God Mage (11 page)

As they entered the building, Bren looked
around for any sign of his friends and quickly became worried when
he didn’t see any of them. Bren walked up to the small counter
where an elder woman sat greeting everyone who entered. “Hello I am
looking for a group who might have arrived here sometime today,”
Bren said then went into describing Faye and the others.

“No one like that has been here in the past
few days,” she said, bowing slightly. “Would you like a room to
wait on your friends?” She asked kindly.

“Yes please,” Bren said, tapping his foot as
he looked around impatiently.

“They haven’t arrived yet,” Bren told Cass as
he walked away from the counter.

“I doubted that they would have arrived yet,”
Cass said unfazed by the information. “Even if they walked all
night, it would have been difficult for them to make it this soon.
My best guess is that they will arrive sometime near
nightfall.”

“What happens if the Brotherhood catches up
to them before then?” Bren asked in a worried tone.

“Relax,” Cass said, pulling Bren toward the
bar of the inn. “Even if they are moving as slow as we were
yesterday, it would be very hard for the Brotherhood to catch up to
them.”

Before Bren could say anything, Cass handed
him a mug of beer and almost forced it down his throat. After the
third drink, Bren’s worries started to drift away, and by the
fifth, Bren started to drift off.

Bren woke to find himself laying in a soft
bed with someone’s arm draped over his chest. At first he thought
it was Cass. The burley warrior tended to get a little too close
after he had a few drinks. When Bren lifted up the arm, he found
that it was much slimmer than he had expected and completely void
of hair. Turning his head, instead of Cass’s overgrown face, he was
met with Faye’s smiling face.

“Cass said you were a little worried,” Faye
said with an impish grin. Before Bren could answer, Faye hit him in
the chest. “Now you have an idea of how much you tend to make the
rest of us worry.”

“Sorry,” Bren said as he tried to block her
blows.

It took a few moments for Faye to calm down,
but once she did, she didn’t seem to want to talk about her little
fit. After trying for a half hour, Bren gave it up as a lost cause
and wisely dropped the conversation.

Thankfully, Cass had left him dressed, so it
was easy for Bren to make his way downstairs ahead of Faye. Bren
found the rest of his group waiting below, and from the look on
Brenda’s face, it was clear that everyone knew what kind of mood
Faye had been in.

“Have a good morning Bren?” Brenda asked with
a smirk.

“Splendid,” Bren said with a fake grin. “Now,
why don’t we get ready? We have a long way to go and a large group
of unhappy people following behind us.”

“You’re just no fun,” Brenda said sticking
her tongue out at him. “You should at least act like you’re
flustered. I miss that awkward little kid that was running around
only a few months ago.”

“Where are we going then?” Cass asked still
sitting.

“North,” Bren said not knowing what else to
say.

“Think,” Cass said, not even trying to
conceal his ire. “We need to know more about the areas we are going
into. Before we leave, we need a new map as well as a few other
things to ensure we won’t have to worry along the way. Hayao made
sure we had plenty of food, but we are going to need more than that
to survive.

Bren wished they had remembered to grab his
father’s trunk back at the temple. He wondered for a short moment
if anyone would find it and what they would think of it. As he
thought of the wagon, Bren thought of the other things his father
had left behind that had helped him along the way. He hadn’t really
had the chance to use either of the rings but they still comforted
him when he was nervous. Bren looked at the pack that hung on his
shoulder. Of all the things his father had created, it had helped
him the most. It was a simple thing but had so many uses. Bren
thought it was weird that it was the least flashy uses of magic
that made the most difference in the world.

Is there a reason that you are thinking such
silly notions? You should be forging ahead, not thinking of what
was left behind.

“You know, something has been bothering me,”
Bren said as he looked down at his staff. “You constantly tell me
how many mistakes my father made, and how bad he was, yet all you
have worked toward for the past few years is making me retrieve
him…Why?”

I wish I knew. Your father did many things
that I did not agree with. He was never truly free; his own mind
made sure of that. Given all of that, Thad was my creator, and I
can still feel the pull of his will. If it were possible, I would
jump to his side now but my path is blocked.

Bren just shook his head as he followed the
rest into the town proper. Thuraman always complained, but he was
just as mixed up as the rest of them.

Cass used what little money they had left to
purchase enough horses for them all and a new map. He also bought
an assortment of other things that left Bren scratching his head.
He didn’t know why they would need spare straps of leather, wire,
and oil.

Once Cass was sure they had everything they
needed, they left the town heading north. It was still a long
journey to reach the location of the valley, but there were plenty
of villages along the way—at least for most of the journey.

As they left the village, Bren noticed that
their little group had split off into their own small groups.
Brenda spent most of her time riding next to Jin, who Bren still
had trouble looking in the eye. Faye stayed close to Bren though
sometimes she would move back to talk to Lillian and Shariel. Bren
found it slightly odd that the two girls who used to be at such
odds with each other now talked as if they had been friends for
life. Cass was like Faye and switched between riding point with
Bren and riding beside Phena.

Ever since they had left Torin, Phena and
Cass had grown very close. Bren was used to seeing his friend with
beautiful women, but he never thought that Phena would be one of
them. In truth, Phena was the last person he thought would ever
take an interest in another human. Phena still wore her disguise
most of the time allowing her to look like a normal human. She
didn’t draw much attention, but then again with Avalanche still
running around, they didn’t need much help in that area.

“Do you think Phena would make a good
mother?” Cass asked as he watched Phena out of the corner of his
eye.

The question caught Bren by surprise. On the
long rides, there was little to do but think and talk to those
around him, but Bren never thought that Cass would bring up
anything of a personal nature. The warrior liked to pick at Bren’s
open wounds but never offered himself up for the same
treatment.

“I’m sure that she would make a suitable
mother for the child of a warrior,” Bren replied, trying to imagine
what such a child would be like.

“I think so as well,” Cass said with a half
hidden grin. “Now, if only she would think along the same
lines.”

“What did you need the oil for?” Bren asked
desperately trying to change the topic. He was used to Cass talking
about women, but Phena was his sister, and that was the last person
he wanted to think of in that light…It just felt wrong. “You know
that if we need light I can just use Thuraman or my own magic to
create it.”

“The oil is in case we need to make a fire
for other reasons,” Cass responded. “I think it would be best if
you kept your use of magic to only when it is absolutely
necessary.”

“Why?” Bren asked looking at his friend with
a raised eyebrow.

“There is the chance that you could lose
yourself like you did the other day against the Brotherhood,” Cass
replied.

“That won’t happen again,” Bren retorted a
little embarrassed.

“Why take the chance?” Cass replied his voice
natural with no hint of condemnation, but it made Bren feel even
more embarrassed about his mistake.

Bren remained quiet for the rest of the ride,
filling his mind with what he was going to do once he reached the
valley. He had been so obsessed with simply reaching the valley, he
had given no thought to how he would open the door to get to his
father. “Any ideas?” Bren asked Thuraman, knowing the staff was
listening into his thoughts.

I am sure that you will think of something
once we reach our destination.

“So you don’t know either,” Bren said to
himself.

Shortly after midday, Bren felt an odd
tingling and turned just in time to see Phena block a bolt of
lightning with a hastily made shield. Bren turned his horse around
and galloped back toward the rear of the line only to find a small
group of Brotherhood soldiers quickly advancing on them. “Why is
there a mage with the Brotherhood?” Bren asked wide-eyed, pulling
his sword from its sheath.

“It’s rare, but from what my father said,
there were mages in the high levels of the Brotherhood back during
the war in Rane,” Cass said, releasing his own sword from its
sheath.

Bren raised his hand and started to pull in
magical energy but Cass grabbed his arm and pulled his hand down.
“Not unless you have too,” Cass said with a deadly calm look.

Bren nodded his head and released the magic
he had gathered and looked at his sword. It looked like such a
small and weak weapon compared to his magic. Why shouldn’t he use
magic? He could control it and easily take care of the soldiers
without putting anyone in danger. Bren started to feel anger
welling inside of him, but he forced it away. Every day he felt the
need to use magic more and more, and he knew it was wrong, but he
still wanted to feel its power.

The need to feel the magic reminded Bren of
the people who were addicted to talowart. It was a small plant that
grew wild in most mountain ranges and was often used to lessen
pain, but when overused, made people slowly lose their mind. Bren
had heard more than one story where a talo fiend had been arrested
by the city guard after losing their mind, often hurting themselves
or others in the process.

When Phena let loose a torrent of bolts that
flashed from her hand, striking the forerunner of the soldiers in
the chest and knocking him off his horse, Bren could almost taste
the magic in the air, and the urge to use it himself grew even
stronger, but he fought against the urge. Biting on his lower lip,
Bren felt a trickle of blood run down his chin as he wished the
soldiers would hurry up so that he would have something to draw his
mind from his desire to use magic.

While Phena took down rider after rider with
her magic, Hayao started firing arrows into those that slipped past
her attacks. By the time the riders reached the main group, only a
handful remained astride their horses without some sort of
damage.

Bren held his sword low down by his leg as he
leaned close to his horse readying to attack. Just as he was about
to spur his horse, Avalanche appeared, jumping and barreling into
the rider Bren had targeted, knocking him to the ground, and
quickly ripping the man apart. Gritting his teeth, Bren wedged his
heels into the horse's ribs as he looked for an opponent.

Bren felt blessed as a Brotherhood soldier
appeared in front of him, his horse turned to the side as he
maneuvered to attack the mage that was wielding magic to their
group’s devastation. He put up no defense as his eyes were
elsewhere, but Bren still felt a sickly satisfaction as the man’s
head rolled free of his shoulders and fell to the ground.

Within a few heartbeats, the fight was over
and the ground was littered with the dead or dying bodies of the
Brotherhood. After quickly looking over the corpses and gathering
what they could, Cass gathered the two remaining horses and tied
them together so they could be lead easily.

They rode for a few more hours and quickly
made camp far from the path. That night, they ate cold sandwiches
with no fire. Luckily, it was still mid-summer, and the night air
was still warm, so the fire wasn’t missed.

“How did they catch up to us?” Bren asked,
waving his food around as if it were a weapon. “Even if they left
the others behind, we were riding at a good pace and made sure not
to leave much in the way of tracks. There is no way that they
should have known where we were.”

“It was the mage,” Phena said
offhandedly.

“Well at least the mage is dead then,” Brenda
said angrily.

“No he is still alive,” Phena said with a bit
of bite to her words. “He is fairly powerful as well to be able to
strike us from far enough away that I couldn’t sense him. I would
guess that he is skilled in energy and wind magic, allowing him to
speed up and carry other soldiers as well as track Bren’s unique
magical output.”

“So you’re saying that this mage can simply
pick up others and bring them right to where we are?” Cass asked,
looking into the darkness.

“I doubt that we have to worry again,” Phena
replied. “Even if he is as strong as Bren, it would take a lot of
energy to push as many soldiers as he did, and even then he has to
return to the main force. As long as we continue at the same pace
and pull further and further away, it will take more energy for the
mage to catch up to us.

“I still don’t find that very reassuring,”
Cass said, his eyes still darting around looking for any sign of
intruders.

“Why would a mage ever help the Brotherhood?”
Jin asked with a hint of disgust to his voice.

“The only way to know the answer to that
question would be to ask the mage himself,” Bren offered. “The
Brotherhood is a religion, and when it comes to feelings of belief,
rational doesn’t always come into play. Most likely, he is just a
firm believer of the Brotherhood and their cause.”