Free Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) by Donald Wigboldy Jr Page A

arm full of books that she placed on the librarian’s counter.
    “Hawk vision,” he breathed using a spell the battle mage was comfortable with as his vision became capable of seeing the girl as if he was at her side.
    A puff from her lips blew a lock of her hair from left eye as she waited for the wizard in charge to acknowledge the girl. A quick nod as the man looked over the latest haul freed the apprentice to head for the stairs. Palose watched as her white tunic played above her knees as she walked. A white cloth belt pulled the garment tighter to the curves of her waist and he noted the tunic lacked sleeves baring her shoulders where her hair didn’t cover her.
    It was only a slight surprise when her path took her up the two floors where Sylvaine’s eyes brightened a bit at the sight of the man waiting at his table. The book still open in his hands, it had gone mostly ignored since the girl had walked into view.
    “You’re here studying necromancy again?” questioned Sylvaine as the apprentice stopped to read the cover of ‘Understanding Life’. “That one was confusing for me,” she admitted freely.
    Her head turned and eyes glanced towards the rows of books behind the mage, before deciding to sit in the empty chair at his side. Crossing behind him to pull out the chair to sit, the apprentice crossed her legs revealing bare skin from her knees to her gray slippers.
    “What did you find confusing?” Palose asked as she finished placing her hands on the bared upper knee. The smell of flowers wafted with the light breeze of her movement making him breathe in her scent happily, trying to remain slightly aloof and perhaps even a bit mysterious as he attempted to get to know the girl a bit more.
    Her hands spread as she turned them palm up as she admitted, “Pretty much all of it. Magic can bring life. Magic is life, but can not over ride death. Blah, blah, blah. I get it, but I don’t get it.” She finished with a self deprecating smile.
    Shrugging, Palose replied, “He gets a bit too flowery with his words. For me it boils down to magic being able to animate the dead, but it can’t bring back a soul once it is too far gone. Something like that anyway. I tend to overlook some of what he says as not all his philosophy makes a difference to casting the spells.”
    With a warm smile Sylvaine nodded. “Well, you do seem more comfortable with it than I was. Apparently you have a knack for such things where I found that even the darkness shield seems too complicated for me.
    “Give me a simple fireball or gust of wind any day.”
    Returning her warmth with his own slightly restrained smile, Palose had to shrug again. “Until I start practicing the spells, I can only speculate on what kind of knack I might have for the art. I have seen some of the results of those spells and perhaps that gives me a little better perspective on what he is talking about, I guess.”
    “You might try learning the night shields then. They seem a bit related.”
    “How so?” he asked enjoying the moment to take in her appearance with his eyes. She was pretty, but not so pretty that Sylvaine would feel unattainable. Hers was a distracting beauty, but he had a feeling that the apprentice revealed little of what she could make herself look like if she tried more.
    “Night shields drain power from the elements. They are like death drawing away life. At least, that is my take on it,” she added with a light laugh.
    “Necromancy doesn’t draw away life or drain it away. It adds life. Perhaps they are the opposite ends of the spectrum instead.”
    Shrugging in response, Sylvaine replied unaffected by the correction, “I told you that I wasn’t good with either school of magic.” Again she giggled quietly to avoid the librarians’ wrath.
    “Can you show me the shield?”
    She shook her head. “Two weeks of studying and practicing and I have yet to form one correctly. Wizard Eloria is getting annoyed at my failures, I fear. She