The Sorceress's Apprentice

by Joshua Jackson

  “Adamah’s breath,” I heard Zimri swear beside me. At least we’d both screwed up.

  “Maybe they were here,” Lothar admitted. “But they are gone now and we have no idea where.”

  “Perhaps, perhaps not,” the officer considered. “Take them,” he ordered sharply, “and burn this place down.”

  That gave me a sudden flash of inspiration. I had little power left from the soldiers the previous morning, most of the excess life force had bled off. But I had enough; at least I hoped I did because we were dead if I didn’t. Taking the plunge, I let the magic flow through me.

  “Drücke!” I commanded, gesturing with my hand towards where I thought the brazier was.

  I was rewarded by crash and string of curses from the officer in charge. Stumbling up from underneath the cloak, I aimed my last bit of magical energy at the scattered coals.

  “FEUER!”

  Instantly they erupted into flame, sending heat and smoke throughout the apartment. None of it was deadly but it was a significant enough distraction to give us time to escape. Meanwhile, stars danced in front of my eyes and the whole room swam.

  “RUN!” I instructed Zimri and Helga, not that they needed it.

  Zimri was already making a beeline for the officer, who unlike his soldiers was cowering back from the sudden burst of intense heat. Before the man could react, Zimri slammed his blade deep into the officer’s helmetless head. Meanwhile, Helga had dashed towards the bags.

  “Let’s go!” Zimri called to Lothar and Alina, retrieving his shield.

  “We will hold them off!” Lothar had managed to snag the officer’s sword. “Get Helga out of here!”

  “But—”

  “GO!” he shouted, launching himself at the nearest soldier.

  Zimri stood frozen in place for a moment. Racing towards him, I scooped his shield, slamming it into his chest.

  “We have to go!” I ordered sharply, grabbing his hand around the scimitar and pulling him towards the door. With Helga in tow, we leapt through the flames, bowled past two soldiers and out the door.

  The three soldiers in the stairwell seemed to jar Zimri back to the moment. Pulling his hand free, he sprang into action. Slamming into the center soldier, he knocked him down the stairs before turning right and quickly striking down that soldier.

  I trailed right behind him, draining the left soldier of his life force before he could notice me, feeling an instant sense of rejuvenation. The first soldier was still trying to get up when Zimri pounced on him, knocking his shield and sword free, leaving me to finish him off. Just like that, we were out in the street.

  “I’m going back to help them,” Zimri turned back to the burning apartment.

  “NO!” I shouted, leaping in front of him. “It is too late; they sacrificed themselves so we could get away.”

  “But—”

  “They are dead,” I cut off glancing up at the burning building. “I know you hate to leave people behind and I know you hate running away. But this is about keeping her alive. They sacrificed themselves for her and we have to make that count.”

  Zimri chewed his bottom lip, staring at the fire with a mixture of anger and helplessness. Every muscle in his body was tense, as if he were being compelled to go help. Gently, I put my hands on his shoulders and forced him to look at me.

  “Zimri,” I said in a quiet voice, “it is too late. We have to go.”

  Reluctantly, he nodded

  “Mom? Dad?” Helga asked, looking up at the inferno, tears running down her cheeks.

  “I am sorry, child,” I said, surprised to find I actually meant it. Kneeling down, I took her hands in mine. “Your mother and father were courageous people. Can you be brave, like them?”

  She nodded, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand.

  “Good,” I said. “Wrap the cloak around you and stay close.”

  I heard boots pounding down the stairs behind us. At each end of the dimly lit streets, I could see two more cohorts marching toward us, attempting to box us in.

  “Come on,” I pulled both Zimri and Helga with me as we dashed down the street. Suddenly I cut left, leading us into an alley that emptied into the next street over. More soldiers.

  “That way’s clear,” Zimri gestured right with his scimitar. I nodded and the three of us dashed down that street. At the next intersection, we saw soldiers coming in from the right and the left, leaving forward as our only option.

  We needed to hide. As long as we were on the streets, we’d have to constantly be running. There was no chance we could fight this many. We needed to reset the board in our favor, make them have to go house to house hunting for us while we snuck out behind them. So long as they knew where we were, we couldn’t escape.

  Suddenly Zimri veered right. Ahead a half dozen soldiers closed in our position, while from the left, another ten marched towards us. With the cohort chasing us from behind, right was our only option. With a sick feeling, I knew what was happening.

  “I thought you said they wouldn’t attack us without Aidan,” Zimri puffed as he ran.

  “They are flushing us out,” I explained, breathing just as heavily. “They are herding us right to Aidan. He is ensuring we cannot escape him.”

  “Fantastic,” Zimri muttered. “Any ideas?”

  I glanced up at the buildings. I had no idea which ones were occupied and which ones weren’t. With a look over my shoulder, I knew it didn’t matter. If they saw us go in, we’d be right back where the night had started: trapped in a building, forced to fight our way out. First we needed to lose the tail.

  “Follow me,” I ordered, suddenly turning down an alley that I hoped had an exit. For a moment, I considered having Helga cloak and leaving her in the alley but she since she couldn’t see while cloaked, she’d have to stay put. We would have to find a good place to drop her before trying to be a decoy.

  I slowed as the alley intersected with another side street. Cautiously I looked out, seeing only a half dozen soldiers to our left.

  “Give Athala the cloak,” Zimri suddenly ordered, his eyes narrowing in thought. “Athala, how much power do you have?”

  “Not much,” I truthfully said between breaths.

  “Enough for one of those pushes?”

  “I think so,” I nodded.

  “What about a pull?”

  “The soldiers? How far?”

  “A dozen meters?”

  I checked my power and nodded. “I think so.”

  “I’ll take it,” Zimri answered. “Just enough to knock them off their feet and get them close. Put the cloak on and follow me. Stay here, Helga.”

  I donned the cloak, pulling the hood close over my face. Instantly I was completely blind. It was so disorienting that I immediately began to lose my balance.

  “Whoa, I got you,” Zimri put a steadying hand on my shoulder. “Disorienting, isn’t it?”

  I nodded, which thankfully he couldn’t see, realizing this must’ve been what it was like for Zimri when we snuck into the city. My respect for the Alkite suddenly went up.

  “I’ll guide you,” he said, placing his hands on my shoulders.

  He must’ve sensed me tense because he gave my shoulders a reassuring squeeze and whispered in my ear. “Just trust me.”

  I nearly laughed at that. Trust was one thing I had been taught never to give. Every time I had trusted someone, it had always come back to bite me in the tush. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to trust him.

  Gently, he maneuvered me so I was facing the correct way. “Walk forward, slowly, ten paces. Stop. Turn left and walk forward three more. Then do your thing.”

  Silently I stepped forward, conscientiously counting out the paces. Zimri might’ve been estimating but I wasn’t going to risk it. It was so eerie being totally blind. I felt completely exposed and helpless, like I had when the Mistress had humiliated me in my own castle, despite the fact the exact opposite was true. Anywhere could be a hole, a cart, an animal, or a soldier. I ha
d absolutely no way of knowing. Strangely, it was knowing that it was Zimri directing me that kept me cool.

  Stopping at ten, I turned precisely 90-degrees left and stepped forward three paces. I let the magic flood me, consume me, fighting to control the raging torrent. The life force I’d taken from the soldiers had mostly gone to simply replenishing my own drained stores and I had little excess. Controlling the magic was like wrestling a dragon.

  Finally, I got it under control and focused it on the spell I needed. Since I couldn’t see, I had to pull on everything in front of me. I hoped there was nothing else around the soldiers that might fly into my face.

  “Zieh!” I called, unleashing every ounce of magical strength I could. I felt the weight of the soldiers resist for a moment and then I heard the crashing of armor as they flew towards me. Exhausted and utterly drained, I collapsed to the street.

  I heard Zimri rush by, launching into the scattered soldiers. Weakly, I tossed the cloak off to see I’d pulled the soldiers about two-thirds of the way down the street. About half Zimri had already struck down while the others were trying to get up. Cleverly Zimri danced between them, never letting them link up.

  “Are you alright, Athala?” Helga appeared at my side.

  “Just…tired,” I responded, trying to stand. My legs wouldn’t support me. “I might have expended too much energy,” I wheezed.

  Helga gripped my arm and helped heave me to my feet. Zimri had finished off the final soldier and was coming back to us. When he saw me, his face darkened.

  “I thought you said you could do it!” he said sharply.

  “I did and I did,” I retorted, irritated. “You certainly did not have much trouble with the soldiers.”

  “What?” Zimri looked back at the soldiers, then returned to me. “I don’t care about that. I care about the fact you nearly got yourself killed casting that spell! If I’d known you were that low on power, I’d never have suggested it.”

  “I am fine,” I tried to stand on my own, only to have to lean heavily on Helga.

  “You can barely stand!”

  “I did what was necessary,” I waved off weakly.

  “Don’t do that again,” Zimri ordered sharply, draping my arm over his shoulder. I wanted to brush him off but physically couldn’t. Instead, I let him half-carry me. “Where are we going?”

  “Back into the alley,” I instructed. “That will throw them off.”

  We slipped back into the alley and huddled under the cloak for several minutes. Reflexively, I leaned against Zimri as I let the fatigue sweep over me. It’d been a long time since I’d exerted that much power.

  “Athala, are you okay to move?” Zimri whispered to me. “We can’t stay here.”

  “I know,” I said thickly. “I can move. Is it clear?”

  “Stay here,” Zimri slipped out of the cloak and disappeared.

  “He cares a lot about you,” Helga mentioned. “He was scared to see you so drained.”

  “No one cares about me,” I muttered.

  “I do and so does Zimri,” Helga shook her head. “I think you are stronger together.”

  I snorted and leaned back against the wall we were hiding against. She had a point. I couldn’t have possibly made it this far without him. By now I’d lost count of how many times he’d saved my life; for that matter I’d lost count of how many times I’d saved his life. I was becoming comfortable having him with me and I wasn’t certain that becoming so reliant on him was becoming a good thing.

  “The street’s clear,” Zimri pulled the cloak off us. He frowned at me. “You look awful.”

  “I will be fine,” I ground out, shakily getting to my feet. I was feeling marginally better. Once again, I had to lean on Zimri as we slipped back into the previous street.

  “Head this way,” I pointed down the clear street.

  The next hour was spent ducking patrols, winding through the labyrinth of alleys and side streets, utilizing the invisibility cloak to hide us while the soldiers combed the city for us.

  “There,” I pointed to the abandoned tenement building. “We can hide there until morning.”

  “It’s unguarded,” Zimri observed with more worry than relief.

  “It is our best chance,” I said, ignoring the basic rule of if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. “Let us go.”

  We got halfway across the street before things went horribly wrong. Suddenly, at least two full cohorts of soldiers came charging out of the abandoned building, already linked together in a massive shield wall. To our left, another three cohorts materialized, blocking the street. With remarkable speed, one cohort broke off to block the alley. We had only one place to go.

  “RUN!” I pointlessly yelled and we took off to the right, the only way to go.

  Trying to escape was much harder this time. I was so drained Zimri was practically carrying me and Helga was thoroughly exhausted, unused to this, she was stumbling over herself desperately trying to keep up. If the soldiers had been set on killing us, they could have easily caught up to us. Instead, however, they seemed content to merely drive us like deer into the trap, deliberately blocking off roads, leaving us with only one option.

  “Any ideas?” Zimri asked.

  I shook my head. “The only other place I would try to hide is the docks, but I think that is where they are driving us.”

  Two turns later, we found ourselves herded into the forum. Ringing the marketplace was a double line of soldiers, shields interlocked and spears lowered. More filed in behind us, blocking our only retreat. On the far end, with an insufferably smug expression, stood Aidan.

  “Welcome, Athala,” he greeted oily. “I have been waiting for this for a very long time.”

  Chapter 23-Athala

  Tired as I was, seeing Aidan standing there so smugly sent a jolt of pure rage through me, like dumping raw adrenaline into my system. Bearing my own weight, I sent my most withering glare back at him.

  “I must say I was surprised to see you appear at Princess Ariadne’s party,” he said. “I will even admit, teleporting yourself all the way into Castle Zahav was astonishing. I clearly underestimated your abilities, not that it matters. When you stepped through that portal, I knew I had won. The Mistress would never stand for you acting on your own and interfering with her plans.”

  “I am not dead yet,” I shot back.

  “Also impressive,” he remarked. “Of course, the Mistress did not bother to execute you herself but I will correct that particular oversight. Equally impressive was getting that gebraten to follow you without a zwang-spell. Trying to get back in her favor by fixing your mistake? As usual, you are too late.”

  “Too late for what?” Zimri demanded.

  “Did she not tell you, Zimri?” Aidan turned to the Alkite. “No, I suppose not.”

  “How do you…Adam?” Zimri looked dumbfounded.

  “So you do remember!” The sorcerer gave a cruel, triumphant smile.

  “You know each other?” I said, surprised.

  “Of course,” Aidan answered. “We spent three days traveling together up to Schwarztor. We made a deal to rescue the princess together, a deal you reneged on. So much for an Alkite knight’s word being more binding than steel bands.”

  “I made a pact with Adam of Schwarztor, the son of merchant,” Zimri snarled back. “I made no such pact with Aidan, the Sorceress’s apprentice. You had no intention of helping me rescue Ari; you just wanted to use me for your own purpose.”

  “And you think she does not?” Aidan questioned with a raised eyebrow.

  “Our purposes happen to align.”

  “Do they?” Aidan pressed. “Did she tell you what happened when she challenged the Mistress the last time? How the Mistress brushed aside her best attacks with no more effort than a mosquito?”

  “I was low on power!” I protested, shuddering at the memory of the humiliation.

  “And you think more power would make a difference?” Aidan sneered. “Do you thin
k you can match her knowledge and experience? Perhaps if you used that little waif, you would stand a chance. Perhaps. But you know fighting her is suicide and suicide is not your style.”

  “Athala,” Zimri turned to me. “What is he talking about?”

  “Do not listen to him, Zimri,” I pleaded, feeling a sense of dread building the more Aidan talked. Unfortunately, I was literally powerless to stop him.

  “What was your real plan, Athala?” Aidan taunted. “Offer a young, Alkite noble to the Mistress? Then she could place him as her puppet on the Alkite throne, guaranteeing her possession of it? Clever, as always but too late for you. I already have a gebraten of my own but unlike you, I have the Mistress’s blessing. I also have her blessing to execute you as the failure you are. But first, you will hand over the girl and the gebraten to me. I could use a spare in case my spell does not work.”

  “You will have to come through me to get them,” I retorted, putting myself between Aidan and my companions.

  “That is the idea,” Aidan smiled, eyes suddenly glowing red in the dim light.

  Desperately I reached out for the magic, but I was too weak to hold on to it. It was like trying to grasp an eel with cramping hands. I couldn’t quite get my grip on it and the magic kept slipping through my grasp.

  Helplessly, I watched as Aidan extended his hand and yell, “FEUER!” A jet of fire raced towards me and I knew I was dead.

  Suddenly, Zimri materialized between me and the flame. He caught the blaze on his shield, holding it bay.

  “Get out of the way!” he gritted his teeth as intense heat singed his hair. “Helga, use the cloak.”

  Beside me, Helga vanished and I stumbled out of the way. Zimri rolled away and the fire shot between us. Zimri tossed the remnants of his shield away, muttering, “Hot, hot, hot.” Across the forum from us, Aidan was glaring at us, sweat shining on his face. I knew how draining that much fire could be if it didn’t catch on to another life force. If we could drain his magical reserves…

  “Stay out of this, gebraten,” Aidan snarled. “Drücke!”