God Mage - D.W. Jackson Page 0,56

drove his sword into the man’s skull.

Bending down Cass pulled the dead soldier’s cloak and cleaned the blood from his sword. After wiping it down three times, Cass gave it one more look and when he was satisfied that it was clean, replaced it in its scabbard. “I think we should run now,” Cass said as more than a hundred Brotherhood soldiers came into view as the fine dust began to settle from the storm.

Bren quickly gathered his things and tried to run, but running in a sea of glass was not easy. It was much the same as running in powdery sand, yet not only did it slightly suck up, it also cut at your skin.

While the storm didn’t seem to harm the Brotherhood much, it did cause them to get separated from each other. Given the situation, it wasn’t much to be thankful for, but it was better than nothing. Thankfully, the soldiers were a bit disorientated, giving Bren and the others a chance to gain a little distance but not much.

Bren was afraid that the Brotherhood would start raining down arrows on their head making him continue to look back at the pursuing soldiers. When they had made more than two miles, it became clear to Bren that either the soldiers didn’t have bows or they were more interested in capture than death. He wasn’t sure which one it was, but he really didn’t care.

It didn’t take long before everyone began to grow tired of running. Bren still felt as if he had just awoken, but the others were not blessed with his body. Looking back Bren noticed the Brotherhood had also started to slow down and were falling farther and farther behind with each passing mile.

It wasn’t long before the Brotherhood stopped completely to make camp. Even with the leeway that they had gained over the passing day, they still couldn’t afford the risk of stopping within sight of the Brotherhood. They needed sleep, and knowing the Brotherhood, they would send more than one foray into their camp to keep them from resting. The more distance they gained, the less they would have to deal with them.

As they pushed forward without a single hint of stopping, no one said a word, not even Brenda who loved to complain. Most of the time she didn’t even mean half the things she said; she just enjoyed getting a rise out of the others. She enjoyed a good row, but she knew when it was not the time to start one. They all knew that they couldn’t stop, and even bringing it up, only reminded them what waited behind them.

By the time Cass finally decided that it was time for them to stop, Bren noticed that everyone was starting to drag their feet, creating shallow grooves in the glass. Though Bren’s body didn’t need a lot, he still needed to sleep. It would seem that his brain was the one thing that didn’t get stronger after the change. In fact, the more magic he used, the more sleep he needed. The urge to resist the call of the large amount of magic flowing around him was even more tiring so he felt as if he had not slept in a year.

Bren searched for his bedroll but quickly remembered what had become of it. He searched through his pack for a spare but he knew that he hadn’t brought one. Sighing, Bren looked at the glass covered ground and let out a heavy sigh.

“You could crawl into mine,” Faye said with a slight blush.

Bren and Faye had spent a few nights together in inns but each time the bed had been rather large giving them plenty of room. Her bedroll would mean they would have to hug each other close just to stay covered, and with how cold the wind got at night being covered was very important. “Okay,” Bren said weakly as he tried not to let his emotions go wild, knowing that if they did he would lose control and the magic inside him would take over.

Faye let Bren lay down first then she crawled in behind him pushing in so close that he could feel her heartbeat pulsing against his back. When she wrapped her arms around him clutching on to his shoulders Bren let out an audible gulp.

As cold as the night air was, Bren soon believed that sleeping on the open ground would have allowed him to sleep easier. Within moments he could hear Faye’s