responded. “I think it would be best if you kept your use of magic to only when it is absolutely necessary.”
“Why?” Bren asked looking at his friend with a raised eyebrow.
“There is the chance that you could lose yourself like you did the other day against the Brotherhood,” Cass replied.
“That won’t happen again,” Bren retorted a little embarrassed.
“Why take the chance?” Cass replied his voice natural with no hint of condemnation, but it made Bren feel even more embarrassed about his mistake.
Bren remained quiet for the rest of the ride, filling his mind with what he was going to do once he reached the valley. He had been so obsessed with simply reaching the valley, he had given no thought to how he would open the door to get to his father. “Any ideas?” Bren asked Thuraman, knowing the staff was listening into his thoughts.
I am sure that you will think of something once we reach our destination.
“So you don’t know either,” Bren said to himself.
Shortly after midday, Bren felt an odd tingling and turned just in time to see Phena block a bolt of lightning with a hastily made shield. Bren turned his horse around and galloped back toward the rear of the line only to find a small group of Brotherhood soldiers quickly advancing on them. “Why is there a mage with the Brotherhood?” Bren asked wide-eyed, pulling his sword from its sheath.
“It’s rare, but from what my father said, there were mages in the high levels of the Brotherhood back during the war in Rane,” Cass said, releasing his own sword from its sheath.
Bren raised his hand and started to pull in magical energy but Cass grabbed his arm and pulled his hand down. “Not unless you have too,” Cass said with a deadly calm look.
Bren nodded his head and released the magic he had gathered and looked at his sword. It looked like such a small and weak weapon compared to his magic. Why shouldn’t he use magic? He could control it and easily take care of the soldiers without putting anyone in danger. Bren started to feel anger welling inside of him, but he forced it away. Every day he felt the need to use magic more and more, and he knew it was wrong, but he still wanted to feel its power.
The need to feel the magic reminded Bren of the people who were addicted to talowart. It was a small plant that grew wild in most mountain ranges and was often used to lessen pain, but when overused, made people slowly lose their mind. Bren had heard more than one story where a talo fiend had been arrested by the city guard after losing their mind, often hurting themselves or others in the process.
When Phena let loose a torrent of bolts that flashed from her hand, striking the forerunner of the soldiers in the chest and knocking him off his horse, Bren could almost taste the magic in the air, and the urge to use it himself grew even stronger, but he fought against the urge. Biting on his lower lip, Bren felt a trickle of blood run down his chin as he wished the soldiers would hurry up so that he would have something to draw his mind from his desire to use magic.
While Phena took down rider after rider with her magic, Hayao started firing arrows into those that slipped past her attacks. By the time the riders reached the main group, only a handful remained astride their horses without some sort of damage.
Bren held his sword low down by his leg as he leaned close to his horse readying to attack. Just as he was about to spur his horse, Avalanche appeared, jumping and barreling into the rider Bren had targeted, knocking him to the ground, and quickly ripping the man apart. Gritting his teeth, Bren wedged his heels into the horse's ribs as he looked for an opponent.
Bren felt blessed as a Brotherhood soldier appeared in front of him, his horse turned to the side as he maneuvered to attack the mage that was wielding magic to their group’s devastation. He put up no defense as his eyes were elsewhere, but Bren still felt a sickly satisfaction as the man’s head rolled free of his shoulders and fell to the ground.
Within a few heartbeats, the fight was over and the ground was littered with the dead or dying bodies of the Brotherhood. After quickly looking over the corpses and