Chapter 019

Master and Apprentice

No apprentice was worth their grain in salt, lest they find a master to guide the way.

Upon his awakening, Rune was greeted by rippling streams of golden sunlight that poured through the glass of the window beside him. They drenched the room, filling it with warmth and brightness. What first the young mage noticed was that his entire body felt as if someone had forcefully pulled it apart and then, applying little to no effort at all, shoved it back together. In other words, he felt awful. Like his very bones would shatter from even the slightest bit of movement. His head throbbed with such amazing intensity, Rune pondered if his brains would surge out of his ears. It was even a challenge to see, like his eyes had been covered in a veil of oil.

However, discounting his seemingly unending agony, he quickly discerned another abnormality. Something was pressing onto his chest, something so light that he hadn’t noticed until his nerves began to reactivate. Lifting his scalp off a pillow, Rune gazed ahead only to find a small mass of orange fur sitting atop his sternum. The sentient puff, upon noticing it’d been discovered, peered back at him and released an aggravated hiss, capturing Rune’s bewilderment inside of its pair of jade eyes. Although, his initial confusion swiftly transfigured into fear. For he knew what was about to happen, and so did the little menace.

Without warning, the creature abandoned its comfortable spot and latched itself onto Rune’s face. Eighteen tiny daggers pierced through his flesh, sending an electric discharge from the peak of his head to the tip of his toes. Suddenly, it dawned on him. And no sooner than it did, Rune ejected a loud, pain-induced screech out his mouth. It was a massive shockwave that exploded out of his room and enveloped the entirety of the house. “GET THIS THING OFF ME!!” he shouted. He did his best, grasping the monster by its gut in an attempt to separate it from his face, but to no avail. It was starting to look like it had permanently attached itself to him, a fate worse than death, he reckoned. Yet over his stinging afflictions and his own reverberating screams, he detected the sound of a door swinging open, wood rapidly skimming over the floor. He couldn’t see anything, mind you. Or rather, his vision had been completely obscured. What only his eyes gazed upon was the white, fuzzy belly of his attacker.

Nevertheless, her voice cried out, “Tiger, what are you doing?! Get off him right now!”. The miniature beast dressed in an orange, fur coat known as “Tiger”, complied. He retracted his claws, launched from Rune’s face, and expertly landed on the floor beside Leora. Tending to the top of his paw with a series of dellicate licks, he headed for the opened door and left, not before giving a final vexed glare back at his former prey. “I’m sorry,” Leora apologized, leaning over the bed to check on him. “He’s been grumpy, as of late.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Rune grumbled in response. He couldn’t see himself, but he was certain his face was covered in scratch marks. A part of him was too hesitant to check. He merely led his fingers to wherever the pain was the worst and then proceeded to rub it gently. “That cat belongs in a cage. He nearly killed me. And this isn’t the first time, either. I’m starting to think he’s got a personal vendetta against me.”

“He’s a cat, Rune. Quit being paranoid.” Leora quickly drew a magic circle before casting a healing spell on him. His entire face ignited with relief, Rune moaning with pleasure as he felt the minuscule slices into his skin fade away. “Besides, how are you expecting to enlist in the military if you can’t even handle one pesky feline?”

“About that,” he muttered, glancing at his right arm mummified in a cluster of white bandages. “It happened again, didn’t it?”

Leora dropped her chin. “I had to carry you back home, if that’s what you mean.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“There wasn’t anyone around for you to hurt, don’t you remember? Though I’m pretty sure you singed the tails off a couple of squirrels,” she giggled.

“How long was I out for?”

“Tomorrow makes a week. You really overdid it this time, didn’t you?”

“Who am I kidding, Leora. This isn’t working,” Rune said, leaning forward in the bed. “I barely understand how to use my fire magic, even after all this time. I’ll never be accepted into the military academy, not at the rate I’m going.”

“You’ll figure it out, Rune. I know you will. You just have to be patient.”

“Quit feeding him false hope Leora,” said Uncle Max, the man walking into the room leaving behind a trail of smoke wherever he went. Puffing on the lit cigarette jammed halfway into his mouth, he continued, “If he’s not careful, that magic of his will eat him alive. I reckon he won’t even live to see his twentieth birthday.”

“Uncle!” Leora angrily shouted.

“It’s the truth, Lea. No point in denying it.” He trotted to the edge of the bed and pointed a finger at Rune’s bandaged arm. “You aren’t looking to have another “accident”, are ya?”

Rune frowned “No, sir...”

“It’s rare for a mage to survive a magic rejection. You should be praying to Ryas every night from now on that she bestows the blessing of luck onto you.” He expelled darkened plumes out both his nostrils. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, his elbows resting on his knees, Max stared at the floor wearing a mask of contemplation. “So, Rune. What's your play? You still going forward with your plan of enlisting into the military?”

“I am.”

“That no-good captain, filling your head with nonsense,” Max cursed.

“In his defense, joining the military was always something I was interested in. I want to be a combat mage,” Rune countered. “But now, I have even more incentive to do so. If we are to believe the captain’s words, then the only way I can find out who killed my family is if I can make use of the resources the military can provide me.”

“Yes, well that’s all very nice and dandy, but the fact of the matter is, how exactly are you planning on doing so? The Military Academy Entrance Exams are less than a year away. Yet, you’ve hardly made any substantial progress with your fire magic.”

“He’s trying his hardest, Uncle,” Leora said, coming to his aid. “He just needs more time to practice.”

“Like it or not, my sweet, Rune’s time is running out. He can’t always be dependent on you to help him whenever he goes haywire,” Max refuted. “The practice of magic is a delicate art. I’m no mage myself, though I’ve seen what expert combat mages are capable of. It’s impossible to perfect one’s magical abilities on their own, no matter how talented or determined they are. In other words,” Max pulled out a rolled-up piece of newspaper from his side pocket and rested it on top of Rune’s lap. “you’re going to have to find yourself someone to show you the ropes. I’m talking about a master.”

Rune held the paper in his hand, Leora leaning closer so she may attain a better look at it herself. On the front cover, it displayed numerous headlines involving a combat mage. He was a man well into his middle years with cinnamon-colored hair and green eyes that shot his hostile expression straight off the paper. The largest photo on the paper was of him walking down the steps of Military High Command in the capital and throwing his black combat mage onto the floor. The title read, “The Arbor Mage Officially Resigns From The Military.”, before showing subsequent images involving the very same person walking down Savannis’ streets and boarding a train.

“His name is Jacob Andrew. He used to be a close friend of your old man,” Max explained. “Apparently, there was some bad blood between him and a few of his superior officers. What you see there is the result of men refusing to cooperate.”

“Why are you showing this to me?”

“You need a master, do you not?” Max puffed. “Well, there’s a combat mage who’s currently got nothing better to do.”

“You want Rune to be his apprentice?”

“Any brighter ideas? Rune will be a walking pile of ash unless he finds someone willing to train him.”

“What if he refuses?”

“It very well might come to that. However, if this goal of his truly is that important to him, then I would think it’d be in his best interest to, at the very least, try.”

“Where does he live?” Rune asked.

Max smiled. “Not far from here, actually. A quaint little village called Opsis. It’ll only take you a day to get there by train.”

“Alright,” the boy nodded. “Then I know what I must do.”

“You’re actually going through with this?”

“I am,” he confirmed boldly. “Why? Worried about me?”

Leora’s cheeks flushed red. “Q...Quit playing around, d...dummy! I’m just curious about this Andrew fellow. I mean, we haven’t even met him before. He could be trouble.”

“If he is, then I’ll just send him flying with a fireball to the face!” smirked Rune.

“Cut it out! I’m being serious!”

“As am I. Leora, the military won’t even give me a chance if I can’t use my magic properly. This is something I absolutely have to do,” he told her, staring into the girl’s concerned eyes. “And if this Jacob guy really doesn’t want to train me, then I’ll just come back here. No questions asked.”

Leora glanced at her uncle, maybe hoping he’d side with her. Instead, Max chuckled to himself, telling his niece, “Always worried about others, aren’t you, little one. Trust me, you might not be fond of the idea, but if Rune’s going to make any progress as a mage, he’ll need the support of an expert.”

“But...”

“Let him go, Leora,” Max advised, stepping to the door. “If Ryas smiles down on us, then Rune might make a good combat mage yet.”

The girl looked back at Rune, the fire-starting mageborn fostering an awkward grin. In response, Leora made a frown. Then, without so much as a warning, she lunged forward, wrapping her arms around her partially astonished friend. Her embrace was so tight it bereaved his throbbing muscles, and yet, he couldn’t care less. What he chose to do next was simply hug her as well, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Just promise me you’ll stay safe, alright? And that you’ll call us every day,” she instructed.

Rune grinned. “Yes ma’am.”

“I’m scared. I don’t want to lose you too...”

“You won’t,” he reassured her. “Soon, I’ll become a powerful combat mage. You’ll never have to worry about me again, Leora. I give you my word.”

She laughed into his chest. “I’ll hold you to that then.”

Just like Uncle Max had said, it hadn’t taken him very long to reach Opsis.

He used to think that Primrose was as small and humble as a countryside town could get. He was quickly proven wrong, however, as he stepped out of its train station that came in the form of a small house made of wood. Opsis consisted of many, identical yet charming cottages. One or two-stories building conceived of cragged, white stone. Rock roads dug into the earth, forming pathways leading to various spots around the village.

At first, Rune wasn’t quite sure of where he was meant to look. All that he knew of Jacob Andrew was that he was a retired combat mage. With little else to work with, he simply relied on the words and advice of Opsis’ citizens. He searched in what appeared to be a shopping district judging by the multiple open-air stalls fixed on both sides of the street. One man with a scruffy beard told him he’d seen Jacob earlier this very morning, instructing him to stop by the pub near the town square. It was Jacob’s favorite spot. And so that’s what Rune did.

He followed stone pathways to the heart of the village, a large circle-shaped area surrounded by cottages and shops. The tavern named The Silver Dragon was a rather puny building with broken windows, a roof riddled with holes, and a drunkard slumbering by its entrance. Nevertheless, Rune went inside, trying his best not to gag from the strong scent of stale beer infesting the atmosphere. He spoke with the bartender of the establishment, a young woman with nappy, brown hair. Spitting into a glass mug before cleaning its contents with a rag, she said he just missed the mage and that if he wanted to speak with him, he should try visiting the post office. Releasing an aggravated groan, Rune complied.

The nice thing about Opsis is that, compared to Primrose, at least, all of its buildings were situated very close together. This meant Rune wasn’t forced to walk very far from place to place. Additionally, from what he could tell so far, its residents were very welcoming and respectable folks. Even the drunkards in the tavern he had just visited were kind enough to offer him a drink before he left. That being said, however, it seemed as if nobody had any clue as to where they could find the person he was after. One told him to look at the local archives, the next sent him to a fish market near a river on the outskirts of the town. The sun was threatening to retire behind the curtain of the horizon before his wild goose chase offered the slightest indication of a conclusion.

His search took him to a small cottage where he met an elderly woman by the name of Dorothy tending to her garden of flowers and plants. Watering a patch of vegetables, she chuckled, “Sounds like you’ve been a busy bee, young one. Old Jacob is giving you a run for your money, is he?”

“I only want to speak with him, miss,” he replied, softly closing the aging fence to her property as he entered.

“Yes, well, that Jacob can be a very elusive man when he’s ready. A part of me was shocked when he left the town claiming he’d become a famous combat mage that fought for the people.”

“I hear he’s a good man. Which is why I want him to train me,” Rune said. “Please miss, I have to find him. If you don’t know where he is now, then possibly, could you tell me where he lives?”

Dorothy stopped what she was doing and stared at the boy, circles birthed underneath her eyes. “Listen, son, I don’t think that’s the smartest idea.”

“How do you figure?”

“As I said, Jacob really doesn’t like to be around people, especially when something’s bothering him. He hasn’t been the same since he returned to us. And I don’t believe pestering him with talks of training you will do him any good either. If you want my advice, I suggest leaving him be for now. Let him come to you.”

“I’m afraid I cannot. I’m striving to enroll in the Military Academy, I absolutely cannot afford to waste any more time than I already have.”

“You...want to become a combat mage? But, you’re so young?”

“I’ve got no other option, Miss Dorothy.” Clasping his hands together, Rune uttered his desperate plea. “Please, for the sake of everything I’m trying to achieve, I have to meet him right away.”

Dorothy frowned in disappointment. “I don’t see any good coming out of this. But I can sympathize with a young man’s passion to serve his country.” Dorothy turned and pointed her finger off into the distance. Behind the security of their little village lay a grand collection of titanic trees, their shadows creeping across the earth as more and more sunlight fled with the arrival of the coming dusk. “Only us at Opsis know the truth, and we’re not too keen on opening our lids to outsiders. Jacob lives inside the depths of Grandwind Grove. Says the peace and quiet helps him concentrate on his studies and meditation.”

Rune gaped emptily. “He lives...inside the woods?”

“He does indeed. Ever the recluse, that Jacob,” Dorothy lightly chuckled. “Saw him venture there yesterday afternoon. Hasn’t come out since. I can’t guarantee you’ll find him there now, but it's a good place to check.”

“Thank you, ma’am!” Rune ran out of the garden and hopped over the fence. “I’ll go see him right this instant!”

“But I haven’t even told you the directions. You go poking about aimlessly inside Grandwind and you’ll never find your way out.”

Rune canceled his sprint, turning to face the woman with crimson cheeks and an embarrassed smile. “Fair point, ma’am,” he chuckled.

“A word to the wise, boy,” she called after him. “Jacob doesn’t like it much when he’s disturbed. Especially by folks he hasn’t met. You’d do yourself well to prepare for the worst.”

“R...Right!”

He didn’t show it much. In reality, he was slightly hesitant about this whole situation. Dorothy’s foreboding comments didn’t do much to alleviate him of his worries. And neither did the enormous mass of trees he faced. Sucking in a mountain’s worth of air, he stepped inside, following a stone-made trail. He snuck a glance backward, watching as Opsis Village became smaller and smaller in the distance until finally, it disappeared from his vision entirely. He was now alone, in a huge forest he’d never been to before. Logically speaking, there really shouldn’t be anything to be afraid of. Not only had he spent many hours practicing in the woods near Primrose, but he was also a mage, a fire mage, to be exact. A single fireball would ward away any hungry bear or wolf that sought to make him their next meal. That being said, however, as the sun vanished as the moon took its place in the sky, so did his confidence.

He heard the rustle and bustle of creatures scampering throughout the bushes and undergrowth. Owls screeched from their perches atop tree branches. Distant cries and howls echoed throughout the forest, Rune doing his best to ignore them. The further he advanced within Grandwind's unwelcoming confines, the more fear began to hunt him.

According to Dorothy, he only needed to follow the path ahead where he would eventually come to find a patch of shimmering hyacinths resting at the foot of an old oak tree. Once he did, he would then travel west past an enormous boulder infested with plantlife and through a thick barrier of festooning thorn vines. This last obstacle proved to be an especially arduous task, Rune struggling to navigate his way amidst the spiky cluster of verdant pythons. Although, compared to Tiger, they weren’t that bad. At least the plants wouldn’t try to suffocate him to death whilst maintaining a strong and painful death grip on his face.

Stumbling outside the swarm of vines and into a forest clearing, Rune found himself staring at exactly what Dorothy had described to him: a small, one-storied wooden cottage sitting atop a grassy hill. A flock of flickering fireflies fluttered about the area, providing for him an additional source of light that wasn’t the crescent moon above. Recomposing himself, and wiping his clothing clean of vine-inflicted stains, Rune climbed the elevation of earth and knocked on the door.

“Hello? Mr. Andrew, are you in there?” No response. Rune tried again, this time knocking a little harder than earlier. “Mr. Andrew! My name is Rune, Rune Ransford! I’m here because I’ve heard you are an exceptional mage! You see, I’m trying to become a combat mage as well. Only, I’m having a little trouble controlling my magic. I was hoping that you would help me, by becoming my master!” Still, no response. At this point, Rune was wondering if the mage was even home. He banged the tips of his knuckles on the hardened surface once more, only this time, the door slowly crawled open. It was already unlocked? He peered inside, failing to find anything amidst the darkness. Then, as he was about to step foot into the cottage, his eyes detected a flash of green light. The brief blaze of energy was quickly accompanied by a moaning creak that unsettled Rune’s ears.

Ejecting out the darkness of the cottage, it targeted the mage and rapidly shot directly at him. Releasing a startled yelp, Rune leaped from the doorstep. Its wooden walls cracked as the building’s glass windows shattered into fragments and its door was blown off its hinges, spiraling through the air and crashing into the canopy of a nearby tree. Shooting out of the cottage's entrance was an elongated, bloated branch of wood. It extended several feet across the forest floor, slamming into the spot Rune would have been had he not dodged its attack. The branch then proceeded to pull its head out of the ground and retract back to the mageborn standing outside his heavily damaged patio.

“Well, what do we have here? Another military dog breathing down my neck?” Crouched on the floor, Rune glanced up to find none other than Jacob Andrew, the Arbor Mage in the flesh. His face boiled with rage as the glow of the tome floating beside him engulfed him in a layer of emerald. “Better hope there’s a medical mage nearby, kid,” he muttered, cracking each of his right hand’s fingers. “Tonight we’re having a slaughter.”