The Guardian's Apprentice (Beyond the Veil)

by J. Michael Radcliffe

  “I told you before that we need to get moving; the Council will not wait forever. As a mere apprentice it would be considered an intolerable insult for you to keep them waiting,” said the older man as he stepped through the archway himself. With a sharp crack, the opening in the hedge spiraled shut.

  “Now what?” asked Keegan, falling into step behind Acamar.

  “Now we catch your ride to the castle where the High Council meets,” said the older man as he made his way down the path.

  “Wait, let me guess – a really big broomstick, right?” asked Keegan, snidely.

  Acamar stopped in his tracks, his back going rigid as he whirled around to face the young man. “Now let’s get this straight youngling,” he said icily, his finger not an inch from Keegan’s face. “You may think this is all gimmickry and foolishness, but it is far more serious than you could ever imagine. If the order of the Dark Arts has his way and ascends to a position of power then both our realities will be in jeopardy. If nothing else, you will show respect for the arts and the people that wield them or I will personally turn you into a goat and feed you to the nearest dragon!”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean...” stuttered Keegan.

  “I don’t care what you did or didn’t mean,” hissed the older man. “You will learn that magic is not a toy to be trifled with and believe me, it is far better for your long term survival if you learn that from me and not from your enemies.”

  Keegan was suddenly getting a lump in the pit of his stomach. His companion had failed to mention a threat to his life before.

  “What do you mean enemies? I don’t even know anyone here.”

  “Do you honestly think that everyone was in favor of bringing an outsider like yourself into a position of this much power and responsibility? If Thornback has his way, you’ll be incinerated on the spot and your ashes used to fertilize the gardens at the castle,” Acamar replied.

  “Who is ‘Thornback’?” asked Keegan, not quite believing what he had just heard.

  Acamar sighed, leaning against a tree for support. “I’m sorry, I should say Master Thornback. I have known him for several hundred years and have grown to loathe the man. Cedric Thornback is an ambitious, power hungry, deceitful man who just happens to be the head of the order of the Dark Arts. Master Thornback has been passed over for the position of Chancellor twice before and without a strong wizard in charge of the Council things are likely to get very ugly. Master Whitestone, the one to whom you shall be apprenticed, is the only wizard with both the courage and the power to face down the threat posed by Thornback.”

  “It sounds complicated,” said Keegan.

  “Complicated isn’t exactly the word I would use in this case. Your government officials can’t summon demons to kill their opponents,” said Acamar with a chuckle.

  “Demons? Surely you can’t be serious!”

  “It has happened on occasion, although the last time was back in 1804,” Acamar said. “The practice fell out of fashion because demons are too tricky to control; doesn’t take much for one to turn on the wizard that called it into being, you see. It’s much easier to resort to the tried and true methods of poisons, hexes and such.”

  If he did not know better, Keegan would swear that the older man was toying with him. As the two men continued down the path that normally would have led Keegan back to his office building, he began to notice subtle differences. The hum and buzz of traffic was absent; in its place however, was another sound he could not quite make out. It was a distant whistling sound like something moving through the air at a very high speed. As they reached the edge of the park, Keegan stopped suddenly. The street was still there, but it was cobblestone instead of pavement; the buildings were not quite right either. Where his office building should be was a large fountain with something that looked like a griffin standing in the middle spouting water. The other buildings looked as if they had been built eons past, yet they still stretched high overhead. The people bustling about were what really caught his attention though; everyone was dressed in robes like Acamar’s. He also noticed creatures that were not quite human moving amongst the crowd.

  Suddenly the sound that Keegan had heard reached a level he could no longer ignore. A shadow passed over him and he looked skyward; hurtling straight towards him was the largest dragon he could have imagined!

  “Look out!” he screamed at Acamar, who just stood there with an amused grin while Keegan panicked and dove headfirst into the bushes at the edge of the path. The dragon landed with an earthshaking whump not five feet from where the older man stood. Keegan carefully peeked out of the hedge and saw Acamar walking right up to the beast! The older man stopped ten paces directly in front of the dragon and bowed deeply.

  “Greetings, Brimstone! You have been well, I hope?” asked Acamar.

  “Greetings, my old friend; all is well with you, I hope?” the dragon inquired, bowing his head slightly in return as wisps of smoke curled upward from his nostrils. The beast stood at least fifteen feet tall at the shoulder with enormous, bat-like wings, now folded neatly at its sides. The most striking thing of all was its color - it was the darkest, blood red that Keegan had ever seen, yet its cat-like eyes were a brilliant gold.

  “I am quite well my friend, though I’ve been given the task of baby-sitting the dunderhead in the bushes over there,” said Acamar, gesturing to the hedge where Keegan had landed.

  The dragon chuckled deeply and swung its massive head over to where Keegan’s head was poking out of the bush. “You may come out youngling,” the beast said. “I have been sent to transport you to the Council, not to eat you.”

  Keegan was not quite sure whether to believe the creature or not. Deciding he did not really have a choice, he slowly clambered up out of the bushes.

  “It’s just that I’ve never seen a dragon before, much less had one speak to me,” he said with a hint of defiance in his voice.

  Acamar walked over to where Keegan now stood and patted the boy roughly on the back.

  “Allow me to introduce you to Brimstone, one of the courier dragons currently in service to the Council. He will transport you to the castle where the Council convenes.”

  “Wait a minute,” said Keegan as the realization sank in. “You mean you’re leaving me with a dragon?”

  “Aye lad, I am; Brimstone has been a trusted courier for as long as I can remember and he can offer you much stronger protection than I ever could.” Giving a slight bow to Brimstone, Acamar turned on his heel and transformed back into the large black tabby. “And remember,” he said over his shoulder “show respect above all else.” Bounding off through the bushes, he quickly disappeared.

  “You needn’t worry youngling. No harm shall come to you while you are in my care,” said the dragon. “Climb into the harness and we shall be off. We must make haste.”

  Realizing he had little choice, Keegan walked over to the dragon’s front legs, which looked like two great scaly red trees with great curving talons digging into the soft ground. Strapped to the dragon’s breast was a large harness, although it was more like a small gondola cab really, centered between Brimstone’s forelegs. He grasped the rope ladder dangling from it and climbed upward into the cab; after pulling up the rope ladder, he secured the door. “I’m ready,” he shouted out the window.

  Brimstone craned his neck downward and eyed the cab and its occupant. “Look in the compartment under the seat. You shall find a set of robes there. One must wear the proper attire for an appearance before the High Council. To appear before them in your mundane clothing would be disrespectful.”

  “All right,” said Keegan, cringing at the smell of the dragon’s hot, sulfurous breath.

  This thing could obviously turn him to a cinder with a single snort if it so desired. He unlatched the top of the seat and opened the hinged lid. Within the small compartment, he found a set of grey robes and a small leather belt with several pouches attached, along with a set of soft leather boots. Shedding his suit and dres
s shoes (but deciding to keep his t-shirt and boxers on), he put on the robes and boots and then picked up the belt. Looking through the pouches, he discovered that one of them contained an odd looking gold and silver medallion inscribed with runes. Another contained a dozen or so vials, each with a different colored liquid inside, while a third contained bits of parchment and a small writing quill. The fourth contained a dozen sachets with foul smelling powders in them. Placing the belt around his waist, he put his wallet in one of the inner pockets. It was then he noticed Brimstone had turned his great scaly neck downward and was watching him with interest.

  “What is all this stuff, anyway?” he asked the dragon.

  “”The Guardian thought it best if you had a few coins and tools of your trade in the event we are separated,” the beast hissed. The potions and powders will serve to protect you if necessary. They are the prepackaged kind that even a child could use. Simply follow the instructions written on the container and they should function well enough. Not as good as the true potion made from scratch of course, but they are at least dependable.”

  Rising to his full height, the great dragon stretched out his powerful wings and took to the air with a sudden upward thrust. Unprepared for such an abrupt takeoff, the force threw Keegan to the seat of the cab quite violently. Terrified of heights, he quickly fastened the leather seat straps around his waist and hung on to the handholds for dear life as Brimstone banked sharply to the right and turned towards the north. Quickly gaining speed and altitude with each powerful beat of the dragon’s wings, the ground receded until the park where Keegan had entered this world was just a speck in the distance.

  ###

  Chapter 6 - Detour

  They had been in the air for over two hours, continuing to angle northward on their way to meet the Council members. Keegan tried to watch the scenery to get some idea of what this world looked like compared to his own, but they were simply moving too fast and too high for him to see any details. As the sun was beginning to set, the temperature began to drop, a fact not lost on Keegan since the gondola cab he was riding in had three open windows. He had just worked up to a good bout of shivering when he noticed that the dragon began to angle downward, towards what looked like a small valley nestled between two small mountains. There was no sign of any buildings.

  Surely, the Council doesn’t meet out here in the middle of nowhere.

  “Hang on, little man,” rumbled the dragon, as he suddenly closed his wings tightly to his sides and dove straight downward to the valley below.

  The sudden descent pressed Keegan back into the seat, even as he gripped the leather hand straps in shear terror. As the ground rushed up at them, he was certain the dragon had decided to commit suicide by diving straight into the mountain. With a sharp snap, the dragon’s wings suddenly opened just seconds before they reached the ground. Stretching his wings wide, the dragon gave one huge flap and touched down as gently as a butterfly landing on a flower. Keegan unlatched the door of the gondola and stumbled out onto solid ground.

  “What the blazes were you trying to do, kill me?” shouted Keegan as he tried to regain his balance.

  The dragon just glanced down at him with a toothy grin and started chuckling, a sight even more unnerving than Keegan would have thought.

  “If I had wanted to kill you there are much simpler ways, youngling,” the dragon snorted as wisps of smoke curled up from his nostrils. “For example, if I don’t roast you alive I could leave you here in this valley, lost and alone until you are found by those who seek to prevent your apprenticeship to the Guardian.”

  “But why would anyone want to prevent my apprenticeship?”

  Keegan noticed a certain look in the dragon’s eye that he decided he really did not like. He had the distinct feeling that he was going to end up as the beast’s dinner or worse, left to fend for himself in the mountains.

  “There are those who believe that the separation between magic and non-magic is long overdue to end,” the dragon hissed. “When that separation ends, the non-magic shall take their proper place, serving their masters. I am told that a missing apprentice would help bring our worlds together that much quicker.”

  “You said ‘when’ the separation ends,” said Keegan as he edged backwards towards the forest behind him. “I thought you were a loyal servant of the Council?”

  The dragon advanced on him, lowering its head until it was now level with Keegan.

  “I have served the Council for all of my adult life, ever since the Great Uprising five hundred years ago. Those of us who refused to surrender were put into bondage as punishment.”

  Brimstone stood up to his full height and tore the harness from his breast. Behind where the gondola cab had been was a solid gold amulet the size of a dinner plate, hung ‘round the dragon’s neck with a gold link chain. Keegan could see some strange writing on the amulet, and could see there was a giant emerald the size of a baseball set in the center. “This accursed amulet has kept me in slavery to the Council, but with the completion of my current task, my servitude comes to an end.”

  “That is correct, Dragon. You have served well and fulfilled your contract.”

  This new voice was one that Keegan had not heard before. He whirled in the direction of the sound and saw a hooded figure in dark robes standing not ten feet from him. Something was not right though, as the figure appeared slightly translucent. The figure turned slowly towards Keegan “Greetings young candidate; I would like to welcome you to your first and - in all likelihood - last trial that will test your worthiness as an apprentice to the Guardian.”

  Brimstone stood to his full height, obviously displeased with the shift in attention.

  “I have completed my task, have I not? I am risking a death sentence to fulfill this bargain, wizard. I am betraying not only the head of an order but the entire Council,” he hissed at the apparition, obviously waiting for his reward.

  The figure gestured half-heartedly with one hand, not bothering to turn around. There was a sudden sharp cracking sound and the chain holding the amulet to the dragon’s breast snapped in half. The amulet fell to the ground and exploded into a bright blue fireball, burning furiously for a few moments before hissing out of existence.

  “You are paid in full, Wyrm,” the figure said. “Do not forget who it was that granted your freedom, for I may yet have need of your services.”

  “Hmmph” snorted the huge beast, sending a twenty-foot blast of green flames just a few feet over Keegan’s head and knocking him to the ground. The dragon stretched his wings and shot upward, climbing until he was no longer in view; only the pungent smell of sulphur left as a lingering reminder of his presence.

  “Temperamental creatures, but they have the occasional use,” the hooded figure chuckled.

  “Who are you?” demanded Keegan “Why have you stranded me in the middle of nowhere?”

  “SILENCE, you insolent mortal!” shouted the figure, who flicked his hand in Keegan’s direction. With a loud crack, a ring of bright red flames jumped up around where the young man stood.

  “Yours is not to question, but to survive. Anyone claiming the right to be a future Guardian must possess both the power and intellect to maintain the balance between magic and mortal, to protect our world from theirs and us from them. If you live to arrive at the Council, then you will have passed my challenge and be allowed to appear before the rest of the Council members.”

  “But I don’t even know where the Council is!” exclaimed Keegan, beginning to panic as he realized just how desperate his situation was becoming.

  Much to his horror, the hooded figure began to fade, slowly dissolving into wisps of smoke until the only thing left behind was the echoing sound of laughter. The ring of flames surrounding him dissipated as well, leaving behind no trace – even the grass was untouched.

  Keegan, in complete disbelief of what had just happened, fell to his knees. What the hell was going on? One moment he was safe and secure (or so he thought) and the n
ext he was facing some unknown dark wizard who wanted him dead. Keegan just sat there for a few moments, not quite knowing what to do next;

  Wait a minute! I can use my ring to create a doorway again, back to my own side of the veil – why didn’t I think of that before!

  He quickly stood up, pointed his ring at a nearby outcropping of rocks and shouted “Vervoers portaal!” Nothing. Again, pointing his signet ring at the rocks, he shouted

  “VERVOERS PORTAAL!” and again, nothing happened.

  He knew the incantation was correct, but why was nothing happening? He focused on his ring, allowing its image fill his mind and intoned the spell a final time.

  “Vervoers Portaal.”

  A slight burning sensation began to spread from his ring finger and up along his arm, increasing in intensity as it went. The sudden pain broke his concentration and dispersed the spell. Keegan kicked the ground in frustration and realized he had been with Acamar when he summoned his first portal. Acamar’s presence then must have somehow helped him pierce the Veil, where he now found his spell blocked.

  He looked up at the sky, now beginning to dim in the late afternoon.

  “Well if nothing else I’d better find somewhere to spend the night,” he muttered to himself. He trudged toward the edge of the forest at the base of the mountains. Unsure of the path he should take, he wandered deeper into the woods as the twilight descended. He looked around but could see nothing in the darkness save for the giant tree trunks all around him. He knew he was not alone though, for every so often he would hear the low, guttural growls of something lurking beyond the trees. The sound continued, followed by a deep rumbling sound.

  What in blazes was that?

  Not wanting to find out, he continued stumbling through the underbrush until he finally came to a small clearing, surrounded by large birch trees on three sides. He slumped down to rest at the base of one of the trees, unable to go any further for the moment. He blinked a few times to try to clear his head but his vision seemed to be blurring; he was suddenly so unbelievably tired!