The Congruent Apprentice (The Congruent Mage Series Book 1)

by Dave Schroeder

  “What’s happening?” asked Eynon.

  “Later,” said the other woman.

  “Chi-chi-chi-chee!” said Chee from Eynon’s shoulder.

  “Take care of him, Chee,” said Merry.

  The raconette’s head bobbed. Then the connection suddenly severed and the ring contracted, surprising Eynon and causing him to drop it on the table. It landed in a dusting of flour left over from bread making, but Eynon barely noticed.

  I need to get back to Merry, and the Coombe!

  Eynon picked up the ring, rubbed it on his tunic, and stuck it on his finger. He crossed to the stairs and took them two at a time. The library could wait. He had to find Damon and Nûd, tell them about connecting with Merry, and learn how to get home.

  Nûd

  “Shouldn’t we tell him?” asked Nûd. “We’re not going to leave him here, are we?”

  “That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” said Damon.

  The two men stood close together in a small study room near the library, speaking softly.

  “Why?” asked Nûd. “He’s good-hearted, and a powerful wizard.”

  “We’re not bringing him because he reminds me of someone.”

  “Who?” asked Nûd.

  “Me, when I was his age,” said Damon. “I had plenty of raw power and enough imagination to come up with creative ways to use it.”

  “I’ll bet you did,” said Nûd. “If he’s so much like you, why not bring him along?”

  “Remember what happened when I started teaching the... ?”

  “Oh,” said Nûd, cutting him off.

  “Right,” said Damon. “If we’re going to sort things out between Dâron and Tamloch, we don’t want to have a magic-using puppy with big feet bumbling around.”

  “Eynon’s not a bumbler,” said Nûd. “If anything, he’s more responsible than he should be at his age.”

  “Yes, but his wizardry is so strong and subtle that he could easily turn small problems into big ones with a miscalculation.”

  “Like that fireball at the lake?”

  “Exactly like that,” said Damon. “And the red magestone he found is a real wild card. No one at court will know what to make of it.”

  “I’d forgotten about that,” said Nûd. “He seems so ordinary most of the time, it’s easy to forget how odd he is.”

  “Maybe you can forget,” said Damon, “but I can’t. With his red stone, the young king might think Eynon’s a spy from the Eagle People, despite his youth.”

  “But their wizards only use purple or black stones.”

  “We’re talking about Dârio,” said Damon. “It would be just like him to think any magestone that isn’t blue or green is from the Eagle People.”

  “Don’t the Bifurlanders use amber stones?”

  “They do, but if anyone tried to explain that to Dârio they’d just confuse him,” said Damon.

  “True,” said Nûd. “From what I’ve heard, that’s not hard to do.”

  “He’s not the only one Eynon would confuse,” said Damon. “The Conclave of Wizards will be turned upside down if they test him—and they’ll want to.”

  “You know more about that sort of thing than I do,” said Nûd. “Maybe it is best to leave him here.”

  “It is,” said Damon with authority. “We’ll leave early tomorrow morning—well before dawn—when he’s asleep.”

  “If we must,” said Nûd. “I guess he’ll be fine here on his own. He’ll have that wyvern of his to keep him company.”

  “Woof,” said Damon. “The beast acts like a big dog around him!”

  “And gave you quite a surprise this morning,” Nûd added with a smile in his voice.

  The older and younger man both chuckled.

  “One thing’s for sure, he’ll eat better on his own than we did before he got here.”

  “You’re right about that,” said Nûd. “I’ll miss his stews and his honey-raisin rolls.”

  “So will I,” said Damon. “I knew there was more to Eynon than meets the eye from the moment I first met him.”

  “I like him,” said Nûd. “I hope we’re doing the right thing by leaving him here.”

  There was a pause, then Nûd spoke again.

  “Which gate do we take? Brendinas? Tyford? Hers?”

  “You know the answer to that,” said Damon. “It’s farthest west.”

  “I do, but I wanted to hear you say it. She’s not going to be happy if she’s there when we arrive.”

  “We’ll have to hope she’s not home, then.”

  “Why did you decide we’re going back?” asked Nûd. “It’s been a long time.”

  “It’s not because the young king asked,” said Damon.

  “So…?”

  “One of my sources in Riyas tells me that several senior court wizards—particularly Verro—are interested in the Coombe,” said Damon.

  “You would have sources in Tamloch’s capital,” said Nûd.

  “I value intelligence,” said Damon.

  “Of course,” said Nûd. “If Verro’s interested in the Coombe, we are too. That goes without saying. I’m so glad you finally got around to telling me.”

  “Don’t be that way,” said Damon. “I only found out after dinner.”

  “Isn’t the Coombe where Eynon hails from?”

  “It is,” said Damon. “That’s another reason to keep him out of it.”

  “Or bring him along.”

  “He’s not coming,” said Damon. “Listen to your elders.”

  “I hear and obey, Your Ancientness.”

  “Maybe I should leave you here with Eynon.”

  “Or maybe not,” said Nûd. “I’ll pack what we need for the trip.”

  “Good,” said Damon. “We’ll meet in the couryard outside her tower two hours before sunrise.”

  “I’ll make sure you’re up,” said Nûd, “and you won’t be getting a hot breakfast before we leave.”

  “Or a good-tasting one,” said Damon.

  There was a pause, then Nûd spoke.

  “Maybe I can have some home cooking when we get there?”

  “Let’s hope not,” said Damon. “I might be the one to be cooked and served.”

  “Perhaps,” said Nûd. “I’ll start packing.”

  Chapter 29

  “When you know the right thing to do, do it.”

  — Ealdamon’s Epigrams

  Eynon moved silently from the position where he’d been standing two steps outside the small room. He was glad Chee had read his mood and kept quiet on his shoulder.

  Merry had been right about the listening spell she’d taught him. It had all sorts of uses.

  He’d gone looking for Nûd and Damon to tell them about his contact with Merry and Doethan and the other wizard. When he passed the library, he’d seen a light coming from a room down a side hall, along a route he’d never walked before. As he’d approached he’d heard voices—Nûd and Damon’s voices—and decided to be a fly on the wall instead of interrupting them.

  Now he hurried away and ducked into the library before the others could see him. He lit an oil lamp on one of the tables with his magestone, pulled The Annals of Dârioth XXIV, Volume II from its place on the shelf, and pretended to read. Too late, he realized he could have cast a light spell.

  Nûd and Damon’s overheard conversation raised dozens of questions in Eynon’s mind. Thoughts swirled in his brain like the lake water hit by his fireball. Despite his questions, one thing was clear. He would follow the two of them through their chosen gate tomorrow, wherever it led.

  Chapter 30

  “Doors and gates are often locked for a reason.”

  — Ealdamon’s Epigrams

  Eynon hear
d footsteps and looked up to see Nûd standing in the doorway.

  “Don’t stay up too late burning oil,” said the taller man with a smile. “You’ll have plenty of time for reading in daylight.”

  After you and Damon leave me here, thought Eynon.

  “I’ll be heading for bed soon. There are only a few more pages in this chapter.”

  Eynon was worried his voice might be giving away his new-found knowledge, but Nûd didn’t seem to notice anything was different about him.

  “Sleep in tomorrow,” Nûd offered. “I can get the fire started and put the bread in the oven.”

  “Thanks,” said Eynon. “That would be great. After fireballs and lightning spells yesterday and shield spells this morning, I could probably sleep until noon.”

  Eynon yawned, not sure he wasn’t overdoing things, but it felt right. Nûd covered his mouth to disguise a yawn of his own and they both laughed. Eynon realized his was nervous laughter.

  “Go to bed,” said Nûd.

  The tall man wagged his index finger, like a mother giving the same command to a stubborn child.

  “Yes, master,” said Eynon.

  “I’m not the Master,” Nûd replied. “Just a humble servant to the Master.”

  “When will I ever meet this mythical individual?”

  “When he’s ready to be met, and not before,” said Nûd.

  Nûd stepped close to the table where Eynon had his book open and read over his shoulder.

  “The Annals, eh? Good choice,” said Nûd. “They’re guaranteed to put me to sleep. All that talk about kings and princes.”

  “And princesses,” Eynon added.

  “Them, too,” said Nûd.

  The larger man put his hand on Eynon’s shoulder and gave it a supportive squeeze before turning and leaving the room.

  Eynon was about to leave himself when he heard more footsteps. Had Nûd returned? No, this time it was Damon at the door.

  “How are you feeling?” asked the older man. “Spellcasting can take a lot out of you.”

  Were they both checking up on him? Eynon wondered.

  “You’re right,” said Eynon. “I’m tired from casting spells, and I also seem to be short of breath from time to time. I never felt that way back home.”

  “You’re quite high in the mountains, lad,” said Damon. “The air is thinner, that’s all.”

  “There are mountains all around the Coombe.”

  “Yes, but these are three times as tall as the tallest peaks back in Dâron,” said Damon. “It makes a difference.”

  “It was worse when I first arrived.”

  “Your body adjusts to the mountain air,” said Damon. “In a few more weeks you won’t notice it at all.”

  Eynon looked thoughtful.

  “Where are we, sir, if we’re not in Dâron?” he asked. “You said you’d show me the map room someday.”

  “I did and I will,” said Damon. “Put your book back on the shelf and douse the lamp. You’re a wizard now—use a light spell.”

  “Yes, Damon.”

  Eynon complied with the older man’s instructions. A glowing ball floated above and behind his head.

  “Good,” said Damon. “I’ll show you the map room so you can see the location of the Academy—then we can both go to bed.”

  “I hope I’ll be able to sleep after seeing all the maps,” said Eynon.

  “There are several maps in the map room,” said Damon as he led Eynon out of the library and down a long perpendicular corridor. “Most of them are safely stored in drawers—but there is one big map that should impress you.”

  Damon and Eynon entered the map room and Eynon was suitably impressed. One entire wall, sixteen feet long by eight tall, was a map far larger than any Eynon had seen before. The older man triggered a large glow globe in the ceiling with a gesture. He led Eynon to the right side of the map where Eynon saw sections marked in five different colors.

  The upper-most part was yellow and the section below it was green. The lower part of the map was painted the Kingdom of Dâron’s familiar sky blue, while mountainous regions signified by small triangles and rounded humps in the in the lower left and right center were different shades of brown. Lakes and major rivers were marked in deep blue. A bright red-colored section, shaped like a knife, stabbed between the green and sky blue.

  Eynon stood staring, as if it would all make sense if he only looked at it long enough.

  “Do you understand what you’re seeing?” asked Damon.

  Eynon replied, reluctantly. “No. It’s beautiful, though. Can you explain it to me?”

  “Of course,” said the older man. “The yellow lands are Bifurland, where the dragonship raiders come from. The green lands are…”

  “Tamloch?” asked Eynon.

  “Indeed,” said Damon. “And the sky blue lands must be…”

  “Dâron,” said Eynon with a smile. The map was beginning to make sense to him. “That must mean the red strip in the center, on either side of that big river running straight up and down…”

  “The Abbenoth.”

  “…is the province of the Eagle People.”

  “Correct,” said Damon. “What about the brown regions?”

  “They’re both in the mountains—”

  “Yes. So... ?”

  “Are they the Clan Lands?”

  “Correct again,” said Damon. “Both Dâron and Tamloch have Clan Lands and clan barbarians to torment them.”

  “Clan Lands warriors raided the Coombe the year after I was born,” said Eynon. “My mother says they took one of her cousins away with them.”

  “My condolences,” said Damon.

  “Our baron and his levies got her back, though.”

  “That’s a surprise. It’s not often clan raiders give up their captives.”

  “They stole casks of mead as well,” said Eynon. “My mother said the baron and his men found the raiders a day’s travel west of the Coombe, hung over from a night spent drinking the casks dry.”

  “It’s easier to reclaim captives from dead men than live ones,” said Damon.

  “My mother didn’t say anything about that—but I was only eight when she told me.”

  “Your mother sounds like a wise woman.”

  Damon pointed at the sky blue part of the map.

  “Can you find the Coombe, lad?”

  Eynon found Brendinas. It was marked with a star and sat on the west bank of another river that ran up and down. Tiny letters along its length said it was the Brenavon, the Royal River. He scanned to the left and identified Tyford, on the banks of a larger river—the Moravon, he remembered. From what Merry had told him, he located the Rhuthro where it came in north of the city, then traced the route of that river back until he spotted a pattern of triangles that he thought might be the Coombe.

  “Here, sir?”

  “Very good,” said Damon. “I think you’ve got it figured out. Now let me show you Melyncárreg.”

  Eynon followed Damon several paces to the left, past vast sections of the map that seemed empty except for five inland seas near the top. Damon stood in front of a part of the map that was filled with thousands of sharply pointed triangles. Another star was drawn there, not as big as the one marking Brendinas. It was a fraction of an inch above a small lake.

  “This is the Academy,” said Damon.

  Eynon looked across the room to the Coombe on the far right.

  “How far is it from here to home?” he asked.

  “If you started walking and made a steady twenty miles a day, it would take almost four months to get there.”

  “What if I flew on wyvern-back?”

  “That depends on how fast your beast can fly,” said Damon. “D
o you know anything about that?”

  “No,” said Eynon.

  He realized that he’d have to follow Nûd and Damon through a gate if he wanted to see Merry before midsummer. Eynon also thought he knew why Damon was showing him the map tonight. He wanted to make sure Eynon didn’t leave Melyncárreg and set out for the Coombe on his own. Seeing the vast distances between Melyncárreg and anywhere in the Kingdom of Dâron was daunting.

  “Does this satisfy your curiosity about where you are?” asked Damon.

  “Yes, sort of,” said Eynon. “But why is the Academy so far away?”

  “The Master Mage wanted to be far away from the intrigues of Dâron and Tamloch,” said Damon. “The story is he flew to the west until he found the greatest concentration of magic and magestones on the continent, then built his tower.”

  “The broad, solid-looking one inside the castle walls?”

  “Yes,” said Damon. “That came first.”

  “What about the Blue Spiral Tower?”

  “The Master doesn’t speak of that these days. For many years, he led a solitary existence, then he took his first students and built the Academy and the rest of the castle.”

  “I guess with gates it doesn’t matter if a school for wizards is a thousand miles away,” said Eynon.

  “More like two thousand,” said Damon. “Gates do make travel easier, but they work in both directions.”

  Eynon nodded.

  “And thankfully, they can be locked.”

  * * * * *

  Eynon put pillows under the blankets on his cot in case Nûd came to check on him during the night. He quietly collected all the things he wanted to bring with him—his pack and goatskin bottle, his staff, the small crossbow, and the shard-sword. Eynon put on his quilted jacket and tucked Chee inside it.