Forgotten Mage (17 page)

“Whatever you think is best master
Sae-Thae,” Bren said as the pit of his stomach fell. Nothing was
going like he had dreamed it would when he first left the palace.
His only hope was that nothing else would go wrong.

“What’s all this master business?”
Sae-Thae said, slapping Bren playfully on the arm. “I remember a
time when you couldn’t even say my name right and chased after me
calling me ‘Sathe.’ I do miss the time when I was simply your uncle
Sathe.”

“Mother always said that there was a
time for names and there was a time for titles. You are my teacher
now, so master seems to fit better,” Bren said, giving the old
vathari a weak smile.

“Then I won’t complain if you call me
master in public, but when we are alone or in my office, Sae-Thae
or even uncle will do…It has been ages since you have called me
uncle.”

“From what Phena said, I wouldn’t think
what you were called would matter much,” Bren said, his smile
widening a bit more.

“Isophena…That girl is a bit different,
but she is right for most of my people at least. Like her, I have
human blood running in my veins; though, it was my grandfather and
not my father who was the source. He was the last living mage that
sought asylum from the Brotherhood. So, I might be a little
different than most my kin. I enjoy making bonds and friends…It is
one of the reasons your father intrigued me so much, and the same
reason I accepted his request to run the Tower…at least for a
time.”

“I don’t know, Phena and Faye both see
like completely different species,” Bren said laughing.

“That they are,” Sae-Thae replied,
joining in the laugh. “They are women, and no knowledge in this
world can tell you what they are thinking, or what they might do.
You have a better chance of predicating how a leaf might fall in a
windstorm than what a woman is thinking.”

“I am glad I am not the only one who is
at a loss then.”

“That you are not boy,” Sae-Thae
replied as he started to walk toward the door. “Now get some rest…
tomorrow I fear will be even tougher on you then the previous days
have been.

Taking the mage’s advice, Bren laid
down and closed his eyes. He had been going to sleep late and
waking early each morning since he had arrived at the magic city. A
good night’s rest, or days rest for that matter would do him some
good.

Bren didn’t know how long he slept
before he felt his mother tugging once again at his dreams. She
knew where he was, so he saw no harm in letting her pull him in.
Though he did keep a small line of thought focused back toward the
darkness and he was dragged under.

As the darkness cleared, Bren found
himself in his mother’s study, surrounded by all the books he had
grown up reading. Most of them were about politics and the history
of Farlan, but a select few were tucked away just for fancy. It had
been almost a game growing up, trying to ferret out those books
from the others. Over time, he had grown not only to love the
stories he found, but also the histories that they were hidden
among.

“I see that you finally decided to make
an appearance Bren,” his mother’s voice said, more than a little
harshly. “Honestly, I would like to know how you were able to keep
me away…not even your father figured out how to do that. Though
there were times that he would make me so mad that I could no
longer hold together this little dream world.”

“I don’t know,” Bren replied
sheepishly, afraid that if he told her the truth, she would find a
way to force him into her dreams without his permission.

“We have heard from master Sae-Thae
that you have made it to the Tower,” Maria said, giving her son a
deadly look, filled with venom. “I had figured that was where you
had gone, but all of my spies swore to me that you had yet to
arrive.”

“I didn’t want to come home mother…I
need to be here… Sae-Thae is training me,” Bren replied, shuffling
his feet against the imaginary carpet in the room.

“I don’t think so young man,” Maria
said, her voice rising to such a high pitch that Bren eyes pinched
together in pain. “I am on my way there now… and as soon as I
arrive, you will be getting on the coach and headed straight back
to the capital young man.”

“Mother I won’t” Bren said
determinedly.

“We will see about that young man,”
Maria said before the darkness rushed in around him, forcing him
out of the dream. Bren tried to fight to hold the dream in place,
but it slipped through his fingers like water.

CHAPTER XIV

The next morning Bren woke, well before
sunrise. His body was a little stiff, but most the aches had fled
during the night. Feeling refreshed, Bren hurried to his room to
change and prepare for his daily routine at the academy.

The walk through the town seemed
abnormally dark. Bren had never been fond of the darkness. He
always felt as if someone was watching him. After the third time
checking over his shoulder, Bren picked up his pace moving at a
near run with the palm of his hand gripping the hilt of his sword
tightly.

When the academy fields came into
sight, Bren breathed a sigh of relief. The knowledge that his
friends were so close comforted him.

Like he did every day, Bren went to the
storeroom to start cleaning. The first few days, he had found the
task daunting, but now as his nerves were still frayed from his
walk and he found it comforting. It was long after he arrived that
the storeroom door opened.

“I was hoping that I would find you
here,” Cass’s friendly voice said. “We heard that you had an
accident up at the Tower. That has to be the first time that the
Weapons Master has allowed a trainee to miss without a huge
punishment.”

“Really… surely trainees get sick like
everyone else,” Bren said skeptically.

“That they do, and the Weapons Master
will let them sit in bed if they wish, but once they are well…”
Cass let his words drift off ominously.

“I hope you’re right about him not
giving me any extra work…I don’t think I could handle it,” Bren
said with a wry smile.

“Oh, he might have thought about it,
but that little lady that came over to tell him about your accident
made it clear that Master Sae-Thae wouldn’t hear of any reprimand
for your absence. The Weapons Master might argue with any other
mage at the Tower, but not Sae-Thae,” Cass said with a slight
chuckle.

“I have known Sae-Thae my whole life
and I can never see him getting mad at anyone,” Bren replied,
trying to picture the elder vathari mage facing off against the
much younger warrior.

“I remember when I first came here five
years ago. Sae-Thae and the Weapons Master at the time had a
disagreement about his trainee’s treatment of some of the younger
mages from the Tower. Three days after their disagreement, a host
of vathari soldiers escorted him to the border... It was
impressive.”

Bren had seen a few groups of vathari
warriors and knew they were imposing, but he still couldn’t see
Sae-Thae ordering such an action. “Do we have any extra leather
straps?” Bren asked, noticing a deep rut in one of the shield’s
harness straps.

“There are some in the back cage,” Cass
said. “Here, I will show you. They can be hard to find when you
don’t know where to look.”

Bren and Cass continued to clean and
work together for another two hours before any of the other
trainees started to arrive.

“Well, seeing that the rest of your
friends have arrived, it means it’s time for my group to take their
morning run,” Cass said, waving bye to Bren and running out of the
storeroom.

Bren watched his friend go, then looked
around at the others who had come to join him. Even though they
weren’t all bad guys, Bren didn’t talk to them much. Morus seemed
to be the ring leader of the other kids, and that meant that the
other boys kept their distance, making it hard for Bren to make any
real friends. Bren wished that Jacob would let him train with the
older boys so that he could at least have someone to talk
to.

Bren laughed to himself. His first few
days, he had thought the older boys got to sleep in. He was
surprised when Cass dispelled that rumor. They got up at the same
time as they younger trainees, but instead of cleaning weapons and
armor, they did double the amount of exercise. Most mornings, they
could be found running around the entire city…which was more than
eight miles in diameter.

As always, after an hour of cleaning,
it was time for their daily exercise. The day before, they had ran,
so today would be push-ups and other physically demanding tasks
along with drinking water. Bren didn’t so much mind the physical
aspect of the morning drills, but all the water he was forced to
drink always made him feel a bit heavy. He almost swore that the
Weapons Master thought that one should be able to drink a gallon of
water within the space of a breath and was always trying to make
them do so. “Drink water,” Bren yelled in his own mind as he
started working the pells. “The mighty battle cry.”

The rest of the day proceeded as normal
with the exception that Morus didn’t make one snide comment to him.
It felt more than a little lonely without even Morus’s jeers to
keep him company. Cass was once again assigned to their group as
interim trainer for the day, while Jacob worked with one of the
other groups. Bren had noticed that it worked on a rotation. Jacob
and the other two instructors would work with each group, switching
day to day unless on group needed more attention than the others.
This was rarely the case. Bren didn’t know if the Weapons Master
put Cass with them regularly because of him or not, but he doubted
that was the case. Nonetheless he was grateful for it.

Cass spilt the group into pairs with
similar skills. Since there was an odd number of trainees, Bren
would normally be paired with Morus while Cass worked with whoever
seemed to need the most attention, though he would often switch
between different trainees so that he worked with each. Today
seemed to be different as Morus was paired off with someone else
and Cass pulled him aside to work.

“Thank all that is holy, I don’t have
to work with Morus today,” Bren said in relief as he faced off
against Cass.

“I don’t know if you will be too
grateful once I am done with you,” Cass said, arching his eyebrow.
“This was on the Weapons Masters orders. It seems that even against
Morus, you haven’t lost a single spar. The Weapons Master thinks
that you might need more challenging opponents.”

“Does that mean he will move me into a
different group?” Bren asked hopefully.

“No, the groups are based on when they
started the academy, not by age or ability. Not to mention, the
trouble with your rage is still a large issue that has to be dealt
with. I hear the weapon master has been dreaming up some ‘special’
exercises for you.”

“That doesn’t sound very…” Bren began
to say, but his words were stopped dead when Cass attacked head on.
Unlike the previous times Bren had fought against Cass, the older
fighter didn’t slow or pull any attacks. In the space of a few
heartbeats, Bren had been struck numerous times, each one a death
strike. Whenever Bren thought that he was beginning to catch onto
Cass’s tempo, it would suddenly change and an unexpected strike
would catch him off guard, sending him back or to the ground
painfully.

After more than an hour of sparing,
Bren found himself sitting in the dirt, rubbing one of his many
bruises. Everything hurt, and his breath was coming with great
strain. “You could at least let me get in one strike,” Bren said,
pushing himself to his feet by sheer will.

“If I did that, you wouldn’t have truly
earned it,” Cass replied with a smirk. “If you think this is bad,
wait until tonight when the Weapons Master starts his
training.”

Groaning, Bren brought his sword to the
ready, his arm barely able to hold the tip of the blade up anymore.
“Then I will just have to earn it.”

That afternoon, as Bren headed back to
the Tower, everything hurt. He was sure that if he was to stand in
front of the mirror, he would look almost like a vathari with all
the new welts and bruises that covered his body. He thought about
stopping at one of the foot carts, but he hurt so bad and was so
tired that even the act of chewing seemed to be too
much.

The long walk back to the Tower was bad
enough, but the endless stairs to reach Sae-Thae’s chambers was
even worse. Each time he brought up his foot to take the next step,
it was as if he was having to pick up and move the whole
building.

“What happened to you?” A soft voice
asked from behind Bren.

Turning around, Bren found Faye
standing on the steps below him. “Had an argument with a sword,”
Bren said with a strained smile. “It kept thinking that I was a
pell…I tried to tell it otherwise, but it just didn’t seem to
listen.” Bren chuckled at his own joke, but Faye just stared on as
if he was speaking gibberish.

“What is a pell?” she asked, cocking
her head slightly to the side and looking at him with a blank
expression.

Bren laughed so hard that he doubled
over. “Please don’t make me laugh…It hurts too much,” Bren said
after he was able to catch his breath.