The Artful Apprentice

by Christopher Nuttall

  Emily colored. “No.”

  “Precisely,” Void said. He held up a hand. A fireball danced on his palm. “I may look less impressive than a king, all decked out in gold and purple, but I have more power. The average hedge witch could give a king a plague of boils, if she wished.”

  “If he didn’t have magic himself, or magicians on the payroll,” Emily said. “Magic doesn’t make you invincible.”

  “No.” Void nodded. “Tell me... who has the power? The one who has the crown? Or the one who has the huge army?”

  “The army might not fight against the king,” Emily said. “It might hesitate...”

  “I doubt it,” Void said. “Your queenly friend had no trouble recruiting troops to fight her father. Or am I mistaken?”

  “No.” Emily conceded the point. “But if you take the throne by force, someone else can do it to you.”

  “Which is true, even if you decide to draw back instead of snatching the crown,” Void countered. “Just because you’re not willing to take the crown by force doesn’t mean that someone else won’t try. And if they bring enough force — and credible threats — to the table, the crown will be theirs.”

  “Until the next pretender shows up,” Emily reminded him.

  Void nodded. “If you forget what makes you powerful, if you do things that convince insiders and outsiders you’re losing your grip, you can expect to be challenged. You can be right. You can have legal right on your side. But without the power to make your voice heard, to make sure your interests are taken into account, so what? You’re powerless.”

  He shrugged. “There’s a kingdom over there” — he waved vaguely towards the wall — “that has some pretty strict laws intended to protect the peasants. The previous king genuinely wanted to protect them from their predatory landlords. What do you think happened? The laws weren’t repealed, the laws weren’t rewritten to allow a dozen loopholes for abuse, the laws remain on the books... they’re just ignored. The landlords have clawed back their power and the peasants cannot do anything about it. In theory, they can appeal to the king. In practice, not a chance. The new king is too dependent on his nobility to take a stand against them. The peasants are trapped.”

  “That will change,” Emily said. She remembered Mao and scowled. “You’re saying that power comes out of... comes out of force?”

  “The ability to use it, yes,” Void said. “Why should anyone care about someone who cannot fight for themselves? About someone trapped in a legal web so tight there’s nothing they can do that won’t make things worse? Anyone who believes otherwise is living in a fool’s paradise. They may not live long enough to see it collapse. Their children probably won’t be so lucky.”

  Emily yawned, suddenly. “I... I’m sorry.”

  “Think nothing of it,” Void said, as she yawned again. “Your riddle?”

  Emily nodded. “What about it?”

  “Most people don’t care about who has legitimate authority,” Void said. “They don’t care who sits on the throne. They want the laws to be simple and few, they want justice to be swift and impartial and, perhaps most importantly of all, they want to be left alone as much as possible. The sellsword might have an interest in choosing a side. The vast majority of the countrymen simply want someone who’ll give them what they want and then stay out of the way.”

  “I...” Emily yawned, then started as a thought struck her. “I... what did you put in the drink?”

  “Something to make you sleep,” Void said. His voice was very even. There was no hint of guilt or shame in his tone. “Your test is about to begin.”

  Emily opened her mouth to protest, but it was too late.

  Chapter Twenty

  EMILY SLOWLY — VERY SLOWLY — MADE HER way back to awareness.

  Her body hurt, although it didn’t feel as if she’d been beaten. It felt more like her entire body had cramps. She was lying on her side on a rocky surface... a flash of alarm ran through her as she realized her hands were bound behind her back. Rope... no, not rope. Something else, something metallic without actually being metal. Her ankles were bound too. She could barely move.

  He drugged me, she thought, numbly. She hadn’t thought to test the drink. She kicked herself mentally. Six years in a world where people thought nothing of slipping potions into someone’s glass and she hadn’t thought to test the drink. Lady Barb would slap her silly if she ever heard. He drugged me and he left me... somewhere.

  She opened her eyes. It was dark, so dark she honestly wondered if she’d been blindfolded — or blinded. The darkness was almost a living thing. She could hear the faint sound of dripping in the distance, but nothing else. She reached out carefully with her senses, but found nothing. Her magic felt as if it was being muffled, as if she only had access to a tiny fraction of her power. She guessed she was surrounded by powerful wards. Anything could be beyond her, anything at all.

  The sound of dripping echoed through the air. She focused her mind, trying to cast a cancellation spell. It worked — she thought — but nothing happened. He hadn’t blinded her. She couldn’t feel a blindfold. It truly was that dark. And that meant... a cave? A cell? Or something else, something dangerous. She remembered the Dark Ziggurat and shuddered. Void could have taken her anywhere, anywhere at all.

  She tested her bonds, trying to pull them free. Void — or whoever had tied her — knew precisely what to do. There was no leverage at all, no way to get free without magic. She couldn’t even feel a knot. It felt almost as if someone had cuffed her and then welded the cuffs shut. She gritted her teeth, reaching out with what scraps of magic she could muster. A spell drifted over her wrists, keeping the rope in place. Normally, she could have banished it with a wave of her hand. Now, she had to work — piece by piece — to pick it. The spell hung in place for a moment longer, then shattered as she pulled it apart. The metallic tie disintegrated a second later. She pulled her hands free, brushing off the dust. Void must have conjured the rope, using the spell to lock it in place. It would have been impressive if the sound of dripping wasn’t steadily growing louder.

  Emily reached out, feeling the floor beneath her. Her fingers felt a drop, bare inches to her right. There was no way to tell how far she’d fall if she rolled off the ledge. She forced herself to sit up, undoing the bonds on her ankles, before she tried to summon a lightglobe. It flared brightly, then snapped out. She blinked away sudden tears — the flash of light had nearly blinded her — and tried again. This time, the lightglobe refused to materialize. She cast a night vision spell and frowned. It used less magic than the lightglobe, but — again — it refused to work.

  Damn it, she thought. The muffling wards made it impossible to cast anything above a certain level. Where the hell am I?

  She hesitated, then carefully — very carefully — summoned a fireball. It danced in the palm of her hand, brightening and dimming as the wards pressed down on the spell. Emily looked around, peering into the darkness. She was sitting on top of... something, something that felt almost like a stone pillar — or a tabletop. If she moved too far in any direction, she would walk off the ledge and plunge into darkness. She inched to the edge and peered down, directing the fireball to drift downwards too. The pillar — it was a pillar — was surrounded by water. And the water was slowly — but steadily — rising. It snuffed out the fireball before she could call it back.

  Shit, Emily thought.

  She started to summon another fireball, then had a better idea. It wasn’t easy to cast a luminance spell, but it took very little power. The chamber filled with eerie radiance, revealing a series of pillars heading towards the far wall. Emily stood and peered down, realizing the water was starting to rise faster. There was nowhere else to go, no hope of teleporting or levitating out of the chamber. She braced herself, then jumped to the next pillar. She landed badly, nearly spraining her ankle, but there was no time to heal herself before jumping again. The water was growing closer. She had a nasty feeling that swimming in the liquid woul
d prove very dangerous.

  Anything could be in there, she thought. She felt her heart begin to race as she jumped to the next pillar. She could see a far wall, a ledge... and a door positioned at the far end of the ledge. She shivered — she’d never enjoyed mountain climbing — but jumped towards it anyway. There was no other way out. Where am I?

  She reached the final pillar, water splashing against her boots, and jumped one final time. The rock felt slippery as she landed on the ledge. She teetered for an awful moment, half-convinced she was going to fall back and land in the water before catching on to a piece of rock and holding on for dear life. Sheer terror ran through her, nearly holding her in place. She had to force herself to inch down the ledge, knowing that the slightest misstep might prove fatal. The rock twisted, magic pushing against her... trying to push her off. She barely managed to cancel the spell before it was too late. Void hadn’t just put her in a death trap. He’d booby-trapped the chamber too.

  Batman would be proud, she thought, with a flash of humor. The water was starting to press against her boots, soaking the ledge. His bad guys could hardly have done a better job.

  She smiled at the thought, even though she could feel water trickling into her socks and pressing against her skin. The door was coming closer, but she was running out of time. She couldn’t move faster, even though the water was touching her ankles. She didn’t dare lose her grip. The door loomed up in front of her. It was locked. Of course. She hesitated, reaching out with her magic. The door didn’t seem to be magically locked. She tested the lock, wondering if she had time to pick it. She doubted she could do it without tools.

  Summon a flame, she told herself. Melt through the lock.

  The fire started to sputter the moment she summoned it, struggling against the muffling wards. She pressed it against the lock, hoping and praying it lasted long enough to melt through the metal. The water had reached her knees, soaking her dress. She kicked herself, again, for not wearing something more practical. It would have been a great deal easier to move if she’d worn a shirt and trousers, or even her apprenticeship robes. The lock snapped under her pressure, the door slamming open into darkness. Emily lost her footing as the water poured past, the force carrying her down a long passage that sank into the distance. She tried to grab hold of something — anything — but there was nothing. The water carried her down until she came over an unseen ledge and fell into another pool. She kicked desperately, fighting to stay afloat. Her boots made it impossible to swim. Her dress was so waterlogged it was dragging her down. She managed, somehow, to kick off her boots and struggle to the surface. The water was bitterly cold. She thought she tasted salt as she treaded water, trying to cast another luminance spell. The muffling wards seemed weaker, somehow. She forced herself to look around as the chamber lit up. She was in the middle of a small pool, surrounded by strange buildings. They looked old, but reassuringly human.

  Emily breathed a sigh of relief as she swam to the side of the pool — the lake, she corrected herself — and clambered out. The air was cool, her dress clinging to her skin. She cast a pair of drying spells, followed by a heating spell, as she looked up. The buildings looked as if they’d been on the surface once, before something — an earthquake, perhaps — had buried them deep underground. They weren’t that different from buildings she’d seen on the surface. She guessed that whatever had happened hadn’t been that long ago.

  Although that might be meaningless, she reminded herself. Everyone who lived here is surely dead.

  She heard water behind her and glanced back. A steady stream of water was falling into the lake, which was threatening to break its bounds. She swore — it wouldn’t be long before water lapped at her feet again — and looked around, searching for a way out. Direction spells proved useless. The magic either failed or provided nonsensical results. She saw what looked like a tunnel in the distance and hurried towards it, glancing into two of the abandoned hovels as she passed. They were bare and empty, as if they’d been stripped of everything long ago. The only thing they’d left behind was the female sleeping cage. She’d only ever seen those in the Cairngorms.

  The thought taunted her as she reached the tunnel and peered into the darkness. If she was in the Cairngorms... she shook her head. Right now, it was utterly meaningless. She didn’t know her precise location, nor could she cast a teleport spell even if she did. Instead, she directed the luminance spell along the tunnel. It seemed to head up. She glanced back at the lake, which was starting to spill into the village, then hurried up the tunnel. The muffling wards seemed to grow stronger, pressing down on her. She had to fight to keep the light as the tunnel grew steeper, climbing up towards the surface. She wondered, suddenly, how deep she was. She couldn’t be that far underground, could she?

  She scowled. There was no way to know. She’d seen underground chambers miles below the surface, chambers that might as well be hundreds of miles below the ground. Her heart started to pound as she realized it might take her hours to escape... if she didn’t take a wrong turn or plunge to her death. The tunnel widened suddenly, revealing a larger chamber. A single building — it looked like a temple — stood, half-buried in solid rock. Its door gaped open, invitingly. She shivered, her instincts warning her to be careful. Temples, even abandoned temples, could be very dangerous. And this one had been abandoned for decades, perhaps centuries.

  A flicker of movement caught her eye. Emily turned, just in time to see a skeleton detach itself from the shadows and dart towards her. She darted back as bony hands snapped at her, trying to catch hold of her neck. Shadye had made similar servants, she recalled, as she summoned a fireball and threw it at the skeleton. His had been different... there was a flash of light as the fireball struck its target, then evaporated without doing any harm. Emily blinked in surprise, barely managing to dodge as the creature came at her again. It shouldn’t have been immune to her power. The muffling wards hadn’t canceled the spell.

  They might have weakened it, Emily recalled. And if they did...

  She darted back, thinking hard. The creature stood between her and the temple, between her and what — she feared — was the only way out. She could hear water behind her. She ducked another blow, then picked up a rock and used a locomotive spell to hurl it at the skeleton with extreme force. The skeleton shattered, pieces of bone flying all over. Emily didn’t wait to see if they would start to put themselves back together. Instead, she hurried past the remains and into the temple. Her light died the moment she crossed the door, but it wasn’t dark. The chamber was lit with an eerie green glow that sent shivers down her spine.

  Her heart started to pound. There was a single large stone positioned in the exact center of the chamber. It was dark, stained by something she knew — beyond a shadow of a doubt — was human blood. She could hear whispers surrounding the stone, promising her everything she ever wanted if she took the stone and made it hers. There was magic in the voices, she was sure; magic so strong it pulled at her even though she knew it was dangerous. She bit her lip hard, concentrating on the pain as she inched around the chamber and headed for the far door. The voices called, begging and pleading for her to come back. She ignored them. Whatever the stone was, it was dangerous.

  A wave of pure fear struck her as she stepped into the next chamber. Her knees buckled, sending her to the ground. Her head spun, images from her worst nightmares dancing in front of her eyes. Emily felt her entire body shaking in fear. Her stepfather, Shadye, King Randor... she saw images of loss and defeat, of servitude and slavery and total helplessness. Reality itself seemed to quiver on a knife edge. It felt as if the images could be made real...

  No, she thought. She gritted her teeth, then forced herself to stand. This isn’t real.

  She walked onward, looking neither left nor right. Her stepfather loomed over her, leering. She walked right through him. Shadye reached for her, his clawed hands snapping at her throat. She remembered his death and kept walking. King Randor stared down at her, hi
s red eyes promising madness and death. Emily smiled at him as she headed onward. She’d killed him too, despite his power. And the curse he’d thrown at her as he died.

  The sense of relief grew stronger as she kept moving. Her tormentors became shadows, then receded into the past. She knew she’d beaten them. They had no power over her, not any longer. Her lips quirked as she saw her stepfather’s image fade. Who knew? Maybe he’d been blamed for her disappearance. Maybe he was even in jail? It was a pleasant thought as she saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The sunlight was so welcoming that she threw caution to the winds and ran. She couldn’t help herself.

  She burst into the light, the sunlight beating against her skin. The mountains were familiar, very familiar. She was on the other side of the mountain range, she thought, but couldn’t be more than a few short miles from the tower. Void stood nearby, watching her. He looked pleased, yet wary. Emily felt too good to snap at him, even though he’d put her life in danger. She knew it wouldn’t last, but — for the moment — she was happy.

  “Well done,” Void said. “I knew you’d make it.”

  Emily nodded, smoothing down her dress. It was torn and tattered and totally ruined. “You wanted me to concentrate on the small spells, didn’t you?”

  “The more precise spells,” Void said. “And to face some of your demons.”

  “I suppose I did.” Emily sat on the grass, enjoying the sunlight. “What was that thing? The stone?”

  “It belonged to a very dangerous cult that used to rule the region,” Void said. He sat next to her. “They preyed on travelers and anyone else unfortunate enough to fall into their clutches, practicing dangerous magics that have been rightly forbidden. The Emperor ordered them destroyed, and so they were. The stone altar itself was deemed too dangerous to move.”

  “And so it was just left here,” Emily said. “What happened to the villagers?”