The Artful Apprentice

by Christopher Nuttall

  He wouldn’t have given me an insolvable problem, Emily thought. And...

  She frowned as it dawned on her just how odd the fog truly was. She’d seen fog before, during Sergeant Miles’s forced marches, but... it had never been quite so... solid. She reached out, watching the fog draw back from her bare hand. She could barely see anything beyond her fingertips. Surely, she should have walked right into something by now. Or plunged off an unseen cliff. Sergeant Miles had made it clear that the best thing to do, if visibility dropped to almost nothing, was to hole up and wait. Emily suspected that wasn’t an option in this case. She had to find her way home.

  And there’s too much magic in the fog to risk levitation, she thought, as she looked up. The fog blotted out the sun. The gloom seemed impenetrable. She wasn’t even sure where the sun was. And if I keep walking, I will walk into something...

  The fog billowed towards her. It was eerily silent. No birds sang, no insects buzzed... she wondered, suddenly, if she was somewhere in the valley surrounding the tower. It would make sense, yet... there was something deadening about the fog. It might suppress the local wildlife as easily as it suppressed her magic. The birds and the bees might be resting in their nests, waiting for the fog to clear. She couldn’t see through it. She walked and walked, but nothing happened. It was uncanny. The fog just seemed to billow around her.

  A thought struck her. If the fog wasn’t natural...

  She cast a cancellation spell. Nothing happened. She cast a detection spell. It returned mixed results. She gritted her teeth, then tried to draw on the local magic. There was a faint surge of power — it felt weirdly uncomfortable, as if she was transgressing against something — but nothing else. The fog surrounded her. It didn’t touch her. And if it was targeted on her...

  Her fingers touched the snake-bracelet, undoing the charm. Aurelius came to life, coiling around her wrist. Emily staggered, slightly, as the familiar bond slammed into her head. She was aware of both herself and the snake, as if she was in two places at once. She’d been warned to spend more time working with Aurelius, getting used to the bond, but the death viper was just too dangerous. She could touch the pretty snake safely. Anyone else would lose a hand — at the very least — if they touched the creature with their bare skin.

  Aurelius looked around. He didn’t see the fog. Emily closed her eyes, allowing the snake to see for her. She was standing in the middle of a clearing, a dozen runes carefully woven into the ground. Subtle magic flickered around her. She cursed under her breath. The rune she’d carved into her chest had stopped working after she’d lost her powers. She hadn’t realized it was still useless. The subtle magic had tricked her. She’d been walking in circles. She hadn’t been getting anywhere at all!

  Clever, she thought.

  She raised the snake to her breasts, then kept her eyes closed as she started to walk forward. This time, the subtle magic wasn’t enough to stop her. She could sense it coiling around her feet, trying to bring her down, but she knew it was there. She could ignore it. Aurelius thrummed with pleasure as she walked out of the clearing into the trees. The snake sensed all manner of life in the undergrowth. He wanted to hunt for the sheer thrill of it. Emily shivered. It was easy to understand, now, why death vipers were so feared. There weren’t many animals that hunted for sport.

  Her eyes opened. The fog was gone, as if it had never been. She could see mountains in the distance, their peaks hidden in the mists. One looked familiar. She thought she saw a giant shape moving through the gloom, a faint hint of something immense flying through the sky. A dragon? It was possible. They tended to nest in high-magic zones, she’d been told. Wild magic was their meat and drink.

  If that mountain is there, she thought as allowed the snake to wrap around her wrist, then the tower is over there.

  The air grew hotter as she started to move again. This time, nothing tried to steer her in circles. Her nightgown clung to her skin, itching uncomfortably as it dried. She silently thanked Sergeant Miles for forcing her to walk barefoot, even though she’d hated it. Her feet felt dirty, thoroughly unclean, but she wasn’t in pain. She smiled at the thought of a pampered princess walking without shoes. Even if she was fine with it, her parents and her governesses would be horrified.

  She reached the bottom of the valley and looked down at the town. She still hadn’t visited... she made a mental note to visit soon, then turned and headed up into the valley. It had rained in the last few days, water trickling down the valley and vanishing into the distance. She knelt beside a tiny pool, scooped up some water in her hands and muttered a cleansing spell. The water was probably clean, but there was no point in taking chances. It was a high-magic zone. Who knew what would happen if she drank the water without testing it?

  Aurelius crawled off her wrist and sipped water. He wouldn’t be in any danger. Emily smiled, then waited for the snake to finish before it crawled up her leg, through her nightgown and back onto her wrist. It would have been certain death for anyone else. She made sure the creature was comfortable, then kept walking. She’d walked the same path with Lady Barb. The tower was in the next valley...

  A giant wall of rock barred her way. Emily stopped, dead. Had she taken a wrong turn? She looked back, silently comparing her memory to the sight before her. It was impossible to be sure, but it certainly looked identical. The rock hadn’t been there before, which meant... she touched it, lightly, with her bare hand. It felt real. Void could have shaped the rock out of raw magic. It would be easier, in some ways, than creating a pencil. Or... she braced herself, then pushed. The rock snapped out of existence. She breathed a sigh of relief. An illusion. It had been nothing more than an illusion. But a very convincing one.

  She inched forward, feeling a hint of claustrophobia as the valley walls looked over her. A handful of charms were woven in, threatening to slam the walls closed or send rocks crashing down on unwanted guests. Emily felt cold as she started to unpick the charms long enough to slip past. She could sense them, she could evade them, but what about the townspeople below? How many people had wandered into the valley and been killed by the charms?

  They’d have had to get through the illusions first, she thought, as she reached the end of the pass and peered down into the valley. The tower sat in the center, as before. It was still hard to tell how large it truly was. Void must have lifted it for us when Lady Barb brought me here.

  She made her way down to the valley floor, then walked towards the tower. A lone figure stood by the walls. Silent looked... as downcast as ever. Emily glanced down at herself, feeling a twinge of pity. Her nightgown was a mess. The poor maid would have to mend the tears, then wash the garment... unless she decided it was unsalvageable and sold it for rags. Emily knew that was unlikely. If Silent believed it wasn’t suitable for her charge, she’d pass it on to someone lower down the social scale.

  “My Lady,” Silent said. “I...”

  Her eyes went very wide. She started to move back, only to bump into the wall. Her face, already pale, went so white she looked like a ghost. Emily stared, unsure what had happened. She didn’t look that bad or indecent, did she? Her nightgown covered everything between her neckline and her ankles...

  Oh. Emily could have kicked herself. Silent had seen Aurelius. She’d almost forgotten the snake was there, but to Silent... Emily might as well have committed suicide. The Death Viper was unmistakable. Her wrist should have dropped off by now, while the poison worked its way through her bloodstream, ensuring she died in screaming agony. Damn it.

  She hastily turned the snake back into a bracelet. Silent knew what it was now... Emily sighed, inwardly. She’d done her best to keep Aurelius as a secret weapon, but too many people knew the truth. Lady Barb, Sergeant Miles... Nanette, who hadn’t known until it was too late. And now Silent. She wondered, idly, if Void knew. She hadn’t brought it to his attention.

  “It’s safe,” she said, as reassuringly as she could. The familiar bond made it harder to understand Silent’s f
ear. “It can’t hurt you.”

  “Yes, My Lady.” Silent sounded as if she didn’t believe Emily. “I...”

  She stumbled forwards. “His Lordship wishes you to wash and change, then attend upon him. He has a reward for you.”

  “Thank you,” Emily said. She allowed Silent to tap the wall and lead her into the tower. The charms woven into the stone felt odd, as if the tower wasn’t quite ready for her. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Silent said nothing, but her stiff back said it all. She’d been deathly frightened... not without reason. One couldn’t negotiate with a death viper. It would kill... Emily would have been safer picking up a poisonous spider or playing catch with a werewolf or baring her neck to a vampire. She made a promise to herself that she’d find some way to make it up to the maid. She should have realized that anyone who saw Aurelius would be horrified. They couldn’t even look at the snake without being creeped out.

  Emily allowed herself a sigh of relief as they reached her room. The air felt warm and dry. She stripped off her nightgown, dumped it in the washing basket and hurried into the bathroom. Silent had already drawn her a bath. She sank into the water, reminding herself she couldn’t stay long. Void wanted to see her. She yawned, fighting the urge to simply close her eyes and go to sleep. The charms on the tub would keep her from drowning. She heard Silent moving, laying out a fresh set of robes. The maid really would need some kind of reward.

  She stood, charmed herself dry and dressed quickly. There was no point in forcing Void to wait for too long. He might react poorly. She took a moment to run through everything that had happened, from the moment she’d opened her eyes to her return to the tower, then headed downstairs. Void sat in one of his workrooms. A pair of strange-looking garments sat on the table. She thought they looked like folded dresses.

  “Emily,” Void said. “What did you learn?”

  That my rune doesn’t work any longer, Emily thought. She’d have to redo it. She wasn’t even sure that was possible. Her skin had healed long ago. And that I needed another pair of eyes to see through the fog.

  “That I could be tricked by subtle magic,” Emily said. “And that it was focused on me.”

  “Correct,” Void said. “It was more than just subtle magic. It was a spell tuned to you personally. There were a number of ways to escape, but they would have required you to realize what was happening. You could, for example, have simply destroyed the runes.”

  Emily frowned. “That’s why the detection spell revealed very little,” she mused. “The magic was mine.”

  “Close enough not to trigger the spell,” Void said. “Of course” — he smiled, thinly — “if you’d rewritten the cancellation spell so it affected everything, it would have worked too.”

  “But it would have ruined my wards too,” Emily said.

  “Maybe, maybe not.” Void shrugged. “You coped well, all things considered. I’ve seen people waste away in those traps, unable to escape.”

  “I had an unfair advantage.” Emily touched the snake-bracelet lightly. “I didn’t use my eyes to escape.”

  “And the alternatives were either starving to death or being dismissed for gross failure,” Void said, dryly. “Would you prefer either of them?”

  Emily shook her head. “No, sir.”

  “I thought not.” Void stood and picked up one of the garments, unfolding it. “Have you ever seen one of these before?”

  “No,” Emily said. The garment looked like a burka. There was a thin mesh over the eyes, but otherwise it was just a featureless black gown. She disliked it on sight. “What is it?”

  “Protection,” Void said, vaguely. He draped the garment over himself. “Put yours on.”

  Emily felt her fingers skitter over the cloth as she picked it up. It felt light, but weirdly confining. The mesh let her see more than she’d realized, yet... she felt a flicker of pity for someone who was forced to wear it every time they left the house. It stripped her — and everyone else — of every last gasp of individuality.

  Void took her arm. “We’re going somewhere you’ve never been before,” he said. His grip tightened, as if he was trying to hold her upright. “In a sense, you could say we’re going to fall off the edge of the world.”

  “Pardon?” Emily stared at him as she sensed the teleport field. “Where are we...?”

  And then they were somewhere else.

  Chapter Twelve

  EMILY STAGGERED.

  Something slammed into her, the blow so strong that she thought — just for a moment — she’d been hit. Something... it was a presence, it was a stench, it was... something so utterly unbearably wrong that she wanted to take to her heels and run for her life, convinced she could not remain there a second longer. Her skin crawled, as if a hundred unwelcome hands had left trails of slime over her body. Void held her as her legs buckled. She would have fallen if he hadn’t held her up. She gritted her teeth as she opened her eyes – unsure of when she’d closed them — and looked around. She was standing in utter darkness.

  Her mouth tasted foul, as if she’d been eating rotten food. It was hard to speak. “Where are we?”

  “The South Pole,” Void said. “We’re a very long way from home.”

  Emily looked around. The darkness wasn’t fading, but... her eyes were growing accustomed to it. There were dark shapes all around them, each a hint of something her eyes couldn’t quite see. There were no stars overhead, no moon or... she looked down, half-expecting to see ice beneath her boots. It was hard to be sure, but the ground looked more like shiny ash than anything else. The air was surprisingly warm. There weren’t any charms woven into the garment, as far as she could tell. She’d always assumed the South Pole would be cold.

  “Don’t take off your cloak, unless I do so first.” Void let go of her and stepped back. In the darkness, he was just another shape. “If we get separated, for any reason at all, teleport straight back to the tower and wait for me there. The wards will let you in. Do you understand?”

  Emily nodded, then realized he couldn’t see her. “Yes, sir.”

  “Good.” Void turned and started to walk through the darkness. “Follow me.”

  The ground felt unstable under her feet as she did as she was told. The... stench, more mental than physical, grew stronger. Emily guessed the garment was protecting her from the worst of it. Void didn’t slow as they walked up a short incline, then stopped on the edge of what looked like a giant crater. A dark city rested in the shadows, illuminated by faint hints of uncanny light. It looked utterly alien, utterly inhuman. Her eyes hurt as she stared, trying to take it all in. It looked as if the towering structures went in directions no human mind could comprehend. The darkness loomed over the city like a cloud of smog. It was eerily quiet.

  Just like the fog, she recalled. He was trying to prepare me for this.

  “The Dark Ziggurat,” Void said. His voice was very quiet. The darkness seemed to swallow all sound. “According to legend, this is where the Faerie dwelled when they waged war on mankind. This is where they brought their captives. This is where they birthed monsters and sent them out to terrorize the world. When they were finally banished, the city was deserted for years. Until...”

  He stopped. Emily frowned, remembering the Dark City near Whitehall. The Dark Ziggurat was very much like it, but on a far greater scale. It looked... intact, as if it had been abandoned instead of destroyed. Her head started to pound as she studied the buildings, her eyes drawn in strange directions that left her wanting to look away. She forced herself to look down, feeling the pain ebb and flow. The city hadn’t been designed for humans.

  She found her voice. “Until what?”

  “We’re far from the Allied Lands,” Void said. “The city became a haven for the very worst of society, for magicians who practiced forbidden arts and exiles who knew they could never go home again. There is no law and order here, nothing beyond the rule of the strong. Here you can do anything, if you have the power and the will.
Or find yourself a plaything of someone who does.”

  Emily shuddered. “And no one does anything about it?”

  “It isn’t easy to get here,” Void pointed out. “The magic here is weird. Tainted. You can’t open a portal. You can’t send a fleet. Even if you could, it might cost you everything. The Allied Lands prefer to pretend this place doesn’t exist. They’re scared of what might happen if they intervene too openly.”

  He snorted. “There are people who would be calling for your head, Emily, if they knew you had so much as looked upon this place. And others who would grovel at your feet, if only you would bring them here and introduce them.”

  “I don’t know anyone here,” Emily pointed out. She peered at his dark shape. “Why did you bring me here?”

  “Because you need to see it,” Void said. “And there are some people you should meet.”

  He took her hand, his grip gentle but firm, and led her towards the city. The towering buildings grew ever larger, as if they climbed all the way into orbit. Emily had the sense they were looming over her, ready to topple at any moment. She kept her eyes low, watching as they entered the city itself. The streets were wreathed in silence. The vast majority of the population wore protective robes themselves, their faces hidden behind black mesh. The ones who didn’t looked... inhuman. Their bodies moved oddly, as if they were humanoid insects. No two looked alike. She saw someone who looked like a twisted dwarf and felt sick. He couldn’t hope to live a normal life. None of them could.

  The stench grew stronger as they walked into a giant marketplace. It was hardly the first one she’d visited, but it was different. The stalls were covered in giant tents, protecting the sellers and their customers from the environment. Even inside, no one removed their hoods. Emily rather suspected they were concerned with secrecy as well as safety. She’d never seen anyone sell human organs before, from bottled and preserved brains to penises and wombs. It was a sickening sight. Jars of blood rested behind the counter, each one covered with scribbled notes. Blood from virgins, blood from children, blood from the newly-dead... she was sure the victims had been murdered, just for their blood. She didn’t want to think about why anyone would want such ingredients. Potions that involved blood were rarely good news.