God-Kissed: Book 1 (The Apprentices)

by Clark Bolton

  Autbek slowly withdrew the ring and thanked him for the opinion. It seemed one more mystery and complication in his life. Deciding it was time to look after Neustus anyway so he might as well ask the man-bird some questions about Ausic-Trainers. Excusing himself he walked up the tower stairs to the third level.

  The door was warded now, so he had to mutter some arcane-script to open it. Inside he found only Neustus, and as expected he was nearly unmoving and quiet as he stared out the windows. “Are you hungry, sir?” Autbek asked, expecting no answer as usual.

  Clicks and whistles followed the question and then finally Neustus whispered, “Autbek … welcome.”

  He found it more of a greeting then usual but not entirely new. “Neustus, I have questions about something I’ve heard of. It’s called an Ausic-Trainer. Do you know what that is or perhaps who that would be?”

  Neustus blinked for a while and made his usual litany of sounds. “Yes … a teacher.”

  The reply made the hairs on Autbek’s neck stand up. He asked more questions and got more lucid replies from Neustus, making him think that Neustus was progressing again since the cycle of the moon seemed wrong for this high level of conversation. Toward the end of their conversation Neustus even clarified the details of the chamber he needed and went on to talk of the Gitra priests.

  “... they will come, Autbek. Let them bring their details … merge them with mine.”

  “Yes, sir.” He did not like the sound of this, but did not let Neustus know.

  “... also, you practice … from the Grimoire Rassboatta … find in library.”

  “I know it, Neustus … but I don’t understand why.”

  “... important … you must!”

  Autbek inhaled deeply and paused as he thought about all the things “he must do.” The number seemed to grow daily. “I will, sir.”

  “Now … you must travel … and soon.”

  “Travel … where?”

  “Urbourkas … there are remains … two brethren … Autbek … take their rings.”

  The air seemed to chill as the weight of this request fell upon him. He had heard of Urbourkas from somewhere, but could not recall where. Traveling was not something he wanted right now, particularly with all the other things he had planned.

  “Neustus … I will try but I don’t know when I can go.”

  “Soon…my apprentice will do…oath first…then travel.”

  Autbek walked slowly down the stairs in a daze after futile attempts to get concessions from Neustus, who in the end simply ignored him. As he came to the library he heard a familiar voice talking with Un Papp.

  “When you have time, Eifled, I would talk with you.” He knew Eifled would take that as urgent. Walking out through the hall and into the courtyard he breathed in the fresh air for a while, and when Haspeth emerged from his bedroom looking quite hung-over. It brought a much needed smile to his face.

  “My friend, we are traveling … or did you not hear.”

  Haspeth stopped for a moment and rubbing his eyes replied, “Nope!”

  Autbek refused to say more as he waved to Onaleen and Resbeka on his way out of the courtyard for a walk in the countryside. He found spring in full bloom which he figured made sense as the Summer Festival was not too far away. The thick green grasses, mixed with wild flowers, crunched softly under his boots as he walked with no particular destination in mind.

  “I wonder if I should bring that Grimoire with me?” He mused as he thought about reading it at the various inns he would stop at on this trip that Neustus wanted. Then it occurred to him where he had heard of Urbourkas before. It had been from Sterncast and from Tenric, both of whom had come to Astrum on ships, so that seemed to imply an ocean voyage.

  Autbek had never been on a ship, and could not swim so he figured he was going to have to compensate once again with spells. That thought brought him to the conclusion that this was what being a mage was all about. Compensating for something you could not normally do.

  “Wonder why there are so few of us?” He muttered as he stood watching insects buzz about and birds fly. “If we are so damn useful for troll hunting and the like should there not be thousands of us!” He said aloud to no one.

  He turned back toward the tower when he heard someone calling to him. It was Eifled, who came walking toward him. “Scholar to us all.” He said in greetings.

  “Yes, O’t, good to see a change in mood. But now have a look at this and then tell me what is so urgent.” Eifled handed a piece of parchment to Autbek upon which Un Papp had translated a poem from the Tesslodken Sta he had been restoring.

  Autbek began reading it slowly to himself then stopped after several lines realizing it had the feel of arcane-script about it. “Wow, Eifled, is this a spell of some kind?”

  “You tell me!” Eifled beamed.

  “It could be … but I don’t know the language … or do I?” There were three stanzas to the poem with each being about twenty lines long. He could read it some as he studied it more but much of it contained unfamiliar words.

  “It’s a variant of Tesslodken I have not seen before and Un Papp is telling me it is in one of the first-languages as he calls them. Akin to high-elven he thinks and I tend to agree.”

  “It looks familiar somehow, or at least this first part does, but I don’t even know what high-elven is.”

  “The pages before it in the Sta refer to Yessonaneigh, a deity of old, and this poem is mentioned as a song that calls to her in the spring.”

  “Some kind of blessing then? Maybe we need a priest to look at it.” He mused aloud as he looked up to see the three girls slowly approaching as they stopped occasionally to frolic among the wildflowers. Onaleen looked beautify he thought as she reached down to pick flowers. This exposed her bosom, which she had been doing more of he noticed since settling in at the tower.

  “O’t, did you hear me? What was so urgent this morning?”

  “Oh … umm ...yeah the viken, from last night, they, with some help from Pemmesa, seem to have divined something of the future. Enough to scare them into leaving, the city anyway.”

  “I have heard the name viken before I think.” Eifled mused. “A group with some minor knowledge of the prophecy or so someone mentioned, though I don’t recall ever meeting one of their number in Bene Aimont.”

  Autbek shrugged as he answered a few questions on what he knew of the viken. “Oh, Neustus is sending me to retrieve some more rings!” He said as he headed for the girls.

  “Not some more crypts I hope, and don’t forget you have yet to wear one yourself. Which brings up the question of your taking the Ausic oath?” Eifled said in frustration as Autbek turned his back to him, obviously distracted by pretty girls.

  “Lovely as always ladies … now come I have a spring poem for you!” Autbek waved the parchment as he strode toward the girls. Handing it to Onaleen he relieved her of her flowers and waited to hear their impression of it.

  The three girls huddled happily together studying the poem for a while as Autbek sat down on the grass and sniffed flowers. Three more persons had emerged from the courtyard now, Haspeth, followed by Castor and Lita. They saw him and were now walking his way.

  Smiling at the fact so many had come to enjoy the spring he asked the girls, “Shall we call to the dwarves, ladies … perhaps they will enjoy these flowers as well!”

  The girls chuckled at the suggestion but kept to studying the poem. As Haspeth approached Resbeka exclaimed that she knew the first part, or something close to it.

  “It is a spring song! My mom taught it to me when I was a girl.” Resbeka then began singing it in a very pleasant tone.

  Autbek could hear the common words between the poem and her song though the language was totally different. Resbeka was singing in the common tongue with bits of Tesslodken mixed in, but there was enough there to convince him she did indeed know a variation of the poem. “Anybody else know it?”

  Everyone, including a rather grumpy Haspeth shook thei
r head no at the question. As the girls began teaching each other the song and then augmenting it from the parchment Eifled felt compelled to ask. “Is this safe, O’t?” Referring to the fact that originally Autbek had thought it might be a spell.

  Autbek shrugged with indifference. “Maybe. Anyway-”

  “RING … RING … RING.”

  They were just close enough to the tower to hear Neustus’s signal his interest in something out on the road. They all looked over to the Kings-road but could see nothing of interest from their vantage point.

  “Onaleen, time for you to handle one!” Autbek announced in his rather uncharacteristic carefree tone as he looked to the tower. She was familiar now with Neustus to the point where she helped him clean the man-bird and even talked with him some.

  “Must I?” She asked with concern.

  “Yes you must, now Haspeth go make sure some horses are made ready in case Murac needs to ride off again.”

  Autbek and Castor, with Lita in tow, decided to walk around the tower to see if they could see someone of interest while the three girls ran off to the tower followed slowly by Eifled. Autbek kept asking himself why he was not more interested in the bells but then decided from this moment forward he was not going to make himself do it all. Some of his apprentices had more than proved themselves capable of functioning without him being present. I just have too much to do, he thought.

  There were a few traveling at present on Kings-road and they could see an oxcart or two on Earls-way but nothing really caught their eye. Turning toward the tower they could see someone standing in the window. They waved at who they thought was Resbeka and she waved back but nothing more than that.

  “Not seeing anything, Castor, but I guess that’s not unusual at first.”

  “Hope it’s not another red-man.” Castor commented, referring to the man dressed in red that they had followed for days.

  “Well, we are after Ausic Rings so be prepared.”

  They walked back toward the tower until they were within shouting range. “See anything?” He yelled up to the Resbeka in the window.

  “Neustus says he is near already!” Came the reply.

  “Near already! Hmm, not seeing anybody yet. Let’s walk all the way around.” They proceeded to walk the entire way around the tower until they neared the main gate into the courtyard. Here dwarves had formed a large worksite, filled with construction materials brought in from the city including cobblestones by the hundreds and thick timbers. The dwarves paid them little mind as they past.

  Standing to look back at the city gates in the distance for a few moments Autbek discovered he was now alone, so he decided to head into the hall and wait from there. Passing Haspeth and Murac, who were assisting some guards in getting several horses ready, he found the hall deserted. He decided to go into the library rather than climb up to Neustus as he wanted the girls to handle things without him for once.

  The gnome watched the man walk through the gate from a distance knowing he could not be seen himself. He had used almost the last bit of fairy-dust that he had brought to make the crossing of the wide road a few minutes ago. It was darn handy stuff as it allowed him to blend into the fields and trees so as to avoid the larger folk who always seemed put off by his kind.

  “Appaloupe, I think you made it … and there are even dwarves about!” He said to himself as he walked toward the dwarves worksite. They could be like cousins often, if you caught them in the right mood and did not pester them much, which with dwarves was a pretty easy thing to do.

  The dwarves had not seen him yet he realized as he stood about twenty paces from the nearest one. So brushing dust off him as best he could he broke the illusion spell and then kindly asked the dwarves where he was.

  “Ah! Now be damned … a gazzarhoth it is boys!” One of them said to the others, using the dwarven word for gnome.

  “Wait now … that just might be that Castor lad playing about again!’ Another replied.

  “Excuse me?” Appaloupe said putting on his best smile.

  “Be you mage or gnome … and this here stone will ring true on either one of ya!” The first dwarf said while tossing about a bit of cobble stone in his hand, obviously threatening to throw it if it turned out to be Castor.

  “Could be little Lita!” Another dwarf warned, which made the first one scoff and then drop his stone.

  “I’m sorry, sirs, I’m looking for the mage tower of Astrum. I’m told it would be outside the city and I don’t see any other towers.”

  “This be it. You’ll want one of the mages then … you’ll find them that way.” The dwarf pointed and then proceeded to go back to what he was doing.

  “Thank you!” Appaloupe then walked through the gates past several dwarves who gave him surprised looks but said nothing more than hello. Looking around he could see several huge horses with some men on the other side of them not too far from him, and a large doorway where several dwarves were attaching a door.

  “Through the door there, I think you can squeeze by.”

  Appaloupe turned to see who had spoken, expecting to see a dwarf but instead he found two gnomes like himself. One was a male about his age and the other a very comely young lady gnome.

  “Oh, I did not know there would be gnomes here yet … well I mean I thought I might be the first.”

  “You are!” The lady gnome announced. “I’m Lita, what’s your name.”

  “Umm that would be Appaloupe, pleased to make your acquaintance.” He said with a slight bow, obviously confused by her comments.

  “I’m Castor, pleased to meet you.”

  Appaloupe was then directed toward the hall while the two other gnomes waved goodbye. Not sure about those two, now that he thought about, he proceeded on anyway past some dwarves and into the hall where he found absolutely no one.

  “Hello!” He called out hesitantly.

  Castor walked in past him, now looking his normal self. “O’t, gnome here to see you!” Sitting down at the large table Castor gestured for Appaloupe to sit. “He will be here in a minute I think.”

  “Oh … right! A gnome hey!” Appaloupe grinned at Castor, figuring out things now. He sat down beside the boy and looked about while they waited. It did not take long for then a door opened from across the hall and three rather large men approached. One of them he recognized as a Un Sha monk, which told him he was indeed in the right place.

  The younger man introduced himself. “Greetings, I’m Autbek, the Vis Mage-Councilor.” Before the man could say more than that one of the other began filling him in about how the monk was expecting scribes to join him here at the tower and that this was likely one of them.

  “That’s right, Appaloupe, at your service. Sorry if you were expecting more, but I think they might be coming later as I’m one of those independent scribes that gets called on from time to time. Not one of those Un Garrethzatch types, though I do speak it some!” He grinned.

  There was silence for a few moments as the men took in what he said, and then the monk spoke up. “Pleased, Appaloupe, that my masters have seen it wise to assign you to this library.”

  “Yes, thank you.” Appaloupe bowed hoping he was up to the task since this was actually his first assignment as a scribe.

  Eifled then started asking him a bunch of questions that he did his best to answer until some rather lovely ladies joined them. Then the questions really started.

  “Oh my gosh, is this who Neustus saw?” Onaleen asked as she allowed the gnome to kiss her hand. “You're a dwarf?”

  “Ha-ha! No sorry my lady … I’m a gnome, though I know men have trouble sometimes telling us from dwarves. Not something I understand though. I mean you look like elves but I can’t say I would ever think you one.”

  They all chuckled as his pleasant disposition and invited him to sit down and have something to eat, which he readily accepted. He had been on the road for a few weeks with not much to eat but what he could catch himself. The questions were polite and when he was ser
ved real bacon he found himself happy to be on his first job.

  “I don’t get it, this is his first job and he walked across most of Astrum by himself to take it.” Autbek asked of Eifled after they had adjourned to the second floor of the tower.

  “Seems so, Un Papp tells me he had asked for help though it’s not yet clear to me how he asked for it. Something to do with spiritual or mystical communication techniques I think, though I expect you would view it as magic. Anyway he knew not if and when any scribes were coming. Sounds like Appaloupe knows though, so I think we should expect three more and these should be the more formal kind.”

  “Well he is certainly not formal. Cute little fellow though … and the girls love him already.” Autbek chuckled.

  “Hope they like what’s coming as they sound quite different. Gnomes though they are they are likely to be from the far south or so Un Papp thinks. He is pretty tight lipped about the Un Sha temple and its ways, but will say these gnomes are often employed with important libraries … and with the Sta we have, I think this one is at the top of their list.”

  “Well sounds like the library is in good hands I think. But now I need to discuss with you and Berdtom how we are to get to Urbourkas, which by the way I have no idea where that is.”

  “May I ask who’s going, O’t and when?”

  He furrowed his brow and thought for few moments. “I don’t have the answer yet to either one. I do know Neustus expects me to recite that oath you provided before I leave.”

  “Well I know of Urbourkas as it has a reputation of sorts. I’ll see if I can’t find a map of where it is. Have you been told what land it lies in?

  “Nope, but I do know we need to get there and back before winter.”

  “You are referring to the viken and that little prophecy of theirs?”

  “That’s a little strong I think … more like a glimpse into the future, and yes I think it means something.”

  “Let’s have a meeting this evening then with everyone. Your apprentices, Berdtom, Murac, and with Un Papp as he is quite knowledgeable about other nations though you have to pry it from him.”