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

by Mike Ezekiel

  Watching the goblin hoard finally break ranks and start to flee back through the barrier, Kerwyn turned back toward Elysia the elvin queen and saw Erlina huddled over her trying to protect her from further harm. Kerwyn rushed to her side and saw the grizzly goblin arrowhead poking its way out between her shoulder blade and nape of her neck. Kerwyn instinctively bent down while drawing in the One Power and reached out his hand and cast a spell. “Distraho Telum,” he spoke and at the touch of his hand the arrow dissolved into smoke. Calling upon the One Power again, Kerwyn placed his hand over her shoulder closed his eyes and whispered “Resarcio Tergum quod bone Planto Universus Isterum” and beneath his touch her skin and bone began to mend together. After a few minutes Kerwyn lifted his hand and all that was left of the ugly wound was just a red dot to show where she had been struck and that the arrow had even existed at all.

  Erlina watching Kerwyn realized what he had just done jumped up and threw her arms around him. In between her bouts of sobbing, she thanked him for healing her mother. Backing up and looking deeply into her eyes Kerwyn using his special sight saw into her soul and knew at that minute that their lives were intertwined and fate would play a part in their destiny.

  Even though time seemed to have stopped for Kerwyn, the battle raged on. Goblins were still shooting arrows at the elves even as they were trying to get back out into the forest. However, littered on the ground were many dead goblins as the elves did not take kindly to their queen being hurt and went after the goblins with a vengeance. Life is sacred to the long-lived elves but they would give up their lives to protect their queen at all costs. There was arrow after arrow and there was the thrust and slash of every sword. Goblins died all around the barrier. There were elves and mudpuppies hurt and even a few that were lying on the ground not moving. But they kept fighting as though this was the end of their world and the elves would never give up their home without a fight.

  Byamee was leading his Cyclopes throughout the elves' home searching for any goblins that had found a way to escape the deadly arrows of the elvin archers. Elden the cyclops tracker was still shaken from his bounce from the tree and staggered a bit behind but was determined to stay upright and help his fellow Cyclopes protect the elvin home. Durin, who has named himself the cyclops protector, stood by Elden to ensure that he was safe from any other harm. While Baldred and Celie huddled around Byamee, ready for anything the goblins would do and would protect their leader of Alberic.

  “Kerwyn?” Master Sernett called out. Kerwyn heard his Master’s voice and came back to reality very quickly. He disengaged himself from Erlina and rushed to his Master’s side.

  “Master, are you alright?” Kerwyn asked while looking at his Master up and down. Master Sernett was holding his arm and there was a wicked looking cut running the entire length of his bicep. Grabbing a hold of his Master’s arm and drawing in the One Power again, Kerwyn said the magic words “Resarcio Tergum quod bone Planto Universus Iterum” again. Once more, the bone and skin melted together and all that was left was a red line and a torn shirt to show that Master Sernett had ever been hurt.

  “Master, are you feeling better?” Kerwyn asked with a serious note of concern.

  “I feel much better now, Kerwyn. I’m not sure how you healed both the queen and I. We are wizards not druids. Nevertheless, I am very glad that you were able to make me whole once more and we will explore these new powers that you hold in much more depth,” said Master Sernett.

  “It must be Mother Nature, Master, truly. I really don’t even remember summoning the One Power or casting my healing spells. In addition, I know that I have been saying magical words that I have not been taught by you.

  It just seems to come to me when the need arises. It is almost like I am being told in my head what to do and what to say,” Kerwyn had the look of a person who was thinking about something but not quite understanding what he was thinking about.

  “That’s alright, Kerwyn, I understand. Mother Nature has given you some amazing gifts and you are able to do things that no wizard before has ever been able to do,” Master Sernett said while patting Kerwyn on the shoulder.

  As Master Sernett and Kerwyn were standing there talking, two Elvin wizards came up to them. The first one was just a short elf of around five foot four. But his companion was the tallest elf that Kerwyn had ever seen. He must have easily stood seven feet tall. Kerwyn took a closer look at these two elves and noticed a few other things that were out of character for elves. One was they each had white facial hair with long flowing beards that matched their white hair that was pulled back and tied at the back. The other thing was that they really looked old, much older then the queen who was supposed to be over a thousand years old. Kerwyn could not think how old these two wizards must be and it was almost too staggering to even think about. One of the other things that he noticed was that their hands had runes all over them and it looked like they went all the way up the arms as well but Kerwyn could not be certain of this as they both wore long robes.

  “Masters, could we borrow your assistance to reset the protective barrier? We have been watching Kerwyn and he seems to have a great amount of power. With his help, we should be able to put up the strongest barrier that has ever been set on our boarders,” said the tall elf.

  “Yes, Masters. Please assist us with this task and we can talk later tonight about how it is that this young wizard can control so much of the One Power,” said the shorter elf.

  “We would be honoured to assist the great Elvin Wizards with this task,” said Master Sernett with a bow of his head and a smile that didn’t seem to make it all the way up to touch his eyes.

  Walking towards the barrier spot, Kerwyn looked at his master and saw a troubled look on his face. Master Sernett looked worried Kerwyn could not say why but knew it as a bad omen.

  Once they reached the spot, there were three other elvish wizards there waiting for them. They all bowed their heads toward Master Sernett and Kerwyn, in acknowledgment of their assistance.

  “Thank you both Master Sernett and Master Kerwyn for your help. We will begin by all of us casting the barrier spell and then joining our spells with young Kerwyn. We should be able to create the most powerful barrier spell ever made in elvin history,” said one of the three wizards that were waiting for them.

  At that, each of the wizards all lined up and started to gather in the One Power. Kerwyn watched his Master start to gather the One Power as well and Kerwyn started to do the same. Kerwyn was feeling the One Power rise within him and he could sense the Power building all around the wizards. All at once he heard the wizards say the magical words of power, “Tutela Obex Ex Vulnero” and with the release of power all focused on Kerwyn, he could feel it building in him faster then he was used to. It was becoming overwhelming and this much of the One Power was beginning to hurt. The noise of the power surging with in him was almost deafening and he wasn’t sure how much more he would be able to hold. Blinking he was having trouble seeing as the light around him was getting so bright.

  “Stop!” he heard his master call out, “You are going to kill him and you are channelling all of your power directly into him, not into his flows of the One Power. Kerwyn could only hear his master as a faint background noise because he was having trouble hearing over the building of the One Power in his head. The five Elvin wizards continued to pour their flows of the One Power into Kerwyn and he was at the point of breaking. Kerwyn panicked and cried out for help and in his mind he heard a response from Mother Nature to relax, that she would help him cast his spell, “one, two, three, release your spell now” he heard in his mind. Calling out “Tutela Obex Ex Vulnero Ego To Order Vos!” he yelled his last word and the One Power surged forth and exploded into a brilliant and shimmering wall of the One Power, knocking everyone else to their knees and sealing up the hole where the elvish barrier should have been. Feeling drained unlike anything he had ever felt before, the One Power faded from him. He knew at the moment that he had channelled more of th
e One Power into that barrier spell than any mortal should have been able to control. With these last thoughts running through his mind, Kerwyn collapsed to the ground in a heap and knew no more.

  chapter six

  THE TROUBLE WITH ELVIN WIZARDS

  Kerwyn slowly opened his eyes and the light that streamed into them blinded him, sending sharp pains into his head. Closing his eyes again quickly and shutting out the light seemed to help him gain some of his alertness. Trying again, he slowly cracked one eye open and waited until it adjusted to the intense light in the room. Feeling the inside of his head scream with each pulse of his heartbeat, Kerwyn’s stomach started to do somersaults forcing him to close his eye yet again. Drawing in a couple of deep breaths and steeling his nerves, Kerwyn once again tried to open his eyes. He concentrated on keeping the bile inside of his belly and reached down to pull the silk blanket up over his head and shield out some of the light. Saying a small prayer to Mother Nature for keeping him alive, he opened his eyes under the covers where the light wasn’t so bright. Not really expecting an answer from her, he heard her inside of his head letting him know that she was always with him and she would always be there to help him when he needed her. As he silently gave her thanks, he looked around under his blanket and discovered that he was completely naked. He didn’t remember much about where or how he had come to be where he was. He thought back to when he had used the One Power last and then pictures formed in his mind. Elvin wizards had super charged him with the One Power, Mother Nature counting and then telling him when to cast his spell. Then boom there was a bright light and a shimmering barrier was back in place.

  “Oh why does my head hurt so much?” Kerwyn complained from under his blanket and across the room he heard rustling.

  “Kerwyn, are you awake?” asked a female’s voice

  Disoriented, Kerwyn didn’t recognize the voice at first. But listening to that soft feminine musical voice, his memory slowly returned.

  “Erlina is that you?” Kerwyn asked from under his blankets, still unable to stomach the bright light.

  “Oh Kerwyn, we thought that you had been burnt out from the amount of the One Power that you were holding. The elvin wizards are still trying to figure out what sort of magical spell you had cast for the Protective Barrier. No one has been able to get in or out. You have made us prisoners in our own domain and the Elvin wizards are not overly happy about it either. They don’t seem to have the combined power to penetrate it. Everyone has been worried that if you didn’t wake up, we would be trapped here forever.”

  Kerwyn could tell that Erlina had been concerned just from the tone of her voice. He wondered if she was more concerned that he might not wake up because it was him, or because she was worried about being trapped in the Elvin domain forever. The thought didn’t sit too well with him because he doubted that she was fretting more about him instead of about being trapped here forever.

  “Kerwyn, my boy, you finally have awoken. I have been so worried about you. I told those infernal Elvin wizards to stop pushing so much of the One Power into you but I think they were more worried about the trolls and goblins coming back than worrying about your safety. By the way, why do you have the blanket over your head? You look kind of silly talking to us like that,” Master Sernett said as he walked up to Kerwyn’s bed.

  Kerwyn made no move to lowering the blanket, “Master, I hurt. My eyes can not handle the light and my head is hurting so much that I can not focus on anything other then the pain in my head. Even hearing your voice is like being too close to a waterfall. My senses are much more sensitive then before I was over charged with the One Power.”

  “Don’t worry, lad. That will pass in a few days. First we need to get you out of that bed and washed up. You do know that you have been sleeping for the better part of two weeks right? You have been asleep and we were scared that you were not going to wake up. The Elvin wizards and I have had many an argument over what they did to you. I have warned them that if they ever do that again and they don’t stop when I tell them to...well let’s just say that I made my point very clear. There will be at least one or two wizards that will have a bit of a hard time sitting down comfortably for a while yet. Ha-ha, my boy, you should have seen the look on their faces when I used my staff to give them a real smarting on the bottom. Oh, I thought they were going to try throwing me out of the Elvin domain but I guess it is a good thing that you have locked it down so tight that they cannot open your barrier. They are all walking on egg shells around me right now ha-ha.” Master Sernett’s merriment over the fact that he had taught the Elvin wizards not to take him lightly was funny to hear. But Kerwyn was still very much concerned that the elves would have easily killed him to complete what they had wanted done. Kerwyn didn’t like being used by anyone let alone a bunch of old Elvish Wizards who didn’t care whether he lived or died so long as their barrier was put back, and the evil was kept out of the Elvin domain.

  Kerwyn slowly dropped the blanket and the light started to make Kerwyn flinch and he thought of a quick spell to dim the light in the room. He tried to draw in the One Power and realized that he couldn’t sense the One Power. So instead he said the magic words to dim the light in the room “Dim Lux Lucis” but nothing happened.

  “Master, why can I not feel the One Power? Also my spell won’t work,” Kerwyn said in a panic.

  “Don’t worry Kerwyn; you will be back to normal soon. It is like a person who has been drunk on liquor for quite a while. He has dimmed his senses to the normal amount of liquor and so takes more alcohol to get him and keep him drunk. I’m sure you’ve seen the soldiers at the taverns. They can out-drink most people. All they do is drink spirits and ale. So it’s kind of like that with you; you have taken too much of the One Power into you at one time and your body doesn’t know how to react to it. In other words you have been saturated with it and you can not draw on anymore until you use up what you have stored in you,” finished Master Sernett.

  “But Master Sernett, that doesn’t make any sense to me. If I am full of the One Power then why can I not even cast one simple spell?” Kerwyn questioned with sorrow in his voice.

  “Oh Kerwyn, think of yourself as being drunk. Your body does not yet know how to use so much of the One Power stored in your body. I will warn you that when you do start to cast spells again, even your simple spells could be dangerous for the rest of us. You could have a simple fire starter spell burn down a huge part of the forest. You look like a shining star of energy to me. I would be able to see you with my wizard sight even through walls at this point. I have never used even half of the amount of the One Power you have resting in you, even during my most powerful spell casting that has left me drained for a week once I had cast it. Ah Kerwyn, you are a marvel. Mother Nature has chosen you for something very special and she is making sure you have the Power to do it,” said Master Sernett shaking his head and resting his hand on Erlina’s shoulder.

  “Ok Kerwyn, you have to lower the blanket so we can see how you are doing. Erlina has been worried sick about you and has hardly left your side since you were brought here almost two weeks ago.” Kerwyn could tell that Master Sernett wouldn’t take no for an answer, so he slowly dropped the blanket and was squinting until his eyes adjusted to the bright light of the room.

  Kerwyn looked at Erlina and both saw and heard her take in a breath of air that filled her lungs. Looking over at Master Sernett, he saw the wizard open his eyes wide and take an involuntary step back from Kerwyn’s bed.

  “What? What is it? What makes you both fear me? Have I been disfigured in some way from the One Power?” asked Kerwyn with real panic in his voice.

  After a few seconds Master Sernett regained his composure and took a step towards Kerwyn. He placed his hands upon the sides of his face and said some magic words that Kerwyn couldn’t hear. Kerwyn could also not feel any magic coming from his master other then for his skin warming under his Master’s touch.

  “Master, what’s wrong, will I be alrig
ht?” Kerwyn said in a small fear-filled voice.

  “Hush my boy, you’re going to be just fine. I just need to see what’s gone on with you. Erlina, why don’t you come over to the other side of the bed and hold Kerwyn’s hand? I bet that would help take his mind off of this.” At the direction of Master Sernett, Erlina crossed to the other side of the bed and almost hesitantly reached out and took Kerwyn’s hand in her own.

  Kerwyn looking up into Erlina’s eyes saw the concern on her face like it was a painted picture. Keeping his mind on her face Kerwyn let Master Sernett do what he was doing.