Apprentice Read Free Page A

above. What do you see? Anything unusual?” the wizard asked of Firil.
    “N-n-n-no. Na-na-nothing unusual,” Firil said after a moment of looking at the cloudy sky. “Please don’t eat me.” Firil shrank from the wizard as much as he could without reclaiming his hand.
    “No points of light?” the wizard prompted further.
    “N-no, y-your wizardness, nothing but clouds and sky.” The wizard let go the boy’s hand and motioned for the father and son to move to the side.
    “See?” he addressed the crowd of distressed children and parents. “This is all I ask to do. Now, bring them forth swiftly and we can get this over with.” The process went more smoothly thereafter. The parents and children, comforted that no harm was coming to anyone, complied with the wizard’s directions.
    Benen watched as the wizard repeated the same steps with each child. Each time, the child reported seeing nothing extraordinary in the sky and each time the wizard motioned the father and child aside.
    The last child brought forward was the Smith’s girl. With her, the wizard persisted in asking over and over if she saw anything above. He grew more intense with each denial. After a time, his patience exhausted, the wizard motioned her aside like the others.
    “Useless!” he screamed at them. “Why do you waste my time?” he demanded of the crowd.
    The men and children were confused. Smith stepped forward.
    “We’ve done what you asked, Wizard. Now go!”
    The wizard’s face darkened with even more anger.
    “Do not forget your place, simpleton!”
    “Have we not done everything you asked?” the smith retorted.
    The wizard stared into the smith’s eyes for a moment and then a smile appeared on his lips.
    “Have you?” the wizard asked, speaking to himself. “Let’s see . . . .”
    He began casting again.
    The wizard’s chanting echoed oddly to Benen’s ears. The incantations had thus far been incomprehensible to him but this time, the echoes made sounds that were intelligible; they said come to me. The moment the words made sense to him, he needed to obey them. The need was not overpowering at first, but the longer he resisted the call, the stronger his need became until, inevitably, his legs started walking him away from the building he had been hiding behind and out into the open. He tried to stop himself with all his will, but the magic was stronger than he was. His face reddened from his efforts. Eventually, he found himself standing in front of the wizard and still the call to come to me echoed in his head. The wizard was still chanting.
    Benen was now able to control his own body again, so long as he did not try to move away from the wizard. He turned and looked around. His father, the other adults, and even the other children watched him with sympathy. He saw some turn to look toward the southern part of the village. Benen followed their gaze and saw little Edvir Cooper coming toward the wizard from that direction. Edvir moved like a puppet from the shows the travelling folk put on when they come to the village. His entire posture was at odds with the movements he was making. The effect was repellent.
    I must have looked like that too , thought Benen uncomfortably.
    Soon, Edvir stood beside him in front of the wizard. The chanting stopped suddenly and the wizard snatched a hand from each of the boys, holding them there before him.
    “You thought you could hide from me?” the wizard asked. He seemed to be asking the crowd as much as the two boys themselves. “If you like tricks, you’ll love my reward for you.”
    “Please don’t hurt my boy,” pleaded Adgur the cooper, Edvir’s father.
    “We’ll see if I hurt your boy, the other boy, or both boys soon enough,” the wizard said ominously. “Boys, look to the sky above and tell me what you see.”
    The two looked up. Benen was surprised that he could see the stars. Well, not quite the stars. What he saw were points of light in the same arrangements as the