Awakening

  of the

  Apprentice

  D.L. Gardner

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  AWAKENING OF THE APPRENTICE

  First edition. July 21, 2022.

  Copyright © 2022 D.L. Gardner.

  ISBN: 979-8201884307

  Written by D.L. Gardner.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Awakening of the Apprentice

  Sign up for D.L. Gardner's Mailing List

  Further Reading: Sword of Cho Nisi book 1

  Also By D.L. Gardner

  About the Author

  Awakening of the Apprentice

  This story is the sole work of

  D. L. Gardner.

  No portion may be copied or used in any form without the consent of the author.

  @ 2021 D. L. Gardner

  Information may be obtained by contacting

  Dianne L Gardner at gardnersart.com

  All characters are fictitious and any resemblance to any place or person is purely coincidental.

  More works by the author as well as video and audio are listed on the author’s website. https://gardnersart.com

  Awakening of the Apprentice

  DRAHCIR WAS NOT ONE to be nervous. He took life in stride, fully conscious of the decisions he’d have to make, and oblivious to obstacles that constantly tried to trip him. So, when the extended ride from the university town of Norbury brought him to the kingdom’s capital, Prasa Potama, he reined in his horse and sighed, relieved he had finally arrived. Yes, he would be meeting King Tobias and his wizard with the prospect of becoming an apprentice, but the novelty of such an assignment did little to electrify him. He’d do his best. He had excelled in his studies at school, took them seriously, and he would do the same here. What heights he’d rise to with such accomplishments behind him no one could say, but as far as Drahcir was concerned, he owned the world. His power, as a wizard could only grow fiercer. What he’d learn from the king’s wizard—Kairos was his name—he could use anywhere he went even if the king denied the apprenticeship. Perhaps someday he’d rise to be a Vouchsaver, a sorcerer bonded with a ruler who shared in the wealth of the kingdom.

  Drahcir dismounted his dapple grey mare in the courtyard and allowed the groom to tend to his horse and his saddlebags.

  “We’ll bring your belongings to your room, sir,” the young man assured him. “Kairos is expecting you. You’ll find him in the verandah just inside the doors.”

  “Very well, thank you.” Drahcir gave the young man a nod and dusted his robe, straightened his large black cap that draped over his forehead, and scratched the stubble on his chin, regarding the castle entryway, the plaza, and the few servants that busied themselves about the courtyard.

  Kairos must have been watching through a window, for just as Drahcir approached the door, it opened and a tall, dark haired, beardless man stepped outside. The first thing Drahcir noticed about Kairos was his nose for it protruded out of the shadows in an aggressive sort of way. Not ugly, but noticeable, followed by two very dark round eyes with thick black lashes and eyebrows that could speak a language all their own.

  “You must be my apprentice,” Kairos said and then he cleared his throat as if he were apologizing for being so bold.

  “Drahcir is the name.” He offered his hand and Kairos looked at it hesitantly and gave him a rather weak handshake.

  “Come inside, please,” Kairos offered.

  Drahcir followed the wizard through the long narrow hallway. The glitter and elegance of the furnishings were everything he had expected and the fragrance of fresh cut flowers on the marble pedestals they passed, pleasing.

  “I suppose you’ll be staying with me in the tower. Nothing’s really been said about where the apprentices are staying and you’re the first to arrive. I can’t have all of you up there with me, the room is somewhat tight, but until the king makes up his mind—or the prince—of where to put you, you can board with me. I guess.”

  “Didn’t the king know I would be arriving today?”

  “I suppose,” Kairos said, doubtfully. He turned to smile at Drahcir. “I haven’t been talking to the king lately. He’s a bit peeved with me at the moment.”

  “Peeved?”

  “It’s a long story. Follow me.”

  Drahcir wondered about the man as he followed him up the long spiral stairwell.

  The stone walls closed in on him, it seemed, the further he stepped, and the smell of wet rock and mold reached his lungs. Quite different than the king’s spacious hallways, or even the corridors in the university where he’d been staying. He swallowed, ready to take on whatever new experience awaited. However, he hadn’t expected a downgrade of living quarters.

  When Kairos, two steps ahead of him, reached what Drahcir assumed was the top of the stairs, the wizard jiggled on a door handle and then turned around and smiled at him. “Excuse me,” he said and with all his weight, thrust his shoulder into the door, which flew open, and Kairos landed on the floor, the heels of his shoes just missing Drahcir’s face.

  Kairos sprang up and brushed himself off. “I really do need to fix that,” he mumbled. He stepped aside and with a grand sweep of his hand, ushered Drahcir into his living quarters.

  The smell was the first thing that Drahcir noticed—an odor of moldy vials and dirty stockings and some sort of animal. The second thing he noticed was the lack of sleeping space with what might be a bed in a dark corner of the room but had been buried under a heap of clothing, tanned leather, furs, belts, and unidentifiable objects. There stood a desk by the window which was slightly less cluttered, several chairs and a trunk scattered about and above him hung what seemed to be a cage of some sort with a fleece carelessly wrapped around it.

  “Pardon the untidiness,” Kairo said. “I should have straightened up before you came.”

  “That’s perfectly...all right,” Drahcir’s voice tapered. He was a guest, and needed to make a good impression, but the room was disgusting, and he hoped someone in the castle would provide him with better accommodations.

  “Now if you’ll be seated, we can introduce ourselves, get to know one another. In order for me to teach you anything, I need to know who I’m teaching. Please, sit!” Kairos ushered him to chair, which he had to pull a pile of laundry from and then emptied one for himself.

  Drahcir sat on the chair across from him, wondering if he shouldn’t just ask for a carriage back to Norbury and find a job as an assistant at the university.

  “Tell me about yourself,” Kairos began.

  “You have the referral that the professors sent you, do you not?” Drahcir asked.

  “Yes, yes I know the classes you took, and how highly everyone thought of you. I’m impressed, yes, but what I need to know...” he scratched his beardless chin, his glance on Drahcir’s own stubble. “How do you do that?”

  “What?”

  “Get your facial hair to grow. I’ve been trying. My father had a beard. I would think a wizard would be much more wizardly with a full bundle of fur reaching down his doublet.”

  Drahcir’s face lit a bright red and he moved his chair back from Kairos.

  “I’m sorry that embarrasses you. I won’t speak of beards again. I’m just envious whenever I see a man younger than myself with you know...” he gestured to his chin and then stood. “Yes, well let’s get back to the basics. What are your intentions? Why are you here?”

  “To learn sorcery, sir,” Drahcir answered.

  “Ah! But why? What do you want to do with it?”

  “Why, whatever is necessary.”

  “Just whatever is necessary? Have you no ambitions of your own?” Kairos began to pace across the room, bumping his head on the hanging cage and quickly fixing the blanket back over it.

  “Hey! I was sleeping!” came a voice from the cage.

  Drahcir sat upright, alert.

  “What, or who was that?” he asked.

  “Lester, but never mind about him,” Kairos mumbled. “I cannot tell you everything, not now.” With the cage no longer swinging, Kairos continued his pace across the room. “It’s imperative I know your personal ambitions. That is the first test I will give you. To tell me your motives.”

  Drahcir took a deep breath, watching the wizard move back and forth across his cluttered room, stubbing his toe on the trunk, and bumping into the end table. He wondered if he should even accept this interrogation. “I, well I don’t know. I suppose it would depend on how powerful I...”

  “Say you were more powerful than I? What would be your ambition then?”

  “Surely not to usurp your position with the king.”

  “I would expect not. But if I weren’t here. If you were, say, in a different kingdom. Say you became some other king’s wizard, what then? Would you be satisfied?”

  Drahcir realized where Kairos was going with this grilling. “If you’re asking me if I would seek to become a Vouchsaver, I think it would be the ultimate goal of a wizard, wouldn’t you?”

  “That!” Kairos raised a finger and lunged at him, falling back on his chair, and pulling himself so close that Drahcir could smell his breath. “That is the greatest misnomer our kind has ever accepted. Is that what they teach you at the University?”

  “They tell us to be the best we can be. Wouldn’t that mean rising to the highest heights?”

  Kairos shook his head, not as an answer it seemed but more as if he pitied Drahcir. He inhaled and leaned back, crossed his arms, and wiped his brow, as a bit of sweat had formed.

  “Now that I know you, let me tell you about me.” Kairos stood again. “But first, shall we have a glass of wine. Your trip was long and grueling was it not? And here I have bothered you with that silly examination.” He shuffled some items on his desk and unburied a bottle of wine and two chalices. “The best of Tellwater Valley!” He held up the goblets and strolled back to Drahcir, who accepted the regal item with no hesitation. The brew had a sweetness to it and calmed his nerves.

  “You know our kingdom has an enemy.” Kairos stated, sitting across from him again.

  “I do.”

  “Well then, the enemy is, himself, a Vouchsaver. And do you know why this powerful wizard came to be so evil?”

  Drahcir waited for the answer. Skotádi had not been mentioned in depth, only that he was the enemy to both the Tobian kingdom and Casdamia. Kairos leaned close to him once more, this time whispering, his dark eyes penetrating Drahcir so that chills raced throughout the apprentice’s body.

  “Because he sought to reach the highest heights. And he was successful.”

  “Then the goal for us would be to destroy him.”

  “Yes,” Kairos agreed.

  “So, we must gain the most power tools that are available to us,” Drahcir concluded.

  “But!” Kairos raised his finger again. “We must restrain ourselves.”

  “But why?”

  “My dear young man. Listen to my story!” He cleared his throat and leaned back on his chair. “My father was the most powerful wizard in all Potamia. The king’s pride. He was magical enough to become a Vouchsaver and had he lived long enough, King Tobias may had invited him to be. But he died.”

  Drahcir shook his head, unable to imagine one so powerful dying in his prime. “But how?”

  “In the midst of battle, he wasn’t taken down by the enemy. No. My father drew so much magic within himself to destroy the monster that attacked him, that I am grieved to say, he died of a heart attack, broken by his own sorcery.” With that Kairos turned away and bowed his head.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Never do I conjure such power within myself, and never will I ask my apprentices to do so, either. Self-control. Always restraint. The sorcery that flows through your veins, that makes you what you are, it will eat you alive like it has Skotádi. Or it will swallow you whole like it did my father. Let that be your first lesson.”

  Drahcir, humbled by Kairos’ story, nodded and after a moment of studying the wizard’s mysterious eyes, he changed the subject.

  “If I may be so bold to ask, why is the king angry with you?”

  “I’ve failed him, again. Too many times. His latest commission was for me to find a way to destroy the skura, and though I think I might have created what he needs, it’s untested as of yet.” He looked up as if remembering something. “But it worked on the bat.”

  A commotion from the fields interrupted their conversation and Kairos rose and rushed to the window just as someone called his name from the stairwell.

  “Kairos, come quick! The king summons you. Skura!”

  “Holy Idols!” Kairos gasped and rummaged through his drawer, grabbing several vials, and stuffing them in his belt. He tossed one to Drahcir.

  “This may be your second test, here’s hoping we both pass!”

  They flew down the stairs just as the prince and his soldiers rushed past them, their armor half on. Prince Barin eyed Kairos as the wizard stepped into the hall.

  “I hope you have some magic with you this time,” the prince said. The soldiers rushed out the door and Kairos followed the procession, running as he held onto his hat. Drahcir was not far behind.

  A cloud of flying creatures met them outside.

  “Archers!” Barin called as he lunged into the courtyard meeting a skura head on, swiping at the human-like face and drawing blood as it beat its wings against the prince’s shoulders. Another thrash with his sword, decapitated the monster. Its body bounced on the marble stairs and landed with a thud at Drahcir’s feet.

  Mouth open, the apprentice gagged. Kairos grabbed Drahcir’s arm as the prince fought his way into the chaos of men, wings and fangs beating up dust and blood.

  “Call forth that wizardry inside of you and tap a drop onto your fingers. Hurry there’s no time to waste,” Kairos said, touching his own fingers with a dollop of potion, putting the vial back in his belt and rubbing his fingers together.

  “Now!” He rushed into the midst of the battle and with a quick thrust of his wrist, sent bullets of fire at a dozen skura. They exploded midair, the men fighting them dodged as the bat-bodies fell. For a brief moment the creatures who hadn’t been annihilated left their opponents and soared into the sky, gathered as a mass, and dove. Kairos was ready for them, standing in front of the prince he blasted them one after the other, the sound of explosions rattled the ground.

  Drahcir was about to join Kairos, not sure if he had even learned the technique but indeed the need to help swelled inside of him. He took his vial, dropped the blue liquid on his fingertips, and rubbed them against each other until his fingers burned, not just with heat, but with energy that streamed through his veins. He, himself, felt as though he would burst. His heart raced and he gasped for breath and with wide eyes looked for a subject on which to release this power all the while remembering Kairos’ words.

  “Self-control. Always restraint.”

  Drahcir swallowed and held onto the magic until he was absolutely certain he had control. And then, as if his purpose had been preordained, a skura flew over him and dove for Kairos from behind. Drahcir fixed his gaze on the beast, lifted his arms, and flicked the magic at the lone skura about to take the king’s wizard down.

  Heat rose from this toes, through his body, quickening his heart, and out his arms in a direct brilliant beam of light. It hit the skura’s chest. A boom so great shook the ground, the air around him imploded, knocking Drahcir backwards. He fell, but the skura was gone with a flash.

  In fact, all the skura were gone, and as Drahcir lay on the ground all eyes were on him. Soldiers, Kairos, the prince, their mouths agape, froze and Drahcir worried he had hurt them as well as the skura.

  The silence was soon followed by a laugh and the people around him sighed heavily.

  “Excellent! Drahcir! I believe you’ve passed the second test!” Kairos offered him a hand up, and Drahcir, still shaken took it, and dusted his robe and fixed his hat while the soldiers surrounded him.

  “Kairos, my father will be proud of your work today,” the prince said to the wizard. To Drahcir’s surprise, and pleasure, the prince then walked up to him and reached out to shake his hand. His was a strong confident handshake and Drahcir saw that he was a handsome young man, worthy of his office.

  “Welcome to our court. My father will be pleased to have you as a lead apprentice.”

  THE END

  Don't miss out!

  Click the button below and you can sign up to receive emails whenever D.L. Gardner publishes a new book. There's no charge and no obligation.

  https://books2read.com/r/B-P-QKRE-NSUZB

  https://books2read.com/r/B-P-QKRE-NSUZB

  Connecting independent readers to independent writers.

  Did you love Awakening of the Apprentice? Then you should read Sword of Cho Nisi book 1 by D.L. Gardner!

  Erika, the youngest daughter of a legendary king, aspires to be a warrior and follows her brother to war against the dark wizard. She accidentally kills a king during her first battle and that mistake costs the allegiance of an island whose magic her father's kingdom needs to win the war. When she attempts to right her wrongs, she instead falls in love with the island's heir. Arell, at first has no idea she killed his father but is thrust upon a throne he never wanted, pitted against an enemy he never asked for and once the truth is revealed, is forced to sentence the only woman he ever loved. Can the two forget their grievances in time to save their kingdoms?

 

1 2