The Prophet's Apprentice (Chronicles of the Chosen)

by Cassandra Boyson

  Running hands through hair, he released a long, anguished sigh. He must face it: He would not see his dearest friend again until he himself had passed on. What a faraway thought that was. The prophet was gone without warning or farewell… the very best friend who had been more than that: the one person who had always believed in him, loved him, been there for him—a father who’d taken him in when he’d been unloved by his own. He would have that haven, that place of safety and acceptance, no longer. No more nights spent sleeping before the benevolent fire… It would be considered indecent now the cabin was Wynn’s alone.

  Wynn.

  “Aw, Wynn,” he murmured through clenched teeth. She’d finally found her place… someone she could rely on. The prophet had been her father too, the father she’d never had… and now he had gone from her. She was alone in that cabin after having faced the loss on her own, perhaps having witnessed it…

  He went for the door.

  It took him an uncommonly short time to reach the cabin. He looked it over, for the first time arriving with the knowledge the prophet would not be within… but Wynn was. He leaped from Peggity’s back and stalked across the yard, every muscle in his body aching from the weight of grief, keeping him from racing to her side as he wished.

  Upon reaching the door, he threw it open. She was sat before the fire, but she stood the moment she saw him, eyes rimmed red. At that moment, he knew they were feeling and thinking in unison. They were each the closest thing the other had to the prophet—the two he’d loved most in the world. They both thoroughly knew the other’s pain.

  They went to each other, grasping one another in an embrace like a life line, their final connection to the man who meant the world to them—their father, friend and confidant. She sobbed into his arm and it was not long before he had joined her.

  - T W E N T Y – T H R E E -

  Dragons and Swords and Things

  THE TWO PULLED THEIR chairs side by side before the fireplace and there Wynn told him her story. Once she’d finished, they merely sat gazing into the flames before them, feeling like lost little children in a world neither had ever really fit into. They were each filling the prophet’s place in the other’s lives, accepting one another for who they were the best they could.

  “How did you arrive so quickly?” she asked.

  “I cannot say. I only rode very hard and did not stop… or fall off.” Silence commenced for some time before, “I did not realize it would happen quite so abruptly. I always thought he would give warning.”

  She nodded. “He knew much, but I do not think he knew it was upon him until... it was upon him.”

  “Have you buried him or… shall I help with the arrangements?”

  She bit her lower lip. “There is nothing to bury.”

  He turned to her.

  “I told you, he disintegrated into light… There was no trace of his body left behind.”

  “Huh…” He turned back to the fire. “He would go that way…”

  She noted he seemed relieved upon hearing the whole of it. It was a comfort of course that the prophet had not gone in any pain or real discomfort. She sighed. “I need to inform his family.”

  Slowly, he turned to peer into her face. “What are you talking about…?”

  Her eyes grew wide. “He never told you… about his great-grandchildren?”

  “I never even knew he’d been married!” he shouted, leaping to his feet.

  “Well… same, until we visited his home world one day.”

  He froze. “Do you mean to tell me… Kaern is not his home world?”

  Great. She was making him feel as if he had never known his friend at all. “Er, well, it is not where he was born… but, of course, you know he’s been here since before man tread the planet. It seems he’d lived a whole other life before that, as leader of an entire planet called the Greater Archipelagos.”

  He dropped back into his chair. “I do not understand why he never told me any of this.”

  “He wouldn’t have told me had he not wished me to have his granddaughter as a sort of contact in case I required aid… She’s a fairly impressive woman, so I’ve gathered.”

  “Like the prophet.”

  “Yes, I think she is like him. Oh! You’ve seen her, Phillip—the day we went through the back door into that meeting in which I made a fool of myself. She was the lovely brunette.”

  “Really? Ha… I’d been in the same room with a member of the prophet’s family and not known it.”

  “Yes, and he has a great-grandson too, though he wasn’t in the meeting. He spends most of his time here in our world with his wife, Nimua.”

  “I wonder…” he began, “might I go with you when you tell the news?”

  She chewed her lip. “I am not certain. I need to transport there and I don’t think I can just take you along. If I can, I do not know how.”

  He nodded, though she knew he did not like the thought of parting from her. Once alone, he would have to face the empty feeling of that loss.

  “I will not be gone long,” she promised. Closing her eyes, she focused on the Greater Archipelagos, on Iviana specifically, but felt no change. Opening her eyes, she found herself yet in the cabin.

  “You all right?”

  She shook her head. “It’s not working.” Trying again, she concentrated with all her might, all her capability… but failed again and again. “I do not understand. I had this!” A new thought occurring to her, she raced outdoors.

  “What are you doing…?” he questioned when he stepped through the door to find her leaping up and down.

  “I’m trying… to… fly,” she replied, attempting to attain that weightlessness she experienced the evening of the passing. “Gah!” she roared, folding her arms and stomping her foot. “What was the point of his leaving if I cannot do this!”

  He froze. “What are you talking about?”

  Wincing, she ogled the ground. “I was syphoning his anointing, his power, all the time I’ve been here. I think it’s why he passed on... Now it seems it was for naught.” Why couldn’t she do it? She felt a block—a numbness—when she attempted connecting with the power. Fuming and frustrated, she was near tears again, though she had believed them all spent.

  He took her by the shoulders. “Wynn, you aren’t really blaming yourself, are you? Whatever happened was precisely what the Great One planned. You have done nothing wrong.”

  “But the prophet kept saying how he was unable to do things he could previously, did not see things he should normally have seen, such as the danger coming to Lord Valdren. That began when I arrived… The longer I stayed, the weaker he became. The day of his passing, he could scarcely heal those in need—that was because me.”

  “Yes, it involved you… but you were not doing it of your own accord. That was the Great One. You told me yourself the prophet was exultant his time had come. He knew what was occurring was the correct thing.”

  She could receive none of this, at least not fully. She knew what he said was logical, but her pain told her differently. She ripped away from him and marched indoors. “All right, cabin!” she shouted. “You are a live entity, are you not? For once, make that vanishing door appear when I want it and give me a way to Iviana!”

  It appeared.

  “Oh…” She had not expected it to work. “Thank you,” she murmured, temper subsiding.

  “I’m going with you,” Phillip announced.

  She smirked. “You afraid something will go wrong and I’ll throw another tantrum?”

  “Kind of… Moreover, I don’t want to leave you on your own just now.”

  “And you wouldn’t mind seeing where the prophet comes from.”

  “That too.”

  “Fine,” she replied, finding she was more grateful for his company than expected. “But no falling for Iviana… I believe she’s taken.” She was a very stunning and impressive woman after all.

  “No problem there…” he replied, opening the door and making ready t
o take a step.

  “Phillip!” she screamed, yanking him from the doorway beyond which lay open sky.

  He shivered as the two peered down at the land far below, mostly ocean.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t bully the cabin to get what you want,” he commented.

  She had to agree as she peered about at the logs that formed the dwelling. Yet, she could not believe it had intended to harm them… After all, the letter deeming the place hers had claimed it was “of congenial temperament.”

  “Well, what do we do now?” Phillip asked.

  She shook her head. “I’m not jumping, that’s for sure.”

  “Me neither.”

  An enormous green form flew by the doorway.

  “Uh…” Phillip murmured. “What was that?”

  “A dragon, I believe.”

  “Shouldn’t we close the door then?”

  She shook her head. “The dragons in this world are tame. It’s a long story… with our dear prophet at the center of it.”

  The dragon flew by again, slower this time and as gracefully as ever she’d seen. By the time it had passed a third time, she began to realize what was expected.

  “It wants something,” she stated.

  “Dinner?”

  “I’ve a feeling that’s our means of getting to Iviana.”

  When it flew by again, peering at them and moving slower still, she was certain.

  “Next time, we jump,” she informed.

  He laughed.

  When the time came, she felt her stomach leap into her chest as she flew onto the solid back of the creature. Turning, she found Phillip behind her.

  “You jumped!” she cried in astonishment.

  “You said we were supposed to!”

  She had no time to contemplate his burst of courage as they soared through open air, wind blowing wildly through hair and clothing as they gripped the dragon’s malleable leather flesh. Glancing over the side, she wholly regretted her decision as fear and lightheadedness took hold. It was similar to riding a horse, but so much worse, for death would be certain if she fell. And it was worse than when she’d flown of her own accord the other evening, for she had been in control… and not in a right state of mind. Now, she had but to trust this dragon and her own grip on its scales. She thrust her eyes tightly shut.

  Still, the beast moved gracefully and seemed to have an understanding of how to safely convey a rider. Yet, as they descended and Phillip cried out in delight, she felt as if they’d traded bodies. Since when did he relish something that terrified her?

  When at last the dragon landed, it was all she could do to slide her queasy, trembling body down its side and kneel upon the grassy ground, gripping it into her fists.

  “You all right?” Phillip inquired, kneeling beside her.

  She nodded. “I don’t see how you’re so all right,” she spat.

  “Neither do I, but, well… that was rather stimulating. I suppose I trusted your saying we should leap meant we would be unscathed.”

  She nearly laughed. He most assuredly had more faith in her rash decisions than she did.

  “Wynn?” a woman muttered from the doorway of a small white building.

  “Oh… Iviana,” Wynn muttered as she drew to a wobbly stand. “We actually made it to you.”

  “How did you happen to come upon Tragor?” she asked as she ushered them into the building where they were met by a kitchen table and made to sit before it.

  “Tragor?” Wynn asked. “The dragon, you mean? Well, he… he appeared outside my door actually.”

  Iviana raised her brows. “How very peculiar.”

  “Perhaps not as peculiar as it sounds… or maybe more so.”

  The older girl only laughed and turned to Phillip. “Who is your friend?”

  “Oh! This is Phillip, a… a good friend of the prophet’s.”

  “But of course! I have heard so much about you,” she told him. “In fact, when first I was becoming acquainted with your prophet, he could speak of nearly no one else.”

  Phillip blushed, but Wynn was grateful Iviana had shared this. After finding the prophet had kept so much from him, it would be sure to heal any pain caused. Of course, he must wonder why the prophet had only so recently met his own granddaughter, but he said nothing. It appeared his timidity had not fled with his sudden boldness upon the back of a flying monster.

  Handing first Phillip a cup of tea and then Wynn, Iviana looked to her with a smile and sat down. “I knew you would come.”

  She was taken aback. “How?”

  “So did he.”

  “Who?”

  Iviana raised a brow. “Who do you think?”

  Wynn raised her own brows in surprise. “The prophet? But how?”

  “He came to see me yesterday evening.”

  Wynn and Phillip looked to one another in consternation. As the prophet was deceased by that time, this could not be.

  “Iviana…” Wynn began.

  “I know. He had passed on… but still he came to see me.”

  Wynn huffed. She could not imagine how this was so… or why he had not come to visit her and Phillip.

  Reading their faces, the woman added, “He knew that seeing him again, knowing he must leave you once more, would have been too much too soon.”

  Wynn nodded as she took this in. He was right. If he’d returned to her only to leave her once more… she might never have forgiven him. Still, she wished Phillip might have seen him to offer a final farewell. The flexing of his jaw revealed he wished the same.

  She forced her eyes from him and stole a sip of the honey flavored beverage in her cup. Instantly, she was at peace. “What have you given us?”

  “Tea, but the herbs are anointed to relieve.”

  “I don’t suppose they can be found in Kierelia?”

  “No, and only a few Healers can spot them anyway. They look too similar to weeds.”

  “Healers? Is that what you are?”

  “Among other things.”

  Wynn nodded. “Well, I suppose you know why I’ve come.”

  “To tell me of my grandfather’s moving on to Paradise, yes.”

  “But you already know—indeed, have already received a visit.”

  “Yes, but he said little. Won’t you tell me how he went? I don’t suppose he was ill?”

  Wynn shook her head. “I don’t believe so. It was altogether too sudden. One day, he was himself. The next, he was struggling and eventually seemed to draw further into himself until I forced him to speak with me.”

  “And then?”

  “And then... it is difficult to describe. He seemed to disintegrate into glorious light.”

  “So, he did not die a natural death. I don’t imagine he could if he was not wounded or ill. The agelessness, you know. He did not age at a natural pace and could not die from old age either. I imagine he was simply expected home with the Great One, so he went.”

  Hearing these words relieved Wynn’s spirit more than Iviana would ever know. “He was terribly thrilled about it,” she replied. “He’d been waiting ages from what I understand.”

  “I can tell you he was no longer in an ancient body when he came to me. He was free as... well, as free as one can ever be. He was beautiful.”

  Wynn smiled and caught Phillip’s face light up. “Perhaps, one day, he will come to see us as well,” she said.

  “Perhaps.”

  Wynn studied the woman before her, some years older than she was, but not many. “Don’t you feel robbed? You were never able to make up for lost time.”

  “Yes, but it was time we would never have been afforded if not for the agelessness. I do not feel cheated at all. It was a miracle we met in this world.”

  “What did he say to you? Can you tell me?”

  She looked Wynn over with a knowing smile, brow raised once more. “I was wondering when you were going to ask. His message was meant for you, Wynn.”

  Her heart raced with longing to hear what he would say t
o her. “And?”

  “He said... well, you might at some point begin to notice you’re not aging at a natural rate...”

  Wynn’s stomach flipped as this statement set in. It could not mean what she thought it did. She had misunderstood. “What do you mean?”

  “...because you’re not. When you inherited his mantle, the agelessness came with it.”

  Wynn looked to the floor, attempting to grasp what she was being told as she felt Phillip’s eyes boring into her. “So...”

  “You’re going to be around for a while.”

  Goosebumps flooded her arms. She looked first to Phillip, who appeared both alarmed and concerned, and then to Iviana, all coolness. “But I... I didn’t want that. To attempt becoming his replacement, all right... but no longer aging—at least not naturally—that is not what I volunteered for.”

  “I know... and he knew. However, I do not believe he knew you would gain it or he would’ve warned you.”

  “Is there anything I can do to get rid of it?”

  Iviana shook her head. “Of course not. The Great One meant you to have it. I think, in time, you will grow accustomed.” With a wry gleam in her eyes, she added, “And perhaps you’ll say hello to my great, great, great-grandchildren for me.”

  Wynn peered up in surprise at the woman she barely knew. “That isn’t funny,” she said a little shakily.

  “Perhaps not,” Iviana admitted with a mischievous grin. “But Flynn is in the same position as you. You two should talk.”

  “Flynn?”

  “You met him, of course. He is the leader of the realm and… now my fiancé. Oh! Speaking of, once we’re married, I will gain the agelessness as well, so... you will not actually be alone in this, I suppose.”

  That was why Iviana had little compassion for her situation. She was willingly entering into the same. But if she was engaged… that meant her vision had not been so incorrect.