God Mage (23 page)

“I don’t know why you are so pleased with
yourself,” Humanius said with a sneer. “Father told us that no more
gods should be made. We are breaking the balance. It was bad enough
that you made your children, but this time you have broken the
rules.”

“Rules,” Belaroan shouted. “Father’s rules.
The same rules that caused the others to turn against him, and that
ultimately cost him his life and forced us to leave our home. I
told you; I will go back, and I will seek revenge on those that
stole our lives and our father from us.”

“You have let the magic sway you too much,”
Humanius responded, his voice dripping anger.

“No brother, I have not been listening to the
fire,” Belaroan said with a sneer. “Not as if I could here, where I
can only get a small sip of magic when one of my sons remembers me.
No. I have not been letting the magic get the better of me, but
that does not mean that I have lost the rage that beats in my
chest.”

Belaroan walked to where Thad sat and ran her
fingers down his cheek. “You, my dear boy, have my gratitude. While
my sons hid away, afraid for the lives of their own children, you
braved the Brotherhood and fought against them, driving them away
and giving the others a safe haven, but it didn’t stop there. You
broke through the window, and allowed me a slim chance at an escape
from this prison, and now years later, that chance is coming
about.”

“I didn’t do it for you,” Thad said, pulling
away from her cold hand. “And neither did my son. We are not your
pawns, nor are we toys to be moved around by your hand.”

“That is where you are wrong,” Belaroan said,
giving him a wicked smile. “You carry my blood, and thus you are
the children of my children.”

“Sister, enough of this,” Humanius said
angrily. “You have won. I just hope that you don’t regret what you
have bid upon. If this world dies, then you will have to be the one
who lives with that.”

“No brother,” Belaroan replied. “If this
world dies, then I shall die along with it. Do not think for a
moment that I have not cared for these people as much as you. I
have watched them grow for centuries upon centuries just as you
have. They are stronger than you give them credit for. If you had
only helped me, then now that the door is being torn open, we would
be ready for it, so if the weight of the world hangs on anyone’s
neck, it would be yours.”

Thad could tell that the goddess’s words
struck Humanius hard, and for the first time since he had met the
god, Thad felt a slight bit of pity for him. He could understand
the god’s decisions, and while he didn’t agree with most of them,
he knew what it felt like to find out in the end that all your
decisions might have been the wrong ones, though Thad couldn’t
really see a right one. Both the gods had made the wrong choices as
far as he was concerned. If it had been him, he would have prepared
for the war, knowing that the wall might someday fall, but at the
same time, he would do his best to keep it from falling. He knew
the problem was that to do one, would offset the other, making it
hard to follow one course without destroying the other.

“It doesn’t matter now,” Thad said, gaining
both of the god’s attention. “Now we need to worry about what comes
next. Thinking and arguing about the past will accomplish nothing.”
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, they sounded foolish to
him, but he knew he couldn’t take them back.

After a few moments, Humanius shook his head.
“The boy is right. We might have taken different paths and made
different choices in the past, but now we find ourselves standing
on one path, and for the sake of this world, we must see it
through.”

“So you will help me brother?” Belaroan said
with an almost giddy laugh. “I am so happy to hear it. I do so hate
it when we fight, and this one has gone on for far too long.”

The two gods didn’t hug, but Thad did feel an
easing of the tension that had been in the air. Forgetting for a
moment about the two beings that were with him, Thad turned back to
where the window had once been and said a silent prayer that his
son would hurry before the gods started fighting again.

J
ust as Cass had
said, it didn’t take long for them to reach the doorway that had
been letting in the fresh air. Now the five stood before it, yet
they still hadn’t walked through. Bren stood at the front, his hand
lightly placed against the door as he remembered his dream from the
night before.

“Bren,” Faye said her hand gently resting on
his back.

Taking a deep breath, Bren pushed hard on the
door, and as it swung open, his eyes were assaulted by the harsh
sunlight coming from the other side. As his eyes adjusted, Bren saw
a large open field filled with flowers of all different kinds.

After days in the darkness, it was a
beautiful sight to behold, and Bren caught himself standing in the
doorway of the tunnel just staring out at the field. He felt a
nudge from behind him. “I don’t know about you, but I would like to
feel the sunlight on my face again,” Brenda said as she pushed him
again this time much harder.

As Bren walked into the large flower field,
he looked around. The valley was much smaller than he had
envisioned. With one look, he could see every side of the mountain
wall. Looking straight up, Bren could see the sky, but most
importantly, Bren could once again feel the touch of magic. He
couldn’t just feel the touch of the magic; it was more like a grip.
The magic was so strong it felt as if his head was slightly
spinning. Bren shook the feeling aside and followed the source of
the magic until he reached the center of the valley.

Unlike in his dream, the doorway he searched
for was not made of gold, it was more like the heat coming from a
fire slightly distorting the air. Bren reached out his hand and
gently touched the wavering air. His hand passed through it as if
nothing was there.

Afraid to pull in magical energy unaided,
Bren used Thuraman and sent a wave of magical energy into the
doorway, but once again, nothing happened. For hours, Bren tried to
open the doorway, but nothing seemed to work.

“Give it a rest tonight, and give it another
go in the morning,” Cass said once the sun began to fall out of the
sky.

Luckily, the valley, while small, was filled
with animals. None of them very large, but it was more than easy
for them to grab a few rabbits for a stew. Bren had plenty of meat
and other things within his pack, but fresh meat was still a nice
treat.

For the first time, in what felt like a
lifetime, the small group sat around a fire in the open air.
Without the walls around them, Bren felt much better than he had in
days, and the small amount of moonlight that streamed through the
clouds lit up the area just enough so they could see each other
without having to strain their eyes.

“I didn’t see another way out of here except
the way we came in,” Cass said as he took a large bite of the
rabbit stew that Faye had made for them. “I don’t know about
everyone else, but you can take all the time you like playing
around with your little door. I am in no hurry to go back into that
pit under the mountain.”

“I second that,” Brenda said shivering
slightly. “After this, I don’t think I will go into another cave
for the rest of my natural born life.”

“I think everyone can agree with you on
that,” Bren said looking back at the large door that led back into
the depths of the mountain.

“Speak for yourself,” Phena said slightly
indignant. “I love being underground. It is much more peaceful than
being within one of your cities, though admittedly, I don’t look
forward to the way back home.”

Everyone became tense around the fire until
Phena gave a short barking laugh, then like a sudden downpour
everyone joined in her laughter. To celebrate the occasion, Bren
pulled a small keg of ale out of his pack that he had been saving,
and everyone poured themselves a cup. The keg only held enough for
each of them to get two mugs, but after their time underground, it
was most welcomed.

After a night a celebration, Bren more
crawled back to his bedroll than walked. He was tired, and the
alcohol had hit him hard, but at least the voices were gone.

As he lay looking up at the night sky, Bren
tried to think of a way to open the door. He had tried physical
force, but the simple pass through it was just the wind. Magic was
useless as well, or at least all the spells he had tried, and he
was limited there out of fear of pulling in too much and losing
control, but if things didn’t change, he was going to have to try
it. “Have any ideas?” Bren asked inside his own mind.

This is one thing I cannot help you with. I
can sense your father on the other side, but other than that, I
have no ideas.

“You’re a great help,” Bren said
sarcastically.

I do what I can. I will try and probe into
the doorway but I don’t think I will be of much use on this
task.

Bren tried to think of anything that might
work, but without trying most of them he wouldn’t know, and many of
them required him to use more magical energy than the staff or the
gems in his pack would afford him.

With no other choice, Bren closed his eyes
and let himself sleep. For the first time in days, Bren got a good
night’s sleep. As he dozed off, he figured that his mother or
sister would once again call upon him. It was almost as if they
waited for something to happen before they contacted him, but his
fears were unfounded.

The next morning, he was the first to wake,
which was a new thing for him. Everyone had been so tired that even
Cass, who had been keeping watch, had fallen asleep against a large
oak. Bren thought about waking his friend but decided that a good
night’s sleep wouldn’t hurt him, and now that he was up there was
really no need to wake his friend.

The sun had yet to come up, and the moon cast
little light on the valley, but there was just enough light coming
from the dying campfire for Bren to see a little of the
surroundings.

Though beautiful in the light of day, the
valley was eerie at night. The gate looked different as well. It
shimmered like fog in the candlelight during the dark hours of the
night. As Bren watched the doorway closely, he noticed its slight
shifting, and for brief moments, he thought he could see something
on the other side. Peering closer Bren held his eyes close to the
doorway and watched. After more than half an hour of watching, Bren
was sure that he had seen another place, a place much like the
Deadlands, yet older. His eyes growing strained, Bren pulled back
and lifted Thuraman and cast a large bolt of energy at the door,
but it passed through it and disappeared. When the lightning didn’t
work, Bren tried fire, he tried spell after spell, everything that
he could, but nothing seemed to work.

With no other choice, Bren took a small
breath and tried to ground his mind as he started to pull in
magical energy. It rushed into him like a river braking through its
dam. Having felt it before, Bren was ready for the rush of energy
and was able to hold it at bay and to keep it from overwhelming
him.

Once he had as much energy as he could hold,
Bren started forming it into a basic spell then let it loose. A
large stream of pure energy the size of a horse roared from his
staff and rushed over the doorway, some of it spilling into the
mountain on the other side. Bren held the spell until his arms grew
tired from being held outstretched. As the spell dissipated and the
smoke cleared, Bren found that the doorway had not given an inch;
it still looked the same as it had moments ago. On the other hand,
where Bren’s magic had hit the mountain looked as if a large
section of it had simply disappeared.

Bren pushed away his anger and tried again,
and again, until the sun had risen and had moved halfway through
its path in the sky. Exhausted, tired, and angry, Bren let his
emotions get the better of him. Bren pulled his sword from its
scabbard and threw it through the air toward the door.

When the sword hit the doorway, it stopped in
midair and hung there. Half the blade showing and the other was
simply gone. Surprised, Bren walked over to the sword and calmed
himself. He reached out and took the sword by the hilt and pulled
on it. It tore free and came out looking as it had moments before.
Curious, Bren cut at the doorway, and for the first time, it looked
as if it had been affected.

Bren pulled the sword up and swung down as
hard as he could. The blade struck the shimmering doorway and
stopped then slowly, as Bren pushed with all his might, it started
to move downward. When the sword passed through the last bit of the
doorway, Bren lost his balance, and the sword slipped from his
hands and stuck into the ground.

Cursing himself, Bren retrieved his sword and
moved back to strike the doorway again but found something
different. Where there had been one shimmering light, now there
were two, and they twisted and curled as if in pain then broke, and
all that remained were wisps of smoke.

As the smoke dissipated, the ground started
to shake, and the wind picked up, blowing with enough force to rip
trees out of the ground. “What in the nine hells is going on,” Cass
screamed as he crouched on the ground trying to keep his
bearings.

“I don’t know,” Bren replied as his eyes
stayed focused on where the door had been only moments before.

Suddenly, the area filled with a strange fog
and as it cleared, the small valley was filled with numerous
people. Bren looked around and found his father standing dazed and
slightly confused near the corner of the valley. Bren started to
walk toward him but noticed that two other people stood beside him.
Unlike his father, the other two had silver skin, just like him and
their hair shined a light grey just as his did.