The Battlemage

The University

Twenty five years later

  Adalina reached up and touched the long, jagged burn scar that dominated the right side of her head. It had burned away a large patch of her black hair and was a constant reminder that magic was a double edged sword. It could be as dangerous to you as it was to your enemy, if you didn't know what you were doing. And when she had performed a spell that had backfired, going on fifteen years ago now, she had learned the hard way.
  "I don't want to teach magic," said Adalina. "I'm a battlemage, not a scholar."
  "They are one in the same these days," said Ashwyn.
  The old mage was sitting behind his desk, barely looking up from whatever book he was studying.
  Adalina loved him like family, but he could be so annoying at times. He had become increasingly stubborn in his old age.
  "I don't want to teach these runaways and strays. I have more important things to do," she said in a pleading tone.
  Ashwyn finally looked up from the book he was reading. "If I remember correctly, you were a stray. I took you in and taught you. Now it's time to pay that forward."
  Adalina frowned. She hated when he pulled that card.
  "I am thirty years old, Ashwyn. Far too young to be taking on the role of mentor. I still don't know everything myself."
  "Enough! I will have no more of this," said Ashwyn. It was the first time in a long time that he had raised his voice to her.
  She hung her head because she knew she had crossed a line.
  "The truth is," he said, "I love you like a daughter. I even raised you like my own after I took you in. But you have started to become increasingly hot tempered in the field. You need focus, clarity. Teaching a class will help with that."
  Adalina wanted to beg to differ, but said nothing.

   Ashwyn sighed. "I have one last mission for you, before you take some time to cool your heels."

  "Please don't tell me I have to guard another wealthy Duke from his private mansion again. That was literally the worst," said Adalina.
  Ashwyn frowned. "No, it's not quite that."
Adalina raised an eyebrow. Something in Ashwyn's tone had her curious now.
  "So what is it?" she asked
"Suspected rebel activity has been reported near the northern coast. You and mage Ellis will investigate," said Ashwyn.
   Adalina felt a knot forming in her stomach. "I haven't been to the northern coast since I was a little girl. That's..,"
  "Where your village used to be, I am aware. But I don't have any other agents to spare and the King won't send a military contingent to investigate."
  He frowned. "You wanted to keep fighting the good fight, well here it is."
  "I don't have a problem with that," she replied.
  "Good. But this mission is strictly to look for signs of rebel activity. Nothing else. No chasing ghosts, Adalina," said Ashwyn.
  "No chasing ghosts," she echoed.

  For twenty five years she has avoided going back there. She had heard the village had been rebuilt and that new people lived there.
  It didn't matter. The real town was dead and gone. If she wanted to go chasing ghosts, that was a good place to go. There were probably some literal ghosts there.
  But she had no interest in going there and seeing the village. It wasn't her home and it never would be.
  She had left Ashwyn's office and had come out into the university's central courtyard. It was circular in shape, with the middle of it being devoted to exotic plants that mages had brought back from their travels. Some of the plants were even imbued with magic, and they gave off a glow.
  "I take it that Ashwyn told you about our mission?" asked Ellis.
  The battlemage had come up behind Adalina, startling her slightly.
  "Yeah, he did."
  "Is it going to be a problem? I can ask for someone else to go with me or..,"
  "No," said Adalina firmly. "It won't be a problem. That was a long time ago, and those men are dead."
  Ellis frowned. "Okay."
Adalina smiled slightly. Ellis had a pouty frown, and she found it quite cute. She found him dashingly handsome, period, but she would never tell him that. They were colleagues, nothing more.
  "Okay. Pack your things, we leave as soon as possible," said Ellis.

  Adalina went back to her dorm, which was just across the other side of the garden. She went into the small, sparsely decorated room and opened the chest at the foot of her bed. All of her belongings could be contained in the small chest, besides the long, oak staff leaning up against the wall.
  She collected a small leather bag with an apothecary kit, a clear orb that fit neatly into her pocket, and a dagger.
  On her way out, she collected the staff, which was topped with a large purple stone.
  The staff wasn't necessary for her to use magic, but it did make things easier, and it served as a conduit for it. The staff magnified her spells ten fold.
  Ellis was standing in the garden when she returned. He now had a satchel over his shoulder and a staff made of black wood, topped with a white stone that came to a point.
  "Ready?" he asked.
"Yup."
They left the gardens through a pair of large wooden doors and headed for the stables. There was no way they could reach the northern coast just by walking, and very few mages knew how to teleport, so they would have to ride. At the very least the trip would take three days.

  They went into the university's stables and walked among the stalls. Every member of the university, from the highest ranking member to the lowest, owned a horse. This was where they were all kept.

  Adalina's horse was a thin, but still very muscular horse named Sparrow. He was a beautiful patchwork of browns, grays, and whites. He was one of the fastest horses at the university, if not the fastest.

  Ellis' horse was a whole head taller than Sparrow and was thicker too. She had previously been a workhorse at a farm where her previous owner had abused her. Ellis had saved her from being abused and in doing so had earned her trust. She wouldn't let anyone but him ride her.

 It was just one more thing that Adalina liked about Ellis.