The Apprentice to Zdrell

by David K Bennett

  “I’m sorry, master,” Jonny said contritely. “I just wanted to get the job done a little easier.”

  “Well, you still can, I’ll wager. Couldn’t you still hold the handle of the bucket, even if you’re not holding the weight?”

  “Yeah, I could,” Jonny said, brightening.

  “That would do it, I think. Besides that, it wouldn’t make the other lads feel bad. They don’t have to know how heavy the load feels to you. That gives me an idea. How heavy a load can you lift like that?”

  “I’m not exactly sure. I once lifted a stone as big as a carriage, so I guess I could probably lift something quite heavy.”

  “A stone as big as a carriage? Gods, boy! You’re not just saying that?”

  “No, Master, I wouldn’t try to joke about that.”

  “Well,” Kason said rubbing his hands, “Well then, this could be very useful indeed. You’ve seen us struggle with the iron when it comes in or when we have to cast a large piece. We have to use block and tackle or get several of the larger lads to work together. If you could lift something like that all by yourself and position it where we need it, you could save us a lot of work.”

  “I’d be happy to help, Kason. It’ll be fun.”

  “Fun, he says,” Kason said shaking his head in wonder. “Fun! Well, the fun you need to do is finish getting that forge cleaned. There’s work to be done, and mind you, remember what I said about being careful.”

  “Yes, Kason, I will!” Jonny said, happily getting back to his work.

  § § §

  He got quite good at using just enough lift in his work so that he was able to get things done rapidly, but it did not appear to anyone watching that he was doing anything unusual.

  In the days that followed, Kason was good to his word. When anything bulky or heavy needed to be moved or positioned quickly, he had Jonny take care of it. It was a great help to everyone in the shop and the other workers’ attitudes towards Jonny changed quite a bit. Where before they had treated him mostly like any other apprentice, now they still had him doing apprentice tasks but treated him with a much greater deference. They still kidded with him, and included him in the banter, but Jonny could sense they were a bit wary, almost afraid, though they tried to pretend they were not.

  After a few weeks, everyone adjusted to Jonny’s new place. The fear receded, and they mostly were just glad for how Jonny made their work easier.

  Jonny proved to be a very quick study. In short order, he moved from observing to participating in the creation of the armor, weapons and jewelry that were Kason’s business. Jonny was still too small to be able to work on the larger pieces, but it quickly became apparent that Jonny was quite good at working the smaller blades of knives and daggers. The blades he forged took an edge quickly and were of an unusually high quality.

  After only five months, just more than half a year, Jonny’s blades were considered the best produced. His daggers were even better than the best Kason could produce. Because they were apprentice work, they were priced accordingly, and sold as fast as they were produced. Kason quickly decided that they should not be sold as apprentice work, and priced them higher, but they still sold just as rapidly.

  Kason decided Jonny was ready to begin making the more ornamental style of weapons he was known for. He showed Jonny how to include jewels, scrollwork, inlay, and etching without reducing the utility of the weapon. Jonny did not have a very good feel for the design, but he could execute anything Kason directed him to do. The blades Jonny now produced were of the sort purchased by nobility and rich traders, and still they sold rapidly.

  § § §

  A noted and rich duelist came to Kason to request a special weapon. He had heard about some of the blades Jonny had produced and wanted a blade of exceptional quality. He wanted the blade to be different in that he wanted it to be somewhat ornamental, but to be even more than commonly good for fighting, since that was his profession. Kason spoke with Jonny about it, and together they decided that if Jonny forged the blade himself and then worked with the engraving that he could make it perform somewhat better than a normal blade.

  Jonny spent a long time working on the blade. It was to be a dirk, longer than a normal dagger but not long enough to be considered a sword. He spent several days working on the engraving, trying to use his zdrell sight to make the engravings follow the force lines in the metal. It was his first deliberate attempt doing this, though when he looked back he realized he had been doing it unconsciously on a more limited basis before. The engravings followed no established pattern, but they caught and held the eye.

  The duelist was pleased with the blade, and commented on the unusual engravings. Kason assured the man that the engravings were not just for looks, but that they would enhance the performance of the weapon.

  One month later the duelist returned and could not say enough about the blade. He said it was the finest weapon he had ever used. He said that he had had more success with it than any other he had ever seen. He said that in one duel he had actually sliced through his opponent’s sword while parrying it. The sword had been of fine steel, but had divided as easily as if it had been made from butter. He desperately wanted a sword made after the same fashion.

  Up to this point Jonny had never made a blade larger than a dirk. He had finished and ornamented full swords, but he, though much stronger, still lacked the sheer mass and physical strength necessary to pound a large enough piece of metal into a sword blade. He was willing to try it, but Kason felt it was still too early for Jonny to attempt such a large project, especially for so important a client. They compromised with Kason doing the initial work and Jonny doing all of the finishing work.

  Jonny worked for several days on the etchings. Once again, the blade looked like no other. It took and held an edge so keen that Kason actually seemed a bit frightened of it. Because of its exceeding sharpness, they had to abandon their standard scabbard for the blade. It simply cut through them. They switched to a wooden scabbard, which usually was used with more common swords. The duelist was at first offended that the sword was placed in such a common scabbard, but after he saw the blade he decided that a more common scabbard was actually a good idea, so as not to attract undue attention.

  The duelist paid three times more for the blade than had been paid for any other sword that year, and said he counted it a bargain. The fame of the duelist’s sword and dirk soon brought in even more customers, and Jonny was working full time to produce blades of all types as fast as he could.

  § § §

  When Jonny went back to speak with The Master just after Mid-fall’s day, six months after he had begun working with Kason, he had grown four inches taller since the start of his new apprenticeship.

  “Jonny, I’ve heard quite a bit about your work lately. The blades you are making for Kason have gotten quite a reputation,” Master Silurian began, after they were both seated in the study. “Have you learned about things other than just blades?”

  “Oh yes, Master,” Jonny began enthusiastically. “I’ve learned about lots of things, armor, jewelry, and tool making too. But lately, I have been doing a lot on blades. Kason just gets more and more orders for them.”

  “Yes, I’d imagine he would. It’s not every day you can pay for a regular blade and get an enchanted one,” he commented dryly.

  “Enchanted, Master? I’ve done no magic on those blades. I’ve only given them etchings to enhance the natural powers of the metal.”

  “And exactly what do you call an enchanted blade? No wait, do not answer. Jonny, a blade that is ‘only enhanced’ as you say is most certainly an enchanted blade. Remember your types of magic. Anything that interacts with force lines is, by definition, magic. What you have done is the best kind of magic since it does not require a wizard to use it. Or at least that is the way the people who have been buying those blades feel.”

  Jonny was once again surprised that what he thought of as a simple thing turned out to be significant magic. He start
ed to say something, but The Master shushed him.

  “Jonny, have you learned anything really new in the last few weeks?”

  Jonny began to respond by telling him of all the small techniques he had refined and discovered in the last few weeks, but Master Silurian again cut him off.

  “That is good, Jonny, but all that you have said is not anything fundamentally new, not like in the first few months.”

  “Yes that’s true, Master, but there’s so much to learn. I feel like I could keep learning new things there for years.”

  “Yes, yes, I’m sure that is true, but that is not why I sent you there. I sent you there to learn in a new area, and to apply those skills to your art. I also sent you there to give you some time to grow up a bit. It seems to me that you have pretty much done all those things.

  “You are fourteen and a half and you have started to grow quite a bit. You are not a little boy anymore and we do not have time to wait until you have learned everything there is to know with Kason. I think it is time to consider you getting ready to move on.”

  Jonny was stunned. “Move on, Master? How could I, I’ve only just begun, there’s so much I don’t know.”

  “There will always be much you do not know, Jonny. There is still much I do not know, and I speak with over three hundred years experience. No, I will speak to Kason and we will see if we can’t set up a task for you that will serve as a journeyman project in both arts, metal working and wizardry.”

  “But, Master, how could I possibly be a journeyman metal worker. That takes years!”

  “How many apprentices, or journeymen there besides yourself create weapons that have men from half way across the continent coming to buy them?”

  “Well, ah, it’s really Kason’s weapons they’re buying,” Jonny said staring at the floor.

  “No, you know better, Jonny. They are your weapons they are buying.”

  “But I’m still not big enough to forge a proper sword by myself.”

  “Have you tried lately? Tried doing it using your powers?”

  Jonny paused, and then mumbled, “No.”

  § § §

  A few days after Jonny had returned from the castle, the whole of Kason’s shop was in an uproar as Master Silurian himself came and visited. Kason and Jonny both showed him around and The Master spent quite a bit of time examining the blades and other things that Jonny had made. He and Kason then went into Kason’s negotiation room and spoke for over two hours. Everyone was asking Jonny what was going on, but he said he did not know.

  When they finally emerged from the room, they did so only to invite Jonny to come in with them.

  “Jonny, sit here at the table with us,” Master Silurian began, motioning him to a chair. “I believe Master Kason and I have agreed on a project which will be of sufficient difficulty and quality that it will constitute a journeyman project for both of us.”

  “What is it, Master?” Jonny asked trembling with excitement and sudden fear.

  “Well it is not just one thing,” Kason continued. “We want you to make four items, the sum of which will show your mastery of the basics of both our arts.”

  Jonny waited expectantly.

  “For mastery of using force manipulation, Jonny,” The Master continued. “I want you to make a ring which can focus force lines, the same way you have been doing with the blades you have been making. But there will be one difference; I want you to forge it without using your hands.”

  Jonny was confused. “How can I do that, Master?”

  “How indeed?” The Master said grinning. “How do you move things without touching them, Jonny?”

  “Oh,” Jonny said, starting to understand. “Like that.”

  “Yes, like that,” he agreed. “I also want you to make a second ring after you have made the first. I want you to do it differently, but use the force lines there as well. Use what you learn making the first ring to make the second. I want you to make it as a ring that does not concentrate power, but can disrupt it. I cannot tell you more; you will have to determine how to do it yourself.”

  “The third item is my contribution,” Kason continued. “I want you to make a sword. A full sword, on your own without any help from start to finish, and I want it to be beautiful. I won’t say more than that. I have come to trust your judgment on what constitutes a beautiful sword and you’ve had enough practice that I’ve no doubt it will be wonderful. More importantly, Master Silurian has said that he will cover the costs of all the materials, and that no expense is to be spared. You will be able to use any materials that you feel are appropriate. I have rarely had that opportunity myself; you are lucky.”

  “And the last item?” Jonny asked expectantly.

  “The last item is for you to decide,” The Master said. “My only requirement is that it contain both beauty and power. I am sure you will know what to make when you come to it.”

  “How long do I have?” Jonny asked.

  “As long as you need, one month, six months, a year, it does not matter. What matters is that it is your best work. That is what a journeyman’s project is all about. These will be your examples to show off what you are capable of producing,” The Master finished quietly.

  Master Silurian had said something that struck Jonny. He could not believe it. He had to ask.

  “Do you mean that I am to keep these items?” he asked, unable to believe that that could be what they meant.

  “Yes, you do, Jonny,” Kason replied. “Normally a journeyman’s project is paid for out of his wages so that when he is done, he will own the work. As I’ve already said, Master Silurian has said he will pay for the materials, so you are freed from that burden. It is a very, very great gift.”

  Jonny was speechless. For a long time he said nothing, could say nothing. For so long he had wanted to own just one of the simpler blades he had been making, now The Master would be allowing him to make and keep four items all of great worth. He finally choked out “Thank you, Master,” but could say no more.

  “You are most welcome, Jonny,” The Master said beaming. “You have certainly earned this, and I dare say you may need these items sooner than you think.”

  Jonny did not know what to make of that last comment, but his gratitude was so great he thought he would explode.

  “One thing, Jonny,” The Master interrupted Jonny’s thoughts. “You are to work on this project no more than two days in nine each week. You are still to work and learn all that you can from Master Kason, and I will continue to expect regular progress reports.”

  “Yes, Master, yes,” Jonny gushed. “I’ll do just as you say. I’ll do everything I can to make you both proud.”

  “Do good work,” Kason said gruffly, “that’s all we ask.”

  Jonny promised he would.

  Chapter 53

  It was agreed that in order to avoid arousing jealousy among the other apprentices and journeymen, Jonny was not to announce that the projects he would be working on constituted a journeyman project. As far as any of the other workers knew, the items Jonny was making were a special order from Master Silurian.

  Jonny spent two weeks experimenting, trying to figure out exactly how to forge a ring without using his hands. Master Silurian had said that Jonny was limited to working two days of the nine in a week on the project. Kason held him to his word and worked Jonny harder than ever on those other days. Kason opted to have Jonny work almost exclusively on enhancing blades and armor. Jonny got quite proficient at quickly adding a bit to the natural strength of a well-crafted item. That little bit extra made the weapons much more valuable but did not greatly expand the time needed to create them. Kason knew he did not have years to milk Jonny’s talents so he worked him all the harder.