Battle Mage Visions (A Tale of Alus Book 12) (12 page)

The evening had gone much like any other. Dinner was followed by dancing. Sebastian enjoyed dancing with Ashleen, though he pretty much enjoyed anything with the girl. If he wasn't so busy with everything else, the mage thought that she would be the kind of girl that he could get lost in.

He had known friends, even among busy battle mages, who had seemed to disappear for a time. Love overshadowed their lives. Sometimes it interfered with their work as well, while others seemed more capable of balancing it all.

Ashleen was an amazing woman, but the mage had duties to perform and an allegiance to his people that made it impossible to fall that far. Still their time together was always the brightest point of his day. He didn't regret his work, but there were certainly times that he wished that they could just slip off to the island for an escape.

He had sent Elzen to the king's castle early in the morning with a message for Gerid. His talk with Ashleen had pointed out that he had the power to bring the man's distant home to him or he to it with the cast of a single spell. It wasn't right to deny the man, who had given so much of himself for North Continent and Southwall's people, a chance to see his family.

Sebastian would have gone instead, but the Red Hall contingent had booked his time at the forge. While they had gone over a lot of his new magic and Hollow Swords, Gefflen and his team demanded more. There was still more he could say and a single afternoon was hardly enough time to truly cover everything; but he would have preferred to avoid yet another day of dealing with the wizards.

As he returned to the forge with Ashleen and Serrena, Rilena left to report in to the portal wizards for a trip to Windmeer. She had new business there with High Wizard Darius that required the mage to leave them for a time. While Sebastian knew why and was even somewhat responsible for her having to leave, he would miss the support of his friends.

It seemed like the fall and winter continued to whittle away at the good friends he had made while heading to the wizards' tournament. While he wasn't alone, the continuing changes to his life seemed to separate the owl from those around him. Sebastian almost wondered if he continued to keep busy just so he wouldn't notice the separation as much, but there were times that he couldn't help be aware of the fact.

He wondered if men like Raven Leros felt the same way.

The forge was already radiating heat at the door despite another cold day when Sebastian arrived. It was midmorning, but the smiths often began their day before dawn now that the winter days had grown shorter. The sun was still hidden behind gray clouds. Even hidden inside he could feel the cold gray light. The light cast from the windows just continued to remind the inhabitants of Hala that they were in winter's thrall.

Ashleen removed the outer layer of her robe dress and hung it beside the jackets of the smiths. Her brown, leather shorts and boots would protect her from stray cinders which occasionally floated into the air. Hot metal and heavy items would still likely cause pain if they landed on a foot, but for that the wizard hid the protection runes that Sebastian only wore on his arm. Her magic could react out of self preservation like her lightning and spark the protection runes into existence to save her foot.

She wore another bodice that fit like a corset covering most of her stomach and chest. It was made of cloth that was likely too light for the dangers of a forge, but it was lightweight enough to keep her body cooler. Unlike the men in the forge, the wizard could hardly work without her shirt like many did, though she still pulled her leather apron from the wall to cover her front.

Sebastian had an apron as well, but didn't bother with it right away. He doubted that he would get time to actually work any metal on the forge today, at least not while the Red Hall wizards were there.

The thought made the mage notice that they had yet to show. While he preferred to be early for his appointments, especially those in the king's castle, apparently not everyone shared his work ethic.

"Hmmph, they're late," Serrena noted aloud what they were all thinking. "Considering how pushy they were being yesterday, I would have thought they would have been here early as well. 'You have so much magic to give us. You must tell us everything.' Like we need to drop everything for a bunch of wizards from Red Hall," she finished after raising her voice into a higher pitch to make fun of Gefflen and his people.

"We're still early," Sebastian stated looking over at the men working furnaces or beating metal with their hammers. There was so much activity in the king's foundry. It hadn't always been the center for blade building and still had men working on other things of a more mundane nature.

To one side there were a series of racks converted to hold the swords the smiths believed followed Sebastian's desires. The mage had gone through multiple formulas looking for steel that roughly matched the better grades made before the Cataclysm. Like so many things, the mixtures of the masters had been lost to time. He had been forced to use his original Hollow Sword to get an idea of what would be necessary.

Found on his journey to find the Grimnal, he had taken a broken sword given to one of the immortal's grandsons and reformed it into the first Hollow Sword. The metal had resisted weathering for over a hundred years, something no current steel was likely to achieve. If he had managed to discover the correct formula, then the weapons being made for his fellow battle mages might be passed on for centuries. That meant that they would have to survive the battles that they would be put through and the strain of magic in their runes.

Running his fingers over some of the blades in front, the mage used his magic to reach into the metal checking to see if the smiths were able to achieve what he needed. The mage had used magic after a certain point, so he often worried that his formula only worked because he had cheated to a certain degree. While the metal he had created did work and was based on current smithing techniques, he was a battle mage. The mizard some had called him until the owl became widely accepted. A mage or wizard could go beyond what regular smiths could, so how could it be cheating if the runes would require magic before the swords were finished anyway?

He drew a sword that caught his fancy.

"You're going to build another Hollow Sword even though Gefflen might arrive at any time?" Serrena questioned at the man's choice to take the blade from the organized racks.

Ashleen smiled, but rolled her eyes at the fire wizard and said, "You're actually surprised? Sebastian gets bored very easily, if you haven't noticed by now. Playing with his magic also calms him, so it makes sense that he might want to do this before the Red Hall wizards do get here."

Realization crossed the other woman's eyes and the wizard nodded her head making her auburn curls flutter slightly in the warm air. A little perspiration on her brow made Sebastian wonder if the woman would have to disrobe or leave the heat of the forge. Not everyone could take the heat, though she was a fire wizard.

The owl mage looked at the door standing partially open to let in the cold air to temper the atmosphere of the forge wondering whether he would have the time to actually make the runes to activate the qualities of the blade. Giving a shrug, he took the blade to the room that they had used the previous day letting a couple of the apprentice smiths know to direct the wizards there when they arrived.

One blade couldn't hurt, he thought, and besides the supply of fresh swords was building each day making him further and further behind. If he had the time to make another sword, the mage figured that he might as well do it.

Chapter 7- Travel Plans

Rilena stepped through the silver light and faced a high, stone wall. It took a moment for more to register to the mage's eyes thanks to the quick rush through the different dimensions. As the portal's magic was released behind her, the woman looked up at the wizards, mages and archers ready to attack. She was known to some of these people and didn't have to truly worry, but it made her see the strategy behind Sebastian's locking portals was likely to work in almost any case.

It would be hard to use the common portals to infiltrate with enough numbers to overwhelm their defenders and without knowing about the locking rune, she doubted that even the Dark One's warlocks could break free. A simple choke point, the use of the enemy's magic would make it a kill box.

Walking through the usual check point after the glow of the gate had disappeared; Rilena wondered where she would find the man likely to transfer her to the next gate.

"Do you know where I can find High Wizard Darius today?" she asked one of the wizards in the off chance that they might know. Windmeer was both a large castle and a small city also. If the wizard wasn't in residence within the castle walls, the mage's job was going to become much harder.

The man in blue shrugged. A water wizard, Rilena thought absently as her hopes fell.

"I would check with the wizard's guild," the wizard replied showing less distaste at having to answer a falcon's questions than some of his kind might. Being a water wizard might make it easier to sympathize with those of weaker magical power, since some wizards considered water to be one of the least useful types of magic. While Rilena knew that there were limitations without a large water source like a river or lake, she had seen their magic at work many times in battle and respected them as much as any other wizards.

Nodding to the man rather than pushing any harder for information he undoubtedly did not know, the dark haired mage moved towards a doorway leading to one of the castle walls. This gate had been moved outside the castle and its courtyards. Where once they had made use of the enemy's portal points inside of the castle where they had infiltrated to try and kill Garosh, they had been more than happy to build the new gates outside their walls. The old gates had been guarded day and night. Wards designed to kill had been placed on the others, but the mage doubted that anyone had truly felt safe with them inside.

When she reached the castle, Rilena found one of the servants. Unlike wizards and soldiers, these people always seemed to know where to find important guests of the castle lord and Darius was about as high profile a guest as they could find. The woman was one of those who cleaned up after the guests besides and after a lengthy retelling of what she had heard through a handful of other servants, Rilena was pretty sure that the wizard had been closer before the conversation started.

Apparently Darius was visiting with the high wizard of the castle and the upper echelon of those leading the individual schools of magic. Unlike the mages, the wizards were split into eight main schools. Each had a leader that reported to one of the white wizards, who had mastered several schools of spells. There were more politics to it that Rilena didn't know, but it was a wonder that the wizards could run anything when it often sounded like they were divided against themselves.

The guards to the wizards' wings, which the water wizard had referred to as their guild, didn't look at her with friendly faces either. They were wizards from the lower ranks, but the men were still quite powerful in magic. By the swords at their hips and the way they carried their weight, Rilena guessed that they were well trained to fight. After hearing stories of what Sebastian had done to wizards in close combat as well as seeing some of what he had done in duels, the mage knew that despite their powerful auras she was likely the one that would win should it come to a fight.

That knowledge made it easier for the younger, smaller woman to face the glaring men and smile. It wasn't a look to goad them into a fight or a war of words. She was pretty and her smile was enough to disarm the men in spite of themselves.

"I believe High Wizard Darius is here visiting. I have come from Hala to speak with him."

"If you have a message, we can pass it on to him," one of the men stated. His lips had eased into a slight smile at the pretty woman without his knowledge.

Trying to remain girlish in their eyes, Rilena continued to smile and even tried to play a little coy. She was pretty popular for dances in the Black Smith Inn, but that had been true at the guardian castles while she had been assigned to them as well. "Unfortunately, this is more intricate than just a simple courier mission. I need to speak with him in person.

"I am a friend of his. Could you tell him that Falcon Rilena is here to speak with him?"

She found her head tilted coyly to the side and fluttered her lashes playing the point up in a cute fashion. Though Rilena generally disliked girls that downplayed their strengths, sometimes it was just easier to get men to do what she wanted this way. It was just a different kind of strength if it worked so regularly with the men of Southwall.

The two guards wound up looking at one another in a bit of confusion. While they had likely been ordered that the wizards didn't want to be disturbed, and even less likely by some random battle mage; the men did find her manner swaying.

One of the men finally decided to turn to walk the short corridor off of the main walkway. He knocked on a door and spoke quietly to the wizard who opened it halfway. The third wizard was a young woman. Rilena thought that she looked young, perhaps a wizard in her first position since graduating from being an apprentice. She looked a little unsure, but heard the guard relay her words before disappearing back inside and closing the door.