The Apprentice to Zdrell

by David K Bennett

  “I don’t care if you think it’s a good idea or not, Tillock, you’ll do as I say. I’m in charge! Now start an open summoning and I’ll get our apprentice here ready.”

  Before he had even finished talking, Surlant had grabbed Jonny by the back of his neck and bent him over a work table. In no time, he pulled Jonny’s shirt up over his head.

  “Look at this Tillock. Not one scar. This really is his first time. It will be easy to get a big demon to come for this.”

  Jonny knew he could easily focus enough energy to hurl Surlant across the room, but he hesitated. Even though Jonny knew The Master would never approve of Surlant’s conduct; Jonny technically was still bound to follow Surlant’s orders.

  Tillock meanwhile had been chanting the spell for an open summoning. As soon as the opening appeared, Surlant applied his tine knife to Jonny’s back and began to chant his offer in the demon tongue. Jonny cried out in pain and tried to get up, but Surlant was much bigger and had no trouble holding him all the while continuing his chant.

  The pain from the knife was incredible, and Jonny’s resolve to just let Surlant have his way was quickly fading. He reached out with his mind and got a good hold on the knife. He was just about to fly it across the room, with or without Surlant, when a large demon came through the portal.

  The demon was much larger and more powerful looking than the one that Jonny had seen the other times he had watched a summoning. The demon hovered over Jonny, clearly enjoying his pain, when suddenly his aspect changed. Where a moment before the demon had been enjoying Jonny’s torment, now it looked as if someone had pricked it in a sensitive place with a pin.

  The demon roared in rage.

  “You dare to bring me here promising a sweet taste of pain and a small task, when you actually plan to do me hurt?”

  “No, no I have no desire to hurt you,” Surlant stammered, clearly afraid and uncomprehending of what the demon was talking about.

  “You deny you have a line cutter here in this very room, ready to destroy my lifeline while I am engaged in this ‘task’ of yours?”

  “A line cutter? I don’t even know what a line cutter is, let alone how to hurt you, your magnificence,” Surlant said, panicking, and obviously ignorant of what the demon was talking about.

  “You lie! You ignorant human filth. You think me some fourth circle fool who does not know treachery when he sees it, but you will learn. You brought me here with the words of your contract. You have broken the terms. It is now void, and I am free to show you what I think of human scum like you!”

  The demon moved towards Surlant, rapidly growing in size until it barely fit in the room. It opened its now enormous mouth and in one swift motion bit Surlant in two. Blood sprayed everywhere, but not for long. The demon just as quickly opened its mouth again and ate the rest of him. The demon chewed and swallowed and then turned to face Jonny and the petrified Tillock.

  The demon hurled bolts of energy into the floor in front of both Jonny and Tillock. The floor cracked and the table Jonny was bent over began to smoke from the heat. Jonny was certain that the demon was about to kill them too, when it stopped and smiled a gruesome pointed-tooth smile.

  “Remember, mortals,” it said its voice like boulders rolling in a raging river. “A contract broken is a terrible thing.” Then it laughed and continued laughing as it shrank and disappeared through the portal.

  § § §

  For a long time afterwards, neither Jonny nor Tillock moved or said a thing. They were both too stunned by what had happened to know what to do. Finally Tillock turned to Jonny and said, “Do you know what the demon was talking about; a line cutter?”

  “I’m not sure,” Jonny said, “but he might have been talking about my new ring.”

  Jonny took out the ring and showed it to Tillock. He explained what he had been able to do with it. Tillock was clearly impressed by the ring, and thought it might be what the demon meant.

  It was all very unclear to Jonny who had little experience with demons.

  The Master explained it to him when he returned that evening with Lord Feldor, after they had been informed of what happened to Surlant.

  “It is in the nature of demon magic, Jonny. As you have already been taught, each summoning is a very specific contract between the caster and demon. The demon agrees to provide certain services in return for certain rewards, usually pain, provided by the wizard. The danger in all demon magic is when the contract in the casting is done incorrectly. Usually this simply means that the demon finds a loophole that allows it to take the reward without doing the work, but part of the contract is that the demon shall not be harmed by the caster or any of his associates.”

  “Most wizards think of this as a mere formality because there is generally so little that a mortal can do to harm a demon, but there are exceptions.

  “Each demon has a lifeline that secures it back to the demon world. The lifeline is what allows the demon to return even should the portal the demon entered through close; it is also its source of power. If a demon’s lifeline is cut, unless it can find a way to return, or find some other source of power, it will begin to weaken and can eventually die. To have its lifeline cut is the greatest, and almost the only, fear that a demon has while it is in this world.”

  “This ring,” The Master said, holding it up and examining it in the light, “has the power to cut a demon’s lifeline. It is a powerful object indeed. The demon thought it was being led into a trap. As far as it was concerned, the summoning contract was invalid, so it was free to take any retaliation it saw fit, and you saw the end of it.

  “It always amazes me,” Master Silurian said, leaning back and still gazing at the ring, “how many so-called wizards forget that working with demons is making a bargain with a being who is held in check only by the slimmest of threads: a demon cannot break its word. What you witnessed today is what happens when that thread is broken.”

  Jonny knew he would never forget what he had seen that day. He also had a new reason to be glad his work did not involve him with demon magic. He felt bad about Surlant.

  Surlant had succeeded in hurting Jonny, but no one deserved to die like that. Jonny felt even worse when The Master told him that the demon had not just consumed Surlant’s body, but that the real reason he had eaten him was to obtain his soul. Consuming the soul of a mortal was the one thing that demons craved above pain. It all made Jonny feel terrible, since his ring was the cause of the demon’s rampage. Everyone told him that it was not his fault, but Jonny could not shake the feeling that somehow it was.

  He stayed at the castle that night. He couldn’t eat anything. Even the sight of food made him feel sick. His mind cycled over and over with the images of the demon’s huge mouth biting Surlant in two. It was only with the help of a sleeping draught that he was able to have some relief from his pain.

  Chapter 57

  When Jonny returned from the castle, he had lost much of the enthusiasm for his journeyman project. For several weeks, he did not take the time he was allotted to work on it. Things had not turned out as he had thought. He had hoped to create things of beauty and light, and now the whole thing had resulted in death.

  After seven weeks, three weeks past his fifteenth birthday, Kason came up to Jonny and asked him when he was going to begin the next part of his project. Jonny tried to be vague and put him off, but Kason would not have it.

  “Things haven’t turned out like you wanted, lad, but that is no reason to give up. That is just how life is. It is part of growing up, and good you’ve learned it this soon.”

  Kason paused for several moments looking at the anvil to the left of where Jonny was standing, and then he continued. “Your next part of the project is my contribution. You’ll not disappoint an old man will you? It is only to create a sword, a fine and worthy sword. It does not even need to be magicked, it only needs to be your finest craftsmanship, nothing more, but nothing less.”

  Through the whole exchange Jonny said nothing,
could say nothing. Kason waited several moments for Jonny to respond. Jonny would not even look at him. Jonny could tell Kason was angry with him, but he could not respond. All he could think about was the demon biting and the blood spraying everywhere.

  Kason’s face reddened with anger. “If you won’t say anything, that is your privilege, but if by tomorrow you haven’t begun work on that sword, you’ll not be welcome here till you do!”

  He turned on his heel and stormed out of the workshop. All work momentarily stopped, and everyone stared at Jonny, since Kason’s last words were shouted louder than the noise of the workshop. Jonny felt their eyes on him, but he only looked at his hands, put down the piece he had been working on, and walked slowly out of the workshop.

  § § §

  Jonny walked for a long time. He knew Kason was right. The Master had told him many times that his gift was powerful and that many would fight and die over it. But this was real. The harder he tried not to think about what had happened the more the images invaded his mind.

  Jonny knew he would have to work this out for himself. He walked out of town to the south along the river that formed the main trading artery of the kingdom. He stopped and sat on the riverbank, throwing stones into the river. Almost without trying, he started assisting the rocks as they flew. He pushed each rock further until they were flying clear across to the other side of the river, over forty yards away.

  He stood up and knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to fly. The sun had just set, and the river was temporarily empty of traffic. He knew that if he flew as high as he wanted he would be visible to any observer for miles--unless he used his invisibility amulet.

  As soon as he thought that, another thought struck him, and he knew he had to get back to the workshop fast. He realized that he still had the ring that the demon had called a line cutter in his belt pouch. He realized that the ring would be as visible to a demon as he would have been if he had decided to fly into town at this time of night without using his invisibility amulet. He had to find some way to hide the ring or destroy it, or it would be his blood and soul that would be consumed next.

  Jonny did end up flying back most of the way, but not high, as he had first planned. He flew just a foot or so above the ground so that someone who saw him from a distance would think he was just running fast. He ran the last quarter mile when he got back to where there were people and he could not fly without attracting attention. For some reason he could not explain, he did not feel safe using the invisibility amulet.

  While he was running and flying, an idea formed of what he had to do to hide the ring. Jonny knew that the demon ring, as he now thought of it, dispersed the lines of force in the opposite way that his power ring concentrated them. He needed something that would isolate it from any lines of force, and he thought he knew how to do it.

  Jonny took two small round thin pieces of metal, usually used for armor and shaped them till they were both concave and came together to form a type of locket. He soldered a simple hinge and clasp on them. When it was done, he put the ring inside and looked at it using his demon sight amulet. The ring was still clearly visible through the metal.

  Jonny began to work, scribing on the inside and the outside of the locket. He etched lines on the inside that cancelled the lines on the outside. He kept using demon sight to check his work; it got dimmer and dimmer. The scribing in and out nullified each other and cut the interior of the locket off from the outside world completely. In time, even using demon sight, he could sense nothing from within it. Jonny put a thong through a small ring he had soldered to the locket and hung it around his neck, next to his two amulets. Finally, Jonny felt he could rest.

  § § §

  Creating the locket, and the fear that prompted its creation, pushed Jonny out of his fog. He no longer felt trapped by that horrible experience. On the contrary, he now felt some of the urgency that he had often seen in The Master. The ring marked him, and he felt certain that if a demon would kill someone for having it, then it would search and kill more readily someone who had created it. He felt sure his locket would hide it for now, but he really did need to do more to be prepared. A sword, a powerful enchanted sword, would be just the thing to help him feel more ready for the conflicts he now felt certain would come.

  Jonny did not sleep; he began work on the sword. Jonny had learned quite a bit about making swords in his time with Kason. He knew the different ways to form and temper a blade, but up to this point, he had never started from a raw bar of metal. Someone else had always done the initial forming. He had started from scratch on smaller blades, but Jonny knew this had to be a large sword.

  In short order, he was sweating and straining as he struggled to form the large piece of metal. He knew that if he wanted to have the blade he planned that his physical strength was not up to the task. It was then that he remembered his power ring. He had not worn it since before his encounter with the demon. He put it on, and the surge of raw power and vitality that hit him was phenomenal. He reached out with his power and began to form the metal with his mind. He still used the hammer to help form and shape the blade, but now he used the hammer in strategic places to speed the process he was driving primarily with his mind. In no more than an hour after he had put on his ring, the rough blade was finished. Jonny knew it would be his finest work yet.

  Chapter 58

  Jonny was frustrated. The initial work on his sword had gone quite well. Kason had seen his progress and tried to act unimpressed, but Jonny could tell the master metalworker was excited by what Jonny had accomplished. Now nothing seemed to be working. Having formed the basic blade he now wanted to breathe life into it, the way he had with his two rings, and it just was not working and Jonny could not figure out why.

  After two days of frustration, Jonny decided he needed to consult with The Master and see if there was something fundamental that he was forgetting.

  Jonny flew up to the castle after dark with the unfinished blade. He surprised several apprentices as he landed in the courtyard and asked for The Master. None of them would speak, but they pointed towards The Master’s north study.

  Jonny entered the room and set the blade down on The Master’s desk.

  “There’s something wrong with it, or with me, Master, but I can’t see what I need to do to make it right.”

  Master Silurian said nothing at first. He picked up the blade and examined it carefully, then closed his eyes and breathed in and out very slowly. He opened his eyes and took one hand and reached into his shirt and touched one amulet, then another.

  “Yes, Jonny,” he said nodding slowly. “There is something missing in this, but,” he paused, shaking his head. “When you do work it out, this will be an awesome weapon of power. The power is already there, you have done that properly, but it is trapped.”

  “How do I let it out, Master?”

  “How? You alone can discover that. I am not even sure how you put it there in the first place. Did you have on your ring when you formed it? No don’t answer, it is obvious you did.”

  He paused, shaking his head again and then grinning. Jonny never liked to see that grin.

  “No, Jonny, you will have to work it out for yourself. I cannot help you here.”

  “But, Master, I don’t know what to do! Surely you know something, have some idea I can try, something.”

  The wizard smiled sadly. “Jonny, I honestly would help you if I could, but I was not joking when I said I do not know how you have trapped power in this blade. I have some suspicions, but I would have to study it for years to be sure. You have gone beyond me again with your zdrell. I can only perceive it dimly.”

  “So what do I do, Master? I’ve already tried everything I could think of. I was hoping you could tell me.”

  “Jonny, I cannot tell you how to solve this problem, but I can give you something to try.”

  “Anything, Master.”

  “Well, whenever I get into a situation like the one you are currently in, and I have
been there many times myself, I leave the problem alone and work on something else.”