Forgotten Mage (15 page)

Bren’s mind was still whirling around
the fact that he had other siblings as Sae-Thae pushed him and
Phena into the hall. “So what now?” Bren asked, feeling more than a
little lost.

“What now…what now!?!” Phena said in a
near scream. “Look, I don’t need a brother, I already have
thousands of them. In our culture, we aren’t separated by our
birth, unless like me, and you are the child of a human mage. Then,
you are tested and treated as some sort of exotic pet.”

Bren watched for a moment as Phena
stormed off before quickly going after her. “Wait, I know it might
not be a big deal to you, but the fact that I have another brother
and sister is no small thing.”

“Then what would you like to know
brother?” Phena asked in a mocking tone.

“Can we go somewhere else to
talk…standing in the hall is a bit embarrassing,” Bren said,
ducking his head as two younger mages looked at them as they walked
past.

Phena led Bren to her room. “My
roommate is out and shouldn’t return until after supper, so we will
have plenty of time to talk, though I hope this does not take long.
Believe it or not, I do have other things to attend to,” She said,
offering Bren a seat. “What do you want to know brother?” Phena
asked again, with the same mocking tone she had used in the
hallway.

“I don’t know, everything I guess,”
Bren answered honestly, still unsure of the situation and what it
meant.

“My mother’s name is Bahai, she is a
vathari priestess. My other brother and sister, I don’t know. I met
them once when we were younger during the testing, but neither of
them showed enough promise, so they were absorbed back into the
shadows. Our race isn’t defined by bloodlines, but by skill and
power. I showed potential, so I was elevated. Much to my mother’s
pleasure, as she is now honored for giving birth to me…. Anything
else?”

“What was it like growing up?” Bren
asked, more than a little captivated by what she had
said.

“It is much different than here. From
an early age, we begin training with weapons and at the first sign
of magical skill, we are tested and taught how to wield magic.
Everything we do is geared around battle. Those that show no skill,
or are deformed are given jobs as farmers and other tasks that
still benefit the whole. I spent most of my youth with a wooden
sword in my hand, and my instructors were not kind. I remember one
time, I had fell asleep during a lecture and my instructor made me
pick up rocks and pile them until my hands were
bleeding.”

“Doesn’t sound too much different than
my life,” Bren said smiling. “One time, I fell asleep, and my
instructor made me cut the grass in the front of the palace with a
dagger.”

After that, Phena and Bren continued to
swap stories of their youth, each trying to outdo the other in how
bad it had been. Time passed quickly, and it wasn’t until Bren’s
stomach began to growl that he decided it was time to
leave.

“It was great talking to you, I hope we
can do this again,” Bren said, as he opened the door back to the
hallway.

“It was not near as bad as I thought it
would be,” Phena answered in her normal cold tone, but Bren could
see the hint of a smile on her face.

Stepping out into the hall, Bren shut
the door behind him and turned, running straight into Faye. “Did
you make a new friend?’ She asked in a harsh tone.

“No, I was just talking with Phena,”
Bren answered cheerfully.

“Hope it was fun,” she said before
storming off, leaving Bren standing confused in the middle of the
hall. Shaking his head, Bren continued to the dining hall to feed
his gnawing hunger.

CHAPTER XII

Time passed by quickly for Bren as he
continued his routine of training with Cass in the morning, and
then studying with Phena and Sae-Thae in the evening. He had tried
to talk to Faye a couple times in the past few days, but each time,
she had left quickly. Other than his troubles with Faye, his mother
had tried to pull him into her dreams. Once, when he was exhausted,
he had nearly let her.

Even with his daily training with
Sae-Thae, Bren had been unable to use his magic once with any real
success. The night before, Sae-Thae had hinted that they would try
something different, which Bren had to admit, had him more than a
little excited. So much so, that he found himself humming as he
made his way to the training compound on the other end of
town.

The first few times that Bren had to
make it to the compound himself in the dark, he had gotten lost,
and once had been late. Since that lesson, he had learned to leave
early, just in case something outside his control happened. He was
sure that even if a dragon were to land in the middle of town,
Jacob would still expect that he show up on time and with his
uniform looking perfect.

As he walked through the dark streets,
Bren ran his hand over the small emblem of a sword on his chest. He
had earned it within his first week, and though he was not the only
one, he still took pride in it. Morus had also earned his as well,
but it was a spear on his chest instead of a sword. The other
trainee still held a great deal of contempt for Bren, and took any
chance he had to get Bren in trouble, or to cause him grief. For
his part, Bren had tried to ignore the other boy, but it was
getting harder by the day.

When Bren arrived, no one else was
awake, so he went into the storeroom and started cleaning. The
first thing he did every morning was a quick check of all the
weapons and armor to see which ones were in the worst shape. Worst
shape meaning, with the most numerous specks of rust. It was hard
to find any that were in dire need of care.

Bren started with a suit of plate armor
that had an old backing to it, which had been soaked in sweat the
day before. The stench was still acidic and burned his nose. First,
Bren took out the padding and began washing it in a large tub.
After hanging the padding up to dry, Bren started on the task of
removing the stains that it had left behind on the metal of the
armor.

It wasn’t until he started on his
second piece of armor that the other boys began to arrive. The
first through the door being Morus, who gave a disgusted sneer.
“Did the mages finally get tired of you and force you to sleep in
here?” The boy asked hatefully.

Bren brushed off the statement, having
found that any response he might make, would just prompt Morus to
continue. Setting down the armor he had just finished, Bren went to
check on the padding to see if it had dried. As he grabbed the
thick wool between his fingers, he found it still a little damp. As
he turned around, something hit his leg tripping him, and making
him fall to the ground, striking his head against the armor sitting
on the ground.

His anger flared as he got to his feet
to see Morus laughing. “Should watch where you walk magic boy,” The
kid said tauntingly.

Before Bren knew what was happening,
large sparks of white and blue energy filled the room. All the
boys, including Morus backed toward the far wall and the few who
were within range, ran from the storehouse. “You just won’t leave
me alone,” Bren said between clinched teeth, each word accented
with a pulsing of the energy strands.

Bren took a small step toward Morus.
The boy tried to retreat, but there was nowhere to go. Wide eyed
and near crying, Morus dropped to the ground.

Before Bren had a chance to do
anything, the door to the storeroom burst open and Weapons Master
Jacob ran up behind him, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck.
“Enough,” Jacob said, shaking Bren hard.

Seeming to snap out of his trance, Bren
lowered his hand and the lines of magical energy disappeared. “He
tried to kill us Weapons Master,” Morus said, pointing at Bren, his
hand still shaking.

“Morus…Bren, to my office
now,” the large Warmaster said, pushing Bren toward the door and
giving the boy on the ground a hard look. “Move it,
now
!”

Bren didn’t stop to see what Jacob was
yelling about, he didn’t care. All he could think about, was that
he was going to get kicked out of the academy. At first, the extra
strain from morning training had been hard, more than hard, and he
would have given anything to be able to stay in bed for even one
extra hour, but now he had come to enjoy it in part. He had made a
few friends, including Cass, and he didn’t want to lose
them.

Bren got to Jacob’s office first, where
one of the other instructors were waiting on him. He was a tall man
with beady eyes and a thin build. Bren had not had to train with
him yet as he was in charge of archery and some of the more in
depth classroom work, but he had seen the man fight, and knew that
even on his best day, he would be beaten soundly before his sword
left it’s scabbard.

Bren ducked his head a little as the
instructor gave him a scathing look. Bren took a seat in one of the
uncomfortable wooden chairs in front of the Weapons Master’s desk
and waited. Morus was not far behind him and Bren could easily see
the hate in the boy’s eyes as he took the seat next to him, going
so far as scooting his chair as far as he dared, in an attempt to
get away from Bren.

Bren didn’t have to worry about how
long it would take Jacob to enter the room, he could clearly hear
the Weapons Master’s footsteps coming down the hall. Both Bren and
Morus jumped, as the heavy door to the office slammed behind them.
“This has gone on too long. I had hoped that the two of you would
start to work together, but I see that was just too much to dream
for.”

“Weapons master…” Morus started to say,
but his words cut off as soon as Jacob looked at him.

“Bren, you have shown great promise,
but your temper is still out of control. For the next two weeks,
you will come back to the academy after your training at the Tower
is done. I will do everything I can think of to beat that rage out
of you.”

Bren let out a deep gulp as he nodded
his head. “Yes Weapons Master.” From the corner of his eye, Bren
could see the swarthy look on Morus’s face.

“As for you Morus, when you first
arrived, I had thought you would be the head of your class. You are
smart and talented, but to put it frankly you use violence and
intimidation instead of trying to work with others. Bren has not
been the only one who has complained about your treatment of them,
and I fear that nothing I can do will change that.”

“Weapons Master, I was just joking,”
Morus replied in a pleading voice.

“That kind of joking cannot be
tolerated. It may pass for leadership in other armies, but not in
the Katanaga. We do not rule with fear and intimation of our fellow
soldiers, we do it with respect and skill. This is your last
chance, if I hear so much as a whisper about your behavior, you
will be out on the streets. As it is for the next two weeks, you
will have mess duty…maybe serving others will help you to
understand that you are no better than they are.”

“Yes Weapons Master,” Morus replied
weakly.

“Now, you two return to training and
remember, I will not tolerate this continued behavior…from either
of you.”

“Better watch yourself,” Morus said as
soon the office door shut behind them.

Back in the training yard, Bren found
the other students formed up, waiting for their return. As he drew
near, everyone’s eyes were on him as if he were some sort of
monstrosity. He knew that in many places, magic was still
misunderstood and so were mages. Many still believed that mages got
their power from being part demon, but Bren had thought that in the
town that housed many magical races, as well as the Mage’s Tower,
it would be different. From the looks in the eyes of his fellow
students, he knew that wasn’t the case.

The first part of the day was running,
a lot of running. By the time they were finally called to a halt,
nearly every boy was hunched over, spewing what little contents
that were in their stomachs onto the ground, and Bren was no
exception.

Thankfully as the day progressed,
everyone seemed to forget about what had happened earlier that
morning. He was dreading whatever Jacob had planned for him that
night, but as he walked back to the Tower that afternoon, he had
hope that he would learn to control himself.

Bren found Sae-Thae in his office as
usual, with Phena right beside him, as they two seemed to pour over
old texts. Bren had to clear his throat twice before either of them
looked up to notice he had entered the room. “Bren, is it already
that late…well nothing for it now. Phena, please have the other
masters get the practice room ready while I explain what it is we
are going to be doing with our young ward today.”

Phena didn’t say a word, she just gave
a simple bow and left the room, but not before giving Bren an odd
look and a wink. “From the look on Phena’s face, this might not be
much fun for me,” Bren said jokingly.

“Ah, that it might not, then again,
only time will tell us the answer to that question. Now, to the
topic on hand. Isophena and I have been pouring over old texts
trying to find any hint of how we might be able to control your
power,” Sae-Thae said, waving his hand at the large stack of tombs
and scrolls laid out over his desk. “We didn’t find anyone who had
the same level of power, but there have been plenty of younger
mages who have had stronger power then they could control. In most
cases, they used an enchanted item to help control the flow of
magic until they could do it on their own, but I don’t think that
will work in your case.”