Battle Mage Visions (A Tale of Alus Book 12) (25 page)

"I've found a way into the emperor's city," the mage admitted something few outside of the upper echelon of Southwall knew. "We are working on finding a way inside of his castle. Then we can bring the fight to him and kill him once and for all."

Again the gray haired woman looked at the mage and revealed that Gerid had told her more than even Sebastian knew of his confrontation with the Dark One long ago. "They thought that they had rid the world of him once before. Why do you think that you will do better? Gerid said that they couldn't kill him with normal weapons or magic. He was too powerful."

Unwilling to give in so easily, Sebastian could only think to tell her, "Garosh says that he isn't what he once was. The Dark One living in the elves world had insinuated himself into the men and women around him. He was bound to his monsters and even to the very soil of the land he ruled. When they fought him then, they were fighting the world around them as well.

"When he broke free of the void, the Dark One brought most of his people; but Garosh is pretty sure that he hasn't tied himself to the others the same way since changing bodies. He hides in his castle unable to reveal himself as a boy. If he had the same power and control he once had, then he wouldn't have to hide the way he is now.

"If ever there was a time to kill him, this is the time," he stated suddenly certain of their purpose once more. It had never been said aloud, but they knew that his power had been split between three vessels. That alone said the emperor wasn't as strong as he had once been.

Sherari gauged the young man before her and said, "Now I remember why Gerid decided to go with you before."

Chuckling at his wife, Gerid added, "Sebastian has a way of making you believe in him, doesn't he?"

Ashleen seconded that saying, "I know I do."

The older woman shook her head slowly with a sly smile and countered, "A woman in love can hardly think differently."

Blushing at the woman, a rare thing to see happen to Ashleen; the wilder merely nodded.

Sebastian used his magic to bring some of his people back to the inn later in the evening. It was dark much earlier on the island than to the west in Hala, but it had been a long day so they retired to bed early as well.

In the morning before the sun lifted above the horizon in Hala, Sebastian was joined by the remnants of his team and used a portal in the courtyard behind the inn instead of walking all the way to the fire wizard guild's portal. Elzen had an insulated box with a lid that he carried. With a grin, the mage refused to tell them what was inside.

They joined Gerid and his family on the island for breakfast where Elzen opened his container to reveal it filled with snow. They threw snowballs in the warm morning air until it was gone or melted before they used a quick portal to the north end of the island. It saved time having a gate there and they were able to begin looking for the stones left by Palose and the mystery girl that even Garosh didn't know. They had hardly traveled in the same circles after all, even if the giant knew that Kolban seemed to have connected closely with the resurrection man.

Ulia had joined them with her brother and the other resurrected rune warrior, Nolan. Garosh had removed the runes which bound the last young man to Palose, at least in regards to the controlling part of the runes. They were all bound until second death most likely and killing them again wasn't something any of them wished to visit on the unfortunate victims of the dark mage.

The youngest of the warriors, Ulia had come to Sebastian a couple times the previous evening asking questions about magic. Now the girl appeared interested in mastering the magic they had found inside of her. The mage was surprised as he thought back to the first time he had met the girl that he hadn't noticed the magic within her. She was about the age a wizard would get their ability, but somehow he hadn't noticed the traces in his need to show off that he could influence the runes.

"Could you show me how you use your magic to change the runes?" she asked as they looked for the magically charged stones.

Even knowing that they must be there, finding something as common as stones charged by an unknown wizard would be difficult. Sebastian didn't have a strong knowledge of the girl Palose had used, so he was having trouble finding them now. It had been several months since the mage had seeded the new gate, and the owl mage wondered if time had worn away the feel of them that much over time. They shouldn't lose strength like stones being weathered away over centuries, but they weren't showing themselves as easily as he had hoped.

"You don't even know your magic yet," he said with half his attention on looking for the stones. "It will take time to teach you. Maybe after I come back to bring Gerid and the others back to Hala, I can try to show you? Unfortunately I am already late for my next trip."

The petite blond that didn't look fierce enough to be called a warrior frowned in disappointment. Before she could complain a dog barked from a little further south. As they turned to look, the dog shifted form from a reddish brown hound to a red haired girl even smaller than Ulia.

Evie laughed and called out, "I forgot that I was a dog still. I think that I found one of the stones Bas!"

Hurrying over, Sebastian sensed the familiar magic once more. It was faint and even seemed somehow sealed against being found. How that worked for Palose, the mage wasn't sure but he was pretty sure that he couldn't make a gate to find them easily either. That didn't bode well for finding the stones he believed might be in some of the cities of Southwall.

If they couldn't rid his nation of Palose's threat and that of the spies the Dark One continued to sneak into their cities, the only other way would to be to find the source of the portals and end it there. Of course finding Palose and either killing him or somehow cutting off his magic was likely to be even harder.

Once the first stone was found, it wasn't hard to find the second nearby. Garosh used his magic to make the remnants of the rectangular doorway visible before doing his best to show the battle mage and the other wizards with him what he was doing. It was unlike the spells Sebastian had seen Darius or his grandson Darterian use in the past, but that wasn't surprising as Garosh was using magic derived from the emperor and his warlocks.

Darius had done his best to reconstruct the magic used for the enemy portals. He also used ancient spells to close not only the emperor's gates but the distortions like them which had been plaguing their world long before even the Dark One had shown himself on Alus.

Unsure that he could recreate the magic in the same way, Sebastian would need time to play with the magic he had been shown. The owl might be able to figure it out, but he had a feeling this was a spell that he would have to see more than once.

The basics of the spell he understood, but creating a block that would stop someone from using this side of the gateway was too subtle to comprehend with just one try. Garosh promised that he would be willing to show him again or join him trying to find the other gates. It was a worry for another time, however, Sebastian thought to himself. If they weren't so far to the east, he wouldn't have been able to make time for the portal stone hunt and still be able to arrive in Red Hall at a decent time of the morning.

"I'm going to remain behind, if you don't mind," Rilena said as the members of Southwall readied to leave once more. The mage had carried a pack with her, but like Elzen she hadn't explained why right away. "If you're coming back in less than a week, no one will miss me. Well, not much anyway and I could really use a break from all the craziness of this year," she added making excuses that led Sebastian to believe that she was feeling guilty.

Shrugging, Sebastian agreed and added, "We could all use a vacation on a beautiful island like this. As long as Sherari and Gerid don't mind an extra visitor, we can manage in Red Hall this time."

Rilena and Elzen were little more than extra hands while making the gates. She could have been of some help in the teaching part of the trip, but the falcon wasn't as strong in as many of his new spells as Elzen, Ashleen or Serrena were. More importantly, Sebastian could tell that his friend just wanted to have a little more time to spend with Garosh to sort out her feelings for him as well.

Noticing Elzen's look of disappointment mixed with jealousy aimed at Garosh, Sebastian knew that his other friend still hadn't gotten over his brief tryst with the pretty mage.

Evie and Ulia appeared willing to come in her place, but the mage knew that would just wind up being him having to babysit the younger girls. Neither knew any of his magic, and of course Ulia couldn't say she knew any at all. When the new portal opened, it was just four members strong that were going to use it.

Chapter 14- Red Hall

Stepping into the unfamiliar courtyard, Sebastian and the others noted the buildings of reddish stone and realized quickly that the school, like White Hall, had a presence that echoed the name. The colors weren't just a casual designation, but could be easily seen in the local stone used to make the school.

It left him wondering what Green Hall would look like on the west coast.

"There you are!" a man's voice greeted managing to sound like he was both happy to see them and annoyed that they were late. The latter wasn't really true, but Gefflen hadn't liked having to wait for the mage to take the Grimnal home. Luckily, no wizard had the pull of a thousand plus year old immortal king.

The mage took a moment to look at his surroundings and gauged that Red Hall wasn't prepared for his arrival despite his request to prepare the defenses that would make the new gate useful to the school.

"You had an extra day, but this doesn't look like a spot ready for me to make my gate," he said trying not to sound too accusatory. The wizard's attitude continued to grate at him, but Gefflen wasn't the worst he had ever dealt with either.

"Hmmph," the older man replied and waved off the complaint. "We placed them here temporarily. Since you were going to create a secure gate, I had a former meeting hall converted instead. This is just an outdoor space. If an enemy did use the portal against us, we figured that it was safer for them to have to start outside.

"There are wards and traps around you. Some are currently disabled to allow us to move freely, if you plan to work on the gate first; then gather the stones and I will take you to the new gate room."

The news surprised him. Every other protected gate had been made outside where tall walls and towers could trap an enemy letting the defenders rain down spells or arrows. Most rooms had walls too thin to stop something like an armored vile. If he were the Dark One, he would send his shock troops through first to try to break through the walls.

No portal had been challenged yet, of course, to warrant increasing their defenses; but the mage had thought ahead and believed such precautions were warranted. Warlocks could be guarded by shields and work to break stone walls also, so a few feet of magically reinforced stone was likely the best way to ensure that no city or school would be breached.

"You've fortified a room?" he asked in turn.

"We aren't new to defenses, mage. Try and give us some credit as to our decisions. This isn't White Hall, but we teach from the same spell books and curriculum as the one where you trained. Gather the stones and I'll show you how Red Hall prepares."

Exchanging glances with the other three in his current team, Sebastian did as he was told and picked up the two imbued stones. They followed Gefflen who wasn't alone. A few more wizards turned to follow the leader of the researchers of Red Hall. Two more research wizards and one of fire, none of whom had been to Hala, soberly followed the man to a doorway leading into a building.

Sebastian didn't know the layout of the school, but it felt more like a proper castle unlike White Hall which was a group of buildings with a few outer fortifications around them. At Red Hall there was a wall encircling the massive structure inside, but the school's design incorporated lofty towers and sloped roofs. It had multiple levels with some roofs over their heads lifting close to a hundred feet above the ground. The outer towers were still much shorter than the castle's peak near its center, but Sebastian couldn't make out the exact layout from so near the wall, even craning his head back.

"Red Hall is just one large building?" he queried trying to understand the differences between the schools. White Hall was a collection of buildings surrounding a central courtyard. Other outer courts were the playground for the wizards and mages with their outer wall and towers containing most of them.

Gefflen waved his hand and said, "Red Hall was once the castle home of a line of Cadmene lords that died out before the Cataclysm. It was donated to the wizards serving the last lord at the time to become a school for magic."

The research wizard looked at the mage meaningfully and said, "Red Hall is actually much older than White Hall, you should know. Our library is said to be the best on the continent. We weren't attacked by the Dark One's armies after the Cataclysm, so the fires and destruction which claimed many of the libraries further north were avoided here."

Elzen had been listening as well and asked, "When everything north of the Cadhalla River was being attacked does that mean the wizards holed up here or did they actually help drive back the monsters?"