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The Apprentice: Chapter I
The Apprentice
JB Keyser
Chapter I
A girl with long straight strawberry-blonde hair, tucked behind her right ear, she was running. Her pale skin and sweat dripping down her sickly face, her condition look more feverish with each step. Her white blouse getting soaked covering her chest is a large leather backpack. Her puffy golden shorts dripping like no tomorrow spraying the golden dye and smearing the colors on the leather trimmings and her leather boots.
What had gotten this girl to be running? It so happened that even though she had a huge fever she was not going to be late for school, even school was just on the ground floor she was on the fourth and she had to run down hallways and stairs just to get to her class on the bottom floor. The school, the “learning” center, was to teach new workers in the castle how to do the basics. Unfortunately you didn’t’ get to pick your job, they picked for you based on the skills you show during a whole year of schooling.
Suddenly a large gong could be heard and she was touching the door knob and pushing through the door as hard as she could. The girl had pushed a middle-aged lady in a golden dress back and the lady was quite shaken by what had happened to her.
The middle-aged lady with fierce blue eyes looked angrily at the young girl and exclaimed, “Jancey! Glad for you to come to class; punishment for being late this late in the training process is cleaning the great hall after the Mastership Ceremony.”
The lady held firmly to her silver lily pendant, with one hand and with the other pointed to the blank desk dead center closest to a large desk. The girl followed the finger and heard the snickering in the background. The girl’s sadden silver-ish grey eyes become downcast and her face becoming slightly more rouge then it was before.
Jancey looked around the class room and saw that Sarah wasn’t laughing and she smiled slightly and suddenly there was a slam on Jancey’s desk. Jancey quickly looked up and saw the teacher leaning forward and she growled silently, “Keep this up and you’ll have to take this class for another year.”
Jancey gulped and answered, “Yes, Lady Lager.” Jancey scrambled for her stuff and at the speed of light pulled out a large red leather-bound book and flipped pages and suddenly was on the page about the lesson today.
Lady Lager hadn’t even said a single word about discussion today and she eyed shocked at the Jancey without saying a single word and began talking about the lesson.
After hours of discussing nature and constellations a large bell gonged and Lady Lager looked at the class and said, “It is silent study time. Please rise and in an orderly fashion walk to the library.” The class quickly walked out and Jancey was standing next to Sarah.
Sarah was Jancey’s best friend; she had shoulder length curly ebony hair with flashing green eyes and a freckle-spotted face. Sarah was a great cook and also good at repairing clothes, she was as most of the maids at this castle would say, “fashionable.”
The queen even admired her talent with clothes and asked if she was hoping to become a tailor. Sarah simply, yet politely answered no and explained her dream of being the King’s Chef. It takes a girl with all organs and especially her heart in the right place, to tell the queen your aspiring dreams of the future.
Right now, Sarah’s face was exaggerating her thoughts. Once the door was closed and the entire class was a hundred yards away from the door she jumped at Jancey with the words, “You’re supposed to be sleeping!”
Jancey was totally shocked, Sarah knew that if Jancey was absent one more time she would be fired and be kicked out to the woods. In the year 3000 P.W. all sort of creatures crawled around that you had no idea what would happen in the dark till it did, and then you were dead.
Sarah began blabbing about the fact that Jancey had a high fever and should not be running around like a bumbling idiot. Jancey just looked at the ground and thought about who her master would be. The handsome head scholar, the heart stopping prince’s best friend, the castle’s head priest, or even the strong prince himself to teach her the rules of being a strong knight.
Jancey then sighed, she would never get any of these positions because she was a weak and stupid girl who was late to everything and preferred to be daydreaming of a Blue Ocean reflecting and even bluer sky where you didn’t have to worry about animals eating you alive and can relax in peace.
Suddenly they were a hundred yards from the library and got silent and the whole class ordered in a line towards the two large doors. They opened automatically and suddenly the library was open.
A loud girlish sigh came from the class as a man with long silky hair came out of the room and flicked his hair back and with a caressed smile spoke, “I don’t expect any of you to be naughty, I will be back when the bell rings to open the doors.” He then closed the doors behind the students and you heard a click.
Five minutes later you could hear the entire library chatting with teenaged voices that echoed in the large castle library. Girls flirted with boys, boys hung around each other practicing sword fighting skills with rulers. Only few used the study time for studying. Many were excelling their skills with demonstrative skills.
Jancey began to return a bunch of books she held in her bag and climbed up the ladder and began to search the bookcase. Since in this day and age both boys and girls wore shorts to keep it uniformed. Generally people added things to their school uniforms to cause them to be different from the next so that they couldn’t be the same.
Climbing the ladder, she dazedly thought of her life in her prefect world and slowly climbed the ladder humming the song that entered her head before she fell asleep. While putting books away she saw a bright blue book about the old ocean that she had never seen before. She climbed to the second to the last wrung and still couldn’t reach the book. She dangerously stepped up to the next wrung and grabbed the book. She step down and suddenly stumbled and fell.
The next thing she could hear was Sarah screaming and landing on something semi-soft. Her vision blacked out steps hurried around the seen and finally Jancey couldn’t hear a sound echoing through her head except her lullaby.
When Jancey woke up in her bed and looked around looking like an idiot. Her back hurt and she looked at Sarah who had fallen asleep uncomfortably and worried. Jancey stood up changed into her only pair of normal clothes a pair of brown pants and simple black t-shirt. Jancey looked at Sarah and left a note on her bed. She opened the door quickly and walked down the hallway with simple brown slippers.
She walked down all four stair cases feeling like a new person and went towards the flower garden and sat on a bench next to roses. Jancey saw a weed of flowers that were similar to daisies and began to make a wreath out of them when someone behind her said, “What are you doing wandering around when you should be sleeping?”
Jancey turned around; she was surprised that she didn’t hear the person behind her. Then she growled, “It’s none of your business Joseph. You shouldn’t be sneaking up on people.”
“I wasn’t the one who decided to go to the last wrung for an ocean book and fall off and land on a guy name Joseph was I?” The young man trying to see what Jancey was doing.
Jancey heard what he said and jumped around more apologetic, “I’m so sorry!” Joseph was in a light blue tunic and darker blue pants and he sat down next to Jancey.
Her face went bright red, Jancey didn’t understand why but she looked quickly down at the wreath she was making and pretended to be working very hard on it.
“Isn’t that a weed you’re weaving?” Joseph asked his light blue eyes darting towards the wreath and then back at Jancey’s face. His short, smooth ebony hair lay behind his ears and stuck close to his neck.
Jancey kept on concentrating and said, “So how was the ceremony?” She was now upset that she missed the ceremony and continued intertwining the daisies together. Her eyes slightly saddened that she didn’t get to wear a pretty dress or dance with any men.
“It was okay. Everyone got what they wanted, Chris is the squire of a knight, Sarah is the head chef’s assistant, and I’m the King’s advisor’s underling. The usual stuff happened as well, not really much dancing going on and it was pretty much a big conversation till the end.” Joseph exclaimed as he looked in his pocket and then sprayed the wreath gently with a clear solution.
Jancey looked at her now wet finished product and looked at Joseph irritably, her look ready to kill, “Did you just spray weed killer on my wreath crown!?” She was quite upset she was going to give it to Sarah since they might be separated if all the ones that were chosen for this castle were taken.
“No, I gave it a spray of plant strengthening potion. I got it as a gift from Christopher.” Joseph explained in a rather cool tone, it was still the morning and when Jancey looked at his face he saw he was still really tired.
Jancey looked at the wreath and interjected humbly, “Oh…” Her face was bright red and she stood up and said, “See you sometime soon Joseph.”
Jancey got a slightly sad goodbye from Joseph and she walked away her wave not even facing Joseph.
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Jancey went back to her room and began to clean up her part of the mess. Her papers where everywhere and Jancey looked at the deep blue book and smiled. She laid back on her bed and began to reading the text.
Slowly the waves of the ocean began to call her back from her dreams. The golden ship glittered in the sunshine as a sudden dark brown earth appeared under Jancey’s feet.
Jancey looked around as the world shook madly, like lightning, the earth spilt and she stood one leg on each side of the crack. A man shining like the a thousand new burning fires held out a sword and began to charge towards a lady glimmering like a gentle swan on a night lake. She held a shield and fought.
Jancey didn’t understand but suddenly she looked down and down underneath her was Sarah and Joseph. They were coughing and barely holding on to an edge on each side of the cliff.
“Help me Jancey!” Sarah exclaimed; her face dirty, her skirt torn, and her arm bloody. Joseph reached out and coughed blood spurting everywhere, his left eye drenched with blood and his body in calamity.
Jancey reached down to both, placing her legs on the shaking foundation and pulled them both up simultaneously. As soon as they were both on the top ground, her knees gave out and she fell down the now closing earth shut her off of everything. Tears fell from her eyes as she fell into the deep chasm of the earth, a large red fire swan jumped out of the red glow from below and helped Jancey.
Even though the fire swan was a bright blue flame it felt cool against Jancey’s skin as she was raised through the earth and flying towards a dark eternity.
The lullaby that entered her dreams returned the calming sound of dripping water kept her floating in space, suddenly a calm voice that was so sweet and lovely a large figure appeared and it looked a lot like Jancey she muttered, “Mother?”
The whole dream seemed to go reverse suddenly and she woke up possessed wolf and all. Her body howled with pain, her body drenched with sweat and eyes showing a frightening gaze that caused Sarah to jump back in fear.
Jancey blinked and shivered, not only was the dream frightening, but her whole body seemed ice cold. Normally her dreams where peaceful and she was able to sleep without the worry of dying and she was generally just sailing the old ocean with no wars with heavenly beings, no friends looking like they were dying, no falling from cliffs into nowhere. It was so scary, her soul quivered and she looked at her bed and folded her arms.
“Are you okay?” Sarah looked at Jancey now concerned; this wasn’t the normal Jancey she knew. Sarah grabbed some food and showed her new clothing, “Your new master is waiting downstairs when you feel ready, he’s in the library.”
Jancey stood up slowly only eating the chewy bread and walked into the small tub and cleaned herself quickly and looked at her new outfit.
It was a teal tunic and shorts with a golden cross upon the center and large silk brown cloak that seemed as light as a feather. The matching brooch of a golden swan with a sapphire blue jeweled center was placed at one tip so you could tie the rope around it. She placed on her new brown boots and tan stockings.
She walked down semi-excited, yet something inside her chilled her bone. Who was her master, if the entire master’s of the main castle were picked? Why was she picked, what where her talents. Her outfit didn’t give her a clue of what she would be going except it would be a profession that was well honored in the castle.
Jancey opened the door slightly and she looked around in the library. It didn’t seem anyone was here. She sat down and pulled out the Ocean book that she had snuck in her cloak and began reading it when suddenly there was a large bang next to her. She turned around and saw that it was a man shorter than her, with a silver mustache and matching hair under a large emerald green pointed cap.
His cloak was embedded with silver stars except the pin which held it all together at the top. His artic ice blue eyes pierced through Jancey’s which made her look down directly at her boots.
“Don’t look down at your boots, silly girl. You have more magic potential than I, and you look down towards the center of the earth?” His voice was rather comical sounding, like a grandfather type of voice who was ready to tell jokes to you when you asked.
Jancey looked up and at his hat and said, “I’m sorry sir, but did you just say magic?” Only one person in the entire kingdom was known to have magic and that was Merlin the IV, his bloodline went back to the times of King Arthur and the Round Table. The same Merlin where he had fallen in love with the Lady of the Water or Avalon to many, and was the greatest mystical wizard of all time. This was Merlin?
“Yes I did, yes I’m Merlin. Stop thinking so loud, and laughing at my stature. Everyone thinks I’m so tall wizard but Merlin was not taller than King Arthur. It never said he was, they just paint Merlin taller because of the fact that he was older and more powerful than King Arthur.” The elderly man explained quickly grabbing his glasses and wiping them to get the dust off it.
He continued saying, “Stand up straight, slouching is bad for your back. If it weren’t for the fact that you had a fever when it isn’t the time for them we could realized faster you had magic. Now follow me, I have a meeting with the scholar. It looks like that girl forgot to give you your hat. Dear me, what are we going to do with you.” Merlin snapped his fingers and suddenly a small white beret appeared and he tossed it gently at Jancey.
Jancey quickly grabbed the hat and stuck it humbly on her head. Jancey quickly jogged behind Merlin. Merlin may looked like he was a hundred and three (and he is) but he walked like a gazelle on the run. It was hard to catch up with him.
Merlin entered the room and looked up at the young man from early. His long silky hair up in a pony tail as he skillfully wore his ocean blue cloak with black trimming, he was the King’s Advisor. Any girl in the castle could tell you his profile. His name was Lord Demetrius of Carthang; his skin is olive tan, eyes that glisten like a tropical green forest. He is very flirtatious but at the same time kind-hearted and sweet. He was one of the top bachelors in the country and he was a heart throb, not only tall and wiry but if ever seen in a sword match he could turn most men down instantly. “Demy” (nick name from the fans) was the perfect gentlemen.
Jancey slightly blushed; didn’t someone say that Merlin has to visit Demy once a week? Demy smiled with charm, “Merlin let us talk alone. Since our apprentices will be seeing each other daily they might as well get acquainted with each other. Besides we need to talk about the future, and I’m sure you have not told your apprentice much in the last fifteen minutes.”
Merlin looked at Demy and asked, “Where is young Joseph?” Suddenly Joseph came with carrying what seemed like six crates worth of scrolls and ink. He was wearing a white cloak with blue trimming, his tan shirt wrapped around his chest showing how well fit he was and his loose pants were tucked into his buckled boots. When he saw Jancey he tripped over his own foot and somehow Jancey instinctively put her hands out and the ink bottles had become suspended in the air in front of her face.
Demy exclaimed, “Joseph, you must be more cautious, if those ink bottles had dropped there would have been chaos from the king and queen. Plus, you would have injured Merlin’s new apprentice. Though it seems she was able to catch it… May I ask what your name is?”
“It-s J-jan-cey,” she answered. Her mouth was stuttering and she was completely petrified in her state. Jancey wished she knew how to put the ink bottles down; it was very embarrassing to be stuck in a position like this not knowing what to do.
“Jancey, got it! Now I know everyone’s apprentices. Now if you would excuse me I will be talking to Merlin. Joseph, make sure you take the bottles and stack each of them carefully on the table. Just pluck them out of the air, it will work.” Demy left the room with Merlin and Jancey was alone with Joseph.
Once the door was closed Joseph exclaimed, “I didn’t know you had magic?!” Joseph fixed his messy hair with a comb and picked each of the bottles and placed them in the cupboard.
“I didn’t know about it either. Did I look like I knew about it? This would be considered my first spell of magic I’ve had all my life that I would know about.” Jancey finally put her arms down when the last bottle had been picked up. What seemed like thousands of pounds of tension were off her body and she helped picked up the scrolls carefully.
Joseph sighed in disappointment, “No wonder why Merlin has been here earlier then usual. He generally comes every day after the Sabbath; he came to pick up his new apprentice.” Joseph picked up each of the scrolls and without knowing his hand landed on Jancey’s.
Suddenly her entire outfit except for the trimmings and the cloak turned bright pink. Jancey was then blushing even worse. She remembered a mood fabric Sarah wore on her clothes, it changed colors according to body heat which was generally connected to a person’s feelings. Blue was calm, green was energetic and pink was love stricken. Jancey hoped that Joseph didn’t know about this, and then again it was probably a wish that could never be granted to the apprentice of the King’s Advisor.
Joseph blushed and stuttered, “Um, um, sorry I’ll just stick these in the cupboard.” He turned around swiftly and walked away looking like his body was going to collapse any second.
Jancey giggled a bit and walked over quickly to finish the job and then sat down, bored. Jancey felt a thump to her side and looked at the big blue book and began reading it once again, it was talking about the colorful and variety of fish back in the olden days when clownfish didn’t mean a man-eating fish the size of the now endangered tiger shark. Jancey just imagined all the colors and the energetic life of the ocean. All the hustle and bustle that made her begin to daydream staring straight at the picture of the vibrant coral reef.
…(to be continued???)
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