White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) (7 page)

Noting the quiet boy who looked like a farmer, Katya inclined her head towards him and asked, “Are you going to White Hall too?”

He merely nodded as if a cat had his tongue, but the nature apprentice said, “Did one of the teams find you this year?”

Shrugging noncommittally, Katya replied, “Sort of. My brother is a battle mage and visited home on the way to the Winter’s Edge tournament. He and the wizards with him discovered that my magic was getting dangerous. Bas didn’t think waiting for a search team to find me was safe, so he took me with him to Hala. Now I have been passed off to his friends to bring me there, since he had to go on a mission.”

Before the men could comment on her brief story, one of the apprentices with a silver band on his collar sat and picked up a mug of prapple juice. For those under age, it was often a refreshing drink favored while dancing.

“You missed the girl’s story of how her battle mage brother and some wizards discovered her for us, Falther,” the wizard commented to the new boy.

“A battle mage?” the apprentice questioned in amazement. “I didn’t even think most of those could sense an aura let alone be able to decide when to pull a wizard for the schools, Master Caldeyr. She certainly seems pretty strong though, so at least he got that right.”

The other two men nodded at his assessment, but Katya frowned at the boy. “My brother senses aura’s as good as any wizard from what I gather. He’s also skilled enough to beat wizards in their duels, thank you very much!”

Exchanging glances, the newest arrival looked at the other apprentice and asked, “A battle mage who can fight in wizard duels, you don’t think she means that guy from Windmeer, do you, Alver?”

The larger apprentice with the green stripe shrugged his shoulders, but his mentor answered, “If she isn’t misleading us for some unknown reason, the girl might be the sister of that unusual mage.”

“What was his name again?” Falther asked curiously of the others.

“My brother is Sebastian Trillon and I am his sister, Katya. You are kind of misguided if you think battle mages are so weak in their skills,” the girl aimed the final point at the apprentice. He looked younger than the two nature wizards, but Katya doubted he was as young as the farm boy sitting with the wizards when she sat down.

She caught the boy’s fingers wiggling on his right hand and noticed the glow of his eyes. “I’m sorry if I offended you, pretty little Katya. Maybe we should dance together to get to know each other better? The girls say that I am a fair dancer. How about you? Would you like to dance?”

Raising her chin to sniff the air in disdain, the girl thought that she felt a strange touch of magic trying to play with her. Unsure of what the boy could do, she was doubly against the idea as Katya retorted, “I don’t think so. Whatever you think you are doing with your hand, you had better stop or one of my guardians will take exception to a trained wizard trying to take advantage of me.”

As if on cue, Darius stood from the table looking to the girl. He said something and Vord stood with a scowl on his face as his eyes pierced the distance looking straight at her table.

The other apprentice chuckled and said, “Don’t tell me you are trying to use your magic to make her like you, Falther!”

“Worse for him, the girl appears completely resistant to his charms,” Wizard Caldeyr added with a little surprise.

Falther frowned and didn’t stop trying. His forehead began to bead with sweat as he replied, “She isn’t trained at all, so how can she resist a suggestion spell?”

Chuckling even as the last boy sat looking confused by the change in conversation, Caldeyr replied, “You may be trained, but if her power is greater than yours; no mind spell of yours can compel her to listen to you, idiot. My guess is the only reason her power isn’t annihilating you is because one of the wizards is holding it in check.”

Out of the corner of the girl’s eye, she noted Darius' hand move as if casting a spell. The congested feeling Katya had been feeling since the high wizard locked her magic seemed to lift slightly and her eyes narrowed as if to warn the apprentice to use caution.

“I said, stop it!” she ordered and felt her magic in each slowly uttered word.

Falther’s eyes glazed over and his hand stopped. The other two wizard’s looked shocked as they could see that the other boy was stunned by the power Katya had released. If they knew that, Darius had only let her use a portion of her power; they might have been afraid as well.

As Darius began to move towards the girl followed closely by Vord, Wizard Caldeyr asked, “Are you all right, Falther?”

The apprentice nodded his head, but still looked a bit shaken. Katya felt a little surprised as well. Had she just beaten a trained apprentice at his own game thanks to Darius lifting some of his spell?

“Good evening, everyone,” Darius greeted the men at the table. His hands rested on her shoulders for a moment as if he was greeting her in a friendly way. While the other wizards looked at the new arrivals curiously, the high wizard moved his hands to touch her temples replacing the fuzziness once more.

Katya frowned slightly. The freedom hadn’t been complete, but her head had felt better. How long would it take to be able to have her magic unfettered, so that she could get rid of the uncomfortable feeling, she wondered?

“Good evening,” Wizard Caldeyr greeted in turn. “Is this your ward?”

Nodding, Darius introduced himself, “I am Darius. Her brother entrusted me with taking her to White Hall since it is on my way to Windmeer, more or less.

“Who is this boy’s master? He seems a little too free with his spells. Influencing young girls with magic is frowned upon in Southwall too, is it not?”

The nature wizard frowned slightly and stated, “It is. Unfortunately, his mentor is apparently busy with her drinking at the moment.”

A young woman in black wizard robes with silver gray striping at her neck could be seen joking with a small collection of men surrounding her by the bar. Katya didn’t think the woman was abusing her magic like her apprentice. She was simply an attractive, brown haired woman with enough personality to draw them in to her sphere of influence.

“Perhaps you could inform her of his transgression unless, you believe that I should interfere with her evening?” Darius asked politely, though the other wizard could sense his power being held in check along with his anger.

Stories of wizards abusing their powers had helped create a certain amount of distrust among the regular people of the world. It wasn’t just one country or time period. History was rife with wizards who desired to control or show off their power over others.

Caldeyr nodded and replied, “I will tell her, though I think Falther may have already learned his lesson at least.

“Was that the girl’s power or yours that shocked the boy?”

“It was just a portion of her natural ability that I released. You wouldn’t want me to do what I usually do to those abusing their power,” Darius warned and Katya wondered how the nice man who had chosen to help her and her brother could sound so scary suddenly.

Alver stood and moved closer to Katya and asked, “Maybe you would do me the favor of giving me a dance instead? I don’t use my powers on people like someone here.”

The larger young man flicked his friend with a finger to the head and was barely rewarded with any notice. Falther still looked stunned even after Darius had replaced the seal on the girl’s magic. Katya looked from one apprentice to the other and accepted his hand for a dance.

Chapter 4- The Plan of Exodus

Piotr had watched the strange exchange between the young, blond haired girl and apprentice Falther. She had seemed nice enough, though irritated when diplomat apprentice apparently managed to put down her brother.

His eyes had noticed the similarity in their auras. Both seemed to use roughly the same magic, which was identical to the other known diplomats from the other group as well. They only differed in that Katya’s aura felt strangely strong and weakened at once. A surge had come from the girl's magic and shut down the apprentice with a simple command.

Once the gray haired wizard arrived and touched the girl’s head, that weakness returned once more.

For Piotr, the whole exchange was a bit frightening. After Alver had moved off to dance with the young girl, he asked Wizard Caldeyr, “What happened to Falther? The girl told him to stop and she left him stunned.”

The boy mentioned still looked dazed as he stared at the center of the table.

“I believe Darius is a very powerful wizard, who has been forced to place a spell on Katya to prevent her power from lashing out without her intention. You have heard of wilders like everyone else, correct?”

At Piotr’s nod, he continued, “Without Darius chaining her magic, the girl would be a nasty sort of wilder. Diplomat wizards, they call them now a days. It’s a polite term for what they used to call coercers or mind wizards.

“An elemental wizard has no defense against them. Once they sink their magic into you, you’ll do whatever they say. Some can erase all knowledge from your mind, while others’ magic wears off leaving the victim aware of what happened under their control.

“It is dangerous magic in the wrong hands. Falther has that magic, but against a wilder of her power, he was nothing.”

“Can you counter their magic, Master Caldeyr?” Piotr asked hoping to find a trick that could save him from such treatment should he ever face such a wizard.

Thinking a moment, despite his first instinct to say that there was no counter to it; the wizard mused, “The only way to avoid being drawn into their power is to move your mind beyond your body as far as I know. If you were to shift your mind to an animal before they could trap your consciousness for example, you might be safe.”

A quick pat on the shoulder from the older wizard interrupted Piotr’s fears as he added, “Don’t fret over it. Most are safe enough to not have to worry.

“Now as to your questions, I know that few nature wizards can move their minds to an animal as easily as you say that you can. Iris seemed impressed by your skill, especially considering that you are untrained.”

“I practice a lot,” the boy confessed. “There is a rabbit in particular that comes almost every day to try and steal our crops. I have to make him go away. Sometimes I even ride in his mind for awhile to see what he sees.”

The older man nodded and replied, “A lot of wizards underestimate what a good nature wizard can do. Nature covers everything to an extent and has certain unique parts to it as well, which is why there is a separation of schools.

“Working with animals, plants, and even the world around us in general means we can work in ways that seem subtle to other wizards. Throwing a fireball is as possible for our kind as a fire wizard, but our magic leans towards being less destructive. We want nature to flow and be unharmed by our power as much as possible. We try to work with the world around us, while most elemental magic works to transform nature to their wishes without concern to what it does to the world around them.

“Since we work with nature, some nature wizards move into healing instead. The human body is as much a part of nature as any other creature after all, so it is a possibility.”

Thinking on his help with the birth of the calf, as well as other times helping other farmers’ animals; Piotr could see that possibility, though he wasn’t sure that was for him. He preferred being outside and in nature, not trapped in some hospital healing people. Maybe he could learn some healing magic to help others in the field, but not to be permanently kept inside.

“I have helped with a few animal births using my magic, but I would rather be outside than stuck in a building with sick people all the time,” he stated his preference.

Caldeyr nodded. Hearing a lull in the music, the two men looked to Alver with the pretty Katya waiting near the edge of the crowd. She was smiling as was the bigger apprentice.

Noting Piotr’s eyes looking at them, the older wizard said, “If you hope to dance with her, then you should get up and ask.”

Starting at the comment, the boy also spotted Iris with her dance partner, some unknown man from Delanne most likely. For all that he thought that Katya was pretty; there was something about Iris that drew him in more. She had held his hand and smiled making her seem to glow in his eyes, but once inside the girl had disappeared into the crowd almost as soon as the music started.

“Oh, so you like older girls then,” laughed the wizard making Piotr look at him in surprise. “You are in luck then. Iris and Qeyr are most likely to be your escorts to White Hall. It is their turn, though sometimes when there are no girls found they will send a male team back first. You and your brother are the only ones we found here so far, though Katya and the other girl might count even if they were going there with an escort anyway, I suppose.”

It was like he was being told to ask Iris to dance now if he wanted to be sure that he ever would. He shook his head at the thought. Iris was an older girl and part of the search teams, so he guessed that she wouldn’t remain at White Hall for long.

“I doubt that she would be interested in me and won’t she return to the search team as soon as we are dropped off at the school anyway?” he expressed his reservations.