God Mage (8 page)

“I see,” Bren said as he continued to watch
the large cat below.

Jin could smell the men, he could hear their
hushed conversations about the mage they were looking for. The
smell of their metal armor made his nose itch, and their deep vices
annoyed his sensitive ears.

Shifting his weight onto his back legs, Jin
jumped from the ground to a limb more than ten feet in the air with
little trouble. The sound from his jump alerted one of the soldiers
who looked to the spot Jin had just left a moment before.

Jin watched curiously as two of the solders
searched the area he had watched them from. When one of the men
looked up and into his large, golden eyes, he stumbled backward and
fell onto his companion, letting out a loud scream. Jin turned his
head slightly, watching the men below as they rushed around
pointing toward him. One of the men picked up a bow, pointed it in
his direction, and let loose an arrow that raced toward him.

Almost lazily, Jin jumped from the tree limb
into the middle of the camp seconds before the arrow would have
found its mark. The powerful muscles in the large cat’s legs
twitched when one of the solders charged at him, and with one large
paw, Jin ripped through the man’s metal armor with his sharp claws
nearly splitting the man in two.

The other soldiers took an involuntary step
back as their comrade was ripped apart. Jin paced around the dead
man then looked at the other men who gripped the hilts of their
swords nervously before pouncing among them. It only took moments
for the small encampment of soldiers to be destroyed by the massive
animal. Once they were all dead, Jin didn’t move on, he walked from
body to body smelling each corpse until he found something that
caught his nose and using his massive jaws ripped into the dead
man’s torso ripping out large chunks of meat.

As Bren watched the large cat, he started to
understand why his father never felt comfortable in the presence of
such a creature. It was truly hard to believe that the large cat
was the same gentle man he had talked to only that morning.

Bren shook the thoughts from his mind and
searched for his other friends among the crowded forest.

He found Faye first, who unlike Jin, worked
alongside a group of seven other soldiers. The men she was with
intrigued him a bit, as unlike the others, they wore no armor and
instead wore tight dark blue clothing. The group moved through the
trees as if they were wild animals—easily at home in the treetops
as they were on the forest floor. Faye walked below them, her eyes
darting to them every few moments. She stopped when they did and
only moved when they did.

When they neared a large encampment of
soldiers, one of the soldiers dropped from the tree tops and landed
a few meters away from Faye and spoke with her briefly. Bren wished
that he could hear what was being said, but not even his magic was
strong enough to make voices carry that far along the wind. For a
moment he tried to enhance his own hearing, but when he did, the
sound of the people near him breathing drowned out anything he
might glean from the forest below. After giving up trying to hear
what was being said, Bren went back to watching the group as they
circled around the large camp of more than two dozen Brotherhood
soldiers.

Faye had never felt so nervous before in her
life. She knew what she was supposed to do, but she had never taken
a direct part in a battle before, and the few times she had seen
something killed before this trip, was when her grandfather had
taken her hunting. She had never taken a liking to those trips and
hated the look on the deer’s face when they were dead. To her, it
was almost as if their large black eyes asked her why they had to
die, and the first time, she still remembered crying late into the
night. This time though, she wouldn’t simply be watching, and it
wasn’t animals they were hunting.

A shiver ran down Faye’s back when she
remembered the small encounter they had when they had first arrived
in Northern Kurt. It had happened so fast then, and she had snuck
away and cried late into the night afterwards even though she had
remained hidden during the whole battle.

She let her magic flow over her body as she
nervously gripped the hilt of her small dagger. Once she was sure
that no one could see her, Faye moved out from her hiding spot and
walked through the trees toward where the soldiers slept.

A third of the solders remained awake, some
sat around the fire while the others walked the perimeter of the
camp, looking for anything or anyone. Every time one of her feet
touched the ground, the noise they made sounded like falling trees
to her ears, and she kept looking around to make sure no one else
had heard. The closer she came to the first sentry, the more
nervous she felt.

Taking a deep breath, Faye grabbed the man by
the mouth as she slid the blade over his throat. A small gasp
escaped the man’s mouth, and Faye heard the sound of blades being
drawn as her stomach began to wrap in knots.

Her breath coming hard and fast, Faye looked
around to see that the soldiers were looking around for the
assailant. The fact that she hadn’t been noticed didn’t help calm
her nerves nor the retching of her stomach.

The soldiers quickly woke their comrades who
had been asleep. As they spread out, Faye moved around them,
driving her dagger into them as she quickly walked past. The men
had told her to aim for the back of the men slightly above the hips
and to the right side. She didn’t know why, but she did as she was
instructed.

When the fourth man fell to the ground
holding his side the soldiers moved closer together so that it
became impossible for Faye to get close to them easily. Faye
breathed a sigh of relief as her job was done. She moved to the
back of the camp and watched as four thin chains shot out of the
darkness wrapping around the soldiers throats and pulling them into
the air.

At the same time that the four soldiers were
pulled into the air, a number of small daggers shot into the group,
bringing three more soldiers to their knees. The previously
composed nature of the soldiers began to break down as they moved
farther apart, looking around for their attackers. They found them
quickly enough as the men dressed in dark blue seemed to simply
appear out of nowhere in front of them, moving through the camp
quickly and quietly, and within moments, the few remaining soldiers
were sent to their maker.

As the men moved from body to body driving
their long daggers into the men’s chest to ensure they were dead,
Faye moved into the forest where she could no longer hear the
sounds of the daggers biting into flesh or see the eyes condemning
her for their deaths. Dropping to her hands and knees, she emptied
her stomach onto the forest floor.

Bren felt a pang of pity for Faye as he
watched the tears flow from her eyes while she sat on the ground.
He knew that a part of her would be forever changed after this, but
as much as he cared for the young girl, he knew that he couldn’t
let that sway his choice. Right now, the Brotherhood posed too much
of a threat to let those who could fight sit and rest in
safety.

It was not hard to find Phena who moved
through the forest as if she was at home. Four others traveled with
her, and they moved in unison as if they had fought together for
years. Bren didn’t know why he was surprised. The Vathari were a
warrior race and are trained from birth to fight.

Unlike with the others, there was no hiding
or sneaking up to the camps they came across. They moved through
them as if they were a force of nature giving their opponents
little chance to counter attack. Phena was especially devastating,
using not only her sword but also her magic in deadly harmony. Bren
watched as she ran from the cover of the forest, killing a standing
guard before he had the chance to cry out and using her lightning
magic on another within the space of a heartbeat. Shortly after she
had made her way through the camp, the others quickly followed
behind, killing the ones who had turned away to chase after
Phena.

Bren slumped to the ground. His friends were
much better at killing than he would have ever suspected. He now
felt more than a little foolish about having gone into the
Brotherhood camp alone.

Given the chance, I believe that most humans
will kill. Your race is a bloody one, whether you wish to believe
it or not.

“I like to believe that they would prefer to
live in peace than war,” Bren said in disgust.

You can keep thinking that, but from what I
have seen, the history of your race is built on war. Your books are
filled with wars, and the times of peace are barely remembered.

Bren ignored Thuraman’s taunting, knowing
that the staff was only trying to anger him. The fighting continued
to last late into the night, and by the time the sun crested the
horizon, nearly two hundred Brotherhood soldiers had fallen to
their blades. Bren felt bad that he had only watched it happen from
a distance, but he took comfort that they had not lost a soul
during the many hidden battles that had taken place that night.

When one of the generals made a disgusted
sound, Bren turned to him to find the man shaking his head. “What?”
Bren asked worriedly.

“We didn’t do enough damage,” the man said
with a slight hint of anger in his voice.

“We killed nearly a tenth of their forces
without a single loss,” Bren said holding back a smile. “What more
could you wish for?”

“Half would have been nice,” the man answered
quickly. “Tonight was our only real chance to strike a heavy blow.
Tomorrow, as well as every night in the future, they will be ready
for our attacks, and at the same time, they will search for us
during the day. We cannot risk attacking during that time out fear
of giving away the entrances to our valley. We have not done nearly
enough damage, and with their numbers, they will find us within a
fortnight, if not sooner.”

Bren thought the man was thinking too hard,
but a part of the man’s worries began to creep into his mind. What
if they found the entrance? There was no way that the soldiers of
the valley no matter how skilled could hold off such a large force
without heavy loses if at all.

If that happens, we run.

Thuraman’s cold words struck him like a blow,
and Bren instantly wanted to argue, but instead he found himself
nodding his head. If the battle was lost, he would gain nothing
from dying along with them. He still had something he had to do,
and he wouldn’t let anything get in the way. The real problem was
how to get his friends to agree to leave with him.

If it comes to that, don’t give them a
choice. You might not be able to kill every soldier out there
without hurting yourself and others, but you can easily make a few
people do as you wish. Even if it is against their will, they will
forgive you with time.

Bren wasn’t sure if they would forgive him,
but they would be alive to hate him. He gave Cass an odd look then
turned his eyes back toward the forest where the Brotherhood had
begun to move once again.

B
ren and the other
generals stayed up top on the ledge watching over the forest
throughout the day and into the next night. They would sleep for a
few hours in turns, but there was always someone watching the
Brotherhood and what they were doing. As night approached, instead
of breaking into smaller groups as they had the night before, they
regrouped and slept in one big camp outside the boundaries of the
forest.

A few of the groups tried attacking the
Brotherhood but with little effect. The second a soldier fell, the
whole camp was up in arms and ready to fight back. Bren thought
about using his magic but he was unsure how well he could control
it at that distance. As night came to an end, a thought hit him,
and he asked for a longbow and a quiver of arrows. He might not be
able to use large-scale magic effectively at the extended distance,
but he could still do a few things to help even the odds.

The bow was brought quickly, though it was
handed to him with odd looks from the others. It was well over four
miles to the Brotherhood’s camp, and he was sure that the generals
thought him crazy for trying to hit anything at that distance, even
with the aid of magic.

Bren shut out all thoughts and focused on the
best-dressed soldier he could find. The wind was calm, and he could
see the currents as easily as if he was watching the waves of the
ocean. A surge of magic welled up within him and ran down the
length of his arm into the notched arrow.

When he
loosed the arrow, it flew straight, and a few moments later
imbedded itself into the soldier who had been tending his fire only
a second before. Thanks to his enhanced eyesight, Bren could see
the surprised look on the man’s face as the arrow pierced through
his armor and ripped into his heart.

Bren fired off seven more arrows before his
head began to grow light. For such a simple spell, it was done on
such an extreme scale and so high up, there was little magical
energy in the surrounding area, forcing Bren to bring in more and
more magic from further away. There was plenty of earth magic
available to strengthen the arrow, but there just wasn’t enough
wind magic to be had near him.

Slumping to the ground, he was mentally
exhausted from trying to pull in magic when there was none to be
had. The looks he received ranged from surprise to awe, but he had
little energy to pay them any heed. All he could think of at the
time was how heavy his eyes felt and how good a small nap would
feel.

When Bren opened his eyes, the sun had
started its climb into the sky once again, and the Brotherhood had
taken up their search. They had already searched the entire
northern section of the mountain and were now moving eerily close
to the entrance that Bren and the others had used to enter the
valley.