian began to feel the hairs of his arm tingle as she drummed her fingers in the air. Little blue and silver sparks flickered around her fingers and slowly grew into a handful of swirling strands. The sound of electricity in the air began to draw attention and glares. A research wizard wearing his brown and black robe shushed her angrily as the crackles disturbed his reading. Ignoring the wizard, Ashleen asked quietly, “Could you see how I did that?” The sparkles extinguished. The young woman noted the wizard still glaring at her and she returned the look before snubbing him with a raised nose and sniff. Returning her attention to Sebastian in the same motion, Ashleen asked again, “Did you feel it?”

             
The falcon’s eyes narrowed in thought. He had felt the results of her magic but he wasn’t quite sure about how the apprentice had actually accessed the spell. Having never thought to create lightning for an attack, Sebastian wasn’t sure he could finesse such a small flicker like Ashleen had either. “I’m not sure,” he confessed.

             
The silver haired apprentice looked around with a frown and asked, “Is there somewhere that we could go where we won’t be shushed by these old stick up the bum wizards? Maybe I can teach you, but I may need to show you more than once.”

             
Thinking a moment, the falcon replied, “Maybe one of the training fields, though they’re outside and you seem dressed for staying inside at the moment.” The girl made a face at the idea. “There are also a few lecture rooms that would probably be free otherwise. They’re inside and not too far from here.”

             
Ashleen stood letting the robe fall back around her legs hiding her delicate slippers once more. She nodded. “That sounds good. I’d hate to have to change before dinner again. I’ve only brought a few changes of clothes along after all.” She offered a hand to the man as he had remained sitting.

             
Standing as he grasped her hand, a little spark leapt between their fingers. The apprentice looked a little sheepish and appeared apologetic at the slip. Even as they walked hand in hand, Sebastian thought he felt the tingle of electricity continue between them as if the girl were unable to completely free herself of the charge.

             
The rooms were not far away as the mage had said. A pair of turns and they found an open room with a single, rectangular, dark oak table surrounded by eight padded chairs. The reds of the padding contrasted with the apprentice’s blue and silver satin. As the two entered the room, Ashleen released his hand and twirled her fingers similar to before for him to watch as she had done in the library. Sebastian noticed that it seemed to be a matter of her controlling the flow more than calling up a new magic. It was as if the magic was always on and Ashleen merely released it as she wanted.

             
“Did you see this time?” the girl asked and sat over the arm of one of the padded chairs exposing her lower legs in the process. The young man noticed that her right ankle sported a delicate looking silver bracelet laced with amethysts above her silver slipper. Ashleen crossed her ankles as she continued the play of light for him effortlessly.

             
Pulling the end chair from the table and taking a seat cross corner from the girl, the mizard stayed with the business of magic. Whether Ashleen was a flirt or just careless with what she showed of her body, the man refused to be distracted from the magic before him. “Are you a wilder, Ashleen?” he asked shifting her attention with a start. The falcon could feel her power level of magic as many magic users could, but it was different from the wizards he had known.

             
Looking a bit surprised, the apprentice replied with her own question attempting to deflect slightly, “Why do you ask?”

The electricity around her fingers flickered into nonexistence, but Sebastian was sure that he could feel the electricity still in her like a nervous tension in the air. The falcon chose his words carefully. Worrying that perhaps this was a delicate subject, he didn’t want to find out the hard way. “Well, the way you call the lightning is different from most wizards I’ve seen. It’s almost like your lightning is always on and around you.”

              With a sigh, Ashleen confessed, “Yes, I’m a wilder. I am surprised that you could tell. Very few wizards have noted the way my magic is basically there at all times. It’s great for defense as the werebeast found out today.” The last was said with a smile. “I find it surprising that you deciphered that so quickly. From my side I can tell that you have magic also, but I haven’t seen it switch on as you say.”

             
Sizing up Ashleen’s lightning, the mage tried to order the spell in his mind. He noted that the magic felt like both part of the air and part of the earth. It could be an intersecting of the two magical schools perhaps, he thought. Drawing on the earth, Sebastian tried opening himself up to the air at the same time. “Dance,” the mizard stated.

             
Ashleen’s eyebrows raised in surprise as flickers of lightning sprung up in his hands. The mage almost felt like he was letting the earth feed the spell. More wizard-like in its duration unlike an air lance which locked after the call, Sebastian had to keep his mind on the spell if he didn’t want to lose control of the energy.

             
Jumping up in surprise and clapping, Ashleen’s robe slipped free a bit from the drawn belt. Her top flashed briefly revealing a great deal more of her cleavage before she could pull it tight. The surprising view caused the mage to lose control of the flow of power and the sparks became a dazzling arc of lightning which struck the ceiling before flaring out.

             
“Whoops,” the girl stated sheepishly. The two began to laugh even as they blushed. “I really need to be more careful in this robe,” Ashleen admitted, “but it’s so pretty I just enjoy wearing it.”

             
Nodding, Sebastian said, “I noticed the quality of the material when you walked up earlier. You’re lucky as an apprentice to have such a beautiful outfit. Our apprentices are stuck in white with maybe a stripe of their faction color. I’m surprised to see you in such a robe.