The Guardian's Apprentice (Beyond the Veil)

by J. Michael Radcliffe

  Our world is governed by the High Council, which was created to bring peace to our world and restore order to our lives. The Council consists of twelve members, four representatives from each of the orders of White, Black and Grey. As you can guess, those who practice the dark arts have little use for morality and believe that those who do not possess magic occupy a lesser station in life. They have pushed for years to do away with the veil, seeking to gain power over the mortal world as well. The order of White, in contrast, views themselves as the caretakers of humanity, shielding mortals from the evil that would consume them. It is this order that hides itself behind the veil like it is some sort of magical cocoon. Although they champion mankind, they see mortals as a threat as well, remembering the Salem witch trials several centuries ago. The Grey order, as you can guess, balances the other two; their views touching on those similar to both White and Dark.

  As Guardian, I am above all of this…in theory, anyway,” he said over the rims of his glasses. “You will notice that although my ring bears a white stone, denoting my order, my robes are all colors, and none, to mark my position outside the control of the Council. My problem is this; I have been chosen to be Chancellor, the leader of the Council. The problem is that to assume this position I must relinquish my job as Guardian. I cannot do that unless I first have an apprentice that I can trust. You see there are those who would twist the role of Guardian and use its power to destroy the veil or worse, strengthen it to the point where the separation between our worlds became permanent.” The old wizard sat back and sipped his tea, watching Keegan for his reaction.

  “So why me?” asked Keegan simply, staring into the flickering fireplace.

  “Because you are the last of my line, Keegan” said the old man with a sigh. “Your father, Richard, was stripped of his magic and exiled to the mortal world by the Council. His crime was trying to open the great seal in an effort to gain power; had he succeeded our world would have been consumed. Upon his death, the ring passed to you, courtesy of Acamar. Simply put, if you do not become my apprentice then the role of guardian will pass to the next family, most likely the Thornbacks. This must not be allowed to happen if our two worlds are to survive,” the old man said, leaning forward to emphasize his point.

  “But what can I do about any of this?” asked Keegan, an increasing sense of fear welling up inside him.

  “You must first interview with the Council,” said Phineas. “Then you must pass three tests.”

  “What kind of tests?”

  “You will be tested on your magical ability in three basic areas of magic; portals, incantations and scrying. In addition, you must also seek out an audience with Seba’an, the oldest and wisest of the dragons.”

  “But I don’t know the first thing about any of this! How am I supposed to pass the tests?”

  “Calm yourself, Keegan,” the old wizard said affectionately. “These will be puzzles to test your rudimentary skills only. You will be given clear instructions and the necessary tools for each one; you needn’t worry.”

  “What happens if I fail?” asked Keegan.

  “You won’t,” the old man said simply. “I have faith in your abilities, Keegan, even if you do not.”

  ###

  Chapter 15 – The Alderdrache

  Brimstone angled high over the North Sea, winging his way to the cave of the Alderdrache, the Dragon Elder whose word was law amongst all of the Greater Dragons of the North. The last time he had been summoned before Seba’an was just before the great insurrection that ended in his enslavement to the Council. This time he had requested an audience with the revered leader, hoping to gain the old wyrm’s support for what he had planned. The lair of the Alderdrache was a vast cavern formed in the caldera of an ancient volcano when the lava dome cooled and hardened. It provided both the seclusion that Seba’an desired as well as the ample room an ancient dragon needed to move about. Seba’an was the oldest and wisest of the dragons, having lived since the beginning when the ancients first brought magic to the druids. Brimstone landed softly outside what looked like a solid stone wall; with a wave of his claw however, the stone vanished to reveal a gaping archway cut into the stone.

  “Enter and be well, Skyv’tai,” echoed the deep and resonating voice of the Elder. It had been many years since anyone had used Brimstone’s birth name; he had grown accustomed to the name that the humans had bestowed upon him.

  Brimstone bowed his giant head deeply, almost touching the floor “I am honored that Thou hast granted me an audience, Great Elder.”

  “Rise and come forward, young one. Why hast thou sought my Council?”

  Brimstone rose and approached the raised dais on which the older dragon was perched. Seba’an was slightly larger than Brimstone and his scales were such a dark black that it was like looking into an endless abyss. Only his eyes betrayed his age; where once there glowed a fierce red fire, there now glowed only embers. Brimstone knew it was by scent alone that Seba’an was able to identify him, as the old dragon had gone blind several hundred years before.

  “I come to speak to thee of the Great Barrier, Wise One,” said Brimstone as he took his place at the foot of the dais.

  Seba’an cocked his head to one side. “What of it, young one?” he asked slowly, his voice laced with suspicion.

  “The time has come, Great Elder, for the Barrier to fall,” said Brimstone intently. “The Guardian is leaving his post to lead the Council and in his stead there shall stand but a mere apprentice. Now is the time for us to strike the veil, before the apprentice is fully trained.”

  “Bah!” snorted Seba’an, sending a blast of flame over Brimstone’s head. “What dost thee know of the Barrier? Thou were but a hatchling when it was created to protect our kind.”

  “Surely thou should say imprison our kind?” asked Brimstone.

  “Nay, young one, protect. Our kind is out numbered ten thousand to one by the humans alone, not to mention the other races that crawl upon this world. The Great Barrier is the only thing that has saved us from extinction,” said Seba’an.

  “With respect Elder, we are the most powerful of all the creatures that roam this Earth; magic has flowed in our veins since before the time of the Ancients. We are not so easily defeated!” snarled Brimstone.

  “Thou art a fool Skyv’tai, for the three orders will not permit thee to destroy the Veil; nor will the old Guardian stand idly by whilst thee incinerates his successor. Thou hast disappointed me young one, as I had thought thee reformed.”

  “Thou art nothing by a blind old FOOL!” roared Brimstone, rising up to his full height. Blinded with anger, he shot forth a white-hot blast of flame directed at Seba’an’s shining black head. The Elder dragon didn’t even flinch, as the flames split in two not an inch from his snout and were deflected harmlessly away into the surrounding cave.

  “Thy temper will be thy downfall, young one. Leave this place now and do not return, for thou shall remain exiled until nothing remains of thee but ashes,” hissed Seba’an. He nodded his head at Brimstone and suddenly the younger dragon was enveloped in the center of a vortex of white light. With a clap of thunder, he found himself deposited on a snow capped mountainside, a hundred miles from the cave of the Alderdrache.

  “That weak minded old worm! My first task after taking the Veilstone will be to destroy the old fool where he sits!” Looking skyward, Brimstone unleashed his anger in a mighty roar that shook the mountain, spouting a blast of fire into the mountainside which sent tons of snow and ice falling into the valley below. He spread his wings wide and with a thunderous clap he leaped into the air, winging his way southward towards the capital.

  ***

  Seba’an sighed deeply. Skyv’tai or Brimstone, as the humans called him, had shown such promise in his youth. At one time, the Alderdrache had even considered him as a successor, but time had shown that Brimstone had a destructive nature and believed in the subjugation of all races to his own. The old dragon raised a claw and made several motions,
sketching glowing glyphs into the air. A shimmering disk of flames appeared, casting eerie reflections off the old dragon’s scales.

  “It has begun, my old friend,” said the Alderdrache to the figure that appeared in the portal. The hooded figure solemnly nodded in agreement and turned as Seba’an closed the spell, snuffing out the disk of flames and leaving the cavern bathed in the dim light of the etherglobes set high above in the cavern walls.

  ###

  Chapter 16 - Visions

  “Now,” snapped Acamar as he paced the small office “your test would normally consist of four parts: Potions, Incantations, Portals and Scrying. In your case, since Old Seedy decided to delay your arrival, we are going to consider that the Potions part of the test since that is how you escaped from the caverns. Likewise, since you have successfully conjured a portal we’ve covered that base as well.”

  “So where do we start?” asked Keegan.

  “Well, incantations are relatively basic and even you shouldn’t be able to miss that one, so let’s work on your scrying ability. After all, as Guardian you will rely upon scrying to help sense the opening and closing of portals.”

  Acamar reached into his robes and pulled out a small silver orb, about the size of a small orange. He tossed it to Keegan, who held it in his palm and noticed that the little sphere seemed to pulse with some sort of heat emanating from within.

  Keegan very nearly dropped it in his surprise

  “What is this thing, anyway?”

  “That my boy is a scrying sphere,” said Acamar. “You feel that warmth? That’s the magical energy that flows throughout everyone and everything in our world.”

  “So how do I use it?”

  “Place the orb in the palm of your hand and then cup the other hand over it,” said the older man. “Now close your eyes and concentrate on the warmth of the orb...that’s right...now let your mind drift.”

  Keegan focused on the orb and tried to feel the warmth pulsating from within it. If he didn’t know better he could swear he felt lighter somehow, like he was slowly beginning to float upward. He tried to concentrate harder and could ‘see’ something coming into his mind’s eye, like the blurry beginnings of a dream. He could just make out someone standing in a garden. They appeared to be waiting for someone when a large black raven suddenly swooped downward. Keegan was astonished to see the raven transform itself into one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. She was bowing to the man in the black robes as she handed him a small tablet of some sort, when the man suddenly tensed. The man turned and glared in Keegan’s direction.

  Surely he can’t see me, Keegan thought.

  The man made a sharp gesture with his hand and a flash of bright light obscured the scene from Keegan’s eyes. A fierce pain shot through his head at the same instant as if someone had jabbed his forehead with an ice pick. He was so startled he stumbled backward, dropping the orb in the process.

  “Are you alright?” asked Acamar as he grabbed Keegan by the elbow to steady him.

  It was a moment before he could answer. He was covered in cold sweat and could still feel the pain coursing through his head.

  “I don’t know…I’m not sure what happened Acamar; one minute I could see this beautiful woman talking with a wizard in black robes when he seemed to sense me watching him. He glared at me and made some sort of gesture with his hand, then this bright flash of light came out of nowhere and it felt like my head exploded.”

  Acamar helped him to a seat. “What did the woman look like, do you remember?”

  “She was gorgeous! Long black hair, dark eyes….the funny thing was that she started out as a raven.”

  At this Acamar seemed startled. “A raven? Are you certain?”

  “Positive.”

  “Well that explains the pulse that you were hit with. The woman you saw was Nisha. She is Cedric Thornback’s assistant and it was most likely a very private conversation you interrupted.”

  “But how could he know I was there?” asked Keegan.

  “Simple. The more powerful the witch or wizard, the more attuned they are to the magic around them. He could sense the presence of the scrying orb and even though he didn’t really ‘see’ you standing there, he could feel your essence and even lash out at you to stop the vision.”

  “If he knows I was there then won’t he come find me to figure out what I was doing?” asked Keegan somewhat alarmed.

  “I doubt it,” said Acamar. “You see, that’s the biggest problem with scrying - you don’t necessarily know if what you are seeing is in the past, present or the future. It takes many years of practice and even then it can be largely guesswork.”

  Before Keegan could react further, the door behind them was opened and Phineas strode in with a grave expression on his face. “I am afraid, my old friend, that our young apprentice has been summoned before the Council.”

  “When?”

  “Now,” said Phineas. “We must leave immediately.”

  “But Master, we’ve only just begun working on his training. The boy isn’t ready!”

  “He’ll have to do the best he can. I’m afraid that the Council’s decision is final,” said Phineas.

  “But…”

  “Enough, Acamar. You know as well as I that we cannot push the Council on this.”

  Acamar snorted in disgust and shook his head. In one smooth motion, he turned and morphed back into his feline form. Head held high and ears laid flat in anger, he trotted from the room and headed for the kitchens. There was a large rat that had been raiding the pantry that was going to be at the mercy of his claws very soon.

  With a resigned sigh, Phineas led Keegan back to the mist-covered portal that had brought them to his office.

  ###

  Chapter 17 – The First Test

  The Council chamber was brightly lit when Keegan was escorted in by Phineas, who led him to a high-backed chair facing the Council’s table. The Council members were already seated at their respective places, and Keegan could see several of the members engaged in deep conversations with other members of their own order. As Phineas took his place at the table Alexander Ducat, the acting chair for the meeting, brought the others to silence with a burst of green sparks from his staff.

  “My fellow Council members,” announced Ducat. “We have convened this session to satisfy ourselves as to the qualifications of the Guardian’s selected apprentice.”

  Everyone turned to look at Keegan, who began to fidget under the scrutiny.

  “Has the Council determined the examination form?” asked Ducat.

  “Aye,” said Master Thornback. “We have concluded that the boy should be given the opportunity to test his incantation skills. Our young friend will be taken to the archives in the library and given a challenge to test his resourcefulness. He will be tasked with finding the correct incantation to fit the circumstances.”

  That didn’t sound too bad, thought Keegan.

  With a nod in Keegan’s direction, Cedric continued. “Should he prove successful, he will move on to the audience with the Alderdrache.”

  “Very well,” said Ducat. “The Council has spoken.”

  With a wave of his staff, Ducat enveloped Keegan in a swirling mist that within seconds dissolved into nothingness.

  ***

  As the room around Keegan reformed and came back into focus, he found himself in what looked to be an enormous library of some sort. Shelves towered above him towards the high arched ceilings, spanning a hundred feet or more. Each shelf was lined with what looked like ancient volumes, huge bound tomes of God knows what, covered in thick layers of dust.

  “S’bout time you got ‘ere,” said a gruff voice behind him.

  Keegan whirled around to see a small man wearing wire-rimmed spectacles, a black visor and a pencil behind one ear. The little man, who looked even older than Phineas (if that was possible) stood only two feet tall and was looking supremely annoyed. He was standing there with his arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently
and glaring at Keegan over the rims of his glasses.

  “Pardon me?” said Keegan, not certain if this was part of the test or not.

  “Two weeks I’ve been waitin’ thank you very much, and not so much as a note to say when you’d finally show up,” he snapped indignantly.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but what did you say your name was again?” asked Keegan.

  “I didn’t say, young master, and I am not sure if I shall!”

  “All right, that’s enough! First, I get conned into coming here by some maniacal cat with delusions of grandeur, kidnapped by a dragon, and now dropped into this God forsaken library! The least you could do is tell me your name!” shouted Keegan.

  “Oh for Pete’s sake, tell the boy your name,” came the voice of an old woman. Keegan was startled, as he had not heard her as she walked up behind him carrying an armload of books. By the looks of her, she was at least as ancient as the little old man. She was dressed in a simple frock, vest and skirt, but had the same black visor.

  “You keep outta this, woman. I’ll tell the ungrateful cur when I’m good and ready,” roared the old man, obviously incensed by her interference.

  “You’ll tell the boy now, or it’ll be water and stale bread crumbs for your supper,” she snapped right back. Having dropped her load of books in a cloud of dust, she adjusted the pince-nez on her nose and placed both hands firmly on her hips. This was not a woman to be trifled with.