Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) (24 page)

He shrugged and noticed her eyes straying to his chest and lower before catching herself. Yara’s face looked back up blushing and Sebastian noticed that more than her face colored red in embarrassment. His smile made her pout and say, “Stop it, Sebastian, I’m trying to be serious.”

“You’re the one blushing from looking,” he chuckled. The awkwardness of wanting to look at all of her and knowing that he probably shouldn’t made things even more difficult. He was doing his best to just look her in the face.

Letting out a frustrated, inarticulate cry, Yara’s green eyes locked on his as she gestured with her hand only inches from him before stating, “We just had sex.”

“Three times,” he nodded causing the young woman to blush again and made her bring up her hands to cover her cheeks.

A little moan of embarrassment and annoyance at the man before him for teasing her escaped from between her hands. “Could you be serious a moment, Bas?” she complained. “We’ve had sex... three times,” she added after a pause as his smile returned, “and it was... wonderful. We’ve seen and touched pretty much every part of one another. Now can we focus on what this place is? How did that ring break us out of the stupor? If we hadn’t touched it, we might never have stopped.”

Her blush at that sudden idea made Yara cover her cheeks again. The chill of the air was making her cold and she really wanted to hold Sebastian again even without the flowers’ power over her.

Sebastian looked at the darkened room. Without the ring on its stand, the cave was becoming too dark to see. “Fire wisp,” he called up a small ball of light to hover in the air. Letters were carved into the back wall, but time and the elements had eroded much of them to the point that he could only make out a few words. “Beware... dark... magic... jungle,” he stated the four that he could make out.

“Well that would be kind of obvious,” Yara agreed a little annoyed at the warning that would be of no use unless one were to enter the cave. Glancing to the rest of the room that seemed natural in appearance, they could make out nothing else.

“I’ll be right back,” Sebastian urged patting at the air between them. The wisp let them see each other in all clarity and the man admitted that he didn’t really want to see her put her clothes on just yet. “The compass is outside. Maybe it was pointing to something in here.”

Before she could think to disagree, the mage pushed through the falling water once more. A quick trip to their discarded clothing rewarded him with the compass and he returned to the cave and Yara once more.

The girl looked at his eyes curiously in the light of the wisp.

“What?” he asked before testing the device inside the cavern.

“Did you smell the flowers?”

Glancing at the water and the unseen world beyond, Sebastian realized that the smell was there but he hadn’t noticed its power at all. Shaking his head as an answer, the mage powered up the device. The red dot pointed at a place in the wall. The cavern base was stone after just a few steps inside, but coming from knee deep water Sebastian gave the smaller woman a hand up out of the water. Again his eyes couldn’t help taking in the beauty of her. Looking back to the cave wall quickly, their pressure on the stone seemed to trigger an old spell. Writing began to glow on the wall where the engravings were. “Beware the Dark One’s magic has cursed this jungle,” he read knowing that the warning was way too late as Yara had said.

An orange square lit up below the left corner of the lower lines of words. Touching his hand to the square, he realized that his right hand still wore the strange ring that had saved them. It lit briefly and the orange light changed to white before extending out a drawer in its place.

“Well, let’s hope that this is a little more informative and has better timing,” the blond stated moving closer to hug her body to his. He felt her shivering next to him. The wet and the cool air were affecting her more than him, but even he knew that it was getting colder. The island that had been quite warm by day was losing its fight with the remnants of winter without the sun.

“Air shield,” the mage summoned the spell encompassing them both. The air would heat with their breathing quickly enough and wouldn’t continue to let the cooling air touch her bare skin.

He then pulled a metal tube from the drawer. Within it was a rolled up parchment, magically treated to last beyond the age of the one who wrote it.

Chapter 16- The Curse

‘If you are reading this, you were either foolish or brave to step into the jungle. You must also be strong.

‘The ring holds the power of the Grimnal for any who wears it. A wizard used magic to bind the essence of he who can not be touched by magic. His resistance is yours, and the explanation of the ring need say no more than that.

‘The island you stand on was once below the see and the ruins are those from a temple of the sea folk from beneath the waves. They fought the Dark One and his armies even beneath the sea. Though their strength wasn’t enough to prevent use of this temple in his plans, their curse later brought the ones stationed here to ruin.

‘The fortress once held by the Dark One only holds those cursed to become the forest. If you or your comrades are exposed to the rot, you must find a way to heal him or remove the cursed limb before they too will succumb to the curse. This ring may be able to reverse the early stages, but I would not rely on its power beyond that.

‘Good luck traveler and may Gerid Aramathea, the Grimnal’s blessing be on you.’

-The Steward of the Grimnal, Trunis

Sebastian rolled the message back up and replaced it in the metal tube.

“This is a curse from the merfolk of legend?” Yara asked as she continued to hug Sebastian. Her shivering had passed, but the feel of him beside her was reassuring and neither wanted to break the hold.

“Apparently, and it talks about another curse that can spread to people infected by it at the ruined fort,” he added worriedly. The mage started to move back towards the water, but Yara held him fast. Her eyes looked down as if ashamed. Knowing that the young woman must have her reason, Sebastian waited for her to speak.

“Bas, make love to me one more time. I want to know you with a clear head just once before we return to the others,” Yara said quietly demanding without truly pleading.

“But the others and the curse,” he began.

“It’s night. Whatever might have happened to the others happened long enough ago that spending just a little more time giving us a chance shouldn’t matter,” she argued and let him go. Sitting on the stone floor of the cave, the girl winced at the cool stone before laying back inviting him to join her.

His heart was torn, but kneeling to join Yara for one last sliver of happiness before returning to the real world, Sebastian knew that he would give her all his love. If this truly were the last chance they would have, he wanted it to be right and something to remember for a long time.

He didn’t even remember falling asleep, but Liam began to dream immediately. More a nightmare, the wizard watched as men and women with tails of fish fought with monsters. Orc like black skinned creatures with webbed and long, wide webbed feet swam with larger monsters attacking the people. The merfolk didn’t give in easily as they fought with their own brand of magic, but in the end the Dark One’s beasts were too much for them.

A single wizard of the folk cast a spell that even the non-magical creatures could feel. It’s strength that of a curse placed around their temple. Built of stone beneath the sea water, the beautiful columns and architecture which looked similar to a land dwelling began to contort and warp with the dark magic. To seal the spell, the brave wizard cursed the creatures of the enemy as well as the land before taking his own life. His blood strengthened the curse giving it great power and life before the man finished dying as he cast the spell.

The land shook and the temple came to new life in the middle of the island, but the curse continued to twist the world around them.

Magic returned the sea orcs to their original forms and they built on the island. They were tied to it and could no longer leave no matter how much the Emperor threatened or used the pull of his magic. The sea monsters climbed from the sea as trapped as the mutated orcs. The jungle claimed their forms and grew from sea plants into strange versions of themselves on land. Fresh water gave them life and the salty sea became anathema to the new forms.

A mighty fortress was constructed. The wizards that had shaped the orcs began working the stone of the island into a structure no man could destroy, but even they were not immune to the curse. Plants fought to reclaim stone walls. Tools and clothes grew mold and moss or simply rusted away.

Skin was not immune as even the wizards found the green growth changing their skin. Magic could not burn it. Tools and weapons broke fending off the new life that continued to creep in on them. Only the sand, so corrupted by salt resisted the curse, but the orcs and wizards found quickly that they too were trapped by the sand.

The rot continued and minds succumbed to the call of plants. Orcs disappeared in the night ambling towards the mountain and the temple beyond it as they became mindless husks. Even the power of the wizards wasn’t enough. The moss took them all, but a new world grew upon the island under the
curse of the mer wizard. Connected but separate, the island formed new mutations never seen in the world. Powerful and deadly the island waited for new prey.

A slap to his face startled the water wizard awake. Annalicia crouched beside him with her protector Reynolvan in arms’ reach. Blinking at the attention, Liam felt his skin itching. His arms and face were the worst.

“Liam wake up!” the silver haired woman shouted in his face. Even her scream held a certain beauty, he mused foggily.

“Cursed,” Liam mumbled feeling groggy and unable to completely pull away from the dream. His eyes began to close again, but another slap to the other side of the face kept him from nodding off once more.

“What are you saying, Liam? What curse?” Anna begged him to clarify and the water wizard noted a bit of the green tingeing her fingers and hands.

Looking at the others around the campsite in the sand, Liam noted men trying to restrain Sergeant Kulvayr, mostly naked with his moss covered clothing rotting in the sand nearby. Frell was nearly as unclothed, but more herself though she looked as groggy as Liam still felt. His coat and pants were removed and as rotted with the cursed moss as the others. The clothing that hadn’t been tainted by the moss creatures’ touch would turn as the rot took the rest of him, the water wizard thought vaguely upset to think that he would turn into one of those creatures.

Everyone who tried to stop the ones already tainted were themselves becoming infected with the curse, he realized and the man fought to warn Anna who must already realize her danger. “It’s a curse on the Dark One’s army from the merfolk. Only the salt and sand keeps it restrained on the island. Once it takes over, the jungle calls to you and you become another moss creature.”

“How do we remove the curse, if you know so much?” she demanded keeping his eyes riveted to her almond shaped green eyes blazing with passion.

“I don’t know if we can. The dreams don’t tell me how,” he began to mumble as his mind grew more foggy. Knowing that he was being taken over, Liam stood not wanting to infect more of their people. “You need to let us go and try and save yourselves. We’re too far gone.”

A light seemed to spark in the young woman’s eyes. Silver hair glistened in the light of the first moon. It was evening and already dark, the man suddenly noticed though it didn’t really matter. He was doomed by the curse.

Annalicia stood before him blocking his return to the fortress and his doomed future. “You said the sand held the plant life here because of the salt?”

He nodded and felt the girl summoning a spell. Too tired from the fight, the water wizard couldn’t see what a wind wizard could do to try and save him from a nature curse. She was no healer after all.

Casting her hands towards Liam, a strong gust threw the man back tumbling over and over. As the salt water of the sea engulfed the wizard, he cried out in pain. He tried to get out of the burning water, but Anna’s spell continued to push him back and deeper into the water. Following him into the water clothed in her light weight blue dress without concern for such unimportant things, the air wizard winced as her feet just beginning to show signs of the infection burned her almost as bad as Liam.

“Get anyone affected into the water. Even their clothes need to be soaked in the salt water,” the woman ordered before turning to face Liam again. The man was frantic with pain and crashed into the much smaller girl.

Fighting to be free of the water and the pain, Liam pushed the wind wizard under the water trying to run past. Her wind failed but she twisted hugging his legs and coughing up water. Despite his frenzy driven strength, Anna held onto him fighting to keep the man in the water. Her hands and arms burned with the same pain as he, but she held on long enough for Reynolvan to come to her aid.

Her protector had tossed the blue tunic and pants of the water wizard into the sea before noticing the danger to the lady he had sworn to protect. Crashing into Liam, Reynolvan drove the other two back deeper into the water. Annalicia was nearly trampled by the men and released Liam coughing from the water entering her mouth and nose in the fight. Stumbling after the two men still struggling, the petite wind wizard held a hand in front of her mouth coughing hard and looking half drowned.

Water weighing down her dress and plastering it to her skin, Anna fought both it and the water to follow the two men and help Reynolvan contain the infected man. The burning she had felt lessened to the point that it was noticeable even in the midst of the struggle. In the light of the moon, Annalicia held up her hand and thought the green coloring that had affected her was already fading from sight. Her guess was right. The salt that bound the plants and creatures to the island was also the solution to their crisis.

Liam stopped struggling shortly afterwards. Reynolvan held him back from the small woman until he was sure that the water wizard was mostly returned to his senses. Anna moved closer turning his face to see it in the moonlight. The moss was washed away and even the green coloring was clearing up quickly. It was magic and often the nature of things that a counter spell or key to a curse would have quick and effective consequences. These consequences were good for them, if not for the plant curse.

Letting his face go and checking his arms, Anna was looking closely as Liam stated, “The pain’s nearly gone. Is the curse lifted?”

He noted the woman’s torn dress and realized that he must have ripped it in his struggle. There was a minor tear along a side seam and near the hem as well. Ripping a piece from the hem area where it had torn, Anna lay back in the water a moment submerging herself making sure that she was cleansed of the moss. Using the movement to pull her hair back, she wrapped the strip making a wet, silver ponytail that glistened in the moonlight.

Checking her hands and seeing nothing of the green coloring, Anna nodded, “I think so. Though I don’t know what you saw that told you so much about the curse, I gather that salt water keeps the island’s curse in check. The land may have come from beneath the water during the Cataclysm, but the curse you mentioned must have made those cursed desire to stay here as well.

“I was just hoping that the wizard that set this curse left an answer for a cure to it also. The salt you mentioned is in the water and on the sand, so I was just hoping that was the answer and it looks like it is, which is a good thing for you since our healers are still missing.”

Liam looked up at the fires on the beach. “So by staying on the beach we contained the infection.”

“I’m not sure you would have made it into the boats without someone forcing you three anyway. When the moss spread like a quick moving rot across your clothes and took root in your skin, I sent anyone that hadn’t touched the moss to a safe distance away. We stripped the clothing from you three most infected, but then it spread to some of those who tried to help.

“This curse is quick and unrelenting,” the woman stated with a frown. “Any ship that might come here only needs to walk into those ruins and they’ll be consumed as well.”

Nodding at the dire prediction, Liam replied, “With a little help, maybe I can help take care of that now that we know how to cure the curse. If we wait until morning, it would probably be easier.

“Has the other team come back? You said our healers are still missing.”

Annalicia looked worried. “Collin led back everyone but Sebastian and Yara. He said that they were separated before being driven from the jungle. They didn’t run into the curse infection there, but apparently the plants could move and attack them. Something pulled the two deeper into the jungle but, even with a nature wizard, they couldn’t fight any deeper.”

“Did they run into this strange infection curse?”

Shaking her head, the silver haired girl still looked worried as she replied, “No, the jungle fought them with thorns, vines and even threw nuts at them, but there was no moss infection. It could be just localized here at the fort. Still I worry that Sebastian and Yara might be trapped in the middle of the jungle or worse.”

“I heard massive thunder clap while we were in the fort. The only one I know among us that can use lightning is Bas. If he was putting up that kind of fight, I doubt any plant could have stood up to it,” Liam stated confidently.

“You have a lot of confidence in a mere battle mage,” the green of her eyes seemed to shine like bright gems in the darkness. With a cloudless night, the first moon, Epsilon’s light sparkled on the waves all around them. The Sea Dragon anchored a few hundred feet out was a dark shadow in the glimmering waves from this side.

Smiling Liam faced those green eyes and stated, “He may be a battle mage, but the word ‘mere’ hardly belongs to anything Sebastian does. His creativity and ability to observe magic puts him on a par with the best wizards I’ve ever met.”

The three moved back to shore. With the worst of the curse apparently reversed, even Sergeant Kulvayr and Frell were back to their original minds. Frell appeared very self-conscious wearing nothing but her underwear, and that was clinging tightly to her skin and soaked. Liam gathered his clothing and checked for any remaining signs of moss. The falcon was quick to pull on her shirt, after wringing it out a moment to at least cover her a bit more modestly.

Annalicia didn’t seem to care that her dress was wet and torn as she climbed from the surf back onto the sand looking at her people around her. Their safety was her biggest concern and Liam had to respect that. She moved to check with each of those affected to look for any lingering affects of the curse. Finding nothing left on those that had soaked in the salt water, the air wizard finally let out a sigh of relief and relaxed a little more.

Following the woman after wringing out his clothes and putting them on despite the wet, Liam realized that she was heading toward Collin and the remainder of the other search party. The water wizard hurried spying his friends beside a campfire. They had watched the others and Anna’s use of the sea to cure the others.

“We’re clear,” Annalicia stated as she moved within easy speaking range. “The infection has been taken care of.”

Collin and Nara came forward to greet the woman and Liam behind her. “Really?” Collin asked incredulously. “How did you do that without a healer like Yara?”

“They didn’t require healing in the normal sense. Liam was just coherent enough to reveal that salt in the sand trapped the cursed plants of the island. Once that was known, I tested that the salt of the sea could remove the curse and it has.”

“Liam told you that?” Collin chuckled with a slight bit of disbelief, though the feeling came from the need to joke with his friend now that he was safe. “Leave it to a water wizard to come up with a water solution.”

Smirking, Liam pointed at Annalicia and stated, “The AIR wizard came up with the solution. I was just the one that told her of the weird dreams I was having.”

The earth wizard waved off the excuse and asked, “You hungry? You fell asleep before eating anything.”

With the supernatural behind them, talk of the mundane things of life became their way to put off talking about Sebastian and Yara.

Liam had fallen into a more natural sleep by the time a sentry cried out waking him again. It was still dark and the red light of Turas made the beach look orange. The war god’s bloody light was another thing of legend, but a silver ball of light floating along the beach coming from the northwest made everyone excited.

Feeling content, the couple faced the jungle in the twilight provided by the glowing flowers. Sebastian wore the Grimnal Ring on his left hand with his middle finger. It was too large for many of his fingers and the mage wanted it on the left hand as he held his Hollow Sword ready in his right. The ring was too large for all of Yara’s fingers and even the thumb would have required her to hold it in place. The hope was too share the ring’s power, so the healer simply held his hand with her right and hoped for the best.

An air shield was erected around the both of them swirling in such a way that Sebastian hoped would help spread the effect of the ring if it had anything to do with a scent. If air could spread the magic, then this version of his air shield would do to spread it.

“Ready?” the mage asked as he looked to the west hoping that was the shortest route through the jungle.

“Unless you think we can hide here for the rest of our lives,” Yara said with a smile. They had taken their time in the cave and though they were a little more tired, both felt a different type of energy as well. “Ready,” she nodded looking at the plant life before them.

Stepping forward, the two of them expected the worst, but as they closed on the obstructing brush, to their surprise the way began to open. With each step, the trees and brush seemed to part for the couple. Whether it was just the ring or the air shield, Sebastian wasn’t completely sure, but the fact that the jungle was calm and helping them to leave the heart of it was pretty incredible either way.

“I almost feel like we’re at a wedding and the crowd is parting before us,” Yara breathed quietly as they watched each step clear the next barrier like pulling back curtains.

He knew what she had meant, though the particular train of thought might have as much to do with their recent union. Hoping that the magic continued to work, Sebastian started to walk a little faster. It was still a steady walk and progress continued easily. Without the need to fight the jungle, their walk became as enjoyable as any in the moonlight with the woman whom he loved.

“I wonder who the steward was that left this ring and the note. If he served directly for the Grimnal, then it’s obvious that we are going in the right direction,” Sebastian led the conversation back to business and the mission. He was a little uncomfortable with talk of weddings when they were still getting over what they had just done. Like he had told her, he didn’t really regret it and it had been the inevitable progression of their relationship, but the timing wasn’t the best.