An Unexpected Apprentice

by Jody Lynn Nye

  “How different it is,” Magpie breathed, as each stroke revealed more beauties. Mosaics, their colors bright and alive, offered elegant designs that sprawled and burgeoned around each angle and each window frame. Statues of armed warriors loomed from recesses, sending a warning to any would-be invader to stay away. He felt their power. They were so well made that he could pick out likenesses in the faces to members of his family and paintings in the royal gallery. “It never looked like this. It was a shell. This is a work of art.”

  “This is how it was in its glory days,” Edynn said. “I have seen the illustrations in ancient books. Oron Castle was the wonder of the world. Beings of all races worked upon its construction and ornamentation. Our thief has reconstructed it exactly.”

  The Madcloud did not seem to like people ignoring it. A stripe of blue lightning blasted out of the sky with a deafening boom of thunder, and knocked one of the banners off the tower, along with the stone pillar on which it had been mounted. It plummeted to earth behind the keep. The crash of its landing made the party jump.

  “Where is he, Tildi?”

  Wordlessly, the smallfolk girl pointed a finger at the tall tower. She could feel the other waiting for her there, with the book. She wanted it more than anything in her life. It would not matter to her if the other killed her, as long as she could touch it before she died.

  “Good girl,” Edynn said. She put a hand on Tildi’s head, and the longing passed. Tildi relaxed, and realized she was miserably wet. “Where are the stairs?”

  “This way,” Magpie said. They left their horses in the yard, and followed the young man. He led them up onto a broad courtyard lined with tubs of growing vegetables. Huge, blocky stairs of white granite led upward around the outside of the square tower to the next courtyard. Teryn and Morag signed to the others to keep well back, and began to climb toward the next level.

  The moment they put their feet on the steps, the lowest stair rolled upright, knocking the two guards flying. Tildi screamed. She saw the stones’ runes changing as they rose up on end and began to take on definition. Legs, arms, and a blocky torso with a terrible, square head with twin gouges for eyes and a slit below for a mouth.

  The slit opened wide, and emitted a terrifying bellow.

  Teryn did not hesitate at all to take on the new enemy. She rolled up onto her feet and charged at the giant, sword raised. She struck it across the midsection. The metal clashing emitted sparks, but left no mark at all. Teryn gawked, but swung around in a circle and aimed another sweeping blow at its knees. It raised one bricklike arm and smashed at her. Teryn raised her shield just in time. It spread out the force of the blow, but Teryn staggered backwards from the force. Morag leaped and thrust with his polearm at the gap between the creature’s body and head. He managed to drive the thin blade into the gap, and levered downward. The head popped off, and the creature stopped moving.

  “That did it!” he shouted. He leaned down to help Teryn to her feet.

  Behind them, the next highest step was turning into two stone monsters, and the next one, three. Magpie cried out a warning to Teryn. The guards turned at bay. Magpie plunged in, sword raised, and just managed to parry one of the new creatures from striking Teryn on the head. It missed, and roared its frustration. The guards joined him in trying to knock its head off. Rin galloped forward to help. Her chosen weapon, he whip, was less than useless against stone, but she turned and kicked at the nearest monster with her rear hooves. She managed to dislodge the right arm of one, and knock the leg out from under another. The disabled stone beasts still crawled after the moving prey, but Lakanta plunged in, battering at the fallen ones with her club. The company made progress in decimating the ranks, but more and more came on.

  “This is more our task, daughter,” Edynn said. She and Serafina pointed their staffs at the stone giants. The gems at the top glowed. Spheres of red and white fire hurtled toward the creatures. Where they struck, the granite slagged and melted. Edynn concentrated her spells on the legs, working to immobilize the giants.

  Tildi stared dumbly. She was afraid to get anywhere near the creatures. Their fists were larger than her whole body. She stared at the runes aglow against the white of their square bodies. How had he altered them into moving beings? How did he know what to do? Could she turn them back into steps? She had only seen Olen perform an alteration of a rune once, when he changed the candle and made it explode. Transformation lessons were not going to be until later in the year.

  But she knew what the rune for a stone looked like. Like hers, their runes were unlocked. She saw the parts that were different from the word for stone. She reached out as if she could touch the rune of the nearest giant, who was fighting with the minstrel-prince. Stone, she thought, stripping away the other characteristics with her fingers. They resisted, as if she was breaking candles apart. Stone only!

  To her astonishment, the creature froze to a halt, its huge fist raised in midair. It lost definition, its features disappearing into the bulk of stone. Magpie gawked at it for a moment, then looked around and saw the smallfolk girl with her hands outstretched.

  “Whatever you did, Tildi, keep doing it!” Another stone giant threatened him. He leaped out of its way as it struck the ground with its huge arms. The floor shook.

  Could she do it again? She must. More giants rolled down from what had been the staircase, landing on the floor with a tremendous boom! The defenders did their best to keep away from the newcomers, who already outnumbered them two to one. The wizards could not keep up. Every time Serafina or Edynn made one stop moving, three more came behind it.

  “Behind you, Serafina!” Rin reared up and kicked at the giant with her forelegs. It staggered backward half a pace, then strode up and knocked the centaur flying with a single backhand blow. Rin flew across the floor in a tangle of limbs and long hair. Serafina spun and pointed her staff at the beast. Its face slagged, but it kept moving toward her. Tildi concentrated on the creature that had hurt her friend, hoping she could repeat the success of her first try. Its rune felt tangible to her. She began to break pieces off it. The monster seemed to sense the attack and turned toward her, arm raised to strike. It froze. Tildi stared. It had worked!

  The lightning struck down at them, striking in between defender and foe alike. Tildi tried to concentrate on the next beast, but the giants had noticed her now, and turned to move toward her. Instead of mere holes in their faces, she thought she saw strange, bulgy blue eyes gazing at her. They terrified her so much she lost all thought of reshaping them. She turned to run away. More of the giants were behind her, reaching for her, closing off her escape. Tildi dodged to the right and left, looking for a way out of the shrinking circle of stone. One giant raised its arm.

  Edynn’s cold fire melted the arm before the blow fell. Tildi took the opportunity offered, and ducked behind it while it tried to turn its inflexible body to use its good arm instead. One of its fellows slammed it in mistake. She gasped, feeling stone chips raining down on her. She hurried to get near one of the wizards. She could not be lucky like that always. They must hit her sometime, and it would take only one blow to kill.

  Edynn beckoned to her. She was fending off four giants by herself, but as Tildi neared she started to form a wall of wards with one hand. “You at least must survive. Get behind this shield.”

  “I can help,” Tildi said, though her voice was choked with fear. Edynn shook her head.

  “We are too outnumbered. Keep the wards intact. Save yourself. Only you can rescue the book.” She pushed Tildi into the shining silver cage and went back to her work. The giants noticed the smallfolk girl, and lumbered over. They raised their enormous hands over their heads and brought them down in a tremendous blow upon the top of the little shelter. The entire room shook. Tildi cowered, shielding her head, fearing that any moment they would crush her. Edynn did not let her down: the magic that protected her was more powerful than the one that gave life to the giants. Pieces broke off their arms, but they kept trying
to break through. She huddled in a ball on the ground, too frightened to concentrate on changing their runes.

  “Here! This way! Hurry!”

  Tildi looked up at the sound of strange voices. From around the corner of the building, a man in blue-and-white livery jumped up on top of the wall. He surveyed the site, and beckoned to whoever was following him. A host of men and women in the same garb came running, wielding swords and war hammers.

  “Anathema!” boomed a woman with a round, pale face and strands of chestnut hair peeping out from under her soaking wet blue coif. “Destroy the creatures!”

  Magpie hissed with pain. He had dodged the wrong way when the giant he was fighting swung its arms at him. It had taken him full on the shoulder. It felt almost crushed to pulp. Wincing, he squeezed his fingers. They closed, though the movement cost him agony. Not broken, thank the Father. Lucky it wasn’t his sword arm. He hopped back and forth, trying to get an opening where he could move in and stick his blade under the thing’s chin. His sword was almost too light for the job, but he’d decapitated one of the giants already. He had never seen anything like these creatures. They looked like toy soldiers made by someone who only had blocks of soap to work with. The sword threatened to twist in his wet hand. With his teeth he tore loose a piece of his sleeve and used it to wrap the hilt. Better. One of the giants swung at him. He ducked, and the thing’s hand slammed into the castle wall over his head.

  Behind him, he heard cries. A male voice that he first took for the guard made him look up. Through the rain he spotted a flash of blue and white. To his horror he saw a strange man dressed in the livery of the Knights of the Word. He groaned. How could they be here? The first one beckoned, and an entire chapter’s worth of knights came pouring into the courtyard, with Sharhava at their head.

  “Help us!” Rin bellowed.

  Sharhava gave the centaur a look of pure disgust. She wouldn’t turn a hand to save what she saw as an unnatural species, but spotted the natural humans threatened by the stone giants, and made a sign over her head. The knights spread out across the courtyard, wielding sword and hammer or ax, and waded into the fray. Magpie felt relief. With the Scholardom’s help they might be able to fight their way inside and find the book.

  His eye was caught by one of the newly arrived fighters. Near the wall was a shapely figure that he would have recognized if she had been wearing a sack. Inbecca! The set look on her face when she spotted him watching her told him all he needed to know. The knights had followed his trail all the way from the castle. No time for the inevitable argument now. They were fighting for their lives.

  Teryn and the others shouted instructions over the roar of the rain to the knights on the best places to strike the stone giants. A lucky thrust from her blade sent the head of one monster tumbling across the flagstones. A cry of acknowledgment went up, and the fighters began to angle for a position to take down the rest, all the while trying not to be crushed to death by the behemoths. It was not easy going. The giants seemed unmoved by the rain and lightning, and did not care which of the intruders they attacked. Magpie fought against one after another, shifting until he was striking away at the same monster as Inbecca.

  “What are you doing with her?” he blurted out. “Why did you join the Knights?”

  “What choice did you leave me?” Inbecca asked, flailing angrily at a stone simulacrum twice her height. She looked dignified and fierce, in spite of wearing a habit too large for her, and dripping with rain. “I was disgraced before the courts of five nations! Sharhava offered me a way out with honor.”

  “I’m sorry,” Magpie said lamely. A stone hand as large as his head swung, and he ducked. A bolt of red energy blasted over his head and the hand melted. He pulled Inbecca back to avoid the steaming droplets that dribbled to the ground.

  “I do not care,” Inbecca said, between gritted teeth. She pulled herself loose and glared at him. “All we want is the book. Where is it?”

  Magpie pointed at the castle. “One of the Shining Ones has it. He caused these creatures to come to life. We have to survive to get it.”

  “Then we shall,” Inbecca said, with a furious look at him. “After that, you and I will part forever.”

  His heart sank. That was not the moment to convince her otherwise, though. The number of giants seemed to grow endlessly. The defenders found themselves being herded backwards toward the corner of the terrace. Two knights died as the press of stone monsters closed in on them, flailing with their enormous limbs. Another was caught by a stroke of bilious green lightning that met an upraised sword. The knight stood still for a moment, then toppled, his habit on fire. The giants walked right over him in pursuit of living quarry.

  Magpie leaped up on the wall over which the knights had come. He looked around for Tildi. He saw the smallfolk girl trapped in a corner. Four of the giants were beating against a cage of light in which she had taken sanctuary. The light around her was growing more feeble by the moment. He leaped down again, and thrust his way through the crowd of giants. He levered the head off the nearest one, then hammered at the others until they noticed him. The distraction was just in time. Tildi’s protection faded to nothingness as soon as they turned away from her. With a grateful look she dashed toward the two wizardesses. Magpie ducked blows from the circle of attackers, then made a face at them. They lumbered toward him, arms out.

  He ran back to the waist-high wall and leaped over it, looking for the path down into the city. The giants followed, more slowly but as inexorably as an avalanche. Instead of climbing the wall, they smashed at it with their hands and walked through the gap. Magpie changed directions and ran over the flagstones.

  A burst of white light whistled past his ear. He flattened on the terraced pavement and looked up. Edynn stood over him. She threw another bolt. The centaur was there, too, kicking at the attackers. She had a bloody wound on the side of her head. The blond peddler woman laid about her with her club. Her braids had come undone, leaving her round face surrounded by lank streamers of hair. She was doing surprising damage to the giants for her size. Lakanta gave him a companionable grin.

  “We’ll take as many with us as we can,” she said. “I fear we’re making little headway, though.”

  “He can increase his army almost infinitely,” Edynn said.

  “Can’t you stop him?” Magpie asked. “You’re one of the most powerful wizards in the world.”

  “Our powers are not balanced as long as he has the Great Book,” Edynn said. “I can buy you some time, I believe. This will call for the most desperate of measures.” She glanced behind her. The defenders were being herded toward the castle doors. “Can we open those?”

  “Consider it done,” Rin said. She leaned forward onto her front hooves, and kicked out powerfully to the rear. The ornate doors flew open behind them and banged against the walls. Inside was a vast room, empty but for a few statues. The company and the knights began to move inside. At Edynn’s signal, Teryn picked up Tildi and carried her into the castle hall.

  “Go,” Edynn said, raising her staff and knocking back another giant. “Hurry, inside!”

  “One thin door won’t keep those stone monsters out,” Rin declared.

  “I will keep them back,” Edynn insisted. “Inside!”

  “No, Mother!” Serafina shouted over the rain. Her eyes went wide with fear.

  Edynn smiled at her, her long white hair plastered to her head. “We cannot deal with all three menaces at once. He can keep us out here infinitely, creating more and more giants, until there are none of us able to challenge him.” She reached up to touch her daughter’s cheek. “We all have our tasks, Serafina. This is mine. I may be wrong. We may all be wrong. Let it be so.”

  “Please, Mother, let me stay here with you,” Serafina begged.

  “They have no chance without you,” Edynn said simply. “Tildi has no chance. You must stay with her. Help her. Teach her. Now. Now is your time. Hurry!” She pushed Serafina’s shoulder, urging her inward. The
majority of the giants had not yet reached them with their slow gait, but they soon would. Magpie gently urged Serafina to follow him. She pulled loose from his grasp, refusing to leave her mother’s side.

  “Get everyone inside!” Edynn called to Sharhava. “Keep out as many giants as you can!”

  The abbess made a spinning gesture over her head. “Scholars! Into the castle!”

  The knights disengaged from their opponents, and made for the castle door with alacrity. Inbecca passed him, but Magpie did not follow her. Serafina was not going to go without help. Edynn appealed to him.

  “Aid her now,” Edynn said. “The book must be secured. You have my thanks, prince and minstrel.” She turned to Serafina and looked deeply into the girl’s eyes. Her stern expression melted. “Ah, my child. I love you. Until the end of the world, remember that.”

  An unseen force pushed Magpie and Serafina away from her as an entire company of giants lumbered up the ramp toward Edynn. The girl stumbled, and Magpie helped her to her feet. She rushed to get outside again, but the white-haired wizardess waved a hand. The massive doors slammed shut, leaving them in darkness.

  “No!” she screamed. “Mother!” She threw herself at the huge double doors and pounded on them. Magpie pulled her away. She was weeping. Rin threw an arm around her and spun her about.

  “Your task is here now!” the centaur exclaimed. “We are not free yet. Act! Do not waste time. She will buy us time.”

  Serafina’s eyes were wild with grief and anger. She sought about her. They lit upon Tildi, who huddled, soaking wet, against the inner wall of the keep in between the two guards. “You! This is all your fault! If not for you, I could be there with her! She did this all for you. As usual, I receive no consideration!”