Forgotten Mage (9 page)

The inn was easy to find, being one of
the first buildings they came across. Outside the large four story
building hung a sign depicting a single mug of beer and a bed. Bren
knew that it meant that they could eat and sleep here, but he was
used to something showing the name of the place. It was always a
challenge for him to figure out the name and he and Faye had made a
friendly game out of it. So far she was winning by two to three,
but he was eager to take the lead.

The inside wasn’t as appealing as the
outside with the stale smell of smoke and ale drifting in the air.
Bren wanted nothing more than to find a good spot and sleep, but
Faye insisted they eat before finding their rest.

Bren and Faye found an empty table near
the back of the common room. A few moments after they were seated,
a middle aged woman walked up to their table with a large smile.
“Sorry about the mess, haven’t had a moments rest since Fallensday
to clean up. Now, what can I get for ya?”

“Anything that’s editable,” Bren said
quickly, not really caring what it was as long as it allowed him to
hurry and find a good night’s rest.

“What do you have that’s fresh?” Faye
asked.

Bren groaned as the barmaid went
through the list of food earning him a reprising look from Faye,
but he really didn’t care. After Faye ended up ordering beef stew,
the barmaid left and quickly brought each of them back a small mug
of ale.

“Maybe it will remove that lump of dirt
that’s got itself wedged in your backside,” Faye said, taking a
large gulp.

Bren had tried wine on a few occasions
though he had never really acquired a taste for the bittersweet
liquid. Ale on the other hand, he had never been allowed. Crusher,
one of his father’s friends had once tried to sneak him a mug, but
his mother had quickly caught the dwarf and whatever she had
threatened him with had kept the dwarf from every trying to do so
again.

Bren cautiously put the mug up to his
nose and smelled the brew. The bubbles tickled his nose and made
his eyes water. Putting it to his lips, he took a small sip as if
he were tasting wine. It was strong and had a rich aftertaste, but
it wasn’t what he would call good. Setting the ale down, Bren
slowly pushed it back from him.

Faye laughed as she sat down her empty
mug. “I guess plush little princes can’t handle anything not from a
cow’s tit.”

“I was just waiting for the food,” Bren
replied, picking up the drink and gulping it down in one swoop. As
he sat the mug on the table, his stomach immediately started to
protest what he had just done.

Seeming to enjoy the little game, Faye
called the barmaid back over and ordered more ale. The aged woman
gave the young girl a wry look, but brought the ale. By the time
the food was brought to the table, each of them had a good deal
more mugs in front of them than they could hold. His head swimming,
Bren tried to eat, but the smell of the food turned his
stomach.

Pushing the plate aside, Bren tried to
stand but found that his legs no longer worked how they were meant
to. Finding himself dumped ungraciously on the floor was bad
enough, but to hear Faye’s laughter bubbling up from beside him
made it far worse.

Faye tried to pull Bren to his feet,
but found herself sitting on the floor next to the young boy. With
the help of the barmaid they were able to reach the counter and ask
for their rooms.

“Lad, we only have one room available.
Lot of folks headed back home after visiting on Fallensday,” The
elder man behind the counter said. “If you and your sister don’t
mind sharing a room, I can have an extra mattress brought up for
ya.”

“Do you mind sharing brother?” Faye
asked laughing.

Bren turned a deep purple as he
silently shook his head. “Good, it’s up the stairs. It’s the second
to last one on the left,” the man said without hesitation as he
plucked a few coins from Bren’s outstretched and shaking
hand.

Bren and Faye stumbled to the room,
each falling down numerous times on the trip. Shortly after
entering the room, a large man brought in a thin mattress and threw
it on the floor. Bren didn’t ask who wanted what, he was too tired
to care and collapsed onto the mattress on the ground.

The next morning as Bren started to
stir, the first thing he noticed was the pounding at the base of
his skull. Holding his head with his hand, he slowly sat and looked
around for something to drink to get the taste of day old ale out
of his mouth.

Bren set his hand next to his side to
help steady himself as he stood when he felt something soft brush
against his fingertips. Looking down, he saw a large lump in the
covers. Pulling them back slowly, he saw Faye laying there curled
up into a tight ball still wearing the same clothes she had the
night before.

“Close the curtains,” Faye said as she
covered her eyes with the crook of her elbow.

“I wish I could, but we need to get
back on the road,” Bren replied, getting unsteadily to his
feet.

“Why? The Tower isn’t going anywhere,”
Faye complained. We should take a nice long rest and try again
tomorrow.

“We are only another two or three days
away though,” Bren said, before gulping down a large glass of water
to try and rinse the gritty feeling from his mouth.

“Please,” Faye begged, pulling the
covers back over her head.

Bren started to laugh, but the stabbing
pain in his head quickly stopped him. “Fine, but can we not do this
again,” Bren said as he shuffled toward the door.

Once he was down the steps and made
arrangements with the man at the counter for another night, Bren
decided to explore the market district. It had been a long time
since he had been in a real market and for the first time since he
could remember, he was unaccompanied by guards. Growing up, anytime
he left the safety of the palace, there were guards around him. He
had gotten so used to them that they were like his shadow. Now
walking in the open streets, he felt almost naked without
them.

After the first initial moments of
panic, Bren calmed down and moved through the streets carefully.
Unlike in the Farlan capital, not all the merchants had buildings.
Many of them just worked out of a stall on the street. Bren moved
from one to the next looking at anything that might be of interest
when he heard Avalanche barking.

“Come here you thieving….thieving
whatever you are,” Bren heard a man yell as he caught a glimpse of
avalanche running toward him.

As the rock hound normally did, it
brushed up against Bren’s leg threating to knock him over in his
unsteady state. Bren absentmindedly patted Avalanche on her head as
he looked around at the now staring people on the
street.

“You there, stop!” A tall thin man said
running toward Bren. Not knowing what was going on, Bren looked
down at Avalanche with a questioning glare. “Is that…that thieving
beast yours?” The man asked, huffing as he bent over to catch his
breath.

“Yes,” Bren replied without
hesitation.

“Then you owe me for damages,” the man
gasped. “That beast chewed up two of my finest rings and ate their
gems.”

“Avalanche, if you were hungry then you
should have let me know,” Bren replied, looking down at the
creature trying not to laugh. Avalanche had a knack for eating
things she wasn’t supposed to. He couldn’t count the number of
times his mother had come looking for her because she had eaten the
gems out of a piece of her jewelry. “How much was the cost
sir?”

“It will be fifty gold or I will have
you and your beast thrown in the dungeon,” the man said, grabbing
Bren by the arm.

“I have no problem paying you the
desired amount as long as you can prove the cost of the items my
dog has eaten, but you will unhand me,” Bren said, pulling his arm
free from the man’s grasp.

“Guards,” the man called loudly when
Bren’s hand drifted too close to the sword on his waist.

Bren didn’t try and run, he stood his
ground as three large men wearing the colors of Countess Elisee
arrived. “This creature ate my goods and this boy refuses to pay
for the damages,” the man squawked, pointing his finger at
Bren.

“Boy, if your creature has damaged this
man’s goods, then you have to pay him for them,” the guard said,
looking at Bren menacingly.

“I never refused to pay for the damaged
goods,” Bren replied. “I just demanded that he unhand me and prove
the worth of the goods that were damaged.”

The man let out a loud humph before
leading Bren and the guards to his store. Bren felt more than
slightly nervous when he entered the man’s store as it was much
nicer than he had expected and filled with fine jewels, though none
of them would compare to the ones in the queen’s
collection.

The store owner laid two rings on the
counter in front of Bren and the guards. Bren picked one up and
looked at it closely. It had a silver band and the facet for the
gem was small so he knew they couldn’t have been very large. “You
said they were priced at fifty gold, what kind of gems did you have
in them?” Bren asked.

“They each had large diamonds, each
worth thirty gold each easily,” the man replied
confidently.

“Sir, I know I am young, but I have
spent the entirety of my life looking at fine gems. I may not be
able to tell which ones are of a better grade, but I can tell you
there is no way that a diamond large enough to cost thirty gold
could fit within this facet.”

“Why you little Thief, are you calling
me a liar? Trying to get out of paying for what your creature did?”
The man accused Bren, his voice raising with each word.

Bren didn’t know what to do. He didn’t
have the large sum of gold the man was asking for. He knew that he
could sign a receipt of goods to be paid at the palace, but that
would tell his mother where he was at.

“Sir, may I see your inventory list?”
One of the guards asked after looking at one of the rings for a few
moments. “That should clear up this misunderstanding.”

“Well I…” the man stuttered, earning
him a scathing glare from the guard. “Right away.”

It didn’t take long for the man to
return with a long sheet parchment with numerous things written on
it. The guard looked it over as he walked through the store making
mental notes. “I don’t see the rings on the inventory sheet. You
have two rings that I can’t find, but together they only add up to
a gold and four silver so they couldn’t be what you were
describing.” The guard said sternly.

“They just came in the other day…I
….must not have put them on the inventory sheet yet,” The man
said.

“If you don’t have some documentation
of the goods, then I can’t make the young lad pay for them can I?”
The guard said, giving Bren a sly wink. “Sir, unless you can prove
the value of the goods we are done here. My advice is that next
time you don’t try to cheat someone out of their gold because they
look too young to know what you are doing,” the Guard continued,
almost laughing as he escorted Bren out of the store.

“Thank you sir,” Bren said as soon as
they were outside.

“It was a pleasure son,” the guard said
with a snicker. “That fool is always parading around as if he was
nobility. It felt good to see him squirm to tell you the truth lad.
That aside, you need to keep a better eye on your four legged
friend there,” The guard said, looking over to where Avalanche sat,
now surrounded by children.

“
I will sir,” Bren
promised, before walking over to Avalanche and giving her a hard
slap on the back of the head. His interest in the market gone, Bren
headed back to the inn to see if Faye was feeling any
better.

Bren found Faye still in their room
though she was now awake and holding her head firmly between her
knees. “It won’t stop spinning,” She said raising her
head.

“It was your idea to drink all that
ale,” Bren said trying not to laugh. “Thanks to that, we’re stuck
in the town for another night when the Tower is only a short
distance away.”

“Stop complaining,” Faye said looking
at Bren, her face holding a slight green tint. “All you have done
since we left the farm is complain. Can’t you just enjoy
life?”

Bren sat down on the ground next to
Faye. “You might be right,” he said after a few moments. “It’s as
if I am always looking for the bad in everything, but you have to
admit drinking that ale was a very bad decision.”

Faye laughed lightly then let out a
loud groan. “I can’t argue with that. I have never felt so bad in
my life.”

Thad continued to walk through the
darkness. It had only been a few days since he had left Humanius
behind in hopes of finding some way to escape the prison of
darkness.

The knowledge that his son and daughter
were now fully grown ate away at him. He had missed so much. As he
trudged along, Thad started to day dream about what his son might
be like.

CHAPTER VIII

When the Mage’s Tower came into view,
it was clear what it was. It towered above everything else within
the city. At a distance, it was almost as if it could split the
clouds. The look on Faye’s face let Bren know that he wasn’t the
only one impressed with the sight.