The Apprentice to Zdrell

by David K Bennett

  “Naw, I doubt I’ll even notice,” Jonny said. “I’m so tired right now, I doubt a stampede would wake me up.”

  Jonny went to the cupboard and found there indeed was a nightshirt, as well as other clothes, inside it. It also looked like Roald did not use this cupboard, because aside from the dust it was orderly inside. He changed and got into bed. Roald, who had been hunting around on the floor for his nightshirt, put it on and went over to the candle on one of the tables.

  “Are you ready?”

  Jonny said, “Sure,” and Roald blew out the light.

  Chapter 6

  Jonny woke up to the sound of screaming.

  It was still dark. At first Jonny was not sure where he was or what was going on, but it soon all came back to him. He rolled over and looked towards Roald’s bed. The moon was shining in through the window and Jonny could see Roald was sitting up in bed and screaming. It was a piercing wail without words. It seemed like he would go on forever, and Jonny wondered if he was ever going to breathe. Roald paused just long enough to pull in a deep breath and then continued.

  After a few minutes, though it felt like years, the sounds coming from Roald changed. Now he was sobbing, and muttering something between the sobs. Jonny had known there was no way he could go back to sleep while Roald was wailing. Eventually, the sobs were quiet enough he thought he might be able to get back to sleep. Then the words Roald was saying started to register with Jonny, and he was suddenly more scared than he had been waking up to the screams.

  “Please, oh please . . . don’t do that again . . . not again. I can’t take it,” Roald moaned. “Isn’t that enough, please, oh pleeasse, not again, no . . . no. I’ll do anything, no, no, nooooooo.” He kept crying and repeating the same things over and over. Then he began again.

  Now Jonny was scared, not of something that would happen, but scared of whatever had happened to Roald. He was obviously reliving something very bad that had happened to him. Jonny had been beaten, starved, lost his family, and had experienced other horrible things in the last two years, but nothing gave him such terrible dreams or made him feel the kind of pain that Roald was dreaming now. Jonny trembled at the thought of the horror Roald had been through, whatever it was.

  Then, as suddenly as it had begun, Roald simply stopped screaming, lay down, and was quiet except for the sound of his rhythmical breathing.

  Jonny however, was too upset to get back to sleep. He lay there for a long while before he finally started to relax. He deliberately avoided thinking about anything that might have caused Roald that pain. Instead, he thought of how he was no longer a slave. Tomorrow he was going to eat well and learn magic, and that brought him some peace, and he finally relaxed. Just as he was drifting off to sleep, he thought he heard what might have been someone screaming in the distance, but the sound was too faint. Jonny wondered muzzily, as sleep claimed him, if this was just his imagination, or the wind or if maybe Roald wasn’t the only boy here who screamed at night.

  Chapter 7

  “Feldor, we are going to have to make some changes in the arrangements here,” Master Silurian said, as he and Feldor sat in his north study. The pre-dawn light faintly illuminated the window. The candles were once again alight.

  “How so, Master?” Feldor said, still writing down the items they discussed would be secured on the next supply run into Alavar.

  “I want to isolate Jonny, especially from the normal routine of apprentice and journeyman demon summonings.”

  “Is that wise?”

  “I believe it is essential.” He paused, glancing around and then continued. “Jonny has no need to go through the standard initiation to magic by being a demon offering. The process is so injurious, not just to the body, but to the soul. If there were any other way to identify those with the talent, I would dispense with it altogether. Jonny has already proved his talent. I do not wish for him to be warped unnecessarily.”

  “Won’t that not alienate him from the other boys?”

  “Yes, that cannot be helped. In some ways, I believe it will be best if he becomes accustomed to the isolation. I fear he will bear it much of his life.”

  “What exactly is it that makes him so special? You seemed so excited about him last night. I cannot recall when I’ve seen you so affected.”

  “Feldor, I believe he has the native talent to be a zdrell master.”

  “But I thought all the zdrell masters were killed in the Great War?”

  “They were. There were a few wizards left who could do some of the simpler zdrell manipulations, but those true masters were always rare, and they were all killed in the war.

  “It has always been my suspicion, though I know of no way to prove it, that eliminating the zdrell masters was the reason for the war. The Grimoridans withdrew after the last zdrell master was killed and they made no serious attempts to keep the lands they had conquered.”

  “The histories make no mention of that connection.”

  “No, they do not. They claim the Grimoridans could no longer maintain their troops against constant attacks from the varied forces here. Nevertheless, they make no mention why after nearly ninety years of continuous struggle the Grimoridans would simply give up and withdrew. None of the traditional explanations can give reason for the timing. However, the death of the last zdrell master occurred just prior to it.

  “If they had been fully committed to conquering Skryla, it would have made more sense for them to have pressed the attack. Without the zdrell masters, our continent of Skryla was much more vulnerable. But what did they do instead? They withdrew.”

  “I see your point, Master. But how does this involve young Jonny?”

  “Only those with great power in zdrell could reportedly do it without training. If Jonny is the first new zdrell master in over a thousand years, he could become as great as some of the legendary ones in the sagas. I do not want him to be spoiled. Not all the zdrell masters were good. I need him to become a good, honorable man. I cannot have him twisted by whole demon initiation process, just so the other apprentices’ sense of fair-play is upheld.”

  “So what do you want changed then?”

  “I’ve already talked with some of the journeymen. I need you to talk to all of them and all the apprentices. Jonny is not be involved in any way in summonings. He is not to know the secret of how apprentices are used, nor to know any other part of demon magic.”

  “That could be difficult, Master. You know only those who have known the secret have been allowed to stay in the castle for more than a pair of days, for that very reason.”

  “I know, I know, but I believe it is essential.”

  “How long will we have to keep him from learning the truth?”

  “I am not sure, but it should be months, if not years, until he is ready.”

  “It will be difficult to keep him from being able to hear the screams,” Feldor said, shaking his head.

  “Yes, we will have to make certain the doors to the dungeons are closed whenever a summoning is in progress. The boys are too careless with that as it is.”

  “Have you spoken to Jonny’s roommate, Roald?”

  “No, but I will have you do that after lunch. I doubt Roald has said anything to Jonny yet. He is too embarrassed by his reaction to his own initiation.”

  “Indeed. I will talk to Roald, the apprentices, and the journeymen. Is there anything else?”

  “No. I need to begin my morning exercises. Once I have completed them, get Eleander to bring Jonny and Roald to me.”

  “As you wish, Master.”

  Chapter 8

  As Jonny awoke in the sunlit room, his first thought was he had overslept and if he did not move fast, he would be beaten. Then he remembered where he was. The fright left, only to return when he remembered the previous night. He looked over to the other side of the room just as Roald began to stir. Jonny got up and looked through the cupboard, where he had found his nightshirt the previous evening, to see if he could find some clothes that
fit. He did not know what clothes were there, but they could not be worse than the ones he had been wearing non-stop for the last year.

  He found a plain, but clean tan shirt that fit, a brown woven vest that was a bit large and a pair of black trousers that were too long, but otherwise fit well enough. As he was putting them on, Roald woke up and started to search the floor near his bed for something to wear.

  He sat to put on his trousers and looked at Jonny and said, “Did I . . . Did I scream much last night?” As soon as he asked, he looked down and was very intent on the task of putting on his shoes and socks.

  Jonny waited for a second, and then said, “Yeah, I guess you did, uh scream, a bit.”

  “I woke you up?” Roald asked, still not looking up.

  “Uh, yeah . . . But, but I was able to get right back to sleep after,” Jonny lied.

  “I’m sorry,” Roald said looking up. “I really can’t help it, and I never even remember I do it, but everyone says I scream really loud. I hope I didn’t keep you awake long.”

  “Not long. No, uh, not long, really,” Jonny said. Now, he was the one who did not want to make eye contact. “But, Roald,” Jonny continued. “What happened to you? I mean, you were begging someone to stop something. That part was worse than the screams.”

  “Happened?” Roald asked. “Nothing . . . Nothing happened. I just, I just have bad dreams, that’s all. That’s all, really. You’ll probably understand soon enough.” Roald said all this while staring at the floor. He had finished dressing and was deliberately looking away. Jonny was sure he was lying.

  “Anyway,” Roald looked up brightening. “It doesn’t matter, and I really need to get to the privy fast.” Roald jumped up and headed out the door. Jonny figured he had until at least that evening before he had to worry about how he was going to sleep through those screams again.

  § § §

  Jonny got down to the main courtyard and after visiting the privy himself headed back into the main building where they had eaten the night before to look for breakfast. When he finally found the great hall, he found it empty and cleaned. He was just coming back out to the courtyard when he saw Roald running up to him.

  “There you are. Where did you go?” Roald asked.

  “Well, I just thought we would be eating in the same place as last night.”

  “No, we only eat there on special occasions, and never for breakfast.”

  “Oh, so where do we eat breakfast, and what was the special occasion last night?” Jonny asked.

  “You, you were the special occasion last night. The Master said he’d be bringing a new boy, and we were all to be there to greet him,” Roald answered, as they walked through a doorway going back into the part of the castle where their room was located.

  They turned down a corridor and entered a room with a long table going down the center with benches on either side. It was not a particularly large room and the table nearly filled all of it. There was another doorway at the far end.

  Jonny dimly recognized several boys from the previous night sitting at the table. They glanced at Jonny and Roald as they entered but quickly returned to their conversations and eating. Roald led him down to the opposite doorway that led into a kitchen.

  “This is the kitchen and the servant’s mess. This is where all the apprentices eat normally. We eat in shifts because we can’t all fit in at one time,” Roald said, pointing at the cramped space. That’s why we had to be in the main hall last night, so everyone could be together.”

  “How many apprentices are there?”

  “I think there’s about forty five of us right now,” Roald replied, moving over to a large pot. “This is the morning porridge. You can get some of it, and there should be bread over there,” he said, indicating a table to the side where several large loaves sat.

  Roald scooped himself a bowl of porridge and Jonny did likewise, then Roald cut them both a large piece of bread and motioned for them to head back out into the mess. He paused just as he was about to go out through the doorway and pointed with his bread at a large slate board on the wall beside the door.

  “That’s the chore list. I doubt they have you on it yet, but that’s where they post what chores you’re assigned to each week. This week I have to clean out the stables. See there,” Roald pointed to a box labeled stables. Roald’s and three other names were listed there. “That tells you what you have to do. You’ll find out what you’re assigned to soon, I’m sure. C’mon, let’s eat.” With that, he went into the other room.

  Jonny lingered and studied the board. He quickly saw why he had not seen any servants last night. Looking at the board, he could see that the apprentices handled nearly all the operations of the castle. They were not only there to learn magic, but to act as the serving staff that kept the place running. It made sense, but Jonny had thought being a magician’s apprentice would be more, well, magical.

  He asked Roald as he sat down beside him, “So the apprentices do pretty much all of the dirty work around here?”

  “Yeah, you’ve got that right,” Roald said, with food in his mouth. “If there’s a nasty job that needs doing, you can bet it will be an apprentice doing it.”

  “So how much of your time do you actually spend learning to do magic?” It seemed like a simple question, but as soon as he asked, he could tell Roald did not want to answer.

  “Well, in the beginning,” Roald said, suddenly very intent on finishing his porridge, “we spend a lot of time watching others do magic and, uh, assisting them. You have to spend a fair amount of time around magic before you can really start doing it. But maybe it won’t be that way for you,” Roald said, his look of wariness lifting. “The Master last night said you had already shown him some magic tricks. Is that true?”

  “Well,” Jonny began, feeling more than a little embarrassed by the question. “I only showed The Master one trick, but he seemed really excited about it. I don’t know why. It’s really no big thing.” Now he was looking down.

  By this point, several of the other boys at the table were listening to their conversation. One of the older ones turned to Jonny and said, “Show us the trick, Jonus. We want to see what the master’s new pet can do.”

  “My name’s not Jonus, it’s J—.”

  Jonny suddenly stopped. He was about to use his old name, his true name.

  Jonny’s ears burned red with shame. The mocking tone in the boy’s voice said clearly he did not think Jonny could do any sort of magic. And now he had nearly tricked Jonny into giving away his true name. He wanted to sink under the table, out of sight, but knew he could not get away with that. The other boys joined in, “Yeah, c’mon, Jonny, show us all,” they taunted. It was just like when Jonny was a slave.

  The boy’s comments had the opposite effect on Roald. Jonny could see him getting mad.

  “You all just better watch out,” Roald said, challenging the other boys. “I bet Jonny can do more magic now than any one of you stinking dulls!”

  Jonny had no idea what a dull was, but it was obvious the other boys did not like being called that. Two of them started to get up, but the boy who had made the first comment, who seemed to be some kind of leader, motioned them to stay put.

  “Well, if he’s so powerful good, then he should prove it,” the boy sneered.

  “No problem. Go on, Jonny, show them your trick,” Roald said, with the confidence of someone introducing a talking dog.

  Jonny did not feel half as confident in himself as Roald seemed to be, but he figured the only way out of this situation was to show his trick. “It’s not much,” he began, as he dug his coin out of the pocket in his new trousers. “I just take a coin like this,” he said, placing the coin on its edge on the table. “Then I set is spinning,” he said, while flicking the edge of it to start it rapidly spinning on the table.

  “That’s your trick?” asked the boy who had started it all. “Anyone can do that.”

  Jonny was staring intently at the coin, not letting it slow
down. In fact, he wanted to show the boy up so much he tried to see if he could make it spin faster, and it did. After a few seconds, all the boys were staring intently at the coin as they could see it was not slowing down as they had expected it to. Instead, defying logic, the coin was spinning faster and faster. It slowly traveled across the table and stopped in front of the boy whose jaw was hanging open in amazement where it continued to spin.

  “Anyone can do that,” Roald mocked, sarcasm dripping from his words, “Can’t they, Frank? Why, I’m sure you could show Jonny here a thing or two about how it’s done, right?”

  Jonny heard his cue and stopped concentrating on the coin, which immediately began to slow down. “Sure,” Jonny said, trying to make it sound sincere. “Uh, Frank, could you please show me how I could do it better?”

  Now it was Frank’s turn to have his ears burn. He stammered for a moment then finally said, “You both just better watch out, especially you, screamer boy.” He glared at Roald. “I know you and where to find you. Maybe I’ll see if I can’t find a reason for you to scream some more.” He turned from them and got up, ears and face still bright red and headed for the door, as the coin rattled to a stop on the table. He nodded at his friends and said, “C’mon, let’s go,” and he left the room.