The Legend Of The Wizard's Apprentice (Book 1) (11 page)

“Kerwyn, come on, we need to get going. I’m hungry,” Master Sernett said impatiently.

“Ok, Master, I’m ready,” said Kerwyn. They wore the new wizard cloaks that the Elves had provided for them and Master Sernett inspected Kerwyn from head to toe. Taking in his new blue cloak he thought that Kerwyn really looked like a wizard and Master Sernett had never been more proud of Kerwyn than right now.

“Kerwyn, you look like a full wizard. You look really good, my boy. The only thing you need now is a wizard’s staff like mine to complete the look. Ha-ha, I’m just kidding, Kerwyn, you look fine so let’s go get some of that delicious food.” Walking down the hall, they passed by Durin’s door just as it was opening and out walked the dwarf wearing the most adorned Dwarven clothing that the Dwarf would ever wear in his life. Dwarf clothing with an Elfish flare to them, chain mail and all. However, the thing that caught Kerwyn’s eyes the most was the massive glowing Silver Hammer that Durin had looped in his belt. It looked excessively big for him but it seemed he was able to lift it with ease.

“Durin, you look great! You look just like one of those Dwarven warrior heroes that are in the bards' books back home,” said Kerwyn and the Dwarf smiled at the compliment.

Durin reached over and touched the Kerwyn’s cloak, “Well, Master Kerwyn, you look just like every wizard that I have ever heard of from bard songs as well.” They walked down the hall and out the door where they saw the Cyclopes. Kerwyn could not believe his eyes. They were all wearing shiny silver chain mail armour. Each had a shiny silver helmet on his or her head as well. They looked like a force that could take on a hundred Goblins all by themselves. Celie had a huge glowing Broadsword across her back that was as broad as Kerwyn was tall. Byamee had a very similar sword except that his had a curve to it like a Giant Scimitar. Baldred had the most impressive looking Bow and Arrows that Kerwyn had ever seen. The bow was made from silver and it glowed as well. Elden had a solid silver Spear with the wickedest looking point Kerwyn could have imagined and it also glowed. But what stood out the most on Elden was his elaborate and ornamental helmet. It had a bright red plume coming right out of the top of it and Kerwyn thought that he looked like a peacock. Elden noticed Kerwyn looking at his helmet and only smiled and wiggled his head to make the plume move like it was alive.

“Wow, you all look fantastic? Just like warriors straight from legends,” Kerwyn called over to them. They all came over to look at each other’s new wears. While they were all admiring one another, a young Elvin woman with long flowing honey coloured hair that ran down to the base of her back, came over to collect them for supper. Turning to face her, Kerwyn stepped back and flushed a bright red. Here was the same girl that was sun tanning below his window not more then a half hour ago. Smiling at Kerwyn with a little I-saw-you-watching-me-and-you-looked-handsome-too smile, she batted her eyes and cleared her throat, saying in the prettiest voice Kerwyn had ever heard. It was just like the most delicate singing bird in the forest.

“If you would all follow me, I will lead you to my mother and for supper.”

“So does that mean that your mom is the Queen of the Elves?”Kerwyn catching himself off guard again asked aloud before he could stop himself. He then blushed as red as his body would allow his face to go.

“Yes, Elysia, the Queen of the Elves is my mother and I am Erlina, Princess of the forest Elves,” she glanced sideways to see Kerwyn’s reaction to this news and Erlina gave another small smile and a small blush when she noticed that Master Sernett was smiling as well.

“Ah yes, but we had better get going. We don’t want to keep my mother waiting. Also the food is much better when it’s hot.” Smiling shyly at Master Sernett once more and taking one last flirtatious glance at Kerwyn she turned and started off in the direction of the biggest tree Kerwyn had ever seen in his life.

Entering the grand hall was like nothing that Kerwyn could have ever imagined and Kerwyn believed that they could have put every human from his village and every Elf into this one room. Kerwyn bet that this room could have easily held three hundred people. The grand table was so long that Kerwyn did not think a table could be so big or wondrous. The hall was so tall that the highest tower of his village would not even come half way up as high as this ceiling. There were carvings all over the walls and ceiling, depicting various Elvin battles. There were even sculptures of Elvin heroes. The artwork was amazing and the paintings seemed almost to come alive. Everything was made as if it had grown straight out of the tree that now was their permanent home. Even the windows had stained glass reflecting the sun’s light, scattering colors over the table and the large, sculpted chair at the end of the hall. The chair was the most intricately designed thing Kerwyn had ever seen in his life. It was designed to resemble a stag’s head, topped with the biggest set of antlers that he had ever seen. In fact, upon closer inspection, there were multiple sets of antlers. “What a magnificent creature this would be to see in real life,” Kerwyn thought to himself.

“Master, this chair; what deer would this have been made to look like? I have never heard of such a magnificent creature. I would have remembered seeing anything in the books of magic about this,” said Kerwyn

“Kerwyn, Cernunnos is the Elvish God of the forest. This creature does in fact exist. My master told me a long time ago that he was at an Elvish ceremony and the God of the forest appeared before them. It is only the very lucky ones, who are destiny marked by the gods, who have ever seen him. For this God is the most peaceful of all the Gods. It rules the forest with Mother Nature’s help to keep his domain free from evil. His law is of nature and the circle of life; the strong will survive and the weak will become food to keep the healthy alive,” explained Master Sernett.

“Master, how is Cernunnos peaceful if he lets his creatures be killed and eaten by stronger creatures?” asked Kerwyn

“Kerwyn, that is the way of nature’s rule. You eat pork; beef and chicken plus you eat all kinds of plants that are also alive that you may survive. You would not stay alive unless you ate them, right?” Master Sernett asked Kerwyn.

“Yes Master, but I don’t kill them, “said Kerwyn.

“True, but you still eat them none the less and dead is dead, no matter who does the killing. Also I have never seen you turn down a big plate of pork dripping with gravy,” finished Master Sernett.

“You are right Master I guess I never thought of it that way before. So all living things must follow Nature’s rules to survive and if so, then why do we have creatures like the Dark Master and his minions?” asked Kerwyn.

Just then, a musical voice said from behind, “That is a very fair question Kerwyn, but one that poses no simple answers. The Dark Master is a creature of pure evil. His desire to rule and kill the entire world has damaged his mind and his normal nature. His minions are creatures spawned from his insanity and they no longer have souls. Maybe that is the simplest answer, after all, a creature with no soul does not follow Nature’s rule. That would be why Mother Nature despises them so much. They kill just for the joy of killing. Some do not need to kill to survive; ghouls and zombies are like this and they do not need to eat to survive. All evil creatures enjoy the hunt as much as the final kill. Then there are even types of creatures that feed on fear and on the souls of the creatures they kill like lynches and wraiths. It empowers them and gives them some sick enjoyment to torture the innocent and helpless. Some creatures must eat the living to survive like trolls, orcs and ogres and yes, even the very undead vampires,” said the Queen of the Elves.

“But your Majesty, why doesn’t Mother Nature and the other gods kill all the evil creatures and then all that would be left would be good?” asked Kerwyn.

“Ah Kerwyn, we cannot have one without the other. That is just the way of the universe. You cannot have good without evil to show you what is good, and you cannot have evil without good, otherwise all life would cease to exist. The Dark Master does not realize what would happen if he ever was to win. All Life would cease to exist and everything would have to start over,” the Elf Queen was about to continue when a gong sounded indicating that the supper was about to start and for everyone to take their seats.

“Speaking of having to start over, my friends, let’s have a supper together and talk of better tidings.” As with all royalty, the queen turned and expected that her wishes would be carried out without having to repeat herself. She made her way to the head of the table where her rightful place was. Kerwyn looked at his Master, smiled and followed Master Sernett to their places close to the queen where honoured guests were to sit, along with the royal family. To Kerwyn’s surprise, he was seated next to Erlina and blushed every time she looked over and tried to talk to him. Kerwyn hardly noticed how wonderfully seasoned and tender the meat was. Nor did he notice the potatoes and all the other food that he was popping into his mouth, as the only thing on his mind was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen: Erlina.

As they were finishing their supper, the Elves brought in a huge dish with sweets on it. Kerwyn loved sweets and finally took his mind off the girl of his dreams and scooped up one of the gooiest and delectable deserts that he had ever tasted. It was covered in a layer of thick honey and had pulverized sugar cane sprinkled over the top of a bread pastry. There was a hint of blended cinnamon and clover that he had never had in his life. This had to be the tastiest thing he had ever eaten in his life. Erlina, seeing Kerwyn had some of the honey running down his chin, reached over and wiped the corner of his mouth with her silk handkerchief.

Kerwyn not knowing what to do said around a mouthful of the wonderful sweets, “Ummm thank you, but I could have gotten that later. It is so tasty I would have made sure that I would have eaten everything to the last drop.” Realizing what he said, he blushed a deep crimson and looked down, feeling like a fool in front of this beautiful girl who also had honey coloured hair and the most magnificent blue eyes that could capture a soul and not release it for a thousand years. Kerwyn not knowing what else to do now reached up to take the silk handkerchief from her hand ended up somehow accidently grabbing her hand and pulled it to his lap. Not realizing that he still held her hand captive, she reached over with her other hand and placed it on his closed hands. Looking down he saw that he did not only have her one hand on his hand but that he was in fact holding her other hand in his.

With a mischievous grin she said, “I think you are a really sweet man but I think we should get to know one another a little bit better before we start holding hands in public, don’t you? Unless you would like to stand up and ask my mother for my hand in marriage?” Winking at him she started to giggle and blush. All the people sitting close enough to hear the bantering started to laugh and tap the table with merriment, calling for Kerwyn to ask for the princess’s hand in matrimony.

Kerwyn, unsure as to what to do, jumped up from the table, blushing for the entire world and looking like a ruby red tomato. He fled from the great hall an Erlina, realizing that she might have teased him a bit too far, got up and ran after Kerwyn.

Master Sernett turned to face the Queen for fear of her being insulted, but all she did was smile back at Master Sernett and say, “My daughter seems to be taken with your Kerwyn, Master Sernett. It has been a very long time since I have seen my daughter smile the way she smiles at your young wizard. I would give anything to have my daughter happy and laughing again. If only spending time with your young wizard would make that happen. I welcome you and your company to come and live with us for a time and learn all that you can from my people. Please accept our offer and be our guests for a while. We have never invited anyone to come and stay with us to learn our ways in a very long time. In fact, I think the last time was when your own Master was just a young wizard also.”

Master Sernett did not know that his Master had come here and stayed with the Elves. He had guessed at it many times but his Master would never tell him straight out if he was right or not.

Turning back to his dessert, Master Sernett had some thinking to do and not only about this quest that they seemed to be on. However, he now wanted to know what his Master had learned from the Elves and what he himself might learn regarding his own past. Breaking the silence and his thoughts the queen held up her hand and said, “Honoured guests and family; it is time for the festivities to commence. Let the singing and dancing begin.”

Leaning towards Master Sernett the Elvin queen said in a hushed whisper, “Master Sernett you and I need to have a talk in private very soon. Also, I would very much like to take a look at that staff you have. It almost looks Elvin made but it does not have the same type of magical presence about it. I am very curious who else could have forged such an amazing staff as that. I would very much like to hear your story and how you came to be with it.”

Nodding towards the queen, Master Sernett agreed to meet with her whenever she wished a private audience with him. Looking back over his shoulder he was wondering how Kerwyn was doing and then brushed the thought away as he knew the pretty blonde elf wouldn’t have any trouble turning Kerwyn’s bad mood to a happy one in no time at all.