Battle Mage Visions (A Tale of Alus Book 12) (60 page)

Hearing a deep breath from Serrena, Rilena looked at her friend with a tentative smile. "Ready for this?"

The fire wizard rolled her eyes and replied, "We probably have the easiest part. Bas said that, even including Palose, we're looking at about half a dozen people some of whom can't even use magic most likely.

"If we catch them by surprise, what are they going to do about this?" she asked gesturing to four other wizards, six mages and ten soldiers armed with runes.

Rilena wished that she could be so positive. "You've fought his wizards before..."

A fight in New Harbor had broken out. It had ended with Ashleen and Sebastian trapped in the silver void apparently. While Rilena had been in Windmeer most likely, Serrena had been in that fight. The fire wizard knew more about who they were facing than anyone.

"If Palose is in there, it becomes a riskier battle with his portal magic, but while the others are strong, we do outnumber them and have the advantage of an ambush. I won't discount them, but this should be rather easy, Rilena."

The battle mage wished that she could feel as secure about their part in the battle plan. Rilena just hoped that Serrena was right.

Entering the dungeon, Sebastian waited a moment to reorient his senses. He hadn't bothered to use reflex, even if he was uncertain of what he would face. No one had returned through the gate to warn him of danger, so the owl had to assume that it was safe. It was less likely that an ambush had been set inside of the cell deep in the dungeon anyway.

Yes, he had used it once; but as expected the only soldiers he saw were those sent through his gate.

The glow of his portal winked out before his eyes worked perfectly. No one near him had a torch or magical light, so the mage called up his fire wisp to light the cell. Other men looked at him in surprise.

At the rear of the attack team, Sebastian gestured for those nearest him to head out of the cell. Even with dozens sent through the gateway, the mage saw relatively few of his extended troops near him. They had spread out heading either way down the hallway. Either way led to the tunnel which must take them up into the fortress.

He wished that they knew the path for sure, but Garosh had heard the description of these halls and said that they were likely correct. The city wasn't full of dungeons after all and the only one he knew of like this was beneath the spire with access to the main fortress.

Hurrying through the hallway going the way he believed was the shorter path, Sebastian made the turn which had brought Jana and her spies into trouble. Taking a left rather than a right, the mage moved with the flow of the soldiers heading the same way. He still hadn't seen Gerid or Garosh. Those two were likely near the head of the attackers.

Garosh hoped that he could be of use, but hadn't been overly familiar with the dungeons. It wasn't the place a warrior often frequented. He had been a prince in a way and certainly a man of his elevation wasn't likely to come down here regularly.

Two more turns led them to a stairway. A door had been opened at the foot of the stairs. Off to the side at its bottom, Sebastian noticed two dead orcs. They had been guards apparently, but they had been no match for a full attack force intent on killing the Dark One. He doubted that they had truly expected anyone to attack them from the depths of the dungeon even if there had been trouble recently.

Once he was to the top of the stairs, Sebastian found the giants and their men. A large room filled with weapons on tables and racks awaited them. A guard room with more dead men and orcs had been found. Several sat bound and guarded.

Gerid spotted him and said, "Well, we've got the drop on them so far. No one suspected an attack from the dungeon, at least not one that could defeat their defenses this easily."

Smiling grimly, Garosh added, "They didn't have a chance against our magic and Gerid."

"I'm quicker than I look. It helps to stop them from running away in time," the immortal replied.

"Are we at the entry to the main spire yet?" Sebastian asked the men and in particular, Garosh.

"There is another floor made up of quarters used for a garrison of orcs and goblins. Men and elves don't like the stone as much, so they either have homes away from the fortress or live further up."

He was rather disappointed. Drayden's information didn't extend to the dungeons, but once they were out the maps were engraved in his mind. The emperor was not guaranteed to be in any one room, but he frequented certain wings and rooms more often. Both Garosh and the spies confirmed that much. It was also why more than one group would be needed.

They were barely into the garrison before they felt a rumble in the stone beneath them. The battle had begun outside. If all went well, the outer walls of the city had been destroyed. The city's own ruined defenses would keep some of the Dark One's forces from helping the rest of Ensolus at least.

Bells of alarm rang out waking Palose. He was with Sylvaine in the tower apartment. Female voices expressed fear from the other room as well.

Stasia and Talia shared the small room that he had used while living with Atrouseon. They had always lived at the house he kept on the east side of the city, but without Dorgred or Wendle around they felt too vulnerable. Both young women had a trace of magic in them from sharing the bond with the others, but they were untrained and it was still less than most battle mages. Since the girls weren't fighters, he could hardly teach them more than a couple spells to use to protect themselves.

"What is that?" Sylvaine asked sitting up listening to the bells.

Footfalls of running feet announced Stasia running to the protection she felt with the man who had restored her to life.

"Palose, Sylvaine!" the little blonde called out in the darkness.

"Wisp," Palose called up a simple mage spell for light. The girl was in a nightdress that he would have thought too light for the season, but the dark mage had noticed that cold affected him less since his resurrection also.

She looked worried with the alarm bells. The dark mage exited the bed heading for his wardrobe.

"Get dressed, all of you," he ordered quickly spurring Sylvaine to join him. "We need to get you to safety and then I need to do what the emperor asked of me."

Sylvaine knew his orders. He told her nearly everything in his life, but this concerned her and they knew it.

"You're going to the fortress to get her too, aren't you?" her voice asked somewhat accusingly as she tossed her nightdress onto the floor.

"He made me promise and somehow I think there will be a painful penalty should I refuse him," the mage stated glancing to see that Stasia was still standing in their room. He waved her away reminding the little blonde that they were in a hurry.

Her voice carried as she told Talia to get dressed and grab her bag. They had all made bags just in case. While the mage might be able to sneak back to the apartment or house at a later date, at least they would have the basics. Added to what he had already stored in his safe houses, they should be fine even if they could never return to Ensolus.

The bells continued to ring and Sylvaine paused a moment as she dressed. "What do you think is happening?"

He had felt the rumble in the stone. The spire had actually shaken even more as the ceiling threatened to fall with the small earthquake.

"If I had to guess, Southwall has figured out a way to attack Ensolus most likely thanks to Sebastian."

"The man you fought in New Harbor?"

"And stranded in the void. He is rather persistent. It wasn't enough that he figured out how to cast portals. He also found a way to hunt me down and my gates as you know.

"This has his handiwork all over it."

"He could start an earthquake?"

It had only been a short rumble, so Palose was pretty certain that it was no earthquake. "Maybe not him, but someone that he brought. Sebastian and Southwall managed to use portals very well at the wall. You know what he did here as well months after I changed all the gate stones."

The girl didn't argue and soon the four were ready to hurry through his portal.

When it opened up inside of the command tent on Litsarin, Palose could hear the noise of battle in the distance.

"Palose!" Oween's voice called out in surprise. She stood with one of the new wraiths. The woman called Piera nodded her greeting. Her red eyes glowed making those coming with him pause.

They had seen Oween and Nalack before their joining the circle of resurrected, but it was still a surprising sight and the dim light inside the tent helped make them even more noticeable.

"What are you doing here with them?" the warlock questioned genuinely confused. He never brought Stasia and Talia along. Even Sylvaine had only joined him a few times before crossing to another point.

"Is the battle close? It sounds like we have room between us and the fighting."

Oween nodded. "Unless something unusual happens, we should be safe enough here. They've been content with fighting over the second valley from here. It is perhaps a mile away."

"Good. You two can help protect them if something happens with the battle. I need to go back and help the emperor."

The resurrected warlock's eyes widened and she asked, "Is there an attack on Ensolus... during winter?"

"Sylvaine can tell you what we know, but I need to get back to the emperor's fortress to protect him and his sister."

Not waiting for anymore words of delay, Palose made a new gate jumping back to the cave city.

The dark mage stopped inside his house in the human quarter and felt for magic as his senses restored from the trip. He drew back in surprise feeling numerous auras closing on his home. They seemed to react to his presence and Palose looked beyond them as he changed his gate to a new destination.

He could see them running towards the house and knew that Sebastian had likely pointed his former refuge from Atrouseon as a place to eliminate. An explosion of fire exploded through his door making the dark mage frown. If the house had been made of wood, he doubted that he would return to anything, but much of it was stone.

It didn't really matter anymore. Palose doubted that they would be able to return. Kolban's orders made him think that this battle wouldn't go the emperor's way this time.

He disappeared through the portal and his nose was the first to bring him the smell of death. Looking around, those in charge of the city burners were nowhere to be found. It was too early.

There were still dead bodies covered with canvas sheets on a number of carts. Winter killed more than any other natural causes during this time of year thanks to the cold and disease. It was a bad thing for those weak enough to succumb, but it also meant that the orcs running the furnaces had fallen behind.

Summoning a powerful spell, Palose did something that had once been just a spell in a book for him. Finding Sylvaine dead thanks to nomads south of Ensolus, he had first used the spell to send undead to kill everyone responsible. He had heard the reports later. An entire village had died before his spell ran its course returning the souls to death.

He had made soldiers for the front in Litsarin led by his wraiths since then, but this would be more like the first spell.

"Go, stop the intruders from Southwall," he ordered the dozen dead men and women. Most were old. A few were children and the understanding of those raised was limited either way. Even his words were mostly unnecessary. They were mute beasts, monsters in fact. They would follow his mind's intent without speaking and even weak elderly and children would become weapons which could kill.

Watching them walk off without much ambition, he knew that they would find the men and women of Southwall and slow them down. Soldiers might fall, but mages and wizards had magic to destroy his new creations. Still they were something to distract the enemy.

Sounds of combat could be heard in the distance. Palose thought that something looked different with the silhouette of Ensolus and he called on his vision spell. To the south, dust rose keeping the early light of sunrise from entering the dark city. Even through the dust, he could see that the towers and walls had been damaged.

To the west, however, he was surprised to see the building housing the main portal rooms of Ensolus collapsed. The enemy had figured out a way to prevent much assistance from coming from outside the cave. The fallen towers would slow the garrisons outside the city, while the gate wizards inside the portal rooms were now likely dead and the gates broken. Without them as tethers to Ensolus, it would take warlocks with his expertise to open them in other places.

Even Palose didn't know the gates of the empire's other cities to bring help, so it was doubtful that more would come. Perhaps he could return to the battlefield and bring someone from there?

He could sense the auras of more wizards and mages headed his way to follow the street along the lake. Palose made a new gate. This one led to a place that he had never gone before. It led to a room within the emperor's fortress.

The dark mage disappeared before anyone spotted him, but the puppets he had raised found the enemy attacking them with the vengeance of the dead.