Battle Mage Visions (A Tale of Alus Book 12) (38 page)

Picking himself up from the ground, Civan stood on wobbly legs. Still dazed, it was Lorgan who took his boss in hand and led the man from the room. The ring of keys was left on the table by the door of iron bars, but Lorgan didn't even bother trying to lock the door behind him as he practically carried the jailor away.

Sebastian glanced to the man, who must have been a wizard or warlock if he was from Ensolus, and said, "Those two I remember, but I don't think that we have met."

The mage said it making his voice sound like he thought the three men funny. Amusement in the face of likely pain was what they believed was the only resistance he could offer.

Trying to keep his attention on the gray haired man leading the other two instead of looking at the keys tempting him where they lay, Sebastian added, "Master Ileden and Master Wiler were supposed to be residents of cells much like my own. Apparently, you've been given a freer rein than you were supposed to have when my detail turned you in to the city guards."

Sniffing at the mage in amusement, the gray haired man spoke for the other two wizards. "It is true that you put my associates in their hands, but we have come to a better understanding with the leaders of this city since then."

"Does Count Terris realize that by helping you three he is declaring treason against his king by joining the Dark One?"

"Pfft, the Dark One, such a wonderfully over used name for the emperor; you men of Southwall speak of him in fear. You hide behind a stone wall using magic to keep his armies at bay, but even that wasn't enough to keep the emperor from exploiting the chinks in your armor.

"Your people fear him in the north and these idiots to the south resent you for taking their resources to protect them. We called on them to rise up and throw off the shackles of Hala and King Alain. They tire of giving him money and men for a war that they haven't seen.

"Count Terris and his men don't fear the 'Dark One'. They resent Alain and his taxes, so now they see him as the enemy and greet us as friends to help him rid his city of you."

Sebastian said nothing in response. Unfortunately, the mage had little that he could argue in the man's point. He had seen enough to know that there were those ready to blame the king for taking money from their pockets. The fact that they fought the armies of their enemy regularly at the wall or north of it was written off as an excuse for the taxes and drafting of children to become wizards and mages. Soldiers usually joined without a draft, but in the south they forgot that left unchecked, children with magic would become a danger to everyone around them. It happened so rarely in the south thanks to the wizards canvassing the cities and towns each year that again New Harbor wished to play the victim of an unreasonable king.

"Now the boy who once worked to send us away has become the prisoner," the man he knew as Ileden commented with a laugh. Both of the younger men had held back while their elder and apparent leader spoke, but Ileden's face had revealed his enjoyment at seeing the tables turned on the mage. "I relish the chance to give you the pain that you wanted for us."

"I didn't capture you to have you tortured," Sebastian stated appearing nearly uninterested in justifying himself, which angered the warlock. It was an intentional slight to the man in an attempt to get into their heads rather than they being able to rattle him.

The gray haired man put up his hand moving Ileden to sullen silence, but the younger man held his tongue. Maybe he feared being flung away like the jailor had been moments earlier?

"They say that you have resisted all forms of torture as well as your wizards' spells of the mind. When they came to me asking if we could help, I must admit that I was curious to see what kind of man could be giving them such fits.

"To be honest, I am kind of unimpressed. You are younger than I expected and the strength of your aura is unremarkable at best," the warlock said trying to draw out a response from the mage.

"I get that a lot as a battle mage," Sebastian replied with a wry smile. His hands were getting colder from being raised overhead, but the hook and chain did all the work in holding them up. It was a slight distraction, however, that the mage had to work to push to the back of his mind.

The gray haired man laughed a humorless sound and his eyes in particular only revealed scorn for the mage. Sebastian couldn't see his aura, but he guessed that this man's power was greater than the two warlocks with him. They had been fairly powerful, but even a weak wizard would look down on a battle mage's strength in magic.

"I'm sure you do," the warlock replied and gestured to the other two men. Sleeves were rolled up and the men prepared to try to crack his defenses with magic that only they had this far away from Ensolus.

Sebastian could feel the new assaults on his mind, but this was no longer a single wizard at war with him. This was no little sprinkle of rain like Xaren conjured in his mind. With three warlocks of significant strength assaulting him, the mage felt like his skull was on fire. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth against the pain. They weren't trying to coerce him to any side. These men hoped to break his defenses and his mind. They would reshape his will to theirs, if they could find a way past the block which somehow managed to send the worst of it sliding away.

With a combination of will bending magic and something more physical; Sebastian heard his cries in his ears even as the man tried to hold on for dear life.

The first day of this new torture left the mage too weak to walk back to his cell. Lorgan and Civan dragged Sebastian by his arms depositing him roughly in his cell. There was water, but no food today. He drank when he was able before drifting off to a numb, dreamless sleep. There would be more torture in his future and the mage knew that his time was slipping away. Rolan and his men would win or Sebastian would die, if he continued to remain defiant against the men who would be his masters.

Elzen exited the portal recovering from the inevitable confusion associated with the rapid change from one environment to another. This time the young mage was jumping through a gate into the unknown. While Darius knew that this was New Harbor, nothing else was certain. Whether the other end would be defended or some other form of trap would greet them, even the high wizard had been unable to tell.

Elzen wasn't new to using portals, even though their nation had discovered the magic only this summer. He was the one who had tested many theories of the wizard by going through the gates first. Doing that, the falcon had discovered that using his reflex magic spell helped reduce the time of disorientation. His mind was enhanced with his magic making normal movements seem to take forever, so his mind could use the augmentation to recover in a tenth of the normal time. It still left the mage vulnerable, but if their arrival was unexpected Elzen hoped it would be enough to ready to fight anyone who guarded the portal.

Beside him, Falcon Jeriah used the same spell, since the younger mage had offered the idea to the man, who had used the portal gates only a few times now. He still held his sword ready and both men stopped immediately after the silver of the void blinked away. With the glowing doorway opened behind them, the two men only had to defend the front and sides which would restrict any enemies waiting for them.

Blinking away the disruption to his senses, Elzen quickly noticed the change in light. They had left Red Hall around midday after all the high wizard's tests. They had waited for only a short time after the small test holes, just in case someone had seen the tiny tears or the stone eyes tossed through the gate. If there was to be guards waiting for them, they hadn't wanted to give anyone even more time to prepare.

Daylight would have kept a gate from being as noticeable as it opened. It was another reason to try to move into New Harbor by day; but the light was gone inside the dark warehouse.

"Night vision," Elzen whispered and heard the larger mage beside him echo the mage spell. He could have just used a single word to call up the magic, but Elzen preferred synching the precise vision enhancement with the words. Apparently, Jeriah was like him in the thought.

Immediately his magic made the darkness change to that of a gray, cloudy day. The vision wasn't as vivid as daylight, but it was very serviceable. An added benefit was that warm targets, like the human bodies of guards, would show up as colors making their job easier to find an enemy.

To his surprise, Elzen didn't see anyone nearby at all. If this was the enemy's new gate point, there was no one guarding it.

"Huh," the younger boy voiced quiet enough that someone twenty feet away would be unlikely to hear him, but loud enough that Jeriah turned to look at him. "I have to say that I am a little disappointed. I thought for sure that I was going to need to test if that would work."

"You didn't know that reflex would work or not?" Jeriah asked in incredulity. "I just figured that you had tried it."

"I've used the spell through a gate, but I've never had to fight coming through so I wasn't sure if it would minimize the confusion enough to stay alive," the boy stated and advanced into the room. He glanced around the glowing doorway which looked like a mix of swirling purples and blue on a back drop of pale yellow through his vision spell.

"Hmm, I don't see any guards. Maybe this was an unofficial point the kidnappers used just for this?" Elzen mused glancing around a small warehouse. It looked to have been abandoned for quite some time based on the amount of dust on the floor. Broken, wood crates and other loose pieces of metal and cloth material lay abandoned though nothing looked to have any real value.

"Hound," Jeriah called up the mage spell which augmented his other senses. Looking at the ground, Elzen could see the footprints made by several people not that long ago leading to the left of the portal. His eyes followed the line towards the logical exit only twenty feet away.

"I doubt that Bas is still here. They went that way," the boyish mage said pointing in the direction of the faint depression of prints in the dust. Already they were beginning to fill back in like footprints in the falling snow, but it would take more time here where there was less air flow, he thought.

Frowning at Elzen, the larger mage took a deep breath as he tried to sense Sebastian on the trail. The amount of dust quickly made the man sneeze and the younger mage laughed.

"You might want to wait to do that until you're closer to the door. It's pretty dusty in here."

Rubbing at his nose, Jeriah ignored the teasing boy's attempt to goad him. "Why don't you signal the others to come through? I'll follow the path to that door to make sure that I can follow him from there. It's been two weeks. I just hope the trail isn't too hidden once we get into the city."

It was Elzen's turn to frown as the thought of the trackers being unable to follow his friend's trail through a busy city after so many days made him worry. They knew that he had been brought here and that here was New Harbor thanks to Darius' maps; but now that they were here the added population could make the matter difficult to say the least.

The younger mage fished out a pair of tokens and selected the right one for the situation. A gold coin was flipped through the glowing doorway while he pocketed the copper coin in turn. He only needed the two to warn the others away or let them know to follow.

As the others trickled into the warehouse, Elzen expanded his search walking away from the glowing doorway in an expanding circle. Only about forty feet long and perhaps the same across, the building wasn't large though its ceiling was more than twice his height above his head. A surrounding set of platforms created a second floor running around the outer walls with a rickety looking stair case on each side wall bracketing the outer door.

Thinking of the possibility of defense, if the second floor wasn't falling apart too much; he could see the second floor working as a great perimeter for archers and wizards to attack unwanted guests on the lower floor. No one had, so the mage guessed that either the kidnappers had never bothered to guard this abandoned building or after so long they believed that they were safe from pursuit.

Mages were the first to follow. Acting as guards as well as trackers, they would guard the wizards following them should trouble appear even after the token had been delivered to give the all clear. It was a gold coin telling them that they were golden, but even a few minutes could change the level of safety if an enemy was just baiting them into easing their guard.

Ashleen crossed with Falcondi Yenest not bothering to wait for the mages to set up a secure perimeter. The young mage was forced to smile at the girl's loyalty supplanting any worry for her safety.

After a moment's disorientation, the wilder spotted Elzen and asked before Yenest had fully recovered, "Any sign of him?"

Pointing towards the door, he replied, "Jeriah followed a trail of footprints to the door. He could tell you better than I."

Lowering her voice, Ashleen told the mage, "But I trust your judgment more than his at this point. Jeriah worked well enough with us on the trip to the nomads but that was under an experienced falconi and Sebastian didn't have to work with him directly."

"Mages protect their own," Elzen stated for the girl avoiding frowning at the idea that Jeriah might have a grudge that would prevent him from doing his best to save Sebastian. "We don't let anything personal keep us from doing our work."