Battle Mage Visions (A Tale of Alus Book 12) (21 page)

"They were likely left as his guardians and perhaps his tie to the islands," Garosh stated moving closer to the siblings. They began to look afraid, while Gerid looked confused.

"What are you two talking about?"

"They've been tainted by Palose's magic. He was here. It was how I returned to the island to make this gate. I destroyed his stones, but when I met Ulia I didn't notice that she was wrapped in his spell," Sebastian explained.

Garosh moved closer and Ulia was pushed behind Erik. The brother looked ready to protect his sister even in the face of the giant.

Shaking his head, the man said sadly, "He killed them and brought them back to serve him as resurrection men."

Shock ran through most of those gathered there. Sebastian knew that Palose had been called back from the dead, though he had never heard the term resurrection man. It was the only thing that had made sense concerning Palose's sudden change of heart. He had come back to Windmeer only a little while after Sebastian had eluded the Dark One's warlocks and werewolves. He had seemed the same, but had been used to create a portal inside the guardian castle to bring a horde of the emperor's monsters into Windmeer to kill everyone and take the city.

The plan had been thwarted, but many people had died.

"If they are dead, then why do they look normal and healthy?" Gerid questioned as the immortal king flanked the pair that he would have referred to as family, though they weren't directly from his line.

Garosh glanced from the pair to his warlocks. Sebastian's eyes followed and found a similar cloudiness to Hereseth and the warlock called Ioran, a red haired elf. Both looked normal, except their auras looked like a blend of more than one.

"Resurrection men are brought back using blood magic or necromancy, if you'd rather. Ensolus still has men willing to use the magic and the emperor doesn't prohibit it. In fact, I have heard that Kolban wrote some of the tomes a warlock can use to learn more about it."

Sebastian's eyes noted the fear in Ulia and Erik. It wasn't something faked and they had acted like one would expect. Ulia still had pride in being a rune warrior and had been angry at his removing the appearance of her marks. Her brother experienced amusement at her expense much like most siblings.

"Will they betray their people here?"

Garosh moved closer extending a hand towards Erik. While Sebastian could feel the extension of his magic to read the young warrior, the spear in Erik's hand looked about ready to be thrust into Garosh's abdomen.

Moving faster than one would expect for a large man, Gerid was on the rune warrior before he could react. His hands clamped over the smaller Erik's arms. The strength of the giant was irresistible and the spear dropped from the man's hand as the muscles were squeezed making his fingers numb.

Erik wore no shirt, though he still wore leather pants and boots. New marks began to glow in response to Garosh's magic. The giant's hand moved along his chest activating the marks until he hovered over a certain one. Closing his hand, the mark flared causing Erik to scream in pain. The glow faded even as the warlock continued to search the pattern of hidden marks.

Sebastian knew runes when he saw them, but these were all new to him. Blood magic, Garosh had called it. Necromancy was outlawed in Southwall, but he could see what might drive a warlock to learn it.

Thinking that these two teens had been killed and brought back to life again, he realized that Palose had covered his trail perfectly. They had likely stumbled across the dark mage or seen him arrive. Standing up to a former battle mage with the power of a warlock and with much of their knowledge, the rune warriors hadn't had a chance against him.

He looked at Ulia who had paled watching her brother's pain. Though young, the girl knew that she was looking at her fate in the near future.

"Was there anyone else that he killed that he did this to, Ulia?" his voice was gentle and the mage approached her like he would a scared child. His hands were empty and lowered, but he was a battle mage. He was never truly unarmed and the runes could be activated in a blink.

"Nolan," she said numbly. "He and Erik held my arms while the master killed me."

Tears began to fill her eyes to tumble down her cheeks. Ashleen gasped hearing her words and the wilder wasn't alone. Tears were in many of their eyes. Ulia was very young, much too young to have been killed by the dark mage or anyone. Her life had been cut short.

The strangeness of it was that Palose had restarted that life once more. Sebastian wasn't sure what to make of it. Garosh made it sound like they were still alive, but his explanation had been brief.

He looked at Hereseth and asked, "What is it like?"

The warlock jumped at the mage's insight. Acting like he needed to justify why they had used dark magic, the man replied, "The assassins killed so many of us."

He held up his hands. Faint marks across one forearm were echoed on his right hand and fingers on display. "Palose fought through our spells. The wraiths were destroyed by him and the emperor's brother; but that wasn't enough. They wanted Garosh dead and anyone they could find who might side with our lord. He wanted peace with Southwall and they wanted us all dead."

In a calming voice, Sebastian asked again, "What is it like?"

"Garosh and Verian used both healing magic to put me back together and blood magic to restore my life. I was just the first. Any who could be saved were brought back and we still lost many who were too damaged to heal."

His eyes were determined as he said, "Garosh set no wards or conditions on our return. We are exactly as we were in our first lives."

Another gasp of pain caused Erik to go slack in the immortal's hands. Gerid helped him sink to his knees. Staring ahead of him, Erik could only utter the words, "I let him kill her."

Garosh looked from Gerid to Sebastian as he said, "I can break the conditions set, but if I do more it would kill him. He is part of Palose's circle. The magic that resurrected him ties all those involved together. Hereseth, Ioran and I are joined together with the rest. My magic is greater than it had been too. We found that the weakest of us grew stronger. The strongest lost a little bit of power as well, but I don't think anyone brought back cares that his or her power is slightly less for it."

His gaze lingered on Sebastian as the giant continued, "Palose is a lot stronger than he was, isn't he? He was just a battle mage in strength, but now he wields a warlock's power."

Nodding at his assessment, Sebastian asked, "So this is the source of his power?"

"A warlock named Atrouseon resurrected him to betray you. He must have grown in strength with their shared pact. If he just brought the rune warriors here into his circle, then the shift in power would have weakened him. He must have found some warlocks to join with him."

Garosh looked at Ulia with a sigh and said gently, "Just hold still little one. I am only trying to remove the controls he placed on your mind. It might hurt a bit, but I think most of your brother's pain comes from realizing that he harmed you."

Sebastian moved to place his arm over her shoulder. It put him in danger should the girl decide to try to attack him. He didn't have the defensive runes all over his body to form armor like Ulia had, so his trust came from feeling that the girl wasn't someone who killed by nature.

"It'll be all right," he said trying to assure her.

Ulia held still, but as Garosh started the process, Sebastian felt a surge of power from within the girl. It was magic, but it wasn't the washed out leavings that were in her brother. This power came from Ulia.

Garosh was thrown back even as Sebastian pushed his magic into the defensive runes making them expand along his exposed side creating partial armor. A flash of light and explosive force threw him back from the girl.

Caught off guard, the rest of those gathered covered their eyes and stumbled back. It wasn't some safeguard set by Palose to guard his creation. This was the magical tantrum of a wizard panicking. Unlike a wilder whose power grew unchecked over time, this felt like the first loss of control over her magic.

Gerid stepped through the power radiating from the girl and placed his right hand over her left arm. Holding her hand, the immortal slipped a large ring over her two smallest fingers. The magic flowing out of the scared girl fizzled out appearing contained.

Looking closer, Sebastian recognized the ring. He had used it once to protect himself in a jungle corrupted by dark magic. Yara had been at his side and they had walked through the raging plants making a path in the face of the ring. It was magical in a sense, but it mimicked the nature of Gerid. He was resistant to magic and the ring pushed the boundary by forcing magic away when worn.

Ulia was breathing hard in a panic attack as she looked at the man considered a father to the people of the island. The giant tried to soothe the girl as he stroked her hair. "Don't worry, Ulia, you are amongst friends. I won't let you be harmed, child."

Garosh picked himself up and after a minute to let the girl catch her breath, he reminded Gerid, "This might hurt as I remove the runes, but it won't last long. I'll try to be as gentle as I can."

Ulia leaned against Gerid. His strong hands held the girl's shoulders rubbing her arms as Garosh worked. It didn't take long.

Unlike her brother, Ulia didn't scream. She was already used up from her release of magic. Garosh did what he could to make the removal of the controlling runes as painless as he could.

Once finished, he said, "I think that you had less pain associated with these runes. You didn't have to do anything that you truly regretted, but now you face a different problem. Like any girl around your age with magic, you will need help to learn how to control it."

"I'm a shaman?" Ulia asked in confusion. It was the closest approximation she knew to being a wizard in Southwall or a warlock in Ensolus.

Laughing at the girl more from relief than her confusion, Garosh said, "I am not sure, but I would guess that they are similar."

Sebastian nodded and said, "They use their magic differently than our wizards, but they should be able to help her control her new magic."

Looking at Gerid, Garosh asked a worrisome question in the face of the secrets already exposed, "Will her people take her in if they know what has happened to her and her brother?"

With a firm voice, the immortal replied, "If I tell them to, I don't think there will be a problem."

Ashleen asked him as she pointed to the ring, "What is that? I've seen wizards use their magic to contain another, but that ring wasn't placed on her by a wizard. I mean no offense, my lord, but you don't have magic to use to bind her."

"The ring has properties like Gerid," Sebastian stated before their elder could answer. "He can resist magic. That's why he could touch her without being thrown back as well. The ring stopped her power like a cork."

"It nullified the extra magic," Gerid clarified and surprised the battle mage. While over a thousand years old, Sebastian didn't think the immortal knew anything about the use of magic.

Hereseth moved closer and said, "I have trained many warlocks in the use of their power. If you wish, I can use a ward that will keep the girl from losing control. The ring slip free if she's not careful and might cause feedback that will harm her. There are better ways that let a young warlock grow safely under the guidance of a master."

Gerid looked uncertain, but Garosh nodded. "Kolban had to contain my magic for much of my life. Magic and I aren't exactly the best fit."

Grunting with humor, the immortal said, "I don't know it looks like you have a pretty good feel for it now."

The idea rang inside the other man's head and he replied, "Maybe it was just how he force fed me as much magic as I could possibly hold to test me? On the other hand, my mind holds all the spells and knowledge of magic that Kolban had. He wanted me to be able to use my magic, even though in the end I rarely did. I could barely hold onto it and feared an explosion much like the girl's."

"The girl has a name," Ulia complained as the teenager became annoyed at being talked about only a few feet in front of her.

Laughing at her chastising of him, Garosh crossed his chest with his right arm and bowed like a true lord and said, "My apologies, Ulia, you do indeed have a name and it is a lovely one."

Rilena leaned closer to Sebastian and said, "You see my problem? He can be quite charming when he wants to be."

Shrugging, the owl thought that the giant had overcompensated, but Ulia was smiling at him much like Rilena now. What did he know, the mage thought to himself with a bit of amusement?

Chapter 12-  A Walk Along the Shore

The walk to the village wasn't much of a chore for those used to the freezing cold and snow of the north. For those who had only experienced one northern winter, the warm air even stirred by an ocean breeze was like finding something important that had been lost.

Jackets came off quickly. Ashleen joined some of the girls as they took off their shoes or boots to walk in the sand as they followed the western coastline of the island towards the village near the southern tip. While far from the size of the massive islands of Sileoth and Litsarin, the Grimnal's island was still large enough to support a population that was close to a thousand in number on land without being overcrowded.