Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11) (8 page)

Wizard Treya stood up having been a part of his earlier probing of the portals and asked, "Have you decided that portals only open one way now? You seemed to believe that they might be able to be turned when you asked about them the other morning."

He nodded towards the wizard and answered, "I have discovered that they can be turned around in a way. I have also figured out that we can set the path to prevent the portal from being turned by someone else. We can even force their size to be the same every time, as long as the focal point is our gates."

Gesturing towards the two metal squares on the table, he stated, "What I propose is that we make fixed doorway sizes like these, though in larger sizes of course, to control how we want them to open."

Darius weighed in saying, "Using the two stones tends to give a similar result every time, I've noticed. If you are saying that we will force a large gate every time, what prevents them from simply casting a smaller portal?"

"The rune frame we will install at each point," Sebastian stated. "Watch and I will demonstrate."

Ashleen stepped closer to place her hand against his shoulder. The wilder's magic would charge his spell beyond what he could achieve on his own. Even though Sebastian had figured out how to open the gates, the only way he could do it by himself was to tap into the power of the earth; but that was a dangerous practice. A secret kept between him and a few others, Sebastian wouldn't risk showing off and having even these trusted wizards learn something that could harm those who misused the power.

"Door," the owl called simply, making the wizards frown at the ease of his battle mage style casting. Darius had given them a simple set of gestures and a short phrase using words of power, but a single word and lifting of his hand to focus his aim was all the mage used to do the same thing.

A large doorway came to life in the direction of the entry door, while one of the squares came to life with the answering exit to the portal. With Ashleen maintaining contact Sebastian lifted his right hand as if he was about to show off a magic trick for the gathered crowd.

His hand poked through the doorway to reappear from the small square making a few gasp at the sight.

"As you can see this gateway is much larger than that of the frame we constructed," he said giving credit to Ashleen in a way as his apprentice though Sebastian had used his magic to make both on his own. The girl had supervised by watching him, he thought trying not to smile at the idea. "My hand goes in and nothing else changes. I wouldn't be able to force my body through, however, if I tried."

Taking a plain wood staff from the table, the mage pushed it into the larger gateway vertically, but it was refused entrance by the size of the window attached as the exit doorway. He opened his hand holding the staff with just his thumb and pressure against the shining portal. At the same time, his fingers protruded through the smaller gate. The demonstration made Treya stand up to walk over looking distrustful of the mage. He handed the staff to the wizard letting her try.

She stabbed the golden doorway and watched as the end of the staff stuck out from the smaller window. Pulling it back, the woman tried the same with the staff vertically trying to enter the gate and found her hand stopped as had his.

"Interesting," Treya stated passing the mage the wooden staff. "We can limit the size to a smaller one, but does this force a small gate to become larger like you are saying?"

"I made one the same size as a door and cast a small window size one. The window became a door within the frame," he nodded in answer. "I would like to try larger full scale tests in a courtyard once we decide just how large we want these gates to be."

Treya moved back to her seat looking more impressed by Sebastian's theory.

King Alain spoke up, even as he remained seated and asked, "You said that this is just one part of making us safer. Surely the enemy can make a portal and it may be held to a certain size. How does this help and does it make a problem for our continued use of the gates?"

Smiling at the king, Sebastian joked, saying, "Now you are thinking like a wizard, my king."

Letting the larger gate close, he moved to the table with the closer square.

"Door," he called using the same spell to open the squares at nearly the same time. The closer of the two gates was glowing towards the main door, while the second gate was glowing in the direction of the king and his lords.

"I need someone to catch something from the opposite gate, if someone wouldn't mind volunteering?" he asked and was surprised to see Darius stand before anyone else to hurry over to the second table.

He looked excited like a child being asked to be a part of an act for some magician's show. There were illusionists who pretended to be wizards who put on shows in the towns and cities from time to time. When there were wizards with true magic, he doubted that they were as interesting; though perhaps to a crowd that knew nothing of true magic such things would capture their minds.

"Where do I need to stand?" Darius asked standing beside the table.

"I won't throw it hard, but I need someone to catch while Ashleen continues to assist me with the magical power needed," the younger mage stated, though Darius knew that Sebastian could have freed the girl with a use of greater power. It had been the high wizard who had cautioned him to avoid using the staff to draw on that power, however, so it was just as satisfying for the immortal to be a second assistant, he supposed.

Picking up the sphere with his hand, Sebastian stood beside the table and stated, "These two are linked."

He tossed the ball through and the crowd watched it bounce off the far table after passing through the second small gate.

Darius passed the ball back to him through the portal before Sebastian moved to the space between the gates and said, "While the side of the portals which glows can transfer material back and forth, the opposite side is the complete opposite."

He bumped the ball against the back of each opened portal. Reaching to the side of the second metal frame, Sebastian touched the metal closing his eyes. Turning the lock, the lords and those peering from the proper angles could watch as the glowing portal disappeared turning cloudy and solid.

Stepping back to the first gate, the mage tossed the ball and could see it fly from the opposite portal where the golden glow now faced in the same direction as the first. To increase their understanding, Sebastian called on a popular mage spell, "Fireball."

Casting the flame through the first portal, the ball of fire shot through the second striking the back of the first stopping the flame in a burst. The fire was controlled by the mage and snuffed in an instant, but many of the crowd had stood in surprise. Voices rose asking if those sitting beside them had seen the same thing.

After a moment, Sebastian spoke louder looking at the king. "We will add a lock in the form of a rune. Any wizard with the authority to use the portals can be taught how to use the rune to turn the gate.

"The enemy, on the other hand, will be trapped between a stone wall and the portal unless they release their spell; which will limit the amount of troops the enemy can send at one time as well. If they keep the gate up, we can trap all who enter the gap and destroy them if we must.

"When our wizards use the portals, we can send one wizard to turn the focus of the gate to allow others to pass through the doorway to continue their business. While it will trap our wizard there until the transfer is finished, he or she can turn the rune to stay or return through the portal.

"With this, we don't have to question if the arrival is one of ours or the enemy. Our guards watch the one side and only have to react to an enemy. Questions of who an intruder is becomes limited to whatever business our officials will want to verify, but not whether it is a friend or foe."

He released the power to maintain the portals. Ashleen's strength wasn't unlimited and the mage knew that holding the gates open for long periods would exhaust her in fairly short order. Turning to receive a wan smile from the girl, Sebastian knew that she was tiring. Her hand pulled away shaking slightly.

Handing Ashleen a canteen also resting on the table, Sebastian tried to show he understood her effort, even while the mage tried to receive the opinions of those who had watched their demonstration.

King Alain stood and nodded his approval before stating loud enough to quiet the crowd, even as most stood in appreciation. "I see that you have thought this out and I can see the merits of your gate frames. How soon can you create ones large enough to do as you have planned?"

"I will need to travel between the portals and teach our wizards how to find the rune to turn a gate. With materials ready, I should be able make one in less than a day. Any other stone defenses can be formed by earth wizards most likely to create the kill point we will want to have for our entry point."

"I approve of your plan. I will leave you to discuss the exact set up with our wizards and other defensive leaders then," the king stated before offering his wife a hand up from her throne. His eyes betrayed the excitement of the demonstration. Even kings didn't get to see true magic very often and Alain obviously appreciated his wizards. After all he had thrown an entire tournament complete with banquets for his people to celebrate them.

Sebastian was soon swamped with both those wanting to discuss his plan for the local portal as well as those who wanted to see the demonstration again. With other portal wizards there, the mage was able to let Ashleen rest while the wizards played with his metal frames to their hearts' content.

He would work out a plan, which wound up mostly falling to the wizards discussing where to place the doorway and Commander Quelan discussing how best to set up defenses for the kill zone as they were calling it.

Sebastian managed to exhaust most of their questions sending wizards, commanders and the rest on their way, but Darius and his group remained to walk him out with Ashleen.

"Very impressive, Sebastian," Darius complemented him once more. "I can't believe that you managed to write both a rune to set the flow of the portal and one to change that flow. I can't even say that I had considered using the rear of a gate defensively."

The two falcons beside him had been grinning from almost the exact point where he had proven his theory to all the wizards who hadn't believed in the mage. Elzen in particular answered Darius saying, "Well, that's our Sebastian. He isn't just a copy cat of wizards. He's a genius with magic."

Darius didn't deny the high praise, but asked, "I am sure you and Ashleen could use dinner. Are you still staying at the Black Smith?"

After the mage had nodded, the high wizard said, "Why don't we all go over there for dinner? It is starting to get late and I wouldn't mind seeing Mrs. Alamore again."

One of the elven men who shared a similar face to the immortal added, "You mean that you wouldn't mind eating her cooking, grandfather."

The gray haired wizard laughed at his grandson and said, "True, Elias, the cooks at Windmeer just don't seem to have her ability to cook meat the proper way and her desserts are as good as any lord's chef."

The small group started to laugh seeing the ancient wizard refusing to take himself seriously even after almost seven centuries.

Chapter 5- Mermaids and Dragons

It was still early for a dinner crowd to accumulate in the Black Smith Inn, but the group soon occupied a couple tables as they snacked or drank a few ales. For Sebastian and Ashleen, the need for food was more necessary while the men from Eirdhen were ready to take a break with their drinks.

Darius sat with Sebastian and the other two battle mages. Those helping the high wizard were younger than Sebastian and were technically under the legal age in Southwall, though few bothered to stop a mage in a falcon uniform from having a few. Most inn keepers and tavern owners understood that even younger mages and soldiers would see a lot of death while they were young and didn't begrudge them drinking away some of those memories.

Elzen was the youngest at the table. A friend from his days training at White Hall, the younger mage was a bare hand combat specialist. Elzen was as dangerous as Sebastian but without using a sword. His friend had also been one of a few who had a knack for healing. If a special classification eventually was decided for Sebastian, it might cover his friend as well.

"So another new invention, Bas, don't you ever stop to take a break?" he chuckled before running a hand through his brown hair that had grown long enough that Sebastian thought his friend could use a haircut. Few mages let their hair grow too long. Long hair could be used against you in a fight so it was best kept shorter to avoid that weakness.

The dark haired girl at the table was a newer friend. Rilena had raven, black hair, which had also lengthened a bit more than Sebastian had ever seen on the young woman. Her dark brown eyes were mirrors of her dark tresses, which frowned at the other mage, as her lips created a full pout. "Elzen, you just wish you could think of a single original idea. Stop being jealous!"

"I am not jealous of him. I am simply asking how he can keep on thinking all of this stuff up," the boy said leaning back with a shrug. "First, he rewrote dozens of wizard spells into something we can use. Then he was at the wizards' tournament stealing even more spells that even our wizards didn't know. If Darius hadn't discovered how to make portals before him, they wouldn't even have that."