Forgotten Mage (5 page)

Clair gave a slight giggle that sounded
as if it had come from a young girl and not a woman in her
mid-thirties. “Bren maybe in the royal court those clothes might
not be the best choice, but we are talking about farmers. We don’t
spend money on clothes to simply wear to fancy parties. I promise
you that if you simply wear what you brought, you will still be the
best dressed in Tillman tonight,” Clair said, patting Bren softly
on the cheek. “Now Bren, why don’t you go get washed up. Breakfast
will be ready shortly, though most everyone won’t wake up for a
good while. Fallensday seems to be one of the few times they can
sleep and most of them take advantage of that fact.”

Bren did as Clair suggested and headed
for the well to pull up some water to clean himself. Outside he
found Faye already turning the crank to the well, still wearing her
nightgown. When she turned around, Faye quickly covered herself and
blushed a deep crimson. “Bren I didn’t expect you to be up yet,”
She said sheepishly.

“You weren’t drawing the water to dump
on me again were you?” Bren asked, taking a cautious step away from
the girl.

“No, I was getting ready to clean
myself,” Faye said embarrassed. “Today is Fallensday so I thought I
would let you sleep in.”

“Well I wanted to thwart your inventive
ways to wake me by beating you to it today, but it seems as if my
efforts were in vain. Your mother already told me about the holiday
and the visit to town planned for this evening,” Bren said
chuckling.

“That’s good, but if you would excuse
me I think if mother or granddad were to catch us talking while I
was clothed in such a manner, you might never make it to the
festivities,” Faye said, hurrying back toward the house.

With a faint smile on his face, Bren
went to the well and started turning the crank. When the bucket was
almost to him one of the new blisters on his hand popped sending a
surge of pain through his body and causing his grip on the rough
iron handle to slip. Bren cursed as he heard the bucket hit the
water below. As he looked at the raw wound on his hand Bren’s
temper flared with his focus on the well as if it had caused the
injury. Suddenly a large bright light blinded Bren and a loud noise
deafened him. Bren felt as a rock flew into his head knocking him
down.

Bren forced his eyes open and looked at
where the well had once been, now reduced to rubble. Bren tried to
stand, but he found no strength in his legs and his vision began to
grow dark. As the darkness rushed in around him, he could hear
concerned shouts coming from around him, but he couldn’t find his
voice to answer them. As a strong arm wrapped around his shoulder,
Bren lost his fight and drifted off into
unconsciousness.

Slowly opening his eyes, Bren found
himself back in his small room surrounded by three very worried
looking women and an even angrier looking Doren.

“Bren dear are you ok?” Clair said
worriedly. “You took quite a knock to the head so don’t try and
move around too much.”

“What happened to the well boy,” Doren
said, pushing past Clair.

“Father, calm down!” Clair said,
grabbing Doren by the arm. “What’s done is done. The well can be
rebuilt, I am just glad no one got seriously injured.”

“We need to know what happened Clair,”
Doren said, pulling his arm out of her grasp.

Doren didn’t ask again, but the look in
his eyes left Bren knowing that he expected an answer. “I really
don’t know sir,” Bren answered truthfully. “I hurt my hand and then
got really mad. Next thing I know everything went fuzzy and I found
myself on the ground with my head pounding.”

“Magic,” Doren said angrily. “I swear
nothing good ever came from magic,” Doren added under his breath as
he stomped out of Bren’s room.

Clair gave a slight laugh drawing
everyone’s attention. “Mother, it’s not funny,” Faye said giving
her mother a stern look.

“It’s not that dear,” Clair said still
smiling. “A long time ago when Mark was here, something happened a
lot like this. At the time I thought he was possessed by a demon,
but Grandma Joan knew better.”

At the mention of his father Bren sat
up and immediately regretted the action as his whole body began to
ache. “My father…what did he do?” Bren asked, as he settled back
down with a groan.

“He made a tree grow in the small grove
near the north plot,” Clair said with a smile. “It’s still there
today and is twice the size of any of the other trees in the area.
I still like to go there sometimes when the day is
nice.”

“A tree,” Bren said with awe. “I have
never been able to control my magic,” the young boy said his voice
etched with self-contempt. “My sister is two years younger than me
and she can already occasionally use hers to do what she
wants.”

“I am sure that in time, you will learn
to control your gifts,” Maggie said patting Bren consolingly “I
don’t know if you will be up to it, but if you are you are still
welcome to come with us to the Fallensday festival.”

Bren looked around the room and when he
saw the look on Faye’s face, he couldn’t help himself. “I wouldn’t
miss it,” He said with a strained smile. Bren could see Faye’s face
light up as he said the words, but he was unsure how fit he would
be to partake in any of the fanfare.

“Well girls, let us leave the poor boy
to sleep,” Maggie said, pushing the other two out of the door and
shutting it softly behind her.

Bren felt the tug to drift back off to
sleep, but pushed it aside. Closing his eyes, Bren tried to feel
his body. Everything hurt, it was many times worse than what he had
felt after his first real day of work. The feeling reminded him of
the time his swordsmanship instructor thought he was getting too
full of himself.

After what felt like hours, Bren once
again tried to move. His body was stiff and still ached, but not
nearly as bad as before. Once he was sitting, Bren took a deep
breath and stood. As soon as he was on his feet small dots of blue
and red swam in his vision. He felt dizzy and his stomach churned,
but after a few seconds the feeling passed.

Feeling slightly better, Bren made his
way down the stairs. As he neared the common room, he could hear
the others talking. He didn’t mean to listen in, but after hearing
his name it was hard for him to walk through the small
doorway.

Clair and Maggie were talking about how
nice of a boy he was while Doren expressed concern about his
uncontained magical powers. It had not been the first time Bren had
accidently destroyed something, but it was the first time anyone
had expressed concern over it. His mother simply pushed it off due
to his age and emotions, but Clair and the others were
worried.

“He just needs to learn to control it,”
Bren heard Clair say. “Boys his age are all action and little
control. As time goes by, he will get a handle on it.”

“He needs to go to where all the other
mages are,” Doren said earnestly. “I’ll admit he is a good boy, but
as he is, he’s dangerous.”

“Faye just adores him though,” Maggie
replied softly. “There are so few boys near her age, we shouldn’t
send off the first one she has made a connection with.”

“Faye will find a nice young farmer lad
just like Clair did when Mark left,” Doren said gruffly. “He is a
prince. Do you really think the queen will allow her son to marry
her? No, it is best that we end it now before the two of them end
up worse off.”

“Father I don’t think I am worse off
for meeting Mark,” Clair said, the anger in her voice clearly
auditable. “We should let the kids make their own choices and not
sit here trying to do it for them. In the end it won’t matter what
we say, they will do what they want. If we try to push them too
hard, then it will only end badly for all of us.”

“Fine,” Doren said frustrated, “But
mark my words, this will not end well.”

“Things seldom do, but that’s part of
life father,” Clair said sternly.

Bren waited until the room had been
quiet for a few moments before walking though the doorway to the
common room. Everyone’s eyes focused on him as he entered and Bren
felt like some kind of weird creature put on display.

“Feeling better Hun?” Maggie said
flashing him a motherly smile.

“Much,” Bren said, though he didn’t
really mean it. Clair gave him a worried look and Bren smiled at
her. “Just a bit sore, it’s nothing to worry about
really.”

“Faye is out behind the house,” Clair
said, with a weak smile. “Why don’t you go speak with her, she has
been worrying herself all morning.”

Bren, following Clair’s advice went out
back but found no sign of Faye. After a few brief moments, Bren
heard light singing off in the distance. The sound was faint, but
Bren was still mesmerized by the sweetness in the notes.

Following the sound, Bren found Faye at
the other end. She was sitting in a patch of flowers wearing a dark
pink dress and her hair was pulled up instead of hanging wildly
around her shoulders as it normally did.

As soon as Faye caught a glimpse of
Bren, she immediately stopped singing and stood. “Bren I didn’t
know you were out here,” She said nervously. “How are you feeling?
If you don’t feel up to going into town I could stay back with
you.”

Bren could see the worried look in her
face, but he could also see the hope. Bren had spent enough time
around his mother and sister to know when he a girl wanted to hear
a specific answer, even if she wasn’t aware of it. “I am a little
stiff, but that’s it,” Bren said spinning a full turn
around.”

Faye gave off a bright smile and jumped
to her feet. “You will love the festival,” Clair said nearly
jumping up and down. “There are all kinds of things to
do.”

As Bren watched Faye her excitement
started to spread and he found himself smiling despite the pain he
was in. “I bet it will be great.”

You shouldn’t let her force
you into going. You know you are too sore to even want to move at
the moment. You should be back in your bed sleeping until the
effects of the massive amount of magic you used wear
off.

“She is not forcing me to do anything,”
Bren replied defensively to Thuraman. “Believe it or not I am
looking forward to this Fallensday celebration.”

Say it all you wish, but
that will not change the truth. You are only going because this
temptress wishes you too. Listen to me now and save yourself a lot
of heartache and pain in the future.

Ignoring Thuraman Bren turned back in
the direction of the farm house. “We should get back,” he said,
giving Faye a warm smile. “There is no telling what your family
thinks were up too.”

“They probably think we have run off to
the town without them,” Faye replied laughing.

Bren started to respond, but he wasn’t
given a choice as Faye grabbed his arm and began pulling him back
toward the house. With each tug he felt a sharp pain, but he
ignored it and tried to smile as Faye pulled him along.

Thad continued to walk toward the
object. He had walked and slept countless times, but it was as if
he hadn’t moved. He could not tell if it was bigger today than it
had been before but he still continued to walk.

“What are you doing here child?” Thad
heard a dark husky voice ask.

Looking around, Thad found no one near
him that might have said the words. “Who are you?” Thad asked
aloud. “Am I losing my mind?”

“I am Humanius, protector of your
world,” the voice said firmly. “Now, how did you come to be
here?”

At hearing the name of the god who
supposedly wanted him dead, the blood in Thad’s veins ran cold. “I
am Thaddeus Torin and I was brought here by one of your swords,”
Thad said indigently. He knew it was not a great idea to antagonize
a god, but he was tired of walking in silence.

“I know who you are Thaddeus,” The
voice replied. “Come sit with me and we shall talk.”

“Where are you?” Thad asked, looking
around but seeing no sign of anything except the small dot in the
distance.

Suddenly the area around him seemed to
clear and Thad found himself looking at a six foot tall man who
reminded the mage of Killian. “What is this place?” Thad asked,
knowing the answer already.

“It has many names, but in truth it is
nowhere. It is just a space between your world and mine. Worlds
that would be better served if left apart,” Humanius said, giving
Thad a hard stare.

CHAPTER V

The town of Tillman was not what Bren
had expected. He knew that not every town was the size of the
capital, but Tillman was nothing more than a scattering of houses.
Doren led them all to a small open spot in the center of town where
small tables were being assembled. “Not ready yet?” Doren asked a
portly gentlemen who was sweating profusely.

“Hardly,” the man said laughing. “Sent
my boy to pick up some beans from the dwarves down in mage town and
he didn’t get back until early this morn. Should have known better
to send a lad his age to a place like that. I figure he spent most
his time chasing after one of the fae.”

“Haven’t you warned that boy that the
fae ain’t worth dealing with?” Doren asked harshly. “We fight a war
for them and all we got was death in return,” Doren said loudly,
his eyes focusing on Bren.