The Apprentice to Zdrell

by David K Bennett

  “How did you hear about it if you weren’t in the crowd?”

  “How did I hear?” Roald asked incredulously. “Everyone’s talking about it; how some young apprentice was making melons fly around as if they were birds and dropping them down on the head of the big oaf who was throwing them at him. They don’t know your name but they know it was a magician’s apprentice. As soon as I heard, I knew it had to be you. Who else could make things fly like that? I sure wish I had seen it.”

  “Yeah, well don’t worry. It was no big thing.”

  “Jonny, you dolt. No big thing huh? You just don’t get it. You’re famous. I heard the manager of the big stage has been trying to find you. He wants you to do a performance. He’ll even pay you to do it!”

  “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. If The Master finds out, I’m afraid he’ll be mad.”

  “Why would he be mad? You being so good and only an apprentice, his apprentice, you only make him look better.”

  “I don’t know . . .,” Jonny said, feeling worried.

  “Think about it. I know the manager. If you decide you want to do it, we can talk to him anytime.”

  “Okay, I’ll think about it,” Jonny replied reluctantly. Jonny was not sure at all what to do. It had felt good to have people applauding him, really good. Roald’s reasoning made sense to him. Jonny reasoned that showing what he could do would only enhance The Master’s reputation, but he was still afraid Master Silurian might not agree.

  The more Jonny thought about it the more he thought he would like to perform on the stage. He had not felt at all nervous, as he had pelted Gareselin. The cheering of the crowd had only encouraged him to go to greater and greater lengths. The vision of having a large crowd cheering for him while he stood on stage was very powerful. His only concern was whether The Master would approve. He decided he would try to find him and ask his permission.

  That turned out to be much harder than he thought it would be. He told Roald what he planned, and Roald was excited, but neither of them knew where to look for The Master. His only public appearance would be the last day of the festival, at the same time the new soldiers were announced. Jonny thought maybe he would be at the government building Jonny had visited with Feldor on the way to the castle. They headed to that part of town and when they finally found the building, it was locked with a sign saying it was closed until the end of the festival.

  Roald thought maybe the manager at the big stage would know where to find The Master, and that would give Jonny a chance to talk to him about performing. Jonny thought that would be a good idea, but was nervous about committing without Master Silurian’s permission. They went over to the stage and found the manager. His name was Hanzel. When Roald introduced Jonny to him, he became quite excited.

  “No, no my boys, I’m so sorry to say I have no idea where Master Silurian keeps himself during the festival. He just randomly appears at places and then disappears. Then again, he is a wizard and is expected to be mysterious. But, I can’t think of any reason why you shouldn’t be able to perform here Jonny. I’ve had several of Master Silurian’s journeymen perform here in years past and have never had any problem with it. No, I can’t think of any reason he would be against it at all. The only problem I think we have is where I can fit you in the schedule. Hmmm,” Hanzel said as he consulted a parchment with many things scribbled on it.

  “Well, it looks to me that if you want to perform, and I do want you to perform, it will have to be in about half an hour, right after the Carlenian choral group and right before the Festival Players nightly farce.”

  Jonny was impressed. The farces put on by the Festival Players were one of the biggest attractions of the big stage. They drew enormous crowds because they took place after the majority of the soldier trials for the day had ended and when people were in a partying mood. If he were put on before them, there would be an even bigger crowd than he had envisioned watching. The thought sent a thrill through him, but then he realized there would be no time to find The Master and get his blessing.

  Hanzel saw Jonny wavering. “Can you be ready that soon?” he asked nervously.

  “Yes, I’m sure I could,” Jonny answered distractedly. “I just really wanted to ask The Master . . .”

  “Jonny, my boy. I don’t see how this should be a problem,” Hanzel soothed.

  “Yeah, Jonny, it would be really fun!” Roald joined in.

  “Ah . . . Okay, I’ll do it,” Jonny said without enthusiasm.

  Roald’s enthusiasm more than made up for Jonny’s lack.

  “This will be great, Jonny. You’ll see! Why don’t you start off with some coin spinning, and maybe a dagger, and then juggle the coins without using your hands,” Roald gushed.

  “That sounds good,” Hanzel said. “I’ll give you ten minutes, fifteen if the crowd really likes it. Can you do that?”

  “Yeah, I can,” said Jonny starting to warm up to the idea. This would make all the practice for the last year pay off.

  Hanzel showed them where they had to be and at what time, then he hustled off and Jonny and Roald spent all the time discussing what Jonny would do. Jonny did not actually practice any of the tricks since there were too many people around, and anyway he had had a year of practice.

  The time came and Jonny was suddenly nervous. He stood at the edge of the stage as Hanzel announced him to the crowd. Many people were annoyed that they would have to wait through another act before the farce could begin, but when Hanzel announced that Jonny was the apprentice who had given an impromptu show by the fruit wagon a murmur spread through the crowd. By now, everyone had heard of Jonny’s performance and wanted to see it for themselves.

  Jonny stepped out onto the stage. A chill went down his spine when he saw how very many people there were. For just a moment, he wondered if this was all a mistake and wanted to run back off the stage, but then scattered people through the crowd started to applaud. Jonny took courage and started the dialog he had worked out with Roald, who was now watching from the wings.

  “Uh, Hello, uh my name’s Jonny, and uh, I guess a few of you might have seen it today when I, uh ‘helped’ an old ‘friend’ of mine learn why you have to be careful when you throw fruit at people,” he began nervously. The crowd did not really react, so he rushed on. “Anyway, when I was done, uh, ‘helping’ my ‘friend’ no one threw me any coins to show their appreciation. Would any of you like to do that now?”

  The crowd was getting restless. Jonny realized he did not really know how to talk in front of lots of people, but a man in the middle of the crowd came to his rescue.

  “If I throw you a coin you won’t make it fly back and hit me in the head will you?” the man yelled.

  The crowd laughed and so did Jonny. He felt the tension that had been building in him begin to relax. The man made a big show of throwing a large coin onto the stage. As soon as he had done so, several other coins followed from other parts of the crowd. After the coins had landed Jonny bent to scoop them up and set them up on a table on the stage.

  “I thank you for your kind donations,” he said in a stronger voice, trying to imitate the way the stage manager had talked when introducing Jonny. “And I want to use these tokens to show you the magic my great Master Silurian has been teaching me as his apprentice.”

  A hush fell over the crowd. Jonny took the largest coin, and just as he had first learned, started it spinning. He stepped away where the crowd could see the coin. They were obviously waiting for something more so he bent and set four more coins spinning on the table.

  “I know it might be hard for some of you to see,” Jonny said again addressing the crowd. “But I now have five coins spinning on this table, and they will spin for as long as I want them to keep spinning.”

  This was not the great event the crowd had been expecting, but there was some courtesy applause.

  “Thank you, thank you, but I’m sure that isn’t what you wanted to see.”

  A murmur of agreement swept throug
h the crowd.

  “So, how about if I make it easier for those of you in the back to see,” Jonny said, gesturing at the spinning coins. As he pointed at the coins, all of them slowly lifted off from the table, still spinning. They rose slowly until they were about eight feet above the stage. The crowd began to clap and shout their approval. This was more like what they had been expecting.

  “But there are more ways for a coin to spin than that,” Jonny said, when the crowd had quieted. He looked at the coins that suddenly ceased spinning and hung motionless in mid-air. Then slowly some coins rose and others dropped until they formed a rough circle hanging in the air. The crowd ooohed in approval. Then he started the coins chasing each other around the circle. They moved faster and faster until the individual coins were scarcely visible. Then Jonny allowed the circle to widen, larger and larger until they were describing a loop over ten feet tall.

  Without warning, the loop ceased to be a loop and all the coins shot straight up into the darkening sky, then came back down and spun in a horizontal loop around Jonny. He stood for a moment with the coins circling and then turned to the side and said “Catch Roald!” and the coins flew off to the side of the stage where Roald was waiting.

  The crowd went wild. Hundreds of coins rained on the stage from the crowd, so many that Jonny had step back and shield his face. Jonny waited until the crowd had quieted and was about to begin the next part of the act that he and Roald had worked out when there was a loud explosion and burst of smoke from the left-hand side of the stage. The loud concussion caught the crowd and Jonny equally by surprise.

  Master Silurian stepped from the center of the smoke and strode quickly to Jonny’s side. To Jonny he quickly whispered in a short harsh tone, “That will be quite enough. This little show is over.” He then turned to crowd, all smiles, and said, “Another round of applause for my apprentice!” He gestured grandly to Jonny. The crowd echoed their approval.

  When the applause began to die down The Master once again addressed the crowd with a booming voice, “I truly am proud of this boy, and one day we expect great things of him, but right now he doesn’t need all the coins you all so graciously gave him so now I’ll have him give them back.” He turned to Jonny who was confused by the turn of events and said, “You heard me boy, send them back!” Comprehension dawned on Jonny and he quickly began sending all the coins lying on the stage back into the crowd. The crowd roared its approval while many of them scuffled to get the coins flying back.

  As soon as Jonny had cleared the coins off the stage, The Master took him firmly by the arm and walked him rapidly off the stage, all the while making it look to the crowd like it was Jonny who was trying to escape the sudden fame. Hanzel was beaming as they left the stage and he entered to introduce the first act of the evening farce.

  Master Silurian was all smiles as well till he had taken Jonny and Roald nearly a quarter mile away from the stage at a brisk walk, then he let go of Jonny’s arm and turned to face them.

  The look on The Master’s face alone told Jonny this was going to be bad. His eyes, which just moments before had twinkled with mirth now shown with an intensity that made Jonny want to hide in the depths of the earth.

  “What did you think you were doing there, Jonny?” he asked with a whisper that felt like a shout. He did not wait for Jonny to respond. “Did you actually think you could perform on the big stage and I wouldn’t hear about it?”

  Jonny was on the verge of tears but he tried to defend himself. “Master, I tried to find you. I tried all afternoon to find you to ask your permission,” Jonny pleaded.

  “We did try, Master, but no one knew where you were or how to find you,” Roald added, trying to help his friend.

  This did not help. The Master turned on Roald and said with even more venom in his tone, “And you, you, should know better than Jonny that you never, ever, do something of this nature without permission. You should have stopped him, but now I see you wanted to bask in his reflected glory didn’t you?”

  Roald wilted under the attack from The Master. Jonny nearly sprang to his friend’s defense, but The Master had once again swung his piercing gaze at Jonny.

  “What made you think that if you found me that I would ever allow a display of this kind?”

  “I, well, ah, Hanzel, the stage manager said he’d had other of your journeymen perform there before, and he’d always wanted you to perform, and that he didn’t think you’d mind . . .” Jonny tried to continue but the glare from The Master dried the words in his throat.

  “He didn’t think I’d mind, did he?” The Master asked menacingly. “I’ll just have to have a talk with him when the festival is over, then, but that is still no excuse for you. Yes, I have allowed journeymen to perform there before, but that was when things were very carefully planned and staged, not just thrown together in an afternoon. And you were just getting started weren’t you? You were probably going to spin a knife or a sword or something else weren’t you?”

  Jonny gulped because that was exactly what he had intended to do, and he could tell The Master knew it and was not happy about it.

  “Jonny I have not spent all this time teaching you, training you, so you could perform at a simple show. You still have no idea what talent you have or what is at stake here. You cannot afford to draw attention to yourself like this, not at this time, not at this place, not now!”

  The Master was shaking with what Jonny at first thought was rage but then realized was frustration. Jonny now began to see things in a different light, and it made him even more afraid than he had been of The Master’s rage.

  Master Silurian was scared. Jonny did not know why The Master so was frightened but he could see he was, and anything that could frighten his master terrified Jonny.

  The Master spoke again, quieter now, but with no less intensity. “Jonny, I see you really don’t understand, and I must take some of the blame for this myself, but you have no idea, boy, how dangerous it would have been for that crowd to have seen more of your talent tonight. As it is, I am going to have to appear on the stage tomorrow to make them forget about your performance. Much as I am loathe to make that kind of show, it is necessary so they will talk about me, the wise master of the realm, and not you, the boy apprentice.

  “Jonny, more than half that crowd tonight don’t live here in town, they come from far away, some very far, to our festival. You would be in very great danger if certain people learned of your existence too soon, before you are able to defend yourself.

  “Someday Jonny, everyone will know your name, but now is neither the time nor the place. You are not ready. I am not ready, and if things happen too soon, our cause could be lost before it is begun.”

  Jonny had no idea what cause The Master was talking about, but some of the gravity of what he was saying affected Jonny. “I’m sorry, Master,” Jonny pleaded. “I didn’t know, I didn’t know.” Jonny began to cry. He did not know why, and he was embarrassed to do it, but he could not stop.

  The Master folded him in his arms and held him to his body. “That’s all right, Jonny. It’s my fault as well.” He sighed, “I guess I’ll just have to make sure that my performance is one to remember.”

  § § §

  The Master’s performance more than lived up to his desire. For over half an hour the next night the crowd witnessed pyrotechnics and power such that fifty years later any magic act performed anywhere within hundreds of miles was still compared to it. People told their children and grandchildren about the great show of Silurian as it came to be called. Few even recalled how the night previous a young apprentice had performed.

  Chapter 26

  “Feldor,” The Master asked as he finished his buttered bread, on the last morning of the Harvest Festival. “How do you think the diversion is working?”

  “Your performance the night before last was most impressive, Sir. I think without any help that many people would be assuming that Jonny’s antics were only a warm-up tactic to draw more attention.
I have also had key people inserting comments into the crowds that they saw you at the edge of the scene by the melon vendor’s wagon, as well as how you were on the stage for all of Jonny’s performance.

  “Last night I heard completely uninvolved people making similar comments. So, I believe that by the time the festival is over you will be getting all the credit for Jonny’s tricks,” Feldor said, sitting with a folio in his lap.

  “Good. Good. I hate to do this to the boy, but it is just too soon for the idea to get out that there might be another zdrell master again. Jonny is just not ready yet,” he said shaking his head.

  “Do we have time for him to grow up enough?”

  “I don’t know. I am not sure how soon the demon wizards will move. They are still cautious, and moving to consolidate, but I think that without some show of force on our part, we will lose too many more wizards to the demon camp,” The Master said, staring at the ceiling.

  “I think I’ve got to make at least a token showing at next year’s Conclave. If I can have Jonny ready by then, it could be enough to slow their movement. Even seeing it, most won’t believe what Jonny does is zdrell, but a few will, and that could be enough to make the demon camp continue cautiously.”

  “Won’t that endanger Jonny,” Feldor asked, his face concerned.

  “I don’t think so,” The Master nodded, grimacing. “As I said, most won’t believe. In fact, most of them will think I’ve found some way to do just what we are trying to convince people here. They’ll think I’ve found some way to cheat, in order to make myself look better, because that is just what they would do if they could figure how.

  “No, I don’t think hardly any of the demon camp will believe if we do an exhibition at the conclave, but those who will believe are the ones I’m trying to reach. The ones who haven’t yet fallen in with the demon camp, but feel there will soon be no alternative, they will be my audience. If I can give them an alternative . . . it will go a long way to weakening the demon camp without revealing Jonny’s true nature.”