God Mage (12 page)

“Then why didn’t someone kill him or why
didn’t he just kill himself?” Brenda asked angrily.

“Because he is useful,” Cass said. “The best
way to fight fire is with fire, or in this case, a mage against a
mage. Whatever the case, I think we should keep a heavy guard from
now on.”

P
hena had been wrong
about the mage and his abilities. Every four to five hours they
found themselves faced off with another group of soldiers. They
were never a tough challenge, but they kept them from being able to
truly rest.

Bren didn’t understand how they could keep
sending their men to die over and over. Did they care nothing for
the lives of their comrades or was their belief and conviction that
strong?

“Do we know where we're going?” Cass asked as
they packed up camp once again after a Brotherhood attack.

“We are headed to the Vale of the Gods,” Bren
said in response. From the map the elders gave me, it looks to be
about a two-week ride before we reach the border town, and then
another week past that until we reach the hidden village.

“It will take more than a week to cross the
Deadlands,” Hayao said, his voice shaking slightly.

“Deadlands?” Bren asked, turning toward his
friend.

“A place or horror that surrounds the valley
of the gods. It is a harsh place that keeps out all unwanted
visitors.”

“Have you been there before?” Bren asked with
a slight air of curiosity in his voice.

“Yes. Once...when I was a boy,” Hayao said
with a slight shiver. “I accompanied my father when we took two
youth to perform their duties as guardians. We were met at the edge
of the Deadlands by a host of members from the other hidden
village. I don’t remember much of what I had seen that day, but I
remember the feeling of sheer terror as I looked over the
Deadlands. Even now, on some nights, I still wake up in a cold
sweat from dreaming about the place.”

“That sounds promising,” Brenda said in a
sarcastic tone. “On the bright side, this doesn’t sound like it is
going to be boring.”

“We all know how much you hate to be bored,”
Bren said as he packed up the last of his gear.

“You are more than welcome to keep me
entertained,” Brenda added with a bit of fire in her voice.

“I don’t think that would be good for my
health,” Bren said, doing his best not to look at Faye whose face
was pinched in anger.

As soon as they had everything packed on
their horses, they carried on riding as fast as they could without
risking damage to the horses. Bren had ridden horses since was a
child, but the constant riding at such a fast pace had still left
him sore.

The small group tried to keep up their
spirits by talking about each other, but there was little to be
said. Less than four hours after they had left their camp, Cass
called them to a halt by holding his arm up in the air. “Something
is coming,” Cass said quietly where his voice would carry on the
wind.

No sooner had Cass spoken the words than a
large sound like a thunder clap rang through the air, causing
Bren’s horse to jump. By the time Bren got his horse under control,
two Brotherhood soldiers had already made their way to where he
was. Without thinking, Bren let out a stream of fire from his hand
that engulfed both men. As the acidic aroma of burnt hair and flesh
filled the air along with the screams of the burning men, Bren
turned to search out more enemies.

Unlike the past few times where only a dozen
or less soldiers had attacked, this time there were nearly three
times as many. Did they think that the extra numbers would increase
their chances of winning? Bren didn’t know the answer to the
question, and didn’t have the time to think about it as more
soldiers began to approach him.

Ignoring their burning comrades, the
Brotherhood soldiers approached Bren without showing any fear for
his powers.

Bren’s first thought was to turn his magic on
the advancing men, but he quickly decided against it as his hand
clenched his sword. The magic he had pulled in earlier still
coursed through his body and Bren opened himself up for more. As
the magic surged through him, Bren found that he could hear and
feel everything around him. The sound of the soldier’s footsteps on
the soft grass, their ragged breaths as they moved toward him, and
their frantically beating hearts.

Though Bren’s back was turned to him, as soon
as the first soldier neared, Bren’s sword arm flashed, cutting the
man’s arms off at the wrists. Before the man could fall to his
knees and scream, Bren’s sword flashed again severing the man’s
head from his shoulders.

As the head rolled to the ground, Bren jumped
off his horse landing right between two of the Brotherhood
soldiers. He had never felt so strong before in his life, it was as
if he knew nothing could touch him as long as he had his magic.

The sound of a sword cutting through the air
caught his attention, and Bren ducked slightly to let the blade
pass harmlessly overhead. Laughing Bren flipped his sword around
and stabbed it behind him, impaling the would-be assassin though
the heart.

Two more soldiers moved to meet him head on,
which Bren found curious. He could see everything about the men. He
could tell that the men were afraid of him though they hid it well;
only their aura betrayed them. Bren could see the slight swirling
of red just as the one on the left prepared to attack. Stepping to
the side the second before the blade began to fall, Bren was easily
able to dodge the attack. With each passing moment, Bren was
enjoying the fight more and more. Bren dodged the blades, always
moving the second before the men attacked making it seem like he
was dancing. From the distance, Brent felt something cutting
through the wind. Sticking out his hand Bren plucked an arrow from
the air as if he was simply picking a leaf out of a tree. Looking
at the arrow, Bren let himself follow its path back to where it had
been loosed and gently let the arrow float off his hand then it
shot forward. Bren didn’t have to watch the arrow’s flight to know
it had found its mark. Even though it was far away, Bren could
still hear the man’s screams as death claimed him.

Getting bored with the game, Bren let his
sword flash twice, ending the event and the other two soldier’s
lives as well. Letting more magical energy flood through him, Bren
flinched his wrist and the blood on the blade of his sword flew off
to gather on the already blood soaked ground.

As Bren sheathed his sword he turned around
to notice that his friends had not fared as well as he had. Lillian
had taken an arrow to the arm, and one of the guards had died
during the battle. As soon as the realization hit him, the euphoric
feeling that had been holding him up fled.

Bren rushed over to Lillian and quickly
healed the wound with his magic. As the last of the blood was
washed away and there was no sign that she had been injured other
than the small tear in her blouse, Bren breathed a sigh of relief.
“Are you okay?” Bren asked nervously.

“She and the rest of us would be doing a lot
better had you been paying attention to what was going on around
you,” Cass said with more than a slight hint of anger in his voice.
“I saw you playing with those two soldiers as if they were toys for
your amusement. If you have simply finished them off quickly
instead of playing around, Kale might still be alive.”

“I know,” Bren said in an admonished tone.
Kale. So that was the guard’s name. He had spent a long time with
the guards, but other than Cass, Bren didn’t talk to them much, and
both groups seemed to like it that way. No matter how hard he
tried, he couldn’t make himself feel bad about the guard. His
emotions were mostly locked away, and to feel sorry over the death
of someone mostly unknown to him was nearly impossible. He knew it
was wrong, but he also knew what would happen if he lost
control.

If you didn’t notice, you did lose control
while you were fighting. If I hadn’t done my best to keep you
grounded, you would have let your bloodlust consume you. I have
warned you time and time again about pulling in magic energy and
holding it. Only pull it in if you plan to use it, otherwise it
will start to affect you, and no one, not even I, can predict what
the outcome would be. It would all be determined by what the
driving force was of the energy you pulled in. Do us all a favor
and try to keep your senses clear and not drugged on the magic’s
power.

Bren wanted to argue that he had been in full
control the entire time, but as fast as the words entered his
brain, he knew them for the lie they were. He had never felt like
that nor had he fought like that. Just as Cass had said, he had
played with those men as if they were some toy that had been made
for his personal enjoyment. They were enemies, but what Bren had
done left a sour taste in his mouth. Death was a certainty, but
there was no reason to dangle it in front of those who were about
to meet their fate.

“No reason to fret about it now,” Cass said
as he inspected the others for wounds. “We need to find a way to
stay ahead of the Brotherhood. Otherwise, sooner or later, they are
going to catch us in a bad way.”

“I might be able to help with that,” Bren
said after a moment of thought. “The only way that they could be
catching us is with magic. I am not sure how they are doing it, but
I am sure that I can do something similar and keep us ahead of
them, for at least a time anyway.”

“I can’t say I trust you and your magic given
how it’s been working lately, but I don’t see as how we have much
choice in the matter. Just be careful. I don’t want to be dropped
off the side of a cliff because you let your mind wander at the
wrong time.”

A
s Bren pulled in
magical energy, he was careful to numb himself as much as possible
without turning into a turnip. After having felt human again, it
was painful to turn everything off again, but he knew it was needed
until he could learn to control himself, and like anything else,
that would take time to master. Until that time, he would have to
take it slow and distance himself when he used large amounts of
magical energy.

Bren wasn’t sure what to do, but he had an
idea—or the start of one anyway. He figured that wind magic would
be the best for bringing them long distances quickly, but the speed
of the wind would crush his friends. Bren created a shield of
energy around his friends, and he began to lift them slightly from
the ground. Once they were mere inches off the ground, Bren pushed
them forward, and the world around them began to spin.

No sooner had they started to move than the
horses began to go wild. “No wonder the Brotherhood didn’t have any
mounted units with them. At first, Bren thought that the horses
would calm after a moment, but when that didn’t happen he was
forced to bring them to a stop.

“I think I am going to be sick,” Faye said
holding her hand to her mouth and gagging slightly.

“I have to agree. It wasn’t a very good
feeling,” Cass seconded. “Why did we stop though?”

“The horses were moving too much, making it
hard to hold the spell,” Bren replied.

“I guess they didn’t understand the ground
moving when they weren’t. Not to mention, it felt weird, not
something that I can explain, but like someone was pushing on my
body and not gently either, though it started to calm the longer we
traveled.”

Bren tried to think of anything that might
help solve the problem, but he came up empty handed. “I can’t think
of a way to get around it,” Bren said after a few moments of deep
thought. “I think I can lessen the force by mixing in a little
light energy into the shield, but unless I completely black out the
shield there is nothing I can do about the sight, and that would
make it really hard for me to see where I was going.

“Is that all,” Cass said laughing. “You take
care of the pressure that was hitting us, and I can take care of
the horses.”

Bren started to ask how Cass expected to do
that, but he got his answer quickly. Cass pulled one of his darker
tunics out of his bag along with some of the leather strips that he
always carried with him. Pulling out his dagger Cass cut his tunic
and made makeshift blindfolds out of them. Once the blindfolds were
finished Cass tied them to each of the horses. For the first few
moments the horses bucked their heads, but after just a few
seconds, they calmed down.

Once the horses had calmed down, Bren started
pulling in magical energy again. First, he built the energy shield,
and then added a bit of light energy to help solidify the bonds of
the shield, though he had to be careful to still let in enough air
so that everyone could still breathe.

Once the shield was in place, Bren lifted the
group up again. As soon as the horses were in the air, they began
to stir restlessly again, and Bren quickly put them down. “Why?”
Bren asked himself then it hit him. They could tell that there was
no ground beneath them, even though they were standing on a solid
mass of energy. This time Bren added in a bit of earth energy to
make a thin crust of ground beneath the horse’s hooves, and raised
them again. This time the horses didn’t make any movements, so Bren
started to push lightly at first, but picked up speed the longer he
held them aloft.

The spell was complicated and used more types
of energy than he had ever used before at one time. Not only did it
use many different types of energy, it required him to focus on
many things at once, and Bren found the exertion to be extremely
taxing.

No one talked
while they rode as most of them were trying their best to look only
at the ground, considering the rest of the world flew by so fast
that the grass and trees seemed like a blur. Bren didn’t take much
notice to the silence as his full attention was on the spell and
keeping it together. A few times, his mind wandered, and flecks of
dirt started to drip and hit the bottom of the shield.