Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11) Read Free Page A

came from the front door.
    The battle mage smiled and warned, "Reinforcements. You should give up now."
    A sword caught the black steel and lost. The regular blade was shortened two feet as the mage's lighter sword cut through the weapon as it moved to strike a second blade with almost as much force as if it had never touched the other sword. The clatter of metal on the floor was nearly drowned out as the noise in the warehouse rose into a cacophony of fighting.
    More mages, soldiers and wizards swept in from the front and back of the warehouse. His signal had been given and the rest of his forces had arrived.
    Many of those in the warehouse weren't as well trained as the wizard hunters and were restrained quickly. Battle mages swept in using reflex spells while wizards covered them with their magic. Soon all but those nearest Sebastian remained.
    Ileden and his men were taken down behind the battle mage, while he continued to whittle away at Wiler's numbers. A sleep spell knocked out two more men leaving just two wizard hunters and three others standing. With the reinforcements coming in from behind them two separatists turned with Wiler to see a dozen Southwall soldiers bearing down on them.
    Black shields were set to stop the warlock by the other mages making it a lost cause for the warlock. Like their wizard hunters, Southwall's battle mages had become skilled at taking away a warlock's power as well.
    The two wizard hunters seemed unwilling to be bested by a mage. While the other men gave up, they made a last charge at Trillon. He dropped his shields and fended off the men with his black sword. One of the blades lanced in from his exposed side, but he caught the weapon with his left forearm. The glow of orange runes protected him as he knocked the sword away from the hunter on his right.
    Expanding the orange shield as he punched forward, the second hunter was knocked from his feet. His sword clattered across the ground to be stopped by another mage's foot who had been watching the other man finish his fight.
    "Really, Bas, you just had to tease them, didn't you?" the shorter battle mage questioned him with a laugh. He was slightly younger and smiled easily making those who didn't know him believe that he didn't take his duties seriously.
    The spy shrugged as he replied, "I needed the practice. I've been too busy to train very much lately, so I appreciated the exercise."
    "If you two children are done?" a blond haired woman wearing the black uniform of a falcondi questioned the two falcons. Falcondi Westlin looked almost amused despite her words. She was Sebastian's shadow these days. Since he was able to use portals, the mage had become even more valuable to his corps. That he had been able to convince his superiors to let him lead this attack on the Dark One's spies in New Harbor, was only because of those same skills.
    He had dropped a pair of charged lodestones just within the doorway to the warehouse first. They had been out of sight of either of the exterior guards or those who might be watching inside. A second set had been dropped outside away from the guards letting a second portal be used to send the forces around the back while he distracted them.
    Sebastian used his magic to force open the tattooed portal rune on his right arm returning the black sword to the space within the magic ink. It faded into nothingness as he released both the weapon and magic holding it open.
    "I think we got most of them, falcondi," Sebastian stated returning back to a more businesslike manner. His friend Elzen tended to bring out more of his joking side; but he was also good in a fight, so Sebastian had asked for the younger mage to join his raid.
    The older woman nodded. Westlin was far from old and considered to still be in her prime, but the falcondi was nearly a decade older than Sebastian. She looked around them and replied, "Using your portal as a warning to attack was a little unusual."
    Nodding, Sebastian answered, "It