White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) (57 page)

Piotr noticed a smile on the approaching redheaded cadet’s face as she approached her friends. He liked her too, but again wasn’t sure about being more than a friend to the girl. She was also in training as a battle mage so the long term idea of such would be hard, Piotr thought already talking himself out of the possibility.

Niklaus noticed his eyes and slowly began to shake his head as if he could read his twin’s mind. He said nothing, but they all greeted Uliya before she joined their earlier conversation complaining, “All this riding... they should have sent healers along too. We’ll be so sore by tonight that I won’t be able to sleep.”

Jeraan interjected after the girl’s disruption, “By the way, do you know how much farther it is? Are we supposed to release the animals in the morning or tonight?”

“From what Zieran said, I think it’s about two more hours’ ride from here. There are some lakes feeding streams and the start of a couple rivers that run all the way to the coast. The land is supposed to be covered in forest, while there aren’t many farms for miles and the nearest major town isn’t much closer than White Hall.

“We’ll keep the animals safe on the carts tonight and release them in the morning, though we’ll have to see if all the animals are willing.”

Uliya grinned and pointed at Bo who had returned to the stream and was watching the water while a few small fish darted away from her shadow. “I hear that the wizards have been betting on whether you can get the bear to actually stay this time. She’s supposed to be a wild animal, but that bear hasn’t been willing to give up her easy life the last four times they’ve tried to set her free.”

“Maybe you can try to help him,” Xara offered as she tried to push the two together once again.

Uliya had missed that conversation, but turned to look at Piotr with a hopeful smile and asked, “I don’t know what I could do, but if you need help I’d be glad to do whatever I can.”

A call from the main group drew their attention away. Lunch was being set. If they were going to eat, they had to return to do it now.

As they walked back, Piotr said to Uliya, “Who knows? I might need your help. We’ll see,” was the most that the novice would commit.

She was pretty though, Piotr thought distractedly.

The green line stood up from the land as they closed in on the Cherantir Forest. After a little over two more hours ride, the company of trainees from all three disciplines was all ready for the ride to be over. While the mentors were veterans, they didn’t ride regularly while teaching in White Hall either; so they were feeling the affects of the long ride as much as their students.

As they neared their destination a trail of dark smoke rising up from south of the forest began to draw the attention of them all, but the teachers were the ones who began to have discussions related to the unusual phenomenon. Where there was smoke, there was fire, the saying went; but to the south was a land covered sparsely by farmers and those raising cattle or sheep. To see such a thick column of smoke at this time of year was worrisome. In the Fall, there might be fires from those burning leaves, though most farmers preferred using the material as mulch for their fields.

Summer had barely begun and there had been no drought. Fire would have to be started intentionally for such a thing to be seen from so far away.

The teachers began discussing the smoke and what they should do about making sure that there was no concern. It was quickly decided that most of the mages and soldiers would head towards the smoke to discover what was happening. They had only brought four wizards along to take care of the animals. Piotr and a novice named Banty were joined by their mentors. They would be guarded by Niklaus and Uliya with their trainers and just two of the ten soldiers.

Being nature wizards in an area deemed safe, even that many protectors had been argued as being unnecessary by the wizards as much as the rest. Still, the others split from the smaller group heading as quickly as they could towards possible danger.

Zieran spoke with his student as they brought the cart to a halt beside the other and started to set up camp, “This wasn’t supposed to be a trip needing scouts. Normally an air wizard or earth wizard could scout on the winds to see what was going on over there.”

Hearing the conversation as the remainder of their group was all close by, Niklaus asked, “Well, couldn’t a nature wizard just link his mind to a bird and send it to the area almost as quickly as one of the other wizards? We brought some birds along to release here anyway, didn’t we?”

Zieran looked surprised to hear a battle mage speak so casually about wizard magic. It was so matter of fact to the boy, who nearly mirrored his student Piotr in looks. Of course, Niklaus had a stronger tie to wizards than most, but the man had forgotten that at first, still it seemed odd to him looking at the cadet.

“You talk like every wizard can just join their mind with a bird’s. Few can do it actually. We can train or influence creatures, but seeing through their eyes is rare.”

Niklaus looked confused and pointed at his brother, “But Piotr’s been doing it since last Fall.”

Looking to the sky, Zieran slapped his forehead. While it had been mentioned to him when they had first been introduced, the ability had slipped his mind over the last couple months during the boy’s training. “I completely forgot when they decided to ride over there. Everyone relies so much on air wizards, it slipped my mind.”

Piotr appeared as perplexed by the slip as his brother, but he hadn’t been part of the conversation which had chosen their plan.

Zieran looked at his novice a moment before asking, “Well, we have nothing to really do for now. If you think you have good rapport, why not use your magic to scout for us to let us know how the others are doing? It is a good thing to keep in practice. Have you been using that spell while learning the other magic?”

Shrugging at his mentor as the group began to follow the two towards the other cart with several cages holding smaller animals, Piotr responded, “It is a pretty natural skill for me already, but I will use it to steer Bo or one of the other animals on occasion.”

The wizards chose a cage with a field shrike inside. Piotr had used the spell in question on this bird before and had a familiarity with it; though that could be said for pretty much every animal in the zoo after all this time.

“Let me find a place to sit first, then open the cage once my mind takes her over,” the novice stated to his master looking for a spot to sit near the cages. He could stand to see the shrike instead, but someone would need to ease him to the ground. Once his mind controlled the bird, Piotr’s body would be like a marionette with its string cut.

Niklaus asked as he stood beside his brother. “Do you think that I should try to shape change into a bird to go with you?”

Clapping a hand on the boy’s shoulder, Falcon Elijah stated, “It doesn’t take two of you to scout, besides Piotr isn’t physically going there. If a hunter were to shoot down a bird, it would be you inside of that body unlike sharing his mind with the shrike.”

Disappointment crossed the cadet’s face, but he didn’t argue. As a student, his opinion held less weight and the others knew better. This was about magic and he was just a novice with barely an opinion in their eyes.

Forming the triangle with his fingers, Piotr sent his mind into the field shrike and quickly he was looking back at his body. His hands dropped as his head sagged forward like he had fallen to sleep instantly. The bird looked to Zieran standing beside the cart and its cage.

Once the wizard had seen Piotr’s body lapse into unconsciousness, Zieran lifted the catch on the cage before opening the door. Taking flight, the shrike lifted into the air quickly. It was one of the faster birds in Southwall and under the novice’s guidance, it quickly flew along the outer edge of the forest on a nearly straight path to the smoke.

He caught sight of a child, a boy stumbling along looking covered in black soot. Piotr mumbled as if his voice came from a distance alerting the camp, “A child looks like he needs help about half a mile along the tree line.”

Being difficult to communicate, the novice kept the message short and hoped that his body would echo what his mind wanted to say. It was something that he had tested with Niklaus. Sending his mind to an animal or bird; Piotr could speak from his body, but he couldn’t always hear if they spoke to him. An inefficient way to communicate, the camp would still know what he had seen.

Winging along, the bird soon spotted and overtook the riders who had split off towards the smoke. Several looked up seeing the bird brazenly passing through the air above them. No one could know that it was controlled by the novice, but still it was rare for a field shrike to be seen by groups of men. They were predators by nature, but humans and horses were too noisy or dangerous so the birds stayed clear as much as possible.

This shrike had been found injured by a nature wizard. Only humans with a magical affinity for nature could have captured the bird since even injured the bird’s instinct was to flee.

Taking advantage of the shrike’s great vision as well as the altitude it could achieve, Piotr was still well short of a small community of homes when he could tell that the tiny village was on fire. Nearly every building had smoke wafting from the structure and worse than that he could see bodies on the ground. There was nothing moving save for a few brave carrion birds already ripping at the dead.

Circling the village from a great height, the field shrike was directed to look for any sign of those responsible for the unholy act. No one deserved such a death and yet, Piotr was pretty sure that there were a few smaller bodies lying amidst those left behind by the monsters responsible. The thought made the boy angry, but even as he circled, the novice realized that the bird would be unable to help him find whatever or whoever had killed these people.

He opened his eyes in camp surprising those left to watch over him. Looking at Zieran soberly, Piotr stated, “A small village was attacked and left to burn. I couldn’t find any sign of life in the village with the shrike, but the rest of our people should be there soon.”

The wizard frowned and glanced at the others around them.

Before he could say anything the other nature wizard Gorum, Zieran’s superior in age and therefore rank, looked to the south and asked curiously, “Did you abandon Estry?”

Looking at the elder wizard incredulously, Piotr replied sounding a bit surprised by the cold hearted question, “I maintain a tether on her. I can jump my mind back, but I have her returning here now. There is nothing else helpful that she can see from the air, so I came back to report.

“You do understand that everyone was likely killed there and left to burn, Master Gorum?”

The wizard brushed his thinning brown hair back as he frowned at the boy. “That bird is also your responsibility. For the moment, we can do nothing for that village; but you need to bring the bird back.”

“She will be released anyway in the morning,” Piotr retorted in disbelief and disgust at the wizard’s shortsightedness. “If I let her go off now, I would only be a few hours earlier than planned. Since we have her here, I planned to bring her back in case I need to borrow her again. A field shrike has excellent vision and speed. The other birds we have could be used, but Estry would be best for reconnaissance.”

Instead of letting the two get into an argument that would not be productive, Zieran interjected, “Falcon Elijah took your brother to find that boy you spotted. He is likely a survivor from the village. Hopefully, the boy can tell us what happened, so we can decide how to help properly.”

The elder wizard nodded and added, “We should tend the animals while we wait for the others to meet up here.”

With nothing better to do, the remaining wizards began to tend their charges while Falcon Orna and Uliya kept watch over them.

Chapter 29- The Watch of Owls

It was getting dark before the riders rejoined the wizards and their carts. They were a sober lot and many of the cadets looked like they had been sick. Two falcons remained behind to scout a trail that had been found heading north towards the forest.

Piotr looked at those who had returned and noticed the silence. Some had tears in their eyes, but any crying had been finished on the ride; though there would be cries of fear that night as many awoke with nightmares from what they had seen. Cadets of thirteen and fourteen weren’t supposed to see what they had seen, especially at their age. No one ever should, but Southwall had been at war since before the country’s name had changed; so it had become a way of life for those who manned the wall.

Before the riders had returned, Falcon Elijah and Niklaus had ridden back with a boy whose eyes held shock from what he had seen also. He didn’t say a word no matter how often or how many of them tried to comfort the child. The boy’s eyes searched around him frantically, but Piotr wasn’t sure that he saw anything beyond the nightmare he had run from in the village.

Piotr wished that Katya were there. Her presence would have helped the boy, even without her magic; but certainly the novice was enough of a wizard and a diplomat to reach the child. His mind was distraught and damaged by the death in his village. Only someone with the skills or magic of a diplomacy wizard was likely to help soothe a child after that. Time was the only other cure and even that might not be enough.