Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) Read online

  “Well, the odds are that he was probably on each ship at one point or another as the commander,” Collin answered before Sebastian could reply. “His grandson is also from his line and might give us a reading as well. If the second is part of the way the compass works, however, then we might have a problem since the Grimnal lived so long and has more than one family line including Southwall’s king.”

  Sebastian shook his head. “It’s more precise than that Collin. I would have dots pointing in more directions than we have so far, if that were the case. Even the ship sunk in the harbor didn’t give a reading when I was searching.

  “I think the sword might have been handed down to his grandson at some point. If King Gerid had used it as a personal weapon and given it to this Laran, then they were probably very close even though it’s possible that they were more generations removed. Who would bother to say something like a great, great grandson every time he was mentioned. Either way the sword was a quality blade. It’s a shame that it was broken.”

  The mage held the two ends together and they seemed almost a perfect match. There were likely to be smaller pieces that would have flaked away in the breaking of the blade, he supposed, despite the clean break made by the claw. “Heal,” he invoked his spell as he held both ends with each hand. He took extra liberty with the command since it had no bearing on healing an individual, but it was now used to focus his attention on the finer structure of the metal.

  Frowning at him, Yara began a small chant before laying her hand on his back. He felt her energy adding to his. Quickly glancing to the healer with a brief smile of appreciation, her return look was more that of resignation. She was continually warning him about overdoing it with his magic, since the tournament, despite the time he had attempted to rest since then. Understanding her worry, the mage knew that, without using Bairh’loore or a similarly useful staff, he was unlikely to drain himself to such a degree. Only once had he tapped into the overwhelming power of the earth and air without them, and he had to admit that even now he had no idea how he had truly done that.

  With the extra energy helping to feed his spell, Sebastian could feel the original lines of strength formed from the initial blacksmith work. Fire and water mixed with the metal’s strength that wielding a smith’s hammer had created in the piece that had a natural feel of belonging as a whole. He could have a real sword smith either melt the metal down and start from the beginning or perhaps find a fix that would pull it together, though there would never be that original strength inherent in the first forming. On the other hand, after creating Bairh’loore and using magic on the metal rods to reshape them, Sebastian thought that perhaps using magic could bring the sword back again.

  He closed his eyes and used his magical senses to feel the channels and lines within the metal. Like a living creature, he fanned the need to become whole once more. It might just have been his own wish that it was complete that truly fueled the magic, but he imagined that the sword wished it as well.

  Reaching to unite, he felt the metal shifting in his hands. Gasps, as some of the others noted the movement noticeably happening, informed him that his effort was working, though his attention was so focused on the reforming of the metal that it barely registered. The other wizards and mages moved closer to watch the owl at work. Once more he was doing something rare for any wizard and unheard of in Southwall since the Cataclysm lost much of the knowledge before it.

  He could feel heat in the metal. It couldn’t be worked completely cold, but it wasn’t the fiery heat that would be worked up by a blacksmith’s furnace. Metal became liquid tendrils pulling the two ends together, but such a binding left it as weak as a simple weld. The mage let the power of their combined magic work to pull strength from one end to another. As it strengthened, new channels formed as the mage added the power of magic to the metal. When he was finished this would be more than the blade it had once been. Blade and handle formed a bond working together. The idea was unheard of with sword smiths. A handle simply held the metal blade even if the steel was worked virtually the entire length of the handle inside. This was a special touch added by the mage. Just as Bairh’loore was unique, this sword would become a new weapon beyond just a sword.

  Yara’s breathing had become more ragged as she breathed through her mouth. As if she had run for nearly an hour, the wizard’s stamina was beginning to wane. Nara took her hand allowing some of her strength to flow into the healer settling her breathing. Sebastian could feel the change through the bond, but he was nearly finished. Sweat coated him like a blacksmith working his furnace. His breathing came through his mouth as well, but stronger. The mage’s body was conditioned to exertion and even magical work sometimes was aided by such stamina.

  After a little more than an hour, the mage’s final touches were accomplished. He opened his eyes noting the sword. New lines rippled along the surface appearing like writing of some unknown language to him. The handle carried the writing in a swirl pattern around the hilt from one end to the other. Someone handed him a large piece of bread lathered with melted cheese. Who had melted it wasn’t even a concern as he continued to marvel at the look of the sword. It was unique and he was almost sure that it would work the way he had hoped. The channels he had made didn’t add or take away from the basic strength of the metal, but he hoped that additional magic could be used to make it more powerful than a normal sword.

  “Fire,” he directed the magic into the new sword. It wasn’t meant to be the mage’s fire sword spell as he channeled his flame into the blade itself. The channels glowed fiery red and the edges took on the orange glow of a strong blaze.

  Serrena clapped, “Nice a fire sword! I want one,” she finished in laughter as her eyes glowed appreciatively.

  Shaking his head, Sebastian released the magic feeling tired after all the effort of the extended hour. Motioning for Liam to take the blade from him, the water wizard took the weapon looking at him dubiously. “Try channeling a water spell into it. If I figured this right, the sword will take on whatever magic is used to strengthen it.”

  Summoning a water spell as he held the sword, a new blue glow took over the blade. Edges and writing both took on the look of water. “How?” the wizard started in confusion.

  After swallowing a bite of the cheese bread, the owl confided, “The more I look at magic, the more I see it as the ability to bring your wishes to life. If you have the strength and will to create a spell, almost anything can happen that a wizard desires.

  “Using my magic, combined with Yara and Nara’s help of course, I willed the sword back together, but made it capable of holding magic in the weapon. Unlike a fire blade spell, the magic goes into the hollow sword and gives it more strength and probably abilities. When we get to our next stop, maybe we can see what else it can do.”

  Annalicia walked over extending a hand to Liam to try the weapon as well. Her wind magic channeled into the blade turned the glowing lines almost white. Swinging the blade in an overhand swipe aiming at a table on one side, the magic seemed to spring free of the sword. A rush of air sliced at the table cutting the wood in two and left gashes in the wall that looked like a large cat had sharpen its claws on the wood.

  Eyes wide in surprise, the girl released her magic from the weapon quickly and placed the hollow sword on the table in front Sebastian. “That was unexpected,” Anna stated meekly.

  “Could you make more?” Liam asked curiously.

  Shrugging, the mage answered, “I don’t know if I could make it from scratch or if every sword is the quality of metal that would be needed to try. This weapon predates the Cataclysm and held up even exposed to the elements for a time. The steel must be of exceptional quality, but I would guess that I could make more in time.”

  “I’ve seen few wizards that are comfortable working with metal,” Collin admitted as he picked up the sword. “Few are good enough with weapons to probably even consider making such a sword. Does it work with all magic?”

  Sebastian shr
ugged and gave a self deprecating smile replying, “I don’t know. It’s the first one I’ve ever made.”

  Mecklin chimed in, “If you could outfit twenty or thirty battle mages with those swords, we could deal a serious blow to any army the Dark One might send our way. To put one in every mage’s hands,... well who knows what could happen in this war?”

  Olan and many of the others nodded. Serrena added, “More wizards might want to train to use swords if they were to use these. It’s incredible, Bas,” the girl finished giving an unusual amount of praise for someone who gave little normally.

  “Well, it takes a lot of energy, if you couldn’t tell,” he thumbed towards Yara who had fallen asleep against his shoulder still holding a piece of bread in her hands.

  The room filled with laughter as the friends soon broke up with Nara and Sebastian helping the exhausted wizard to her room.

  “I’ll take it from here, Bas,” the wizard in green with matching emerald eyes stated protectively for her friend who sat yawning on her bed. “We wouldn’t want people talking about the two of you now, would we?”

  Giving a dismissive chuckle, Sebastian replied, “Like they don’t already. Everyone knows I would protect her with my life and the way she worries over me has people talking about us like an old married couple.”

  With a big smile and a laugh, the brunette cheerfully replied, “No, we actually think you still love each other. Now go get some rest. You look tired as well.”

  He nodded and retreated from the door as Yara waved a goodbye from her bed.

  Chapter 14- Grapes on the Vine

  A full week at sea and the wizards and mages onboard were beginning to wish there was some other sign of progress for their journey. Two more islands came and went. They were small with little resources and no signs of human habitation. While the Sea Dragon had paused long enough to have search teams give a quick look at the second larger island, the compass was beginning to give them a little worry as to its abilities.

  Before they had passed the first of the islands after Crab Island, a second dully glowing orange blip appeared to the east of their position. The bright red dot remained strong, but Sebastian, Darterian and Anna had to question what they were seeing. After investigating the second isle, the dull orange of Hala’s treasures disappeared from the green orb.

  The wizards and mages gathered to consider the implications in Annalicia’s room. It was argued quickly that the compass must have a designed range to keep the user from getting confused by too many readings. The dull orange dot to the east was further away and they would continue with their pursuit of the bright red signal more to their south, so three days later they found a large island lush with greenery.

  It was easily three times the size of Crab Island and looked like it held life on a much greater scale. Why no such island had been found before was a slight surprise, though in the vastness of the North Sea it was still just a little piece of land.

  With no storm pushing them into a dangerous shelter, Sebastian and Annalicia each took to the air on their wind rider spells to scout the new island. Both returned with similar opinions. It was an island nearly completely covered over with plant life. Trees, bushes, and complete with a small river generated from a spring somewhere on the small mountain near its center that must help feed the growth.

  Stone ruins long covered by the jungle vegetation appeared on the southwest side and near the river by a waterfall. What the ruins had been could not be decided by riding the air however. The Sea Dragon would send out two search parties to investigate each site. With the compass pointing towards the center of the island, Sebastian would lead a team into the heart of the jungle. Since the land they were covering was so much larger, a single longboat dropped his team of eight in a line with the closest point to their goal.

  His choice for members was not well received with some. Maura and Serrena would join Liam, Frell, Sergeant Kulvayr and Idenlare at the far ruins. It was a choice of the best people for a job for the mage. Fire wizards in the middle of a jungle just seemed like danger waiting to happen, so Serrena and Idenlare would be liabilities amongst all the trees and vegetation if a fight were to break out. Though the second site had plant life, it would not be as deeply surrounded as the waterfall ruins in the middle of the island. Maura was charged with leading the second group though in a pinch Sebastian knew that Liam and Serrena with Frell could keep them all out of trouble. He would have sent Vewen since he was a water wizard, but his secondary school was earth. The mage also figured that Maura would never let him go without at least one of her wizards watching his every move.

  Setting foot on the beach to the west, Sebastian first noticed how much warmer it seemed on the island. They had traveled hundreds of miles south and east as winter was slowly ending in the north, but this seemed unusually warm even so. Leaving jackets behind, his team moved towards the forbidding wall of green.

  He consulted the compass a moment before starting forward to make sure of his initial bearings. As Sebastian replaced the device in its protective pouch in his backpack, he noted Nara giving the jungle a strange look. “Is something wrong, Nara?” he asked knowing that he would defer any matter concerning plants and nature to the expert wizard.

  “I am just getting a strange feeling from the plant life. It feels... overly alive, if you will.” She squinted against the odd impression she was getting from the land ahead of them.

  Sebastian held up the party as he used his hawk vision spell. Even with magnified vision, the mage noticed only the movement of the wind through the leaves. It seemed harmless enough. “Do you think that it’s a trap?”

  A hard look at the jungle with her magical perception finally brought a shake of the head. “I don’t think so exactly. There doesn’t seem to be any normal traps as I would think of them. Maybe Collin can check as we go to make sure. I could be wrong, since I can hardly say that I am an expert on jungle life. Perhaps it is simply different from the woods and forests that I am used to, Sebastian. I’m sorry for worrying you,” the woman finally added sheepishly.

  Shaking his head, her leader replied, “I trust in your abilities. If you think there may be something to worry about, I have no problem with making sure that we’re keeping an extra watchful eye out. If this island has any hidden problems like the last one, then I am more than willing to listen to your worries.”

  Nara smiled gratefully at the mage. The barrier between wizards and mages didn’t exist among this group of friends.

  “Collin, if you would keep watch for traps hidden below ground and the rest of us will have to pay attention for the rest. We will go slow enough to be safe,” he stated looking to the late morning sun. “My guess is we will have close to seven hours of light maximum, so we will still need to make as good of time as we can.”

  With that, the team moved forward into the jungle.

  Liam watched as the two women continued to fume over being left to the second site. He knew that Maura was supposed to be in charge, but she was an unknown in that regard. Researchers were notorious bookworms and, though some went into the field to study as well, fewer still had ever been known for their combat prowess. If danger came, Liam new that it would be up to the rest of them to keep her and the remaining team safe.

  Thankfully Annalicia and Darius’s grandson, Darterian were still nearby. The silver haired beauty smiled and said to Maura, “The ruins that you will be searching are large enough to be a fort. I would not be surprised if you find more clues to what went on here than Sebastian. If I am not mistaken, you will also find it a lot easier to navigate. That jungle looked particularly thick and uninviting.”

  “But it was where the compass pointed,” the older wizard retorted with a frown.

  Shrugging in her lightweight silver blue frock belted with a dark blue belt, Anna seemed almost pixie like in her care free dismissal as she smiled adding, “The Grimnal walks into a jungle and stops at the pool fed by a waterfall and decides to take a swim. Removing his clothes a
coin falls from his pocket, leaving a clue to where he has been.” The girl pointed to the jungle where the others went to search before turning in the direction of the possible fort. “A wizard or captain working for the man keeps a journal that he locks in a safe much like the last one documenting what they found on the island, where they have been and what their future plans might be, but it is inside the fort.

  “Which gives us the better clues as to the Grimnal’s whereabouts and actions, the lost coin or the subordinate’s journal?”

  The older woman opened and shut her mouth three times as her anger slowly faded with enlightenment. “You think that it is a fort then? Maybe you have a point. A lost sword or coin in the middle of a jungle is less likely to be anything more than an artifact to add to a museum. We are looking for clues and a large fort would seem the more likely of a place to start looking.”

  With the matter diffused, Maura began discussing plans with Idenlare.

  Nonchalantly the lady added, “The ship will also be much more near should you run into more dangerous quarry like the crabs on the last island. Darterian and I can bring the rest of my wizards and more soldiers as well. Just send up a fireball as a signal, Wizard Maura, and I assure you that you can have more help than Sebastian and his seven.”

  A nod over her shoulder was all the acknowledgement the woman gave as she renewed her talk with the fire wizard.

  Liam watched as Anna moved gracefully despite the rocking ship. They still had a few minutes before the Sea Dragon could drop anchor at the south point of the island. Walking up to stand beside Serrena only a few feet from the water wizard, the lady, who looked too young to be so quick witted, ventured a word with the angry woman, “Did you really want to start a fire in the jungle so bad, my fiery friend?”

  Grinding her teeth, the fire wizard frowned at the pretty girl, who was slightly smaller than the angry young woman. They were nearly the same age and size, but where Annalicia seemed calm and carefree, Serrena was a hothead as expected of a woman from the school of fire. “Of course not,” was the curt answer.