Before Bren could finish what he had planned to say, the other man bowed his head as well. “I was in the wrong as well. By all rights this is your map, and I should not have acted that way without first trying to reach a favorable compromise.”
“As I said, the map itself means little to me,” Bren repeated himself. “I am only interested in one place. It is a valley where no one lives, surrounded by mountains with only a small hidden entrance.”
“I would like to help you, but this is too large a decision for my family alone,” the man replied, his voice sounding sincere. “Let me speak with the village elders. There is a chance they may be able to identify the place you are looking for. I can’t say for sure, but there might be more to the map than even I can guess at, though I doubt any of the elders would let me, let alone you, know if there was.”
Bren’s first thought was to grab the map and return to his own studies of it, but he quickly reconsidered. He was sure that if needed, He could take back the map and escape the village, but that was only if he went alone. It also meant that should he go against the head of Hayao’s house now, it could mean the same thing in the end. “It would seem that for now I have little choice but to agree to your request.”
As the man left, Bren shook his head and looked over to Hayao. “I have talked to your father a number of times, yet I still do not know the man’s name.”
Hayao laughed a little and shook his own head. “My father’s name is Hayao Sun.”
You and your father have the same first name?” Bren asked slightly confused.
“No,” Hayao replied with a slight smirk. “Have you not noticed that the family name is said first? It is the more important of the two, so it is given precedence.”
“Ah,” Bren said blankly as a feeling of embarrassment washed over him.
That night, after most the others had fallen asleep, Bren once again found himself in the courtyard that lay right outside their room. It wasn’t overly large and was by no means an outstanding place of beauty, but it was a place that made him feel calm, and after the day he had, he could use a little calm.
There were only a few clouds in the sky letting the moon shine through clearly. Pulling in a little magic, Bren made it look as if the moonlight was dancing over the ground. There was no practical reason for his antics; it was just something to busy his mind.
“Looks beautiful,” Faye said, sitting down beside Bren and laying her head softly on his shoulder. When Bren didn’t say anything, she gave him a gentle shake. “No one else in the world around, and I still can’t hold your attention.”
“Sorry,” Bren apologized.
“Don’t apologize,” Faye said, grabbing him and pulling him close. “Just pay attention to me. That’s all I really want.”
“Oh,” Bren replied feigning surprise. “Is that all you really want?”
“Didn’t you know that is all any woman really wants,” Faye responded with a sly smile as she pulled him close. “Well most of the time.”
Chapter 6
Bren’s eyes fluttered open as he heard footsteps quickly rushing toward there room. Almost without thinking, Bren—careful not to wake Faye whose head rested on his arm—grabbed the hilt of his sword. The sound of the footsteps grew louder, and the sliding door to their room was thrown open, causing many of the men in the room to jump to their feet ready for a fight.
“There is a problem, my lords,” a young man nearly his own age said breathlessly. “Master Hayao is waiting for you outside.”
As the young man rushed off, Bren and the others quickly dressed and rushed to find out what had caused such an uproar in a normally subdued people. The look on Sun’s face said much more than the frantic words of the messenger. “The elders wish to see you,” Sun said before moving toward the elders building.
During the last few visits to the elder’s building, Bren had felt a strong power emanating from inside, but now that seemed only a farce compared to what he felt now. The pressure coming from the building was so intense that it made Bren’s stomach tighten, and it seemed to be getting stronger with each step he took forward.
Looks like that the old men are worried about something. Don’t they know it seems a bit childish to let their magical energy run wild?
“It’s their magical energies that are causing the pressure?” Bren asked not completely understanding. He knew that it had something to do with magic, but how they were able to put off such a feeling was outside of his knowledge.
Spending so much time with woman has softened your brains. Most mages I have felt keep close tabs on their magical energy for fear of giving away their powers to rivals. On the other hand, these people are letting their magical energies run amuck as if they are challenging everyone around to try to fight them. You should cut yours loose a bit to show them that trying to intimidate you and the others won’t be taken lightly.
“I didn’t know the others could feel it,” Bren said as he looked around at the faces of his friends. Everyone had the same look of trepidation on their faces.
I doubt they can understand the feeling they are getting from the building as much as you, but they can feel it all the same. The old geezers are purposely putting you on edge for some reason, and I don’t like it.
“How?” Bren asked, still not understanding just how the elders were doing it.
Are you really asking me how? I knew that you didn’t have your father’s skill with magic, but it seems that you don’t even have his desire to learn things on your own. Thankfully, at least you have enough strength to make up for your lack of talent and drive. What they are doing isn’t that hard nor complicated. Your father used to do it all the time when he was mad, though most the time he didn’t know what he was doing. In simple terms, draw in magical energy and let it disperse into the air. The magic will hold onto your feelings and thoughts as it spreads around. So if you are happy, then people will feel at ease. Depending on how you use it, it can be useful in many situations.
Bren started to pull in massive amounts of magical energy, so much so that he drained the area completely of its magical energy. As the magical energy entered his body, he could feel a lightening of the tension in the air. The faces of his friend’s returned to normal and even Cass walked with less caution in his footsteps.
Bren was amazed at the sheer amount of magical energy that he could hold. He no longer felt the burning sensation in his chest, and he was sure that he could hold even more if he needed. The only downside was that he could feel the magical energies pulling at him. Since a vast amount of the energy was invoked, with a feeling of dread, it heightened his feeling of anger. Not wanting to hold it in anymore Bren released all the pent up magical energy at once along with all of his anger.
As soon as the magic left his body, all of his friends and their escorts jumped. Cass’s hand went straight for his sword and had it half released from its scabbard within a heartbeat. When no threat presented itself Cass removed his hand from the swords hilt, but Bren could see large beads of sweat running down his neck as the man’s body slightly trembled.
I think it would be better if you held back a little next time. That was so strong that I think it could have killed someone whose heart was weak.
“It can kill someone?” Bren asked, slightly embarrassed of his actions.
Honestly, I don’t know if it can kill or not, but I think it is possible. I don’t think the elders will try such a tactic again though. Even if they got the whole village together, I doubt that they could compete with your sheer power.
The one good thing about his new body and his ability to control himself was that the feeling of guilt quickly left him. Bren knew that it wasn’t a good thing in most cases, as it would allow him to do a great many things without any feeling of remorse. He knew it should scare him, but even his fears only came when he wanted them to. In truth, it was an odd thing; he would have never guessed that a person would want to fear, but he found that his fears kept him in line better than any of h
is other emotions. The fear of losing what one cares most about is a strong motivation to make one more cautious with their actions. Anger, on the other hand, was a far different feeling—one that made it hard to think about what his actions would do to those around him.
When they entered the hall where they had met the elders the previous visits, Bren made sure that he walked with confidence, each step like a small conquest. Bren looked the elders directly in the eyes as he entered the room. Unlike the time before, they didn’t sit behind their desk with the same smug look as before, now they shifted nervously in their seats.
“Why did you call us here?” Bren asked his voice still tinted with the anger that had filled him moments before.
“You…” one of the elders to the right began to say before the head elder silenced him with nothing but a stern look.
“I won’t apologize for our actions, but I believe it would be best if we both let it go for now. If not, then we will get nowhere, and I must admit that the situation is far worse than you might surmise,” the elder said with a blank look on his face. “I don’t know how, but it seems that the Brotherhood has followed you. Right now more than three thousand soldiers are combing the woods outside the village looking for something, and we can only believe that it is you.”
“Nine hells,” Cass cursed under his breath.
“You have been granted sanctuary in our village but given the sheer number of soldiers outside, it will only be a matter of time before they find a way into the hidden valley.”
“If we leave, I don’t think the Brotherhood will simply go away,” Bren replied thoughtfully.
“We don’t want you to leave,” the elder said quickly. “We want you to fight, along with us. It is just as you said, the Brotherhood will not simply go away, and while we believe that their best would not be a match for even our younger soldiers, we are vastly outnumbered. If you were to count every soldier within our village it would number less that one thousand. What we need now is help,” the elder’s said, his voice remaining eerily calm and void of any emotion.
“I see,” Bren replied as his eyes turned toward his friends. “They have given us a safe haven and much more during our short stay. I will not agree for everyone but I think we should fight along with the village.”
“I don’t mind getting my sword a little wet,” Brenda said with a thin smile. “Honestly, my sword arm has been itching a little ever since we left. I would have found more action had I stayed in Abla. At least there I would have had a few tournaments to fight in.”
“You know how I feel,” Cass said, giving Brenda an odd look. “My job is to keep you safe, and if you want to fight in a war then it’s my job to go with you.”
“It has been a while since I got to let my magic go wild,” Phena said, moving between Cass and Brenda and pushing herself close to him. “A woman needs to cut loose from time to time.”
“I am not much of a fighter but I will do what I can,” Faye said meekly.
The others made their own point, but none of them seemed to want to leave the village without fighting first. Bren wasn’t that surprised; everyone with him lived in a country that had been affected by the Brotherhood. Then again, it didn’t seem like there were many places that hadn’t seen the hand of the Brotherhood over the past few centuries. “Looks like we will be fighting then,” Bren said, trying to sound happy about the decision.
“I am happy to hear it,” the elder said, letting his strict demeanor slip slightly. “Then shall we get to it. We need to learn your specific sills so that you may be used to your fullest potential.
They were led from the building. It didn’t take Bren long to notice that they were headed toward the part of town where he had come across the training youth a few days prior. Unlike the time before, the large open area was not filled with energetic youth training but a host of men wearing various types of bone armor readying for a battle. Their guide pulled another older warrior aside and talked to him for a few moments then brought the man over to where they stood.
Most of the men were basic warriors and were spread among the different groups. Faye, having a unique ability, was moved to a group of young warriors who wore no obvious armor. Bren found a slight nagging worry for her safety pool in his stomach, but he quickly pushed the feeling away.
Bren was told that he would work directly with the general’s. The only one who didn’t take his orders without reservation was Cass who demanded to stay at Bren’s side. Once they learned that he would not be moved from his decision, they reluctantly allowed him to stay with Bren.
Once the leaders of the different groups were sure of their roles in the upcoming battle, everyone quickly departed, leaving Bren feeling more than a little anxious. He had been placed with the generals, but he knew little of the plan himself, and he didn’t like the idea of his friends being in danger without him having a clue as to how much. He still believed that he had lost a lot of his humanity since his last battle with the Brotherhood, and he saw his friends as his only link to who he was, and the fear of losing them made his chest tighten painfully.
Bren forced himself to follow the other commanders as they moved through the town heading to an unknown location. Bren began to worry more when they reached the edge of the village and entered a small cave. Bren had to fight against the vast urge to produce any type of light in dark recess of the earth. He knew that the others had not done so in order to keep anyone from knowing where they were going, but he didn’t like not being able to see anyone around him. The only thing that he could do was let his fingers trail along the damp rock as he listened to the shallow footsteps of those with him.
Bren let out a sigh of relief when he noticed a thin stream of light coming from the end of the tunnel. As he stepped though the opening in the earth, Bren found himself standing on a large cliff overlooking the forest. He was so high up that he could even see the edge of the forest and the Brotherhood soldiers, who looked like small specks in the distance.
“Why have we come here?” Bren asked the man standing closest to him.
“Our task,” the man said quickly, his attention staying focused on the forest below.
“And what is that?” Bren asked slightly frustrated.
“To watch and help when we can,” The man said returning his frustrated tone.
“Can you at least tell me when the battle will start?” Bren asked sounding defeated.
“When the sun has set, our men will move out. We do not have the numbers for a direct conflict so we shall do what we do best and take them out in the silence of the night.”
The news didn’t set Bren’s nerves at ease, but he knew that it was the best he was going to get. It was easy to tell from the man’s aura that he held little faith in Bren and saw him as more of a hindrance than a help in the current situation. Bren was sure that he wasn’t the only one that thought that way either. Most likely most of the soldiers that would be risking their life would much prefer if Bren and his friends were cast out from the village. Why should they risk their lives for strangers? Bren forced away the thoughts, knowing it was his own weakness pushing through. They had offered their aid, and any deaths that came about would not be his, nor his friend’s fault. No. Those deaths would fall squarely on the Brotherhoods shoulders.
I half thought you would leave on your own again in some vain attempt to lead the Brotherhood away. Foolishness always ran in your father, and given your past actions, I thought it had run true in your blood as well. I am glad that for once I was wrong.
“If I left, my friends would follow, and their risk of capture would be even greater,” Bren replied. “The best chance for all to survive is to work with the village, so that is what I will do.”
It seems that you have finally grown out of your naivety.
“I don’t think I have grown out of anything,” Bren said with a hint of remorse. “It has been lost along with many other things.”
“What has you looking so sullen,” Cass asked, bumping i
nto Bren. “Well, other than the few thousand soldiers that have come to separate you from your head.”
“Nothing really,” Bren replied, giving his friend a weak smile. “Just wondering if this trip was really worth it.”
“No use to worry about that now,” Cass said encouragingly. “You sought your goal and followed that path with single determination. Even should you fail, there is no shame in that.”
“Even if others have to pay the price for my path?” Bren asked looking at his friend worriedly.
“We each had a choice, and we all made it,” Cass said, shrugging his shoulders. “When I was young, my mother often said that I should always strive for perfection but wallow in sadness when I didn’t reach it. There is no point in life if you can’t find happiness, even if it is in failure.”
“I don’t know if I can live a life like that,” Bren replied honestly.
“Then I pity you, my friend,” Cass said as he looked down at the forest below.
Chapter 7
As the light began to fall, Bren shut off his normal sight and hearing and used his magic to search for his friends. Brenda and most of the guards waited near the hidden entrances to the village while Faye, Jin, and Phena moved among the woods below. Bren could understand Faye. She grew up on a small farm and seemed at home among the trees, not to mention that she could make herself completely invisible to the naked eye. He still worried about her safety, but it was Jin that truly worried him. As far as Bren knew, Jin had no great magical power. He had grown up among the merchants of Rane and had not spent much time outside of the large cities of his country. Why he would be among those foraying into the forest, he didn’t know, but Bren found himself following the young man with a sense of dread in his chest.
From his count, slightly less than fifty people had moved out among the woods to strike at the enemy, and that number seemed incredibly low given the number of soldiers the Brotherhood commanded.
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