The Echidna's Scale (Alchemy's Apprentice) (7 page)

“I know you will,” Marco said.  “What can you tell me about Cassius and Pesino?”

“Cassius is one of the most reliable people you’ll ever meet.  He’ll be the head of the village someday – he’s that well respected,” Kreewhite said.

“Pesino could spend the next twenty years sowing her wild oats and she still wouldn’t be done.  I don’t know what Lord Neptin was thinking when he assigned her to go with you.  She’ll be a handful, but Cassius should be able to control her,” Kreewhite considered.

Marco rolled his eyes at the thought of a mermaid partying her way through the challenges he faced.

Kreewhite’s mother came swimming over to the small group at that moment, and apologized for the unhappy turn of events.

“You all must be very hungry,” she said.  “Let us get some food for you.  Stay right here and Kreewhite and I will be back,” she said with a meaningful look at her son.  The two of them swam off, and the three stranded humans sat down together in a huddle by the fire.

Minutes later Kreewhite was back with a basket of fish and plantains.  They placed the fish on the stone platform right next to the base of the fire, and did the same with the plantains, smelling the savory aroma that quickly rose from their impromptu meal. 

They ate their meal, and stayed sprawled on the stone platform, dry, resting in the setting sun and chatting amiably, as though they weren’t in a precarious position and about to be separated the next morning.

“I used to herd goats,” Marco admitted when it was his turn to tell an embarrassing story on himself.  “One day one of the goats was missing in the afternoon, and I went all over the hillsides looking for him.

“I was on the edge of the river, and I thought I saw a white spot across the river, and I thought it was my goat.  So I stripped off all my clothes, and I started to wade across the river.  But I slipped on some rocks in the river, and the current washed me down around a curve in the river.

“When I managed to climb up out of the river and wiped the all the water out of my eyes, I looked up to find where my goat had gone.  Instead, I discovered that I had walked into the middle of the convent school for girls on an outing to visit a hermitage, and they all were staring at me!”

The group laughed as the sun set into the flat horizon.

“Does it seem strange to anyone else that this fire is still burning?” Porenn asked suddenly.

They all raised their eyebrows as they studied the steadily burning flame.

“I haven’t added any wood to it all day,” Kreewhite said thoughtfully.

“What exactly did you do when you lit the fire?” Glaze asked.

“I don’t know,” Marco protested.  “I,” he paused, “I was thinking about Porenn.  I felt sorry for her being so wet and cold, and I wanted to start a fire to make her feel better.”

“Marco, that’s so sweet!” Porenn gushed.

“Can we sleep here by the fire tonight?” Glaze asked Kreewhite, and the humans did just that.

In the morning, Cassius arrived early and awoke Marco.  “I look forward to traveling with you,” he said as they waited for Pesino.  After a half an hour, Cassius went and awoke her as well, drawing her out of her home under protest at the early start.

Marco hugged each of the companions he was leaving behind when Cassius and Pesino were finally back at the fire platform, and they all bid farewell, as Marco stepped down into the water.  “I’ll take care of them Marco,” Kreewhite promised.  And then Marco placed his hands on Pesino’s shoulders because she insisted she carry him first to make amends for arriving late, and the trio of adventurers began to swim through the waters of the cove.   They negotiated their way through the twisting inlet, arrived out in the open water, and began their journey north.

Marco switched to riding on Cassius’s back at the first opportunity; Pesino’s questions about why human women wore blouses upon their chests left his face blushing.

They swam for two days; after one day they found land, and Marco went ashore to determine where they were, and how far it was to the Lion City.  He spoke to the residents in a small village, where his golden hand was a topic of conversation for days afterwards.

They arrived in the vicini
ty of the Lion City late the next evening, and carefully swam into the harbor by the light of a full moon.

“You will stay on land during the upcoming day, and then come back to see us at sunset tomorrow, correct?” Cassius repeated the plans they had made.  During Marco’s time in the city, the two merpeople planned to swim out of the harbor, whose waters were filled with unpleasant refuse and waste from the city, and then return to rendezvous with him.

Marco agreed, and climbed off of Cassius’s back, and on to one of the piers that were half-filled with merchant ships.  He watched his two companions disappear into the dark waters, and then he considered what he should do next.

He climbed up the posts of the pier and walked to the harbor front, then evaded the watchman and started walking towards Algornia’s shop.  It was very late at night, and Marco had no expectations of seeing his former master, or any acquaintances.  He felt full of excited energy; he simply wanted to see the city again, to confirm that the landmarks of his life in the Lion City still existed and were real.  The Corsairs might have done some damage to some of his haunts, he knew, but he especially feared that they might have raided Algornia’s shop.

He recognized every corner and storefront and curb he passed on his way to the Chemists Square, and when he arrived there, it was a relief to find that the exterior of the shop was whole and unmarked.  Marco gave a sigh of relief, then turned around and trotted back to the docks, and climbed down to his little hidden room beneath the pier, so that he could get some much-needed sleep – sleeping during the night while riding on a merman did little to refresh him.

As soon as he pushed the curtain doorway aside, Marco knew something was different.  The room smelled different; its odor was feminine and flowery, causing him to pause in the doorway, and strain his eyes to peer into the black space he faced, trying to penetrate the darkness to see if someone was there.

“Hello?” he called softly.  There was no answer, and he reached around to feel for the lantern and the flint and steel.  They were still in place, and he fumbled twice before he got a spark and lit the wick of the lantern, then stared in amazement at the changes that occupied his small, formerly comfortable cubby space.

The room had bright colored pillows, small vases of flowers, and a painting of a soulful horse’s head on the wall.  It was tidied up, with organized piles of items, and a pink rug on the formerly bare floor.  His room was no longer his.  A girl had taken occupancy, in a clear and decisive manner.

Marco slumped down on the soft bedding, heedless of who now had rights to the room.  He removed his sword and laid it on the floor within easy reach, and then he blew out the lantern and laid his head down, and fell asleep.

Chapter 5
– Back in the Lion City

Marco awoke in groggy stages from his slumber in the hidden cubby beneath the pier.  He had slept soundly through the night, and when he awoke, he recognized the outline of dim light coming in around the edges of the door curtain before he realized that he was really back in the Lion City and then realized it was out of the ordinary for him to awaken in the Lion City.

He sat up, then stood up, and pulled the curtain open to appraise the unexpected changes to the cubby again.  It didn’t really matter, he decided.  He was never going to live in the Lion City again; he was never going to be an apprentice in Algornia’s shop again.  He had no need to try to reclaim the space as his own, though it hurt to think of someone else possessing the space – and the freedom and refuge that it had once represented.

With practiced steps he climbed up onto the pier, where various ships were loading and unloading, and the dockworkers made him dodge left and right as he strolled onto the solid land of the city.  He wore only a shirt and pants and a sword on a belt.  He momentarily thought of Mirra, and wished that she could be with him, both so that he could show her where he had lived, and so that he could be seen in the company of such an extraordinary beauty.

Marco kept his golden hand in his pocket as much as possible, after seeing several pairs of eyes focusing on his unusual appendage.   He strolled around the long way through the city, crossing canals whose waters made him idly wonder where Cassius and Pesino were, and then he came around a corner and stopped at the edge of Chemists Square.  He was across from Algornia’s storefront, and saw that nothing had changed.  The entrance and windows were just as dark and mysterious as they had ever been, making him recollect how Gabrielle’s shop in Barcelon had been opened up and brightened to invite more customers to enter.

Marco brushed past the entrance to an astrologer’s shop, and crossed the square, then grabbed the door handle to Algornia’s with his left hand, and pulled on the heavy wooden door.

He stepped into the shop, the place where he had learned so much, and experienced so much, and let the door close behind him.

“Just a moment,” Algornia’s voice rose from within the interior of the shop, and then the master of alchemy himself came striding into the room standing behind the counter and studying the customer who had entered.

“Bless my buttons!” he spoke loudly after a second of observation.  “Phillippe, come here!  Teresa!  Come at once!” he turned his head slightly to throw his voice backwards, without taking his eyes off of Marco.

“Look at you!  You look as fit as a fiddle!” Algornia spoke to Marco, as footsteps came hurrying towards them.

“What is it grandfather?  Are you alright?” Teresa arrived just two steps ahead of Phillippe.  They both stood with Algornia, one on either side on the shop owner.

“Where have you been?  Are you alright?” Algornia asked.

Marco grinned, and all three came around the corner of the counter, to embrace him with a show of friendship that was unexpected as well as appreciated.

“Look at your hand!” he heard Teresa’s voice, and realized that he had wrapped his arms around Algornia in a reciprocal hug, without even thinking about exposing the hand.

All three of the shop occupants examined his hand in the dim light.

“I expected that you would have a tale to tell, but I don’t think I’ve guessed nearly the half of what you have to say,” Algornia said softly.  He walked forward and flipped his sign to show that the shop was closed, then locked the door.

“Let’s all go back to the dining room and sit down to hear about your adventures,” the old man suggested.  “Teresa, fetch us a pitcher of lemonade and some glasses please, my dear,” he said.  Marco watched the girl go without so much as a word of complaint, and he knew that the world was a different place if the nagging granddaughter would run an errand so meekly.

“Well tell us, tell us everything,” Phillippe said when the four of them were seated.

“I was on the docks when the Corsairs arrived,” Marco said, looking at the bright eyes that studied him.  He would have to be judicious in his story-telling, he realized.  He could avoid mentioning the mermaids and the dolphins, and perhaps the rest of the tale would seem halfway believable.

“They had a sorcerer who made the great protective dome over the docks.  I saw that Angelica and her maid were taken captive, and I tried to rescue them,” he explained.  “But Angelica wanted me to go steal some valuables for her family,” he said.

“She claimed that you insisted you had to go take them,” Teresa immediately contradicted him.

Marco sat back and his eyebrows shot up.  “Well, that’s not the case.  She wanted the valuables, and when I went to try to take some, the sorcerer caught me, but I fought and stabbed him with a knife.”

“Did you kill him?” Algornia asked intently.

“Not that time,” Marco said, making the listener’s eyebrows rise.

“But the Corsairs caught me and threw me in their boat and made their escape,” he said.

“A few of them did,” Phillippe interrupted.  “But a lot of them were captured and killed on the spot.  Only one of their boats got away.”

“The one that I was on, naturally,” Marco grinned.

“The ship sailed for several days, I guess.   I was in the hold and too injured to know how long we sailed, but it got caught in a storm,” he was careful now, and picked his words carefully so that he could avoid lying while not telling the whole truth.

“I got washed ashore on an island that is ruled by th
e
Order of Ophiuchu
s
.  They were all women, and they didn’t like having a man on the island,” he said.

“The enchanted isle,” Algornia murmured.

Marco nodded his head in agreement.  “I found a hidden bath that healed all my injuries, and I was in their library, and I found the lost Book of Hermes, with hundreds of formulae for healing and curing illnesses and injuries!” he told the two alchemists and the girl.

“The lost Book of Hermes?” Phillippe asked skeptically.

“It was,” Marco affirmed.  “It was full of different cures.  Some of them were for illnesses I’ve never even heard of.”

“Can you give an example?” Algornia asked.

“Lodestone grit, althaea root, balm of Gilead buds, all mixed together, then a willow bark extract brewed and seeped through,” Marco quickly recited.  “It will calm those who are hysterical by drawing out the physic impurities and causing them to be passed quickly from the body.”

“I haven’t heard of that before, but it seems to make sense,” Algornia admitted.  “You’re sure you remember it correctly?”

Marco looked around the table cautiously.  “I remember everything in the book, master,” he confessed.  “Everything.  I even used the knowledge to figure out a cure for a plague in Barcelon.”  It felt natural to use the title ‘master’ when speaking to Algornia, even though Marco knew he could not and did not intend to return to his role as an apprentice in the Lion City.

“Barcelon?  I thought you were on an island full of beautiful women?” Teresa spoke.

“I was expelled from the island, and they put me on a ship.  I went to Barcelon, and I started working in an alchemy shop there,” he again simplified his tale.  “The plague started, and I developed a cure for it.

“Then the city was attacked by the Corsairs.  The sorcerer was with them again.  They weren’t just raiding – they went into alchemists’ shops looking for gorgon’s blood,” he told them.

“And you just happened to have some?  The rarest item known?” Phillippe asked skeptically.

“Yes and no,” Marco answered, aware of Algornia’s deep scrutiny.

“That’s enough for now,” the old alchemist stood up suddenly.  “Here we’ve made you tell your tales all this time, without a thought about hospitality.  Have you had any breakfast yet?” he asked Marco.

The mention of the meal, made Marco’s stomach flip.  “I haven’t; I haven’t had much to eat for a couple of days,” he answered.

“And maybe not much to eat before that!” Teresa said.  “You’re skin and bones.  And you still haven’t told us about your golden hand.”

“After the meal, child, after the meal,” Algornia said.  “Come with me Marco,” he directed, and he started walking towards the front of the shop.  “You keep working on that potion, Phillippe.  I’ll be back later.”

Marco looked at the two who remained behind, and gave a shrug and a wave, then followed Algornia out to the front of the shop, where he was opening a chest that was locked.

“Here Marco,” he held out a small leather pouch, one that felt heavy in Marco’s hand.  “This is a reward of ten gold florins that the Doge offered to you as a reward for your part in fighting off the sorcerer and saving the city.  Angelina – and more specifically her maid – said that you had saved them and then gone back to the dock just before the protective dome was disabled.

“Let’s go to my club and get a bite of food, shall we?” Algornia asked.  “I sense there is a great deal of your story that has been left unsaid, or that should be left unspoken except for only the most particular ears, such as mine, eh?” he suggested good-naturedly as he opened the door and let Marco lead the way out into the square.

Algornia stepped in front of Marco as they walked, and led him on a leisurely, silent walk that happened to take them directly past Abrianna’s dress shop, a reminder to Marco of the time he had modeled women’s dresses, on the last day he had spent in the Lion City as a matter of fact.  The same day he had met the willowy, tall model Constance, who had been helpful and friendly to Marco in his time of need.

They passed Abrianna’s shop, and two minutes later walked up to a discreet doorway, where a doorman silently held the door open for Marco and Algornia to enter.

Inside, the building was dark, the walls paneled with dark wood, while dark portraits of men were hung in straight lines along the hallway ahead.  Algornia plodded straight ahead without pause or guidance, then led Marco to the side, where a small room held only three tables, all unoccupied.

As soon as they sat, a waiter materialized magically.  “We’ll have two plates of the veal chops, with parsnips and a bottle of wine,” Algornia spoke without looking at the waiter, who quietly glided away.

“What has happened to you?” Algornia asked simply.

“I don’t know; I don’t understand it all,” Marco said.  “I tried to fight a sorcerer, and then I met a merboy, and then the spirit of the island declared me to be the champion, and the dolphins saved me.  I read that book, and killed the sorcerer, and chopped my hand off – then had it put back on.  And there’s more than that.

“I’m a marquis in Barcelon, and I’m betrothed to a beautiful girl, and my friends are being held hostage by the merpeople until I return while I go look for,” he paused, knowing how insane he sounded with all his blathering, thought it was a relief, a vast relief, to just get it all off his chest.

“Go look for what?” Algornia asked, unfazed by the list of extraordinary claims that his former apprentice had rattled off.

“The
Echidna,” Marco answered.  “I was told to get a scale from the Echidna.  Lord Neptin of the merpeople told me that the Echidna is the mother of all monsters.”

“I thought the
Echidna was a myth,” Algornia said softly.  “I’ve heard a dozen ancient stories about it.  One time I even saw a formula that called for the use of an Echidna scale, in order to reverse death.  I knew there was no such thing though.”

Marco sat perfectly still, his mind racing at the mention of a formula that used the monster’s scale.  “I know that formula,” he said softly.  “I remember reading it.  It said I had to grate an
Echidna’s scale under a running stream of water drawn from the River Acheron, and that water then had to have,” he paused, “gorgon’s blood added to it!

“And there was something else, another extraordinary component.  Those are what I’ll need to counteract the prophecy,” he spoke aloud, though he was really speaking to himself.

“Marco, lad,” Algornia reached a hand across the table to squeeze Marco’s hand.  “Those are impossible things to find.  They don’t exist.”

“The spirit sent me on the quest to get the
Echidna scale,” Marco replied.  “It wouldn’t lie to me.  And the gorgon’s blood is real!  I’ve used it!  I’ve felt it!  When the sorcerer tried to possess me with evil energy, I used the gorgon’s blood to drive it away.

“Where should I go to find the
Echidna?” Marco asked.  “If you’ve heard something about it, tell me.”

The waiter came back then, and the two lapsed into silence as the platter of meat and vegetables was placed on their table, along with a bottle of wine.

“The Echidna lives at the edge of the world, in the far north,” Algornia answered, “or at least that’s what the myths say.

“You’ll have to go to the old Emperor’s library to do research on where to find the
Echidna, if it exists,” he said.

“Where’s the library?” Marco asked, disappointed that Algornia didn’t have an easier solution.