Battle Mage: Forging New Steel (Tales of Alus Book 9) (23 page)

Those assembled all looked at the young mage like he was crazy. He stood directly behind the shields, so if by some bit of luck Jeriah could destroy all five shields Sebastian would be struck in the spell’s path. The young mage turned putting his left arm up as if to place a shield waiting for the man to do as he said.

“Light,” Jeriah called putting the power of his previous spell into the sword even as his eyes opened wider in surprise. He was following the order, but he hadn’t believed that the pretty sword was anything unusual. Looking at the glowing runes for only a moment, the mage struck in an overhand blow aiming the steel at the black shields several feet away.

The light was blinding and only those prepared for the increased strength of the magic remembered to close their eyes at least part way. Easily multiplying the power of the man’s spell, no one was surprised to see the five shields crumble before the strength of the light; but everyone’s eyes went wide seeing the strange phenomenon surrounding the mage in its path.

Sebastian had figured the five shields might not be enough, but it was light not fire or any other overly dangerous magic. He had remembered the power of the runes tattooed to his arm by a merfolk shaman and knew of its defensive power, but even as he opened his eyes he felt an odd pull on the magic within him. Glowing runes expanded in a rotating orange shield. Only the lines on his fingers remained touching him as his power fed the runes floating in the air between him and the man with the Hollow Sword.

As the light faded, the runes began to contract losing their glow before returning to the dark ink formed on his arm. He had never seen such a thing happen before. Neither the rune warriors fighting on Grimnal Island or the shamans had alluded to such a thing happening to the spell bonded to his skin.

Mecklin had another of the tattoos and looked down at his right arm where the tattoo of barbed wire and runes could form a harpoon. Could his runes change beyond what was intended as well?

His older friend moved closer even as the other mages all flocked to Sebastian already questioning what he had done as if it had been intentional. Every display of magic he had learned seemed to earn a similar result. Battle mages would greedily ask how his magic worked wanting everything he could give whether they had been for or against him only a moment before. Now Jeriah joined the throng carrying the Hollow Sword, nearly forgotten in his hands, to find out what the younger man had done.

Latching onto the feeling he had a moment before, Sebastian willed his magic to release the runes creating the powerful shield once more forcing those closest to back away. He retracted the runes with ease discovering the secret built into the rune magic. They had been told that the runes were active for the rest of a warrior’s life and stemmed from the energy inside of them. Since those warriors had no other magic, the runes would only do what the shaman tattooing them expected them to do. A battle mage was magical and Sebastian now understood that meant the runes could be manipulated to do more.

He would have to go see Maura, the research wizard who had joined him on the journey to find the Grimnal, and show her what he had discovered. The woman had a different variant of the runes tattooed to her arm, but Sebastian guessed that a full wizard might be able to do even more with her magical potential.

The surprising change caused by his magic also led him to believe that he might have a way to replicate the runes after all. A gift of the shaman, they had been told only those who could fathom the runes could be taught more about them. Maybe the young mage, the owl as they nicknamed him, could reproduce this magic after all.

Patting the air before him to quiet the crowd of mages in front of him, Sebastian said, “This magic I can’t pass on to you, so you can stop asking for now; but once I have figured out the proper metals I hope to equip every battle mage with a Hollow Sword one day.”

Jeriah frowned, passing back the sword reluctantly, and asked as much as demanded, “What do you mean that you can’t pass on this magic? You would hide something as powerful from your brother and sister battle mages? How can you withhold such a thing from us?”

There were other voices beginning to agree and Sebastian frowned in turn. “I can withhold anything I wish. Weren’t you the one who was so sure of himself that you didn’t think I had anything important to teach you only a week ago? Fine, then why don’t you figure out your own spells. There is enough magic out there that I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface. Do it yourself.”

Blinking in surprise for just a moment, Jeriah backed away a step before recovering himself. Back straightening, the man gritted his teeth and complained, “What did you say to me?”

Sebastian felt the annoyance building in him for over a year ready to lash out and the one to receive it stood directly before him. Feeling the anger of the ungrateful men and women to precede Jeriah, the battle mage felt like a switch had flipped inside of him.

“I am tired of people like you demanding that I give what I have learned every time they see that I have knowledge they don’t as if it is my obligation to hold all your hands. You acted like I was full of myself and unworthy of being a teacher only days ago. Whether the ravens ask me to teach you all or not, it is my decision to help you all out or not. It is my mind not yours that has figured out what you couldn’t even think to try.

“You act like you are my superior because you have been a falcon longer and you are older. Fine, show me one thing you have created on your own and maybe I’ll teach you something new.”

Jeriah didn’t back down, but other than venting his anger, he had nothing to show the younger man and it made him that much angrier.

Eyes narrowed in turn, Sebastian remained stubborn even as Ashleen placed her hand on his shoulder trying to ease his mood. He wouldn’t look at the girl, but felt her and his anger relented slightly as he redirected his gaze across more of those gathered looking like vultures trying to pick on something yet to die. “You can all pool your minds together, since none of you have thought about discovering magic of your own. Collectively work to discover something, anything, useful that hasn’t been done by a battle mage. Until someone does, I have better things to do than teach you ungrateful people.”

Replacing his Hollow Sword, the young mage stormed out of the practice area pushing Jeriah aside as he moved straight forward. Mecklin and Frell tried to calm those who had witnessed the tantrum a moment before hurrying after Ashleen and Bas.

“What was that about?” Mecklin asked as he caught up to the couple.

Letting out a big sigh, Sebastian said in a surprisingly calm way, “There is nothing I can do for those people for now. I have told you all that I am no teacher, at least not one like they need. Spending my time on mages, who don’t even appreciate the effort put into figuring out new magic, is a complete waste of my time. You and Frell are much better teachers than I am and know almost as much of my magic as I do.”

Frowning at Sebastian’s sudden recalcitrance, the elder mage reminded him, “Raven Leros wants you to go from Hala to teach your magic in one of the castles or maybe White Hall next, right? Are you going to tell him the same thing you just told us?”

Sebastian stopped walking to face his friends. “Have you found anyone here with the ability to heal or use extended magic or are they just the typical battle mages I see in every castle? They can learn light and dark or new elemental attacks like air spears, but then they just look at me wondering why they can’t learn the rest. If there is anyone who can do more, then I will teach them. The rest are yours and I don’t care what Leros has to say on it.

“I will work to make Hollow Swords available as I told them and I may have just discovered something to unlock the rune magic. In a way, it isn’t unlike what I have been trying with the swords actually,” he added suddenly getting distracted from the main argument. “Until I learn more, teaching people like Jeriah isn’t something I wish to put myself through.

“I hate to leave the duties to you, my friends, but it isn’t in me to sit through this every day,” the younger man said with a shake of his head.

“So you are just planning to slink off to the forge again?” Frell asked sounding a little annoyed with him in turn. He wasn’t sure if she was angry that he was leaving or if she didn’t want to go back to teaching either.

Shaking his head, Sebastian replied, “I need to go find Maura first and perhaps discover who they have placed on helping solve the Hollow Sword metal equation. These are things that can help everyone. There are enough men and women who know the new magic. The novelty of having the originator here to teach them is just useless.”

“You know someone is going to report this to our superiors,” Mecklin said with a sigh. “I mean, you threw a temper tantrum right behind the corps guild headquarters, Bas.”

With the shrug of his shoulders, he replied, “Feel free to put your name on any complaint to keep yourselves out of trouble. Leros knows that I am right. Besides I can always just blame it on still recovering from my wounds.”

Frell shook her head and added, “They’ll quickly realize that they can’t control you. They need you more than you need them. Without you, there is no possibility of new mage spells.”

Unsure if she should add her opinion, Ashleen started quietly, “They could still put you in a cell to think about your actions, can’t they? You can get in big trouble, Sebastian.”

Waving off the worries, he replied, “Then I had better get a move on and find Maura. I need to show her what I figured out with the shaman runes while it is fresh.”

The four parted and Ashleen took his hand as Sebastian headed for the research wizard’s laboratory.

“Sebastian?” Maura greeted in confusion. She knew that she wasn’t his favorite person and never expected a social call. “Do you need my help?”

Brushing at his mussed brown hair, Sebastian gave a wry smile as he replied, “Hopefully it will be an exchange of help actually.”

Ashleen moved to sit on a chair beside the door drawing the other woman’s eyes. “She’s still with you? I thought that she would be on her way back to Kardor.”

Looking over to the pretty blond still dressed for the heat of summer and wearing shorts and a lightweight top, Sebastian smiled at the girl receiving the same. “Ashleen’s staying on as my aide I guess you could say.”

“I won’t even ask what she is aiding,” the wizard retorted with a frown suggesting other things. “What is it you want, Sebastian? I have work to do.”

Pushing his magic into the runes on his left arm as he held it out towards the woman, the markings responded glowing orange and releasing from his forearm creating the shielding he had discovered in the practice field.

“How are you doing that? Is that the way they are supposed to work?” the research wizard asked.

He shook his head. “No, I just figured out accidentally that our magic can alter the runes and increase the power of at least some of the spells.”

Releasing his power, the runes returned to the ink they had been made with by the shaman.

“How could this happen?” Maura mused aloud hoping that Sebastian might have an answer.

“They were made for people without magic. Having magic, we can alter and increase their power. Normal men and women can only use what is given and keep them powered by the strength of their bodies. A mage or wizard can manipulate and add to them.”

She looked at the black spot on her arm ruing the choice she had made back then. “What can I add to a rune that stores items like swords?”

Shrugging he thought quickly, “If you can make it leave your body like mine, it could be made larger and swallow larger items for transport or maybe be used defensively to take in the power of a spell aimed at you.”

Her eyes lit up at his words thinking of the possibilities if his thoughts could be made possible.

“Can I try something?” he asked the wizard.

Looking cautious, the woman asked, “What do you hope to do?”

“I wonder if we can duplicate this magic by using the ability to move the runes,” the young man said speaking as if it was simple logic being used.

“How?”

Both had tattoos on their left arms and Sebastian grasped Maura’s forearm with the same arm. “Heal,” he called his ability to see into another’s body to look for abnormalities that needed healing or tending. In this case, his mind wandered to the circle on her arm. He could feel the ink, but looking deeper, Sebastian noted the magic tied into her aura.

Her life and magic were one, like any one using magic. Like in Ashleen, the mage could feel the flow of magic closely circulating alongside her veins.

Placing his right forearm over the tattoo, Sebastian willed the power of her rune to double transferring a copy of the circle to his arm. Opening his eyes as the mage pulled the arm away, he looked on a circle identical to the woman’s.

“How did...? Oh never mind,” the wizard started realizing how often she could ask the same question of the mystery before her that was the mage. Owl, she clarified recognizing the unique mind inside of the young man before her. “You copied the ink, but did you copy the magic?”

Sebastian smiled releasing her other arm a moment and took a feather used for writing from where it lay on the table. Pressing it quill first against the black circle, he felt the magic draw in the feather. He didn’t need the writing instrument and stopped with it halfway inside of his arm.