Battle Mage: Forging New Steel (Tales of Alus Book 9) (37 page)

“Acheri tells me that you have placed a portal near the Twin Towers on the north wall,” the boy said nearly getting the dark mage to reveal his surprise. While the emperor’s sister had managed to force her way through his portal months ago when he was near the Cadhalla River, nothing had ever been said of it before by Kolban. Use of many of his southern portals for the spies sent obviously revealed that the girl had told him at least something of his work south of the wall.

“When winter was coming close to an end, I walked from Windmeer east to the bridge a few miles south of the towers. I also walked to Blackwall and sent a set of lodestones by messenger to Norcrom like I did to several southern cities.”

Nodding without looking at the mage, Kolban held his chin in thought as he leaned on the table. “We need to leave Alain with something to think about besides the seeds of dissent in the south. Do you think if you summoned a division to the bridge, that they could catch the towers by surprise from behind?”

After a moment’s thought, Palose shrugged as he answered, “I don’t see why not. If they stay low, they should be able to use the hills to catch the guards by surprise; at least until the final stretch of flat land between the wall and the closest hills.”

Kolban nodded and stood again as he began to pace. Thinking aloud, he said, “We will need warlocks to knock down the wall and towers. Even if Southwall’s defense is too strong, we can clog the river. When it dries up to a trickle, they won’t be able to move their ships or fish the river.

“Maybe it is time to try a few new units in the field.”

“New units?” Palose questioned before he remembered this was the emperor and not just some boy.

Gray eyes looked to the dark mage in amusement. “Ensolus houses much of my army, but you know there are other cities in the mountains. One in particular has been working on creating new creatures to turn this long standing war in our favor.

“That is something you don’t need to worry about for now. Your worry is to make sure that you are ready to move the soldiers and warlocks when everything is ready.”

The side door suddenly flung open as a girl hurried into the chamber. Her dark hair trailed down her back in contrast to the white dress she wore. Palose thought the dress nearly as fine as the gowns of the lesser ladies in the castles of Southwall, but for the princess, this was closer to a sundress by her standards.

“Why is it that I always have to hear from someone else that Palose is visiting the palace?” Acheri complained as she rushed towards the table and her brother. The dress clung to her lithe teenage body and the mage noticed quickly that the straps covering her chest wrapped behind her neck. Her body was young, but she was already slightly taller than the emperor and slim. With a plunging neckline and open back, it was the dress of an older woman, he thought; Acheri was unique in that her body looked fourteen, but she had only been created after the beginning of the year. Her mind was both new and a creation stemming from knowledge gathered by the emperor throughout his centuries.

Kolban looked at his sister and questioned, “If you find out anyway, why do I need to waste time sending someone to warn you? I suppose if it meant you could take the time to find your shoes, maybe I should though,” he finished noticing her bare feet moving below the hemline touching her upper shins.

With a petulant pout at the emperor on the girl’s face, Palose had to wonder how the three siblings created from the original Kolban’s memories could create such distinct personalities. Acheri was definitely not a man trapped in a girl’s body. She was truly feminine and didn’t act like her brothers in any way.

“Why do I need to wear shoes inside the castle? It may be made out of a stone spire, but it is my home. Unless there are nobles or generals to impress for you, I don’t need to play at being a pristine princess. Palose knows me well enough that I don’t need to pretend to be something else in front of him.”

Kolban frowned. “You are a princess and second only to me in power. Don’t make me regret creating you by shaming me in my home.”

Her hands settled onto her waist in a huff and Acheri turned his words on him like most girls seemed capable of doing, “Well, do you think we should be arguing in front of our guest then, Kolban? Surely this is not appropriate behavior according to your new rules.”

Like a teenaged boy, the emperor looked perplexed by her logic. “Now he is a guest, but a moment ago you claimed he wasn’t someone to act differently in front of.”

Moving to Palose’s side, the girl placed her hands on his shoulders before running them down his arms familiarly. She hid partially behind the mage saying, “Let’s not confuse the situation, brother. Now what were you two talking about that was so important to call Palose away from his other duties? He was probably hoping to study in the library again. He is so studious.”

“We were working out our next move against Southwall. Once again Palose’s portals come in useful. You may remember the one near the Twin Towers,” the emperor replied casually. Managing to ignore Acheri’s girlish nature, the boy ran his fingers through his light brown hair as if they could straighten his slightly mussed hair.

Wrinkling her forehead as her dark blue eyes looked to the ceiling as if she needed to see the answer there, Acheri tapped her lips with her forefinger a few times as she replied, “Hmm, I seem to remember something like that. It was winter and the river was covered in ice except near the center and there was a bridge.”

Kolban could tell that she was toying with him and ignored her teasing ways. “Our enemy is slowly being pulled in several directions. This action should make their winter a rough one as they worry about our exploiting a broken defense.”

Waving off his plans, Acheri complained, “And I suppose that I can’t go along again. It will be too dangerous for your sister.”

“Palose, I think that we are done here. I will reach you when I need to go over the plans. You just make sure that your gate can be used. Since it is south of the towers; an army will have to march there from the north first.

“We have been seeing strange movement from the nomads this year. It is as if something has stirred them up in an unusual way. We will have to travel through their land, but they shouldn’t present any problem for this mission.”

Curious about the release of information, Palose asked, “What are they doing that is so strange?”

“We have sent some patrols out, but the nomads we usually work with haven’t been seen in their normal areas. A few patrols haven’t returned even, but we are working on finding out what they are up to, so don’t worry over it.”

Having been dismissed, Palose made his weak attempt at a bow and turned to exit the chamber the way he had entered. Acheri clung to his arm as the mage tried to leave and, as they walked into the hallway, the girl tried to make small talk with him. “I don’t recall everything as well as my brother, but he has managed to control the barbarians on the plains for most of the time his empire has been on this continent. I am sure whatever they have been doing will be mean little.

“Speaking of nomads, whatever happened to your friends? You had those two apprentices you were training to fight with swords. Whatever happened to them?” she asked innocently.

Her innocence was doubtful in Palose’s mind, however. Still he answered as if he didn’t question whether she could be as duplicitous as he feared, “I still see Turless in the library quite often, but Sylvaine left with a squad months ago and I have never heard what happened to her. No one has seen her squad return either from those that I have asked.

“You haven’t heard anything about that have you?”

His question sounded sincere to his ears, but Acheri was very perceptive as one would expect from a being created from the Dark One’s mind. Apparently he was a good enough actor that the princess didn’t react in an unusual way. She answered, “No, I am afraid that I haven’t. I can make inquiries. You never told me that the girl hasn’t returned.”

“If you could find out what happened to them it would certainly ease my mind,” Palose stated looking ahead of him at the hallway with its crossing pathways.

They were getting too close to the more public parts of the castle, so Acheri gave up walking with him leaving Palose to find the exit. A dark cavernous roof felt threatening far above his head as he left the castle grounds. Built into a massive cave, the emperor’s creatures had added to the city within and hollowed out even more of the mountain increasing the cave’s size over the centuries.

Making sure that the princess had indeed given up following him, Palose made a few twists and turns before using a portal to take him to the spire apartment he owned. It had been his former master’s, but like Atrouseon’s wealth, everything had gone to him as the heir of the warlock who had no family.

He didn’t waste time there for long. Making sure that he wasn’t followed through the magical doorway, Palose created a second portal to the house set against the east wall of the cave.

“Good morning, Palose,” several voices greeted him.

The beautiful face of a girl slightly younger than him with curly brunette hair came to greet him with a kiss.

“Hello, Sylvaine,” he said warmly to the girl before greeting the others with a nod. “Acheri still pretends to not know what happened with your patrol.”

Startled eyes looked up at his blunt report and she shook her head, “I thought that you gave up trying to discover if she had anything to do with the attack on our patrol by the nomads.”

A sharp nod, as he placed his hand on the small of her back directing her towards the couch, preceded the dark mage’s answer, “Kolban mentioned that the plains folk have been acting strange and Acheri asked about what happened to my friends. It was odd how she asked. She even volunteered to have someone look into what happened to your patrol.”

Sitting cross legged before him on the couch as he turned to look at the pretty girl, Sylvaine replied, “Just don’t get your self in trouble for me. You saved me with your magic and I am here now with you. That is good enough and we travel to those beautiful cities in Southwall, of course.”

“But she took your life away from you and killed all the others in the process,” Palose retorted calmly wishing that he knew the truth of what had truly led the patrol to be attacked by a tribe of nomads. He had used his magic to reach Sylvaine too late; and used his darkest level of magic to bring the patrol all back to a semblance of life along with any dead nomads to kill those who had taken their lives. Only Sylvaine received the resurrection magic to join the small family he had created with that magic.

“It doesn’t really matter. If Acheri did arrange to have us run into that ambush, she is the princess and sister of the emperor. You can’t do anything to her without the emperor killing us all.

“If she didn’t do anything to cause it, perhaps it would be good to know so you could drop the matter,” Sylvaine added and noticed his eyes drop to her legs bared to above her knees with the skirt she wore. There was no embarrassment between them. They had become lovers after all, so he had seen all that and more.

His hand caressed her leg from knee to foot where she was more ticklish and fought pulling her foot away. There was a smile on her face when his eyes returned to her face.

Sighing, the dark mage replied, “I suppose, but I guess that I just want to know if I can trust her in the least. It would help to know that she didn’t use her authority to get you killed out of jealousy or whatever could have made her do something like that.”

He shook off the matter and the conversation moved on to other things that didn’t involve Acheri’s name.

The sun was bright and shining as the wind across the prairie worked to drive any clouds away. Feeling the cool air driven from its source to the north where the upper mountains held snow for most of the year round, Sebastian looked towards Petre, the air wizard. The woman’s head leaned forward nearly resting on her chest while their nature wizard, Nartreya, led her horse with the reins tied to her saddle.

With the cooling breeze, Sebastian didn’t even bother using his wind shield around him as the remainder of the troop conversed as they rode.

“You want to ride the winds too, don’t you?” Ashleen asked quietly from his side.

While air wizards usually rode the winds to watch out for dangers to scouting groups, today Petre looked for the nomadic tribe said to be gathering numbers on the eastern plain. Their scouts had tried to make a peaceful connection with them, but the plains folk remained too suspicious of outsiders for a combat ready unit to have a chance of convincing them to talk.

True diplomat wizards were somewhat rare, more likely because people were afraid of magic that could control others minds than because the talent was impossible to find. Sending one out as a scout was rarely done unless they were needed as a neutral party within a larger force. Since wizards, battle mages and soldiers couldn’t always get along; they made great leaders when the different factions could lead to division within the ranks.

“I kind of got used to leading and searching for trouble on the air. Not doing either does leave me with less to occupy my attention. I suppose I could still ride the winds whether it is called for or not. Having more than one wizard searching the hills and plains couldn’t hurt,” he stated looking at the wilder.

Her blonde hair was untied and flowed with the wind. She was also enjoying the fresh air blowing from the northwest without a shield after the humidity and heat of the day before.