Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11) (44 page)

"Well, that might make it fairer for them then," Sebastian stated grimly. It wasn't just his hubris trying to comfort the scout. A battle mage could easily handle eight trained soldiers while using reflex and quite a few more enemies at the same time most likely. The wizards might be a little more powerful, but they could use the darkness shields. These pirate wizards had been unable to defend themselves against night magic the first time they had fought him. The three of them should be more than enough.

Realizing that his peoples' savior would hardly be cowed by so few, the man nodded saying, "I can get back, I think. Just go rescue the others. I'll be fine either way."

A parting pat to the man's shoulder sent the others into the jungle. The two mages followed the trail easily. The scent of the pirates and the girls was enough for anyone using the hound spell.

Ashleen followed at his heels, while Rilena could walk beside him in the freshly blazed path.

"What do you think that they hope to gain from grabbing the girls?" Rilena asked quietly as they followed the trail. They could tell that there was still a lot of distance between them and the pirates, since they had stopped to heal the guard.

"They could be used for hostages, though to what extent I'm not sure. Maybe they hope to use Shefar's siren call to draw the warriors away from the fort. The only true recourse I can see for them is to kill enough locals to be able to hold the fort and wait for another ship to come.

"Their captain and most of the other pirates were taken away to Talos. They might not know that, but I would be more surprised if they didn't."

"Will they kill her?" Rilena worried. "She's just a girl, but the wizards might fear her magic power. Controlling another wizard like her might not be worth it to them."

"We'll just have to hurry and make sure that they don't start to consider it," Sebastian stated trying to avoid feeling that worry as he focused on finding the girls.

Evie was surprised to see the encampment of the pirates. Consisting of three stone caves shaped too perfectly than something found in nature, the wilder could tell that some magic had been used here. Brush walls fenced in the area with three more wood huts built up against the camouflaging outer wall. More pirates were there as well, but only a few.

The girl had missed the story of the escaped pirates, but the number who had escaped had been relatively few. This was the extent of those who had managed to free themselves from their former slaves. Their numbers were too few to safely go up against the natives in their fort, especially with the additional tribesmen joining their cousins on land. With the magic of the sirens which could be used against them, they were also afraid that the men would drown themselves in the face of the mermaids. Only two women had made it out of the cages, their protection wouldn't be enough if the situation was to happen.

Slipping through the break in the camouflage walls, the hunting party deposited the girls on the ground. Still wrapped up in the net, gagged and bound with their hands behind their backs; the girls could do little but listen as the pirates discussed what to do with their new hostages.

"Now what, Gerfon?" one of the men who had been carrying Shefar asked as they bound the tribal lookout to a palm tree. The trunk was slim, but still more than enough to keep the man from escaping.

The wizard turned his back on the man putting his hand out to stop the questions. "We have two of their sirens now. If we hope to take back our fortress and our slaves, we will have to risk taking the others as well. As long as they can use their siren song against us, we aren't safe."

The younger wizard sat on a flat stone raised just beyond the reach of the mermaids. He questioned, "Can we hope to catch them all?"

"There were only five. Two swam off with those people who freed them and captured us in their stead. We have two of those, so there should be just one left."

The blonde haired woman pirate reminded the wizard, "More of those people have appeared. Where they hid themselves for so long, I don't know; but there are more of them than before. They could have more sirens with them. Maybe that is where this redhead came from, which would mean there could be two more at the least."

Growling in frustration at the reminder, Gerfon complained, "Why didn't that fool Renles break free? We could use his ability to scout from the air now. What kind of wizard is he that the man couldn't escape those cages anyway?"

"A wizard that was too useless to join us," Konnar stated grumpily. The other pirates looked to echo the sentiment, though they knew the missing wizard's air magic could have been useful in truth.

While the pirates were preoccupied with their discussions, Evie released her mermaid tail returning her human legs. The girl slid her bound hands down under her rear and worked each leg through the gap between her arms. She did it slowly avoiding notice until Evie could bring her hands up to remove her gag. Though the girl moved about within the confines of the net, no one gave it much thought thinking the 'mermaid' was simply trying to adjust in her bindings. Shefar rolled to her side and back trying to keep her arms from going to sleep at the same time making the movements within Evie's net appear virtually the same.

Contemplating the cloth restraining her wrists for a moment, Evie began to wear at the knot with her teeth. It had been meant to keep a mermaid from reaching her gag, but a normal woman could bring her tied wrists in front of her like the wilder managed to do. She was flexible and her teeth were sharp and strong. Some of the wild animals the girl could become seemed built into her by the way her teeth worked the knot slowly loose.

Once freed, Evie continued to watch the pirates. She could turn into a mouse or something small, but freeing herself didn't help her new friend.

She wondered if the others would find them soon. Evie also wondered if she could do something to unsettle the pirates. Doing too much could get them killed, but doing just enough might distract them at the right time.

Sighing, the girl used her fingers to pry open a hole in the netting to see where some of her closest guards were now. If she could sneak away long enough to agitate them, would that be safe for Shefar?

The pirates were getting agitated enough without her contributing to it as some began worrying over pursuit.

"They were slaves and farmers. They aren't hunters," Gerfon declared as the others worried. "If they had any hunters, we would have been discovered long ago. These islanders are also too afraid of us to try anything. We may not have the numbers to take and hold the fort, but they know we have magic that can hurt them."

"Why don't we just burn the place down and kill any who run for it?" one of the men suggested.

"And you want to farm the land and rebuild?" the other wizard asked.

"We have this place," the man offered using his hands to gesture at their camp.

Konnar and several others responded with disgust. Evie thought that it was a surprisingly comfortable camp considering their plight, but she guessed that the pirates were used to living a bit better in the fort. The girl had seen the well built houses and supposed that they were nice inside as well.

"We would be foolish to kill them all," Gerfon stated simply. "Once we gain the upper hand, we will need something to sell again. The sirens can still be tamed to use to empty other ships like they have in the past."

"Ships avoid these islands saying that they're haunted now," the taller woman pirate complained. She was fairly young, but must have been around long enough to know that business wasn't as good with the current stigma associated with the area current status. Easy treasure from ships pulling in near the islands wasn't as common as in the past when the pirates had been able to kill the crews to sell the ships and take the treasure onboard.

Sighing, the wizard commented with a wave of his hand, "Fine, then maybe we can take the singing fish and use them to take other ships while at sea. We will need to build a new crew and can use the islands as our base. Does that work for all of you?

"First, we need to actually take the fort back from the slaves before anything else can happen."

The last idea started to make the pirates excited, but they were also looking ready to return their attention to their hostages. Evie decided that escaping might be the best idea after all. She could stay nearby or run back to the fort. Noting her clothing, the girl hoped that Sebastian wouldn't be too angry with her for leaving behind her new clothes.

Needing to change into something small enough to escape through the gaps in the net, Evie shrunk making both net and clothing deflate in a moment. The change was swift and the girl, now a mouse, squirmed her way through the cloth of her blouse and out the collar. The net was simple to escape. She didn't even need to chew her way out of the bindings which could hold a mermaid or human quite easily.

The mouse ran to the protection of the closest hut. She skirted the outer wall of the small building and out beneath the brush of the concealing camouflage wall. Evie wondered if help would come quickly or if she should try hurrying back to the others to let them know where the pirates were holding Shefar.

It only took a few minutes for the changeling to hear the outcry of the pirates as they discovered the missing girl.

"Where did the other mermaid go?" one voice called out.

"There is clothing in here, but no girl," another stated as they picked at the netting trying to figure out how a mermaid had escaped her bonds.

"Where is the other mermaid, Shefar?" Gerfon demanded pulling the net upward to bring the blond girl's face closer to his threateningly.

"I don't know," Shefar answered sounding frightened. She hadn't seen Evie disappear either and now the girl felt even more alone. At least with Evie in her mermaid form, the danger was split between them. Her friend was missing now and Shefar was still trapped as a mermaid on land.

"She was a mermaid. There was no amulet on her. We checked!" he finished looking at the others demandingly.

Olta replied, "She was wearing a blouse, but it was thin and wet. There was no way she could have hidden an amulet the way Skor frisked her."

"She wasn't very big on top, and I could see through the shirt, Gerfon," the man who had touched her so rudely said.

Evie frowned, which was more difficult as a mouse, and wished that she had magic like Ashleen, which could shock the pirates quickly; or perhaps the fighting skills of a battle mage like Sebastian. The girl found herself looking in the direction of the fort at the thought of his name.

When their heightened hearing picked up the voices raised in debate, Sebastian nodded to Rilena who could hear them as well.

"Night shield," he called to his left hand preparing a defense for the wizards. Neither of the mages feared the pirates too much, though Sebastian knew better than to underestimate an opponent also.

Ashleen followed their lead as the three advanced with their shields ready before them. His keen vision spotted a lookout before the man could turn to warn the others.

"Sleep arrow," the owl mage cast his unique skill catching the pirate in the face. His eyes rolled back as the man slumped to the ground already asleep before he could touch the ground.

Rilena split to the left hoping to catch the pirates between them as Sebastian moved to his right more. While the two mages worked without speaking, Ashleen remained close to her protector. She had strong magic to fall back on, but the girl was still a wizard needing the mage to prevent a swordsman from getting too close.

A strangely thick wall of brush rose before them and Sebastian kept his eyes and other senses on alert for more lookouts. He spotted no more and could see the pirates inside their compound looking around agitatedly. A net with Shefar held the blond mermaid. One of the men was speaking to her demandingly and the girl sounded frightened. A second net was picked up, prodded and poked as the pirates looked around for the one who had escaped.

Sebastian knew the work of Evie immediately. The wizard must have changed into something small to escape, but they hadn't come across her yet. Assuming the changeling was nearby trying to decide how to save the other girl and the man who had been dragged along as a hostage, the mage knew that they could expect some form of help after they attacked.

"Release the girl," Sebastian demanded as he moved into sight at one of the gaps in the brush.

Men and women jumped looking for weapons that few of them had.

Gerfon and Konnar began to chant and gesture immediately even as they spotted the pair of black shields. No one had noticed Rilena as the dark haired mage moved closer to the camp from his left.

Fire flew from the younger blonde haired wizard while the older man held his hand parallel to the ground. A rumble as stone rolled towards them surprised the mage. They had gotten smarter than the last time he had fought the pirate wizards. Not every wizard had been a factor that time, but those he had fought had tried using fire to kill the captive islanders.

"Reflex," the mage called and dodged to the side leaving the black shield to catch much of the fire. Ashleen was slower to react and, to his sped up mind, the wilder actually looked like she was in slow motion. Her night shield caught the remainder of the fire as instinctively her runes enveloped the wilder in an orange ball of glowing magic.