Battle Mage: Winter's Edge (21 page)

Chapter 11- Almost Like Home

             
As darkness descended late in the afternoon heralding the night, the air turned even colder though the snowfall had finally stopped for the time being. A small cabin they had found set in the lee of a hill for travelers provided some of their party protection from the cold and snow. They also discovered that it had a well for fresh water, but it was frozen over thanks to the cold weather. Luckily, they had water wizard specialists who could use their magic to overcome such a problem with the cast of a single spell while others started a fire going in the cabin’s fireplace.

             
After the long ride through the cold and snow, Sebastian could no longer make it into the cabin on his own. His legs were shaking uncontrollably after the ride and he nearly collapsed just from trying to dismount. Two days of little sleep and his injuries from the ambush were all starting to catch up to him now. Grateful just to be in out of the weather, the wounded young man collapsed wearily onto one of the rough wooden benches near the slowly building fire.

             
“You don’t look so good,” Ashleen stated walking over to him and even placed the back of her hand against his forehead to check for fever. Her eyes took in his blood stained gear that he had never bothered to change. Gashes raked the cloth in over a dozen spots ranging from mere nicks to the four that had made it through to cause the worst of his wounds.

             
“I lost a fight and fell off a cliff. It’s unlikely I would look too good after that,” he replied with a wane smile leaning his back against the stone wall beside the fireplace where the bench was placed. Closing his eyes momentarily with exhaustion, Sebastian found reopening them once more to be a fight he almost couldn’t win. If not for some gentle hands pulling at his jacket, Sebastian might have gone to sleep until morning or longer.

             
Eyes opening tiredly, he noted Ashleen checking the wound on his side. She waved Deiclonus over with even more worry.

             
The elder wizard surveyed the damage and shook his head contemplatively. Grabbing his satchel, Deiclonus began working with some salves and ointments unknown to the battle mage, who simply sat wearily awaiting his fate. He knew that death wasn’t likely, but pain was a more certain foe coming for him soon if the fire wizard was going to attempt a healing spell. Sebastian’s fellow mages were useless when it came to healing and it was unlikely that any of the wizards from Falcon’s Keep had hidden any expertise this long either.

             
Applying a salve to the wound in his side, which was his worst, Deiclonus then followed up with an incantation. Sebastian’s eyes widened slightly in surprise wondering what a fire wizard could possibly be thinking to do. Fire flared along his side where the salve had been placed. The pain was so excruciating, the battle mage saw stars and nearly blacked out. In fact, he was so close to passing out; Sebastian missed the voices of those arguing over how the rest of his wounds should be treated.

             
Rilena argued to be gentle. Druick and Nereith volunteered to try some of their growth magic which was similar to the healer magic of the yellow robes. Ashleen bit her lip wanting to chastise her mentor on his rough treatment of her friend. In the end, all the arguing was a useless endeavor as Deiclonus stepped back already finished with his work.

             
Pink scars that looked weeks old replaced the fresh wounds. All the onlookers looked on in surprise and quickly commented on his work.

             
Their words of praise went unnoticed by the patient, however, as he lapsed back into sleep.

              Morning came soon enough for the travelers, especially for someone who was recovering from several wounds. Sebastian vaguely recalled being fed some broth and drinking water brought to him by Rilena and Ashleen. A padded mattress was under him as well, though he didn’t remember being placed on it. The girls had slept on either side of him during the night, though it could have been anyone for all he noticed in his daze of exhaustion.

             
Breakfast was eaten with the dawn. The battered mage though tired and sore, was much of his usual self once awoken.

             
“You look better today,” Ashleen stated and the others nearby all agreed. Sebastian wondered how bad he must have looked the previous night to have so many emphatic looks.

             
“I feel better,” was his brief reply.

             
Deiclonus moved closer and warned, “While your wounds are closed, remember my magic isn’t that of a healer’s. I can merely seal the wounds to prevent blood loss and hopefully no infection will affect you. Anything broken inside will still need to be set. Does any bone feel out of place, lad?”

             
“I may have cracked a rib or two,” the young man admitted feeling for the guilty bones gently with his fingers. “It could have been worse though. I did fall off of a cliff or two, after all.”

             
There were chuckles at that. Sebastian smiled accommodatingly. He knew that it was more of an understatement than the others even realized and he was indeed lucky to have so few broken bones.

             
“Quite a bit of luck there!” Lord Romonus declared loudly as he joined the area to gather a second helping of a breakfast that had been put together by the soldiers. Sebastian looked at the man thinking that Romonus probably didn’t remember any of the names of those guarding him. “You must be both lucky and strong in magic, Falcon Sebastian,” he added refuting the falcon’s thoughts at least as far as he was concerned.

             
Nodding, the mage confirmed, “I was pretty lucky. The fighting was so intense that I never realized a cliff was behind me until it was too late and I was falling. I barely had the time to place my stone skin armor in place before I hit the ground.”

             
“Sebastian’s being humble,” Rilena stated. “He’s very good with magic. In fact, he’s created more spells than anyone I know. He’s as good as any wizard in my opinion.” The words left her mouth in admiration, but almost as soon as they did she cringed realizing that perhaps it was unwise to tell a near stranger of your country’s strength. Not too mention, that Sebastian was one of the most important mages to her particular guild thanks to his continued ability to translate new magic for them.

             
The ambassador’s eyes lit up briefly with a look that Sebastian caught even if no one else had. It was a look that worried him for some reason, though the man had done nothing overt to elicit such a feeling. His words were no less incriminating as Romonus added, “Well, then his skill should be commended as well.” He smiled a politician’s grin.

             
The moment ended quickly as the man went back to his bed to sit on the edge and eat as the others went back to their conversations. Talk of the remaining trip came to the fore for most of them. Two days of travel still lay ahead at best speed. Their worst case scenario involved a winter storm and more snow which could slow them indefinitely.

             
Thankfully, despite their worrying, the worst was already behind them. The snow, though deep, was not added to from any new storm, while the water mages made things even easier using their magic to manipulate the white powder into strong ice, rippled enough to leave traction so that horses and carriage were able to move at a brisk walk rather than a slow crawl. The magic was tiring, but spread between the two wizards; they were able to last throughout the day doing the work.

             
Moving faster thanks to the wizards, the travelers were joyous as they were finally able to leave the harsh mountain wilderness and hills behind them. Following the final miles of road, they found even less snow as they neared Windmeer and its outlying towns and villages. Apparently, the mountains had managed to capture most of the winter snowfalls sparing the land on their far side the full brunt of the northern weather’s handiwork. Finding less snow to deal with, the water wizards no longer needed to exert themselves and the caravan was able to move almost effortlessly compared to the previous few days’ hard travel.

             
Sebastian looked on the castle looming over its village with a certain familiarity. This stone fortress was guardian to this part of the wall and had been almost like home though he had lived there for less than half a year. While their journey was far from over if the ambassador planned to continue on to Halas, it was still a haven where everyone could get a warm place to sleep and eat.

             
He wondered if they’d given away his room yet.

              The town of Windmeer was quieter than he remembered, but the harsh, northern, winter weather tended to drive the people of Southwall inside unless they had good reason to be outside braving the elements. Still, there were vendors bundled up with their scarves and coats trying to sell to those willing to come out and buy. Seeing the carriage and those riding beside it, they called out to the travelers hoping to get a new sale, but the caravan was not buying this day.

             
The long, hard trip had worn nearly all of them down. With the cold, the distance and all the riding, it had all added up leaving most of them unwilling to even acknowledge the calls, however, and the train continued through the streets straight to the stone walls of the keep north of the village.

             
An odd blend of two castles, the old and the new had become one. Misshapen from taking the older hexagonal shaped keep and attaching what had actually been a second smaller fortress, Windmeer was still intimidating and powerful. It had survived more than a hundred years of war with the Emperor’s dark armies and its history actually predated the great wall to the north. In fact, the double citadel had parts built well before the cataclysm and dated back more than three hundred years.

             
Wars of old, dark hordes of the past century and even the subversive attack staged within her walls less than a year ago by the Dark One had never broken her spirit of will. The walls still stood though the previous year had visited a lot of damage to the inside of the north keep. A traitor had formed a mystical gate that had brought hundreds of dark creatures inside the fortress unseen and from the bowels of the castle they had fought the defenders of Windmeer inside their own home. With the return of Sebastian and the remaining army that had been fighting in the field, the Southwallers had persevered over the horde despite a great cost.

             
Many innocent people had died that day. Sebastian himself, though not deluding himself into believing that he was innocent of shed blood, had nearly died that day as well. The Dark One had even fooled him into letting the traitor inside their walls. A friend lost in the field for a moment, returned alive but was in fact animated by the dark magic of those north of the wall.

             
Sebastian lowered his eyes in thought. For all the good memories of his time in Windmeer, that one still haunted him. There was a final showdown with the shade of his friend, Palose, and two enemy, magic wielding warlocks. A mass of goblins and orcs had been sent at him for good measure, and the mage had found himself alone deep inside the castle. Even a battle mage could fail, they were still human after all, and he had lost the fight that day in grand fashion.

             
“You don’t look very happy to be here,” Rilena mentioned from beside him. “I would think you’d be happy to be back and we’re about to find ourselves some shelter after all.

             
“I don’t know about you, but I am tired of being cold.”

             
Sebastian summoned a smile. “Just thinking about the fight last year, but sorry. You’re right. It’ll be good to get inside and get warm.” He didn’t mention that he had his windshield in place that helped keep snow from touching him as well as keeping much of his heat trapped near him. The cold wasn’t as harsh that way, but even so, the battered mage was ready for an end to this leg of their trip.

             
As they entered through the west gate and proceeded to surrender their horses to the stablemen, a swarm of people began to come out of the castle to greet them as well. It was unexpected and as Sebastian noted the faces of those arrayed in front of him, he was pleasantly surprised to see so many friendly faces.

             
He quickly regretted dismounting his horse, however, as a giant of a man dressed in the black and brown of a falcon picked him up in a bear hug.

             
“Bas!” the giant greeted him. “The mizard has returned. I am glad to see that you are safe, lad.”

             
Gasping in pain at the treatment, the young falcon felt every broken and bruised rib excruciatingly.

             
“Put him down, Rathmor!” a familiar female voice snapped at the giant. “He may be safe, but I don’t think he is unharmed and your ridiculous strength is practically killing him.”

             
The chastened giant grunted in surprise before noting the pained expression on his young friend’s face.