Forgotten Mage (19 page)

“I do not think that wise Maria,”
Sae-Thae said in his normal causal tone.

“I don’t think I asked your opinion
about what to do with MY son,” Maria replied, giving the vathari
mage a harsh look. “Let us be off Bren…”

“No,” Bren said, closing his eyes so
that he wouldn’t have to look at his mother’s face.

“What did you say young man?” Maria
asked, the pitch of her voice rising slightly.

“No mother…I have to stay,” Bren said
with more confidence than he felt.

“What you have to do, is listen to your
mother,” Maria said. Bren felt something grab his arm and pull him
forward.

Bren pulled free of his mother’s grasp
and quickly took a step back. “No,” he said again, as the years of
frustration and anger began to boil to the top.

“Bren, you need to calm down,” Bren
barely head Sae-Thae said through the pounding in his head. “Mages
must be in control of their emotions at all times, remember what
Master Carnear has taught you.”

Bren could hear Sae-Thae’s words, but
they meant little to him at the moment. He had lived with his
mother controlling everything he did for so long, and now that he
had finally stepped outside of her reach, there she was trying to
pull him back in. “I will not go home,” Bren said
forcibly.

Bren opened his eyes, but everything
was white. Loud noises assaulted his ears, along with the familiar
sound of crackling. Panicking, Bren tried to cut off the flow of
magic that he had unleashed, but it was like a feral creature let
out of its cage. “Mother… Sae-Thae,” Bren cried as his knees began
to buckle, as more and more power rushed through him. As the strain
grew too much for him to bear, Bren felt his mind grow hazy and his
eyes heavy. He didn’t try to fight it, he simply let the darkness
take him, hoping that whatever he had unleashed would
end.

When Bren woke, he found himself once
again in the medical ward, his body screaming in pain. He tried to
move, but nothing seemed to work. Tilting his head slightly, Bren
noticed that almost all of his body was wrapped in bandages, and
most of those were tinted a light red. He cared little for that
though. His true fear was that something had happened to his family
or Sae-Thae. He might have been mad at his mother and sister, but
he wished that no harm had come to them.

When the medical mages noticed that he
was awake, he tried to get information from them. All they could
tell him for certain, was that Master Sae-Thae had been uninjured
and that many others had not been so lucky. Unable to shift his
body to look around, Bren closed his eyes and listened. In the
distance, he could hear many others in the room, some talking,
others whimpering in pain.

It was less than a half hour after he
had awaken that Sae-Thae came to the medical ward. The vathari
looked good, with the exception of a large burn that covered the
right side of his face. “Did I do that?” Bren asked as soon as the
elder mage was within hearing distance.

Sae-Thae ran his fingers over the burn
on his face, never showing any pain. “Yes, though I was the least
of those caught in your little tantrum,” He said harshly, causing
Bren’s stomach to drop.

“My mother…”

“Is fine, and so is your sister,”
Sae-Thae finished for him. “It seems as if the woman had enough
sense to use one of your father’s shield rings to protect them from
the magical onslaught, but many others were not so lucky. Before
you ask, no one died, but there are more than a few who are going
to spend a fortnight within these walls, not to mention my office
is gone.”

“Thank all that is holy,” Bren said as
he breathed a sigh of relief. “Wait…Your office is gone?” He asked,
as the rest of the mages words started to sink into his
mind.

“Yes, it is gone, along with almost
everything that was within it,” Sae-Thae grumpily. “Some of those
tombs and artifacts have been around since before the Fae
War.”

“I’m sorry,” Bren said, trying to duck
his head.

Sae-Thae, noticing what he had said,
waved his hand in the air. “It’s not your fault…it is mine. I
should have foresaw the chance for disaster, and had our meeting
with your mother in a more open area…like a deserted island,”
Sae-Thae added with a thin smile.

“Where is my mother?” Bren asked after
a long pause of silence.

“She is currently getting her retune
situated…It seems as if she plans to stay in town for a bit…though
if it makes you feel better, she didn’t seem as keen to take you
back home when she left.”

“Of course she didn’t…who wants a
monster living in their home?” Bren said angrily.

“Self-pity does not become you…Nor
anyone for that matter. Your mother would love you, even should you
be turned into something beyond imagining. I think she was just in
shock, or maybe she can see the need for you to stay and train now.
She is a smart woman and I am sure that she noticed the potential
for disaster if you don’t learn control.”

“Bren, are you alright?” Faye said in a
shrill voice, as she ran over to his bed.

“I think it is time I take my leave,”
Sae-Thae said, giving Bren a sidelong smile that he didn’t quite
understand.

“I will live…or, at least I think so,”
Bren said, trying to smile, but the pain making it hard to
hold.

“One of the other mages said that when
they saw you, you looked near death,” Faye said, looking over his
heavily bandaged body. “You should be more careful.”

“For once we agree on something,”
Phena’s voice rang out from behind them.

Bren held in a groan. Every time the
two girls were in the same room, it always ended badly, and he was
in no state to deal with their fighting today.

“What in the nine hells were you
thinking?” Phena said, giving Bren a stern glare which was quickly
mimicked by Faye. It was almost as if a floodgate had been opened,
as the two girls began telling him everything that he had ever done
wrong in their presence. He didn’t know how two girls, that seemed
to hate each other so much, could work so well when it came to
telling him where he made a mistake.

“It is good to know that other people
are pointing out your shortcomings,” Bren’s mother said, coming up
behind the three.

Turning around, Faye tried to bow to
the queen, it coming out clumsy and nearly landing the girl on her
face. Phena on the other hand, simply stared at the woman in her
normal, cold fashion.

“If you two don’t mind, I would like a
bit of time alone with my son.” Maria said in a clear kind voice.
One that she often used when greeting foreign
dignitaries.

“Of course Your Majesty…Let us go
Isophena,” Faye said turning to leave.

“I think I will stay…I have not
finished giving the little mongrel half of the brow beating he
deserves,” Phena said coldly.

“Young lady this is a family matter so
if you would please…” Maria began to.

“And Bren is my Brother, so I think I
would qualify as family,” Phena said, cutting the queen off
mid-sentence.

“Excuse me!” Maria said, her face
turning white as her eyes widened.

“I said, Bren is my brother… Thaddeus
Torin was my father,” Phena declared openly.

For Bren, it was as if the whole world
had stopped. He could see the words hit his mother as if they were
a weapon. Faye also seemed shocked at the news, and it dawned on
Bren that he had not yet told his friend the news.

“One moment please,” Maria said, her
words calm, but Bren could see her small fists clinched tightly.
“Sae-Thae!” Bren heard his mother’s voice yell, after she had left
his room.

“You’re his sister?” Faye asked, her
face lax in a look of complete confusion. “I thought
that…”

Phena looked at the other girl and gave
a loud laugh. “No…not in the least. Even if he wasn’t related by
blood, he’s just too weak willed for me,” Phena said, still
laughing.

“What are you talking about?” Bren
asked, oblivious to the meaning behind their words.

“Nothing that concerns you… Now, we
better leave before his mother returns...Or before Master Sae-Thae
arrives. I don’t think he will be too happy with me at the moment,”
Phena said chuckling.

“Then why did you tell her?” Bren
exclaimed. “Life would have been so much easier if that was one
thing she never learned of.”

“It was more to get back at master
Sae-Thae,” Phena admitted honestly. “Back home, it was celebrated
that I was the daughter of Master Torin, but here Master Sae-Thae
wanted me to keep it a secret. I pushed him on the need to hide it,
but he always said that it was a difference in culture. I don’t see
why my kind must keep our culture a secret, just so that we don’t
hurt your sensibilities.”

“I think he was more afraid of my
mother than he let on,” Bren said, listening to the echo of his
mother, calling for the elder mage.

“Right now, I would be hiding under the
deepest rock,” Faye said chuckling. “I bet your father is glad that
he’s not here to catch her wrath,” she added. She suddenly realized
the meaning of her words, “Bren I’m sorry, that’s not what I
meant.”

“Its fine,” Bren assured her. “I am
sure that if he popped out of wherever he went right now, he would
agree that it would be better to jump back,” Bren added with a thin
smile.

Bren was laughing a bit inside as the
two girls left. He imagined Sae-Thae hiding under his desk from his
mother.

“Where’s Avalanche?” A small voice said
from the doorway. “I haven’t seen her around and I know she’s not
at home, she’s been gone since you left,” Princess Sandrea said,
stepping into his room.

Bren thought for a moment, but couldn’t
remember the last time he had seen the rock hound. “I don’t rightly
know, haven’t seen her in days. You know how she is, could be
anywhere.”

“You know mother cried after you left…a
lot,” Sandrea said, her arms crossed in front of her as she looked
at him with a pinched face. Bren knew that she was trying to look
intimidating, but at her age it just didn’t have the same effect
that his mother’s did.

“She was just mad that I didn’t do what
she wanted,” Bren replied.

“I don’t know, she was really worried,”
Sandrea said, her brow furrowing a bit. “She kept pacing in her
study, saying that she couldn’t reach you. I don’t know how she
expected to reach you, but she was really worried that she
couldn’t.”

Bren remembered the dream talks he had
with his mother. It would seem that she kept her ability a secret,
though thinking about it, it was clear why. If she could pull other
people into her dreams, then she could get information from them
without them even realizing it. That would be something to keep a
secret, otherwise it might start a war. “Did you miss me as well?”
Bren asked, hoping to change the topic of the
conversation.

“No,” Sandrea snapped quickly. “I just
thought you should know that you had mother worried. I could care
less if you came home.” Though her words were full of spite, Bren
knew his sister well enough to tell when she was lying.

“That is good, because I don’t plan to
come home anytime soon,” Bren replied teasingly.

“You won’t have a choice, mother will
make you,” Sandrea said, suddenly not so sure of
herself.

“I think I hear mother in fact, either
that, or a group of high pitched mages are coming this way
muttering loudly under their breath,” Bren said as the sound of
Maria cursing her late husband came closer to the room.

“I better go, mother thinks I am still
at the inn,” Sandrea said before she rushed from the
room.

Seconds after his sister had left, his
mother once again came into the room, holding her right hand and
rubbing her slightly red knuckles. “I swear, you men never think
past your trousers,” she said angrily. “Now, Sae-Thae said that
until you can control your magic, not only are other people in
danger, but you are as well. So, I can’t very well take you home
and lock you in one of the palace towers and wait for you to
destroy yourself. You can stay here, but only for as long as it
takes to learn to control yourself,” Maria declared, her voice
leaving little room for discussion.

“Mother, it is not that simple,” Bren
tried to explain.

“It is simple enough,” Maria exclaimed,
trying to wipe the few tears that had escaped away before they were
noticed. “I lost your father due to his fool love of magic, and I
will not lose his son,” she said before storming out of the room,
leaving Bren alone.

Tired out from all the commotion of
the day, Bren laid his head back and allowed himself to drift off
to sleep. His mother had agreed to let him stay, for now at least.
The rest could be dealt with later, when he wasn’t hurting so
bad.

“I was wondering how your wife would
take the knowledge that you had other children…well, so far she
only knows of the one. I wonder what she would do if she knew there
were two others,” Humanius said, as if he was enjoying the story
unfold.

“I think, that if I do ever get home, I
won’t be there long before Maria kills me,” Thad said, his heart
beating in his chest. It only felt like weeks since he had been
gone, but years had passed. For him, not near long enough for him
to miss his wife when she was angry. “Maybe it would be best if I
stayed here until my wife is in her early nineties,” Thad said,
only half joking.