The Congruent Apprentice (The Congruent Mage Series Book 1)

by Dave Schroeder

  “Can you let the clean water flow out into two more lenses?”

  “I think I can,” said Eynon. “How will that help?”

  “Just do it,” said Nûd. “I’ll show you.”

  Eynon concentrated and formed the requested pattern of solidified sound. Chee filled the first lens with water, keeping up a happy chee chee chee in the background. Once the two lower lenses began to fill with water, Nûd made another request.

  “Can you heat up the lower lenses now? Make them hot, but not boiling.”

  “I’ll try,” said Eynon. He concentrated and succeeded.

  Nûd pushed a dark brown bar of lye soap into the left-hand lens against the pressure of its solidified sound walls until it popped inside. Eynon smiled when he realized Nûd’s plan.

  “How clever. Hot soapy water to wash. Clean hot water to rinse.”

  “Exactly,” said Nûd. The big man was pleased his suggestion had worked and started in on washing and rinsing dishes.

  “I hope it doesn’t take you too long to find your magestone,” Nûd remarked as he worked. “I expect this will be a much better way to wash dishes than heating up our foul-tasting water in a pot over the fire.”

  “Since I don’t know what I’m looking for, I have no idea how long it will take,” said Eynon.

  “I’m sure it won’t take you long,” said Nûd. “I was told that She found her magestone and returned in time for lunch on her first day of searching.”

  “She?”

  “One of the Master’s many former apprentices,” said Nûd. “Forget I mentioned her.”

  “Of course,” said Eynon. He filed Nûd’s comment away as a topic to research when he was finally able to read through the Master’s library.

  “How long did it take Damon to find his magestone?”

  “He never told me,” replied Nûd. “That was before I came to work here. I’d ask the Master, but he’d never tell me either, I’m sure.”

  “Do you ever see the Master?”

  “Every day,” Nûd replied. “Somebody has to make his bed and do his laundry. Come to think of it…”

  The big man shook water off a pewter plate and stood it in a rack to dry. Eynon knew what he was about to suggest.

  “We can experiment with using solidified sound and heat magic to clean clothes some other day,” said Eynon. “Do you have anything to give to Chee as a reward for pumping water?”

  “How about a dried cherry dipped in a boiled honey syrup and rolled in crushed walnuts?” asked Nûd.

  “I think that would be more than satisfactory,” said Eynon. “And I wouldn’t turn one of them down, either.”

  Nûd went a pantry, out of sight of Eynon and Chee, and returned with two small candies wrapped in birch leaves. Chee jumped on a table and begged Nûd for one of the treats. To Eynon’s surprise—and frustration—Nûd gave both to the raconette.

  Chee took one in each hand, then returned to Eynon and offered him a confection.

  “Thank you, Chee,” said Eynon, accepting with a small bow. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

  The raconette bowed in return and popped the treat he’d kept into one side of his mouth, making him look like a squirrel with a full cheek pouch.

  “Delicious,” said Eynon after he licked traces of honey from his lips.

  “Don’t tell Damon, but my mother made them,” said Nûd.

  “Your mother has talent.”

  Eynon took a deep breath, then yawned.

  “Among other qualities,” said Nûd. “You should probably get to bed. Damon wasn’t joking about the distance to the best places to find magestones. Tomorrow will likely be a very long day for you. Meet me here an hour before sunrise and I’ll find you a heavy coat and a pair of snowshoes.”

  “Thank you,” said Eynon.

  He motioned to Chee and the raconette climbed up his arm and perched on his shoulder.

  “I’ll make breakfast, too,” Nûd added.

  “No, don’t worry about it. I’m glad to cook,” said Eynon. He was remembering the inedible breakfast Nûd had made and was far from interested in repeating that dubious pleasure.

  “I’ll just start the fire in the morning then,” said Nûd. “I found a big sack of not-very-old wheat flour hidden behind a barrel in the dry pantry, by the way.”

  “Wonderful,” said Eynon. If Eynon was reading the huge young man’s expression correctly, Nûd was happy with the prospect of eating Eynon’s cooking rather than his own.

  “Bring me some of the wheat flour, plus honey, salt, butter, eggs and water right now,” said Eynon. “I’ll make up some sweet dough to proof overnight. Then I’ll go to bed. I’ll sleep better with the prospect of fresh hot rolls in the morning.”

  * * * * *

  Eynon’s small cell was cold when he stepped inside. It was a stone rectangle, not much wider than his outstretched arms, with a narrow window at one end and a door at the other. Enough late-afternoon sunlight was coming in the window to see everything clearly. There was a bed on the left and a study table on the right—the room was cramped, but cozy. The remaining furnishings included a chest for his clothes at the foot of the bed and a chair with a padded cushion tucked under the table. His pack was next to the chest and his staff was leaning against the study table.

  Nûd had piled two quilts, three goosedown pillows and a thick wisent robe on his bed and stacked plenty of wood by the fireplace. Eynon inspected the split logs and selected enough pieces to last through the night. Even with the waning light coming through his window he felt tired enough to go to bed.

  Feeling in his pouch for his flint and steel, Eynon stopped and remembered he was now an apprentice learning wizardry. He focused his will—with help from the blue magestone—and had a fire burning in seconds.

  Nûd had laid out a nightshirt and cap for him, so Eynon changed and draped his clothing on top of the chest and over the back of the chair to air out. He positioned his boots close enough to the fireplace to dry, without risk of them catching fire. Eynon’s feet were freezing where they touched the cold slate floor, so he climbed into bed. It was a pleasure to position his body under the quilts and wisent robe. He thought about Merry while his toes warmed.

  Where was she? Was she safe? What caused the loud bang and the gust of wind back in the Blue Spiral Tower?

  He fingered the plain gold ring Doethan had given him. What was that word of invocation? Gallo-thee-en? No.

  “Gwal-o-e-a-den,” Eynon said in a clear voice. He hadn’t realized he’d said the word out loud and resolved to ask Damon, or Doethan, why some spells needed words and some just used thoughts.

  So non-wizards can trigger them, Eynon deduced, answering his own question.

  The ring slid off his finger and expanded in pulses to form a circle as wide as the distance from his shoulder to his fingertips. Three bells chimed different notes. Doethan’s head and shoulders appeared inside the circle. He was wearing a white and blue brocaded dressing gown and a dark-blue knitted nightcap. The hedge-wizard stifled a yawn.

  “Eynon! You made it,” said Doethan. “I hoped you would—and I’d recognize those cell walls anywhere.”

  “I’m learning wizardry,” said Eynon. “But Merry…”

  “Merry must be turning the Academy upside down and making the Master wish he had eight ears to hear all her questions and four mouths to answer them faster than she can come up with new ones.”

  “Not exactly,” said Eynon.

  “No matter,” said Doethan. “I’m glad you reached out. I have a message you must give to the Master. Can you do that?”

  “I’ll try,” said Eynon.

  “See that you’re successful,” said Doethan. “Tell him that he is urgently needed in Brendinas. The king is about to do something foolish with the
army and the wizards of Tamloch are planning a flying raid somewhere along our western border. We need his wise counsel and his magic.”

  The hedge wizard took a breath.

  “Can you do that, Eynon?” asked Doethan. “You must convince him. If you can’t, tell Merry. She’ll make him listen.”

  “But she’s…”

  “A handful?” rejoined Doethan. “Of course she is. Pass the message along as soon as you can, please. I can’t stay to talk. I’m expecting company.”

  The conversation, if you could call it that, abruptly ended. The ring shrank down to its original size with a pop and fell into Eynon’s lap. He returned it to his finger, wishing it was equally simple to contact Merry. He felt remarkably comfortable in bed and had very little interest in putting his feet on the cold floor and dressing before he could find Nûd or Damon.

  Eynon was spared the need to get out of bed by a knock on the door. It was high enough up that Eynon was sure it was Nûd.

  “How are you doing?” came the big man’s voice through the door. “I heard someone talking.”

  “That was me,” said Eynon. “Come in.”

  Nûd did, leaving the door open.

  “I heard from Doethan,” said Eynon. “The hedge wizard I’d mentioned at breakfast. He’s in Brendinas and has an important message for the Master.”

  “What is it?” said Nûd, looking closely at Eynon’s left hand where it rested on top of a quilt.

  Eynon passed along Doethan’s words.

  “Foolish child!” said Nûd when Eynon had finished.

  “What did I do?” asked Eynon.

  “Not you, Eynon, the king,” said Nûd. “Can’t they leave him alone?”

  Eynon recognized a rhetorical question and didn’t answer. He was glad Nûd wasn’t calling him a foolish child. All in all, he was feeling rather clever after what he’d accomplished. He yawned.

  “I heard that,” said Nûd. “I’ll pass the message on to the Master, but I make no guarantees about his answer.”

  “Thank you,” said Eynon. The first yawn was followed by another.

  “Get some sleep,” said Nûd in a kindly voice. “I’ll wake you in time to make breakfast.”

  Nûd started to say more, but Eynon’s eyes were already closed.

  Chapter 17

  “There’s no disputing about taste.”

  — Eagle People’s maxim

  The next day got off to a good start. Eynon woke up two hours before sunrise, feeling refreshed, not tired. Something about Melyncárreg was affecting his sleeping patterns, and not in a bad way.

  When he left his cell to go to the kitchen, he adjusted the spell he’d devised for generating heat to create light instead. A soft glowing ball above and behind his head helped him find his way downstairs to the kitchen. From his vantage point on Eynon’s shoulder, Chee blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light.

  Being up early has its advantages, thought Eynon. There’s more time to practice wizardry.

  Eynon stood by the main sink and recreated his clean-water generating system. He could tell that the large blue gem in the amulet under his shirt was doing a large part of the work, but Eynon didn’t mind. He thought of what he needed and the magestone formed the required magical constructs. Once he set up the series of basins, with the last one emptying into the main sink, the blue magestone kept the water flowing without Eynon’s ongoing attention.

  A spell that alternately heated and cooled water inside a cylinder functioned to operate the pump handle. He’d negate that construct if Chee ever wanted to do more pumping. For now, the raconette curled up to nap in a bowl on a table near the sink.

  Eynon carried several seasoned pine logs to the fireplace and used fire magic to set them burning. Then, out of habit, he put clean water in a kettle hanging above the fire to boil for tea in a more conventional fashion. Half an hour later, when the coals were ready, Eynon put a pot with clean water, cut oats and salt in a deep pan on a short iron rack to simmer. He found the remains of a rasher of bacon to fry, and located nuts and honey in one of the pantries to add to the oats.

  Nûd entered the kitchen and smiled when he saw Eynon hard at work instead of sleeping in his cell. Eynon was pleased the big man had found him shaping dough for rolls, not in his bed. The rolls were an extra bonus and would be something easy for Eynon to carry with him on his journey after they came out of the cast iron oven positioned above the coals.

  Nûd and Damon were quite pleased with their breakfast. The bacon disappeared without the aid of wizardry and Nûd enthusiastically scraped the last bits of sweetened oatmeal out of the pot.

  The rolls were cooling on the table near Chee, who was very polite about not stealing any. The raconette was enjoying his own breakfast of apples and one of yesterday’s oat-bread spirals topped with honey. Eynon wrapped six of the rolls in a linen napkin and put them in his pack. There were six left.

  “Those look good and smell better,” said Nûd, admiring the rolls. “May I have two to offer to the Master?”

  “Of course,” said Eynon.

  He reached for his pack, but Nûd stopped Eynon with a hand on his arm.

  “Keep yours,” said Nûd. “I’ll take them from the half dozen you left for us. You did leave them for us, didn’t you?”

  “I did,” said Eynon.

  “I’ll take two of Damon’s three for the Master,” said Nûd. “I’d give up one of mine, but I’m a growing boy.”

  “If you keep growing, you’ll have trouble fitting through doorways without ducking your head,” grumbled Damon.

  Eynon hid a smile.

  If the Master likes my rolls, maybe he’ll come down and share a meal with us, he thought.

  When they’d finished eating, Nûd and Damon examined Eynon’s magical constructs for making clean water. Nûd was impressed and clapped Eynon on the back. Eynon wasn’t used to contact like that from anyone taller than he was. He grinned at Nûd. It felt good to be appreciated.

  Damon didn’t say anything. He examined the constructs carefully, then stared at Eynon for a few seconds before narrowing his eyes and smiling.

  “You’re much farther along than you have any right to be, lad.”

  Nûd smiled and nodded his agreement.

  Through a flourish of his hand that resembled wizardry, Damon produced a roll of parchment from the dangling sleeve of his dressing robe and placed it on the table.

  “Here’s the map I drew last night. Help me unroll it.”

  Eynon held one end while Damon unrolled the parchment and anchored the other with his forearm. The old man used his free index finger to trace Eynon’s route.

  “The hot springs are twelve miles due west of here,” said Damon. “Keep the sun at your back on the way there and in your eyes when you return.”

  Eynon knew quite well how to tell east from west, but didn’t say anything. Damon continued.

  “You’ll see towers of white steam from the hot springs when you’re halfway there, which should make them easy to find.”

  “Very good,” said Eynon.

  “This route should take you on paths where the snow isn’t too deep—only a couple of feet,” said Damon.

  “How deep is the deep snow?”

  “Taller than I am,” said Nûd. “In some places, a lot taller.”

  “I’ll stay on the path,” said Eynon.

  “That would be wise,” said the old man. “You want to be at the hot springs before noon. That way, you’ll be able to search and will still have time to make it back before nightfall.”

  “I’ll do my best to get there quickly,” said Eynon. “Once I reach the hot springs, how do I find my magestone?”

  “The cuddio tân melt the snow, so it’s easier to find magestones where the ground is warm. Search ne
ar the hot springs but not too near,” said Damon. “If you get too close to them you might fall in and be boiled like beef in a stew pot.”

  “I’ll be careful,” said Eynon.

  “Don’t trust the ground around the hot springs, either,” added Nûd. “Sometimes it’s very thin and covers sinkholes.”

  “I see,” said Eynon, feeling decidedly less confident than he had a few minutes before.

  “Treat them like a dragon with a toothache, lad, and you can’t go wrong,” said Damon.

  Eynon had never encountered a dragon in any context and resolved to be very careful around the hot springs, even though he wasn’t sure what a hot spring was. He’d been to Wherrel to see the largest spring in the Coombe several times. It was the size of a mill pond, but was cool, not hot. The spring’s water was refreshing and Eynon loved the way it bubbled on his tongue.

  “If I find magestones, how will I know which one is mine?” Eynon asked.

  “You’ll know yours when you see it,” said Damon.

  “That’s helpful,” said Eynon, thinking it was anything but. “Any other advice?”

  “Keep your wits about you, and your crossbow ready.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Nûd, get him a pair of snowshoes and something warm to wear.”

  “Get them yourself, old man,” said Nûd cheerfully.

  Nûd grinned at Eynon while Damon glared at him.

  “No, wait. I’ll get what he needs,” Nûd continued. “You tell Eynon what to do if he runs into any of the larger local fauna.”