White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) (72 page)

The question made Martina pause and look up introspectively. After a moment, she shook her head and replied, "I've never seen their type before. If these are new weapons of the emperor, they have been hidden well. The oxen appear stronger than a troll and those ram men were fast and nearly as strong. Even the smaller ones, which were close to the size of a large goblin or small orc, were well trained and their skills could match anything I've seen in the emperor's forces before.

"If they are that powerful, why has he not used them before?" Martina mused aloud as she considered the implications.

Katya asked the more dangerous question, "What if they aren't from the emperor at all?"

The falconi's expression darkened with the thought, though it had crossed her mind as well. "Then we have a potential new problem. We'll have to try and track them down. If we can interrogate them, maybe we can find out what this means for Southwall."

As the conversation halted for a time, Katya noticed Kel'lor further down the hill just behind where the falcons had held back the horde of monsters. He took a blanket and covered a man's head and upper body.

Martina noticed the direction of the girl's look and glanced towards the mar'goyn'lya briefly before saying, "Falcon Milar couldn't just fight like a dragon mage and reverted to trying to win as a battle mage. He landed behind the support of our line to try and fight them there.

"I saw the ox man club him from behind while I was in the air," she stated making it sound like the woman wished to reproach her subordinate for not following the new rules of aerial combat. Katya also thought that it was a defense mechanism used to put the pain of the loss behind any anger she could summon for the stupidity of the act.

Katya had landed behind the lines as well. She wondered if she had died if Martina would have said the same about her.

"I'm sure that he was just trying to help his comrades by disrupting the enemy behind their front line."

Frowning at the girl, Martina retorted, "Like you did?"

It did sound like an accusation to Katya's ears. She blinked in surprise at the heat of her words. The girl hadn't become close with the falconi, even while journeying to the mountain. They were different in backgrounds, ages and powers. There was little that they shared aside from being female and willing to fight for Southwall to save as many of their comrades as they could.

"I had a plan and didn't jump into the middle of them," Katya replied calmly. While she knew that it had been dangerous even so, it wasn't like there had truly been anywhere safe with grayvens capable of flying anywhere in the field of combat. "When my brother took me to Hala, I had an incident because of my magic. It went out of control and my power made people all around us turn into speakers of my thoughts.

"They weren't puppets I could control, because I had no idea how my magic worked or how to control it then, let alone how to control someone else.

"I've studied and learned how to control my power. I even looked into the spell form of what I did without my knowledge. A diplomacy wizard's power is one of the ones that every other wizard fears.

"They put fire wizards or air wizards in control of combat, but we can do as much damage in our own way."

"Still it was dangerous to try that by yourself. Just like Milar should never have tried that by himself."

Katya shook her head, "He shouldn't have, but my magic can affect friend and foe alike. It was better that I try it alone.

"Maybe that is the other reason why so few wizards become diplomacy wizards?" she added thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" the older woman asked dubiously.

"When a diplomacy wizard really lets loose their power, we have to choose to possibly harm our friends as well. We'll make enemies if we control our friends, so a diplomacy wizard will begin to find themselves alone.

"We're supposed to be social and use our skills to get close to people, but we have to worry over affecting them with our magic too. It becomes lonely for some, I think."

Brown eyes looked at her and into her, it seemed. Martina looked at the girl differently this time, but Katya couldn't match her look to a feeling that she could pinpoint.

Movement above them brought their eyes up to see Magnus and his friend Wellas coming to land near the pair. Magnus looked to Cheleya still working on Iris and asked, "Is Iris alive?"

Katya pushed back to her feet and started to stumble forward with a little dizziness. She had stood too quickly after becoming faint from the sight of blood. Strong hands caught her forearms helping the girl stand and she looked up into the wizard's silver eyes.

"Thanks. Cheleya's taking care of Iris. She was cut pretty badly, but Cheleya didn't seem too concerned. She's been studying to be a healer, so I guess this wound is easy for her."

The fire wizard looked to the dragoness and then to Martina stating, "We lost Milar and Wellar. Should we pursue them, falconi?"

As ranking officer among the dragon mages, Falconi Martina could even make wizards look to her with respect.

"And do what?" the falconi asked rising to her feet as well. "We are too few and took losses that we didn't need to. Unless our diplomacy novice can make her magic take out the entire force, I don't think there is a lot that we can do aside from scouting their position."

Frowning in return, Magnus replied, "Then we could scout them back to their camp or wherever they might be holed up. I can't imagine anyone in command will want to leave a force of beasts in these mountains unchecked.

"We could use Katya or any number of other wizards to finish them off, falconi. Why are you suddenly so timid? You lost a man and there are likely to be others dead from the front line. You would let their deaths remain unavenged?"

The woman retorted, "If you want to risk your neck so foolishly, Magnus, then I won't stop the champion of Winter's Edge from getting himself killed! We need to alert White Hall and Windmeer. They can send armies that are trained for this. We still have untrained novices and cadets who need to return to the school and not be sent into danger where they are likely to be killed!"

Katya spoke up and said delicately, "We should meet up with our main force and see what we can manage to do. Falconi Martina wasn't the commander of our company. She was part of the dragon mages.

"Maybe you should fly back over and find Urzen or Ylena to see what they want to commit to keeping track of the enemy?"

The fire wizard still held the girl in his arms and his grip had tightened as he grew angry at the battle mage. Martina was known as a fierce fighter, even to those who didn't train among the battle mages. Her tentative reaction was a little perplexing to Katya as well, but the girl didn't think the falconi's opinion was wrong either.

Magnus looked at her face and his eyes opened slightly in surprise. Letting her go gently to make sure that she wouldn't collapse or fall, the fire wizard glanced to Martina one last time before looking at the younger girl in appreciation and said, "Come on, Wellas, let's check the command and see what Urzen wants us to do. Maybe he'll want us to coordinate with some others to find these beasts to end them."

The two men lifted into the air creating gusts as their magical wings rushed them towards the wizards mentioned.

"He will get others killed if he rushes off like that," Martina complained and looked surprised when Katya was noticed watching her. "If you are feeling all right, perhaps we should see if Cheleya and the others need any more help?"

The two women walked back towards the dragoness who was finished with her healing and eating a small meal to replace her energy. Katya was unsure what the rest of the company would decide, but she hoped that they would stop fighting amongst themselves. The enemy could take advantage of their own in fighting if they were to return, even though Katya was pretty sure that even with their differences Southwall could always unite against a common enemy.

Magnus had been disappointed by the news given by Urzen. Piotr's scouting told them they couldn't finish off the enemy, but the two dragon mage wizards were told to go confirm the novice's words. The company had its share of dead as well as many wounded, while the enemy's dead appeared much worse than their own.

Healing wizards saved many lives that could never have survived the trip back to the school without them. Battle field medicine of bandages and salves was nothing compared to the power of a healer with magic, but even their powers had limits.

The company spent the remainder of the day and the next morning trying to pull itself back together. Their forty battle mages had been whittled away to only half that could possibly fight and many of those were still recovering from wounds as well.

As they mounted their horses to ride back, a large wagon built from magic was enclosed and kept frozen by the water wizards. The bodies of the dead rode inside to be buried with the other heroes who had given their lives for Southwall. Burials beyond the wall were common, but these had given their lives inside the country and they had the means to bring them back.

Katya rode beside a heart sick Briahnna. Her mentor had been killed along with their friends Bertrum and Alec. Other mentors from their friends were in the cart as well. Uliya's mentor, Orna, and Jeraan's new mentor had died holding the front line. Too many veteran mages had been killed or wounded.

For Magnus to expect them to attack the enemy again, they would need a force of mages or soldiers to defend the wizards. The battle mages with them were worn down and their numbers whittled away. While there were enough to defend the force if needed, the line would be much smaller and the wizards would have to step up putting their lives on the front line most likely.

It was a moot point at least after Magnus confirmed Piotr's claims. They had no portal wizards of their own to close the point off permanently, however, so until they could return to the school and find the small division reserved for the specialist magic, there was little they could do aside from leaving a small force to watch over the portal point. Magnus was asked to take charge of half a dozen wizards for the task while Kel'lor flew at his best speed for White Hall.

Cheleya could lead the remaining dragon mages, but their numbers had dwindled even more. Magnus kept Wellas and Embrell with him. They were his right hand men and dragon mages. Should something happen, they could fight or flee as quickly as any.

What that would mean for the other three wizards who had volunteered to stay, Katya was unsure.

No new simulations were run on the way back. With the wounded and disconsolate among them, there was no one willing to train in fantasy after the reality of war they had just witnessed. Katya met with Ylena from time to time, but even the older wizard looked distressed from the disastrous turn. A casual trip to the mountains for training had trained the children in their care in a terrible way. War wasn't easy to prepare for, but they weren't meant to see it so soon.

Nearly a week later, the sight of the white walls of the city serving the school was a glad sight for weary eyes. Many had been having trouble sleeping as worry of the enemy finding a way to pursue them ate into their dreams. It was unrealistic to fear such a thing, but nightmares rarely cared about what was realistic and simply preyed on the worries of the mind.

Katya found her bed as she and Cheleya returned to their room. Its comforting mattress and pillow put her to sleep almost as soon as she lay her head down.

She was surprised to hear of the news that they had missed the arrival of Darius. The first use of the courtyard that had been set aside between the dining hall and mage dorm had witnessed a portal created by the immortal wizard. He had even remained a few days as the wizard worked to pass on his knowledge to the school's wizards.

Few of the students had seen the use of the portal, but Darius had worked for several days at the school trying to train any teachers with the skill to learn the magic. Apparently, it was another type of magic that seemed limited to just a few special wizards. Katya thought it interesting how often magic found limitations with their kind.

The girl didn't have the time to check out the courtyard and novices weren't being invited to see if they could work with the magic yet. Like the dragon magic, the teachers had a curriculum set up for the new students to learn first. New types of magic weren't on that course, even if Katya had found a way around their rules to learn dragon magic early.

She wandered through the dining hall to the connecting enclosed walkway to the battle mage dorm. Essentially a long hallway with an exit on each wall, the walkway went from dining hall to dorm with the remaining two doors leading to the center of the school grounds or into the secondary mage courtyard. It was one of several connecting walkways around the school that let the students and faculty move around an inner circuit without having to deal with the cold of winter or the current summer heat.

With magic to help heat and cool the large facility, the wizards could live very pampered lives within the walls of the school, if they chose to stay inside.

Katya didn't mind most weather, though she was nowhere close to the tolerance of Cheleya, who seemed capable of running barefoot in the snow. The summer had been hotter than some, but their trip into the mountains had been cooler than near the Cadhalla River and White Hall. As she stepped into the rear courtyard, the heat and humidity of a mid summer's day was a slap in the face compared to the cooled air inside of the school.