God Mage (20 page)

“Yes mam,” Bren said, rolling his eyes.

Bren found Phena in the main room of the
house. Unlike the others, Phena didn’t seem bothered by the dusty
smell that permeated the building. “Phena,” Bren called, getting
her attention. “I need to visit Cass, but he would be furious if he
learned that I went unaccompanied in foreign territory. Seeing as
how the rest of my guards have been laid to rest, I was hoping you
would be so kind.”

“Cass would be at that,” Phena said, looking
Bren over closely. “I will guard you, but don’t expect me to pamper
you like a maid,” Phena added, her lip twitching slightly as if she
wanted to smile.

Bren found one of the soldiers that stood
outside of the house. “We had another person in our party that was
injured,” Bren said, looking the man over closely. “Can you show us
where he is being treated?”

The man didn’t say anything, instead he just
bowed and started walking down the street. Bren and Phena quickly
followed behind the man and found that his pace was more a light
jog than a walk. They ended up at a small white building close to
where the elder’s residence was.

The inside of the building smelled strongly
of herbs and alcohol. The smell was so strong that it burned Bren’s
nose and stung at his eyes. They found Cass in a small room sitting
in a small white bed looking stoically out of the large window at a
small tree that grew in the courtyard. The first thing that Bren
noticed was that Cass no longer had his left arm, all that was
there was a stump that stuck slightly past his shoulder covered in
bandages.

Before Bren could think of anything to say,
Phena walked over to the obviously sulking man and slapped him hard
in the back of the head. “You only had a small wound like that, and
we find you wasting your time in here instead of doing your
duty.”

Cass gave Phena a smile that was somewhat
warm yet sad at the same time. “How am I supposed to protect
someone with only one arm?” Cass asked bitterly, not even noticing
that Bren was even in the room. “How often do you even use your
left hand to fight with?” Phena asked, giving Cass another hard
smack. “If you lose an arm, just learn to fight twice as well with
one.”

“She’s right,” Bren said, causing Cass to
look at him for the first time since he had entered the room. “You
fight better with one hand than most could hope with two and twenty
extra years of training.”

“Well you might at least be able to best me
now during training,” Cass said with a weak smile. “I know you all
mean well, but I will need time, not only that, while they healed
the worst of it, there is only so much magic can do. I will need to
rest and wait for the skin to grow over the bone before I can do
much of anything.”

“Well just don’t spend too much time sulking
here even if the nurses are good looking,” Bren said with a smirk
earning him an ugly look from Phena. “When you feel ready, I will
be waiting on my friend and guard.” Bren noticed that Phena made no
move to leave, and the air in the room had changed dramatically. “I
think I will head back to our house. I have a lot to prepare for,
and I would bet that I won’t get near as much time for it as I
would like.”

Phena gave him a withering glare. “Phena why
don’t you stay and make sure that my master guard doesn’t spend all
his time wallowing in self-pity,” Bren added quickly.

“If you insist,” Phena said quickly, turning
back to her new charge.

Not wanting to stay in the room any longer,
Bren ran more than walked out of the medical building. As soon as
he was outside, Bren slowed his pace to a meandering walk. The
village was much the same as any other with the exception that
everyone was dressed in the same dark clothing that covered them
from head to toe. Most of the time they left the face covering off,
but many of them left it up so that only their eyes showed. There
was also the mountain that the village was built against. It was
tall, stretching high into the sky, and the very top of the
mountain was surrounded by thick dark clouds that even from a
distance, Bren could tell were filled with a very strong
concentration of magical energy.

It was odd, the sky above them was filled
with more magic than Bren had ever felt in one place, but where
they sat had only a small portion of that. The farther the clouds
stretched, the closer they got to the ground and the weaker the
flow of magic got. It was obvious to Bren the reason that mages of
ages past came here to search for the beginning of magic. The
longer he looked at the sky, the more he believed that he was in
the right place to find the veil. He was so close to his goal, the
only thing left was to go through the door. Even if it meant that
he would go mad, he had to try.

All humans are a little mad. If they
weren’t, then they would never be able to live in this world.

“If you say so,” Bren said, shrugging off
Thuraman’s words.

Back at the house, all the windows were open
and it looked as if the house had caught on fire with the sheer
amount of dust that was filling the air outside. Inside he found
everyone cleaning, even Jin who appeared to be skilled at it.
“Where is Faye?” Bren asked as he walked into the main room.

“She and Lillian are out back cleaning the
bed mats and sheets,” Jin said as he wiped the sweat from his
forehead, leaving a dirty brown streak where it had mixed with the
dust.

Holding back a laugh, Bren walked through the
house and out the back door into the courtyard. Three large wooden
poles hung between two trees. Each pool supported the bedding,
while Lillian and Faye beat the dust out of them with large flat
instruments. Large clouds of dust filled the air with each strike.
Bren watched the two women for a few moments. He didn’t know why,
but he liked the way that Faye grunted slightly each time she
struck the bedding. “You look like you’re having fun,” Bren said
after a bit.

Faye turned around and flashed him a warm
smile. “It helps take out my frustration. You should try it,” Faye
said offering him the stick.

“I think you’re doing a perfect job,” Bren
said not wanting to breathe in such large amounts of dust. “Cass is
okay, though he lost the arm. I just thought I would let you know.
Phena is staying with him for now.”

“His arm,” Faye replied gasping. “Such a
shame, but at least he will live.”

Though he didn’t want to, Bren was forced
into helping Faye and Lillian beat the bed sheets and coverings,
and just as he feared, each strike released enough dust to make its
own mini desert. When the sun fell out of view and the sky
darkened, everyone gathered in the house, which while much cleaner
than it had been, still needed a good scrubbing.

After a short meal, Bren and the others went
to their own rooms. Last night he had slept really well, but that
was more to his own fatigue rather than the accommodations. As far
as he was concerned, this was his first real sleep in days.

E
arly the next
morning, Bren was shown to the location of the door to the veil. It
was large, nearly fifteen feet tall, and looked as if it had been
carved out of the very wall itself.

Bren ran his fingers over the door. It was
cold to the touch and sent a shiver down his spine. He didn’t know
why, but suddenly the thought of walking through the door didn’t
seem like such a good one. Bren shook off the odd feelings that ran
through his mind. The complete trip had been ill-advised on so many
levels, so it didn’t matter if one more appeared.

“You can go anytime you wish,” the elder said
coming up to stand beside Bren. I would suggest that you make sure
that you are completely prepared for the journey. I can offer
little advice on what you will need, as I am smart enough not to
pass through those doors.”

“The world needs those without brains who do
not fear the unknown. Otherwise, there would be little ever
discovered,” Bren said with a wry grin.

“That may be true,” the elder replied,
patting Bren on the shoulder. “I think I will leave it to others.
Maybe when I have lost what little wits the gods graced me with, I
might enter those doors as well.”

As the elder walked away, Bren never took his
eyes off the door. After he had stood there for more than an hour,
Bren turned and walked back into the village proper.

Just like most villages, there were shops and
eateries for people to use. When Bren had first heard of the hidden
village, he had thought it would be small with only a few dozen
guards, but what they had found was completely different. It would
seem that over the years the village had grown to house tens of
thousands of people.

Bren bought a new bedroll to replace the one
that had been destroyed during the glass tornado. He also bought
some new clothes, as well as a few other normal things that he
thought might come in handy. Bren also found a store that sold
gems. He still had a few others in his pack, but Avalanche and her
appetite had eaten most of the ones he had brought with him. The
store housed so many different gems that Bren found it amazing.
“Where did you get all of these?” Bren asked as he ran his fingers
through a pile of rubies.

“Good sir, they are not hard to find,” the
shopkeeper said with a slight bow.

The news made sense to Bren considering how
much magical energy swarmed around the area. In Farlan or Torin, a
gem the size of a grape would cost you a fair amount, but here it
was cheaper than buying a length of rope. Bren bought enough gems
to fill one of the smaller pockets in his dad’s pack. Bren knew
that there was little chance that he would ever need so many, but
better safe than sorry.

Bren spent most of the day walking around the
village. He tried many different types of food, though most of them
didn’t suit his taste. There was a lot of fish which surprised
Bren. They were not fresh water fish either, so they had to come
from an ocean. That meant that water was close by, though Bren had
no idea where it was. If he had known that, he could have taken a
ship to the village, though he didn’t want to think of how mad the
waters around the mountain were. He didn’t fancy being stuck out at
sea with such wild weather. After he had filled his need for
adventure as well as his belly, Bren headed back to the manor they
were lodged at, which was still being cleaned.

Bren found Lillian cleaning the small kitchen
and asked her to gather everyone in the dining room, which was the
only room that was large enough to hold everyone without feeling
cramped.

Once everyone was gathered, Bren looked to
each of them and considered how each of them might play their role
best. They all waited anxiously for him to speak. Once he had
everything worked out in his mind, Bren took a deep breath.
“Tomorrow I plan to enter the door to the Valley of the gods,” Bren
said with finality. Bren told them what the elder had told him of
the dangers, and after the information had time to sink in Bren
continued. “As much as I would like to take everyone with me, I
believe that only four should go with me.”

“I hope you included me in that number,” Cass
said from the doorway. Unlike the last time he had seen his friend,
the look of self-pity was no longer on his face.

“It is not like I can leave you behind,” Bren
said with a smile. “That makes one; as for the others, I believe
Phena, Faye, and Brenda will be the best choices.”

After Bren finished speaking, everyone
started talking among each other. Originally, Bren had planned to
take Lillian instead of Cass but with his friend back, things had
to be changed.

“You have everything ready?” Cass asked
walking up next to Bren, who was now sitting in the corner of the
room looking out the window while the others had rushed off to
prepare for the journey the next day.

“As best as I can,” Bren replied, his mind
slightly clouded by worry. “How are you?”

“Doing better,” Cass said. “It is odd
though,” Cass added running his good hand over his left shoulder.
“I can still feel my arm sometimes. It’s as if it’s still there.
Well, I’d better make sure everything is in order for tomorrow. If
this is anything like the rest of the trip, then it will not go as
planned or anywhere near as planned.”

Bren laughed and shook his head. “Something
is bound to go right sooner or later,” Bren replied as his friend
walked away.

“I will play the odds,” Cass said as he
walked out of the room.

Bren looked for something to throw at his
friend, but with nothing handy, he was forced to watch his friend
leave. Turning his head, Bren looked back out the window. The sky
was almost dark, allowing Bren to see only a few feet into the
courtyard beyond. He didn’t know why, but he always enjoyed
watching nature…. It was relaxing. He decided that after he
returned to Torin, he would build a large garden at the top of his
palace, so he could sit and relax undisturbed.

Shortly after the sun went down, Bren went
back to his own room. There was little more he could do to prepare.
His sword didn’t need sharpened, and all of his things were neatly
packed in his father’s pack. The only thing left now was the
waiting as his imagination ran wild with thoughts of what might be
behind the door. “Why were things never easy?” Bren asked the empty
air.

Your father asked that same question many
times in his life. In truth, the closest answer he ever came to was
because the people made it harder than it had to be.

Bren ignored Thuraman’s words and went back
to his own musings. It was late into the night before Bren actually
fell to sleep. That night, he dreamed about giant horrors that
dwell in the Under Earth, and of creatures far worse than he could
ever have begun to describe.

Bren woke sweating slightly to find that it
was still quite dark outside. With nothing else to do, he dressed
and gathered his gear. His new clothes caused his skin to itch
slightly, but it was still better than the tattered scraps of cloth
he had been wearing for the past fortnight.