The Congruent Apprentice (The Congruent Mage Series Book 1)

by Dave Schroeder

  Eynon turned to watch Merry moisten a corner of the cloth covering the basket with water from the jug and use it to clean her hands. He smiled at Merry and she smiled back.

  “I’ll do it again tomorrow if you’re still sore.”

  “Thank you,” said Eynon. “I’d like that.”

  “I’ve got something else you’ll like,” said Merry. “Put your shirt on and sit next to me. I’ll feed you an Applegarth eating apple.”

  Eynon lowered the blue and silver amulet around his neck and pulled his shirt over his head. Merry patted a spot on the blanket and Eynon sat, their knees almost touching.

  “We’ll only eat one now,” Merry decided. “We can save the other for a mid-morning snack tomorrow.”

  “I defer to your expertise in all things related to apples,” said Eynon.

  “As well you should,” said Merry.

  She expertly cut one of the apples with her belt knife and fed slices directly into Eynon’s open mouth. After the first few slices, Eynon smiled and sighed.

  “I’m sorry I teased you about apples from other kingdoms earlier. These must be the best apples on either side of the Ocean.”

  “So good of you to acknowledge the truth,” she said. Then she kissed him.

  Her kiss was every bit as sweet as the apple. Eynon kissed her back. It wasn’t his first kiss, but it was the best he’d had in his limited experience.

  They kept kissing until the orange glow above the mountains to the west began to fade.

  “Time to go in the tent?” asked Merry.

  “It is getting late,” said Eynon.

  The two of them stood reluctantly. They held hands to continue their new connection.

  “I’ll hoist the food out of harm’s way if you’ve got a rope,” said Eynon. He didn’t know if there were any bears on this side of the river, but he expected there were plenty of raccoons and other clever nocturnal hunters.

  “There’s a rope and canvas sling over a branch on a tree near the big boulder,” said Merry. “If you take care of the food, I’ll clean up here.”

  Now that Eynon was standing and not distracted, he realized he was shifting from foot to foot again.

  “Ummm…” he said, uncomfortably.

  “Follow the path up to the right behind the boulder. There’s a pit, a log across it, a pile of smooth stones, and a wooden shovel. I’ve got soap for when you come back. You can wash in the river.”

  Eynon nodded his thanks. He gathered up the leftover food in the basket, then stopped to hand two honey cakes to Merry.

  “In case we get hungry later,” said Eynon.

  “You’re so sweet,” said Merry. “Now get moving—and be quick about it.”

  * * * * *

  “Eynon?”

  “Mmm-hmm?”

  “Thank you for being gentle.”

  “Uh… thank you for being patient. I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

  “No more than I expected.”

  “I didn’t intend to hurt you at all.”

  “I know,” said Merry. “You’re nothing, if not considerate.”

  “And polite. Don’t forget polite.”

  “I won’t,” said Merry. She kissed him softly.

  It wasn’t completely dark inside the spacious tent. The moon was approaching half full and the clear night sky was ablaze with stars. The blue magestones in Eynon’s amulet and Merry’s pendant combined to cast a dim sapphire glow where they rested on the far end of the ground cloth.

  “You’re not going to start acting strange in the morning, are you?” asked Merry.

  “What do you mean?” asked Eynon, shifting up on one elbow.

  “Some of the boys in the Rhuthro valley follow around the first girl they’ve slept with like puppies,” said Merry. “Others brag about being a girl’s lover.”

  “Woof!” said Eynon.

  “Stop that!” said Merry. “I’m serious.”

  Eynon took Merry’s hand and put it over his heart.

  “I promise you that I will not be a puppy or a boor.”

  “Good,” said Merry. “I wouldn’t be here with you if I thought you would be.”

  Eynon shifted Merry’s hand from his heart to his lips, where he could kiss her fingertips.

  “I do have one condition,” he said.

  “You’re adding conditions?”

  “Just one,” said Eynon. “I want you to teach me how to do the warding spell with the baying hounds and crossbows.”

  Merry laughed, and Eynon laughed with her.

  “I promise,” she said. “But learning a spell takes hours of study and repetition.”

  “You’ll find me a diligent pupil,” said Eynon.

  Merry snuggled her body against him.

  “I know something else that’s best learned through hours of study and repetition.”

  “And what might that be, dear lady?”

  “I think you know.”

  Fercha

  Fercha was making good time heading toward Applegarth, drawing on her magic instead of stopping to eat or drink or rest. Every hour, she would pause and use the power of the training magestone in her pendant to scan ahead and attempt to locate her lost, fully-tuned true artifact. Until now, it had been beyond that small stone’s limited reach. This time, however, she felt it.

  Her artifact wasn’t in Applegarth. It was moving north. She didn’t want to consider the possibility that Verro may have found it ahead of her, though she was comforted by the thought that if he had, her amulet would be in Tamloch now instead of still in the Rhuthro valley.

  She changed course to head east and spent even more of her reserves of magic to increase her pace, pulled toward her artifact across the miles.

  It must be on a boat on the Rhuthro—and only a mountain stood between her and the river.

  Chapter 9

  “Nobles serve themselves and their subjects, in that order.”

  — Ealdamon’s Epigrams

  Eynon and Merry didn’t get an early start the next morning. They hadn’t been in a hurry to take down the tent, but when they did, Merry made Eynon laugh and blush with a joke about tent poles. Eynon left to retrieve their food from its high perch and give his face time to return to normal. Merry sped him on his way by repeating her instruction from the previous night—and be quick about it.

  He was pleased that breakfast wasn’t awkward. They sat together on a blanket and shared the chicken they hadn’t eaten for dinner and slices of dark, seeded bread slathered with butter. Merry made Eynon blush again by sensuously licking chicken grease from her fingers. Eynon made Merry giggle by running his tongue around his lips to remove a dot of butter. Merry couldn’t complain about Eynon acting like a puppy when she was doing the same.

  As a treat, they each had a honey cake, or rather they playfully fed each other pieces of honey cake until only crumbs remained around their mouths. It seemed only right for those to be removed with lips and tongues.

  Between kisses, Eynon considered that the honey cakes had been good, though not nearly as tasty as his aunt’s. That meant his idea for a two-way trade of marshapples and honey could still be viable. Then thoughts of anything except Merry left his brain.

  “If we keep this going,” said Eynon when he paused for breath, “we’ll have to set the tent back up.”

  “Why?” asked Merry.

  Why indeed? considered Eynon.

  Sometime later, Merry returned to other aspects of Eynon’s education. Step by step, she taught Eynon how to remove the minor wards on the boat. He watched her do it, then practiced resetting and removing them himself.

  “You’re good,” she said. “You have a natural aptitude.”

  “For wizardry?” asked Eynon.

 
“And other things,” Merry replied with a twinkle in her eye.

  They both laughed.

  “Come on,” said Merry. “Let’s get everything stowed and go.”

  The dew had burned off by the time their gear was in place and they were heading back downriver. Merry had turned her seat around and was leaning against it instead of sitting down. Eynon was pleased that his back wasn’t nearly as sore as it had been. That was a welcome change.

  He noticed that the river was changing, too. Several tributaries had joined the main flow of the Rhuthro and now it was wider, deeper, and slower. There was time for Eynon to look over his shoulder and smile at Merry frequently, without any worry about rocks. Merry smiled back whenever he did, and she didn’t give any indication that she objected to his attention.

  “Is there anything else you can teach me?” Eynon asked the next time he turned around.

  “What do you mean?” teased Merry. “I’m as new at this as you are.”

  “No,” said Eynon, “is there anything else you can teach me about wizardry?”

  “Oh,” said Merry. She paused for a moment, then spoke. “I know how to move boats upstream against the current.”

  “You do?” asked Eynon eagerly. “How?”

  “Oars,” said Merry.

  Eynon’s face fell.

  “I couldn’t resist,” said Merry.

  She blew him a kiss. He frowned back, then smiled and turned around to watch the river.

  “Eynon,” said Merry. “I do know one more spell. Doethan said it was very similar to the warding spell.”

  “What does it do?” asked Eynon, looking over his shoulder.

  “It’s a listening spell,” said Merry. “The warding spell creates sounds that aren’t there and the listening spell calls in sounds that are there.”

  “How does it work?”

  “Give me a second or two to cast it and I’ll show you,” said Merry. “You’re far enough away for a demonstration.”

  Eynon watched Merry move her lips and gesture with one hand. The motion completed with her index finger touching her ear.

  “The spell is working,” said Merry. “Turn around and whisper something. There’s enough noise from the river to disguise what you say.”

  “I can do that,” said Eynon. He faced downriver and did as instructed.

  “Thank you,” said Merry. “You’re beautiful, I mean handsome, too. Now say something I couldn’t guess.”

  Eynon whispered again.

  “Your mother’s name is Glenys. Your father is Daffyd, and your sister is Braith,” said Merry. “Was that right?”

  “Three for three,” said Eynon, loud enough for his voice to carry. Then he went back to whispering.

  “Yes,” said Merry. “I’d be glad to teach you how to cast the listening spell. It’s very useful.”

  “For listening to your parents trying to plan out your life?” asked Eynon in his normal voice.

  “And for finding out what friends and suitors really think of you,” said Merry.

  “I think you know in my case,” said Eynon.

  “I might,” said Merry. “Are you a friend, or a suitor?”

  “A friend for now,” said Eynon, “but I might consider the other when I return from my wander year. I have to stop at Applegarth to see if your father will let me read The Venerable History of Dâron, after all.”

  “But when you return, I’ll still be on my wander year,” said Merry.

  “It might take me a while to read through your father’s library,” teased Eynon. “And I’ve still got to return a certain something to the wizard it belongs to.”

  “Who knows where your path will take you,” said Merry. “Let’s enjoy the present. I’m glad to be your guide until we find a wizard to advise you in Tyford. That’s at least three more days—two more on the river, plus one in the city.”

  “Uh huh,” said Eynon. He was already thinking about the pain of saying goodbye.

  They were both silent for what must have been a mile. Eynon noticed there were more settlements along the banks of the Rhuthro now. The east bank was still marshy, but beyond the waving reeds and willows he spotted tilled fields and sturdy farm houses. There were plenty of farms on the west bank as well. Stone manors, wooden barns and scattered outbuildings were set back from the river. Each settlement had its own dock or docks with boats from coracles to canoes and cargo vessels moored beside them.

  “When’s our next stop?” asked Eynon. “Are there any more tolls today?” He was thinking that chains long enough to block traffic on the river when it was this wide would be very expensive.

  “Our next stop is at Rhuthro Keep,” said Merry. “That’s the castle for the earl of the Rhuthro valley, my family’s liege lord.”

  “Is an earl more important than a baron?”

  “Not as most barons see it,” said Merry, “but yes. Earls usually control more territory and sit higher in the Great Hall. They have more knights and soldiers, too.”

  “The baron in Caercadel only has a dozen knights,” said Eynon. “They work with the men at arms that train the levies, drink, and hunt deer.”

  “Our earl has more than a hundred knights. They do what yours do and serve as cavalry when the king summons the army.”

  “I can’t remember Caercadel’s baron and knights ever serving.”

  “That’s because the last time Dâron was at war was before we were born,” said Merry.

  “Oh,” said Eynon. “Who were we fighting?”

  “We were fighting who we always fight,” said Merry, “at least according to my father and The Venerable History. The Kingdom of Tamloch.”

  Eynon was amused by the way she pronounced the last sound in Tamloch, like she was clearing her throat.

  “Do you mean the evil green folk all the stories warn us about?” he asked.

  “They’re not green—they wear green,” said Merry. “And they’re probably not evil, either. They’re a lot like us, I expect. The Venerable History says three tribes set sail for the west when the Eagle People took their lands on the White Isle and the Green. Our Cymri ancestors settled here, in the south of Orluin, and founded the Kingdom of Dâron. The Ériu folk from the Green Isle went north and established the Kingdom of Tamloch. And the blue-painted clan folk from the uplands of the White Isle sought out lands like the ones they’d left. They settled in the mountainous Clan Lands to the northeast and southwest of Dâron. For tens of centuries, the Abbenoth, a great river running north to south, was the border between Tamloch and Dâron, while the clan folk mostly kept to themselves. Then the Eagle People landed in Orluin and took both sides of the Abbenoth as a province in their empire.”

  Eynon clapped in admiration. “Did you memorize that?” he asked.

  “Not word for word, but it’s pretty close,” Merry answered.

  “I can’t wait to read the book,” said Eynon. “Once I return the amulet I’m coming right back to Applegarth and reading every book in your father’s library.”

  “Some of the books belong to my mother, too,” teased Merry.

  “Every book in your parents’ library, then.”

  “If you find the right wizard quickly, maybe you can ride back with me and help me with the oars.”

  “I’d like that,” said Eynon.

  “So would I,” said Merry. “And maybe you could visit me at Doethan’s tower—that’s where I’m headed on my wander year.”

  “Does Doethan have a library?”

  “That’s right,” said Merry. “You didn’t see it. Doethan must have a hundred books one floor up from where we had lunch.”

  “All of a sudden, I’m less interested in going back to Applegarth.”

  “You don’t want more adventures?”

  “Lea
rning wizardry—and other subjects—will be enough of an adventure for me.”

  “Good to know,” said Merry. “Oh, I just remembered. Doethan said that the Eagle People arriving was probably one of the best things that happened to Dâron and Tamloch.”

  “An invasion from across the Ocean was good?”

  “Doethan says the Eagle People provided a common enemy. Now that they provide a buffer, Dâron and Tamloch go to war every twenty or twenty-five years, not every five,” said Merry.

  “They’re too afraid the Eagle People will attack them both, after they’re worn down?” asked Eynon.

  “That’s what Doethan said.”

  “Why didn’t Dâron and Tamloch attack the Eagle People at the same time and push them back into the sea?”

  “I asked the same question,” said Merry.

  Eynon could hear the smile in her voice.

  “What did he say?”

  “That getting Dâron and Tamloch to work together was a lot like getting a wolf to make friends with a mountain lion,” said Merry.

  “Maybe if you raised them together from the time they were pup and kit,” mused Eynon.

  “Listen,” said Merry. “There’s more. Doethan also said the Eagle People defeated us every time we tried.”

  Eynon laughed. “That’s a different story,” he said. “Wouldn’t the armies of the combined kingdoms outnumber the Eagle People’s forces?”

  “You’d think so,” said Merry, “but Doethan said the Eagle People’s soldiers had far superior discipline and their martial wizards were better than ours. Doethan thought it was more the former than the latter, but they still beat us and our allies from Tamloch.”

  “I wonder if Doethan was ever a martial wizard?”

  “I thought the same thing,” said Merry. “You were right. He is more powerful than a hedge wizard.”