Battle Mage: Winter's Edge (62 page)

Leaving the team all looking at each other curiously, it was Collin who was first to speak up, “Well, I think he’s been talking about Shara for as long as I’ve known him. Admittedly I always thought it was more of a brotherly worry over a little sister’s friend, but apparently I was wrong. Maybe I’m just no good at telling when someone’s more interested than just a friend.”

Nara rolled her eyes causing, Yara to giggle. As the man looked confused, more of the team couldn’t help but laugh at the wizard that had taken so long to tell Nara that he was in love with her. The two had been at Windmeer for years and he had never said anything more than as a friend. Without the
weeks of training and working close together, Sebastian doubted that he would have ever gotten the courage up to speak to her as more than a friend.

Being with the team so long had let Yara and he be more open about how they felt about each other also, but at least both had known and told each other even if they had to keep the relationship secret. The mage hated to think of all this ending soon.

Sounds of a battle still going on the other side of the wall of the Heights led the mage to say, “Well, I think I am going to check out the match in the Royal Gardens. Ashleen should be in the next set anyway.”

Yara frowned slightly at his bringing up the other woman so casually. Their friendship could turn into an issue if he showed the Kardorian too much interest, Sebastian thought noting the look even though he doubted that Yara believed there was anything more than friendship involved.

When they reached the top of the wall, the mage quickly led the way to the tower for the Heights and stepped through to watch the match between a wizard from Gray Hall and the gargoyle wizard that had been placed into the top sixteen by the judges. Though he may have lost his four way match, the gargoyle was no slouch and seemed to dislike the gray wizard almost as much as the dragons did. With that kind of dislike for each other, the battle was going on with a great intensity.

Again the wizard from Gray Hall seemed to have an advantage using his darkness shields, but the giant winged wizard fought well. Using flame, earth and wind spells, he broke down several defenses making the gray turn mainly to his quick casting black shields and weapons. Sebastian watched closely trying to manifest the spells in his head. Seeing the shields at work once more, the mage was sure that he could summon his own mage version if he needed to and he had a feeling that he might.

As the match continued, Sebastian thought that if this one had begun at the same time his had, there was no way that he could have kept up so much casting. Admittedly, the two for all their animosity had begun to slow down picking the timing of their attacks more judiciously. Even from the top of the wall, he could tell that they were both barely able to cast let alone stand. It had become a war of wills, but that could only take you so far where magic was concerned.

Seemingly taking a page from Sebastian’s playbook, the gray wizard decided to use lightning to finish off the giant. The gargoyle was used up and his defenses had been laid bare. With that last attack, the gray wizard sank to his knees with a big sigh. His attack had driven his opponent from the ring. If they were in a true fight for their lives, Sebastian thought that the gargoyle might still have fought on, but this was a controlled duel and the match was over.

The gargoyle wizard let out a growl of outrage, but when the judge declared the wizard from Gray Hall the winner he was still a good enough sport to shake the man’s hand with his four fingered giant version.

“That was a long match,” Collin noted worriedly. “If you can’t force those gray wizards out of the ring early, do you think that you will have the strength to beat them? I’m not sure most of the wizards I’ve seen could fight for so long, Bas, and I know not to underestimate you, but still…”

Nodding his head, the mage knew that his friend’s worries were justified. He could only answer, “I don’t think I could fight that type of match for anywhere near as long. My spells are going to have to be quick and I’ll need to wrap it up much faster than they just did to hope to win.”

“If any mage can do it, it would be the owl,” Olan joked using the man’s newest nickname. The other mages quickly laughed at the term even as Sebastian looked to the sky and sighed.

It was Yara who picked up the thought. “You can’t let them goad you into this kind of match then. If you could somehow use something like in your four way match, then you might have a better chance.”

Shaking his head, Sebastian had to admit, “A lot of that came from them ignoring me at first. They didn’t see me as a threat, so I let them wear each other down before playing my lightning and water attacks. The more people see of my magic, the less likely those kinds of attacks will work in a duel.”

“That is the hardest part of a tournament or even working with the same people in training day after day,” Brenner noted as he watched the team of wizards resetting the field that had taken quite a bit of a pounding from the drawn out fight. Sebastian’s arena had been torn up about equal to the Royal Gardens even though their match had gone on longer, so the wizards were still finishing fixing the Ponds on the other side as well. “Once you know someone else’s tricks and tendencies, the only way they can win is to be better or stronger. If you’ve exhausted your spells, then you will have to be quicker than he is.”

“I do have a few more ideas left, but these gray wizards aren’t going to be easy to beat,” he admitted.

There was silence between them even as the sounds of spells resetting the arenas drowned out the other audience members in the filled out stands around the two large courtyards. The Heights had no stands, but several people had thought as he had to use it to watch both fields at once.

“That was a good battle, Falcon Sebastian,” a voice from just behind him caused the mage to start. Turning to see High Wizard Darius with his entourage of wizards from Eirdhen and Annalicia in their midst, Sebastian was still a little surprised. “Apparently, you still plan to try and use your advantage in these duels. If you get too drained, I should warn you that normal eating will just mask how drained you truly are. Be careful that you don’t kill yourself. It would be a major loss to see such a talented caster lost so young.”

“I will try to be careful, sir,” Sebastian said with a nod. If this man was truly one of the immortals of legend, then who was he, a young mage, to dispute the knowledge of dozens of lifetimes. “Can I ask what you think about these gray wizards? Do you think that they might be somehow working for the emperor?”

“Hmmm, a change of topic, but all right. Though they use darkness spells, it is not the same kind of magic he and his warlocks use. So no, I do not believe that makes them his, but I do not know much more about them than that.

“Your country’s wizards let them join the tournament. Perhaps you should ask one of the ones in charge of the tournament more about them? They should know where they truly come from and what they stand for, shouldn’t they?”

Nodding, Sebastian answered, “True, but I was just hoping to get your opinion, since you have dealt with the emperor himself.” He stopped as he started thinking of another person that the immortal was said to know. “Do you think that the Grimnal still lives, Master Darius? I fought with a giant of a man with silver hair and from the description I have been told, I would almost swear that it could be him or his son perhaps. He seemed evil and could cast powerful magic, of course, but it was just this feeling I had.”

A grim smile held the wizard’s face as he spoke quietly so that only those closest could hear, “I can tell you for certain that if he used magic, this giant was not Gerid Aramathea. Your legend probably never took note that Gerid had another gift besides his strength and immortality. He was almost like anti-magic.”

“Anti-magic?” the mage asked in confusion. Darius’s definite statement about his encounter made him both glad and disappointed. He was glad that the Grimnal hadn’t become some evil warlock for the Dark Emperor, but his disappointment that his instincts had been so wrong was there also. Nearly two hundred years had passed since anyone was said to have heard from the immortal that once ruled much of the land that was now Southwall through his family of kings. Even the current king of Southwall was said to be a direct descendant of the legendary man.

“Spells both designed to harm and to heal, were resisted by Gerid. It was innate in him that magic could not harm him easily. I believe that if he used his willpower much like a wizard, he could have resisted even the strongest wizards just by denying their power. The only people known to have a similar trait were the dwarves of Litsors and the Emperor slew a lot of them to try and rid his old world of their ability.

“Now as to my belief of whether Gerid lives, I believe he does, but why he hasn’t returned to Southwall to help them fight the dark armies, that I can not answer. One of the reasons that I have come back to Hala after so many years pertains to this question, but for now let us watch the next match.

“It looks like both arenas are about ready to start once more,” the silver haired immortal stated pointing to the Royal Gardens. “The last of my country’s wizards, my grandson Darterian, is fighting in the Ponds this round, if you have no one to cheer here. I’m sure that he would appreciate the support, though I believe that he fights one of your fire wizards this round, so perhaps your allegiance would be torn.”

“We’re torn in this match as well. Another fire wizard of our country is dueling a friend from Kardor,” he smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “Perhaps it’s fine to cheer for both and just let them settle their matches between themselves?”

Darius chuckled at the concept. “Well, I suppose in the long run it is between the two standing in the rings to decide. I guess that you can back both and hope for a good match.”

With that decided, those on the Heights and the surrounding walls began to cheer as each contestant took the field.

“Southwall!” the cry came from beyond the front line of Windmeer. As Falconi Ralto and his battle mages struggled to fend off just five of the warlock wraiths, a new mass broke through the deep
white snow of the pass. Fire struck the creatures backing the wraiths still fighting on horses that looked to mirror their masters being emaciated with red eyes. If they were undead beasts, no one had time to ask their masters in the heat of battle.

The sudden attack from the rear was noticed by the wraiths as well as the men closest to the western end of their column. Not wanting to be pinned between the two armies of Southwall, the five warlocks turned as one to retreat up the slope of the mountain. Covering their retreat with their own spells of fire and clouds of smoke, the enemy army barring their path dissolved into the dark billowing fog.

Rilena stood confused along with the rest of the army of Windmeer as the entire line of enemy fighters seemed to fall back as one. She had noticed no horns or even calls for retreat, but they all seemed to know that it was time to leave.

Wanting to sit down in exhaustion, the dark haired beauty chose to check those closest to her. Zerra’s face looked white as the snow around them and Rilena could see her torn pants were slick with blood.

She turned to see Elzen walking back from his short pursuit of the soldiers he had been fighting. “Elzen, can you help Zerra? She’s bleeding pretty bad from that cut on her leg.”

Nodding to the girl he asked, “Can you grab some food from the saddlebags? Healing takes a lot of energy and make sure to get something for yourself. You’ve used a lot of magic fighting and we don’t know how soon those things will be back.”

Without questioning the request, Rilena hurried to one of the nearest horses with a pack on it. They had lost some of the animals early on in the fight, so every single pack remaining was crucial to their survival. Every horse was critical also whether a mere pack animal or a battle steed. Without the horses, she wasn’t sure how many would make it back to the safety of Windmeer or Falcon’s Keep.

As she chewed an end of a loaf of bread and carried two canteens of water and a bag of food for the others from her line, Rilena looked at how many bodies littered the land in front of her. Human, orc, goblin and beast, the dead were all around them and left in a trail of reddened snow. The fighting had been terrible and there were casualties on both sides. How many more would die in this conflict in the mountains that most people of Southwall could care less about? It would feel pointless if not for the fear that this fortress so far into their land could become a launching point for the enemy to sweep across the entire country. The North Wall was made useless by this kind of magic.

Elzen spotted her as she drew near and his face looked more worried than she would have thought looking at a cut that Zerra had been able to fight through.

“What’s wrong, Elzen? Aside from the obvious fighting for our lives part that is?” she asked trying to make light of the situation as Zerra’s eyes met hers looking tired where she sat in the snow. The falcon looked worse than Rilena had at first thought. She looked closer to death’s door than just a little cut should have caused.

“Healing takes the energy of more than just the healer. Zerra’s critically low on energy and her blood has been leaking out of a pretty serious wound making it even worse. If I try to heal her fully, I might drain her so much that the healing could actually kill her. We may need to find a wizard for this? I’m not sure that I am qualified enough to do this,” Elzen confessed suddenly looking like that little boy she had once thought him to be.