The Legend Of The Wizard's Apprentice (Book 1) (6 page)

“Thank you for letting me into your mind and sharing with me the many wonderful memories of your past.” Kerwyn, caught off guard and still kind of dazed about having had such a powerful presence in his head and swimming through his thoughts, didn’t know what to say or even what to think. He was kind of scared at what she might have seen or what she maybe thinking of him. But because he didn’t know what she saw or what she thought, all he knew for sure was that the Fairy Queen, one of the most powerful beings in the entire world, had kissed him. She said that he had wonderful memories and that she really had been in his mind. Kerwyn started to smile at the thought of having such an amazing creature compliment him. So moved by the experience, Kerwyn didn’t even pay attention to what she was now saying to his Master.

She released Kerwyn’s head and she flew over to Master Sernett whispered in his ear, “Perhaps you have already known that you have found him; the Legendary Wizard of Old. Protect him well, Master Wizard. He is very young and he doesn’t yet know his true potential or calling. Ensure that he does not get himself killed while drawing on too much on the One Power. I foresee that he will be the key, the single most important being which will turn the tide of this war and give us back our world. But I also sense a different future raging within his soul. I can feel death, destruction and eternal fire burning this world to dust. I hear the gods of old screaming out his name in jealous anger and raging a war between good and evil. He will either be our world’s saviour, or he will be our death in disguise. For if he loses this war, all life will cease to exist and everything will die.” With those last words she moved away and flew back into the rock formation and just like that; the fairy nation disappeared from whence they came and all that was left was Master Sernett, Kerwyn and the recently dead once again.

“Master, did you see
that?
The Fairy Queen kissed me! She really kissed me.” Kerwyn said smiling to himself after all was quiet in the clearing again.

“Yes Kerwyn, I saw it.”

“She was in my head, Master. She was looking at things that I did not even remember forgetting. I saw my Mother’s face when she dropped me on your doorstep and she was beautiful. She was a lot younger than I would have ever guessed she was. I wonder if that was why she gave me up. She must have been too young to care for me? I hope one day that I will find her; so that I can ask her all kinds of questions. I want to know all about where I came from and where my parents were from. I want to know who they are and what they do for a living. Master, do you think I will ever find her?” Kerwyn’s excitement at what had just transpired between the fairy queen and his memories had him thinking about so many things all at once.

“Kerwyn, try to focus on the task at hand. We are in a clearing where we have just battled undead Daemon Wolves. We need to prepare ourselves for whatever else could be running around the forest. We must make our way to the Forest Elves. We will need their help if we plan on stopping this evil.”

Kerwyn dropped his head, ashamed for letting his excitement get the better of him and he all but forgot the fact that his they could have been killed, “I’m sorry Master.”

“That’s ok, Kerwyn, but we need to make preparations. We need to set up a campsite and I think that we have already proven that we can defend ourselves quite well from here. I’ll tell you what; you start setting up camp as we are going to need all of our strength to make it to the Forest Elves. I’m going to go place magic wards around the clearing. Hopefully, this will make us invisible to anything that’s out hunting for us.”

“Ok, Master, I’ll start setting up camp.” Master Sernett nodded his head and walked to the spot where they first entered the clearing. Kerwyn saw him drawing more sigils on the ground. He found it odd that he had never seen his Master draw sigils before and began to wonder if he'd ever know as much about magic the way his Master did. Just then the feeling of the One Power being used was felt. Looking up again, Kerwyn saw that his Master’s first sigil flared with blue light and he knew that it had now been activated. Kerwyn returned to his work and even found some dry branches and used them to start a small fire. “Now,” he thought to himself, “If only we had a rabbit to eat.” Glancing over at the statues of the stone wolves, he changed his mind and thought that maybe; just maybe, these wolves had thought about
him
as a rabbit they had wanted to eat. Kerwyn reached into his pack and pulled out some of the bread and cheese that he grabbed off the table earlier. Looking up at the moon, Kerwyn figured that they had been in the forest for about four hours with about three hours left until first light. Kerwyn felt the draw of the One Power again as Master Sernett activated another sigil of hiding.

“Kerwyn, look at this,” called his Master. Kerwyn looked over to where his master was standing near one of the edge of the forest and saw Master Sernett holding up a couple of bunches of glowing flowers.

“Ha ha, I found some of the flowers that we started out looking for. I had forgotten about looking for them during our run through the forest trying to escape the wolves. Now I can make the healing potions that I wanted these flowers for. Boil me some water so that I can begin making them.”

Kerwyn went over to his Masters pack and removed a small pot that he used for making his potions. Next he pulled out the small water sack they used for their drinking water. After setting up the pot above the small fire, he poured the water into the pot and waited for his master to come over and bring the flowers. A few more time, Kerwyn felt the draw on the One Power and he saw that the sigils had all been set up around the clearing which made it invisible from searching eyes.

After watching his master make the healing potions, Kerwyn counted off fifteen little vials of the precious liquid that lay on the ground cooling. Kerwyn thought to himself that until they got out of the evil forest, those little vials might be the only thing between life and death for him and his master.

“Kerwyn, we have an hour till first light so why don’t you try and get some rest? I’ll wake you in a couple of hours when the sun is up and shining brightly. I don’t want to set off again until it is light enough in the forest to see our footing. Hopefully the undead things moving around in the forest tonight will find somewhere to hide from the sun for the day. I really don’t want to have to battle every evil creature from here to the Forest Elves if I don’t have too.”

“Ok Master, I will try and get some sleep but I don’t know how I will ever get to sleep knowing there are dead creatures out there in the forest wanting to kill us.” Kerwyn rummaged around, set up his sleeping roll and eventually climbed under it and laid down.

“Master?” asked Kerwyn

“Yes, Kerwyn,” answered Master Sernett, as he turned toward his apprentice, noticing how much Kerwyn had grown since that first day he had been left on his step. He also thought back to how lonely he had been before Kerwyn had come into his life and now he couldn’t imagine a life with out him in it. Kerwyn was like a son to him.

“Do you think the Forest Elves will really help? I mean the Fairy Queen said that they are in hiding and that they won’t welcome us. It sounded to me like they won’t even come out to talk to us.”

“I know it’s a risk but one that we have to take if we are to have any hope of stopping the evil from taking over the world. We have to find a way to get the elves to come to their senses. You heard what the Fairy Queen said; that we will need all of the good creatures to unite and that includes the elves. For without all the good creatures we are surly going to lose this war between good and evil. Now roll over and try and get some sleep; you’ll be up soon enough and you have all day to ask me questions. Remember she said that it was about a day’s walk away.”

“Yes Master, wake me when you are ready to go.”

With that, Kerwyn rolled over, and thought about all the day’s events. With a grin he recalled that the Fairy Queen had really had kissed him. Just as he drifted off to sleep, his last memory was of her, one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, pressing her lips to his.

chapter three

KEEPING ONE EYE OPEN

“Ok Kerwyn, time to get up. I let you sleep for about three hours. We need to get going, first light was about an hour ago.” Master Sernett nudged Kerwyn in the shoulder with the toe of his shoe.

Kerwyn rolled over, opened his eyes and noticed that it looked like it was going to be a rainy day. The sun he had expected was still hiding in behind the clouds. The feeling that the forest was still in pain was equally as strong as it had been before he had fallen to sleep. The only difference was that it was now daytime and Master Sernett was waiting patiently for him to get ready to go.

“Ok Master, I will be ready in just a few minutes.” As Kerwyn got up and started rolling up his bedding, he felt the need to find a good tree to pee behind. Looking around the clearing, he spotted the wolf statues and Kerwyn felt an ominous air about him and didn’t want to stray to far from his Master. But sometimes the call of nature is stronger then common sense. Walking toward the edge of the forest, Kerwyn heard his Master call out.

“Don’t go too far by yourself Kerwyn, we still do not have any idea what may be hiding and just waiting for a chance to capture or eat one of us. Also, we have no idea of what other helpless creatures have been mutated into something that comes from hell.”

“Don’t worry Master, I will be back in just a minute. I just need to find a good tree.” Smiling, Kerwyn picked the closest tree and relieved himself.

As he was finishing up, Kerwyn felt an odd feeling, as though he was being watched or maybe even being judged. Looking around, he couldn’t see anything or anyone. His Master’s back was turned away from him as he finished gathering up the rest of their campsite. But the feeling remained and grew stronger. He sensed rather than heard movement and looked up into the branches of the tree and saw that he was indeed being observed. Crawling down one branch at a time was a Tree Sprite. She was just a little thing, only about three feet tall and couldn’t have weighed very much. Still, here she was, a little girl that looked to be about the same age as he, making her way down the tree towards him.

When she noticed that he had spied her, she put her finger in front of her lips signalling him to be silent. When she was about one foot away, she reached out and climbed into his arms, lifted her head up and whispered into his ear.

“Be very quiet, mortal, for we are not alone in these woods. There are things that don’t belong here at the far edge of the clearing and just outside your Master’s sigils. They are evil creatures and they do not know that you are here because of your Master’s magic. What they do know is that there is something hiding in here and they want to know what it is.”

“What are they? Are they more undead wolves like the ones we killed last night?” Kerwyn asked in a scared, excited voice that he tried to keep at a whisper.

“No, mortal, they are alive and they are Imps; fallen fairies. They are evil creatures that have magic. That’s why they know someone or something is hiding because they can feel the magic coming off of the sigils. They are unable to break through or to see in, but they can feel that someone is hiding in here. They are not part of the evil that has come from the Black Tower, but they are creatures that would win the favour of the Black Master if they could.”

“How would a fairy become an imp? I can’t believe that a fairy would give up a life of beauty and fun to become something evil,” Kerwyn said in a shocked voice

“Mortal, you have a lot to learn. Fairies would never
choose
to become Imps for they are an abomination to the fairy kind. Fairies become imps by being captured by bad humans who keep them in jars away from all light. A Fairy needs either the sun or the moonlight to keep their fairy magic strong and bright. Being kept away from either of these will distress a fairy so much that they lose all hope; their glow fades and their wings dissolve and fall off. A fairy that loses it wings and its magic glow become a very bitter creature, filled with hate and bent upon revenge. After that there is nothing left of the beautiful fairy that it once was and all that remains is an ugly evil imp that will cause as much mischief that it can. They have such a hatred of humans that they will do whatever they can to cause them harm. An imp will stop at nothing to work some dark mischief upon a human and cause suffering. This is why you need to be very quiet and tell your master about the evil Imps.”

“Thank you for letting me know about them. How can I repay you for your kindness and help?” Kerwyn asked the sprite.

“I feel that you have a tree’s love about you and that it is a very special tree,” said the sprite, “It has magic about it, and I can feel that you are the reason why this tree lives. You are a tree lover like me and that makes us friends. I love my tree and I would die without it. Since you are a wizard, I would ask that you bless my tree with your magic to help protect it from the evil that has come to the forest.”

Kerwyn was taken aback by the sprite’s request. He never actually meant to bring his apple tree back to life. How was he supposed to use his magic to protect a tree? He wondered if he should talk to his master about it before trying it but, he reasoned, he had done it once before. Besides, this request was to cast a spell to protect a living tree and was not at all like he was trying to bring a dead tree back to life.