Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) by Donald Wigboldy Jr Read Free Book Online

casually. “Unlike you, I am not a true apprentice. I’d wager that none of you can fight let alone use a sword.”
    Raising the sword beneath his neck, Malfaes threatened, “Pretty tough talk for a man with a blade on his neck. Hey, Selvor, did you still want to see whether he can bleed?”
    Again the oaf chuckled and Palose matched stares with the smaller man before him. At the apprentice’s nod to the man with his sword, the battle mage decided to end this farce. “Stone skin, reflex,” he uttered the two spells lunging forward against the sword.
    Catching the blade as he lowered his head to hold it to his neck, the mage twisted pulling his shoulders free of the surprised young men. In a blink, the sword was back in its sheath and Palose was standing two strides away from the three shocked apprentices.
    Malfaes was the first to cry, “Are you crazy?”
    Selvor followed up by moving his hands and starting the incantation for a fireball.
    “Too slow,” Palose stated. “Spears,” he called an air spear to each hand. Another weapon from the mizard’s arsenal, the battle mage kept each to about four feet long and closed the gap between them.
    The staves went behind the largest apprentice’s legs sweeping them out from under him. A simple bump to Selvor’s forearm threw off his spell causing the apprentice to have to restart from the beginning. He knew no other way to cast and Palose had intentionally pushed the arm just to emphasize the point.
    Stepping back to his starting point, Palose had returned before Malfaes had finished his fall. With a loud breath escaping the red head’s lungs in a burst, the other two were left looking at the fallen man in stunned silence.
    “Now as I said,” Palose began once more as if he was reciting the spell that Selvor had suddenly forgotten, “you three have no concept of how to fight. If you want to go up against me, I can give you all a head start to cast your weak spells and still avoid them to take you out.
    “Whether I am a resurrection man, as you called me, or not, I am also a battle mage and we eat wizards like you for breakfast.”
    Selvor wasn’t quite done and his hands pointed towards Palose once more as his spell came to a conclusion. Wanting to applaud the apprentice’s tenaciousness, as he had finished his casting even as the battle mage spoke; Palose instead used his speed to step to his left to come in on the caster’s right. The fire ball left Selvor’s hands directed to where the mage had been.
    Touching the boy’s nearest sleeve, Palose cast another spell, “Stone skin.”
    Willing the tunic to stiffen like stone, Selvor became trapped within his own clothes. Unable to cast, as Palose gave him a little shove, he simply toppled over onto Malfaes still trying to get his breath.
    The last apprentice stood still as a statue as if the same spell had been used on him. Obviously a simple follower, Palose ignored him as he used his thumb to raise his sword in its scabbard a moment. Running the tip of his finger against the sharp blade, the man winced at the pain.
    Looking at his red blood beginning to seep onto the tip of the digit, Palose almost felt relief lift from his chest. With all the talk of resurrection men, he almost wondered if he was still human as well.
    He leaned over and pressed his finger to the forehead of the red head still trying to suck in a breath as he wheezed. His eyes widened in fear, but Palose simply left a bloody finger print in the center of his forehead. “Looks like normal blood to me,” the battle mage stated and walked past the single remaining wizard to reenter the library.
     
     
    Chapter 3- Sylvaine
     
    Sitting on the floor between the stacks, Palose was beginning to rue the brilliant idea of slicing his finger enough to draw blood. He took a scrap of cloth torn from a towel kept in his satchel and wrapped the offended digit hoping that the wound would seal naturally. With all the talk of resurrection men, the mage