Battle Mage Visions (A Tale of Alus Book 12) (49 page)

"I told him that he didn't need to hurry you," Narissa said with her knowing smile. "It is evening and I am sure that you wouldn't wish to bother the emperor so late, though I have a feeling that he would see me if you wanted to do so."

Palose returned, "You are the seer. When do you see yourself visiting the emperor?"

"It doesn't work like that," the woman said standing to face the taller mage on more equal ground. "A seer rarely sees what will happen to them, at least not directly. I could probably read you for that answer, but that isn't the question that needs to be answered.

"The Dark One has questions, but I think that name has less truth in it after his change of bodies, doesn't it?"

Palose looked at Dorgred who looked confused at the woman's words. "Dorgred told you it was for the emperor or the Dark One?"

Appearing to think about his question, Narissa replied, "I honestly forget who told who what. Dorgred did clarify a few things that continued to mystify me.

"The sight of the Dark One as an old man and a boy, as well as seeing two boys with a beautiful girl, was quite confusing thanks to the magic used to change bodies."

"Dorgred clarified that for you, did he?" the dark mage frowned at the fire wizard who shrugged in turn.

"She told me the confusing dream and I interpreted that from what you had told us in the past. She was close enough to the truth without my saying anything anyway."

"There is a boy with great power. He has gray eyes and light brown hair, if I am seeing accurately. He is slim and not fully grown, so he is still on the small side. His sister has hair like a raven and dark blue eyes. She is stunning in her looks, but there is something cruel about her heart. The brother is less impressive. He is more athletic than the emperor's choice and larger, but couldn't hold his full essence.

"This is correct, isn't it?" she said gazing at him with blue eyes that managed to sparkle in the light of the lamps.

Leveling a look at Dorgred, the bearded wizard raised his hands stating, "I didn't tell her what they look like. I've never seen them anyway."

Palose looked at Narissa nearly convinced and said, "Someone might be able to guess that individually, but I doubt that they would go three for three. I suppose that is a close enough description of the three siblings."

"Then I pass?" she asked before giggling at the mage.

"I suppose. Kolban can interview you himself and decide if you are what you claim to be."

Raising an eyebrow as if taken aback by his words, Narissa replied, "What did I ever claim to be? I can see the future usually through my dreams, though I can read others if I am in contact with them.

"Do you want me to try and read you? I have never tried to use my gift on someone that has been dead and returned."

The last bit of news made Palose turn on Dorgred quickly. He was growing angry that the wizard could be such a fool as to tell her about him.

"Don't be angry with Dorgred," she cooed and moved to stand beside him stroking the wizard's beard with her hand. "He didn't tell me that you had died. My dreams show you, a man of death that can give life. You are alive, but bear the mark of one who has been to the other side only to return defying the nature of death.

"A family has grown around you," Narissa stated looking to the mage again. "You have more love in death than you had in life as your heart opens more than you could have believed."

Frowning again, Palose replied a bit warily once more. "Isn't that what fortune tellers tell everyone, that they will find love?"

With a pitying look on her face, the woman replied leveling an accusing finger at him, "They do. I did not. You already have what you long for, so I didn't have to predict any such thing. I am merely confirming what you already know."

Palose clenched his teeth trying to see if there was any room for doubt. Maybe it would still be worth bringing her back to Kolban even if she was a fraud. The emperor had asked for him to try and find a seer. They had found one. If she failed him, the mage could always expand his search to look for others.

"While you deliberate on whether I am a fraud, why don't we sit down to eat. Dinner is ready in the other room. I won't even charge you an inn's rate," Narissa finished with a laugh as Evic moved to join her as the woman pushed open a pair of doors on the other side of the room.

Dorgred tried to decide if Palose was onboard for only a moment before the fire wizard listened to his stomach and followed their hosts.

The dark mage followed slowly still trying to poke holes in the seer's words. She was good, if Narissa wasn't a seer. A truly good liar might fool most people, but Palose was pretty sure that she wouldn't be able to pull one over on him. Still it was annoying and strange that Dorgred should find someone in the first city that they tried, even if it had taken a few days. He and Sylvaine had been disrupted before their search could truly begin in New Harbor with the chaos created by Sebastian.

While they ate dinner, Palose could test her a bit more; but the dark mage was to the point of being satisfied. Kolban would be the final judge and the mage would make sure to tell her nothing more than she already knew to make sure that the meeting wasn't rigged in her favor.

Chapter 26- No Rest...

An insistent knock on their door woke Sebastian from a deep sleep. Use of magic and the last couple of weeks' torture, both physical and mental, had warranted a long sleep. Ashleen had been exhausted as well. The girl had barely been able to sleep while worrying over his disappearance and her assistance with fully healing him had taken a lot out of both them.

It had been their first night together in too long, but dancing had been far from their minds by the time they had gone down to eat dinner. Their friends were almost as tired apparently and no one fought them when the couple went back to their room early to sleep. Sleep wasn't the only thing they did after so long apart, but they did fall asleep very early and could still hear the music playing down the hall in the dining room.

Sebastian found Ashleen practically lying on him. Her arm draped across his chest to his far shoulder and her leg was over his as well. Kissing her hand before removing her arm and sliding out from under her leg, Sebastian rose to find out who was disturbing the much needed rest. The drapes were pulled blocking out most of the light, but the mage was pretty sure that it was still early in the morning.

A messenger dressed in the uniform of a battle mage falcon greeted him with a letter. "Raven Leros sends his apologies, but a matter of extreme importance needs your talents."

"Unless the castle is about to fall or the war in Litsarin has turned against us to the point that only I can save Southwall, then tell him I will be there in an hour. I need to eat before I take that walk again," Sebastian said evenly, though he barely held back his insolence from his tone. The mage was tired to the core, even with the extra sleep of one night. Without this early call at his door, it would have been likely that he would have remained in bed with Ashleen for most of the morning otherwise.

The falcon showed a little surprise, but replied calmly enough, "As far as I can tell, the raven will probably be fine with waiting for you to refresh yourself, Owl Sebastian."

His use of the unofficial title gave the mage a bit of a surprise. Unless they had chosen to make it official while he was away, it had apparently become a popular working title since he had disappeared. Sebastian nodded to the falcon in dismissal and closed the door.

"They couldn't even give you a day?" Ashleen groaned before covering her head with his pillow to make a more potent scream of frustration that was muffled quite well. Removing the pillow, she added, "I was hoping to sleep in before letting you ravish me for the rest of the morning... maybe the entire day."

"By ravish, do you mean lying on top of me while you continue to sleep?" he chuckled before brushing at his hair with his fingers. A yawn followed before he was completely through making the mage cover his mouth in an attempt to avoid making Ashleen echo his yawn.

Ashleen covered her mouth with the back of her hand even so before replying, "With enough sleep we could have done more. I missed you and Leros already wants to demand your time? It isn't fair."

Moving to the bed, Sebastian sat on the side with the least amount of room, since Ashleen's side of the room had the wardrobe with his clothing. After being reduced to rags for the last several days, the mage was glad to wear his uniform once more.

"Unfortunately life as a battle mage rarely has anything to do with fair. Wizard's look down on us and soldiers look at us with suspicion most of the time; and if that is all that happens, it is a good day."

"Poor baby, try being a wilder for awhile," the pretty blonde said with a smile as he leaned over to kiss her. As he tried to pull away, her arms encircled his neck. She added softly, "Now this I could do all day for sure."

Chuckling at the girl, he kissed her once again before pulling away with more determination. She could feel his need to get started and sighed as Ashleen released his neck without much of a fight.

He moved to the wardrobe to find a shirt and pants. Ashleen wore one of his shirts as she had tended to do once it turned colder. While he had been away, the wilder had taken the last two shirts that hadn't been sent to be cleaned and worn them to try and sleep each night. She could still smell him on them, though the scent had grown fainter with each day that he was gone.

Pushing the blankets down to escape them, her bare legs felt the cool air and the cold floor making her shiver; but the girl moved to hug him from the back. He felt her take a deep breath as she took in his scent before resting her cheek against his back. Her hair brushed against his skin and Sebastian felt oddly comforted by the feel though his body was feeling the cold as he stopped to get dressed.

He turned in her grasp already holding one of his shirts. Pulling it over his head, Ashleen gave him enough room momentarily to slide it into place. Lifting the girl, Ashleen wrapped her legs around him as well as hugging his neck with her arms to help support her weight. She gave him a lingering kiss before the mage carried her back to bed.

"Sleep for awhile longer and I'll wake you when I get back," he said giving her a last kiss. "We'll have time to catch up more after I find out what Leros wants."

"I wouldn't bet too much on that," Ashleen replied with a slight shake of her head at his naive way of thinking. It was a rare thing when a trip to the raven's office didn't lead to other distractions. "Sleep does sound pretty good, though I am awake enough to do other things before you go; if you want."

Shaking his head, Sebastian turned back to the wardrobe removing a pair of pants. He pulled them up in front of the wardrobe out of her reach and answered, "You know that I want to be with you, but I am a soldier of Southwall too. At the moment, not every type of magic I know is known to any others, plus you know some of my gates aren't on their maps."

"You think that it will be another trip to Ensolus or maybe one of the islands? If you are going to Gerid's island, you had better come back and get me. I could use a little time in the sun on that beach."

Nodding at the thought and giving a small sigh for the idea of slipping away to the tropical island for a rest, Sebastian answered, "Even if it isn't one of those, we need to return for Gerid and the others too. They will probably be wondering what happened to us since then."

"Hmm, yes, we wouldn't want to leave them concerned. We definitely need to go then," Ashleen replied with a happy grin. "Even Leros won't be able to argue with that logic."

Pulling out a chair from the desk by the door, Sebastian sat to pull on warm socks and his boots. Ashleen began to pout as she realized that he was doing his best to stay out of her reach, since he knew that the girl would do her best to slow him down to keep him with her a little longer.

"Get some rest," he said throwing her a kiss with his hand. "You know healing takes more out of you than most magic."

"It wasn't so bad this time with you helping me," Ashleen assured him.

He laughed at that and reminded her, "You fell asleep in the bath on me. Without that rest, I don't know if we could have made it back downstairs to eat dinner."

Sighing Ashleen lay back onto her side pulling his pillow close and replied, "Fine, it was still a lot of work, but it wasn't as bad as other times when I had to do it myself. Even though the magic is supposed to be impossible to use on yourself, you seem to have found a way to compromise. It made it a lot easier for me. Without your help, I wouldn't have made it halfway through all those injuries.

"I can't believe you were still walking let alone forced to fight your way out of that dungeon like that."

Taking his jacket from where it hung, Sebastian opened the door and gave a last wave to the woman he loved taking in a last lingering look at her beautiful face before heading downstairs for breakfast. Leros would have to wait for him to eat. After the use of magic and long weeks of torture, his body demanded that he stop long enough to refuel.

Hilda hurried to serve him and actually gave the mage a hug like a mother welcoming her returning son. They hadn't been around long enough to get smothered last night, but the inn keeper didn't give him the chance to leave without letting him know that she was glad to see him back safely. Her daughters were a little less demonstrative, probably because they feared what Ashleen would do to them; but they lent him encouraging, welcoming words as well. Hands rested on his shoulders long enough to lend him their positive energy before Sebastian finished eating and left.