The guild had always prided itself on producing the very best of qualified apprentices, in all the classes, and this had always meant taking only the very best of candidates. Ultimately that meant Caldronia had a small, but very skilful, army of warriors, rangers and more importantly, sorcerers, although that did not mean the other classes were held in any lower regard. Fighting men always needed healers, and the healing contingent could not function without the skills of herbalists and Alchemists, and all relied on the knowledge stored, updated and written by the Literary Guild.
Haldar told the Guild Masters before him of his immediate plans, firstly, he asked if a team of rangers might scout around the southern border areas, and gave permission for them to cross over into Belaria if need be. He knew the men being sent would be discreet and unseen, skilled as they were in such things. "I need to know where these attacks are coming from. More than that, I need to stop anymore," Haldar told them.
"We may have to look to the future," he added, standing as he spoke. "I wonder if it may be possible to have a further intake of apprentices...I don't know...say perhaps in another few months or so," he added starting to walk around the room. The king was not certain on how the Masters would react, after all, the guild prided themselves on perfection. "Perhaps I can leave you with that thought. Discuss it and let me know your feelings," he suggested before signalling for his guards he was ready to leave. He had discussed all he could with the guild for now, and had other urgent matters to attend.
The king bade the Masters farewell, and excused his hurried exit. Guards once more blocked the corridors as Haldar and his retinue passed along them, and back down the staircase into the foyer. As before, he passed through the main doors, and there was a small crowd of staff and apprentices watching on. He gave them a smile and a wave, before climbing atop his horse, and once his group were ready, they trotted slowly back towards the palace.
Mia sighed with relief, as Kian finally called an end to the afternoon's lesson. Sensing another's power when touching them was relatively easy, doing so when a short distance apart was certainly not. It had not just been her that had struggled, as most of the group had encountered the same problem. All, that was, apart from Leo, who seemed to pick it up almost immediately, surprising himself as much as the others. Seeing that Mia was a little deflated at finding the entire process difficult, Kian reminded her that being paired with Leo was a little more difficult, being as he was apparently a little different from the norm. Leo turned to Kian, unsure if being called different was a good or bad thing.
More annoying to Mia, although she kept it to herself, was that she had not even gotten to hold hands with Leo; Apparently, it was not safe for her to do so, whilst they were doing magic. As they prepared to leave the room, Kian reminded them not to attempt any magic whilst not being supervised by a Master, and only let them on their way once they all nodded their understanding, before they hurried for the door. After a successful morning lesson, the afternoon one had certainly been a testing one, an eye-opener to how difficult their skills would be to learn.
To make matters worse, Kian had also given them the task of going to the library, and whilst there, they were to find books on sorcery, pertaining to the theory of magical sources. Worse still, they were then to write out on parchment, five hundred words on the subject. Even Leo, who had excelled in the class, was not looking forward to this task. Despite learning to read and write whilst his father was alive, he had done neither for quite some years, and as a result felt he might struggle.
Firstly, though, they headed for the dining hall once again, as the group seemed to be amalgamating a little more. Whereas at the start of the day, Leo, Mia, Corey and Mason had kept mainly to themselves, with the other five doing similar, now they mixed. Corey was trying his utmost, to outrageously flirt with Amber again, probably even more so than Mia appeared to do with Leo. Despite the awkwardness felt between Mason and Jake, they also seemed to be getting along well, and Ewan seemed intent on following Mia like a lovesick puppy, much to her annoyance, with everyone else thinking it hilariously funny.
They found themselves a table, and sat down. The choice for dinner was between game pie, or something none of them had heard of before, which apparently was some foreign dish, that consisted of chicken in a wine and mushroom sauce. Being as it was something he had never even heard of, never mind tried, Leo went for the latter; this naturally meant Mia did likewise.
They had barely started eating when one of the Masters joined them at their table, surprising them all a little. He was a small middle-aged man, with a neatly trimmed beard and a nose that looked too big for his head. "Hello," he said as he started serving himself some food. "I thought I best introduce myself to our latest intake. I am Aryan, you'll be seeing me tomorrow for one of your lessons," he added scanning the new faces.
One by one, they told Aryan their names, although they carried on eating as they did. Leo noticed the man giving each of them a long look, as if trying to make a mental note of who was who. Once the introductions were over, Aryan told them the lessons he taught usually centred on combat. This naturally perked the interest of his students, having only been there for a day they were already about to start on using their newly found skills.
As they all ate, the Master explained further. With his young audience captivated with the thought that they would soon be using magic this way, he did warn them they were all in for a lot of hard work. Apparently, creating shields and firing blasts of energy was very demanding on the body, not only that, they were also difficult to learn. Despite all the negatives, the group still remained upbeat about the lessons ahead, and the chat continued on that subject for the rest of the meal.
Once their dinner was over, they still needed to head off to the Library, and after taking a few wrong turns, they emerged at the doorway to the impressive looking building. Stood either side of the entrance were two marble statues of scholars, both with arms held out, as if gesturing for people to enter. The doors themselves were gilded in elegant scrollwork, and opened into what was the most impressive room any of them had ever seen.
The roof must have stood three times the height of any normal building, and every square inch of it was painted. Many depicted scenes of nature, but Mason pointed out the ones at the far end were supposedly battles. Down the centre of the vast room, ran seats and desks, whilst on either side were rows upon rows of tall shelves, each packed with books, with the brown robed figures of the Literary Guild slowly and quietly walking amongst them.
"How the bloody hell are we going to find anything in here?" Ben asked no one in particular. It was Alexa who answered for him. Eighteen years of age, with dark hair and big brown eyes, she was a little heavier and a little more buxom, than an average girl. "I guess we ask one of them," she replied pointing to one of the brown robed figures. Mia, as always, liked to be the one to jump in without thinking. "Oh! You," she shouted over to the nearest one, hoping to get his attention.
Her face went crimson red, as every head turned her direction and shushed her. "Silence girl!" an old woman uttered as she shuffled quickly towards them. "If you need assistance ask of it. Do not shout it," she hissed.
Mia just nodded her head, "Sorry," she said a little sheepishly.
"Very good, now I suggest you all find one of the apprentices. Ask them what you are looking for, and they will gladly assist," the old woman told them, before shuffling back away.
"Old goat," Mia mumbled under her breath, causing one or two sniggers.
Mia linked arms with Leo, and whether he liked it or not, she led him down one of the many aisles. There they found a brown robed figure, with a white belt around the waist, and this they knew, indicated a new apprentice, just as they were. Leo thought it was probably best he asked, "Excuse me," he said politely, "I wonder if you can help us."
A bespectacled young man turned to look at them, "I will try. What is it you are after?" came the rather nasally sounding reply.
Mia decided she n
eeded to explain, and before Leo had chance to say anymore, she was already talking away. To her credit, she did describe what they needed quite well, although by the look on the face of the literary apprentice, Leo was beginning to think he would not be a lot of help. He was however pleasantly surprised, when he gestured for them to follow.
"I think you will find what you are looking for in this section," the lad told them. "These two books in particular should contain most of what you need."
"Thank you," Leo said politely.
"You are welcome. Anything else you need, please come ask me again."
Mia waited for the lad to walk around the corner before letting Leo know what she was thinking, "Ooh what a creepy looking freak."
Leo frowned at her, as much as he liked her, he did wish she would stop being so mean to people. "I thought he was pleasant enough," he replied.
Mia just scoffed, as she took two of the books that had been suggested to them, "Come on," she said grabbing him by the sleeve.
After finding a couple of spare seats, they sat beside one another and started looking through the books. Leo was a slow reader, but Mia for once kept her opinions to herself, although she did feel the need to comment on his handwriting looking like that of a young child's. He ignored the comment and continued anyway, and knew the only way he would get better would be to practice. Having not had the opportunity to read or write for some years, it would obviously take a little time.
Naturally Mia finished her writing much sooner than he did, and she yawned loudly, as if hinting for him to hurry along. "Why don't you go back to the dorms Mia, I'll be along when I'm done," he suggested. She looked at him, smiled, before skipping nonchalantly off toward the exit.
Leo had lost all track of time, as he penned the last few words to his work. He placed the pen back down beside the inkpot and scanned the four pages he had written, aside from the few blots of ink, and a few crossed out words, he felt quite pleased with his efforts. As he stood he realised the library was all but empty, and realised it must be getting quite late.
"Would you like me to put those away for you?" he heard a voice behind him. Leo turned to see the same apprentice as earlier smiling back at him.
"If you would be so kind...Thank you," he said handing the two tomes over.
"My name is Alec," the lad said introducing himself.
"Leo," he replied. "Sorry if I have kept you back so late," he added wondering if the library was supposed to have closed.
"Not a problem. We are here to help, for as long as you want," Alec told him.
The two chatted a little while, with the main part of the conversation consisting of Leo explaining why he taken so long. He admitted his reading was a little slow and he found writing a bit of a chore.
"I can help you if you like?" Alec suggested. "If you want to that is," he added.
Leo smiled, "Thanks...I would like that very much...Shall we say tomorrow evening after meal time?" Alec smiled and nodded that was fine as he would be in the library at that time anyway.
With another new friend to his ever-growing list, Leo walked with a spring in his step and a smile on his face. The corridors were all lit by lamps along the walls, though it was still a little gloomy, and by the time he walked into the common room, he found it empty. He slowly went through into the dorm, to find it in almost complete darkness. Everybody else, it seemed, was in bed asleep. As he undressed, he heard Mia whisper, "Where have you been?"
"Library...I'll tell you in the morning," he whispered back, hoping he did not wake anybody. "Goodnight Mia," he added as he slipped under the covers of his bed.
"Goodnight Leo," he heard back.
Chapter 6.
Hexley Cross was a town situated some fifteen miles from the border with Belaria. Home to over five hundred people, it served as the local trading hub for the surrounding hamlets and farmsteads. Twice every week they held a market day, where those with wares to sell, set up stalls in the town's market square.
Despite the sun only just making its appearance, the first traders were already preparing their stalls, placing their goods out in time for any early customers. The market square was a clean, cobbled part of the walled town, and at its centre was a small fountain, which was fed by a spring deep within the ground. In the hotter summer months, this cool, clean water, was often a godsend to those selling and buying.
The town was also home to a small garrison of warriors and rangers, as well as three sorcerers. This was to be shortly increased by a recent order of the king, made a few days earlier, but as yet, no reinforcements had arrived. It had two main gates, one north, the other south, and a wall that stood about twenty feet in height that surrounded its perimeter. Hexley Cross was an old town that had seen its fair share of troubles in the past, and since its conception two centuries earlier, it had been the site of several sieges and battles. Recently though, it had known more peaceful times, and aside from a few bandits that tried to prey on those travelling the local road network, it was considered by many, a safe place to reside.
A breeze blew gently, as the thin tendrils of smoke drifted slowly skywards, as the first sign of trouble, spotted by one of the town's rangers stood observing the scene. One of the nearby homesteads appeared to be under attack, as a lone figure was sighted nearing the outer wall, and the ranger ran down to greet it.
A young boy, no older than nine or ten, collapsed into his arms. Breathing heavily, with a blackened, bloodied, tear stained face; he offered the boy a drink.
"They attacked us," he cried.
"Soldiers...and sorcerers...and... Some sort of creatures...I don't know what they were," the lad sobbed, breaking his words up. The ranger gave an order to one of the guards at the gate, as he carried the boy inside.
Within a few moments, the bell at the chapel was ringing, and the occupants knew this was only rung continuously for one reason; danger was coming. Those still making their way to the town quickly hurried, with some even leaving behind their carts, for the safety offered by the town walls.
The small contingent of warriors positioned themselves at the entrances, leaving the gates open until the last minute in hope, that as many could get to safety as possible. The rangers and the sorcerer's stood atop the town walls, watching the small army approaching their direction. As the boy had described, amongst the regular looking soldiers all on horseback, were sorcerers and dozens of bizarre looking creatures.
Standing no more than three feet in height, with grey blotchy skin, these small beasts jumped and ran alongside the horses. Those within the town closed and barred the gates, as one of the rangers atop the wall released an arrow, although the shaft flew true, it was sent more to judge distance, than to hit any target, as it fell a good hundred paces short.
The approaching riders pulled up and spread themselves out. Numbering at least fifty normal soldiers, and what looked like a dozen sorcerers, as well as the bizarre looking creatures, this was certainly a formidable force. Those defending were much fewer in number, but they did at least have the protection of the walls. They did not have to wait long as the first aggressive move was made by the imps, as the strange creatures bounded nearer, before launching a barrage of small fireballs.
The flames arced skyward, many of them breaking upon the sturdy stone of the outer wall in to a plethora of sparks that dropped harmlessly to the ground. A few did succeed in making it over, and fortunately landed innocuously into the street below. The townsfolk were already lining up buckets of water as another wave struck just after it, and this time a timber-framed building was hit, and the flames took hold. Working as a team, the citizens of Hexley cross, passed buckets along a line, as the fire was quickly doused before it could spread and cause further destruction.
Two of the rangers launched arrows, one of which took down an imp, which had stepped just a little too close. The shaft slammed straight through the small body, and the creature simply fell, face first to the ground. The next arrow to fly near a target was deflected away,
as one of the sorcerers held up a shield.
The attackers slowly veered around to the south gate, where the imps launched wave upon wave of fire against the timber entranceway, as water was hurriedly poured down from the wall above, in an attempt at stopping them from taking hold. With two more of the imps felled by arrows, it was soon clear that the attacking sorcerers were getting impatient with the lack of progress.
As one solid line, they trotted their horses nearer, and although the rangers took the opportunity to fire at them, their arrows were merely deflected aside. As the shield was dropped, they all raised a hand. Bolts of energy fired from them, and the sorcerer's defending, struggled to repel the attack with their own shield now in place. Each bolt that struck the defenders shield weakened it further, and with only three sorcerers defending, against a dozen attacking it was only a matter of time before they were overcome.
The bolts of energy were added to by the fireballs of the imps, yet both broke against the shield of glimmering light, like waves against a wall of solid rock. The first sign of the shield faltering was when a single bolt broke through. The ball of raw energy exploded on impact, causing a spray of small pieces of stone as it blasted against the wall.
The sorcerers from the guild may have been better trained, but against far greater odds, they started faltering. As the first of them dropped on to the floor, completely exhausted of power, the attackers pushed home their advantage. The second fell, and the last was also all but depleted, as bolts and fireballs crashed repeatedly into the gates. Splinters of wood were thrown skyward as they finally succumbed to the relentless attack.
The Apprentice Sorcerer: The Caldronian Guild Page 5