God Mage (18 page)

Bren quickly gathered his things and tried to
run, but running in a sea of glass was not easy. It was much the
same as running in powdery sand, yet not only did it slightly suck
up, it also cut at your skin.

While the storm didn’t seem to harm the
Brotherhood much, it did cause them to get separated from each
other. Given the situation, it wasn’t much to be thankful for, but
it was better than nothing. Thankfully, the soldiers were a bit
disorientated, giving Bren and the others a chance to gain a little
distance but not much.

Bren was afraid that the Brotherhood would
start raining down arrows on their head making him continue to look
back at the pursuing soldiers. When they had made more than two
miles, it became clear to Bren that either the soldiers didn’t have
bows or they were more interested in capture than death. He wasn’t
sure which one it was, but he really didn’t care.

It didn’t take long before everyone began to
grow tired of running. Bren still felt as if he had just awoken,
but the others were not blessed with his body. Looking back Bren
noticed the Brotherhood had also started to slow down and were
falling farther and farther behind with each passing mile.

It wasn’t long before the Brotherhood stopped
completely to make camp. Even with the leeway that they had gained
over the passing day, they still couldn’t afford the risk of
stopping within sight of the Brotherhood. They needed sleep, and
knowing the Brotherhood, they would send more than one foray into
their camp to keep them from resting. The more distance they
gained, the less they would have to deal with them.

As they pushed forward without a single hint
of stopping, no one said a word, not even Brenda who loved to
complain. Most of the time she didn’t even mean half the things she
said; she just enjoyed getting a rise out of the others. She
enjoyed a good row, but she knew when it was not the time to start
one. They all knew that they couldn’t stop, and even bringing it
up, only reminded them what waited behind them.

By the time Cass finally decided that it was
time for them to stop, Bren noticed that everyone was starting to
drag their feet, creating shallow grooves in the glass. Though
Bren’s body didn’t need a lot, he still needed to sleep. It would
seem that his brain was the one thing that didn’t get stronger
after the change. In fact, the more magic he used, the more sleep
he needed. The urge to resist the call of the large amount of magic
flowing around him was even more tiring so he felt as if he had not
slept in a year.

Bren searched for his bedroll but quickly
remembered what had become of it. He searched through his pack for
a spare but he knew that he hadn’t brought one. Sighing, Bren
looked at the glass covered ground and let out a heavy sigh.

“You could crawl into mine,” Faye said with a
slight blush.

Bren and Faye had spent a few nights together
in inns but each time the bed had been rather large giving them
plenty of room. Her bedroll would mean they would have to hug each
other close just to stay covered, and with how cold the wind got at
night being covered was very important. “Okay,” Bren said weakly as
he tried not to let his emotions go wild, knowing that if they did
he would lose control and the magic inside him would take over.

Faye let Bren lay down first then she crawled
in behind him pushing in so close that he could feel her heartbeat
pulsing against his back. When she wrapped her arms around him
clutching on to his shoulders Bren let out an audible gulp.

As cold as the night air was, Bren soon
believed that sleeping on the open ground would have allowed him to
sleep easier. Within moments he could hear Faye’s rhythmic
breathing as she drifted off to sleep, her warm breath tickled the
small hairs on the back of his neck. Closing his eyes, Bren tried
to think of when he was smaller and his sister used to crawl into
his bed. As he thought about his sister, Bren felt slightly
homesick for the first time since he had left Farlan, but it did
help him drift off to sleep.

As Bren finally slept, he felt something
touch his mind and instantly he knew that it was his mother. He
thought it a bit odd that he had thought about his sister then his
mother started calling him in his sleep. Letting the irony slip out
of his mind, Bren allowed the darkness to surround him and pull him
in. As always, it was an odd feeling, like being dipped in thick
lukewarm oil.

As the darkness cleared, Bren found himself
standing in his own throne room in Torin. Finding the choice of
location slightly odd, Bren walked up and took a seat on the raised
oaken throne that sat in the middle of the room. For most kings,
the chair wouldn’t pass for a dinner chair, but for Bren it was the
best in the whole building.

“Hello mother,” Bren said turning to find his
mother standing in the center of the room. “I figured I would find
myself in Farlan.”

“You are not just my son anymore,” Maria said
sounding slightly insulted. “You are a king by your own right, and
weather I like it or not, I should follow the rules. That means
that if I call upon you, then I should enter your house, not force
you to come to mine.”

“I see,” Bren replied.

“My spies have told me that you have not been
in Torin for quite some time,” Maria said with her eyes slightly
squinted. “I hope nothing has happened to dispose of you for such a
long time.” Maria moved closer and took a good look at him. “Is the
silver coloring my fault or is it some new look you are trying
on?”

A hundred things flashed through Bren’s mind
in the matter of seconds. In the end he decided that hiding things
from his mother at this point would be rude, not only as a son but
as a fellow monarch as well. Torin needed Farlan to survive, but
Farlan had survived without the mages for centuries and could
continue to do so. “It is a long story,” Bren said, lowering his
head slightly. “If you wish to hear it, I am willing to tell
though.”

“So easily,” Maria said the look on her face,
one between curiosity and concern. “If you are going to be so
willing, then I will have to take you up on the offer.”

Bren started by telling his mother why he had
left Torin. She was a little mad at him at first, but when she
learned that Thad might still be alive, her face lit up slightly
but quickly cooled to its normal cold and emotionless demeanor.
When he got to the part in the story where he rushed the
Brotherhood camp alone, she became furious, but seeing that he was
still alive, it was short lived. When he reached their current
situation, all she could do was shake her head.

“It seems that you have the same ability as
your father to find yourself in trouble,” Maria said, her voice
cold and with just a hint of concern. “It is too late for me to
tell you to turn back, but…” Maria said her voice breaking
slightly. “I know I don’t say it much, but I do love you dear…. I
do wish to see your father again but…just don’t risk your own
life…. Neither I nor your father would want that.”

Bren gave a wilting smile as his mother’s
words struck him hard. Bren couldn’t remember the last time his
mother had said such words, or allowed her emotions to show to such
a degree. Bren thought of many things he wanted to say, but the
darkness started to close in around him signaling that his meeting
was soon to come to an end. “I miss you mother,” was the last words
he said as the darkness came rushing in around him.

Bren opened his eyes slightly as he woke and
found that the others were still asleep. Taking a deep breath, Bren
closed his eyes again and tried to go back to sleep but found that
no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t. After what felt like
hours, Bren gave up and carefully removed himself from Faye’s grasp
and walked over to where Cass had a small fire going.

“Don’t you ever sleep?” Bren asked his
friend.

“I already got a few hours of sleep. I was
planning to wake you for the next watch if it makes you feel
better,” Cass said with a short laugh.

“Go ahead and get some sleep,” Bren said,
pushing his friend toward his bedroll. “I don’t see myself going
back to sleep tonight.

Cass didn’t argue and quietly went to his own
bedroll to get what sleep he could before it was once again time to
start their tireless trek.

T
he next morning,
they started walking as soon as they noticed the Brotherhood’s
campfire starting to dwindle. No one was looking forward to walking
through the glass dunes again but with little choice, they quickly
gathered up their gear and started their march. After they had been
walking for more than three hours, the sky started to lighten, and
the ground started to become more solid. Soon they were no longer
walking on glass but on solid earth. Initially, it felt great to
have solid ground beneath their feet again, but it didn’t take long
for the small slivers of glass to start digging farther into their
feet as they pounded solidly against the ground.

Bren could hear the moans of pain coming from
his friends, but there was little he could do about it. The magical
energy that had filled their air thinned a bit but it was still far
stronger than Bren was sure that he could handle, and he had
learned better than to tempt fate.

As they crested a large hill, Bren got his
first glimpse of the large mountain they had been searching for,
and at the base of the mountain was what appeared to be a village,
though it was hard to be sure from their distance.

“Finally, civilization,” Brenda said nearly
squalling.

With the sky opened up, they could once again
see the sky, and by the time the sun set, they were still half a
day’s walk from the mountain village. Tired and with bleeding feet,
Cass called everyone to a stop for camp.

Even though they were out of the glass
desert, everything they owned was still covered in glittering glass
slivers that were impossible to dislodge. Cass and the others spent
the first hour of camp using steel needles to dig out the slivers
imbedded in their flesh as best they could, but Bren was sure that
it would take over a week of constant digging to get every last one
free. If only he had the use of his magic, he could use it to make
their flesh push them out as it healed. If it was wood or metal he
could just pull them out, but since it was glass, he would have to
use their bodies to push them out. In the end, Bren’s thought
process was meaningless as he still couldn’t risk using magic.

Even though they were all tired, no one went
straight to bed. Knowing that a city was only miles away had them
all excited like children the day before a large festival. With
none of the Brotherhood soldiers in sight, Cass felt safe enough to
allow them to build a larger fire to help stave off the cool night
air, and they gathered around it talking for the first time in a
long while.

Bren remained quiet and listened as the
others talked. He was never much for idle banter, but he did enjoy
listening as he watched the others. Faye took a seat right next to
him, pulling his arm snugly over her shoulder. Bren noticed that
Phena had done the same thing with Cass and even Brenda looked to
be enjoying herself with Jin. Lillian and Shariel were the only two
who seemed to be alone, though many of the guards were doing their
best to impress them. Bren knew that spending time with others was
the only real way to get to know them, but it was not the best way
to find a lover, or so his sword instructor had said, but given
what they had gone through, Bren was not going to bring that up,
not now at least.

As they sat around the fire and talked,
Avalanche stood and gave a large bellowing howl. Everyone grabbed
their weapons and searched the darkness for any signs of life. It
wasn’t long before Bren felt someone using magic. He looked toward
the source but saw only darkness, but it was darkness that seemed
out of place. “Over there,” Bren said, pointing to where he felt
the mage.

Bren’s word was all Hayao needed as he pulled
his bow from his back and fired his only three remaining arrows
into the abnormal darkness. The wood shafts disappeared but they
all heard the screams of whoever was on the receiving end of
them.

As the scream died down the veil of darkness
fell and Bren noticed two things. The first was more than a hundred
Brotherhood soldiers were staring them in the eye. The other was
the Brotherhood mage, whose face was pale white and his eyes an off
shade of pink. The mage looked like a mad dog as he started to
growl and yell as he foamed at the mouth.

“I thought they couldn’t use magic,” Cass
said, holding his sword in front of him as he readied for the
impending attack.

“He couldn’t at least not for long,” Bren
said, looking at the mad man. “It has ripped his mind apart.”

“I see,” Cass said as he watched the mage
start to attack his own men.

One of the soldiers wearing gold trimmed
armor calmly beheaded the wild mage and turned his attention back
to Bren and the group. “Lay down your weapons and submit to your
fate,” he yelled in a bellowing voice that seemed to carry on the
wind. “If you do, then all those that are not cursed with demon
blood will be allowed to leave this place with their lives.”

“I don’t think so,” Cass yelled back. “If we
were going to do thatthen we would have long ago instead of walking
through that god-forsaken desert.

The soldier reply was a single word as he
pointed his sword toward Cass. “Charge!”

The Brotherhood rushed them like a flood.
Bren tried to stay close to Faye as he fought, but it didn’t take
long for everyone to become separated as they fought to survive. As
Bren ducked one blade, another came in before he could respond with
his own attack. It was all he could do to block, giving him little
no chance of attacking.