Forgotten Mage (10 page)

With the exception of the Tower, the
rest of the city looked much like any other. The houses were made
of brick and mortar from what Bren could tell, and not held
together with some odd form of magic.

Bren didn’t know what he was expecting,
but a part of him felt disappointed. Faye’s eyes on the other hand
were still lit up like a child who had just received a new pony.
Bren decided to keep his complaints to himself as they moved
through the city streets toward the large tower standing in the
center of the town.

When they were only a few streets away
from the Tower, the city and houses started to change dramatically.
The plain mortar and brick gave way to houses with large murals
with moving paintings or odd items in the yards that moved of their
own accord. There was even a house that had a talking gate that
greeted them as they passed by. Bren felt the excitement that had
been building in him for the past few days come back to life as he
found himself surrounded by every type of magical item
imaginable.

“Look!” Faye said, pointing to a large
sign at the corner of the street that had flashing dots on it. “It
tells where you are and where everyone else is. If we had this back
on the farm, it wouldn’t have taken my parents anytime to find me
when I ran off to play as a kid,” Faye said laughing.

Many of the items Bren had seen in his
own home, but many more were new to him. The two continued toward
the Tower, their eyes constantly searching for new objects of
wonder. As they finally approached the large double oak doors to
the Tower, Bren was in a state of awe. It had looked impressive
from a distance, but up close it made the palace seem like a
cottage. The building was massive and Bren could not believe that
it had been built in only four years.

Inside, Bren and Faye found three women
sitting at desks. “I need to see whoever is in charge,” Bren said,
his voice coming out broken and weak.

“If you wish to enter the school, then
you must apply during enrolment, which is in another five days. You
just missed the last one by a week. If you need a place to stay
while you wait for enrolment, there are many inns whose prices are
reasonable. If you can’t afford those, return and I will see what I
can do,” The lady said quickly and concisely in a rehearsed
manner.

“You don’t understand, I need to see
whoever is in charge,” Bren said again more determined.

“No, you don’t understand,” the lady
replied with an annoyed sigh. “Everyone who comes in here thinks
they need to see whoever is in charge, when in truth most of their
answers can be found by many other means. So, why don’t you tell me
what you really need and I will point you in the proper
direction.”

“I am Bren Farlane, prince of Farlan
and rightful heir to my father’s title,” Bren said proudly, though
his voice still shook slightly.

“You need to see the person in charge,”
She said, almost laughing to herself. “That will be Arch Mage
Sae-Thae, who at the moment should be in his study. I will send a
runner to him if you could please wait a moment,” the lady said,
showing Bren and Faye to a long bench.

As Bren waited, he couldn’t help but
laugh. Uncle Sae-Thae was the head of the mage’s school. He had met
with Sae-Thae more times than one could imagine, though over the
past few years his visits had lessened. It was Sae-Thae who had
argued with his mother on his behalf for the rights to his title to
the Mage’s Tower. He had been one of the few people Bren trusted
completely.

It wasn’t long before a tall female
with ash grey skin, deep blue eyes, and dark black hair approached
them. Bren knew that she was a vathari, though slightly different
than the ones he had met in the past. Bren couldn’t help but find
her beautiful, almost like one of the sculptures that his mother
had in the garden.

“Master Farlane, if you would follow
me, I will take you too Master Sae-Thae,” the vathari woman said
curtly.

“Shall we go Faye?” Bren ask as he got
up to follow the woman.

“I was only instructed to show you to
master Sae-Thae, your friend will have to wait here.”

“I think I have the right to bring
whoever I wish with me. If Uncle Sae-Thae doesn’t like it, I am
sure he will let me know when we arrive,” Bren said
sternly.

“As you wish,” She replied, with a bit
of anger in her voice.

“Where did Avalanche go?” Faye asked,
looking around for the rock hound.

Bren had almost forgotten about
Avalanche. “She is always running off. It will save you a great
deal of headache if you try not to think on it too often. I just
hope she’s not destroying another jewelry store”

The female vathari led Bren and Faye to
a large staircase. After more than ten minutes of climbing, Bren
was sweating and his feet started to feel heavy. The longer he
walked, the more he started to believe in the stories of mages
living in their towers and seldom coming down. If they had to make
this climb every day, they would all look like captains of the
guard.

“This way,” the vathari said, opening a
thick wooden door with the odd carvings in the wood.

As Bren walked through the doorway, he
instantly noticed the tall vathari man sitting hunched over the
desk in the back of the room. At the sound of their entering
Sae-Thae looked up, his large black eyes examining Bren for a long
time. “I thought something might have happened to you,” The vathari
mage said after a long pause of silence. “Your mother sent word
that you might be coming and that she wanted you returned on sight
more than a fortnight ago.”

Knowing that his mother had already
sent word to Sae-Thae made the young man’s knees weak. “You don’t
plan to cart me back to her do you?” Bren asked, looking into
Sae-Thae’s face for any hint of his intentions.

“Why would I do that when I have been
trying to get her to let you come here ever since you could walk?”
Sae-Thae replied with a toothy grin, showing of his large pointed
teeth. “I don’t think I will be able to hide your presence from her
for long though. Your mother is very adept at gathering
information. In fact, I am surprised she hasn’t already caught you.
Just what have you been doing these past days?” Sae-Thae asked, his
eyes focusing on Faye who stood nervously behind Bren.

“Working on a farm,” Bren answered
honestly. “This is Faye, a friend who I met on the farm. She can
use magic,” Bren continued, the words feeling awkward coming out of
his mouth.

“Is that so young lady?” Sae-Thae
asked, looking at the young girl again with his penetrating dark
glare. “Internal or external magic?”

“”
Internal I think,” Bren
answered when Faye suddenly seemed to lose her voice. It was a new
experience to see the headstrong girl suddenly speechless and Bren
was kind of enjoying the look of uncertainty on her face. “She was
able to turn herself invisible.”

“Really, that is impressive young lady.
I would love to see if that effects my sight as well as the human
eye, but I am guessing you don’t have complete control of it,”
Sae-Thae answered with a light laugh that came out almost as a
growl.

“How would you know?” Faye shot back,
her ire exceeding her fear at the strange person standing in front
of her.

“That’s simple,” Sae-Thae responded.
“From the look on your face, if you could control your gift, you
would already be using it.”

Faye crossed her arms in front of her
chest and gave the vathari mage a harsh look. In return Sae-Thae
returned a smile. “I like your friend Bren, she would have made a
fine vathari and might even help you grow a bit. You have always
been too hard on yourself. Now, let’s get down to the reason you
saw fit to come all the way to the Mage’s Tower.”

“I came to claim my inheritance,” Bren
replied confidently.

“I see,” Sae-Thae replied after a brief
pause for thought. “You are fourteen, the age that Farlan
recognizes as entering adulthood, but I think you might wish to
reconsider.”

“Why?” Bren asked defensively. “Do you
enjoy it that much?”

“I see you have grown a sharper tongue
since I last saw you,” Sae-Thae said harshly before giving another
toothy smile. “That is good. In truth, I hate having to listen to
the mages here whine and whimper. I much preferred it when I was
the head of the council of mages within my own city, but I have
come to this position out of respect for your father. In truth, if
I wanted to keep it, there would be little challenge of disposing
of you right now.”

“Then why?” Bren asked, not arguing
about the vathari’s statement about disposing of him. Bren knew
that if he wanted to, the mage had more than ample power to get the
job done.

“Because, you have not yet come into
your own power,” Sae-Thae explained. “If you were to take your
father’s seat at the head of the mage’s council, they would treat
you like a pawn and even though you had a seat of power, it would
lose most of that over the next few years. You need something more
than your father’s name to hold yourself up. If you wish, you may
follow me and I can show you what your duties will entail once you
do take over, but I strongly suggest you wait a few more years
before taking your father’s seat as your own.”

“He shouldn’t get the seat just because
his father wanted him to have it,” the vathari woman said in a
spiteful tone. “There are plenty of other mages, human and
otherwise, who would be far better suited for the task.”

“Isophena, that is enough,” Sae-Thae
said with far more vehemence in his words than Bren had ever heard
before. “This is not the place or time to discuss this.” Almost as
if remembering that Bren and Faye were in the room, Sae-Thae turned
back toward them, his expression suddenly calm. “I am sure you and
your friend are tired and I myself have many things left to do
before I retire for the evening. Isophena will guide you to your
room. Your friend is staying as well I assume?”

“Yes,” Bren said looking at Faye for
conformation.

“Good, come by in the morning and we
will work out a schedule for you,” Sae-Thae added, almost absent
mindedly as he waved the three off.

Though not too happy with the task,
Isophena lead the two back down the stairs to a long hallway. “Male
rooms are on the left and female on the right. We don’t have many
rules here regarding curfew, but if you make the arch mages mad, be
sure that punishment will follow.

Isophena stopped at one of the doors
and opened it. “Faye, this will be your new home. Your roommate is
another human so you shouldn’t be too afraid to sleep,” she said
mockingly.

Faye entered the room, mumbling under
her breath. Though her words were too low for him to understand,
the smirk on Isophena’s face said they were none too
pleasant.

“Why are you in such a bad mood?” Bren
asked, unable to control himself.

Isophena turned on him with fire in her
eyes. “I have been training under master Sae-Thae since I was old
enough to mold magic and now that you show up, he drops everything
and nearly forgets that I even exist.”

From what she had said, Bren could tell
that like it or not, he and Isophena would be spending a lot of
time together. If he didn’t want every moment of that to be
painful, he knew it was best to try and get along. “You think you
should take over the seat when Sae-Thae steps down? Then how about
when it comes time, we ask his honest opinion on the matter and if
he thinks you are better suited, you can have it
Isophena.”

“What?” she said, her face clearly
showing her shock. “Do you think you will be better than me just
because who your father is? I promise you that if you make this
deal, I won’t let you back out of it later.”

“It’s nothing like that. I just agree
that I shouldn’t get it just because of who my father was. As long
as my sister doesn’t get it along with the Farlan throne, I will be
happy,” Bren said, surprising himself.

Isophena opened a door at the far end
of the hall. “This is your room, you don’t have a roommate yet, but
I wouldn’t get used to being alone. With another bout of admissions
coming, you are sure to find yourself with one soon,” she said
loudly. “And, you can call me Phena. All the others do,” Phena said
before shutting the door.

Throwing his pack in the corner of the
room, Bren collapsed on the soft bed. He was glad that Phena seemed
to be warming to him, but he was also worried about what he had
told her. Was he so set on his sister not getting a place at the
mages table that he would offer it to someone outside of the
family? He was sure that was not what his father would want, but he
still didn’t want her to have it. He knew that part of himself was
being selfish, but he also believed what his swordsmanship
instructor had told him. “Try as they might, no man or woman can
have two lives. In the end, they must make a choice.” At the time,
the instructor was talking about Bren’s desire to combine his
swordplay with his magic once he had it under control. The man had
been adamant that you might use both to some degree, but you could
never master both at once since they both took immense
concentration to use correctly.

Stretching out his right arm, Bren
looked at his hand and the pale silver scar that ran the back of
it. He couldn’t prove it, but each time he had used magic without
meaning to, it had come from his right hand and he had a feeling
that the scar played a part in it. There was no proof, it was just
a feeling, but Bren had been taught to trust what he
felt.