Battle Mage: Winter's Edge (45 page)

“Unlike dad’s theory on work, magic is still limited. We can only go so long before we exhaust ourselves to the point where a wizard or mage can actually kill themselves. Magic is like pulling from your soul. Pull too hard and you break,” he replied perhaps a little to soberly as his brother’s smile began to fade. “Have no fear, I’ll be training soon.”

He watched as his sister’s attention moved between the mock duels and noted how she seemed to be analyzing their spells. If the gift was hereditary, then maybe Katya would be able to learn others’ spells similarly to his own skill. The girl started as she noticing him watching her. A little bit of worry glimmered in her eyes. He knew that his family were all afraid that Katya would be taken from them. Unfortunately in Southwall, such fears were justified as it was inevitable.

“Can we talk a moment?” his words made the girl look a little more worried.

Pulling her a short distance away from the twins, whose eyes kept watching them despite pretending to be watching the duels, Sebastian said quietly, “You know that we can sense magic ability in others. The seekers that came for me weren’t unique that way, though those are specially trained to enhance that skill.”

The flush in her cheeks from the cold washed away as the girl turned white as a sheet. Sebastian went to his pack and pulled out a beginning wizard’s manual. Handing the tome to Katya, he stated, “You may as well start looking through this. It’s better to understand and learn how to control magic before it begins to control you.

“Have you had any strange accidents from moving your hands or saying something too much like a command or wish?”

Her eyes wandered from his face. Looking at the snow, his sister confessed, “There was this boy at school that I’ve always liked, but he never seemed that interested in me. One day I was thinking about him particularly hard. I wished that he liked me and would kiss me. While I was thinking it, Barlen, came over and talked to me with a strange grin on his face. When he suddenly kissed me, I was quite surprised. All afternoon until we went home, Barlen seemed interested in me, but when I saw him the next day and said hello he acted like it had never happened.

“I don’t mean that he gave me any more of a cold shoulder than he always had, he seemed to truly not remember the day before. When I asked him why he had kissed me if he was just going to treat me like I didn’t exist, Barlen looked at me like I was crazy. He swore that he had never kissed me. It wasn’t like he was lying to cover in front of his friends.

“There are several boys that have been interested in me, so I know that his friends wouldn’t think I was some mistake. He truly looked confused when I told him what had happened the previous afternoon. I let the matter drop, but it has stayed in my mind.

“I’ve been able to get my way around here more than ever too. Do you think it’s because I have magic?”

Her eyes looked worried sick, but she also seemed resigned to her magic. Katya could feel that she had changed without a wizard coming along to tell her. Sebastian had felt the same way months before the seekers had come for him.

Trying to be gentle, though it was not his strong suit, her brother answered, “There is a magic called coercion. The wizards who use it are called diplomat wizards because it sounds better, but they can bend people to their will with their spells. They can also tamper with minds enough to make a person forget what happened while under a spell. Other spells leave the memories, but it comes in useful if they are captured. Leaving no witnesses with memory of you is very handy when you need to escape from an enemy country.”

Katya looked even more squeamish at his description of the magic. “Does that mean the wizards will be coming for me? Perhaps I could make a boy have sex with me? Like Yara said with girl wizards, it may take away my power then I wouldn’t have to go to one of the halls.”

Sighing sadly, he shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. At worst, your power might lessen a bit or maybe some of your spells would be harder to control, but your magic won’t disappear. I’ve heard rumors of a few girls that have tried. The wizards work around whatever challenges to their teachings might arise from it, but the girls aren’t sent away.”

“But I don’t want to be a wizard, Bas!” cried Katya quietly with tears trailing from her eyes.

He nodded. “Few truly want to go because it’s forced on them, but talk to Yara or any of the other women. All four have seen this from different schools of training, so I am sure that they can relate to what you’re going through and can tell you how it was for them.

“I can tell you from my own position that I don’t mind being a mage. Being sent to White Hall may not have been my choice, but I don’t regret a thing. I went to serve my country to protect people like you and the rest of our family. Perhaps it seems strange to other people, but I like being able to help people and protect them.

“I know that I’ve saved lives. Becoming a healer, I’ve helped even more avoid death or lost limbs.

“But maybe the best part is all these wondrous strange things that I can do because of magic. Wait ‘til you see what you can really do. You have the strength to be a full wizard. I can’t even imagine what you will be able to do that I can’t.”

Some on the fear seemed to have settled as Katya’s face looked less drained. The girl looked at Frell and Serrena continuing to test each other. She could see Nara forcing plants to grow from the earth
and creating puppets from stone and wood for Ardost to fight against as they practiced. The sight of so many women wielding magic in so many different ways began to take root in her.

“Can you teach me something while you’re here? I’m not sure that I am ready to read a book about it,” his sister asked meekly.

Smiling at the girl, Sebastian nodded and said, “I just learned this one a couple weeks ago. Dance,” he commanded as sparks played on his fingers. He extended the strands which swirled in a dance of blue and white lightning to a little more than a foot in length. Like a shiny, crackling vase of light the strands expanded and contracted as they swirled adjusting the shape to his whim.

His brothers had noticed wide eyed as well. Katya began to grin, “It’s so pretty.”

Chapter 25- Family Nature

Wiping sweat from his brow, Sebastian stepped back from his sparring with Nara. The woman’s ability to twist nature and to a lesser degree the stone and air around them made her an excellent opponent. She had a way of distracting with one sort of attack and following it up with a completely different type. Thinking that her tactics resembled his more and more, the mage wondered just how much the wizards were learning from his bag of tricks rather than the other way around.

Lunch had been brought out to the group at midday by his sisters, a courtesy that he had not truly expected, though the fact that they remained out in the cold rather than crowding into the main room around the dinner table, may have been the chief concern of his family. His parents in particular seemed less than enthusiastic to have their son return, which in turn made the mage think that the ravens had this
trip figured out wrong. There was little true relaxation and his mental energy was certainly not gaining anything from it either with the tension that continually seemed to be in the air.

While his parents seemed to want nothing to do with their prodigal son, his brothers and little sister seemed glad to see him and appeared to want to get to know him as well as watch his training. Chores pulled them away, of course. A farm like theirs didn’t run without them all pitching in to help, so they would appear in the field from time to time between duties and watch the wizards and mages dueling.

Where the boys were always doing something, Katya seemed to be getting used to the idea that she would be leaving to become a wizard. The flashy magic of Nara and Serrena paired with Frell’s mage spells seemed to draw her curiosity most. They held their own with the males of the group too and perhaps that was another thing the girl had rarely seen in her world that consisted of the farms and Mera.

He also noted Yara sitting to talk with his sister from time to time and the two of them even paging through the wizard’s beginning manual. The book held little for the mage now. While he hadn’t conquered everything inside, the mizard knew all of the spells backwards and forwards. There were many that he had not learned to adapt, but Sebastian still knew them and could look for other ways to learn the results of the spells if not the steps to complete it.

“Bas! Bas!” the young man heard his name called from a distance during the lull of a break they were all taking. Energy was running low, so it was time for a little food and drink to replenish them. The voice belonged to Edgar and the boy looked frantic.

“What is it, Edgar?” asked Sebastian as his brother came close enough to talk.

Gasping for breath, his younger brother had to take a few deep gasps to settle enough to reply, “It’s Conner. He’s hurt and lying in the barn. Father and Everet are staying with him, but he’s hurt real bad!”

Waving Yara over, the mage tried to pull out more details. “What happened?”

As Yara hurried over with Katya in tow, Edgar hastily answered, “I’m not sure. We were working in the barn when some of the animals began to get spooked. Conner and dad were sending some of the cows out for exercise and I guess one of the bulls didn’t like it. The next thing I know Conner’s on the floor bleeding all over. Dad sent me to get you two before I could see very much.”

Estranged by his parents or not, Sebastian could feel protective over strangers and Conn
er was no stranger. His brother had been trying as hard as any of his siblings to bridge the gap between their brother and parents, so he owed him for that as well. Hurrying along as fast as Yara and Katya could run in the turned earth covered in week old snow, the boys led them to the barn.

The sight that greeted him was
worse than he had thought. Conner was still lying on the floor cradled by his father. Marcel Trillon rarely showed much emotion, but the man had tears flowing down his cheeks and looked beside himself. As they neared, Sebastian took in the situation.

A bull continued to fight the stall only a few feet from where the fallen man lay. Feed was strewn from a toppled over pail just beyond Conner, whose hands were drawn to a hay fork and the tines puncturing his stomach. Blood covered his shirt and pants as well as their father. Everet sat on a partially used bale of feed appearing white as a sheet, but continued looking on in stunned silence. Another pail was clenched between his legs and it looked to have been used.

“Yara?” he questioned his healer. It looked bad to the mage who had seen wounds too deadly for even a wizard to heal. Fear of what he saw waiting for them made Sebastian worry over the fate of his older brother. Would his new sister-in-law be a widow before their first wedding anniversary?

Not bothering to answer, Yara moved to kneel next to the men. She was already chanting as the healer prepared her spells. The first part of healing was finding out the damage that needed fixing. It would take a lot of energy if there was even a chance that she could save him.

“Edgar go to the house and bring bread, cheese and milk. Maybe a pitcher of water if it’s not frozen,” Sebastian said pulling Edgar to look at him and drew his sickened gaze from Conner’s bloodied form.

His younger brother started at the calm orders. With a nod to Mecklin, the elder falcon calmly led the boy away from the sobering sight towards the house. Sebastian noted Katya’s tears running down her face, and he asked Serrena to lead the girl away before joining Yara on the ground.

“Heal,” the mizard called upon his powers and lay his hand on Conner’s right leg, the closer of the two to him.

Hearing his voice, Yara led him by saying, “Can you ease his pain and keep him sleeping, Bas? When I say, I’ll need you to pull the pitchfork out of him.”

The mage was already deep inside his brother’s wounded form with his magic. It was child’s play to turn off his pain centers and influence his mind to maintain a pattern of sleep. From last year’s battles, the mage had become very good at easing patients’ pain. Keeping them asleep magically was usually the best way to get through the healing process.

Laying her hands on Conne
r’s shoulders to both hold the man steady as well as a starting place to enter his body to begin using her magic to heal, Yara began her process. Sebastian could feel her presence as if Conner’s body was a simple conduit between their two spirits. The two knew each other so well after many months of using their healing spells to commune with one another that feeling their magic was second nature to the couple. No words needed to be exchanged any longer. Their minds could feel what each healer was doing.

With Sebastian’s magic holding back Conn
er’s pain, Yara worked to find out the damage. The mage could feel it as well. Losing blood from the stabbing tines was the major concern. His organs were damaged, but a wizard of her talent could heal them if it wasn’t too late. A broken leg and arm probably from being struck by the bull were secondary. They had to stabilize the wound first. A concussion seemed to be there as well, the mage thought, and hoped that his brother would reawake after his spell and Yara’s magic were finished.

The initial shock of his son’s wounding was beginning to fade enough that Marcel suddenly noticed the two healers working on Conn
er. “Get away from him! If my son must die, let him die in peace!”