CHAPTER 56
Metal and Fire
Nicholas guided Frist to the second garden. Rustin awaited them with a torch in hand near a white birch tree, leafless and bony amid the flittering shadows. They walked several more yards to a tall rock face, the line of dark stone scarred with cracks, fissures and ornamented in spots with saplings and scraggly pines growing out of its side. Thickening black clouds hovered above. A warm, yellow glow emanated from a small opening to a tiny cave at the base of the rock. The entrance was only high enough so that a tall man had to stoop before going inside.
“The forge is ready,” Rustin said in uneasy tones.
“Thank you.” The wizard eyed the cave and then turned to his companions. “Now I must do what needs to be done to help save Laparia. By dawn we’ll know how good of a wizard I am,” he added with a wink. He turned to Nicholas. “May I have the medallion?”
“Of course.” He carefully removed the metal disk from around his neck and handed it to the wizard. “Good luck to you.”
“Frist needs no luck,” Rustin said with a confident smile. “He is one of the greats.”
Frist gently patted him on the arm. “You have been a good apprentice. I know you will go far beyond what I have already taught you.” He looked at both men and nodded. “Now I must finish what I started. You may wait in the garden or go back to the house where it is warm. This I must do alone.”
Nicholas and Rustin watched as the wizard neared the rock face, stooped slightly and entered the gentle glow of the cave, the hem of his cloak sweeping across the ground and disappearing behind him. Nicholas looked at Rustin with a questioning gaze yet sensed that the apprentice knew little about what to expect.
“Should we go?” he whispered.
Rustin nodded, leading the way back to the second garden, now fallow and littered with the dried remains of a once thriving crop. There they lingered for over an hour, sitting on rocks and talking softly to one another about the wizard. Rustin told Nicholas all that he knew about him including Frist’s early days in the Valley of the Wizards.
“I spoke to him for the first time when I was ten,” Rustin said. “He was passing through my village as he had on previous occasions while journeying around the lake to explore. Frist was stopped by a woman with her daughter of four in her arms who had a terrible and persistent cough. He examined the child on the spot and cast a brief spell over her. But an additional part of her treatment required some kaníya berry seeds which he didn’t have in his pack. I was nearby and knew where a patch of those berry bushes grew and volunteered to run into the woods and bring him what he needed.” Rustin grinned as he recalled that fond memory. “Frist had barely finished uttering his consent and instructions before I had dashed off to fulfill the errand.”
“And the sick child?”
“She was as good as new two days later, running and playing with the other children. Her mother was beyond grateful,” Rustin said. “I was beyond astounded that the wizard could do such good and that I had had a small part in it. I then wanted to learn more about wizardry as I was usually bored in my studies at school. Anyway, after I saw Frist on several more occasions in the village over the years, he employed me from time to time to gather certain leaves, berries and barks that he couldn’t obtain near his island. He’d have me dry them and properly store them in wrapped cloth or clay jars as required and then purchase or trade for them on his next visit to our village. My family was delighted with the extra income and sensed that I had an aptitude for something greater than working on a farm, fishing on the lake or apprenticing in another business. And though I did finally go to work with one of the local apothecaries, I felt there was more in the world I wanted to do.”
“Like apprenticing with the wizard?” Nicholas asked.
Rustin nodded. “About four years ago I saw Frist again and suggested that very idea to him. He was reluctant to take me on as his student, preferring to spend his elder years exploring the region and dabbling in wizardry only when the occasion required. I approached him several other times over the next few months until he finally relented somewhat, telling me that he would consider my request. In the meantime, he instructed me to create a complicated potion that required difficult-to-gather ingredients, including one found only on the summit of the middle mountain of the Five Brothers. I even had to recite incantations over the concoction for hours at a time in the middle of the night under particular phases of the moons. But I did everything Frist asked of me and kept a complete record on parchment. I even saved extra samples of every item I had gathered for the potion. Finally, two months later, he returned to evaluate my results.”
“What did he say?” Nicholas eagerly asked.
Rustin smirked. “After I handed Frist the clay jar with my completed potion and showed him all my records and samples, he seemed mildly impressed, merely raising an eyebrow in response. We then walked to the edge of the lake in silence. There Frist opened the jar, and without so much as looking inside, he tipped it upside down and dumped the contents into the water. I was stunned, thinking I had failed the old man.”
Nicholas appeared as astonished as Rustin had described himself those years ago, finding it difficult to believe that the wizard had treated him so harshly. “Why would he do such a thing after all the work you had put in? Did you make a mistake?”
“Not quite,” he replied with a chuckle. “After Frist handed back the empty container he simply uttered four words that I will never forget–I will teach you.”
Nicholas shrugged. “I don’t understand. What was the point of you making the potion?”
“That was my thought at the time,” he said. “As it turns out, what I created was–nothing. A pretend brew. Frist had tested me to find out if I was willing to follow difficult directions without question and to see if I really desired the life I claimed to want. He told me that anyone who had so meticulously followed the ridiculous and convoluted instructions he provided was worthy of at least one opportunity to be called his student.”
Nicholas laughed softly in the night shadows. “So all those hours you spent chanting in the moonlight over a container of who-knows-what…?”
“Made-up spells, of course. I’m just glad I was away from the village where nobody could see or hear me. But I’ve come a long way since.”
“Frist certainly has a flair for the dramatic,” Nicholas said.
Suddenly the faint glow at the entrance of the cave grew intensely brighter as the voice of the wizard drifted through the air like a swift brush of wind, his words strange, whispered and harsh. A heavy silence enveloped the area moments later and the fiery illumination near the cave returned to its previous, subtle glow.
“He certainly does,” Rustin agreed.
Nicholas walked back to the house an hour later to check on Leo. Rustin, though, had refused to leave the garden, insisting on keeping a nighttime vigil until the wizard emerged from his cave. Nicholas promised to return shortly with some food and a hot drink.
The fire was burning low when he stepped inside the house. Leo was still fast asleep in his chair just as they had left him. Nicholas placed more wood in the fireplace to revive the flames and then prepared a small plate of bread and cheese and a cup of hot tea for Rustin. Soon Leo began to stir, awakened by the sound of the snapping flames. He sat up in his chair, stretching his right arm.
“Could you ask Ron or Mabel if the kitchen is still open?” he lazily asked. “I could go for more of that roast pork right now. And some ale, too.”
Nicholas smirked as he poured hot water for the tea. “I hate to disappoint you, Leo, but we’re not at the Plum Orchard Inn. We’re in the wizard’s house on Wolf Lake. How’s your shoulder?”
“Huh?” He looked down, noticing the sling around his left arm. Slowly the fog lifted from his mind. “Now I remember. I thought I had drifted off in the common room. How long have I been out?” He looked around the empty room. “Where is everybody?”
“First things first,�
� Nicholas said, walking over to him. “How do you feel?”
“Quite well,” he said. He moved his injured shoulder and carefully raised his left arm, smiling with relief that there was no pain or restriction of motion. “I guess the wizard did it.” Leo hastily removed the sling and walked about, turning his shoulder in several directions. “This is amazing. Where is he so I can thank him?”
Nicholas told him where Frist was and their buoyant mood dissipated. Though their intention was for the wizard to remake the key and reconstitute the spell within it, now that he was actually performing the deed, Nicholas grew afraid that the task might be more than the elderly man could handle. He filled Leo in on the details while preparing him a late supper, and as he began to eat, Nicholas brought out the plate of food to Rustin and learned that the wizard had not yet stepped foot outside the cave. When he returned to the house, Leo was pouring himself a second cup of tea. Nicholas joined him at the table and appeared moody and quiet.
“Frist was going to do this task regardless of the consequences,” Leo said as he continued to eat, famished after enduring the wizard’s spell. “Don’t blame yourself for his decision.”
“That’s not what I’m brooding about,” he replied. “I’m thinking about something Frist had told me earlier.” He looked up at Leo with mixed emotions. “Something about my father.”
Leo appeared perplexed. “Your father? What do you mean?”
Nicholas explained the disturbing news the wizard had revealed about Jack Raven’s death, wondering if he would have been better off not knowing. “I can see why Maynard and Tessa never told me the truth when I was older. What would I have done with that information all those years later? It might have just made me angry and vengeful while growing up.”
“Possibly,” he said with concern. “Yet I think I’d rather have the truth than not. But as you can’t change the past, don’t let it beat you up or you’ll never move forward.”
Nicholas looked up, his face hardened. “Part of me wants to run to Morrenwood with that key as fast as I can and open the Spirit Box. Vellan’s Enâri army deserves what’s coming to it, as do Vellan and Caldurian.” He sipped his tea, his mind spinning with vengeful notions. Then, whether because thoughts of Ivy tugged at his heart or he was enveloped in the magical atmosphere on the wizard’s island, he suddenly grew calm. The tension in his face disappeared and he sounded like his old self again. “But I know I have another job to do first, Leo, and carrying around newfound hatred because of what I learned will only hinder me. And you’re right–I can’t change the past, but I’m not going to let it change me either.”
“Wise choice,” he said between bites of food. “Besides, we’ve nearly accomplished what we came here to do. No reason for you to go all Vellan-crazy now. That wizard will get his one of these days for all the trouble he’s caused. Trust me.”
Nicholas was happy to hear himself laugh, knowing he was still on the right track in both his quest and his attitude. But how it would all end was still as dark and roily as the clouds hovering above the wizard’s rooftop.
The island stood silent in the darkness several hours later as dawn crept closer to the eastern horizon. Suddenly Rustin burst through the front door of the house, awakening Nicholas and Leo who had fallen asleep in their chairs near the fireplace. They each looked up, neither knowing what to expect.
“What?” Nicholas asked, fully awake yet less than refreshed after his brief slumber.
“Frist wants to see you,” he said with a sense of urgency.
Nicholas and Leo followed him past the second garden to the cave as the bitter air nipped at their faces. They stooped low and stepped through the entrance, the warmth inside washing over them. The barren, rocky interior glowed from the red-hot embers within the crudely built forge. A small stool and anvil stood off to one side. Nicholas saw the wizard sitting upon the ground in the shadows, his back slumped against the wall. Though he appeared essentially the same man physically, he seemed to have aged in both spirit and presence. Nicholas and Leo went to him as Rustin stood nearby. Frist looked up with a faint smile, indicating for Nicholas to approach closer. He knelt down on one knee next to him, noting that the once lively glow in the wizard’s eyes now seemed to be slowly fading.
“I have finished,” he softly said. With an effort, Frist held up a metal key of minimal design with a slight oval loop on one end. Through it was strung the leather cord that had been tied around the medallion. Frist handed it to Nicholas who accepted it with a bit of reluctance. “Since you brought it all the way to me, I shall hand it over to you first. Though I suspect another will take possession of it shortly,” he added, glancing at Leo.
“Thank you,” Nicholas said, examining the key with amazement before he placed it over his neck. “But how are you feeling? That is what’s most important.”
The wizard smiled again, noting the concern of his three visitors. “I feel like I’ve done all I was supposed to do in this world,” he said. “And perhaps a little more. Now I think I’m due for a long sleep. A long and permanent sleep.” Rustin was about to speak when Frist held up a hand to quiet him. “I have earned it, my friend. You have been a loyal apprentice, but it is time for both of us to move on. I told you a few days ago when I first sensed the medallion’s presence that this might happen, that this might be my fate.”
Rustin nodded, on the verge of tears. “You did,” he said, his voice unsteady.
Frist beckoned him forward, and as Rustin knelt beside him, the wizard took his hand and placed a gold coin inside the palm. “Never spend this in the marketplace. Keep it with you until the day you find another wizard to help you continue your studies. Give it to him and he will instantly know that you are a loyal and serious wizard-in-training, worthy to be his student. You will go far, my friend. Of that I am sure. In the meantime, remain on this island for as long as you wish. Take what possessions of mine you require for your chosen life and give away anything else of value as you see fit.”
“I will,” Rustin said as a tear rolled down his cheek. “Thank you.” He kissed the wizard’s hand and stepped back with a heavy heart.
He called forth Nicholas once more who knelt beside him with a puzzled look. “I have one more item for you.” Frist removed a round, silver object with obscure markings etched upon it that was attached to a thin, sturdy chain of the same material and handed it to Nicholas. “I fashioned this amulet and Rustin’s gold coin before I remade the key, knowing they wouldn’t tax my remaining strength as much as my final feat.”
“What is it?” Nicholas asked, examining the wizard’s gift with wonder.
“A guide and a protector as you journey alone,” he replied. “May it lead you to those whom you wish to find and preserve life where death and destruction are lurking.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Nicholas whispered, clutching the amulet in his hand.
Frist smiled. “I couldn’t save your father twenty years ago, but maybe through this gift I can save you from afar if need arises.”
Nicholas bowed his head with gratitude and stood up. “Thank you, Frist. I’ll remember you in my travels.”
“And my thanks to all of you,” the wizard replied as he fondly looked upon the trio. “It has been quite a memorable day.”
“It has,” Rustin said, gazing upon the old man with bittersweet emotion, wishing they had more time to talk and discuss the ways of the world.
“But now is the moment,” he added, gazing upon them one last time.
Frist then took a final breath and his body went still. And though his eyes remained open and their color yet sharp, the wizard’s face and hands seemed to pale slightly. The air inside the cave grew cold despite the hot embers glowing in the forge. Slowly, a faint white mist rose from Frist’s body like a warm spring rain evaporating beneath a rising sun. As the mist intensified, the wizard’s body gradually faded away until only his garments and boots remained upon the ground in a shapeless pile.
Nicholas, Leo
and Rustin looked at one another in disbelief, feeling as hollow and empty as the cave. Outside, a quickening breeze stirred through the bare tree branches and creaking pine boughs, creating a soft white flurry from the newly fallen snow that danced wildly upon the night air for a brief and wondrous moment. Then everything was quiet once again, solemnly awaiting the dawn.
CHAPTER 57
Unfinished Business
Nicholas, Leo and Rustin returned to the house with heavy hearts as the first light of morning touched the eastern sky. Rustin carried Frist’s boots and folded clothing with him to burn later in a private ceremony. In the meantime, he insisted that Nicholas and Leo help themselves to some of the food stores remaining in the pantry.
“It will come in handy on your journeys ahead,” he said. “And since Frist had cast a preservation spell upon all of his edibles, the food will last a long time before showing signs of spoilage. And, Nicholas, take the boat, too,” he added. “I have another. It will save you much time on your way to the sea.”
“What will you do now?” Leo asked.
“I’ll stay here for a few days as my heart is filled with sorrow,” he replied, sitting by the fire. “I’ll later distribute what food and goods remain to the nearby villages as Frist requested. When that is done, I don’t think I shall ever return to this island.”
“I can understand,” Nicholas said, sharing in his grief though he had only known Frist for a short time. “I hope one day you apprentice with another wizard, though I’m guessing you’re ready to go out in the world on your own and follow in Frist’s footsteps. I think he would be honored.”
“The honor will be mine,” he replied with a smile.
Nicholas Raven and the Wizards' Web (The Complete Epic Fantasy) Page 90