The Legend Of The Wizard's Apprentice (Book 1) (30 page)

“Kerwyn, you have not rejected me and you have not said that you are truly in love with this other woman. Until such a time, I will be here waiting for you to come to me.

You have also said that you love me as well so that means that you do love me but you are torn between two women. So I must respect her as well because for you to love another she must be special. I respect you and honour you and I will not get in the way of you and this Erlina. But know that should she cross the line and upset you, let me just say that she will m know pain before she can see me coming,” Korowai said then walked away from Kerwyn not wanting him to see her cry.

Kerwyn walking alone now with his thoughts watched the back of this wonderful woman who not only took that news that he had another woman, but she had taken it gracefully and with perfect dignity. She was becoming more and more intriguing to him. If only he had met Korowai first then he wouldn’t be in this predicament but, at the same time, he loved Erlina as well and he would never want to miss out on being with her either. He truly did love both of them. Now he just needed to figure out which one would be better as his soul mate.

“Come on, Kerwyn, you are falling behind. You need to stay with the rest of us,” Master Sernett said.

Kerwyn reaching into his belt pack felt for the acorn of the Tree of life. He made a mental note of its exact shape and size, and the texture of it so that he would have this precious little seed memorized. Kerwyn was determined to make this seed regrow but just didn’t know how. He hoped that when the time came, he would have all the answers he needed.

“Come on, Kerwyn, I told you to keep up but you keep falling behind,” Master Sernett called back to him.

Kerwyn pulled his hand out of his belt pack and ran to catch back up with the rest of the party.

“Sorry Master Sernett, I was just checking on the acorn from the Tree of Life,” Kerwyn said.

“Squawk! What do we have here? A party to poop on!” cawed one of the twenty harpies that were now flying overhead and, just like that, they let loose there filth. The party jumped out of the way just in the nick of time. Korowai had her arrow knocked ready to fire again before the rest of them could even get their weapons out.

“Can I fire upon these fowl creatures, Master Sernett?” asked Korowai.

“I will give you one warning to leave us in peace harpies or my friends will take it upon themselves to rid us of your presence,” shouted Master Sernett to the flying harpies.

“We'd like to see you try, human, just because you have the big one-eyes with you, you don’t scare us!” And with that another volley of fecal matter dropped from the sky.

That was enough for Korowai. She was repulsed by the disgusting half-vulture, half-human females and she let loose one of her arrows. The arrow struck the harpy that had been doing all the talking in the bottom. The harpies all turned and let loose with another sickly fecal dropping.

Master Sernett using his staff cast a spell
“Tutela Obex Ex Vulnero"and
a shimmering force field covered the party from the most of the splashing filth. Anywhere the fecal matter splashed was starting to smoke like acid and was burning the grass and tree branches.

Elden’s patience was also exhausted and he pulled out Baldred’s bow and took aim. The harpy that had the arrow sticking out of her flanks looked like the leader to him so that’s the one he aimed at and let loose his arrow. Striking her in the lower abdomen, she fell from the sky. Hitting the ground she stood momentarily and then collapsed in a heap. The other harpies saw that their leader was down and flapped higher up into the sky. They flew in the direction that they had already been heading in before stopping to harass the party, yelling obscenities back at the group as they fled.

“Elden you didn’t have to kill the harpy. They are dirty creatures but they scare pretty easily,” Master Sernett said, walking over to the harpy to see if she truly was dead. “Korowai please come here. You said that you have healing magic. This creature isn’t dead, and I want you to heal her.

All creatures that are not evil deserve to live with this coming war. Besides one day we may need her help with the fighting.”

“Master Sernett, you jest. How could such a pitiful creature be of any use to us in the coming war between good and evil?” asked Korowai.

“Harpies are fast fliers and they are intelligent; they can be used as messengers. Now please get over here and heal her before it’s too late,” said Master Sernett pointedly.

Korowai went to the harpy and laid her hands upon her and, as she did so, a light started to glow under Korowai’s hands. The harpy called out in pain as the arrow started to extract itself. The arrow got longer and longer and then finally dropped out of the wound. Her injuries started to close up and the harpy started to waken.

“Squawk! Oh that hurts,” said the harpy, “You tried to kill me and now you heal me. Why?”

“Because you are one of Mother Nature’s creatures and we didn’t mean you any harm, but you started a fight with us, and it got out of hand,” replied Master Sernett.

“We are harpies and we’re supposed to start fights. It’s what we do,” she explained.

“Anyway, enough about that; now that you are healed, please tell us where were you headed because that is where your flock has gone when they thought you were dead,” Master Sernett said.

“We are heading back to the Harpy Nation. The Tree of Life has fallen and we were on our way to report that the end of the world is coming. The evil has awakened and is back in our world. Can’t you feel it? This forest stinks of evil,” she said.

From a little ways off, Durin said to Elden, “I don’t know how she can smell anything at all with the way she stinks.”

Elden started to laugh and the harpy turned to glare at Elden. Not only was he laughing at her but also he had been the one who had brought her down with the bow and arrow in the first place.

“Sorry about shooting you, Mam, but you did start it first,” Elden said once he realized that she was glaring at him for laughing.

“Like I said, we are all sorry for hurting you and now we can all be friends. It was a misunderstanding so let bygones be bygones and move on,” said Master Sernett.

“Squawk!” said the Harpy and the rest of the party all nodded their heads in agreement.

Master Sernett called for the group to set up a small fire so they could cook their noon meal. After they all had their fill and all the hurtful feelings were fixed, the harpy said her goodbyes and took to the air, heading in the direction of the Harpy Nation. After the episode with the harpies there were no other disturbances as they walked back towards the forest Elvin barrier.

Standing outside of the barrier, Kerwyn walked up to it and asked the barrier if they could all be allowed through. Hearing his voice the barrier said that it had already sent word to the queen that Kerwyn and his party had returned. The barrier dropped and there was Erlina standing there waiting for Kerwyn’s return. Running out to greet him she threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug.

The queen coming up for behind Erlina called out to her, “Erlina, remember what I told you: act like a princess. I am very sorry for my daughter’s outburst Master Sernett and Master Kerwyn. I trust that you got the answers you were seeking,” said Elysia, the Forest Elf Queen.

“No we did not; we only ended up with more questions. Druantia the witch is dead and it turns out that she was the guardian of the Tree of Life. With her dying words, she named Kerwyn Guardian of the new Tree of Life and the protector of its acorn.

“It is a great honour to be a Tree of Life Guardian, and to be named one by the witch Druantia. You have a very special future in store for you,” said the queen.

Korowai and Erlina had been staring at each other, each one sizing the other up. Erlina looked from Korowai to Kerwyn then back to Korowai. It was a knowing glance showing that she knew that they were fighting over the same man, as some things do not require words to say.

Looking back at Kerwyn and waiting to catch his eyes, as she needed to know his thoughts about this strange woman who also wanted his affections. Kerwyn feeling Erlina stare at him, turned to look at her. In that brief instant Erlina knew that he was unsure of which of the two women he was in love with more. Tilting her head to the left she gave him that a look that said she knew about Korowai and that they were going to talk about it later.

Kerwyn turning, two shades of red, turned his gaze away from her and concentrated on what the queen was saying, knowing that their conversation later was going to be... complicated.

“So, Master Sernett, when are you planning on going to see Fafnir the forest dragon?” asked the queen

“I was hoping that we could stay just a few days here with you, to rest and to regain our strength,” answered the wizard.

“You are more then welcome to stay with us and when you do leave, we will fully restock your supplies. Also, please send our regards to Fafnir. We Elves and the dragon have a respect for each other because of our long lives. Erlina, please run to the kitchen and let them know that we have guests and that they are hungry,” said the queen.

“Yes, Mother,” and with one more look towards Kerwyn and this strange woman, Erlina turned and headed for the kitchens.

“Now, Master Sernett, please introduce me to this young woman and tell me what happened to Baldred as I see he is no longer with the party.” As the queen said this, she looked at Cyclopes and saw their grief-stricken looks. “Ah, I see ill tidings have befallen our friend. We will morn your loss with you and we will give him an Elvin tribute,” said the queen.

“To answer the first question Your Majesty, this wooden woman is the Druid Korowai from Papua, the great forest. She has come in search of the vile evil that is plaguing our world. She seeks the Legendary Wizard as Cernunnos has told her that he is the only one who can stop the evil from taking over the world,” said Master Sernett.

“The Legendary Wizard maybe closer then she would think,” said to Master Sernett with a wink.

Korowai saw the wink and looked back and forth from the queen to Master Sernett and then back again. Thinking that she had just witnessed a secret, she looked at Master Sernett a lot closer, searching for the legendary quality about him.

She knew that he was a great and powerful wizard and now believed that she had just figured out that Master Sernett was the Legendary Wizard. At first she thought that it might have been Kerwyn as he had Mother Nature protecting him but she had almost forgotten that Master Sernett was carrying one of the legendary Relicts of Power. It is one of Mother Nature's own God weapons.

It all started to make sense; Master Sernett had to be the Legendary Wizard. He had been in charge of their mission the whole time and she hadn’t seen it. How could she have missed such a thing? Here was the great and powerful Legendary Wizard and she had been too blind to see it. Now that she knew who Master Sernett really was, she was going to make sure that she stuck close to him and not get distracted by Kerwyn. After seeing the exchange between Kerwyn and Erlina, Korowai knew that she still had a good chance of winning Kerwyn.

Kerwyn felt the tension building in his back and neck and turned to look at Korowai. He saw her looking at him and then she smiled at him with a flutter of her eyelashes and a knowing grin that almost said that she had won and he was now and forever hers.

Turning away he saw his master and the queen start to walk towards the main hall. Following them, he lost himself deep in thought.

Upon reaching the Main Hall, Kerwyn noticed that the Cyclopes had already taken their normal seats and had already started into the food as it arrived. There was roasted pork, broiled pheasant, baked quail and smoked salmon along with plus all the other vegetables that were plentiful in the forest. The smells of the fresh cooked food was enough to make Kerwyn’s mouth water. Sitting down at the table in his usual spot, he started to dish up a plate for himself, not noticing that the spot beside him was vacant. Turning to his left he saw Erlina sitting there watching him. She hadn’t reached for any of the food but she was just sitting there quietly looking at him. Kerwyn put down his plate and turned so he could look at her fully.