Forgotten Mage (24 page)

Once every place was checked, and no
other people were left hiding in the water, Bren was allowed to go
inside the bathhouse. After undressing, Bren eased himself into the
hot water, and instantly started to feel better. “It’s amazing how
much better you feel during a bath. I think you could be dying and
still enjoy a good bath,” Bren said to no one in particular. “You
should join me Flynn.”

“I will take a bath once I am relieved
of this duty. I cannot fight as well unarmed and unarmored,” the
fighter said stoically.

“You know, my life isn’t so important
that you can’t at least try and enjoy yourself a bit,” Bren said,
slightly annoyed. “I can tell that you don’t like me much, so why
not be a little lax and at least take a bath. You are starting to
smell like the backside of bull.”

“I may not like having to babysit a
spoiled little prince, but that does not mean I will not preform my
duties in a professional manner. The Weapons Master believes that
you are worth protecting, and has entrusted me with the duty to
make sure that you still draw breath. As long as he believes so, I
will continue to do my duty, but should he decided the opposite, I
would be more than happy to slit your throat. I might even sing a
little song while I do it.”

“Can you at least tell me the reason
you find me such an eye sore?” Bren asked, letting his entire body
except his head slip under the nearly scalding water.

“If you must know, my mother threw me
out of the house as soon as I was ten. She didn’t need another
mouth to feed, and as a male, I wasn’t worth much. I was left to
fend for myself. So, I headed here, in hopes of finding some place
to work so that I didn’t have to eat refuse left over in the
garbage bin. I tried three times for a spot in the school. I worked
three times harder than the others because, should I be forced to
leave, I had nowhere else to go. Then after all that, the little
prince comes along and simply gets handed a place in the school,
two weeks after admissions. You have everything handed to you with
no real effort on your part.”

“I see,” Bren said, trying to think of
some sort of retort but nothing came to mind. With his morning
significantly ruined by Flynn’s sour mood, Bren got out of the bath
and dressed for training.

The normally long walk to the training
field was made even more so, by the quiet and sour group of guards
who followed him. Bren found himself starting to wish that it had
been Flynn who had been injured by the assassins, not
Cass.

The other trainees were still getting
ready for the day when Bren and Flynn arrived, so he deiced he
would try and catch the Weapons Master. Bren found Jacob in his
office, looking through a large stack of papers. “Weapons Master,”
Bren said, knocking lightly on the door.

“Mister Farlane, I thought you would be
seeking me out today. However, I didn’t figure that it would be
this early,” Jacob said, only taking a short look up from his
papers. “I will assign another guard out of the more able trainees
before you head back to the Tower.”

“It’s not that Weapons Master,” Bren
said weakly. “If at all possible, I would like another guard. Any
other guard except Flynn.”

“
Is he not doing his job?”
Jacob asked, looking at Bren and giving him his full
attention.

“No Weapons Master, he is doing his job
to perfection,” Bren said hesitantly.

“Then what I the problem?” Jacob said,
looking back down at his papers.

“He hates me,” Bren admitted
sheepishly.

“Bren, if you think that everyone is
going to like you, then you need to wake up and stop dreaming,”
Jacob said, his voice cold and sharp. “Most the other trainees,
both young and older, don’t care much for you. They look at you and
see a pampered prince. They seem to miss the fact that you work as
hard as each of them. If you were here all day, in class, and
during evening training, they might see past your title, but right
now they can’t.”

“Then what can I do?” Bren asked,
almost pleading.

“You can start by growing up a little,”
Jacob said, pointing Bren to the door. “Get used to the fact some
people…Or most people, are not going to like you, and get over it.
Now, I have more important work to do than continue to pamper you.
As long as Flynn is doing his job, he will remain you guard, seeing
as he is one of the best swordsmen we currently have.”

Bren left the office and headed to the
storeroom to start his work. “Why do they hate me? Just because of
who my parents are? I didn’t have a choice in being born a prince,”
Bren muttered to himself as he started cleaning a long
broadsword.

You know, I have to agree
with the Weapons Master, you do need to grow up. Your father was
never this whiney…It is very annoying to tell you the truth. I like
the fact that you have a bit more backbone than he had, but must
you complain about every little thing.

“Fine, you want me to stop complaining,
then I will stop,” Bren said, swearing to himself that no matter
what happened, he was just going to deal with it.

That would make my life, and
yours a lot better. Keep dwelling on everything that goes wrong and
you won’t even notice the things that go right.

“I could say the same thing about your
thoughts on women…You know that not all of them are out to get me,”
Bren said evenly.

When you can find one that
is not looking to get something from you, let me know. I would
honestly love to see a woman who didn’t want power, gold, or love
from a person.

“Love, you have a problem with love?”
Bren asked, shocked at what Thuraman had said.

Love, yes, I have a problem
with love. Nothing else in this world can make a person act like a
complete idiot other than love. Your father acted a fool anytime a
woman was near because of feelings such as those. He was trained to
love women without even thinking about it. I warn you now Bren,
nothing in this world can bring a powerful person to their doom
faster than the love of a bad woman.

“What about a good one?” Bren retorted,
slightly annoyed at Thuraman’s abject hate of anything that dealt
with emotions.

Haven’t ever met a good
woman, so I wouldn’t know.

“You have met my mother and she is a
good woman,” Bren replied defensively.

I think you have a skewed
idea as to what a good woman, or person is. Your mother kept you
confined to the palace, and refused to let you take your birthright
as the next leader of the Tower. She still plans to drag you back
to Farlan to live the rest of your days as a prisoner. If that is a
good woman, I would hate to see a bad one.

“Well she…” Bren started to say, but
nothing came to mind that would sound good in defense of his
mother’s actions. In truth, he didn’t understand or agree with many
of them either, but he knew that she loved him, and that she was a
good person. Misguided at times, but still a good person, or at
last he hoped that was the truth. Trying to imagine his own mother
as a villain left a sour taste in Bren’s mouth.

Like the day before, after cleaning
they practiced with the enchanted swords. Bren enjoyed the
practice. It was something to take his mind off the fact that
someone was trying to kill him. Without Cass there, Bren was pitted
against Flynn, and he was sure that it was the Weapons Master’s
idea.

Bren had always thought that Cass never
held anything back, but after two rounds with Flynn, Bren was
starting to change his mind. The older boy was much faster than
Cass had been. Flynn’s movements seemed more fluid, and each strike
was meant to kill.

“Keep the point of your sword up, don’t
let it dip, not even for a moment. For god’s sake, don’t cross your
legs when you take a step back! It looks cool, but one wrong turn
and you will find yourself lying on your back, waiting for your
enemy to run you through,” Flynn said, after the third time Bren
was knocked to the ground.

Getting back to his feet, Bren reset
his position and tried again. Flynn came straight at him, the same
as he had the other three times. A strike to the right, then a
quick thrust to Bren’s chest, both easily parried. With each
strike, Flynn’s speed increased, forcing Bren to push himself past
his abilities. A low sweep right after a thrust, forced Bren to
take a step back, but Flynn was ready this time and shoved hard
with his shoulder, tripping Bren and sending him tumbling to the
ground.

“What is the point of sparing if you
are not going to learn from your mistakes?” Flynn yelled as he
kicked Bren hard in the ribs. “Next time you cross your feet when
you step back, I will beat you until there is nothing left but a
pile of mud,” Flynn yelled, accenting his point with another strong
kick.

Wheezing, Bren got to his feet and
prepared for another attack. Flynn continued to thrash Bren in the
sparing ring until midday, but Bren never did cross his feet again.
The bruises from the first few times were a pointed reminder of the
consequences of doing so.

Like most days, Bren studied with
Master Carnear after his training with the Weapons Master. Today
was a short session, as both Carnear and Bren both had other places
to be. Bren had hoped that he would get another chance to use his
magic, but Carnear only had him do some more routine meditation
exercises.

As Bren raced toward master Sae-Thae’s
office, his spirits picked up. Nothing could dampen what he had
waited all day for. He would finally get to see what his father had
been studying when he disappeared and maybe find a way to bring him
back.

“Bren where have you been?” A light
voice called from down the stairs. Bren stopped to look for its
source, making both Flynn and his new guard Hours more than a
little annoyed. After a few seconds he spotted the source and waved
to Faye.

“Been busy and more than a little
guarded,” Bren replied jokingly, getting a smile from Faye. “I was
on my way to maser Sae-Thae’s office, do you want to walk with me?
I could really use someone to talk to.”

“I would love to, but is it ok with
your friends?” Faye asked smiling. “They don’t seem to be in the
talkative mood.

“They never are, that is why I could
use someone else around,” Bren replied laughing.

Sae-Thae, as well as Phena, were
waiting on him with a large stack of journals and notes. “Did you
find anything?” Bren asked enthusiastically.

“There is quite a bit to go through,
but I have found few promising things among the notes. I figured we
could enlist the aid of Isophena in looking through everything,”
Sae-Thae said as he handed Bren a large leather-bound
journal.

“Do you think I could help?” Faye asked
shyly.

“Sure,” Bren replied quickly, having
almost forgotten the young lady had been there.

“Are you sure that is wise,” Phena
replied curtly. “Would she even know what we are looking
for?”

“Isophena, I am sure that the young
lady could be of use,” Sae-Thae said offhandedly. “Well, no reason
to stand around chatting. Everyone grab a book and starting
reading. If you find anything interesting, make a note of it and we
can discuss it before we all leave.”

Bren already had one in his hand, so he
took a seat on the ground, having found that Sae-Thae’s choice in
chairs were not very comfortable.

CHAPTER XX

Bren opened to the first page of the
journal and found that it was dated at the top of the first
page.

It is the year 4114, three
years after the fall of the Brotherhood in Rane. King Killian has
kept his word and is helping with the establishment of the new
kingdom that lies between Farlan and Rane. It has been a heavy
burden to keep my allegiances proper, as I am now the queens
consort. I do love Maria dearly, but she will do anything to get
better trade agreements with the mages of the new Tower. I have had
to watch myself closely with her, and have still had to call upon
my old friend Sae-Thae, who is now in charge of the new
Tower.

I was happy that Sae-Thae
agreed to take up the post as the head master at the new Tower,
though he brought mixed news. He would be bringing along my vathari
daughter. I know that she was conceived during a time before I had
dedicated myself to Maria, but she is not the understanding type.
She would see the child as a threat to her, and would most likely
not take too kindly to the news. I fear that should she find out,
she will use the knowledge to get me to agree to demands that are
not only unfair to me, but to the people I am supposed to
serve.

Sae-Thae has also brought a
great deal of tomes with him for my research. He has asked about
the veil, but he doesn’t seem to be overly concerned or curious
about it, or the fact that it could very well be our downfall as a
people.

In my studies, I have found
that magic runs from one source, but I cannot find out where that
source is. I know that it is much farther to the north than Farlan,
but I know that my life would never agree to an extended journey,
nor would the people of the new Tower. I don’t know how long it
will be, but I must find the truth. It bothers me not knowing
whether our use of magic is simply setting us up for our own end.
It reminds me of an old tale the mothers at the academy used to
tell us. It was about an ant that worked tirelessly digging out his
home, but in his haste, he didn’t notice that he was weakening the
supports that held up the ground over him. In the end, the ant was
smashed by his own labor. I would hate to see that old wives tale
come to pass for all of humanity.