Alchemist Apprentice (The Alchemist Book 1)

by Dan Michaelson

  “What did you come here to tell me about?” Havash demanded.

  Sam wasn’t exactly sure how to begin. He needed to get Havash’s help, but he also needed information. All that being said, he still wasn’t exactly sure whether he could fully trust Havash or not.

  “I wanted to ask you about Ferand. Could he be working with the Nighlan?”

  Havash studied him carefully for a long moment before letting out a slow breath. “We don’t know.”

  “We?”

  “Those of us who have been tracking the Nighlan. Ferand certainly wanted power, but then again, that was a time I was not here.”

  The question that came to mind for Sam was what Havash had been doing during that time and why he had left the Academy.

  What he asked instead was different. “What would they hope to accomplish by working with the Nighlan?”

  Havash shrugged. “Do you believe those in the Academy are the only ones with any sort of power?”

  Sam shook his head. “I didn’t realize the Nighlan had power.”

  “Some sort, though not much is known about it. It is one secret the Nighlan have kept well hidden from us. They hold it from Olway.”

  “So they are using some sort of power?”

  “They are using something. There are other types of power in the world, Sam. The Arcane Arts is one. Alchemy is another—”

  “Alchemy is tied to the Arcane Arts.”

  “The way that we use it is,” Havash said. “But there are other ways to access alchemy.”

  “Minor alchemists.”

  “There are other ways,” Havash said.

  That wasn’t an answer, which bothered Sam. “What other ways are there? Does it have anything to do with the almanac?”

  Havash stiffened. Sam had needed to ask, but he hadn’t intended to be so blunt about it. “I presume that’s something you came across in your reading?”

  “Only in a few books,” Sam admitted. “Most of the others don’t reference it, but there are a few that do. It seems that this almanac allows the alchemist to use higher-level alchemy.”

  Havash regarded Sam for a long moment, staring at him. It felt as if there was some part of him that was reaching deep into Sam as if he were reading some part of him that only Havash could find. He started to glow softly, and Sam traced his hand across the alchemy device, feeling for the potential of power within it. If Havash were going to do something to him, he wanted to be ready.

  But why would Havash have wanted to do something to him?

  That was the part of all of this Sam couldn’t quite piece together. Havash had wanted Sam to look into what happened in the alchemy tower, and he wouldn’t have done that if he was somehow tied to things in ways he shouldn’t be.

  “The almanac,” Havash said. “An item of myth. At least, to those who are not alchemists.”

  “Like you?”

  Havash shook his head and took a seat in the plush chair. “I was never an alchemist. At least, not like some. I understand alchemy, as I have studied it extensively, especially during my time away from the Academy, but I was never a master of it.”

  “Like those who were lost here?” Sam asked.

  “There were real masters of alchemy within the alchemy tower,” Havash said. “One in particular. When they were lost, Olway suffers.” He took a deep breath and then frowned. “Most think of angulation when they think of the arcane arts, and while it is impressive, and considerable power can be drawn through the appropriate use of angulation,” Havash went on, and as if to demonstrate, he moved his hands in a steady pattern, creating crisscrossing streaks of white light that stretched out from him almost in a sheet before fading. “But as you have learned in your time in the Academy, however brief it has been so far, there are other ways of utilizing the arcane arts.”

  “That’s why we learn about mathematics and chemistry and botany?”

  “Among other topics,” Havash said. “The arcane arts complement all things. For those who can use it,” he went on, and there was a hint of a sneer in the way that he said it as if he were amused more than anything else that Sam didn’t have any way of using the arcane arts, “power can be compounded. Mathematics teaches ways of augmenting it, especially to somebody with the mind to do so. Botany deals with the natural world. In some ways, it isn’t altogether different than alchemy, as they complement each other as well. The same goes for chemistry. Though that isn’t entirely the same.” He shrugged. “As one progresses through the Academy, there are more advanced topics. Typically, angulation is the one that most gravitate toward, and as one who has taught advanced angulation, I can’t deny the exquisite power that can be drawn by those with the necessary knowledge. But alchemy is different. I don’t suppose you could tell me why, Sam.”

  He was almost testing Sam as if they were in class. Only Sam didn’t feel as if they were in class.

  “Because alchemy can be used by those without any power in the arcane arts.”

  “You don’t think the same with mathematics?”

  “Mathematics is useful without any ability in the arcane arts,” Sam said, and he could easily imagine how engineers could use many of the concepts that he had studied in his class, along with what he had studied outside of class. “But it requires knowledge and skill. The same goes for botany and chemistry. You need the knowledge of each of the topics in order for you to take advantage of that. Alchemy is different. If a device is made with skillfully crafted alchemy, anyone can use it.”

  Havash nodded. “Very good. You really do have a useful mind. It’s a shame that you don’t have any talent.”

  The comment raised a question that he and Tara had been working through, but it was one that Sam didn’t have a satisfactory answer about. “What about alchemy items that are made with the arcane arts? Do you need to have arcane arts to activate them?”

  “Some require that,” Havash said. “At least to fully utilized them.”

  Hope surged briefly within Sam.

  “But not all do.” That hope faded. “If the alchemist made the item was skilled, anyone could potentially use it. That is why alchemy has its uses within the empire. As the empire has stretched its reach, it’s the alchemists who have helped.”

  “Not those with the arcane arts?”

  “Oh, they serve as a deterrent. Little more than a threat, nothing else. There are some who choose to serve Olway in that manner, using their powers of the arcane arts, angulation, to protect Olway. But it’s the alchemists that have truly secured our borders. Alchemy has created items of power, sometimes incredible power, that has allowed the Empire to continue to expand its borders.”

  “Let me guess. The Nighlan don’t care for that.”

  “Olway hasn’t pushed its borders into Nighlan controlled lands. But I suspect the general growth has gained their notice. And with that comes a different kind of danger.”

  “So they attacked the alchemy tower.”

  “I don’t know,” Havash said. “Ferand’s presence there could have been opportunistic, nothing else, or it could have been intentional, tied to whatever happened there.”

  “Why opportunistic?”

  “I’m sure that others would be most curious about what remained in the alchemy’s tower. Especially those who don’t have the same skill.”

  “What about the alchemists that are spread throughout Olway? Those who studied here and went on to start their own shops.” Sam thought about the different alchemical shop that he’d seen within Tavran and couldn’t imagine that they would be limited in any way.

  “They have their uses, but they all access similar aspects of alchemy. That isn’t what makes alchemy truly powerful.”

  “It’s the almanac,” Sam said.

  Havash nodded slowly. “As you have surmised, the almanac grants the one who has access to it a way of performing alchemy that is advanced beyond what traditional alchemy can do. It is a secret kept by the alchemists, by the masters, and it took me a considerable amount of time
to even learn the truth. Oh, I had heard rumors, as all who spend any time within the Academy do. And that is why I am surprised you even know about it.”

  “It was just referenced in several books,” Sam said with a casual shrug.

  “Most of the works of alchemy were destroyed in the explosion,” Havash said. “The rest have been gathered, though the librarians keep them safe.”

  “The alchemy section in the library wasn’t very extensive, but it seems to be shrinking.”

  “What do you mean that it seems to be shrinking?”

  “I don’t know. They were probably a hundred different books on alchemy when I first arrived. Now there are half.” Even fewer now that Sam had taken several books from it. “Somebody is either taking the books and not returning them, or they are—”

  “Sequestering them,” Havash said. “Perhaps it’s the librarians.”

  “Or it's whoever is after what’s down in the alchemy section,” Sam said. Another idea came to him. “I saw something about a key that was required to use the almanac. What keeps those who have already seen the contents of it from simply recreating it.”

  “What have you seen in some of the more complicated alchemical constructs?”

  Sam shrugged. “They’re complicated,” Sam said. “And as I don’t fully understand alchemy, I am not exactly sure how to use them.”

  “Can you repeat them?”

  Sam shrugged again. “Like what?”

  “Why don’t you tell me a complicated alchemy concoction for a lamp?”

  Sam considered the various different ones that he had seen before shrugging again. He thought about the last book that he had read. The recipe, such as it was, was fresh in his mind.

  “You need two parts of silverleaf, nine grains of baireth, one twig of vilten, three leaves of horas, two cups of milen oil—”

  “You remember all that from memory?”

  Sam nodded. “I do.”

  Havash snorted, shaking his head. “I truly did underestimate you. How many additional ingredients are there?”

  Sam closed his eyes, and he countered. “For that one? Another fifteen. I don’t really understand the mixing or the process involved in all of it because it is beyond my grasp of alchemy. At least for now,” he admitted, thinking that he might as well acknowledged his intention to try to continue to master his readings.

  “Roughly twenty ingredients in all, and a complicated mixing pattern that you feel as if you can’t fully recreate.”

  Sam wasn’t going to argue, but he did feel that he could re-create it, but it was going to be a matter of learning the techniques.

  “Now imagine that the almanac has twice that. Three times that. It would be complicated. That’s why it requires a skilled alchemist, and that is why it can’t be easily replicated. Even those who might see the contents would not necessarily be able to even recreate it.”

  “What if somebody thought they could?”

  “Perhaps,” Havash said.

  “What if that is why Ferand was down in the alchemy section?”

  “The book has probably been destroyed,” Havash said. “There was no sign of it.”

  “You explored every part of it?”

  “Not me, but I spoke to those who did.”

  Sam knew that wasn’t true, so he was curious who Havash had spoken to.

  “But even if they had the almanac, they wouldn’t have the key. So they can’t do anything without the other.”

  “And if they have the key and the almanac?” Havash stared at him. “I’m specifically asking about Ferand. As that’s who I knew was down in the alchemy tower. He was with somebody else. So we have to be worried about that, don’t we?”

  “We?” Havash asked, leaning forward, his expression unreadable.

  “You asked me to help. And I’m a part of the Academy, at least for now. Besides, my sister is definitely a part of the Academy. She’ll be staying here.” He said that more emphatically than he probably needed to, but Havash just leaned back, watching him.

  “If Ferand were able to acquire the almanac, he would have access to an item of great power.”

  “Is that what he was after before? When he was exiled, I mean.”

  Havash shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “Who would?”

  “The Grandam would know. She won’t speak of it, though. That was a time of darkness for the Academy. One of our own chasing power that was not his.”

  “Shouldn’t she know that he’s returned?”

  “I doubt it will make much of a difference.”

  “But shouldn’t she—”

  “I will handle the professors,” Havash said firmly. “You…” Havash paused and pressed his lips together tightly. “If Ferand continues to look through the Academy for the key—”

  “Or the almanac,” Sam said.

  Havash nodded. “Or the almanac. You report to me.”

  “I will.” What choice did he have?

  “Now, Sam, it’s time for you to return to your classes. I would appreciate your discretion on what we have discussed.”

  Sam looked around the inside of Havash’s room one more moment, before turning and heading out of the door. He pulled closed behind him, and took a deep breath.

  The almanac. That was what they were after now. That was why the alchemy books were missing.

  But it wasn’t just that.

  Sam looked down at the alchemy device on his hand. The key. That’s what Sam had. And if he could get the almanac, he would be the one with the powerful alchemy device.

  Stop Ferand. Save the Academy.

  That would be hope he’d protect his sister.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  In the week since he’d met with Havash, Sam hadn’t seen anything.

  There had been fleeting glimpses of greenish light, along with an occasional rumbling, but nothing more. No sign of Ferand. No sign of Alchemy.

  Tara had convinced him to join her on the next night out in the city, thinking they could look for other answers. Sam wanted to speak to one of the city alchemists, though he wasn’t sure Tara would go along with that.

  Now dozens of people gathered around the entrance to the Academy, pushed back by several of the instructors. Sam and Tara stood off to the side, glancing over to each other occasionally.

  When James came toward them, he shook his head. “They aren’t letting us out.”

  “Have you figured out why?” Sam asked.

  “I don’t know. Something about an upheaval in the city, and it’s not safe for those of us who are not fully trained,” he said, waving his hand.

  “I will have words with my father,” Sam heard.

  He groaned. “Great,” Sam muttered. Gresham was having a tantrum.

  He found Gresham standing across from Professor Clarice. Mia stood on one arm. She still hadn’t learned. Sam wasn’t sure whether to be alarmed or disappointed.

  “You can tell your father whatever you like,” Professor Clarice said. “I have my instructions from the Grandam. Students are not permitted out into the city. Not until it has calmed.”

  Sam glanced over to Tara. “Have you heard of anything?”

  She frowned. “I haven’t. But there had been rumblings. It’s why we were only allowed out twice a month rather than once a week.”

  “And now not at all,” James said. “It’s like they’re afraid that the Nighlan are real and attacking.” He waved his hand, dismissing the idea. “And all we want is to go out and dance a little.”

  “I’m sure if you give me a chance to speak to my father—”

  “Your father knows exactly what we have asked of the Academy,” a tight voice said, appearing down the stairs.

  Sam hadn’t seen the Grandam since his first day. She was small and petite, but she carried an air of seriousness about her. She approached Gresham, looking up at him, seemingly unimpressed by his father’s status.

  “Now, if you would prefer, I can send him a different message. Perhaps
one about his son serving penance for violating an official Academy decree, then I am more than happy to do so.”

  Gresham opened his mouth before closing it in a huff.

  “Fine. I know where we can find a nice window to look out of,” he said, and he slipped his arm through Mia’s arm, and they started toward the stairs.

  The Grandam shook her head. “The rest of you should disperse. We will permit you back into the city when it’s safe to do so.”

  “What happened?” somebody called.

  “It is nothing,” she said, waving her hand. “Just a little disagreement amongst the council.”

  Sam looked over to Tara, who shook her head.

  The Grandam made her way toward Professor Clarice, whispering something to her.

  “I would like to know what they’re talking about,” Sam said.

  “I doubt we’ll get the opportunity,” Tara said, rolling her eyes.

  “Isn’t there some way to use the arcane arts to allow us to eavesdrop?”

  James’s eyes widened. “You would do that?”

  Sam snorted, and he shook his head. “No. Of course not.” He looked over to Tara, smiling tightly. “I guess it is back to the library for us.”

  James looked at them expectantly.

  “You could join us,” Sam said.

  “I don’t want to get in the way,” he muttered.

  Sam was tempted to argue with him and to tell him that he wasn’t about to get in the way, but he actually wanted to have some time to look with Tara and see what else they might uncover.

  “Actually,” Tara said, “I might check on something in my room.” She held Sam’s gaze. “Why don’t I meet you to study later?”

  Sam wanted to hide his disappointment, but he wasn’t sure that he could. Tara was going off without him?

  “So you’re not going to the library?” James asked. “It sounds like some of the first-year students are going to the grand hall to play a few games. If you’d like to join?”

  Sam didn’t, but he didn’t say that. Instead, he nodded.