Wandmaker's Apprentice

by Ed Masessa

  They exited into a dimly lit hallway and tiptoed past three more doors, each one secured with heavy padlocks. The hall ended and branched at a 90-degree angle to the left. Henry stopped and turned to look back down the hall. “Something’s not right. Why wasn’t our door locked like the others?”

  “Maybe Malachai didn’t think we could escape,” Katelyn said. But something in her voice told Henry she wasn’t convinced.

  “Or maybe he’s leading us into another trap,” Brianna said warily.

  Henry extended his senses and focused on the nearest door. Something flickered in his vision. He walked up to the door and grabbed the padlock, but his hand passed right through it.

  “An illusion?” Katelyn asked.

  “Which means he’s not trying to keep something in. He’s trying to keep someone out,” Henry reasoned. “What’s he hiding?” He turned the doorknob.

  “Not a good idea,” Brianna warned.

  “Maybe not,” said Katelyn. “But I’m with Henry. We need to know what’s going on here.”

  Henry cautiously opened the door and immediately closed it as a foul stench poured outward like a wave. “Auggh!” He covered his nose quickly as the girls gagged.

  “Smells like sewage.” Katelyn spat on the floor as if that would remove the smell.

  Not sewage, Henry thought. He opened the drawers in his mind. He recalled all the lessons with Coralis when he had to compartmentalize scents. There was something familiar about the stench, but it was too potent to identify. He recalled how Coralis had taught him to break a mixture of scents into separate components. He opened the door by a sliver for another sniff and he nailed it. “Bird droppings,” he said confidently.

  “That is coming from bird poo?” Brianna still covered her nose. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Well, usually bird droppings don’t have an odor, but they do if the birds are sick and … ” Henry stopped when he noticed the stop-right-there-nerd-boy look on their faces. He shrugged, pinched his nose, held his breath, and went inside. It was like a battle scene from a war movie. He lasted only half a minute before his eyes began to burn, but that was all he needed. He closed the door firmly behind him and sucked in a lungful of clean air.

  “What is it?” Brianna asked.

  “From the description Bryndis gave us, I’d say they are Valravens. Hundreds of them—and half of them dead.” Henry shuddered. “I think they’ve been abandoned in there for a long time. They’re feeding off one another.”

  “That’s just sick.” Katelyn wrinkled her nose in disgust.

  “And twisted,” Brianna added. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Henry had no desire to see what was behind the other doors and led them quickly down hall after hall. It was like a maze, except there were no choices—just one long path that had them turning one corner after another. Until they ended up right where they’d started.

  Henry bit his lower lip, mad at himself for not paying better attention to his surroundings. It should have been obvious, but he hadn’t stopped to think. There were several turns where he’d totally ignored something that had tugged at his senses. “More illusions,” he grumbled. “Follow me.”

  Four turns later he “felt” the hidden hallway. Learn from your mistakes, Coralis’s voice said from his subconscious. Henry cautiously passed a hand through the illusory wall and hissed in pain, immediately retracting it. In that brief second his fingertips had turned blue and burned as if they had been encased in ice. He rubbed them vigorously and continued to the next hidden intersection. “Anyone else care to try?” he asked hopefully.

  But they didn’t have to, as the rat strolled through the illusion, casually carrying a piece of cheese. Startled to see the humans, it chattered angrily and fled back through the false wall.

  Katelyn’s stomach grumbled. “Sorry, but that cheese looked good.”

  As they passed through the illusion, Brianna said, “Did you feel that?”

  “Aye, like spiderwebs,” Katelyn answered, wiping her face at something that wasn’t there.

  “Wait.” Henry raised a hand to stop them. “Illusions have no physical properties.”

  “You sound like you’re quoting a line from a textbook,” Brianna chided.

  “That’s because I did.” Henry ignored her as he attempted to decipher the purpose behind the illusion. He visualized the page of text from memory. There! A handwritten note in the margin. “Oh crap!” He quickly scanned the hall ahead of them. “C’mon, let’s get out of here!”

  “What’s happening?” Katelyn asked as they broke into a jog.

  “Trip wires,” Henry answered. “The illusion was laced with a spell that acts as a trip wire. Which means Malachai will know we’ve escaped.”

  “But the rat … ,” Brianna started.

  “Was too small,” Henry finished. Then he stopped jogging so suddenly the girls ran right into him. “Shhh!” he whispered as they began to argue. He ran his hand against a wall until it brushed against an invisible knob. As he grabbed it, a door materialized. “Brianna, can you send your mouse inside?”

  She examined the frame. “No, this one’s airtight.” Henry began to turn the knob. “Are you sure we have time for this?”

  A loud sound screeched in his mind. It startled him until he realized it wasn’t a warning. It was a cry for help. “Something in there needs us.” He twisted the knob and walked inside.

  Bryndis picked up a rock and threw it at a nearby tree with enough force that it broke off a chunk of bark. “We can’t just sit here doing nothing.”

  The eagles had deposited them on a hilltop overlooking the area where the dome should have been. The spell was so powerful that whatever was hidden beneath it looked like nothing but an expanse of forest.

  Night had fallen. A spectacular sunset was lost on them—each trapped in their thoughts about what to do next. Molly understood Bryndis’s frustration but knew better than the apprentices what they were up against. A chill in the air reminded her of their first priority—survival. She asked Serena and Luis to gather wood for a fire.

  Serena expected him to make some kind of flirty remark or facial expression. Instead, he simply followed instructions and walked into the woods. She smiled. So he does it to irritate Henry after all. She caught a glimpse of Bryndis giving her the stink-eye as if to say hands off. Serena held her hands up in mock surrender and walked the opposite way as her smile broadened.

  Alone with Bryndis, Molly asked, “How did you do that … call the eagles?”

  Bryndis frowned. “It’s just something I can do.”

  “Just with eagles?” Molly prodded. Bryndis answered with a scowl. Molly was still pondering how to get the girl to open up when she finally spoke.

  “My father called me … a mimic.” She spat the word like a curse. “I was very young when I first tried it. Our village was starving but the seals could not be caught. I listened to their sounds and imitated them. The seals came to me and the village was fed.” A pained look crossed her face. “But my father forbade me from doing it again. He made me promise. If others found out they would brand me a … witch.” She wrinkled her nose. “I am not a witch. I am guided by the spirits of many animals. Later, I broke my promise, but secretly. I called my animals and they answered me.”

  “Like Brianna does?” Molly asked.

  “Perhaps.” A sly grin tugged at her lips. “But mine takes talent.”

  Molly stood and walked to the edge of the hill. She clenched her fists as she watched the colors of the sky turning from crimson to deep purple. There had to be some way into the dome. Something they were missing.

  Suddenly a hawk materialized out of thin air. One second there was nothing, and the next there was a hawk. She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her when a second one appeared trailing the first.

  Bryndis joined her and together they watched as the birds soared overhead. The girls looked at each other and grinned.

  A plan was born.

  The night
passed uneventfully. Surprisingly, they all managed to sleep. Molly had set a watch schedule to guard the camp, but the closest any of them got to excitement was when Serena saw a large brown bear. They had no food at their campsite and the bear was merely curious when it wandered in a little too close for comfort. Serena sent a brief blast of wind that zapped it in the nose and it lumbered off.

  Just before dawn, Molly woke them with news of their plan.

  “You want us to what?” Luis tried to wrap his mind around what Bryndis and Molly had proposed.

  “Stop being a wimp,” Bryndis scolded, but her tone was playful.

  “Your plan calls for the taking of a life. That’s nothing to scoff at,” Serena insisted. “And it’s going to be pretty messy.”

  “You want us to cover ourselves in animal blood?” Luis blanched. “It’s disgusting!”

  “It’s necessary,” said Molly. “The dome only prevents humans from passing through.” She explained what she and Bryndis had seen. “The spell must be set to recognize a specific DNA.”

  “He can do that?” Serena’s eyes widened.

  “I’ve not heard of it done before, but I told you this is not your run-of-the-mill Wand Master,” said Molly. “He is in full command of everything nature has to offer. I only hope I’m right.” Luis groaned, but she continued. “Look, not only does it make sense, but it’s the only choice we have. And in the end, we’ll never get anywhere without taking a few chances.”

  “So we’re just going to kill some defenseless animals?” Luis argued.

  Molly smiled. “No … we’re not.” She nodded to Bryndis.

  The Greenlander walked to the edge of the campsite with her back to the others. A low rumble gathered shape in her throat. Seconds later she howled to the wolves with perfection. She spoke to them with a series of barks, yips, and howls that only they could understand. She repeated the pattern a second time and rejoined the others. “Now we wait.”

  “Okay … I’ve heard people imitate wolves before, but that was impressive.” Serena leaned across to high-five Bryndis.

  Luis’s stomach rumbled loudly. “Do you think we might be able to roast some of the—”

  “No!” the others yelled in unison.

  “Jeez! Isn’t anyone else hungry?”

  Bryndis rammed her wand into the ground with force and large earthworms slithered out. “Roast those,” she said with a cagey smirk.

  To her surprise, he eagerly twisted two of the squirmers around a stick and placed it over the flame. “Too bad we don’t have any hot sauce,” he said, relishing the moment of catching Bryndis off guard for once.

  “I hear something.” Serena crouched behind the fire and gripped her wand.

  A pair of wolves appeared where Bryndis had stood earlier, dragging a fresh deer carcass into the open. Another pair appeared with a second carcass. Bryndis growled a thank-you at them and they slunk back into the forest.

  Luis tossed the roasting worms aside. “I suddenly lost my appetite.”

  “Okay, kids, let’s hustle,” Molly urged. “We have about an hour before the blood dries and I want to be inside the dome before it does.”

  Molly theorized that the spell wouldn’t be able to detect the human DNA beneath the deer’s blood. Before “going crazy” (as Luis put it) with the blood smearing, they had experimented with their coats to see just how much they would need to cover. By treating the coats more like blankets, they could wrap them around their bodies and over their heads. Then if they squatted slightly as they walked, only their shoes to their shins were exposed.

  They made quick work of covering coats and legs with the deer’s lifeblood. Once they had finished, they joined hands to ask forgiveness and to offer thanks for the deer’s lives.

  Bryndis summoned the wolves, which returned quickly to retrieve their bounty. The apprentices followed Molly as best they could through the difficult terrain. The shortest route took them through sections of scree, which made for treacherous footing. They averted one final crisis when they located a log that spanned a small creek and were able to teeter across without getting wet and rinsing the blood off.

  The dome was unusual in that it was an invisible wall that projected a mirrorlike 3-D image of its surroundings. As they got close, their senses buzzed like the tail of a rattlesnake. “It’s probably best if we all don’t go through at the same time or place,” Molly said. “I’ll go first. Then Serena, Bryndis, and Luis, in that order. At least a minute between each of you.” The apprentices spread out until they stood about thirty meters apart. She tried to bolster their confidence with a warm smile, but she knew she was only kidding herself. If this didn’t work …

  Molly pursed her lips, took a deep breath, cinched the coat around her as tight as she could, and stepped through the spell.

  Molly didn’t know what to expect, but nonetheless she was caught totally by surprise when the ground dropped away from her on a steep slope. She immediately fell forward into a headlong roll and tumbled out of control. The coat she had wrapped around her body protected her until she lost her grip. As it fell away, she tried desperately to cover her head and face as her arms and hands took a beating.

  She flipped forward and for one brief second looked up to see a massive rock wall. She screamed with effort as she torqued her body so that she slid feetfirst down the hill. Seconds later, her legs slammed into the wall, sending a jolt of pain from her lower back to her neck and causing her teeth to clamp down hard on her tongue.

  The taste of blood in her mouth helped her retain consciousness. Molly’s eyes fluttered open. A chipmunk sat nearby. It leaned its head from side to side as if to say you clumsy oaf, then scampered through a tiny hole at the base of the wall.

  She slowly stretched out muscles and ligaments, testing for breaks, bruises, and sprains. “Ouch!” Her legs buckled as she attempted to stand. She fell awkwardly and dragged herself to the wall. As soon as she removed her boot, she saw her ankle had swollen to twice its normal size. This is bad.

  But one glance back up the steep hill had her counting her blessings that she wasn’t more seriously injured. The forest grew thick here, partially obscuring a gravel road that ran down the hill to end abruptly at the rock wall. Above, the road did not extend past where Molly knew the dome to be, but she could see the trees beyond and the dull gray sky as well. This was a very complex spell, and she wondered what mineral deposits were beneath them that could help perpetuate it.

  Watch out for booby traps. It was one of Henry’s favorite sayings during training exercises. She had to hand it to Malachai. Placing the edge of the spell at the top of a steep hill was a clever idea. It added one more layer to his security.

  “Serena!” she whispered. She looked in the direction she had last seen the girl, but the forest was blocking her view beyond the first few meters.

  She gingerly placed a hand against the stone wall. From the dense patches of greenish-brown moss that covered the lower half, and the weather-beaten facade of the gray stone blocks, she estimated it was probably built in medieval times—which meant that what lay behind it could be a fortress.

  She was going to have to take a chance. “Serena!” she yelled as loud as she dared. She thought she heard a response, but it was muffled.

  “Serena!” she called again.

  “Coming!” Serena emerged from the forest and carefully slid down the steep path. “What happened?”

  “I’m in a wee bit of a pickle.” Molly pointed to her ankle, then noticed a tear in Serena’s pants that exposed a bloody welt on her calf. “Are you okay?”

  “Considering what could have happened, I’m in pretty good shape,” Serena said. “Some kind of wicked vine wrapped around my leg and tried pulling me up into the trees, but I managed to burn through it. Some rescue party we are. I heard Bryndis and Luis yell as they came through. I’m pretty sure they got snagged.”

  Molly examined the wound. “You were lucky. If he meant business, the vines would have had thorns laced with
poison. The trap was probably set to capture animals for food.” She quickly gave Serena instructions for reversing the vine spell. “I’m sorry, but it looks like you’ll have to go on without me.”

  Serena’s eyes widened. “Maybe we can splint it and carry—”

  “It’s okay,” Molly insisted. “You can do this. Use your instincts. They won’t betray you. Just be careful. With some luck, I’ll be able to weave a few spells to get the swelling down and join you soon.

  “We’re all counting on you, Serena.”

  Serena eventually found Bryndis dangling upside down. She was struggling against a vine that had a tight grip on her ankles. Serena traced the vine to its source and murmured as she touched her wand to it. The vine slowly lowered Bryndis to the ground.

  “This is embarrassing.” Bryndis landed with a soft bump and angrily tore through her vine, uttering a series of Greenlandic curses. “How did you know what to do?”

  Serena gave her the bad news about Molly.

  “So we’re down to three.” Bryndis pursed her lips, then nodded. “Challenge accepted. Let’s go find Luis.”

  Luis hung motionless by one foot—his concentration so intense that the sound of Serena’s voice startled him. “Quick! Let me down. I can see something … odd. Over there.” He pointed in the direction of the dome. As soon as he hit the ground, he charged through the undergrowth and led them to a rounded, oblong boulder about the size of an adult box-turtle shell. “Wait, where’s Molly?”

  “Injured,” Bryndis answered. “She won’t be coming.” Luis started to protest, but she cut him off. “It’s done. We keep going. Now what’s so odd about a rock in the woods?”

  He walked several paces and found another. Then another. They appeared to be laid down in a pattern.

  Serena had an eerie feeling. “What did the rocks look like from up there?”

  “From what I could tell, they go on forever. And to me, they looked like a giant snake.”