Battle Mage: Forging New Steel (Tales of Alus Book 9) (62 page)

His feint had pulled Southwall together and revealed their knowledge of portal magic as well. The world had become smaller and more challenging for both sides. Palose wondered how long it would be before more of his lodestones were found and destroyed. He had thought of a plan if the one targeting the gates had managed to track his magic, but it would have to wait for a little longer.

For now, the dark mage’s duty was finished at the Twins.

Palose gathered up the shadows by calling on his stealth spell. The dark mage disappeared into the night. He would walk to the south for a little while before using a portal. If he wasn’t careful, an archer might spot him in the darkness and fire an arrow before he knew it.

It was the excuse that he told himself, but if he was truthful with himself; Palose just wasn’t ready to go back to Ensolus yet. The night was beautiful away from the destruction of the wall and the dark mage smiled as he walked deeper into Southwall.

Xander had felt the tremor as more of the wall fell apart to the west. The tower was becoming an island defended by fewer and fewer men and women. It shook with the impact of warlock’s spells and threatened to fall like the wall on either side as monsters tore away at the stone. Armored viles and crag trolls were hard to kill and once dug into the stone of the wall; they could dig onward without risk aside from falling rock.

“Time to go,” the healers stated as a new gate appeared. “If you’re well enough to help those still injured, please do your best to do so.”

He didn’t have to be told to help. Xander felt much better and believed that he could have fought if the healers had allowed him.

Pulling his mentor to his feet first, Gareth told him quickly, “I can make it on my own. Grab your friend. I know that you want to, though why you are spending time with a wizard is beyond me.”

The prejudices of wizards against battle mages remained even after word of the mage defeating wizards in the Winter’s Edge tournament made it to the other cities in Southwall. While some never let the differences affect them and who they made friends with during their career fighting for the country, too many still had that mentality which kept them from coming together in a more positive and powerful way.

It wasn’t a worry the cadet had. Shaylene was his friend and it didn’t matter what title they were tagged with or who held more magical power.

Lifting the girl from the floor gently, Xander was surprised at how light she was and how fragile she seemed. Shaylene still hadn’t returned to consciousness which worried him, though the healer had told him it wasn’t something to fret over since the apprentice was already magically healed. Magic still had limitations after all, but the cadet knew he couldn’t risk using his healing spell to check her for now.

The glow called to him and the cadet stepped towards it with the girl in his arms. Her head rested on his shoulder and he felt her breath tickling his neck. They were going to Windmeer and safety, the cadet thought. She would receive better care than magical field medicine, though he didn’t doubt the healers’ abilities.

Silver light surprised him and his vision caught what he thought were islands in the distance. There was no land beneath his feet, but in an instant his momentum brought him back to darkness. Xander felt more stone under foot and quickly noticed stone walls around him. A castle loomed to one side while a protective wall with towers held the other. He was in a castle courtyard. They had traveled hundreds of miles in an instant and had arrived in Windmeer.

“We can take her now, young man,” a voice called to Xander startling him as he tried to take in his surroundings.

He noted a healer in her yellow uniform. The wizard smiled at the cadet, but he shook his head replying, “It’s alright, I can carry her wherever you want. You don’t need to waste anyone else on her. She’s very light and I can carry her.”

If she was surprised by his answer, the wizard didn’t show it. A battle mage cadet showing concern for an apprentice wizard might seem unlikely, but his kind had been protecting her kind since the origins of the corps. Wizards just didn’t like to admit that they needed anyone with lesser power than themselves.

“Follow the others then,” she said pointing to a line of walking wounded and their helpers. The healer smiled again and looked past him to the next person coming through the gateway.

When his feet reached the hospital wing of Windmeer castle, Xander had to admit that Shaylene was becoming heavier with each step. The girl had felt light as a feather several hundred feet earlier, but his exhaustion and time holding her were making his arms believe that she was more of a burden now.

“Over here, son,” an older man in yellow directed him.

“She was healed, but hasn’t woken up in almost an hour, I think,” the cadet answered placing her gently on a padded table.

The healer began to chant before placing his hand on Shaylene’s forehead. After a moment, he smiled and said, “She’s just sleeping. Her injuries are gone, but the lingering affects of the magic she used in battle along with that shared in the healing spell have just left her exhausted.

“It is nice to see your concern for her. You are friends then?”

Nodding as his eyes remained on the girl, Xander replied, “We met once or twice at White Hall, but we got alone pretty well while posted at the Twins.”

The healer started to step away towards his next patient but added, “It is nice to see that your generation has begun to embrace each other despite our differences. Maybe it will make our people stronger, if those fighting together could get along better.”

Xander let the comment lie as he frowned slightly at the healer’s back. There was no reason not to appreciate each other, he thought. Add to the fact that wizards like Shaylene could be so nice; it was easy to ignore the labels of wizard and mage. Power ruled her kind in some way, but the apprentice didn’t seem like that at all.

Looking around him, the cadet wondered what he was supposed to do now. Xander didn’t even know where he was since he had never been to Windmeer before. The cadet supposed that he would have to ask, but he hated leaving Shaylene, after all she was no more familiar with Windmeer than he was and had the added confusion of waking in a foreign place when she woke up again.

Pulling up a chair, Xander decided to wait until someone told him more or the girl awoke. With a sigh, the cadet watched as the healers moved around ignoring his presence, though occasionally one would smile in his direction without the mage’s notice.

Sebastian joined the wizard healers and a few mages who had learned the skill by now as well in working with the wounded. He held his staff using it from time to time to maintain his strength, since there were so many needing help after such a large battle.

Ashleen offered her magic to him at times, but the mage selfishly used the situation as an experiment as well. He appreciated the girl’s touch and amidst the smell of blood and burning flesh, her presence helped steel him to the horrors left on the battle field.

Losing track of how many he healed, Sebastian took a break and noticed a commotion happening closer to the remains of the wall west of the towers. A group of soldiers seemed to be working themselves up into a fervor around something that the mage couldn’t see.

Followed by Ashleen, the owl mage pushed through the gathering crowd drawing complaints until they realized who it was. Many knew the mage by sight now even though soldiers and mages rarely associated beyond the missions where they were paired together. There were times where he had met and spoken with soldiers in the city or at night in the taverns, but Sebastian knew that much had to be attributed to the kind of celebrity he had begun to have foisted on him after the tournament. He had also been proclaimed a hero for finding Gerid adding to his growing popularity with the people.

“What’s going on here?” he asked loud enough to draw most of their attention. While Sebastian asked the question, the mage could see with his eyes that there was a pair of armored viles corralled within the remnants of the wall.

One blocked a massive hole waving its claws at the men looking weary and worn. Arrows stuck out of the fleshy armored skin and there was a few burn marks on it as well, though it looked fairly healthy despite the battle. Sebastian looked in its eyes and saw fear, but no malice. The vile appeared more beast than soldier now and he wondered if, without the warlocks pushing them to fight, they were actually the violent monsters he had seen in battle. They were certainly a force to be dealt with in war, but this behavior wasn’t that of a soldier fighting for itself to kill. This armored vile looked to just be trying to protect its friend who appeared more injured.

“We caught these monsters and were just trying to figure out how best to kill them without having anyone else get killed in the process,” a soldier stated looking happy with the situation. Other men agreed cheerfully as the bloodlust continued in their veins.

“Leave them to me,” he stated waving them away.

Cheers followed his statement as they believed that the mage meant to single handedly destroy the monsters as the soldiers gave way to watch the man deal with the Dark One’s creatures.

Sebastian could feel Ashleen tensing behind him. She thought he meant to kill the frightened creatures as well. It was certainly the usual way of dealing with the enemy. These creatures were too powerful to be left alive. There was no point to their capture in most of their eyes, but the owl mage saw something of an opportunity here also. Maybe it was all the healing he had done, but his heart told him there was a different way.

Raising a hand, he radiated a calming affect on those around him including the armored vile. Sebastian held Bairh’loore in his left hand feeling the power of the earth beckoning for him to call on it, but the mage didn’t need that power if his guess was correct.

“Easy, easy there, big fella,” the mage said using the words almost like a spell.

The cheers of the men around him stopped as the soldiers also calmed. Ashleen sighed as her hand rested on his left shoulder as if to tell him she was there as well. If he judged the vile incorrectly, Sebastian supposed knowing where the girl was as he jumped back would be important; but his mind and manner remained set to calm this beast.

He remembered the feeling his younger sister had about her when her magic had run rampant. Katya was only thirteen and had already nearly become a wilder as her powerful magic started to consume her. His sister would be a powerful wizard, well beyond his strength as a mage; but her power was more dangerous also. A natural at the magic called diplomacy; Katya’s power was more accurately known as coercion. She could work on people’s minds and even powerful wizards were susceptible to that kind of spell.

Using his own version of that as Sebastian tried to recreate what he had felt many months ago, the owl used his words to ease the creature. He didn’t want to kill it and the mage needed to get that impression across.

The armored vile recoiled slightly keeping its left claws held up before it like it was telling him to stop, but the creature’s eyes just held wariness. If he had just been surrounded by soldiers seeking to kill him, Sebastian thought he would be pretty much the same. They were all raised to know their enemies and these monsters had only been seen on the battle field.

His hand rested on the vile’s claw and Sebastian called on his healing magic to check the creature, “Heal.”

His magic eased the armored vile even more. Power from Ashleen pressed into him adding to his strength as he maintained a form of coercion not only on the monsters in front of him, but with the crowd of soldiers as well. Healing took a lot of power also, so her comforting touch adding strength was a help that kept him from using the earth despite its call to him.

Sebastian felt the power of the creature before him and found its wounds minor. His healing touch eased the burns and pushed the arrows free without causing it pain. The armored vile moved aside as the mage pushed forward to check the second creature only to realize that it was not the only thing being protected by its friend. A troll, as well as a few orcs looking very injured, huddled just beyond the second vile.

It tried to move to put its bulk between the mage and the others. These two viles had chosen to give their lives to protect creatures of different species. It was an interesting thing to see. He only knew of a few animals willing to protect humans or other species in times of trouble. Most had to be raised by men to become that protective, so he wondered why these two had chosen to protect the smaller soldiers of the Dark One’s army.

“It is alright,” he said placing his hand on the second vile’s claw. “I won’t let them hurt you. Let’s take care of your wounds.”

His healing found a creature barely capable of standing. Its leg had been cut by a blade and ran with dark blood. More arrows covered this vile, though few had hit more sensitive soft skin between the thick fleshy plates which gave it the name of armor.

The troll surprised him as the second vile backed off to let him proceed to those it protected.

“Why help?” it asked gruffly. The creature held its stomach and blood covered the hand and arm.

“Because you need it,” he answered before calling on his spell to heal the troll.

“You kill us,” the troll accused though he did nothing to defend himself against the healer.