First Apprentice

Chapter 19 Part 1

"Most Marstow do," he said with a shrug. "I was born in a cave. My mother and I lived in that cave until I was ten. After the First Sacking, the Marstow rebuilt as best they could. They entombed the dead, pieced their lives back together, and pretended that the Marstow Gate wasn't slowly sinking into madness and that Saar's armies wouldn't return. My mother remembered huts, cabins, and a few stone buildings. Then the Second came. I was born eight months after the Second Sacking. Caves were all we had left."

I didn't ask what happened when he was ten. I didn't need to. Uncle Manfred ensured I knew my history. Eleven years to the day after the Second Sacking, the Dracon invaded for the third and final time. The Border Guard evacuated the survivors, including a ten-year-old unknown dae Hadyn claimed as his apprentice.

He stared at the still silent waterfall and the shoulder deep copper bathtub beside it in silence. "Do you have any idea how amazing this is?"

"Endellion hates it."

"I imagine Endellion prefers you where she can see you. When I look at this, I see permanent, lethal wards that I would need a week to brute force my way past. The sort you spend a month planning and another month casting. You can't place those types of protections around a temporary camp. Even if you load the ward stones into a wagon and carry them with you, it's not feasible. I see a safe water supply, bathing facilities, an actual cooking stove, year-round warmth, and a dry roof, I'm sorely tempted to swap apprentices with Terry. A warm bath every night, even when we're in the desert," he trailed off with a loopy smile on his face. Then he sobered and gestured to the clock hanging beside the entrance. "Terry's meeting's about to start."

"Do you want to hear it or read about it?" I asked as I walked to the library/office area. My neck prickled when I passed through the wards. They were designed to keep explosions in, not people out. I passed my two worktables, knelt on the floor, and peeled the braided rug back, revealing a carved seal a little wider than my shoulders.

Magic flowed from fingertips into the seal. It lit up. Red flames spiraled around the edge, connected. A mist rose from the seal and coalesced into a large trunk. I raised the lid and looked back at Joel. "Well?"

"You can do both?"

"If I gave him the correct seals, I can. I did hand him two buttons, right?"

"Coins actually."

I shrugged. "I started off using buttons. They tend to burn or melt, so I swapped to senteris."

"Expensive."

"But permanent. It's cost prohibitive for experiments." Inside the trunk, a book levitated itself onto an array and opened to the first page. A dip pen leaped to life. A second later, the loops and swirls of guardian script spread across the page as it recorded the discussion. Damn, too late to change out the book for a ream of paper. A shadow fell across the book. I turned my head as Joel crouched down beside me and peered inside the trunk. His eyes widened when he noticed the pen.

"An automated transcript? I must have tried a dozen times and could never get the seal to transcribe more than simple sentences."

"Guardian script is phonetic. The symbols represent sounds, not words. Your seal worked. All I did was change the alphabet system so it didn't have to swallow a dictionary and swap out the power array. Keyed ambients are more efficient, making them easier to hide. If I wanted someone to know I was spying on them, I'd send out a memo."

"Indeed. You say I can listen as well. Does it mean covering a seal with a drinking glass? If so, I'll pass."

Laughing, I reached inside the trunk and wrapped my fingers around the base of an oak box. Being careful to not disturb the transcription seal, I lifted the box out of the trunk and set it on the floor. A wave of my hand moved it to the empty worktable. I shut the trunk lid and returned it to its storage area.

Several years ago, I lost all my notes, transcribed conversations, books, bedding, everything when a seal I was working on exploded. I counted myself lucky I didn't lose a limb. Luckily Uncle Manfred had copied my experiment notes and commonplace books for Grandfather's library so I recovered nearly everything. Then I established several stringent protocols to prevent a recurrence of that debacle, including creating another subplane solely for testing experimental seals, warding the study area, and keeping automated copies of all documents locked away inside several storage areas. It was a pain and required carving seals on the underside of my worktables, but the peace of mind was worth it.

I dusted myself off and waved Joel over to the table. Then I opened the portable gramophone's lid. A wood tray lay on the turntable with twelve senteris coins nestled in red velvet. I brushed my fingertips over the coins. Two mental pings, indicating active magic. The left was Grandfather's. Right must be the one I gave Terry. I wasn't spying on anyone else at the moment. Although I did contemplate hiding one in the busk of Endellion's stays. I didn't because if she caught me...I shuddered.

I nudged the tray aside, picked up Terry's, and set it in the middle of the turntable. Then I lowered the arm from the sound bowl in the lid and placed the needle in the middle of the seal. Voices flooded the room.