didn’t know exactly where they were as the soldiers did not have their weapons in hand when they came through the grass. Bren put all of his power into his hind leg and jumped forward. He had nearly forgotten how much power was in his body now as his lunge brought him across the glass field more than ten yards, right up to one of the soldiers.
Both Bren and the soldier were surprised, but Bren was faster and brought his blade across the man’s stomach, cutting him clean in two.
As soon as the man fell, Bren rushed toward the next soldier. This one had time to prepare, and while his sword was not ready, he brought up his large steel tower shield. Bren brought his sword down hard and it collided with the shield. No matter how sharp the sword, it couldn’t cut through the two inches of steel, but it did leave a large gash. As the sword and shield collided, the soldier was thrown back more than three feet to the ground. As the man fell, Bren jumped toward him ready to drive his sword home, but the man brought his shield back up again, though weakly. Bren kicked aside the shield with all of his strength and heard a pop as the man’s arm was pulled from its socket. The soldier let out a loud scream, but it was quickly silenced as Bren severed his head from his neck.
Turning around, Bren found that Cass and Brenda had taken care of the remaining two soldiers. Bren retrieved his pack and staff and looked at the dead soldiers lying on the ground. “How did they find us?” Bren asked himself.
Think about it.
“It’s me,” Bren said out loud.
“What? Cass asked as he finished cleaning his sword on one of the dead soldier’s cloaks.
“The Brotherhood mages don’t have to use magic to sense it,” Bren said more to himself than to his friend. “Each mage has a unique magical presence, and they are following mine.”
“Well that explains how they found us,” Cass said, paying Bren’s words little heed.
“No matter where we run, they will be able to follow us,” Bren said, trying to get Cass to understand the situation.
“They have been following us for a long time,” Cass said, shrugging off Bren’s comments. “As long as the mages can’t use their magic, I am still happy.”
“You don’t understand,” Bren said in a more direct tone. “I can’t use my magic to protect us anymore, and as long as you and everyone else are with me, they will be able to find us. I think it would be best if we moved in different directions. Once enough time has passed, head back to Torin. I don’t think they will worry much about you. It’s me they’re after.”
“I think it is you who doesn’t understand,” Cass said in matter of fact tone. “I am not going off and leaving you alone. You can ask everyone else, but if you stop to think, I am sure that you already know their answers as well. Your best choice right now would be to stop thinking in that manner, and get your gear ready so we can leave before the rest of them bust through the grass.
Bren tried to think of something else to say, but nothing came to mind. Cass was right; none of his friends would simply walk away from him. In fact, most of them would have to be dragged away. Knowing there was nothing more he could say, Bren slung his pack on his back and turned toward the massive glass desert.
Before starting their trek, Cass wanted to listen for other soldiers that might be behind them. As he said, it wouldn’t do to have a group of archers coming in behind them while they were on open ground. At first, Bren couldn’t hear anything, but after a while, he heard a soft rustling. From the sound, it was still a long ways away. “I think we should go now. I would bet we have less than two hours before the whole Brotherhood army bursts though.”
“That’s not long, but it will get us well out of bow range,” Cass said turning away from the grass forest.
The first steps into the glass desert was much easier than Bren expected. There were a few smooth spots, but most of the large sections of glass had been broken and then broken some more, so it was truly a desert of broken glass. Some of the