Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) (60 page)

Then the room was gone and there was only the silver light and the wind.

Chapter 31- Return

Palose had felt Kolban’s power suddenly unleashed just before he cast a destructive spell destroying the double doors. Whether the emperor had sensed the giant or had found him in some other way, the mage didn’t know, but thanks to his impatient use of magic, there was no more use for subterfuge. The warlock assassins leaped into the room to face a pair of foes riddled with splinters in the wake of the broken doors, but the wraiths barely noticed as they retaliated with no mercy.

Fire spells were absorbed into the creatures’ heavy armor. Made of black metal, this was the armor that wizard hunter soldiers wore and Palose knew that simple fire spells would be of no use. Only a powerful wave of fire encompassing everything unprotected like Acheri’s magic would accomplish a
man’s death, but these were no normal men. He knew little about the wraiths’ true powers, since their creators often imbued them with the strengths they valued.

More fire came from the left side of the door striking the assassins struggling against the wraiths. Like the metal armor, the leather covering was designed to absorb the elements like a night shield and use the spell’s strength to make the armor even stronger.

The warlock in front of him lost the fight with the wraith as his head lifted free of his shoulders. Palose watched it slowly rotate heading towards the floor as the directionless body slumped in front of the creature which continued to fight two more of the assassins. His reflex spell continued to keep his perceptions at superhuman speed and he could see that the warlocks were simply using the wrong spells.

Like lightning dancing across stone ground, the dark mage moved to face the closer of the two wraiths. Another warlock took a deep cut from the undead creature’s sword and fell back as much as he retreated. Unfortunately for the wraith Palose ignored the further chaos of men dying around him and closed before the wraith could adjust its defense to meet him. Too slow, the sword moved to block the mage’s assault and Palose called on the spell needed to do the job, “Shield.”

The blue light struck above the armor cleaving through the rotted neck and bone. Palose knew that the wraiths were almost more dangerous in second death than they were fighting and adjusted to place a foot against the headless corpse to kick it away. Black fluid sprayed the ground, bed and carpet burning everything black in an instant. Like acid, it etched the stone floor and appeared to melt the wood and cloth used to make the large bed beyond it.

Palose spotted Garosh and behind him a pretty dark haired girl. Who she could be in her poorly fitting clothes that looked like they had been stolen from a man slightly larger than her, the mage had no idea, but Kolban had made his orders clear. Anyone getting in the way of Garosh would end up dead. Perhaps he could kill her with a clean thrust of his sword and bring her back as a resurrection man or woman as the case was?

The warlocks serving Garosh were up to something, however, and Palose only caught the new threat thanks to his heightened abilities. Headless bodies of the fallen wraith and warlock started to pick themselves up from the ground even as the black ichor had slowed its spray. Fire from Hereseth was useless as he tried to kill the dark mage. A blue shield formed midway between them blocking most of the flames and the remainder was absorbed into his leather armor.

Screaming incoherently, the fire warlock tried another spell to stop the man in front of him, but Palose was too swift. His sword cut across the air removing one hand and half a forearm. The second hand lost all its fingers in the first pass. Before
Heresth could scream in pain as his spell fizzled, Palose reversed the sweep of the blade cutting across his upper stomach cutting through the lower ribs on his left side. With no hands to hold in the blood, the warlock sagged to his knees as he was swiftly bleeding out.

The mage ignored the dying man and stepping around him to face the second warlock, Verian, whose eyes were wide with fear. Palose noted Garosh creating a new portal and feared that the giant had another hidden place to jump. Since the mage had only seeded the fortress with touchstones, there would be no way to follow. He wondered if Kolban could stop the door from closing as Acheri had done with his gates. It wasn’t like the emperor lacked in power, but he needed to be quick to catch the gate before it collapsed in on itself.

Cries of death came from behind him as the assassins continued to find the last wraith a formidable opponent. The manipulated remains of the dead from the necromancer before him began to get in their way as well, but they were meant to reach the onrushing mage before he could reach the retreating man.

The glowing gate blinked and disappeared, but Palose realized that the giant was still there. He had sent the mystery girl away to protect her and that task finished, he prepared to fight back. A surge of magic preceded a concussive blast of wind which picked up Palose flinging him over the table and against the stone wall. As he tumbled through the air, the mage twisted despite the torrent of wind to place his
hands and feet before his torso and head to absorb the impact. Hitting the stone was painful as was that of the floor, but Palose was little more than bruised. Unfortunately, he had little time to gather himself as the headless wraith closed the distance.

“Night shield,” he called the black magic placing it between him and the still dripping corpse. Waving his hands as if he had the shield in his hands, the mage used it to fling the puppet towards its master. “Shield,” he added splitting the wraith in two.

The necromancer screamed as the body struck him as well as its acid. Burning all over his body, Verian tried to stop the pain but merely spread more of the wraith acidic blood. His skin turned black and burned. He would live if his heart could take the pain, but the burns were deep and would be lasting, Palose thought.

“Verian!”
Garosh cried out as his ally fell to the ground writhing in pain.

Power swelled and it was focused on the battle mage. The giant was ready to kill him for those Palose had already taken from him.

A second swell of power came from the doorway as Carianic and three assassins were blown away from the door. Kolban entered looking like a mere boy, but to those who could see auras, he was a black sun ready to burn the world down.

The emperor cast the spell he had waited on since discovering Garosh’s betrayal and even before that when he had first imbued his magic into his defective vessel. Before the giant could resist or fight back, Palose felt the pull of Kolban’s power. Like smoke being blown away from a fan, the mage watched as the giant’s magic was pulled towards the emperor. What had once been his was absorbed in the black hole of Kolban’s power returning to the source while Garosh, the mighty giant, was forced to his knees in weakness.

There were no screams from the giant, and his face looked almost resigned as the life was torn from him. Looking to Kolban, the mage didn’t see a face relishing the conquest or reveling in destroying a traitor. His was a face of pity and wracked with his own pain as the emperor destroyed his son and brother, the progeny of his magic.

As Garosh’s magic was drained a scream like that of bones scraping on glass sounded. Palose was on the wrong side of Kolban as Carianic leaped to his feet. Two more warlocks were slain as they reached out to try and stop him and the wraith launched himself towards the emperor in an attempt to both save his master and to slay the one who was killing him before his glowing, red eyes.

Another form met the creature even as Palose heard the word, “Shield!”

Blue light forced the creature away from Kolban. “Shield,” a second blue shield cut across the wraith. Less precise, the cutting light caught both armor and head. Where the shield caught the armor, it broke and was absorbed, but the remainder cut across the front of the wraith’s face. The damage blinded the creature, but didn’t kill it and Lanquer drove his sword going for the heart.

“It isn’t alive, Lanquer,” Palose called out. “Take its head.”

A second sweeping cut of the blade sent black acid spraying away from them as the pitted weapon sunk into the creature’s neck breaking the spine where the metal broke. Stumbling back, the wraith toppled onto the floor while the magic animating it shattered as well.

Kolban looked to his guard and nodded. “Good work, Lanquer,” was all the praise his brother would give.

The emperor moved closer to the fallen giant as the last of his magic returned leaving Garosh an empty shell, but he was still alive though barely. Looking down on the once mighty giant, Kolban remained just out of range of a possible attack. Despite remaining out of arms reach, Palose could see the love for his creation on the emperor’s face.

“Ah, Garosh, if only you had remained true to me, this wouldn’t have had to happen.”

Taking a shuddering breath, Garosh replied sounding hoarse, “It was always meant to happen. If you couldn’t have found a suitable vessel, you would have evicted my mind and taken what power you could with you.

“When the others passed the test, I was a reject for you to cast away when you tired of me,” stated the fallen giant, who appeared too weak to move.

Kolban shook his head. “You were my son and a brother. I would have let you live your life, but now I reclaim what is mine and you will either live or die without my magic inside of you.”

“Sire, you can’t risk leaving an enemy alive,” Lanquer stated from his brother’s side. He was close enough to defend Kolban should Garosh be stronger than he looked at the moment.

Sighing, the emperor looked at his bodyguard and realized that he was right. Should Garosh recover, he would be an enemy with great reason to try and kill him. Garosh also knew portal spells which could take him straight into Ensolus should he regain his power or if he trained other warlocks to help him in it. “You are right, Lanquer, but I am not sure my heart is in it to kill him.”

“Go, brother, and let Palose guard you. I will take care of this so you won’t have to see his death, since he is so loved by you,” the boy said never removing his eyes from the giant. “I will make it quick and painless, sire.”

Reaching out with his right hand to place it on Lanquer’s shoulder, the emperor nodded and thanked him saying, “Thank you,
brother. We will talk more of your future once we get home. You have done very well here today.”

After Kolban retreated from the room with his remaining guards and Palose to return to the dungeon portal room, the emperor reached out to the mage in a similar fashion as he had Lanquer. “Thank
you too, my friend. You have never let me down. Lanquer has become a great fighter capable of felling a wraith and become a great man saving me the pain of killing my own brother. That is all your teaching, I believe.

“We will need to talk about your future in time as well,” the emperor added with a nod as they prepared to leave the broken fortress.

Lanquer stood alone with the broken giant. He could feel no aura of magic in the man and wondered if Garosh could continue to live as he was. It didn’t matter as he waited for the emperor to be fully away before the guard dealt with the fallen giant. Power came to the palm of his hand without a word. It was something no one had taught him to do and the attack channeled his life force to his hand for a powerful blow.

“From one reject to another, I understand why you left,” the guard said to his half brother. “The emperor was weak and shared a part of himself with you. Now he is strong again and you feared that he would kill you as he has.”

Exhausted and dying, the giant replied irritably, “Just get it over with, little brother. Enjoy your time in the sun, because one day this will probably be you as well. Kolban can’t share power. He is too greedy to let anything go. When he was stripped from the old world, Kolban took all who were his and tore the land, water and very air taking it with him as he fought to hold it all.

“Someone like that can’t change who he is.”

Lanquer leaned closer to Garosh and half whispered as his voice spoke quietly in the man’s ear. “He may return to that form one day, but he isn’t that emperor anymore. He wasn’t even like that before he changed bodies, I think. Time gave him new perspective. He was never so weak as to let traitors really escape him. Those who fled were allowed to go become something new.”

“He thought he was dying,” Garosh whispered back.

“And gained perspective,” the guardsman said once more. “Now it is time for you to gain some new perspective as well.”

His right hand struck the giant’s chest aiming for the heart. Garosh screamed in agony as the magic attacked his chest and heart. Falling to the stone, the giant lay felled like a mighty oak before a sharp saw.

Lanquer stood looking down on the man and said once more.
“From one reject to another.”

The mountain rumbled as the upper passage of stone was brought down sealing the gate. Tons of stone trapped the remaining men and creatures that had followed Garosh. Kolban had made sure that no one could help them ever again and returned home once again.

Garosh coughed. He felt pain in his chest, but felt renewed life as well. He owed his little brother, both of them in truth. Lanquer’s strike was not intended for death, but for life. A rejected vessel had saved his fellow reject by channeling a portion of his magic and life force into his elder brother. While the giant’s power had been reduced to something little greater than a battle mage, it didn’t matter to Garosh. He had told Rilena often that he had never been a natural when it came to magic. Now he could use what he had without feeling ready to burst at the seams.

“My lord, you live,” Verian spoke still sounding like he was in pain.

“You also apparently,” the giant replied and moved closer to the necromancer. “Those burns haven’t killed you yet, but they look likely too.”

Garosh strove to draw on his limited power and passed his hand over the wounds letting his magic pull at the remaining acid. Clearing the wounds so no more burning would continue, the giant tried a skill few knew he possessed. Casting a healing spell, he tried to close and mend the wounds as best he could. By the time Garosh was through, he was exhausted. Pulling a platter of food from the table, where it had barely been missed by the flying mage earlier; Garosh took a prapple and began to eat.

Offering the platter to his friend, Verian took some food trying to regain his strength even as his pains lingered. “He has broken the fortress and entombed us here,” the wizard stated after taking a bite of cheese his preferred food after use of magic.

Garosh looked at the other dead around him and replied, “We are broken, but not dead. We have air and food. We have time and he believes us finished. We can rebuild or just dig ourselves out again. There will be other survivors.”

Glancing at Hereseth and the other dead, Verian replied, “Once I recover, I will see if I can recover some of the fallen.”

“As wraiths or resurrection men?”

Thinking of the dark mage and the damage he had caused in the name of the emperor, Verian replied, “I think resurrection men may have more value than I once thought.”

Garosh laughed and realized that the future may just be brighter than he had thought.

The light held Rilena as the wind rushed past her face. Though the gate had started like the previous one three weeks ago, this one seemed different. First, she realized that Garosh wasn’t with her. Second, the girl felt more time pass before realizing that she had lost the image of Elzen in her surprise at being thrown into the gateway by the giant.

Concentrating on Elzen once more, the wind seemed to shift though the mage had no concept of direction and suddenly the silver was gone and she was falling. With a big splash, Rilena crashed back into her world. She was wet from landing in water, but something soft had broken her fall as well.

“Rilena?” a familiar voice questioned from beside her ear.

Her head whipped up to see his face as she blinked water from her eyes.
“Elzen? Well, I guessed it worked then.”

It was then that the girl noticed two things. One, she was in what appeared to be the communal baths and two... “Elzen, you’re naked!” she exclaimed closing her eyes and pushing back on his shoulders. Her body felt drag as her clothes grew heavy and clingy as they soaked up the water in the tub. She nearly fell forward again, but felt a hand catch her just above her left breast.

“It is my usual custom to be naked when I take a bath, though you’re not exactly dressed like normal either.”

“I’ve been trapped in the fortress since Garosh used his gate to escape the assassins, but they found their way there as well. He had me think of someone I knew well, and here I am,” she explained quickly. The girl slipped and the hand helping keep her balance shifted a bit lower. It was then that she realized his hand was touching bare skin after the loose shirt had opened a bit more. “Don’t take advantage of the situation, Elzen, or I’ll have to kill you.”

“Then get off of me. You’re still in my bath, you know.”

Struggling to escape with her eyes closed, the girl managed to twist to the side of the pool while trying not to think of what parts of the boy she was touching in the process. With her back to him, the girl opened her eyes to assess her situation better. The shirt had opened a few buttons and was hanging askew, but she was covered though soaked. With the added water weight, Rilena felt the loose pants trying to
slide down, which had the extra issue that she no wore underclothes to at least maintain some decency. Her hands held the shirt closed and the pants up.

At least, the girl found that there were no other men to be seen. “How are you the only one here?”

Hearing the boy standing up to exit the water, Rilena tried not to blush at the thought of being with a naked boy. While mages weren’t as strict about sex as the wizards, especially in relation to their women, Rilena had always been too busy as a falcon to get into this type of situation before.

“It’s later than I normally take a bath. If I had to get up early, I would have just gone to bed and dealt with it tomorrow.” Changing topics, the mage asked, “You said that you were just attacked by assassins in Garosh’s fortress as well?”

“I didn’t get a good look at any of them in time, but I assume that the emperor found a way to portal into the fortress as well. It would be too well protected with only one entry to break through to think they would have just broken through the front gate.”

Elzen stepped past her with a towel wrapped around his waist. His upper body was well muscled though still lean as most fighters who used their speed tended to be. The girl found her eyes straying before she realized it and began to blush.

“Come on. We’ll get you dried off in the changing room. You can always throw a robe over everything again,” he said reminding her of the girl’s first time in the common baths when she had all her clothes washed.

“Just a second,” Rilena said turning her back to him. Unbuttoning her shirt, the girl did her best to keep her wet pants up while twisting the water out of the cloth before putting it back on again though without bothering with the lower buttons. A dry robe would be preferable to the wet stuff she wore now. “Did they give away my room and gear?” the mage asked worrying over another day without proper clothing, especially in Elzen’s presence.

Elzen shrugged as he led her towards a set of doors leading into the men’s changing area. The boy made sure that the room was clear before Rilena followed. He also locked the door a moment before searching for a robe for the girl.

All the while, Rilena noticed that he did it still covered only by the white towel around his waist. She wet her lips with her tongue unconsciously before blushing again. Did she actually want to see more of him and let him see her in turn? Elzen was younger than her, which seemed like more of a problem now, but she knew of people with a decade or more difference who had married. At an older age, even a decade was less of difference than two years was to a nineteen year old girl.

A robe was tossed to Rilena and the boy took the only clothing nearby for himself.

“I haven’t been to your room since you left,” he said finally getting to her question. A wall of open shelving blocked her view as Elzen dropped his towel to begin dressing. “There really wasn’t any point without you there,” he added with a sigh. “They knew that you had been kidnapped, or whatever you want to call it; so they might have held it in the hopes you could return.”

Rilena stripped off the shirt again and laid it on the bench behind her. The pants nearly fell off of her hips in the process, so the girl allowed them before taking the robe in hand. She sat and tried to pull off her boots. These were still hers, but the water had caused them to swell and held to her bare skin in a death grip. “They’re stuck,” the girl sighed.

“What?” Elzen asked and looked over the wall. Quickly whipping his head back bringing up his hand to block his view, the mage begged, “Sorry, I thought you had the robe on already.”

“Hang on,” the girl requested without any heat. Rilena realized that she hadn’t even blushed. Did she really like him like that? Did she want him to see her body?

Pulling the robe around her and tying the single cloth belt around her waist, the girl remembered Elzen’s teasing about a robe’s belt being tempting. Sighing, Rilena walked around the low wall to find
Elzen half dressed. His pants and boots were on, but his shirt still sat on the bench. She sat using her hands to make sure to keep the lower cloth closed as she put out her right boot. “I can’t get them off by myself. They’re stuck from the water.”

Choosing to help the pretty girl, Elzen began to tug on the boot forcing her to release one hand from the robe to hold the bench as he pulled. “Your hair is long,” the boy stated wiggling the first boot free.

“I wasn’t going to let some goblin cut my hair,” joked the girl. “Does it look better or worse?”

Refusing to look at her face, Elzen wiggled the left boot and a moment later it was off. Barefoot and only wearing the robe, Rilena still found
herself feeling comfortable and safe with the boy. The young man she corrected.

As he looked up she noticed his green eyes committing their color to memory. “I like it, but it looks good either way. I mean, a girl pretty as you, doesn’t have much of a problem making anything look good, but I really like it.”

Taking his face between her hands, Rilena brought her head forward and without much thought save that she really wanted to taste his lips, the girl kissed him. She found his lips ready and the gesture lingered as the two refused to pull away. Rilena’s hands strayed to his bare shoulders and back feeling his solid muscle. She felt his hands caressing her as well.

As they pulled back for a breath still holding each other in an embrace, Rilena said breathily, “Garosh said to think of someone important to me here and I could only think of you.”

“You’re important to me too,” Elzen replied before kissing her again.

Chapter 32- The New Experiment

It was less than a week after the emperor had defeated Garosh leaving his fortress in ruin that the warning bells began again. Palose joined the gathered warlocks as an official member seeing Atrouseon, who would barely look at his former apprentice. The older man’s reaction wasn’t unexpected, but the mage had hoped that he would be getting over the way they had separated from each other. He had officially moved out weeks ago and only seen the warlock a few times like the night of the fortress attack.

As he pondered his relationship to Atrouseon, Grand Warlock Suma stepped to the front of those assembled in the North Hall, one of the centers devoted to the warlocks, arguably the backbone of the empire. The powerful, respected man stood before them and announced, “There has been a breach of the Grimnal’s prison.”

The words sent a stir through most of those gathered to hear. For Palose, it was an eye opening statement. He had heard enough rumors that said Garosh may have been made from a piece of the Grimnal after all, but the mage had never truly thought about whether the immortal still lived somewhere. Now to hear that he had been imprisoned for all these years, the young man didn’t know what to feel.

Patting the air for quiet, the balding, white haired warlock frowned at the other wizards gathered before him. “We will send no more ships to the prison, but Lord Devolus leads two vessels which are already there to defeat whoever has dared to break the barrier surrounding his island. With the leader of the Wizard Hunters nearby, we can expect word of their engagement and subsequent victory soon.”

Again the room broke into conversation; but Suma was nearly through as he ended brusquely and seemed not to care if his remaining words could be heard. “Go about your normal duties. Lord Devolus has things well in hand and the emperor has full confidence in him.”

Lord Devolus was one of the strongest warlocks in Ensolus. If something defeated or killed him, Palose could only hope that he would never meet the victor in battle.

Noticing Atrouseon moving to an exit that would keep him from talking to his former apprentice, Palose let him go. He had nothing new to say that had not already been said between them. Before he could leave, however, the dark haired Acheri fairly danced her way through the slowly retreating warlocks. Lanquer held back not even bothering to fight the flow as he simply stood like a stone in a river letting the warlocks pass around him.

The girl grabbed his arm hugging it tightly as the crowd began to disperse and Palose greeted, “Hello, Acheri, were you bored?”

“Palose, I have missed you lately. You haven’t been at the library as often and since Lanquer managed to kill a wraith, Kolban hasn’t made him take more sword training. Now my mornings are completely empty.”

“I’m sure that you’ve managed to find something to do,” the mage said affixing a smile that wasn’t completely in him. Some of the darker parts of the girl’s personality had begun to make him a little leery of dealing with Acheri of late.

“Hmm, well, yes, of course there is always something I can find to do, but nothing replaces our fun. Speaking of the morning weapons practice, has Sylvaine returned from her patrol yet?” the girl asked coyly.