Forgotten Mage (22 page)

Starting on his exercises, Bren tried
to separate the different flows, taking only so much of each one,
then letting them go. Most the time, he felt as if he was trying to
catch steam, but today he was meeting with a margin of success. He
would grasp, and while he still could not completely regulate when
he was pulling in, he was able to block out the unwanted magical
energy.

“I did it,” Bren said as soon as he
opened his eyes. “I was able to move the flows.” His voice was high
pitched and elated.

“That is good,” Master Carnear said.
“You are progressing much faster than I would have thought
possible. The next step is to use the magic that you are pulling
in. We will start with something simple, something that doesn’t
hold many dangers.”

“A light,” Bren said, his excitement
still holding.

Carnear shook her head. “No, a light
can still be dangerous if built too strong. It can blind or even
burn. No, we will head outside, and then you will start with a
light wind.”

“Is that wise?” Cass asked, his voice
cold and questioning. “If he plans to close his eyes and do this
outside, it would leave him completely open to attack.”

“That is true, but I don’t fancy having
everything in my room blown about,” Carnear said, patting the young
man on the cheek. “I am sure that if anything happens, you will
more than be able to handle it.”

Bren had thought that master Carnear
would take him to the inner courtyard of the Tower, but instead she
took him to the edge of the town. The further they walked past the
houses, the more nervous and obvious Cass and Flynn’s movements
became. It wasn’t until they were almost a hundred yards from the
nearest building that Carnear told Bren to start.

As he was told, Bren took a seat on the
ground and closed his eyes. Within moments, he could picture the
flows of magic again. He found it odd that they looked and moved
slightly different than they had back in Master Carnear’s
quarters.

As soon as he found the wind, he pushed
the other energies away and slowly began to pull the magic into him
and reform it. It was much harder than he had figured, as each time
he thought he was about to get it, the magic would slip through his
fingers and he would have to pull it back. It wasn’t until his
fourth attempt, that he had been able to build up enough magical
energy to move the small pinwheel that Master Carnear had brought
with her, and even then, he had a sinking suspicion that it had
been normal wind, and not his doing at all.

Feeling frustrated, Bren pulled in more
of the magic and started to mold it. He was so caught up in his own
mind that he didn’t noticed his hair starting to catch in the wind.
He didn’t even notice when the wind got so strong that it began
whipping his clothes around his body. He did however noticed when a
heavy hit knocked him flat on the ground.

“What was that for?” Bren asked Flynn,
as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Mister Flynn was just doing as I
requested of him,” Master Carnear said, a look of disappointment on
her face. “I told you, that you must stay aware of your
surroundings at the same time you are focusing. If you would have
made it much stronger, then wind tunnels would have started
forming.”

“Sorry,” Bren replied
sheepishly.

Fool, place me in your lap.
I can help show you how to guide and form the magic. Much better
than stumbling around like a blind man as you are now.

“As long as you don’t spend the whole
time insulting me,” Bren replied, as he picked up the staff from
the ground beside him, and placed it in his lap. He noticed the
worried look that Carnear gave him, but decided to ignore it when
she didn’t tell him not to use the staff.

Closing his eyes, Bren once again found
the flow of magic and started pulling it in, much more slowly this
time.

Don’t tug on it like that,
just nudge it and let it come to you. Open yourself to it, and then
you will just have to direct it.

Bren tried to just let the Magic flow
toward him, but there was too much. When he was simply pulling it,
there was only a small amount compared to what now entered his
body. Pain flared through him, and he felt a burning sensation in
his right hand.

I swear! You would give the
village idiot a run for his money on a good day. I said to let it
in, I didn’t mean to let everything in. You still have to keep your
walls up and filter what kind of magical energy you let
in.

Bren heard Thuraman’s words, but
couldn’t respond. The pain shooting through his body was too great.
He cursed himself for forgetting almost everything that Master
Carnear had taught him over the past few weeks.

Fool, stop the flow first
and get rid of the excess, then you can wallow in self-pity. That
is, unless you want to spend a few more days in the medical
ward?

Using what little bit of strength Bren
had left, he placed a barrier between him and the magical flows.
Once there was no more magical energy entering his body, Bren
pushed the rest into a large ball. Hurting, Bren never opened his
eyes to see what he was creating, but at the time he didn’t care.
He just wanted to pain to end.

As soon as the last of the magic left
his body, the majority of the pain subsided, but his right hand
still itched as if something was crawling under his skin. Opening
his eyes, Bren ran his fingernails over the back of his hand and
noticed that the pale silver scar wasn’t so small anymore. Now
covering over half the back of his hand, and the entirety of his
pinky finger, the silver scar shone more brightly than Bren had
ever remembered it. Holding his hand up in the sunlight, he was
mesmerized by how it seemed to shimmer.

Bren was shaken from his stupor when he
felt something shake his shoulder, hard. Turning his head, Bren
noticed Cass standing right beside him, the boy’s face still
holding a look of utter disbelief on it. “Yes?” Bren asked in a
sleepy tone.

“Are you ok?” Cass asked, his voice
stuck between worry and awe.

“Hurting a little, but not too bad,”
Bren said, getting unsteadily to his feet.

“Quite a feat master Farlan,” Master
Carnear said walking over to him. “Creating a tear in space, though
it was very foolish, it did allow you to use all of your magic’s at
once. Quick thinking, but still very foolish.”

From the sound of her voice and the
look on her face, Bren couldn’t tell if she was pleased with his
actions, or dismayed. He knew that it hadn’t been prefect, and he
wasn’t even sure what she was talking about a “tear”, but he had
used the magic. Maybe not how he wanted too, but he had used
it.

I wouldn’t get too full of
yourself. Your father did that often, and it never ended well for
him and he was ten times more skilled at using magic than you are.
You were able to channel the magic, but you still lack control and
direction. What good is it to use magic if you can’t make it do
what you need, when you need it? If you had half the focus your
father did, then you could rule the world with that amount of
power.

“I am not my father,” Bren replied to
Thuraman, angrily. “And who would want to control the world…I just
want to live in it.”

I don’t need reminded that
you are not your father…that is plain to see, though it would seem
that you picked up all his bad habits while having none of his
good. Both of you could have had as much power as you wished to
take, yet neither of you seem inclined to take it. Why do you
desire to live among those that you could easily
control?

Bren thought about Thuraman’s words for
a moment. Why wouldn’t he want to control the world? As a kid, he
had dreamed of being king, but it had been short lived when he
learned everything his mother had to deal with. It was one of the
few times in his life that he was glad that Farlan passed down
nearly everything though the female line. “It would be lonely to
stand above everyone,” Bren answered honestly, after a long pause.
“If you stood above everyone, then there would be no one to stand
beside you.”

Exhausted from the day’s trials, Bren
put up no argument when his guards escorted him to his quarters. As
soon as he reached his room, he went straight for his bed, not even
bothering to take off his clothes before collapsing on it, quickly
falling asleep.

CHAPTER XVIII

Later that night, Bren was awoken when
he heard struggling in the dark. Frantically, he searched for one
of the magical lights that adorned each room. As the area was
filled with a dim light, Bren noticed that Cass lay on the floor
bleeding and Flynn was still struggling with the attacker. Agitated
that he hadn’t woke sooner, Bren reached for his sword and prepared
to aid Flynn.

“Stay back fool,” Flynn yelled, having
noticed what Bren was planning. “There is no point in us protecting
you if you act foolishly.”

Bren stopped, one foot nearly on the
hard floor. His eyes were still glued to the two men wrestling on
the floor. Flynn still had his weapon and looked unharmed. Using
the hilt of his sword, Flynn brought it down hard onto the back of
the assassin’s head, but it didn’t seem to faze the lithe
warrior.

After the second strike, the assassin
grabbed Flynn’s weapon arm and tried to pull the blade free from
his hand. Acting quickly, Flynn wrapped his legs around the
assassin’s waist and flipped him over so that Flynn was now on top.
His hands almost a blur, Flynn turned his blade sideways then
yanked up, freeing his weapon arm and plunging the blade straight
into the assassin’s abdomen.

“Bren had seen the beheading the
previous day, but that didn’t prepare him for the sheer amount of
blood that erupted from the garish wound. Flynn didn’t removed his
blade, he simply stood and spat on the screaming man who’s hands
grasped feebly at the blade of the sword, trying to pull it
out.

Bren felt all the blood leave is face
as his body began to tremble and his stomach turned. Flynn took one
look at him and gave a disgusted grunt. “No time for that,” He said
spitefully. “We need to get Cassius to the medical mages before he
bleeds out.

Flynn signaled for Bren to grab one of
Cass’s arms. Doing as he was told, Bren lifted the young man up,
finding him much heavier than he would have thought. It wasn’t long
before one of the roaming guards found the two, carrying their
dying friend, and quickly called for aid.

Shocked and dazed, Bren was escorted
back to his room by Flynn and three tower guards. He had tried to
go with Cass, but Flynn had not so kindly told him no. Bren felt
bad, knowing that he had been the cause of his friend’s injury, but
upon returning to his room things got much worse. Sae-Thae and a
group of medical mage’s were already in his quarters doing their
best to save the life of the assassin.

“Why are you helping him?” Bren asked
angrily, trying to push his way to Sae-Thae, but was held back by
the tower guards.

“Bren, the man will die, but when he
has served his purpose. We need information, and the only people
that can give it to us are the assassins. I would suggest you go
back to bed, we will be done shortly and then you will need to
rest. I know it had been a trying night, but we will do everything
we can to make sure that no harm befalls you or anyone
else.”

“No, if you are going to question him,
then I would like to hear what he has to say. I want to know why I
am so important that they would send assassins after me,” Bren
said, with far more confidence then he felt.

“I don’t think that is wise,” Sae-Thae
began to say, but after looking at Bren, he shook his head and
sighed. “I won’t stop you from being present, but I think you
should reconsider.”

I know of some great methods
of torture. Your father was always getting himself caught and they
do say experience is the best teacher.

“I don’t plan to torture the man,” Bren
said in disgust.

Fool, do you think that just
because you caught him that he will tell you everything he knows.
Unlike you, the man is no fool he knows that as soon as he talks he
is dead. The only way to get what you want is to make the man think
that death is a far better choice.

“I am sure that Master Sae-Thae knows
of other ways to get information, other than using torture,” Bren
said, though his words sounded hollow, even to himself.

Not trusting himself to speak, Bren
followed the tower guards and mages into a small room near the top
of the Tower. Inside, there were various objects that Bren had
never seen before, though from experience he knew that most of them
were enchanted, even the chair the man was strapped to, was covered
in small gems.

“First, I would like you to know what
is about to happen to you,” Sae-Thae told the man whose face was
cold and almost bored looking. “This chair is made so that you will
feel three times the pain that you normally would, but at the same
time, it will allow you to heal much quicker. We wouldn’t want you
to die prematurely on us.”

Sae-Thae walked over to the small
wooden table and ran his fingers over the many different
instruments until he picked up a small silver knife with a hooked
end. “I haven’t used these in such a long time…I hope I can
remember how to do this properly,” the master mage said with a
crooked grin.