The Wayfinder's Apprentice (Shadows of the Umbra Book 1)

by K Dezendorf

  ************

  The next day Billy offered to treat Rose to a different location just to help keep things interesting. He told her to dress warm and lent her a thick parka. When Rose stepped through the portal, she found herself on a mountain peak, surrounded by mist. It was like being on an island in a sea of clouds. It was that similar, enchanting feeling she’d gotten overlooking Dimitri’s castle. As Rose gazed around in wonderment, she caught sight of a rather large looking bird, only to find it wasn’t a bird at all.

  “What is that?” Rose pointed up.

  Billy squinted up against the sunlight. “Likely one of the tenavi. Feather folk. This portal is nearby one of their villages, but far enough away we shouldn’t be intruding.”

  Rose continued to watch the person flying, feeling so elated by the sight she was bouncing on the balls of her feet, as though she could take off and join them up in the sky. Warmth spread through her at Billy’s kindness.

  “Thank you. For bringing me here.”

  “You looked like you were needing a change of scenery,” he said, settling down on a large patch of grass. “Now, let’s get started.”

  Rose sat down across from him in the grass, only just noticing… was he wearing different clothes? She could have sworn he’d been wearing something else when he sent her through. Maybe she was just imagining things.

  It was a good thing Billy had recommended dressing warmly. As beautiful as it was on the mountain top, it was also very chilly and she found herself hugging her parka around her when it became breezy.

  Halfway through training, Billy nudged her with a canteen. Rose accepted and took a deep drink before she coughed and sputtered from the strong burn of alcohol.

  "I thought it would help take the edge off," Billy told her. “You’ve been training non-stop for days, child.”

  "Yep," Rose squeaked out. "Sure does. Just wasn't expecting it."

  He undid a small bag and pulled out a few premade, wrapped sandwiches. Rose nibbled on her egg salad, taking another sip of whatever Billy had in the canteen, starting to feel warmer.

  Recapping and setting it aside, she finished the sandwich and let Billy know she was ready to continue training with the cards. About halfway through the deck, Billy stopped her.

  "All right, I think you've picked up the knack of casting. Now you've got to work on your timing."

  "My timing?"

  He nodded. "Having watched you these past few days, something tells me you've been casting without thinking. Watch." He sat there for a second, then said, "Take a deep breath."

  She did. He picked up a card.

  "Take another deep breath."

  She did so.

  "Now, to utilize your magic, you need to think about being in your skull, going out through your mouth as you exhale, and into my mind. Pull out the thought, and bring it back to you. Go ahead and try casting with that intent while I hold this card."

  Rose took a deep breath, visualizing Billy's words and exhaled. She had a vivid image of a castle in her mind. "I see a castle."

  "I see a castle.” He flipped the card over to show her. "Now what you were doing before, I'd put this away and draw another one, and then you'd guess again. You’re not supposed to be guessing. You should know it. You need to stop, deep breath, build your mana back up and do it again. You're putting too little time between your casting so you don't have enough mana to do it right."

  "I think I get it." Rose took a deep breath, focusing on drawing in mana. She’d grown to love the feeling, like drinking from a cool stream, except it filled up her lungs and her body. As she cast, letting it out felt emptying, giving her a hollow feeling, and when it came back to her it felt different. It felt like a nostalgic memory.

  She saw a four legged animal... a horse? "I see what looks like a horse."

  Billy flipped it over and sure enough it was. His smile looked proud. "If you let your body recharge its mana, you'll be accurate most every time. You've found it, now it's just a matter of harvesting it."

  Rose couldn't stop grinning knowing she'd learned to harness something so wonderful. It almost made her forget how chilly it was. She vigorously rubbed her hands against her cheeks to warm them up.

  He gathered up the cards and put them away. "Now, we still got a little time for me to show you one other thing that you can do with this type of magic at your level. Are you ready?"

  Rose straightened up and nodded enthusiastically.

  "Watch me carefully. Open your senses, and try to watch what I'm doing."

  Rose took a deep breath and focused on him. She watched as the pearlescent streaks of magical energy flowed from Billy towards her. It enveloped her before she felt prickling along her skin. Looking down, she found herself covered in spiders. Rose yelled and hurriedly tried to brush them off, but the more she knocked off, more replaced them. Then they vanished. Taking several calming breaths, she looked up at Billy.

  "From what you told me, it sounds like you already cast this once by chance. Fear. You can use your mind to send another into chaos. It can help if you find yourself in a bad situation. Depending on how well it works, you can really unbalance someone. Give you a bit of an advantage, or stop a fight before it starts."

  Rose thought back on that night she encountered the troglodyte. What had she made it see for it to react that way? And how had she known to do that?

  Billy spoke up again, bringing her focus back to him. "Now focus your mind, extend it, and this time, give it the intent to frighten."

  Rose did so. It took her a while since this time, she wasn’t afraid for her life. She kept focusing on how Billy's magic moved, how it felt when it touched her, the effect it had. Finally she saw it take hold, but after a brief moment Billy shrugged it off.

  "Aye, it looks like you've got the gist of it. It may not work against someone of higher caliber, but it's something at least."

  "Thank you," she said, bowing her head. "For teaching me. I really appreciate it."

  His face reddened and he waved his hand. "If you're intent on staying in the Umbra, someone has to." He checked his pocket watch, then glanced at her. “Let’s go back to the warehouse. Your lips are startin’ to turn blue."

  "Okay.” Rose stood and brushed herself off. The borrowed clothes made her think back on Billy’s mysterious wardrobe change. "Mind if I ask you something?” He nodded. “When you first brought me here, were you wearing different clothes?"

  "Aye."

  “You did the same thing earlier today, just before we came here.”

  "Aye, I was there for about half an hour before you came through. So I made time to make lunch and a change."

  "Okay..." She drew out the word as she considered this. “So, you basically pushed me through time again.”

  He tapped his nose. “Got it in one. I’ve told you about plane-shifting, where you use magic to momentarily link the worlds. What I did is a step above that. Time-shifting. In the instant of you following me through a portal, I can spend a lifetime on the other side waiting for you."

  "That sounds impressive... and maybe a little scary."

  "Time magic is definitely scary, especially if used improperly. I usually encourage those to leave it to the professionals. You play with water and you get wet. You play with air and you mess up your hair. You play with earth, you get dirty. And if you play with fire, yeah, you're going to burn yourself.”

  His tone became more severe. “You play with time, you lose fifty years of your life. Or maybe just wink out of existence. You'll watch as you age and everyone around you stays the same. It's a scary thing."

  Rose couldn't help but wonder if Billy was speaking from experience. Deciding not to push it, she said, "So, back to the warehouse then?"

  He nodded. "Aye."

  Even with all of Billy's warnings, Rose couldn't help but be enthralled by the possibilities. "Since we’re going through anyway, mind if I have a demonstration?” she requested.

  “I suppose a demonstration couldn’t hur
t.” Rose watched him carefully as he went over to the portal area. With her awareness open, she saw the swirl of two magics; one solid, opaque and forceful, while the other was translucent, causing subtle distortions in the air. They combined together into a single, powerful force.

  Then, as Billy held his hands out, Rose saw the magic ripple out into the space, flaring brightly for an instant before settling to a faint glow and Rose could see the gleaming portal that would be otherwise near invisible.

  "Feel free to go in first," he offered, waving her in.

  Curious and excited, Rose walked on through. As she stepped into the warehouse she saw Billy standing there waiting for her in yet another outfit.

  "What took you so long?" he asked, a small smile on his face.

  Rose laughed in amazement, looking back over her shoulder and then at him. "Show off."

  "All I have to do is set the portal to deliver you here at this time, so after you go through, it sends you here at this time. And after you've gone through, I change the portal to send me here before you."

  "Wow, as easy as all that, huh?"

  "Sure, we'll say it's that easy."

  She chuckled. Even though the consequences sounded scary and very daunting, at the same time, Rose couldn't help but feel infatuated by the idea of possibly learning how to control time itself.

  "The thing you have to keep in mind about time, it never goes back. You can never go back to stop yourself from doing something. You can never rewind time to before you make a mistake."

  "Have people tried?"

  "Aye, and they’ve died trying. No one's ever succeeded that I'm aware of."

  So magic did have its limitations. Billy wiped sweat from his brow and sighed, looking very weary. "All right, I’m gonna go make some dinner.”

  Rather than follow him, Rose sat down at the table in the portal room. She wasn’t ready to be away from the portal yet. Over the days, Rose had been noticing each time she came back from the Umbra, the air on Earth felt all the more barren and stale by comparison. All the complaints she’d listened to from the elven siblings for years now made complete and perfect sense.

  After a minute or so, Rose noticed the portal shimmer and quickly got up from the chair, readying herself just in case. As she did, Edward stepped out of the portal.

  “Edward,” she said the name in both surprise and welcome.

  Edward stared at her briefly, then there was a shift in the air as one of his hands made a small, flicking motion towards her.

  For a moment nothing happened, then Rose shrieked in horror when she saw her skin melting off. Frantically she tried to scoop it back together but it was just running through her skeletal fingers. Edward morphed into a horrifying looking demon and he was holding this jagged looking spoon and he began gouging out her flesh and...

  "Child!"

  Rose's vision snapped back to normal and she looked down to see that she was fine, her skin was still intact, and Edward was still Edward. She was on her knees and Billy was beside her, touching her shoulder.

  "What in the hells was that about?" Billy shot at Edward.

  Edward didn’t answer him. He was staring at Rose, his expression one of confusion and disbelief. “You didn’t block it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Rose asked, shaken.

  Edward rounded on Billy. “You haven’t taught her to block.”

  “She's still learning the basics, you loon!” Billy had his hand settled on Rose’s shoulder, steadying her. “Just because you hate humans does not give you a reason to be pickin’ on her!”

  Edward’s jaw tightened but Rose saw a flash of something in his eyes. A look she'd seen before. Guilt, and possibly shame. He exhaled audibly before leaving the room without another word.

  Rose stared after him. Why was it that every time they saw each other again, Edward acted so strangely?

  Billy shook his head before asking Rose, "Are you all right, child?"

  "Yeah," she answered, still feeling a little shaken.

  He looked her over, as though checking for injury. "Well, now you know what a mental assault feels like.”

  Rose forced a smile to help reassure him. “Better him than someone wanting to hurt me.”

  “I suppose that is one way to look at it.”

  The two of them went into the kitchen where Edward was sitting at the table eating a sandwich that was oozing what appeared to be mayo. Billy told her to have a seat while he finished making dinner. Feeling all sorts of awkward, she sat down across the table from Edward. It didn’t help that he was once more refusing to make eye contact with her.

  Rose gave a small cough. “Are you feeling well?”

  “You’re the one who just suffered a mental attack,” Edward remarked, giving her a wry look, “and you’re asking me if I’m well.”

  “To be fair, I’m not the one who seems to be the most rattled by it.” In fact, she felt she was taking it rather well compared to both him and Billy.

  His eyes drifted back down as he took another bite of his sandwich. “It’s been some time since we’ve seen each other.”

  Rose thought about this for a moment. “Yeah, about… two… three weeks?”

  Another bite, chew, and swallow. “It’s been a very long few weeks. I guess lost track of time.”

  “I didn’t know you hated humans,” Rose said quietly.

  His eyes flickered up to hers for a brief moment before looking away again. “I suppose you want to know why.”

  “Depends… do you want to talk about it?”

  “No.”

  “Then I won’t ask.”

  Edward released a breathy chuckle, shaking his head. “Every time,” he murmured, though it sounded as though he was speaking more to himself than to her.

  Rose wasn’t certain what he meant by that, but he already established he didn’t want to talk about it. She of all people could respect that. The need for privacy, and the fact that some things were just too painful to talk about.

  “Your friends,” he said, his voice just above a whisper. “You should be careful around them.”

  Rose frowned at this. “Who do you mean?”

  “You know who,” he said seriously, leveling his gaze at her.

  “What exactly are you implying?” she asked, keeping her voice low.

  “Just that you should be careful when dealing with them. That’s all.” Rose opened her mouth but he shook his head. “I have nothing more to say.” Popping the last bite of sandwich into his mouth, he got up from the table and left the kitchen, the doors swinging shut behind him.

  Rose stared after him. What in the world was that about? As far as she knew, he had never even met her friends. Why did he feel the need to warn her about them? As always, he was being oddly cryptic.

  "Try not to take it personally, child," Billy told her as he came to the table, bringing a plate of chicken and potatoes. "Edward has more reason than most to hate humans. But that's his story to tell, not mine."

  "I saw Edward come through on his own," Rose commented. She remembered how Edward had mentioned he wasn’t officially a Wayfinder. “He can use portals like you.”

  "Aye, but Edward still needs me, to a degree, much as he loathes to admit it. He may have a great amount of the necessary magics, but he still has to be able to keep track of everything. Plus, he needs to be kept informed on where… certain things stand. I happen to be his connection to those things, but otherwise he's a freelancer. He does most everything on his own."

  “He couldn’t before though.” She remembered Edward saying he didn’t have a way back when she was hiding him away in her bedroom closet.

  “Aye, I might have shown him how it worked in the time you were… in between worlds. Though I’m starting to think perhaps I made a mistake in doing so.”

  It seemed Edward wasn’t the only one being cryptic. Rose dug into her food, pondering on Edward’s strange behavior. His actions towards her hadn’t seemed driven by hatred. The way he’d acted, it see
med as though he genuinely believed she would counter his attack. He seemed so confused. Perhaps the next time they crossed paths, she could ask him about it. Hopefully it wasn’t another sore subject.

  Chapter 17

  Rose found herself in a strange place. A dark and unwelcoming place, where the ground was made of black sand, the sky was red, air was thick with miasma, and there was no life to be had. She had the sense she’d been there several times now, and every time, she was looking for something, or someone.

  This time, her search took her underground, a twisted passage of caves. The caves were not natural but dug out. The passage she currently stealthed through was full of recesses on either side of her, being used as cages.

  She was in a prison. Terrible monstrosities lurked behind every set of bars. Some paid her no mind, while others snapped or hissed or even tried to make a grab for her as she skirted by.

  Each cage she passed, she made sure to take a quick glance inside. What she was looking for… it might be in one of those cages. There were so many. She must have passed by dozens of cells, each one housing its own nightmare.

  One caught her eye, one that was… familiar. She paused in front of the cell, peering through the black, crystalline bars at the creature within. It was humanoid in shape, its long limbs splayed out, laying face down in the dirt. Blue fire flickered weakly around the joints. It was alive, but barely. The creature stirred, and its head slowly shifted to face her.

  ‘Kyan!’

  ************

  Rose jerked awake, heart hammering as she quickly looked at her surroundings. She was in Billy’s room, in Billy’s bed, in Billy’s warehouse. She was safe. She took several deep breaths, one of them shuddering as she held back a sob. She folded her arms over her face, trying to calm herself down. Just a dream. It was just a dream.

  The smell of bacon reached her nose and she smiled. Billy was making breakfast again. It was a small thing, but it helped to cheer her up.

  When she went out, she was pleased to see that Billy was at the stove while a plate full of food sat on the table. She could see bacon, sausage, eggs, and toast filling the entire plate. The sight made her mouth water as her stomach growled.