Josiah shook his head. “He’s crazy, then.”
Elkan’s eyes were a little unfocused. “No, though a touch of mind-healing might be called for. He just interprets reality to his own advantage.” Elkan’s gaze came back to Josiah. “It’s a hopeful sign,” he said encouragingly. “Once he’s in custody, there will be a real possibility he might be rehabilitated and rejoin the community. Much more than if his motivation came from greed or cruelty.”
Josiah didn’t find this thought as reassuring as Elkan evidently intended it. “What about Tereid, though? I bet he knows you’re bluffing.”
Elkan sighed. “I’m sure you’re right. I’ll have to play along as best I can. It will buy us time. Hopefully the wizards and watchers will arrive before long.”
Diffidently, Josiah suggested, “You could… you know, lie and pretend to go along with them.”
Elkan fingered the rope around his wrists. “I suppose I could. The Mother doesn’t hold oaths given under duress as binding. But even so, that’s not a path I wish to follow if there’s any other choice. Healing them wouldn’t be a problem, but eventually they’d ask for something we couldn’t do and the ruse would collapse. Still, as a last resort, to protect you and Sar—”
He broke off as Gan backed into the tent, arms piled high. Josiah jumped up to help him. The ropes nearly came loose from his hands and feet, but Gan didn’t notice. Josiah grabbed a stool from atop the pile, while Gan peered around the bundle of bedding, looking for a place to put the small pot that dangled from his fingers. “Be careful, it’s hot,” he warned. Elkan took it from him and set it atop a crate. Gan dumped the bedding in a corner, revealing two more stools and a bundle of eating utensils.
Josiah hid a sigh as Gan cut the ropes he’d spent so much effort making look secure. The three of them perched on stools and ladled stew into bowls
As he dished himself seconds, Elkan turned, with convincing casualness, to Gan. “So, Gan, how did you come to join Ozor?”
Gan gulped his bite of stew. “Oh, I came with him from Elathir. I’m Shipwrightkin, but I always wanted to travel and see the rest of Tevenar, so I apprenticed as a trader. Ozor was a good master. The first year of my apprenticeship our journey was very profitable and he was generous. He’s good at predicting what will be in demand in the city. He makes people think he’s giving them a high price for their goods, even when he knows he can sell them for a lot more.”
“So what happened?” Josiah blurted. Elkan shot him a cautionary glance, but Gan continued freely.
“I guess it started when Ozor took on Shonika as an apprentice. That was during my second year. She’d been an apprentice herder, but the herder masters refused to accept her trial work and promote her to journeyman. Ozor needed someone who could care for the mules. Aldan…” Gan hesitated over the name, but then went on with his story. “…was Herderkin, so he’d been doing it, but it was his last year as journeyman and once he made master he was going to go out on his own. Ozor offered to take Shonika on and only require her to serve a year as an apprentice trader before he sponsored her for journeyman.”
“Shonika? Nirel mentioned her.” Josiah tried to remember. “She said she might not feed Sar enough.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what started it. Shonika was great with the mules. Ozor was happy because she was getting twice the work from them, and he was paying a lot less for feed. But Aldan was upset. He kept going to Ozor and telling him he’d have to feed them more and stop Shonika from whipping them so much. But Ozor wouldn’t listen. Finally, when we were in Shalinthan, Aldan went to the town council and reported him.”
Josiah nodded, remembering what Master Noadiah had told them. Elkan narrowed his eyes at Gan. “And Ozor saw that as a betrayal of Aldan’s loyalty to him, didn’t he?”
Gan gulped, and nodded. “Three days after we left Shalinthan, when I woke up everyone was shouting. Aldan was dead. Ozor had killed him. He said it was justice, punishment for his betrayal. He made us all swear never to betray him, never to tell anyone what happened. We were going to go on and say Aldan died in an accident, but then we heard rumors there was a wizard nearby, making the circuit. Ozor panicked. He kept saying the wizard would be able to see what he’d done. He took us off our route, farther and farther into the mountains. None of us were hunters; we were used to traveling from town to town, only camping for a night or two. We got hungrier and hungrier. We killed one of the mules and ate it. The other apprentices were all whispering that we’d have to abandon him.” Gan’s face was bleak.
He shook his head, and his normal good humor reasserted itself. “Then we ran into Tereid and his bunch. They tried to steal our trade goods, but Master Ozor made a deal with them. They joined us and taught us how to take care of ourselves. They took our goods to people they knew and sold them. That’s how we met Kabos—he took some of our goods into Tathorlith. He helped us a lot that first winter, and he and Ozor became friends. I met Nirel then. She was always coming up to our camp and hanging around. I told her all about our adventures—she could never get enough of my stories.”
He grinned. “Ozor was like a new person, happy, excited. He started telling us all how we’d build a new society, away from guilds and wizards. So that’s what we’ve been doing ever since. More people keep joining us. We’ve been looking for a place to settle, but nowhere in the mountains has enough farmable land to support us, and it’s too far to the other side of the range if we still have to trade. But now that Kabos has joined us for real, he can teach us farming. We’ll be able to leave Tevenar altogether.” He looked excited at the prospect.
Elkan nodded thoughtfully. “Could you tell us more about—”
From outside the back of the tent, a voice hissed, “Psst, Gan, let me in.”
Josiah jumped up and helped Gan clear away bags and bundles. Nirel crawled under the edge of the tent. She climbed to her feet and looked uncomfortably from Josiah to Elkan.
“I found your donkey. He’s all right. Shonika’s got him about a mile down the river path. She staked him in a rocky patch where he can’t graze, but I took him some hay.” A sudden grin split her face. “He kicked her. I’ve never seen a beast manage that before.” She grew grave again. “She whipped him for it, and swore more than ever to break him. But she likes to take her time, so he’s in no danger for now.”
Josiah wasn’t sure, for the light was fading, but he thought Elkan had gone a little pale. But he merely said, “Thank you for caring for him and for letting me know what’s happening.”
“It was nothing.” She looked at him appraisingly. “Everybody’s saying you’re going to join us. Would you, really?”
“I’m thinking over my options.” Elkan’s voice was carefully neutral.
“If you did, we—Father and I—we wouldn’t hold what happened against you. That’s part of joining Ozor, you renounce your past. We could really use you. So, I do hope you decide…” She shifted uncomfortably beneath Elkan’s gaze.
She turned away. “Josiah, you’d really like it here. Wouldn’t he, Gan?” Gan nodded enthusiastically. “You get to learn so much, and do so many things. We may even get to travel over the mountains to places no one’s ever seen before. Please, think about it.”
“If I don’t, will Kabos beat me with a switch?” Josiah asked her bitterly. “Or will Ozor kill me and say I deserved it?”
She bit her lip and glared at him. “Fine. Be that way. I was trying—never mind.” She turned to Elkan. “I’ll keep looking out for your donkey. But I’d better not come back. Word is we’re going to break camp in the morning and move out around noon. I expect Ozor will want to know your decision before then.” She pushed past Josiah and squirmed out of the tent.
They moved the stores back into place. After escorting them each to the privy, Gan helped them spread the blankets on the ground. He hesitated before leaving. “Ozor told me I didn’t have to bind you tonight, but I’d better warn you, Tereid said he’d be watching your tent. He doesn’t trust you. So d
on’t try anything stupid.”
Elkan nodded acknowledgment, and Gan left.
Twenty-One
Josiah squinted at Elkan over breakfast. The wizard’s normally smooth cheeks and chin were covered with dark stubble. “You need to shave.”
Elkan rubbed his face and grimaced. “Do you think Gan would bring me a razor?”
Josiah frowned, puzzled. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you shave. Have I? But you must, you always look like you have.”
Elkan looked embarrassed. “I hate shaving,” he admitted. He scratched his neck. “And I hate the way a beard feels, especially when it’s first growing in. So Sar and I take care of it, as part of our morning routine. Just a touch, enough to reverse a day’s worth of growth.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s a legitimate use of the Mother’s power. A wizard should always look their best, to properly represent the Guild. And it takes less energy than shaving would, at least while we’re on the road. I’d have to build a fire every morning to heat the water, and carry a razor, and brush, and soap, and spend time that we could be traveling…”
Josiah grinned at Elkan’s defensiveness. He fingered his chin, where lately a few dark hairs had started to grow. “Do you think, once I start to need it—”
Elkan froze, his eyes going wide, his hand coming up to silence Josiah. An instant later he leapt to his feet and bolted from the tent. Josiah scrambled to follow him.
A horse tore down the river path into the middle of camp. Its rider dragged on the reins until it slid to a halt, eyes rolling wildly. The woman flung herself to the ground, grabbing for the bow on her back. “Ozor! Tereid!” Blood poured from long crimson slashes on her arms and torso.
As people burst from tents all over camp, Tobi bounded into sight. She slowed, snarling and circling the woman. The woman aimed an arrow at the mountain cat, but at the sound of thudding hoofs she jerked her head around. Sar galloped toward Elkan, neck stretched out and ears laid back. The woman narrowed her eyes and swung her bow to trace his path, hand tensing on the drawn string.
Elkan raced to meet Sar, but Josiah knew with a sick lurch of his stomach that they were still too far apart to reach each other before the woman released her arrow. Just as she drew a deep breath and her fingers flexed, Tobi leaped on her. The arrow went wild.
Ozor darted into Sar’s path. As the donkey swerved to dodge him, Ozor made a grab for his head and seized the bridle he was wearing. Sar reared and plunged, but Ozor clung tight. “Shoot the cat!” he bellowed to the bandits converging from every direction.
As they scrambled to string bows and nock arrows, Tobi left the woman’s still form and sprang at Ozor. A swipe of her great paw smashed into his head and knocked him sprawling.
Elkan threw himself at Sar. Gold light flickered out, catching the first arrow, then another. More arrows flew thick toward the mountain cat. “Run, Tobi!” Elkan cried. She sprang toward the ring of people. They scattered before her.
An arrow escaped Elkan and Sar’s guard and thudded into her back. She yowled and fell, tried to scramble to her feet, but failed, her hind legs refusing to support her.
“Stop!” yelled Elkan. The Mother’s power ripped bows from the hands of several bandits. Elkan and Sar pushed their way to Tobi’s side. “We’ve got her! She won’t harm anyone else.”
Josiah darted forward and crouched by Tobi’s head. She whined and tried to lick him.
Tereid loomed over them. His bow was gone, but he held his long knife threateningly. “I don’t trust you, wizard. What’s to stop you from killing us all, now you’re back with your beast? I say we kill you first. The donkey and boy, too, for good measure.”
Elkan didn’t take his eyes from the knife, his hand poised. “We won’t touch you except to defend ourselves. Let us go to the wounded.”
Tereid’s hand tightened on his knife. Behind Elkan, other bandits drew knives.
Josiah opened his mouth to warn Elkan, but he was addressing Tereid. “You saw what she did to Ozor. If you value your leader’s life—and your comrade, who’s even worse wounded—you’ll let us heal them.” He spread his empty hands. “I have no wish to harm any of you.”
Glancing to where Ozor had fallen, Tereid frowned. He looked suspiciously at Elkan. Though the wizard’s hand was no longer in contact with Sar, the donkey pressed against Elkan’s side. Raw whip welts striped his neck and flanks. The other bandits looked to Tereid for guidance, but he wavered, uncertainty flickering across his face.
“Are you with us, then, wizard?” Ozor struggled to sit up. He bled heavily from a gash on his scalp, and his voice was weak. “Are you ready to swear loyalty to us?”
Elkan’s eyes darted around, to Tobi, helpless on the ground, and Josiah by her head, to the wounded Ozor and the woman senseless beside him, and to the ring of bandits, many brandishing weapons, far more than he and Sar could hope to subdue.
No, Elkan! Josiah wanted to shout. Surely they could break away and run for it. Elkan and Sar could shield them. But Tobi couldn’t move, and she was probably too heavy for them to lift and carry with the Mother’s power. Not at a run, while guarding them all from arrows.
Elkan nodded, curtly. “I am.”
Ozor rubbed his eyes, smearing blood across his face. “Say it.”
Elkan’s fingers clutched Sar’s mane, but his voice was steady. “I, Elkan, pledge my loyalty to you, Ozor. In the Mother’s name.”
Ozor nodded, falling back. He waved weakly to Tereid. “He’s one of us now. Let him work.”
Tereid glowered, but sheathed his knife. He backed away and gestured for the other bandits to do likewise.
With a quick look, Elkan conferred with Sar. He turned to Josiah. “Keep Tobi quiet. We’ll be with you as soon as we can.”
Josiah nodded. He stroked Tobi’s head in his lap. She whined weakly, her eyes remaining closed. It would be all right, Josiah reassured himself. It was just like last time. As soon as Elkan healed the people, he’d take care of Tobi and she’d be fine. But this arrow was buried much deeper than the other had been, protruding at a sharp angle close to her spine. Josiah bit back resentment that Elkan would choose to look after those murdering bandits first. He knew that to the wizard they were simply damaged bodies in need of care.
Elkan knelt by the unconscious woman. The Mother’s light poured over her, and her wounds mended themselves in its glow.
She stirred, but before she could speak Elkan and Sar shifted their attention to Ozor. As soon as his wounds vanished, the bandit leader climbed to his feet. He clasped Elkan’s hand and thumped him on the shoulder. “Welcome to our ranks, my friend. Already you’ve proven your value. A grand future awaits us.”
Elkan’s face remained neutral, but Josiah could read distaste in the set of his shoulders. As soon as he could without offending, Elkan freed himself from Ozor’s hands. “Excuse me, but we must tend Tobi.”
Ozor looked at Tobi, and his eyes narrowed. “You know this creature? That’s why you protected it?”
Tereid stepped forward. “It’s a wild beast, a danger to us all. Look what it did to you and Shonika! Let me finish it off.”
Elkan positioned himself between Tereid and Tobi. “She only attacked because she saw Sar being whipped. She believed he was in danger and tried to rescue him. She’s no ordinary animal.”
“Oh?” Ozor raised his eyebrows. “What is she, then?”
Elkan hesitated, but then plunged into the explanation. “She’s Mother-touched. That means she’s a potential familiar. She joined our party near Tathorlith; we were taking her back to Elathir so she could bond with an apprentice next spring. We sent her with another wizard, but she must have come to find us.”
Josiah hugged Tobi’s massive head close. She’d come looking for him. She knew he’d take better care of her than Kalti ever could. Silently he yelled at Ozor to quit interfering and let Elkan get busy healing her.
Ozor’s nodded slowly. “Excellent. She can be the boy’s familiar, and we
’ll have two wizards. You do plan to swear your loyalty to us as well, don’t you, boy?”
Josiah froze, staring at Ozor in shock. Him a wizard, Tobi his familiar? It was as if Ozor had looked into his heart and read his most secret, impossible wish. But he couldn’t join the bandits! Not really, not more than the same pretense Elkan had offered.
Josiah swallowed and looked at Elkan. The wizard’s expression was dark and unreadable. His hands clenched to fists, one tangled in Sar’s mane. “Josiah’s not a member of the Wizards’ Guild. What you suggest isn’t permitted.”
“But you’re no longer bound by those arbitrary rules. There’s no reason you shouldn’t take him as your apprentice. No, wait.” Ozor held up a hand to stop Elkan from moving to Tobi’s side. “Let the boy make up his mind first.” Ozor looked appraisingly at Josiah. “Well? What do you say?”
Josiah couldn’t meet Elkan’s eyes. He bowed his head, studying Tobi. She whimpered in pain, but gazed back at him trustingly. He had to say yes. Then Ozor would let Elkan heal Tobi. After that… If Ozor insisted he and Tobi be bonded, Elkan would have to go along with it, wouldn’t he? Resisting would only reveal that Elkan’s vow to Ozor had been a sham, and if the bandit leader believed the wizard had betrayed him, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.
It wasn’t as if it would have to be permanent. Bonds could be broken; Elkan had told him so. Once the watchers and wizards came and captured Ozor and his band, Tobi could break their bond, if the Mother told her to. And if that day were long delayed, or never came, would it really be so bad, living among these folk? Nirel and Gan had told him they were good people, really, wanting only to build new lives for themselves. As a wizard, he could help them with that, so they wouldn’t need to steal anymore.
The Fuller's Apprentice (The Chronicles of Tevenar Book 1) Page 31