Battle Mage: Forging New Steel (Tales of Alus Book 9) (39 page)

Removing his hand, Elzen shrugged at the owl who promptly shook his head before bringing his hand against his forehead. He had missed the obvious since he had used his magic to alter the runes for his skin. A shaman might use ink to create the rune’s physical marking, but Sebastian had moved beyond that magic creating his own for making the runes.

“Why didn’t I think of that beforehand?” the owl complained mostly to himself, but also aloud. “Do you think that you have figured out how to copy them also?”

“I have a feel for the ones on me, I think,” Elzen replied confidently. He had been watching Sebastian all evening and had been given his own after all. Seeing the original creator use the spell so often leant him more knowledge than trying to come up with it on his own.

With a possible helper, Sebastian left the next soldier waiting to transfer the runes he hadn’t passed on before. Using the idea of making unseen runes, Elzen didn’t even have to make them fade. “Add the protection runes to their arms for me, please. I’ll finish the others.”

Elzen was able to do as he thought and Sebastian felt a little relief. Having someone else to share the workload made the last transfers go much quicker and Elzen cleaned up his mistake by altering the color of the runes for the soldiers he had already treated.

By the time they were finished, both mages asked for another meal. They had used up a lot of magic, even if each transfer didn’t tax them greatly the accumulation of spells it did make them hungry.

The night turned into soldiers racing each other or striking their arms or punching chests to see how well the runes worked. They were faster than before and it was obvious, but eventually the toll of using the runes began to take its toll on them. Since the runes used the energy of their bodies, they fatigued faster than they would without trying to trigger them.

The camp turned in for the night leaving just the guards in their rotations awake shortly after their heads touched their pillows.

When the morning began, people looked a little more tired and definitely hungrier than normal. The newness didn’t wear off, but they were soldiers and had a job to do after all; so the column ate and prepared to leave as the sun arose in the east. It looked like another clear day lay ahead of them.

Lunch brought an unhappy group of mages to Sebastian as he settled his horse while he ate. It could feed on the long grasses and water was available from a shallow brook bubbling from the ground before trickling its way to the southeast.

“You didn’t have to give away our advantage so soon,” Jeriah stated with a frown leading Lysbeth and Yoran towards him. While the woman hadn’t agreed with him on many things, Lysbeth’s green eyes seemed to this time even without a nod. “The wizards have looked down on us so long, surely having a unique magic of our own would help make them take us seriously for once.”

Sebastian shook his head and said, “We have had our unique magic since the first mage created our quick spells, but wizards didn’t care. They have a pecking order created between them based on magical power. Having a greater skill in spell casting, or use of the sword, has no bearing on what they see in us.

“Passing on the knowledge as I have doesn’t mean any of them will be able to create their own runes anyway. Only Elzen, another battle mage, can do that besides me. See if that makes them treat you any differently.

“Of course, the best way to be treated differently by wizards is to actually take the time to get to know them. What I have done in the tournament and outside of it will only take us so far. The rest of you need to show what mages are truly capable of and prove that we deserve an equal footing with them.

“Unless you don’t believe that either,” he finished putting the ability to deny it on the other man. Jeriah’s only answer was a grinding of his teeth.

Lysbeth helped on that note. “Why are you so quick to give them this rune magic? You have said why it won’t make a difference to how a wizard sees us, but why is it so important to give the runes away?”

He understood her question and the logic behind it, so Bas replied, “I asked for runes from the shaman who gave it to us because I saw the advantage it could give our soldiers in battle against the emperor’s creatures. Our magic covers most of what these runes can do for us, so it matters less that we have them. While they should serve us well also, look at those with no magic and the deaths so many soldiers have faced with those monsters against them.”

Her eyes revealed that she understood, but Jeriah seemed more resistant to the idea. It didn’t matter to Sebastian whether the other mage approved or not, however, rune magic was for all of Southwall’s soldiers, mages and wizards. The more given the advantage of magical power in the face of the dark armies the better in his mind.

Sebastian left the other mages to play with their new runes or discuss the matters already covered. He was tired of the games wizards and mages played in their attempt to hold greater prestige over each other.

When the troop stopped for the evening Rilena and Ashleen joined him near the fire, while Olan and Elzen tested what they could do with the runes. Serrena sat close by as she occasionally looked at the number of people testing their runes beyond their fire. Soldiers could be found punching each other to see the runes appear to defend them or testing the speed and strength runes on their arms and legs.

“Giving power to normal men and women, you may have started a revolution overnight,” Ashleen said with a smile to soften her sarcasm.

Rilena shook her head and replied, “He’s been working on that since he first translated a spell for the mages. If we could just find others who could reproduce the runes, the army might be able to destroy the Dark One’s empire yet. An entire army of wizards, battle mages and runed soldiers could drive them into their holes and annihilate them.”

The dark haired girl stopped as she heard her words and she added, “Maybe annihilation is too extreme. I’ve met those who escaped from the emperor’s cities and know that there are good people stuck serving the empire too.”

Sebastian glanced to his friend and questioned her both with his eyes and his words, “So now Garosh is a friend and his fortress is allied to Southwall? How did that happen anyway?”

Barking a short laugh of disbelief, Rilena replied, “Now that is as hard to believe for you as it is for me, Sebastian.”

“Garosh and his men tortured you in that fortress, but now you speak of him like you’ve not only forgiven him, but actually like the man.”

Rilena looked up towards the sky seeing stars twinkling in the night. As a cloud masked a swath of stars in its passing, the young woman mused, “He had a point after surrendering and coming with us to Windmeer as a prisoner. If spies or scouts were discovered inside of Southwall near our fort cities, they would be grilled for information using any means necessary if the lords said it was to protect our people. Torture happens in our prisons too, I am sure.”

“You’re justifying his actions,” stated her friend as a matter of fact and without judgment or question.

Shrugging her shoulders, Rilena used both hands to pull her black locks behind her neck. Her fingers twirled her lengthening hair as she thought aloud, “I hated him and refused to believe he was anything but a monster for a long while. Garosh took the hatred in stride with quiet understanding, but he did his best to show his regret for his actions. While I can’t say I can forget what he did, I don’t hate him anymore.

“We’re at war and ugly acts are part of that, even as enemies become allies.”

Sebastian’s eyes looked from the dark haired mage to Elzen; who was sparring a bit with Olan to get used to the new runes. “Speaking of people changing in each other’s eyes, what is with you and Elzen?”

Her dark brown eyes reflected the orange light of the fire revealing a look he could only categorize as fear. It was gone quickly, but Rilena questioned him to gain a moment’s respite, “What do you mean? We’ve been working with Darius and became friends during the march to Garosh’s fortress.”

Ashleen smiled at the mage mirroring Sebastian’s face, the wizard said, “If you don’t want people to think that there is something going on between you two; then you need to stop looking jealous when he works with other women.”

“I don’t have any reason to look jealous,” Rilena stated with a bit of a frown. “We’re just friends. When did I ever look jealous because of him?”

Serrena jumped in matter-of-factly, “When he touched Corporal Felshina to use his magic to test the runes and then he had the nerve to practically touch her breasts, I thought you were going to pull your sword and cut his hand off.”

“He didn’t come near her breasts, but she certainly pulled her shirt down surprisingly quickly. She should be ashamed of herself,” Rilena complained.

The other girls tried not to laugh as the mage painted her self into a corner as she remarked on the previous night’s act. Elzen had been forward and drawn a reaction from the girl. Sebastian queried into that reaction by asking, “Which of you decided that you would only be friends?”

He had history with Rilena and wasn’t surprised when she said after a moment, “I told him it would be best. We’re mages. The likelihood that we will be stationed at the same post, as soon as next year even, are slim. I can’t let myself get that attached to people just to lose them on a regular basis.”

The thinking was common enough among the younger mages and probably throughout the other divisions as well, he thought.

“If you like someone, you might want to follow that for as long as you can. If you don’t let yourself love because you might be pulled away from them, you’ll never find a reason to keep going on in this war,” Sebastian said echoing the sentiment of other people in his life. He had fought falling in love with Yara and then Ashleen. While he was sad to part from the healer, the future still wasn’t written in stone for them.

“I need to have these walls or I won’t be able to do my job, Bas,” she replied turning away from him towards the fire to conceal the look on her face. Her dark hair slid between them masking her expression from him.

“I think you’d be surprised. Having someone can bring more focus than you think.”

He could feel Ashleen’s eyes on him and wondered if he could follow his own advice in relation to the wilder.

“When do you think that we’ll find these nomads anyway?” Serrena asked changing the subject.

The morning began with the wizards trying to solve the question of the night. Petre and Ashleen sat near the remains of the fire while the soldiers prepared the horses for the next day’s travel. The air wizards had their heads bowed with food and drink nearby while their minds traveled the winds searching for signs of the plains tribe. Sebastian had contemplated joining them, but there were still those with questions about their runes to distract him.

A third wizard stood out in the grass with his hands pressed together flat before him and his head bowed as if in prayer or meditation. Dressed in his brown tunic with threaded filigree around the collar and along his long sleeves, the earth wizard, Linus, performed his own search. The magic was akin to the air wizards in its way. While they rode the winds above, Linus expanded his mind looking for vibrations that would lead them to their destination.

Elzen stood by his side and asked while they waited, “So why haven’t you ever tried to figure that spell out? You’ve come up with some earth magic, haven’t you?”

“Dance,” the owl ordered the lightning to his finger tips in response causing Elzen and those suddenly listening in closely to pull back in surprise. “This is a combination of earth and air, so I have some affinity with the earth. If I wished to, I could do it. From what I have read and seen, Linus is just using a sense spell cast into the ground.

“Are you comfortable with that element?” Sebastian asked letting the electricity on his fingers disappear.

“I’ve used our earth movement spell, if that counts,” the younger mage replied with a grin.

“Then the only other requirement would be the strength to maintain the spell and cast your senses far enough from you to make it worthwhile. I didn’t figure out the wind riding spell very easily until I figured out how to use my strength carefully enough to do it,” Sebastian said relating the problem of spells that required ongoing strength to maintain or start them. He was also glossing over how he had managed to draw enough power to first use the spell.

It had come shortly after learning to tap the earth. Using that extra power, the owl had overcome the last obstacle and finally sorted how to manage his own magic to recreate the spell afterward. Since he had been warned not to share the dangerous knowledge of tapping the earth, Sebastian couldn’t very well tell Elzen that secret as well.

The younger mage didn’t give up and Sebastian could feel the others crowding around them hoping the battle mages’ source of new spells would deliver another. It was the part of his life that aggravated him more and more each day. Wanting to tell them that he wasn’t some book that they could just open to reveal a mystery every time they wished, Sebastian sighed as Elzen asked, “Could you show me how you ride the winds? I can heal like you and have learned most of the spells the other mages brought to White Hall and Windmeer since you began teaching.”

Sebastian couldn’t deny that the younger mage was somehow more like him than he would have believed back when they were in school together. Both could heal, so their magic ability seemed to mirror one another; even if their fighting styles were quite different.