The Legend Of The Wizard's Apprentice (Book 1) (37 page)

Kerwyn wished that this adventure was already over, as he didn’t like the idea of jumping off one ledge and onto another over hot molten lava. Master Sernett didn’t like it either and decided that it was now or never. Lining up his jump, Master Sernett leapt with all the strength that he had. He soared over the lava river and landed onto the other ledge.

Korowai made it look easy and her speed and agility were amazing to watch.

Kerwyn took a step back and started to run but his feet got tripped up and Kerwyn missed the ledge, falling head-over-heels towards the lava river. Reaching out he caught hold of the ledge with one hand while trying not to lose his grip. Korowai bent down and picked Kerwyn up like he was a small child by his hand, hardly making any sound of exertion while lifting him and setting him down on both feet. Kerwyn collapsed into her and just held on until he could regain his footing. Kerwyn’s nerves were taking a beating and he really didn’t like it there at all.

Looking over to where they needed to go, they walked along the ledge of the rock and made it to safety on the other side of the lava pond. Kerwyn held up his hand that he had cut himself with and realized that he was bleeding from the scrape. Korowai took his hands in hers and closed her eyes. Kerwyn felt the One Power being drawn in by Korowai and looking down, he saw his hand mend back together as good as new. Looking up into her face he just mouthed the words,
thank you
.

Korowai just smiled and winked at him and she took the words “thank you” to mean much more then just for healing his hand. With a quick kiss, she let go of his hand and they were off again.

“Would you two stop that? Quit making kissy faces while were here. This is serious and here I am with two love-struck birds unable to keep their hands off of one another,” Master Sernett complained.

Kerwyn knew that his Master understood, and that he was just kidding, and that he was quite happy that Kerwyn had a girlfriend. Of course he didn’t know about Erlina yet.

“Ok, are you two ready to go or what? We need to keep moving or we’ll never find the dragon and if we don’t get out of here, the entire Elvin domain will think that the dragon has eaten us. So come on and let’s get moving,” Master Sernett said a little more sharply then he intended.

Following Master Sernett deeper into the lair, they stopped when they heard movement coming from up ahead. There, just to the left side of the tunnel was another tunnel and there were three goblins sneaking around. Master Sernett made Korowai and Kerwyn stop and told them to hide along the edge of the walls with hopes that the goblins wouldn’t see them.

They had no such luck and one of the goblins must have heard them moving to the edge of the wall and they froze, waiting to see or hear what it was.

Both parties froze and tried to stay hidden but, curious, the goblins were the first to move and come exploring. Master Sernet said the words
“Peto Somnus”
and cast a sleep spell at them but the spell had no effect. Master Sernett was startled that his spell didn’t work and moved out of the way so that Korowai could take out her bow.

She put two arrows into one of the goblins before he knew what had happened and dropped to the floor, dead. The other two goblins pulled out their short swords after realizing that, like them, these were intruders and it wasn’t the dragon come home to eat them all.

Charging, the two remaining goblins were heading straight for Korowai, as she was the one with the bow. Kerwyn started to draw on the One Power and thought of a spell that would help him. Calling out
“Veneficus Requiro!”
six magic missiles flew towards the goblins that had almost made it to their target. Then all of a sudden there was an explosion in front of them and the goblins blasted them to bits.

“I told you to watch the fire spells, that the lava gas is explosive. We’re lucky that it was the goblins that are dead and not us,” Master Sernett said to Kerwyn in a harsh voice.

“Sorry, Master” Kerwyn said.

“Now, let’s get going before we have any other interruption,” said the wizard.

Progressing down the main corridor, they turned a corner and it opened up into a huge room of sparkling and shining pin points of lights that danced around the ceiling as light reflected off the mountain of the gold, jewels and magical items of every shape and size imaginable. They looked up to see the sun coming in through a small hole in the ceiling.

It was at that point that the Kerwyn noticed that they were not alone and there, sitting on top of the gold and jewel mountain was none other than Rinfaf, the mountain elf.

chapter seventeen

THE DRAGONS INSTRUCTIONS

“Rinfaf! Get off that pile of treasure before Fafnir comes back. He’ll eat you for sure,” Kerwyn said in a panic, looking around for any signs of the dragon’s return.

“Ah Kerwyn, you are so naive. That’s what I love about you, always so trusting and honest. Kerwyn, spell my name for me,” replied Rinfaf.

“Pardon me, Rinfaf, but this is no time for games. You will be in very serious trouble when Fafnir the Golden Dragon returns. Now get off of there quickly and don’t steal anything, Fafnir will know,” Kerwyn warned.

“No, really Kerwyn, spell my name… No… ok it is spelled R-I-N-F-A-F. Now spell it backwards and see what you get,” teased the elf.

“What?! Come one, Rinfaf, get off of there. I need some questions answered and Fafnir will not be in a good mood when he comes back and sees you up there… What do you mean spell it backwards?” asked Kerwyn.

“F-A-F-N-I-R,” said Master Sernett, finally catching onto what Rinfaf was saying. “Kerwyn that is Fafnir sitting on his own treasure pile. He is in humanoid form.” Master Sernett looked at Rinfaf and waited for him to say that he was correct.

“You are correct, Master Sernett. I am the mighty and powerful Fafnir in disguise. I came to meet you like this so I could determine if you were dangerous or if you were friends and could be trusted.

After spending time with Kerwyn, there was no way that I could mistake you as anything but who and what you are; honest and good people. I enjoyed your company a lot, which is why I came back the second night.

Again you welcomed me back into your party with no questions asked about where I had been and what I have been doing. You all trusted and welcomed me. I have only seen that a few times where a stranger has been welcomed so whole-heartedly into a party. So, for that I am grateful.

When I felt the One Power being drawn to cast a powerful spell, I was on the lookout for an enemy but instead I have found friends coming to talk.

Kerwyn, you and I have talked about the questions you have, plus you have said that you are willing to trade the answers so I can get the ring back that was stolen from me a long time ago. But I have decided that you can keep the ring as a symbol of my friendship and the friendship that you and your party gave to a stranger on the road. It has been a long time since anyone has come looking to talk to me, and your company is welcome.

Now as to your questions: the first is the easiest. You asked how to make the Tree of Life regrow The Tree of Life will not grow until the evil that is plaguing our land has been defeated. You need pure soil for the tree to plant its roots.

The second question you had was regarding the evil that is inside of you .I had to think on that one because I have never seen that before. But I believe I have come up with the answer. Long ago two Death Knights were slain by the Legendary Wizard. One of two Death Knights tried to take over your body and come back to the world of the living. But your soul was destined to be here so it wasn’t powerful enough at the time to take over your body. Be on guard because the Death Knight is almost as evil as its master and if you ever do let it take control, it will try to destroy you. Or it will try to make your soul evil as well. The way I see it you only have one option: control the evil inside. I do not know of a way that you can get rid of the spirit that waits inside ready to strike. But you must keep control of it or you will die.

The third question you asked me was, why you. Well, the answer to that simply is because you are who you are and destiny and fate have said it will be you. I have seen the caring and compassionate man who would welcome a perfect stranger to share his meal and spend a night by his fire, and I have heard some of the great feats of magic that you have done. However, you are still young and naïve. I will say this to you: you are the Legendary Wizard reborn and you will decide the fate of the world. I know this because I was here when it all started and you and I were friends, even back then. So, my friend, you are the Legendary Wizard and now you need to choose. Will you choose life for Alberic or will you let Death take this world?” With this last sentence Fafnir stopped talking and waited for Kerwyn to speak.

“But I can’t be the Legendary Wizard. I’m just an apprentice wizard, I mess up all the time and my spells do whatever they want!” exclaimed Kerwyn.

Master Sernett placed his hand on Kerwyn’s shoulder and said, “I believe Fafnir. I think I have always known that you were destined for great things. I even suspected many time that you were he, the great Legendary Wizard from long ago. Kerwyn, now that we know for sure who you are, we need to save the world from the coming evil that is taking over. We must stop the Dark Master, whatever the cost.”

Nodding his head, Kerwyn knew in his heart that they were telling him the truth. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, paused, and then released it slowly. Kerwyn decided that he was this world’s only hope and that he was going to save it. Speaking to Mother Nature in his head he asked her if she knew he was the Legendary Wizard. She answered him saying that she knew who he was since birth and that is why she had been with him and guiding him when he needed it. She wanted her world to survive and if evil were to win and takes over, all life would die.

Opening his eyes, Kerwyn looked at everyone standing there and said, “I am whom I am, so let’s figure out how to save the world.”

“I’m glad that you have made that decision. Here is what you are going to need to do. You will need to gather Five Crystals and a Blue Pearl from across Alberic. Each crystal is needed to trap the Death Knights unless you can kill them. The Blue Pearl becomes the center of the Dark Crystal, which will imprison the Dark Master for another thousand years. Now, you will also need to find a Pixie Dragon to join these items all together and only a Pixie Dragon has the magic that can be used to do this,” said Fafnir.

“I don’t want to imprison him; I want to kill him,” said Kerwyn seriously.

“Ah, for that Kerwyn, I cannot help you. It has never been done before, only imprisonment. Maybe deep inside of yourself you will know how to do that but I would suggest that you gather all the required items to imprison him until you can figure out how to kill him,” advised Fafnir.

“Ok, so where can we find these crystals and the Blue Pearl that we will need?” Kerwyn asked.

“The first and closest is the Town Themis to the east for the Red Crystal. Then you will need head to Cailleach Bheur Mountain Cross Roads Keep for the White Crystal. From there you can either make your way to the Gnome City Gunnlöd for the Yellow Crystal or you can travel to Minerva the Human Mining and trading town for the Dark Crystal.

From there you can go to Alverdine the Underwater City for the Blue Pearl. Or you can go to Fylgia the Ancient City in ruins by the Evil Dragon Nunnehi for the Green Crystal. I do not know where the Pixie Dragons hide but if you ask enough people, someone would have seen one somewhere. I am sorry but that is all I know. Dragon species usually do not come together and we generally avoid one another. When we do get together, it usually means there is a war raging,” said Fafnir.

“So we need to get the Five Crystals and the Blue Pearl if we want to win this war and then replant the Tree of Life,” said Master Sernett.

There was a huge roar and a voice from outside the cavern said, “That sounds like a good idea, but unfortunately you will all be dead.” A huge Dragon entered the cavern but this one did not have any skin on it. All that was left of the remains of this dragon were the bones and a little bit of cartilage around the wings so that it could still fly.

The creature standing before them was none other then a Lynch Dragon, one of the most evil and powerful of the undead creatures. The dragon itself was animated by magic and was completely resistant to normal weapons. Thank the maker that they had Elvin magical weapons and his master and he were wizards. Looking around, Kerwyn saw that all of his friends had been frozen with fear and even Master Sernett was frozen like he was stuck in ice. Kerwyn started to wonder why he wasn’t frozen too and then it occurred to him that perhaps because of the evil inside of him, the Dragon Fear aura didn’t have any effect on him.

A second roar thundered in the cavern and Fafnir turned into an even bigger dragon. The transformation was almost instant: one moment Rinfaf was standing there and then the next, Fafnir the mighty Golden Dragon was there in all of his glory. He shouted, “Amarok! You have some nerve entering my home!” And the two mighty dragons started to battle.