Forgotten Mage (14 page)

The first attack was a straight jab
with the spear, which Bren was easily able to dodge. He had seen
other boys try and grab the shaft of the weapon, but each time, the
other boy had set his legs, jerking hard. Most the time, the weapon
was pulled from the others hand, leaving them off balance and an
easy kill for the sandy haired boy, but the few who had held on,
had not fared much better as the other boy had lunged forward
kicking them hard in the chest.

Bren knew that the other boy was
larger, and didn’t want to test his strength or skill against him,
at least not in that manner. Bren bided his time and dodged the
other boy’s attacks. A spear was a great weapon to keep your
opponent at bay, but it had drawbacks. You couldn’t make a large
strike without leaving yourself exposed and once they were inside
your range, the large spear was nearly useless.

Both tired from their previous fights,
the two moved cautiously. Bren would move in and wait for the other
boy to strike, hoping that he would overshoot or leave enough of a
safe area that would allow him to get in close. His chance came
when the other boy took a slow strike, allowing Bren to knock it
aside and moving quickly move in next to him. Bren had thought that
it would be an easy kill once inside his range, but the other boy
dropped down into a crouch, dodging Bren’s first strike and
reversed his grip on his spear, striking Bren hard in the stomach
with its hard wooden end.

Bren wanted to double over in pain, but
he knew he didn’t have that luxury…not if he wanted to win. Letting
his body slump, Bren jumped and rolled to his feet, coming in
behind the other boy, but he wasn’t the only one who was preparing
for his next attack. The other boy had reversed his grip again and
swung the spear straight at Bren’s head.

Flattening himself to the ground, the
spear soared only inches above his head. As soon as it was gone,
Bren rolled to his feet and tackled the other boy, slamming the
hilt of his sword hard into the boy’s nose. The other boy’s eyes
rolled back in his head, but Bren didn’t relent. He continued to
strike over and over until the boy’s face was covered in a dark red
blood.

Bren didn’t know how many times he had
struck before he was pulled from the other boy by Cass and another
of the older boys. Bren fought against them, but they had secure
holds on his upper arms. As soon as he was pulled away, Bren calmed
down and looked around to the other trainees. They were all looking
at him with frightened stares.

“Leon, Jennings, take Morus to the
nurse,” Cass barked. The other boys moved quickly, though their
eyes lingered on Bren for the briefest of moments.

“A little overboard don’t you think?”
Cass asked in a low whisper, as he pulled Bren to the
side.

“I don’t know what happened,” Bren said
slowly. “As soon as I had him down, everything went red and my arms
just kept hitting him over and over.”

“Battle rage,” Cass replied in a way of
explanation. “Believe it or not, it’s quite common, but you’re
going to have to learn to control yourself. There is nothing more
dangerous on the battlefield than a soldier who loses control, even
if it’s for a single moment.”

“Understood Cass,” Bren said, feeling
more than a little ashamed of himself.

“Call me Sergeant when we are in
training,” Cass said with a half grin. “Otherwise, both of us will
find ourselves worse for it.”

“Ok, Sergeant,” Bren replied, trying to
smile a bit. He was happy that his friend had tried to lighten the
mood.

It wasn’t long after the sparing, the
rest of the trainees were sent inside to start their inside lessons
for the day. Bren had the urge to follow, but the Weapons Master
made sure he knew that Sae-Thae was expecting him back before the
noon bell.

Tired and aching more than he could
ever remember, and that included after his first few days working
on the farm, Bren stumbled back toward the Tower. His stomach
growling, he did stop by a small roadside stand to grab a meet pie.
The food was good, but after what he had witnessed at lunch, he
tried to gulp it down as fast as he could. The small bits singed
his tongue and throat, but he paid them little heed. Once he was
finished, he looked at the crumbs that were left and sighed. As the
Tower came into full view, Bren wondered when the next time would
be that he got to enjoy a real meal.

CHAPTER XI

Bren found Sae-Thae in his office,
awaiting his arrival. “Looks like you survived your first day,” The
older mage said, as soon as Bren entered his field of vision. “It
took a bit longer than I expected, so I hope you were able to get
something to eat, because for the next few hours I am afraid you
won’t have the time for that luxury.”

“I ate enough to last me until supper,”
Bren said after rubbing his tongue over the still tender spots on
the roof of his mouth.

“Good to hear,” Sae-Thae said, leading
Bren by the shoulder out of the room. “The first thing we need to
do, is have you tested for your skills in magic. At your age, they
are bound to shift a bit, but it will give us a starting foundation
for what we have to work with. Every year, our mages have to retake
the test until their scores stabilize, then we check every five
years.”

“Do they change that much?” Bren asked,
having thought, from what the other mages said, that strength in
magic was predetermined.

“Not normally, but it has been known to
happen, especially after a trauma. There was once a mage, a very
famous one back before the Fae war, whose whole family was killed
in front of him. The mage at the time had only a small skill in
water, and none in any of the other elements. After the event
though, he could wield fire magic on a level that was past mastery,
though from all the stories, he was also quite insane as
well.”

Sae-Thae led Bren to a large open room
with eight glass globes sitting on a long table, and one massive
glass orb that was nearly five feet high sitting on the ground.
“Just place your hand on each of the globes and try to use magic.
Even if you can’t quite use it yet, it should still give us a basic
reading.”

Bren walked over to the first globe and
gently placed his right hand over the top of the globe. He focused
and tried to form a ball of light, as he had been told many times
that it was the easiest of the magics to perform. For a brief
moment, it looked as if the scar on the back of his hand glowed,
then suddenly the glass orb below his hand started to hum lightly
as it filled with a light that grew in brightness, until it nearly
blinded Bren.

“Move your hand!” Sae-Thae shouted, but
it was too late. The glass orb shattered, showering Bren with small
shards of glass that cut into his skin. When the dust cleared, Bren
looked around frantically and was happy to see Sae-Thae standing in
the corner of the room, using a dark shield to cover himself. “I’m
sorry,” Bren said as Sae-Thae looked at him
questioningly.

“That was unexpected,” Sae-Thae said,
looking from where the glass orb had rested to Bren. “I have known
many mages in my time, but only once have I heard breaking a
testing orb, and that was when an exceptionally powerful vathari
mage had used one. Try the next one, but if it starts to hum again,
move your hand off immediately. Don’t let it linger even for a
second.”

Bren did as he was told and within
seconds, that orb too began to hum, and Bren quickly removed his
hand. “What does it mean?” Bren asked, confused and more than a
little scared.

“It means that you have an ability far
above any I have ever seen or heard of before,” Sae-Thae replied,
sitting down heavily in a chair that stood near the center of the
room. “Try your hand on the rest of the orbs, but remember what I
said about the humming.”

Bren did as he was told, and all eight
of the orbs reacted the same way. After he was done, Bren was
instructed to touch the last large orb, which was over ten times as
large as the other. When he did, it didn’t hum right away. Instead,
in its center, a multitude of colors began to form then spread out
until they filled the entire orb. After over a minute, the
tell-tell hum began to sound, though this time it was much louder,
prompting Bren to remove his hand. The colors didn’t disappear
quickly, it was more as if they were slowly drained away from the
orb.

“Bren, I expected you to be as strong
in magic as your father was, but this is beyond anything I could
have imagined. A mage that can wield all eight elemental powers at
their highest level is unheard of. “

“Sae-Thae, I haven’t even been able to
use my magic once in the way I meant to,” Bren said, after a moment
of silence.

“That is odd, but it might be because
of the strength behind your power.”

As Sae-Thae spoke, his words were
reassuring and kind, but his eyes showed something else. It wasn’t
hatred, but fear. Almost as if he was facing down a monster. Bren
didn’t know what to say or do, so he remained quiet and listened to
the mage talk. As they headed back toward Sae-Thae’s office, Bren
stopped in the middle of the hall, prompting the vathari mage to
stop and turn around. “What is it child?”

“Are you afraid of me?” Bren asked, his
voice meek and trembling slightly as the words came out of his
mouth.

Sae-Thae let out a heavy sigh. “Afraid
of you no…I have known you since you were a babe stuck to your
mothers tit…your power on the other hand is something else
entirely. It…Frightens me. No one should have that much
power.”

“Then what do I do to get rid of it?”
Bren asked, his voice desperate and pleading. He had always dreamed
of being the strongest mage in history, but what child didn’t. Now
that he seemed to have such power, all he wanted to do was get rid
of it.

“The only way to rid yourself of magic,
is to burn yourself out. That often means death, and even then,
with the strength you have shown today, you might destroy part of
the world doing so…that is what frightens me. You are young, and
not even at the age when most come into their full strength. More
than one young mage has destroyed a house or small village when
they lost control of their magic…you on the other hand, could do
much more than that, and I don’t think there is much anyone could
do to stop you.”

“What should I do?” Bren asked, as the
weight of Sae-Thae’s words settled on his mind.

“There is little you can do at the
moment, but learn to use your magic and keep your emotions under
control. At your age, that will be a battle in itself,” the vathari
mage said, giving Bren a knowing look.

It wasn’t long after the two settled
back in Sae-Thae’s office that Phena made her appearance, rushing
through the door, as if something had caught on fire. “Master
Sae-Thae, I heard that there had been an accident in the testing
room!” She said in a worried tone, surprising Bren more than a
little.

“I wondered how long it would take you
to get here,” The mage said, with a sly grin. “There is nothing to
worry about, we are fine. Though Bren seems to have more power in
him than even I would have guessed.”

Phena looked at Bren for a brief moment
before turning her head. “Such great news,” She replied, in a
scathing voice.

“Isophena, I think it is about time
that you stopped crying anytime that your brother or father’s name
is mentioned,” Sae-Thae said, slamming his fist down.

“Brother?” Bren asked, his mind
stirring at what the mage had said.

As soon as the words left Bren’s mouth,
Sae-Thae looked up and muttered a stream of words that Bren didn’t
understand. He watched for a while as Sae-Thae and Phena talked
back and forth, his mind still working through what Sae-Thae had
said.

“You might as well tell him the rest,”
Phena said, finally noticing the lost look on Bren’s
face.

“Bren…you must understand that some
things are different in our cultures…one of the main ones is, when
a mage visits, it is highly encouraged that they spend time with
some of our better women. Your father was no exception. During his
stay, which was longer than most, he sired three children, two of
which can use magic. Phena’s skill is far greater than any other
mage, and I have been grooming her to take her place among our
people, but all she seems to want is what she can’t have. That is
my seat here, which by your father’s request was reserved for
you.”

“I don’t want to live underground my
whole life,” Phena declared angrily. “I enjoy the sunlight and
smell of fresh air, and I don’t fancy going back to sleep in that
damp hole in the ground.”

“Wait,” Thad said softy,
but Sae-Thae and Phena continued arguing. “
Wait!
” he screamed when they refused
to acknowledge him after his third attempt to get their
attention.

The two stopped and turned to him, both
with their faces still pinched in anger. “What is it Bren?”
Sae-Thae asked between clinched teeth.

“I have another sister?” Bren asked,
looking at Phena as if she had grown a second head.

Sae-Thae clinched his eyes and rubbed
them with his thumb and forefinger. “Yes, you have two sisters and
a brother. Considering the differences between our cultures, I
didn’t think it prudent to discuss this. Now that is has come to
light, why don’t you two go discuss this while I finish my
work.”