Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) (17 page)

Palose watched the interchange thinking how surreal it was. In essence, all three were the emperor, or so he assumed; so the emperor was essentially talking to himself in this strange parody of familial love.

“You two are ridiculous,” Lanquer finally answered gruffly. The last boy’s voice was deeper than Kolban’s or even Palose’s. While he still sounded youthful, the mage thought this was the voice of a commander. “Playing with your magic instead of sealing it away until we return to the citadel exposes you to your enemies unnecessarily.”

Palose noticed no terms of endearment as the other two had exchanged. It was as if this one, having been a reject like Garosh before him, was not part of the emperor though he had brought Lanquer to life and named him.

Acheri’s aura dimmed to the strength of a minor wizard at the rebuke, but she stuck out her tongue in response to the boy. She also picked out a bracelet, which she placed on her left arm, and a
necklace. The latter she carried over to Palose as the girl seemed to be sizing him up. Passing it to the mage she ordered, “I can’t get the clasp myself. Place it on me.”

“You could say please, sister,” Kolban stated as he finished pulling on a pair of boots. He sounded like her father, which if he was the emperor, Palose supposed that he was.

“Please,” she cooed and slid her hand along his cheek before turning back towards the emperor. Raising her hair, like a girl expert in wearing jewelry, Palose wound up locking the necklace laced with sapphires and diamonds around her delicate neck. The girl still looked fourteen years old to him though she acted even older, but his mind still knew that she was more like fourteen minutes old.

Patting his cheek again she changed her octave to a higher range as Acheri responded almost in song, “Thank you, Palose.”

Kolban shook his head. “I named you for my sister born in another age, but I do not remember her ever being so coy.”

“Maybe if she had been, you wouldn’t have become what you are now,” Acheri retorted neither being judgmental nor seeming to insinuate whether that was good or bad. “If you don’t like what I am, then you should have created me with a different spell.”

The emperor sighed and opened his hands futilely. “It is too late now. You and Lanquer have your own wills and minds after all.” He looked at the apprentice and smiled in echo of the old man who had given a similar look to him earlier. “You thought that these were all just extensions of my mind, mage?”

Palose said nothing being unsure what to say.

“My knowledge has been imparted to each, but not my memories of self. Acheri has her own desires and personality.” He glanced to Lanquer, who had strapped on a sword and a few knives attached to his belt. “Lanquer has much the same, but was born to be my guard. Still he will be whatever he is because I give him his own mind.

“You should understand this, since Atrouseon raised you too.”

“But I was born and lived my life well before he brought me back,” Palose countered before reminding himself that he was speaking to the emperor, a being that could squash him with his magic or have him executed with the numerous men and monsters that served him.

Waving the thought off with his right hand, Kolban added, “The spells I used to bring them to life and share my power, essentially add a history of knowledge to both. A kernel that was me and my desires attached to my spell breathed life into them and made them fully formed people.

“Atrouseon’s spell used runes that set certain guidelines on your behavior whether you realize it or not, but as you say, the rest is you. It is very similar I assure you.”

Palose felt the age of a teacher who knew more than a battle mage who was just learning to be a wizard. They were minutes old, but Kolban was still the emperor, a being over a thousand years old.

Acheri moved over to Palose once more searching his eyes with her dark blue versions. Like a night sky, they sought to pull him into their depths, before she smiled and said to Kolban, “You are overwhelming the poor boy, brother. He isn’t quite ready for such information. Keep on studying, little mage,” the girl finished by patting him on the left cheek a bit harder than before. “Someday you’ll understand.”

“Maybe he won’t,” Lanquer inserted negatively.

“Have faith, Lanquer,” Kolban retorted before striding towards the two wizard hunters. “Devolus, Liev, we will return to the citadel now. Tomorrow begin his training. I was never a swordsman, so what he knows may be wrong.”

Frowning at the emperor’s frank words, the future guardsman could say nothing. He was newly born out of the Dark One’s spell. How could he be sure what he knew would be enough to protect the emperor from his miniscule life span’s perspective?

He joined Kolban beside the guards waiting for Acheri, who touched Palose’s face yet again holding him beneath the chin as she said, “I will miss you, mage. Such a delightful face.” She finished giving his cheeks a squeeze around his jaw before releasing him to join the others.

Left in the whirlwind of confusion generated by the new children, Palose almost wondered if this was like watching the birth of new gods.

“Well, she liked you, didn’t she?” Atrouseon said with a chuckle.

Thielius nodded smiling. “They do have something in common with your resurrection man. Maybe that drew her to him.”

As if he weren’t there, his master answered his colleague, “They are like two sides of a coin. His rebirth is that of a return to life, while hers is new life tempered by old memories.”

“Well, whatever the case, the emperor seems pleased with our work,” the half elf warlock replied.

“I assume your reward will be pretty great then,” Palose stated joining the conversation to remind them he could speak for himself.

Atrouseon steered the mage by the shoulder to return the way that they had come. “My rewards mean little to you. You get to live off of my wealth while you learn. It doesn’t mean that you are wealthy yourself.”

Chuckling, Thielius reminded the warlock, “Well, if you were to die, with no heirs of your own, I think he would inherit all that you have.”

“Just remember killing me would get you destroyed, so don’t start thinking of killing me for my money,” the master said and Palose could feel the lock of a new command on him. Of course, the idea of killing the warlock for wealth had never been his reasoning, though having his money would certainly be a perk.

“Of course not, master,” Palose nodded falling in line behind Atrouseon.

Keeping the emperor’s newest secret had been both easy for him and nearly impossible at the same time. For Palose, the command meant magic helped the mage say nothing even to his friends, not that they asked. There had been some rumors over a strange feeling of loss or change that many who had always felt the dark hold of the emperor’s magic tied to them suddenly felt as a break. Whether the feeling meant for any alarm had been debated by those noticing the change, but it had only been a momentary lapse before Kolban reasserted control.

The hardest part of keeping the truth hidden was not from those he knew well, but from those that he didn’t. Atrouseon had been bombarded by questions and the fears of the remainder of his research team. Declaring that the emperor had confiscated the vessels to hide them in a secure location did little to assuage their fears. With their life’s work suddenly gone, Etriak and Alimus had nothing else to distract them and believed that the emperor would in fact come to kill them for losing the culmination of the work of centuries. All involved knew that he needed a new vessel and two viable candidates were now missing.

Getting no satisfaction from Thielius or Atrouseon, the two frantic warlocks sent their apprentices and assistants throughout the city looking for the truth, while doing their best to avoid revealing the cause for their search. For two weeks, the men persisted while no punishment or questioning came from the emperor.

When finally Palose was walking to the library mostly to avoid dealing with Atrouseon, who had been spending an unusual amount of time in his home trying to avoid questions, he was not that surprised when a group of men led by Etriak and Alimus suddenly surrounded him. Pulled into an alleyway, the mage assessed those surrounding him. There was no fear in the mage. He had already survived death hadn’t he and then there was the bond to Atrouseon that might prevent a second death. The books had been unsure since so few resurrection men were killed while their masters lived.

The two warlocks were old men and as close as they all were, he doubted that they could summon their magic faster than he could kill them. Three more were apprentices; which meant they were less skilled and equally within his kill zone. The last three were soldiers and their swords were still in their scabbards as two of the men held him by each arm pressing him against the stone wall of the building behind him.

“Palose, you must help us!” Etriak demanded quickly. The older man’s thinning brown hair seemed to have grayed with worry over the last two weeks or so. It had been salted with gray, but now the brown was almost gone from the thin gray hair. His eyes were dark with a lack of sleep from long nights lost in fear. Alimus had always been shaved bald, but his eyes told the same story.

“If it is within my power,” Palose nodded amiably enough despite the situation.

“Atrouseon does not seem worried over the loss of the emperor’s vessels. He and Thielius keep telling us that the emperor took them for safe keeping despite having told us to mature them for almost a month longer. Without our expertise to watch over the vessels, how would he maintain them unless Thielius and Atrouseon were involved?

“What do you know of the situation? Our men have discovered that the gestation chambers were removed in the night by soldiers, but no one can tell us where they have gone. The emperor will kill us if they are destroyed!”

Palose could not reveal more than the spell on him would allow, so he stated as calmly as he could, “I can only say that the emperor will not judge you or destroy you, since it was his plan that took them. He obviously wanted to keep their existence from any enemies he judged might work against him. Beyond that I can not tell you more, since I have been commanded to silence.”

The elderly wizards glanced to each other before Alimus took over the conversation. It was no longer an interrogation as the second warlock admitted in a quiet tone, “If we told you of a ritual to rid you of Atrouseon’s control, would you help us?”

“What ritual?” the mage asked trying not to appear greedy. “I have already been given the command that I can’t kill him for his money after all, so to act against him, even if I wanted to, would be rather difficult for me anyway.”

The bald wizard was shrewd and saw through the admission realizing that Palose knew he could still kill his master for other reasons than money. “Then do it for another reason,” the man stated grimly as he sanctioned the death of his colleague in order to save his own skin.

“Tell me of this ritual and I will see if I can help you more,” Palose answered refusing to commit to anything. He knew that there was no reason for the warlocks to fear the emperor’s punishment, but this was a chance to find out something that might not be in the books.

Alimus nodded to Etriak, who produced a stone blade laced with runic marks promptly and a note written on a small scroll of paper. Palose took the blade and slipped from the soldiers’ hold to hide it in his pack. He then opened the scroll. Instructions for a ritual and explanation of its results caused the young man to nod. It was as he thought. The scroll revealed that not only could he kill his master, but he could steal his power in the process making him a powerful warlock from the change. This was what he had been looking for as his wish for power had continued to grow.

Packing the scroll away in his pack as well, Palose wondered what he could say to assuage the warlocks’ minds and let him escape their maddened suspicions. “Atrouseon has received no rewards for his part in creating the vessels as of yet. I can get word to you when he does. As long as the emperor hasn’t changed his mind about rewarding you all for your parts in this, then you will know soon enough. I can not know his mind, of course, but I think that he merely wants to keep what he is doing secret for now.

“You can consider me your agent against Atrouseon as far as he never orders me specifically to betray you. I can not take immediate action on my master as you know, or they would destroy me for betraying him and believe me a rogue wraith, but should it come down to my new allies or my master I will choose your benefit.”

He was swearing away his allegiance so far as Atrouseon was concerned and giving it to the two warlocks. They could see his sincerity and he watched as their fears lessened.

“You swear that the emperor has not decided to kill us?” Etriak asked one last time.

“I think if he had wanted you dead by now, he would have sent the wizard hunters to kill you. Even
your searching, which reached my ears, hasn’t brought his blade to your throats.

“Find your next experiments or teach your students. Do nothing more to upset him by discovering what he doesn’t want you to know and I believe that not only will you live, but you will be rewarded handsomely for your work.”

Palose thought he felt a surge of magic within him, like the feeling he had before receiving Sylvaine’s first kisses. The men eased back as his gaze took them in and they simply nodded. Etriak waved those serving him towards the street they had left behind as Alimus said a final farewell, “If that is what you believe, then just honor your word should you hear otherwise that we might have a chance to escape.”