White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) Read Free Page A

followed the rumors of the wizards’ movements to find them in surprisingly short order.
    Four wizards in their strange robes over pants that matched moved through the street going from one house to the next checking for children meeting the criteria they were looking for, which in a word was magic. Southwall had come to use men and women of both great power, called wizards; and their lessers, called battle mages. Few parents would say that they wanted their children to be either, but if one had to lose a child to service, they all prayed that they would be the powerful wizards.
    “Wizards!” Rikard called out with a wave seeing a man dressed in black robes with a younger man wearing a white robe with silver banding at the neck and on the sleeves.
    The two men had been standing in front of a gate leading to a house talking, so when they were addressed they appeared slightly surprised. The elder of the two raised an eyebrow curiously and looked ready to greet the farmer when his eyes caught something about the twins trailing him. “Yes, sir, how may we help you?”
    His eyes lingered on Piotr for a long moment before they moved on to Niklaus. A frown caught the outer corners of his lips seeing the elder boy making his brother curious as to why.
    “You have come looking for children with magic once more, or so we have heard. I do not know how you can judge them so easily, but I believe that one of my sons has the gift. We chose to come to town rather than wait to find out if you were going to take him from us,” Rikard replied trying to sound calm. When he had originally suggested meeting the wizards, it hadn’t fully dawned on him that he might be sentencing his child to a life away from his family in the service of the king’s army.
    The elder wizard nodded. As they spoke, another pair of wizards left the porch of a home directly across from their counterparts. One sported a robe of light blue over pants of brown, but the last wizard dressed in white with light blue striping was the single female. She was also the youngest in appearance though Rikard had heard rumors that with magic such things could be altered. The rumors of the possibilities of magic ranged into ideas that seemed ridiculous, but he didn’t know what limits it truly had.
    “I am Wizard Zenth and we have indeed come looking for candidates to be wizards or mages. I will say that it is a bit surprising to have someone come volunteering their children, unless they are out of control. These boys do not appear troubled so,” the man brushed his light brown hair back with his fingers making his blue eyes seem that much more penetrating. “You say that you believe that your son has magic. I would think that it was obvious, if you could just assume as much.
    “The smaller boy certainly holds promise. His magical strength is certainly powerful enough to become a full wizard. How old is he?”
    “Fourteen.”
    “And when did he start manifesting powers?”
    “Last summer, I think, though Piotr has always had an affinity for animals and the land. We just didn’t notice anything strange until closer to this Spring, but my son said that he could do things like looking through a rabbit’s eyes already last year.”
    Piotr said nothing. He had admitted as much to his father after the man had first witnessed the boy’s strange habit of making Bandit leave without saying a word. The way he held his hands and seemed asleep, but always knew what was going on around him, had startled his family at first. Still his talent with quieting panicked creatures had been noticeable for much longer and had been almost superhuman in ability since he had been a much younger child.
    “Is the other boy his brother?”
    The question made all three look at the man in surprise. Niklaus looked enough like his twin that they would have thought the wizard couldn’t miss the fact. Rikard nodded, however, and answered, “Niklaus is his twin brother.”
    The younger wizard with