Alchemist Apprentice (The Alchemist Book 1)

by Dan Michaelson

  “We could just leave it,” he said.

  “I told you that already,” she said.

  “I just feel like we don’t need this. We don’t need any of this. And if we can stop it…”

  The door came open just as they were nearing the entrance to the library. Two more approached. One of them was the Secundum.

  Sam didn’t have much time to even think through his options. He reacted, going on instinct.

  Sam blasted, using another burst coming off of the key, but the Secundum shed it with no more difficulty than he had the last time. As it washed away, he strode forward.

  “Tara,” Sam said, “tell me you have something that you can do?”

  “What can I use against him?” Tara asked, her voice soft. “He’s the one that’s been teaching me.”

  “Anything that you might have learned that he wasn’t teaching you?”

  She inhaled sharply. “Just this.”

  Sam wasn’t sure exactly what she did, but he noticed her surge with pale white light, and then power exploded, blasting out toward the Secundum, creating what looked like a layer of energy that streamed outward. He grabbed Tara’s hand, spinning, and racing toward the Study Hall. If they could get there…

  It was blocked. There were three others there.

  Sam blasted at one, and it caught, connecting in their stomach, doubling him over, but the other two came toward him, glowing brightly. And he looked toward the other sections of the library, realizing that they weren’t going to be able to escape.

  He looked over to Tara, taking her hand, backing toward the wall.

  They could fight, but it wouldn’t matter. At this point, it was just a matter of time before they closed in upon them.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Sam looked over to Tara. “I’m sorry that I get you involved in this,” he said.

  All around him, there were crackling explosions. Pale white energy built, dozens of different crisscrossing lines, all of it angrily and that Sam could see but could do nothing about.

  Tara looked over to him, taking his hand. She squeezed it. “It’s not your fault.”

  “I should’ve known better,” he said. “I shouldn’t have…” He didn’t know. He shouldn’t have done any of this.

  Another blast struck, strewing books toward him.

  The only thought that came to him was that the librarians were going to be angry at the destruction within the library. Not that it mattered any longer.

  He and Tara backed away. She was glowing brightly, power flowing from her.

  A figure came toward them. Sam couldn’t tell who it was, only that there was menace within them. They were using crisscrossing lines of the Arcane Arts, the pale white glowing, though not with any warmth. Most of the time, when Sam saw the glowing of the Arcane Arts, he found it almost comforting. Not now.

  They backed up against the wall. Tara kept moving her hands, trying to push outward, but he could sense from the tension in her jaw that she wasn’t succeeding.

  “These are all masters of the Arcane Arts,” she said. “And I’m still a student,” she muttered.

  “It’s not your—”

  A shout rang out.

  Followed by a blast of energy greater than Sam had seen before.

  Then Havash strode in. The man’s gaze swept around the library, taking in Sam and Tara, and then the figure across from Sam. His eyes narrowed. He reached into his pocket and tossed something toward the man. It exploded with a cloud of greenish light.

  Sam coughed, trying to see through the light, but he couldn’t. A hand grabbed him, pulling him back.

  “Where is it?” Havash demanded.

  “Havash?” asked Sam.

  “There’s no time. Where is the book?”

  “You mean the almanac?”

  He could see Havash’s face contort in the greenish light. “Where is it?”

  Power blasted from Tara in a white light. She grunted. “I can hold him a little while…”

  Sam gripped the almanac. He couldn’t use it. It was far too complicated.

  Havash threw his hand out from his side, and there was another explosion of light and power. Two other figures came toward them, both of them glowing.

  Sam pointed, and Havash spun, tossing to alchemical devices toward them. They burst with a glowing white and greenish light, and there was a shout of pain.

  Sam thrust the book toward Havash when he turned back to him. “Here. I’m sorry, Havash, I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s probably for the best that you found it.” His gaze darted to Sam’s hand, and he shook his head. “More than just smart,” Havash muttered. “Press your hand onto the cover.”

  “Why?”

  “Just do it.”

  Sam pressed his hand to the book’s cover.

  Havash grabbed his wrist and moved it away. “Your other hand.”

  Sam placed the hand with the device onto the book and held it there. Power flowed out, though it wasn’t power that Sam controlled. Much like when Ben had forced the device to trigger, Havash did the same thing now. That energy rolled away from him—and into the book.

  “Very good.” Havash flipped the book open, letting Sam still hold onto it. “Read this section.”

  “I can’t read it. The symbols—”

  “Read it. When I draw them closer, I want you to focus on Ben and Ferand. I will give you a signal for you to use when you reach the end of the passage.”

  Another pair of figures came close, and Havash tossed two more devices at them. When they exploded, the greenish light diffused around them, before the man collapsed.

  The sound of chaos within the library began to fade.

  Havash strode forward.

  “You won’t be able to stop this,” the Secundum said, making his way toward Havash. “You have never been able to stop this. Even the great Tabolath failed.”

  “If he had failed, you would have obtained the key long ago. But you didn’t. A student did.”

  “Something I intend to rectify.”

  Another figure approached behind Ben.

  Ferand.

  “Any time now, Samran,” Havash said.

  Sam looked down at the book, started shaking his head. “I won’t be able to read it,” he said, looking over to Tara. “The writing is all strange. Symbols and that sort of thing. I don’t know what Havash wants me to…”

  Sam had looked down while he was talking and realized that something about the book had changed. The symbols and the strange writing weren’t there anymore. Now he could read the words.

  Sam looked over to Havash, who had several items in his hands, each of them glowing. Whatever the Secundum did seemed to overpower the magic Havash used.

  Read. Focus. He looked at the book, reading it. As soon as he did, he thought he understood. Had he not read as much as he had in the time that he’d been in the Academy, Sam wasn’t sure that he would even understand it at all. Alchemy was one thing, but this was something else. This was alchemy mixed with angulation. Arcane Arts.

  But it was not anything Sam could use.

  Tara, on the other hand, could.

  “I’m going to need your help,” he said to Tara.

  “With reading?”

  “With the angulation part of this.”

  She looked down at the book and frowned. “I can’t read anything. It is just symbols!”

  “I think whatever I did—or what Havash had me do—changed the book so I could read it. Now there’s something. It talks about using power in a specific way. If I read the instructions, can you do it?”

  Tara looked up at him and nodded.

  Sam started reading. As he did, pale white power grew from Tara while she followed his instructions. It was angulation, but it was far more complicated than anything that he had ever read, which meant that it was probably more complicated than Tara had ever seen.

  Tara gasped as she pulled on that power. “I’ve never even considered using it like this. I can s
ee the pattern, though, and I can…”

  Read. Focus.

  He had to read, but it seemed he also had to focus. He looked at the Secundum as he fought with Havash. The power Tara built started to swirl away, heading toward the Secundum. Sam kept his focus on the Secundum, watching him as he battled Havash and the power leaked toward him. The energy was building with considerable strength.

  “Are you almost done?” Tara’s words were clipped and strained.

  “I don’t know. He said to wait until his signal.”

  And he had to find Ferand.

  There was a growl and a flash of the pale white light. There.

  Sam turned so that he could see both brothers. Much like the Secundum, Ferand faced someone, battling him. At first, Sam wasn’t sure who it was, thinking that maybe it was Okun, but they were too slender for the heavyset cook.

  “Any time now, Sam,” Havash said, his voice strained.

  Power surged from Tara, washing outward. A sense of the mixed light swirled around both the Secundum and Ferand. It settled there, slowly rolling away.

  Sam continued reading. When he reached the end of the section, the light started to shift. To thicken.

  “What’s happening with it?” Tara asked. “This isn’t anything I’ve ever done.”

  “I don’t know,” he said. He was just as clueless.

  The power surged again and then solidified. As soon as it did, the attacks ceased.

  The Secundum and Ferand were trapped, solidified pale white light holding them in place. Sam looked down at the book, and Tara leaned over, sweat pouring down her brow.

  “Was that it?” she whispered.

  “That was it. You did well,” Havash said, approaching him.

  Sam looked up. “We did well with what?”

  Havash swept his gaze around the room. “You may come out.”

  The other figure approached, and Sam recognized Chasten.

  “You,” Sam said.

  Chasten tipped his head, and he smiled. “You had to synthesize more than you realize, didn’t you?”

  “Did you know?”

  He glanced over to Havash. “I have suspected that you had more potential than Havash believed when he first brought you here. He thought you would simply be his insider, but then you proved yourself. And continued to do so.” He looked over to Havash. “Have I made my point?”

  “What point?” Sam asked.

  “What do you propose we do with them?” Chasten asked, motioning to the Secundum and Ferand. With the light holding them, they weren’t able to move. Neither of them struggled. It was almost as if they were frozen. Others lay motionless around the library.

  “They will remain in stasis until we decided,” Havash said. “We need to have those we trust handle most of this.”

  “I trust myself,” Chasten said. “Few others.”

  “Then you can move them wherever you choose. This one”—Havash motioned toward Tara—“needs to return to her studies. I believe she’s been gone long enough. This one will serve a different role.” He studied Sam, something in his eyes unreadable.

  “There is rot within the Academy,” Chasten said. “As you suspected.”

  Havash nodded. “I’m afraid we haven’t seen the end of it.” He looked over to the Secundum before turning back to Chasten. “And we can’t lose any more of your kind of talent.”

  “Then make sure talent is rewarded,” Chasten said, and he turned his gaze to Sam.

  “That won’t be up to me,” Havash said.

  Chasten regarded Sam for another long moment before nodding. He used a burst of greenish light, and the Secundum Ben and Ferand were lifted and pushed ahead of him.

  When they were gone, Sam realized they were alone in the library with Havash.

  Havash took a deep breath. “This has not gone at all as I planned.”

  Sam was drained, but with everything they’d been through, he wasn’t sure if he’d even be able to sleep. “The device allows someone to read the book?” Sam asked.

  “In the right hands, it is a key. As you have seen, it is a key to the almanac. Only the greatest of the alchemists were granted access to it, as it was far too dangerous.”

  “But I’m not a great alchemist.”

  Havash scratched his beard. “I’ve been trying to understand what you are, Sam.” He looked over to Tara for a moment, then back at Sam. “Most who have a predilection for alchemy trained within the Academy prior to doing so.”

  “You said most.”

  Havash nodded. “The key wouldn’t have worked for you unless you had potential.”

  “What kind of potential?”

  “Only the true alchemists have understood that there is another element to alchemy beyond the Arcane Arts. Oh, there is that which minor alchemists can accomplish, but there is another element.” He looked over to Sam. “It is not the Arcane Arts, or at least. It is not in the form that we traditionally consider it. Perhaps that is why you can use the key. Or perhaps you do have latent Arcane Arts.” He shrugged.

  “And the almanac?”

  “Is an archive. Power and knowledge accumulated over the centuries have been stored within. It is an Alchemical creation, perhaps the most powerful, as you have seen.”

  “I don’t even know what that was.”

  “I suppose that would be difficult to understand, but know that you performed Alchemy.” Havash smiled slightly. “Perhaps a more accurate way of saying it is that the two of you performed Alchemy.”

  Havash reached for his hand, waiting for Sam to stretch it out to him. When Sam did, he expected Havash to pluck the device free with ease, but it didn’t budge.

  “This. The key. It shouldn’t be lodged quite like this. Which makes me wonder if perhaps your connection to that additional alchemy aspect is greater than I expect.”

  “You’re not able to take it off of me?”

  “Is that what you want?”

  “I just want…” What did he want?

  To stay at the Academy. To have the safety here.

  To have a home.

  “The task that I assigned to you is complete, Sam. I will live up to my end of the bargain. I will ensure that you make it to the end of the year. From there…”

  Sam looked down at the key. “This might mean that I can stay,” he said, looking up at Havash.

  Havash frowned for a moment, before he nodded slowly. “It means there is the possibility,” he agreed.

  “Good.” Sam turned to Tara. “I’m going to need your help.”

  “With what?” She asked. “I think I’ve helped you enough tonight.”

  Sam looked around the destruction within the library. “Well, to study. Since the library is in shambles, I doubt it’s going to be accessible to us for a while. And I intend to do everything that I can to stay at the Academy.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  The garden outside the Academy was filled with students.

  The air smelled of flowers, but there was something more to it that Sam couldn’t quite place. Strangely, it reminded him of the stench from the alchemy tower.

  “Why won’t they let us go into the city?” James muttered.

  Sam looked over to him. Tara sat beside Sam on the bench, but she remained quiet. He traced a finger along the key, wondering if he would ever learn to use the power within it—and there was power—but other than triggering explosions, Sam hadn’t managed to do much.

  “You know why,” Sam said.

  “Ah, I just know what they’re telling us. Some residual alchemy explosion. Now we’re supposed to believe they have it all sorted out?”

  Sam shrugged.

  “And you’re foolish enough to volunteer to go into the tower?”

  Sam smiled to himself. Foolish or not, he wanted to understand alchemy—especially if he had some way of using it. “Someone has to.”

  “I suppose they’d make us if people didn’t volunteer,” James muttered.

  “Just enjoy the sunshine,” Sam c
huckled.

  James looked around before his gaze settled on Lacey, talking to someone nearby. His frown faded, and he started to smile slightly. “I’ll talk to the two of you later.”

  He hurried away, leaving Sam with Tara.

  “He’s not wrong,” Tara said.

  “About what part?”

  “That they’d just make others clean the alchemy tower.”

  “I think they intend to reopen it,” Sam said.

  “They have to convince students to go into it first. There won’t be too many willing. At least, not for a while.”

  It might be better for Sam there than in the tolath tower. At least in the alchemy tower, he might feel like he belonged. It even had the same access to the Study Hall.

  “That’s fine. There’s more going on than Havash admitted. How many instructors were involved in the attack?”

  “Seven, I think. And it seems there were nearly that many alchemists who remained in the Academy.”

  Sam looked at her. “It was tied to the Nighlan. Now we just have to figure out why.”

  Tara groaned. “Great.”

  “What?” Sam asked, turning to her.

  She laughed. “I thought we could get back to what we came to the Academy for. You know, studying.”

  Sam looked across the garden and saw his sister sitting with several of the first-year sharan students. Gresham was nowhere to be seen. At least for now.

  He pulled his gaze away.

  Mia was safe. That was all he’d ever wanted.

  And now she could stay in the Academy and continue her studies.

  It was time for him to focus on what he wanted.

  He traced his finger along the key. Havash hadn’t known how to remove it, and neither had Chasten. It was something that had bonded itself to him.

  More reason for Sam to study alchemy.

  “Sam?”

  “What is it?”

  “You have a strange look to you.”

  He turned to her, taking her hands in his. “You’re right. I think we need to get back to studying. But I think it’s time to push Havash to let us learn advanced alchemy.”

  He would have to learn fast, Sam thought.

  Whatever Ferand and the Secundum had been tied up in wasn’t over.