“As much fun as that sounds, I would prefer to meet up with the others to make sure no one was watching the roads further away from the forest,” Bren said, kicking his horse into a full gallop.
Cass gave another hearty laugh and followed Bren’s lead. Hayao and the others had a small lead on them, but with horses, there was a chance that Bren and Cass could catch up with them by the end of the day. Bren didn’t have a map of the area anymore, but he had a great memory, and if he was right, the closest town was more than two days by foot and under one by horse. That was if they didn’t need to stop. “Think we can reach the others by evening?” Bren asked as he still cradled his hand.
“If we wanted to we could,” Cass said lightly. “But I don’t think we should ride too fast. We don’t want the Brotherhood to lose track of our passage and head back to the village… Do we?”
Bren cursed under his breath. “I guess we will just have to see them when we get to the village,” Bren said as he slowed down his horse and patted it on the side with his good hand.
When they reached the edge of the wood-line Bren’s mind started to clear. He looked at his hand and noticed that the swelling had already gone down, but it still hurt considerably when he tried to move his fingers. His body was resistant to blades but his bones underneath still seemed to have the same weakness as a regular human.
As his mind cleared from the effects, he could feel his body healing. It was painful, but it eased with each passing second. To make sure nothing was wrong, Bren pulled in a small amount of energy from the surrounding area and held it in. He didn’t know why but it felt good to hold the magic inside him. It was like a warm light in his chest. Whenever he let it go it was as if something was missing inside of him.
Don’t let it control you. If you can’t learn to live without it, then the magic will take you over.
“What do you know?” Bren asked angrily. Though as soon as the words formed in his mind, he started wondering why he was so mad at Thuraman. The staff was a pain and often only nagged him, but it seldom told him anything about magic that didn’t hold true.
You are not the only one that has to fight against the grip of the magic. I may not be human, but it calls to me all the same, just not in the same way.
Bren released the magical energy that he had been holding inside and brought his attention back to his surroundings. He didn’t know why the magic felt so good, but he knew that anything taken too far could be dangerous, and magic was no different.
Bren and Cass stopped three times before the sun set and they made their final camp. Even in the waning light, Bren could see the large cloud of dust that the Brotherhood soldiers were putting up in the distance. They were staying close to make sure they were followed, but Bren didn’t like the idea of camping with them so close. It was highly unlikely that they could reach them on a forced march, but Bren preferred not to take unneeded risks.
As soon as Bren laid his head down on his makeshift pillow of saddle and blanket he quickly fell asleep.
Bren didn’t know how long he had slept, but he was rudely awoken when Cass softly kicked him in the side. “What is it?” Bren asked in a sleepy tone as he turned to his side.
“We are going to have company here shortly,” Cass said in a light whisper. “Yeah, I know you were right,” Cass added when Bren gave him a scornful look.
Bren quickly started to move his gear around to make it look as if he was still sleeping. As he moved things around, he started to think that he was getting used to this. Soon as everything was in place, Bren and Cass moved back a few yards from their camp spot and lay in a small dip in the terrain that would hide them from any but the most astute person.
After more than a half hour of waiting, Bren started to think that Cass was losing his touch. As his head began to dip and his eyes grew heavy, the first hint of intruders reached his ear. A few moments later a group of ten men crept into their camp. As he watched them, Bren stared to wonder if nighttime entries were all taught by the same person. It all seemed the same as the last attack. It felt as if he was just reliving the same night again. He could only hope that it would also go the same way as before.
Bren started pulling in magic but at the same time, he made sure to keep his mind as separated from the energy as possible. He didn’t want a repeat of what had happened earlier that morning.
Bren didn’t want any more holes in his blanket so as soon as the soldier raised his sword Bren started his attack. Each of the soldiers wore thick steel armor and that was Bren’s focus. Within moments the soldiers began to pull on their armor. The screams didn’t start until small wafts of smoke began to rise into the air. Bren hadn’t meant for his attack to be fatal, just to get their attention while Cass and Bren attacked, but before they reached the camp, the men lay on the ground, their skin bubbling. The screams of the men as they lay on the ground raking their fingers across the glowing red armor tore at Bren’s ears but it was nothing compared to the smell.
“I think it is time for us to go,” Cass said holding his hand over his nose.
Bren just nodded his head as he tried to keep the contents of his stomach where it belonged.
Chapter 10
Unlike the day before, Bren and Cass didn’t play around, they rode straight out. The first signs of the village where their friends were waiting on them came into view a few hours before midday. Bren felt anxious as they neared the buildings.
He had been in Northern Kurt for almost half a year now, but the buildings still amazed him. Everything was made of wood, and most the roofs had hard clay tiles that gleamed like dried blood in the sun. It was very rustic yet beautiful at the same time. They took a great deal of effort for the smallest details on the outside of the house. It was the small statues that really caught his attention. They were so well sculpted that from a distance they almost looked real.
The inn was easy to find as it was the only three story building in the village. The inn looked more like small palace of one of the daimios. It had more than a dozen steps leading to the door with a statue of a dragon on each side. Bren caught himself staring at the dragon. It looked so real that Bren half expected them to start spewing fire. They even had a slight red glimmer to the scales.
As they entered the building, Bren looked around for any sign of his friends and quickly became worried when he didn’t see any of them. Bren walked up to the small counter where an elder woman sat greeting everyone who entered. “Hello I am looking for a group who might have arrived here sometime today,” Bren said then went into describing Faye and the others.
“No one like that has been here in the past few days,” she said, bowing slightly. “Would you like a room to wait on your friends?” She asked kindly.
“Yes please,” Bren said, tapping his foot as he looked around impatiently.
“They haven’t arrived yet,” Bren told Cass as he walked away from the counter.
“I doubted that they would have arrived yet,” Cass said unfazed by the information. “Even if they walked all night, it would have been difficult for them to make it this soon. My best guess is that they will arrive sometime near nightfall.”
“What happens if the Brotherhood catches up to them before then?” Bren asked in a worried tone.
“Relax,” Cass said, pulling Bren toward the bar of the inn. “Even if they are moving as slow as we were yesterday, it would be very hard for the Brotherhood to catch up to them.”
Before Bren could say anything, Cass handed him a mug of beer and almost forced it down his throat. After the third drink, Bren’s worries started to drift away, and by the fifth, Bren started to drift off.
Bren woke to find himself laying in a soft bed with someone’s arm draped over his chest. At first he thought it was Cass. The burley warrior tended to get a little too close after he had a few drinks. When Bren lifted up the arm, he found that it was much slimmer than he had expected and completely void of hair. Turning his head, instead of Cass’s overgrown face, he was met with Fa
ye’s smiling face.
“Cass said you were a little worried,” Faye said with an impish grin. Before Bren could answer, Faye hit him in the chest. “Now you have an idea of how much you tend to make the rest of us worry.”
“Sorry,” Bren said as he tried to block her blows.
It took a few moments for Faye to calm down, but once she did, she didn’t seem to want to talk about her little fit. After trying for a half hour, Bren gave it up as a lost cause and wisely dropped the conversation.
Thankfully, Cass had left him dressed, so it was easy for Bren to make his way downstairs ahead of Faye. Bren found the rest of his group waiting below, and from the look on Brenda’s face, it was clear that everyone knew what kind of mood Faye had been in.
“Have a good morning Bren?” Brenda asked with a smirk.
“Splendid,” Bren said with a fake grin. “Now, why don’t we get ready? We have a long way to go and a large group of unhappy people following behind us.”
“You’re just no fun,” Brenda said sticking her tongue out at him. “You should at least act like you’re flustered. I miss that awkward little kid that was running around only a few months ago.”
“Where are we going then?” Cass asked still sitting.
“North,” Bren said not knowing what else to say.
“Think,” Cass said, not even trying to conceal his ire. “We need to know more about the areas we are going into. Before we leave, we need a new map as well as a few other things to ensure we won’t have to worry along the way. Hayao made sure we had plenty of food, but we are going to need more than that to survive.
Bren wished they had remembered to grab his father’s trunk back at the temple. He wondered for a short moment if anyone would find it and what they would think of it. As he thought of the wagon, Bren thought of the other things his father had left behind that had helped him along the way. He hadn’t really had the chance to use either of the rings but they still comforted him when he was nervous. Bren looked at the pack that hung on his shoulder. Of all the things his father had created, it had helped him the most. It was a simple thing but had so many uses. Bren thought it was weird that it was the least flashy uses of magic that made the most difference in the world.
Is there a reason that you are thinking such silly notions? You should be forging ahead, not thinking of what was left behind.
“You know, something has been bothering me,” Bren said as he looked down at his staff. “You constantly tell me how many mistakes my father made, and how bad he was, yet all you have worked toward for the past few years is making me retrieve him…Why?”
I wish I knew. Your father did many things that I did not agree with. He was never truly free; his own mind made sure of that. Given all of that, Thad was my creator, and I can still feel the pull of his will. If it were possible, I would jump to his side now but my path is blocked.
Bren just shook his head as he followed the rest into the town proper. Thuraman always complained, but he was just as mixed up as the rest of them.
Cass used what little money they had left to purchase enough horses for them all and a new map. He also bought an assortment of other things that left Bren scratching his head. He didn’t know why they would need spare straps of leather, wire, and oil.
Once Cass was sure they had everything they needed, they left the town heading north. It was still a long journey to reach the location of the valley, but there were plenty of villages along the way—at least for most of the journey.
As they left the village, Bren noticed that their little group had split off into their own small groups. Brenda spent most of her time riding next to Jin, who Bren still had trouble looking in the eye. Faye stayed close to Bren though sometimes she would move back to talk to Lillian and Shariel. Bren found it slightly odd that the two girls who used to be at such odds with each other now talked as if they had been friends for life. Cass was like Faye and switched between riding point with Bren and riding beside Phena.
Ever since they had left Torin, Phena and Cass had grown very close. Bren was used to seeing his friend with beautiful women, but he never thought that Phena would be one of them. In truth, Phena was the last person he thought would ever take an interest in another human. Phena still wore her disguise most of the time allowing her to look like a normal human. She didn’t draw much attention, but then again with Avalanche still running around, they didn’t need much help in that area.
“Do you think Phena would make a good mother?” Cass asked as he watched Phena out of the corner of his eye.
The question caught Bren by surprise. On the long rides, there was little to do but think and talk to those around him, but Bren never thought that Cass would bring up anything of a personal nature. The warrior liked to pick at Bren’s open wounds but never offered himself up for the same treatment.
“I’m sure that she would make a suitable mother for the child of a warrior,” Bren replied, trying to imagine what such a child would be like.
“I think so as well,” Cass said with a half hidden grin. “Now, if only she would think along the same lines.”
“What did you need the oil for?” Bren asked desperately trying to change the topic. He was used to Cass talking about women, but Phena was his sister, and that was the last person he wanted to think of in that light…It just felt wrong. “You know that if we need light I can just use Thuraman or my own magic to create it.”
“The oil is in case we need to make a fire for other reasons,” Cass responded. “I think it would be best if you kept your use of magic to only when it is absolutely necessary.”
“Why?” Bren asked looking at his friend with a raised eyebrow.
“There is the chance that you could lose yourself like you did the other day against the Brotherhood,” Cass replied.
“That won’t happen again,” Bren retorted a little embarrassed.
“Why take the chance?” Cass replied his voice natural with no hint of condemnation, but it made Bren feel even more embarrassed about his mistake.
Bren remained quiet for the rest of the ride, filling his mind with what he was going to do once he reached the valley. He had been so obsessed with simply reaching the valley, he had given no thought to how he would open the door to get to his father. “Any ideas?” Bren asked Thuraman, knowing the staff was listening into his thoughts.
I am sure that you will think of something once we reach our destination.
“So you don’t know either,” Bren said to himself.
Shortly after midday, Bren felt an odd tingling and turned just in time to see Phena block a bolt of lightning with a hastily made shield. Bren turned his horse around and galloped back toward the rear of the line only to find a small group of Brotherhood soldiers quickly advancing on them. “Why is there a mage with the Brotherhood?” Bren asked wide-eyed, pulling his sword from its sheath.
“It’s rare, but from what my father said, there were mages in the high levels of the Brotherhood back during the war in Rane,” Cass said, releasing his own sword from its sheath.
Bren raised his hand and started to pull in magical energy but Cass grabbed his arm and pulled his hand down. “Not unless you have too,” Cass said with a deadly calm look.
Bren nodded his head and released the magic he had gathered and looked at his sword. It looked like such a small and weak weapon compared to his magic. Why shouldn’t he use magic? He could control it and easily take care of the soldiers without putting anyone in danger. Bren started to feel anger welling inside of him, but he forced it away. Every day he felt the need to use magic more and more, and he knew it was wrong, but he still wanted to feel its power.
The need to feel the magic reminded Bren of the people who were addicted to talowart. It was a small plant that grew wild in most mountain ranges and was often used to lessen pain, but when overused, made people slowly lose their mind. Bren had heard more than one story where a talo fiend had been arrested by the city guard after losing their mind, often hurting them
selves or others in the process.
When Phena let loose a torrent of bolts that flashed from her hand, striking the forerunner of the soldiers in the chest and knocking him off his horse, Bren could almost taste the magic in the air, and the urge to use it himself grew even stronger, but he fought against the urge. Biting on his lower lip, Bren felt a trickle of blood run down his chin as he wished the soldiers would hurry up so that he would have something to draw his mind from his desire to use magic.
While Phena took down rider after rider with her magic, Hayao started firing arrows into those that slipped past her attacks. By the time the riders reached the main group, only a handful remained astride their horses without some sort of damage.
Bren held his sword low down by his leg as he leaned close to his horse readying to attack. Just as he was about to spur his horse, Avalanche appeared, jumping and barreling into the rider Bren had targeted, knocking him to the ground, and quickly ripping the man apart. Gritting his teeth, Bren wedged his heels into the horse's ribs as he looked for an opponent.
Bren felt blessed as a Brotherhood soldier appeared in front of him, his horse turned to the side as he maneuvered to attack the mage that was wielding magic to their group’s devastation. He put up no defense as his eyes were elsewhere, but Bren still felt a sickly satisfaction as the man’s head rolled free of his shoulders and fell to the ground.
Within a few heartbeats, the fight was over and the ground was littered with the dead or dying bodies of the Brotherhood. After quickly looking over the corpses and gathering what they could, Cass gathered the two remaining horses and tied them together so they could be lead easily.
They rode for a few more hours and quickly made camp far from the path. That night, they ate cold sandwiches with no fire. Luckily, it was still mid-summer, and the night air was still warm, so the fire wasn’t missed.
“How did they catch up to us?” Bren asked, waving his food around as if it were a weapon. “Even if they left the others behind, we were riding at a good pace and made sure not to leave much in the way of tracks. There is no way that they should have known where we were.”
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