Shalay

          The old wizard patiently hummed a tune to himself as he considered Danny’s abandoned dishes next to the empty wash basin and clean dust rag. Danny, that irresponsible youngster, had once again shirked his chores to enjoy the continuous call of the outdoors. This was partly due to how soft he was on his apprentice, but he’d always felt sorry for the little orphan - particularly on the day he’d found him alone and squalling in the streets. Originally, he had thought to bring the child strait to the orphanage hosted by the Prince’s palace, where boys were brought up to be soldiers of the royal army. But those big blue eyes had immediately gripped him, and Dunkin knew the child possessed a rare grasp on magic. His magic.

         Every one of his colleagues scoffed, even the members of his conclave, saying that his two hundred years was much too young to take on an apprentice, but none had offered to do it themselves- which explained why Dunkin was left struggling to make Danny more serious about his studies for the past nine years. And yet, he was confident that sooner or later the boy would simply want to know things, this thirst being the mainstay behind every wizard. In the meantime, he did desire to make sure the boy was safe, too many times he’d come back scraped and crying to the jostle of an old fool’s gentle heart.

         Pulling his crystal ball out of its proper cabinet, he gazed into it, allowing it to focus by itself on the strongest source of a magical presence – the easiest way to spy on his excessively sensitive student. However, the picture that formed within the ball drew away, and he watched as an unfamiliar man well-dressed in a familiar dark grey and maroon approached the capital on horseback. As he stared on in confusion, the man suddenly looked back at him with a wicked smile.

         Startled to be seen, Dunkin fumbled and dropped the precious crystal on the floor where it shattered. He stared in horror at the shards until a cold, sinister fear crept through his chest. It was probably good the ball was destroyed in that moment; it may have even saved his life. That was no wizard who approached, that was Shalay. Shalay was the result of two universes making contact. Shalay was the descendant of a demon.

         The old man tripped over his voluminous robe in his rush to gather all his needs – he had to be prepared. Shalay could only be visiting for one reason – to suck up power from wizards he could best. That was Murdock’s cloak he wore - who knew how many others he’d conquered so far? The battle had to be short, that was certain. His thoughts rushed to Danny, who would be running around the rest of the day. So long as he didn’t lose, the boy would be safe.

         The door squeaked open. “Master?” Danny peered around the door timidly.
“Danny!” Panic surged through him. He had to get that boy safely away! “Danny, this is not the time!” He dropped all his equipment onto the round table in front of him and hurried over. “You must leave this house for a while,” he urged. “Go outside and play. Go on!”
Danny’s blue eyes opened wide in amazement and his jaw dropped. “But, but,” he stuttered, “you see, there’s this –“

         “Go on now, go!” There was no time for this. “Don’t come anywhere near this house. Hurry up, GO!” He quickly bustled Danny out the door and turned momentarily back to the table before a pang of guilt hit him. If he failed, no doubt Danny would be next. He yanked an elf shot pendant out of his pocket, the one used to keep the apprentice from knowing where and what he was doing. Quickly he opened the door and shoved it at the lad, who was still standing there with his mouth open in disbelief. “Take this and wear it. Who knows? Hopefully, it will give you some protection,” And again he slammed the door, returning to his need to spell an enchantment of invulnerability on himself.


Chapter 2
         Danny hopped over the huge boulder off the side of the road adding only a small tear to his simple shirt this time, then peeked back over to see if any of his friends had followed. “Don’t go play until you wash your dishes!” The stern words of Dunkin echoed in his memory for a pang of conscience, but he shook it off as easily as he had since his gentle master found him as an orphaned toddler – what was wrong with doing chores after playing, anyway?

         Meantime, watching the road to Homberg for gaudy late-season merchants or the Prince’s smartly dressed city guard was much more fun, and then playing tag in the apple orchard, because no one could climb a tree as well as he, and then he would always skip rocks at the pool near the river and then maybe, just maybe he would dare look at the stars again tonight? Danny closed his eyes to think back over his studies, trying to remember the real difference between magic and not magic. Those stars, they were magic, it didn’t matter that his friends could see them, too.

         He opened his innocent blue eyes to the sound of horse hooves on the road – his patience rewarded! However, this black-haired, dusty man in the nice grey cloak with dark red trim didn’t look like a merchant. In fact, even without looking deeply at those eyes, dark as an abyss, he seemed to be glowing. A lot. More so than his own master, which meant – another wizard! Of course! A guest his master probably knew! Careful to not draw attention, Danny faded off through the trees into the back streets of town, his knowledge of the odd layout of the very old city putting him far ahead of the stranger. What glee that the man hadn’t even noticed him!

         As soon as he reached his master’s hut, nestled behind a tavern close to the Palace of Princes, he remembered his own forgotten chores. He really didn’t want to do them, and he knew if he did go inside, he wouldn’t be able to leave for the rest of the day. But this was important. He had to see what this meeting was about.Nervously, he cracked open the door. “Master?” he called out.

         “Danny!” the old man was unerringly tidy, but his now loose hair frazzled over his long gray beard which dripped over a chest that was otherwise so covered by a wide array of all sorts of bottles and other items used in certain magic, that it was certainly as much as those deft hands could balance. “Danny, this is not the time! He dropped all of his equipment onto the round table in front of him and hurried over. “You must leave this house for a while … Go outside and play! Go on!”

         Danny’s jaw dropped. For all the times he’d been told to stay put, never had he been asked not to. “But, but, you see, there’s this-“

         “Go on now, go! Don’t come anywhere near this house. Hurry up, GO!” and he shoved Danny right out the door, slamming it shut behind. Dazed, Danny stared at the closed door for a minute, before it burst open again and his master thrust a pendant of a wooden arrowhead at him. “Take this and wear it. Who knows, hopefully it will give you some protection.” Again the door slammed shut. Inside, a low chant could be heard, and outside, a glow of magic began to envelope the entryways.

         A nudge of curiosity still lingered in his brain, seized up as it was in bewilderment. Surely this had something to do with that strange wizard, but all the same he turned and faced the world with a sense of abandonment before he took his master’s advice and fled.


Chapter 3
         Shalay held himself high, proudly upon his exhausted horse. The animal had carried almost strait through for two days, but time could not wear at him. Somewhere up ahead lay Homberg, and the keeper of the Prince’s capital. Up ahead was Dunkin, the third member of the sect who killed his father. Murdered, he liked to think, it gave some legitimacy to his cause. Not that he needed it – his family heritage had practically guaranteed him a lack of conscience.

         Some memory galled him. Something about another, unimportant person associated with Dunkin, a sort of ill-fitted apprentice. Two souls to drain, two less that could gang up on him in the final showdown that was bound to happen. He didn’t remember it himself, since he’d been a fetus at the time, but his mother had faithfully told the story of when the wizards had united against his father, and attempted to hide him even when his natural abilities destroyed their pitiful lives. And then one of the wizards came to check on him – they knew all along where and who he was – Shalay held the power of possession in his hands and destroyed the human. Two days ago.

         His mother had already died, he had needed to practice the draining of energies on someone, but draining the wizard gave him an exuberance he’d never thought of – more power. Thus finally, he’d found his desire. More power. Now the third wizard lay just up ahead, somewhere in the middle of the mortared bricks and rooftops of this structure they dared call a city.

         Just then, a presence became known to him, and he looked back at it with a grin. Just as suddenly, the presence vanished. Too bad, it could have saved him time if he’d locked onto the wizard now. Of course, the wizard would be telling all the other magic workers immediately and be prepared for a fight, but it didn’t really matter. He was just about to gain a third boost of this strange and wonderful stuff called magic.