This is the third chapter of the Apprentice Wizard. |
III
Dar’s eyes slowly opened to the sight of Wagnalls’ face. His head was throbbing and his vision was blurred, but he could easily make out Wagnalls anywhere. The sun was out now and it was a hot summer day. A slight breeze danced though the dark green forest, and the singing of birds soothed Dar’s pain. “Welcome back boy. It’s been almost an entire day.” Wagnalls said. He ran his hand through Dar’s dark messy hair as he checked the place his head hit the tree. “You have quite the bump on your head there, but you’ll live.” Wagnalls stood up and grabbed his leather pouch that held all the food. Dar tried to get up to follow Wagnalls but he suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed: His head hit the ground hard. He let out a moan and grabbed his pounding his head. “Now, now. You just lie down and rest for a while. Your heads not going to heal itself now.” Lectured Wagnalls. “Here have a couple of these.” He placed two clear jelly-like balls on Dar’s chest. “After you have them, you can have something to eat.” Dar picked one up and almost dropped it. The balls were slippery and unknown to Dar. “What are they?” Dar stared at Wagnalls and his identical twin next to him. He let out a moan and put his head back on the ground. “It’s Ent Vail. It’s a very common food for Ents, but for humans it’s a great water substitute.” Wagnalls explained. Wagnalls picked up one of the balls and forced it into Dar’s mouth. As soon as Dar closed his mouth, the ball burst, and a tasteless substance ran down his mouth. For the first time since he had left the old shack, Dar had some water in his body and he instantly felt well again. Dar himself this time picked up the other Ent Vail and tossed it greedily into his mouth. “Thanks. I feel better now.” Dar’s vision slowly returned, but his head still hurt. “What’s an Ent anyway?” “Well it looks like your back to your old self again. Always asking questions. Here eat this.” He handed Dar a couple pieces of dried meat. “An Ent is a forest, or I guess I should say a forest dwelling creature. Well that’s not right either, but it’s a good start. They live a forest near the home of Parnassus. You’ll meet some eventually.” Wagnalls stood up and begun to walk away when he stopped suddenly and looked around as if he had heard something, but then returned his attention to Dar. “I’m going to take look around up ahead. I some things I need to take care of. I’ll be back soon. Try not to move too much and make sure you get more rest.” Wagnalls began to walk away when Dar stopped him. “Wagnalls, before you go can you tell me what happened after I passed out? I don’t even know how long I’ve been out for.” Dar asked. “Oh sorry. How forgetful of me. Lets see now, as soon as Night Shad died, all the snow instantly melted away. It was odd though because I’ve never heard of a witch who could control the weather, but she was a challengeable foe. Very strong in the dark arts. And after you took that bad fall, you’ve been out for about fourteen hours now.” Wagnalls sensed Dar was going to ask another question so he waited and decided he should sit down. “What happened to you when you started to fight Night Shade? When you started to use your magic, all your cloths turned red, and you suddenly had a cape of fire. Does that happen to all wizards?” Dar asked. “Don’t forget to breath there Dar.” Wagnalls smiled. “Yes, master wizards often change in order to be one with their magic. If the wizard were a master of Water elemental, for example, then his cloths would turn a blue color. So when you become a master wizard, you will also be changed in accordance to your element. Of course I could walk around all the time as a Master of Fire, but then people would know that I’m a wizard and run away or worst of all challenge me.” Wagnalls explained and then stood up again using his staff to pull himself up. “What about the red dagger I saw? I’ve never heard or see of anything like that before. Why would a powerful wizard like yourself need a dagger?” Dar asked. Wagnalls cut him off. “I have to go now Dar. I’m going to go a find a safe and easy path to the Great Road.” He started to walk away. “I’ll be back soon Dar. Try not to move too much until you feel better okay. You will be safe here by yourself I promise.” Wagnalls turned away and walked into the forest. “Just try and get some rest, and I shall return shortly.” He shouted, and then he was gone. * For some hours, Dar just laid on the ground waiting for Wagnalls to come back. When he had first woken up, it must have been mid-afternoon and now the sun began to drift into the distance. The birds started to quiet down now, and the crickets began to come out. A cold breeze started to blow across Dar now and gave him the shivers. His head still hurt though, it seems like he had done more than hit that tree, but what else could he have done to hurt himself he thought. All he knew was that his head hurt so much that he didn’t want to move because the slightest amount of movement brought pain. Dar looked to his left and he saw his staff lying next to him. Trying not to hurt himself anymore, he reached over and grabbed it with his left hand and drew it near himself. With the aid from his other hand, he lifted it onto his chest and looked deep into the moonstone. Inside the stone, he was lost within the greatness of the magic that the stone held. Then to his surprise, he saw himself, but what he saw was an older version of him, and he was dressed completely in black. Refusing to look anymore, he pushed the staff away and returned his sight to the now dark, star filled sky. After a few minutes, Dar finally heard footsteps coming up behind him. Not being able to turn around, he just kept looking up at the stars. “What took you so long Wagnalls? I’ve been waiting forever.” There was nothing but silence. “Wagnalls, is that you?” Dar was afraid for his life now because just yesterday a witch tried to kill him. What now? “I’m sorry to say but this is not he who you call Wagnalls.” A deep voice answered. Dar jumped to his feet, but fell instantly to the hard ground. He was terrified and didn’t know what to do. Last time something like this happened, Wagnalls saved him, but now he was by himself. “Why do you want to kill me? Who are? I’m a wizard you know!” His head hurt now more than ever. He looked over and saw an enormous man kneeling next to his staff. It seemed like he was nearly seven or eight feet tall, and it looked like he was almost three feet thick. He was a man of pure muscle with dark skin. It was hard to tell if he was just a man with great girth or not because he was dressed in a large black cape that kept his body hidden. Even his face was hidden under a black hood, and a black veil covered up everything below his eyes. Dar knew the man could crush him with out a challenge. The man stood up and began to walk towards Dar. “What makes you think I’m going to hurt you? You look cold. Here, I’ll make you a fire.” The man turned away from Dar and pointed towards a spot on the ground. He said something in a different language he had never heard before, and then a fire appeared. “So, where is he?” Asked the man then he looked back at Dar. “Here, why don’t I help you get near to the fire? I don’t bite.” The man walked up to Dar and gently picked him up and brought him next to the warm fire. “Who are you if your not going to kill me?” He looked over at the man and looked into his yellow eyes. “What are you?” “Sorry to scare you. My name is Aaron. Like I said, I’m not here to harm you. Most likely to help you.” The man answered. “And for the record, I’m a giant. Not one that children read about in fairy tales mind you, but I’m a giant none the less.” He flashed Dar a smile. He took off his black cloak and exposed his well- developed muscles, and to Dar’s disbelief, Aaron had not two but four arms. Each was as big as the next. Under the cloak, Aaron wore a well-crafted metal plate that perfectly fit his massive chest and rippling abs. There was some kind of design on it too, but it was far too dark for Dar to make out. Around his waist was a thick aged belt made of leather that held four large blades that were all identical. As Dar looked over the giant, he got uneasier every moment. “W-Who sent you?” Aaron chuckled. “A friend. I assure you.” Answered Aaron in his deep voice. “But now tell me. How long have you’ve been laying there for now?” Aaron looked at him strangely looking for a reply. “What did you do to Wagnalls?” Dar was worried now. Wagnalls has never left him before, and now he still isn’t back yet. He tried to look around but he couldn’t.. “Well if you really were a wizard like you claim to be, why don’t you just cure yourself and stop all this pain. Or do you enjoy laying on the cold ground all day?” He paused for a moment to look around. “So he’s calling himself Wagnalls now hey. Well to tell you the truth, I haven’t seen him, and I don’t know were he went.” He cleared his throat and looked back at Dar again. “Well?” “Oh. Well. I ah . . ..” He just realized Wagnalls hadn’t taught Dar how to use his staff yet. “I don’t know how to use my staff.” Dar muttered under his breath. He looked away from Aaron and gazed into the fire. “Well now, no better time then now.” Dar looked at him with a surprised look on his face. “Now,” Aaron continued. “It’s not that hard, but it will take time to get used too.” He smiled at Dar. “I want you to pick up your staff and hold it off the ground.” Dar just stared at Aaron and refused to move. “Trust me, I’m not here to harm you, just do this for me and then I’ll go if you like.” Aaron looked at Dar. “Would you like me to leave you now, and let you lay on the cold ground for another day or two?” Dar nodded and slowly picked up his staff. “Now I want you to transfer all you life energy through your body, and into you right hand there that is holding your staff.” Dar hesitated. “Life energy?” If he were trying to kill him, he would try to steal my “life energy” Dar thought to himself. “Here let me show you. Put your staff down and place your hands together like this.” Aaron held his top two hands out about an inch apart from one another, and kept the other two together. “Now can you feel the heat between your two hands.” Dar nodded. “That’s your life energy. Without it you are nothing but a corpse, but if you can summon it all at once you can accomplish anything.” Aaron clapped his top two hands together and kept his bottom two held together firmly. “Now I want you to pick up your staff again and only this time, I want you to transfer everything you have into the moonstone, then say the word ‘cure’, I think that is the word in your language, and then see what happens.” He pointed to the staff and urged him to pick it up. Dar wasn’t sure if Aaron was telling him the truth, but it was obvious that if he had wanted to kill him, he could have done it already with ease. Dar picked up the staff and did as Aaron had told him to do. As he tried transferring his life energy into the moonstone, the moonstone began to glow a bright blue color. Then Dar said “Cure.” On command, a wave of sparkling white light came out of the moonstone that looked like a streamer. The white light quickly wrapped itself around Dar, and then in a final burst of light, it was all over. Dar sat up for the first time in hours: He was perfectly healed. Dar looked to thank Aaron, but he was no longer there. He disappeared without a trace. It was just Dar sitting by himself. The only thing that made Dar sure it really happened was the fire that Aaron had created out of a wave of his hand was still exactly that same as it had been since it was started. “Dar! Dar are you alright?” Wagnalls came running at Dar who was just sitting straight up looking in the fire. “Did something happen while I was gone? Are you alright now? I thought I saw something.” Wagnalls was out of breath, and he had been running for quite some time now. There was sweat running down his wrinkled forehead, and his robes were covered in dirt. “Yes I’m perfectly fine now.” He looked down at the staff that was laying across his lap and smiled. He got up to his feet and stretched his arms over his head. “I began to feel better a couple hours ago, and when it started to get dark and you still weren’t hear, I made a fire.” Dar lied and kept Aaron to himself. “Where have you been all this time? It’s pitch black out now.” Dar asked. “I know it’s late. Sorry. I was checking to see if the old path to the road was still intact, which it is, and then I started to look for some herbs for your head, but it looks like your alright now. Just needed some rest I guess.” Wagnalls went and sat by the fire. “The good news is that the road will save us many days of travel.” He assured himself. Dar let out a long yawn. “I think I’m just going to go to sleep. It’s been a long day waiting for you, and I think I’ll get some more rest for tomorrow.” He laid down on the opposite side of the fire. “Good night Wagnalls. I’ll see you in the morning.” Completely exhausted from using magic, Dar fell right to sleep. Wagnalls stayed up for awhile and stared into the fire. Every once and awhile he would look around the forest and then back at Dar. “Made the fire yourself hey Dar.” He waved his hand through the flame, and it disappeared. “Magic! Who did you meet tonight Dar?” Wagnalls asked the sleeping boy expecting no answer. He chuckled to himself. “And why did you have to lie to me?” He thought to himself for a while and then slowly drifted off to sleep. |