The Guardian's Apprentice (Beyond the Veil) (29 page)

Hewn from the bedrock beneath the castle, the chamber was surprisingly large with rough walls that had no visible joints.
 
Looking upward, he was shocked to find that where the ceiling should have been there was a vast expanse of night sky – stars and all!
 
Keegan thought at first it must be a mural painted on the ceiling, but as he peered closer, he could perceive
distance
between the stars and even a hint of movement if he looked hard enough.
 
A sudden clap of thunder shook him out of his trance.
 
Looking in the direction of the flash of light that had accompanied the thunder, he saw the portal.
 
The ancient gateway was in the far corner of the room, set at an angle to the two walls so that it filled the corner completely.
 
Its obsidian archway curved upward at least twenty feet and in the middle where the keystone was set, he could just make out some type of indention as if an inset stone were missing.
 
The center of the gateway sparked and crackled with energy, as forks of lightning played across the surface of the mist beneath the arch.
 
Watching the arcs of lightning, Keegan could see they all seemed to originate from near the base of the arch.

In addition to the crackle of thunder, a sharp wind had sprung up within the room, causing the young wizard’s robes to flap against him.
 
Bracing himself on his staff, he leaned forward and peered toward the center of the portal.
 
Another flash of lightning showed him what he feared most – the bolts of energy originated from a wizard’s staff – a staff held by his grandfather, Phineas.

Keegan struggled forward against the wind, bracing himself with his staff as he inched his way forward across the uneven stone floor of the chamber.

“
GRANDFATHER!”

Even though he shouted with all his strength, the howling of the wind in the chamber and the crackle of lightning drowned out his voice.
 

Holding his staff firmly in front of himself, Keegan bowed his head against the wind and concentrated, willing himself into the magic of his staff as he had done once before.
 
Gradually the sound around him lessened as a feeling of warmth spread from the staff through his arms and down into the rest of his body.
 
The gale inside the chamber had not lessened, yet somehow the forces around him parted as if broken by an unseen blade in front of him.
 
Desperately focusing his concentration Keegan began walking forward, slowly at first and then gradually faster as his confidence grew.
 
Moving forward in this way he finally reached the outer circle that surrounded the gateway, but as he went to step past the threshold, he walked straight into an invisible barrier.

Yelping in pain as his head and knee hit the unseen wall, his concentration wavered and the gale force winds whipped at his robes again.
 
Refocusing his thoughts, he pushed outward again, forcing the winds back but he still could not move beyond the outer rim.
 
Looking up for the first time since reaching the edge of the portal, he saw his grandfather in the great archway.
 
The air around the Guardian crackled with energy and Keegan knew that the world’s most powerful wizard was standing before him.
 
Phineas looked different somehow; his face looked tired and careworn and there were dark shadows under his eyes.
 
Keegan had not seen much of his grandfather since coming to the castle, but he was shocked to see just how old he looked now.
 
Focusing his will on the staff, he tried projecting his voice through the barrier.

“
Grandfather!”

Phineas turned slightly and looked at Keegan, having somehow heard his voice through the chaos.
 
He nodded and smiled warmly at his grandson but did not move from inside the gateway, nor did the energy bands coming from his staff decrease in the slightest.

Keegan saw his grandfather peer directly at him and furrow his brow slightly.

“I was afraid you would come down here before my task was complete, Keegan.
 
I had rather hoped to spare you this vision.”

Remembering how he had shared thoughts with Nekk’ar, Keegan concentrated on his grandfather and thought,
“I had to come, Master.
 
Please don’t do this; Acamar told me what you are trying to do and what will happen to you if the gateway is sealed!”

Phineas smiled fondly at the grandson he had just met a few weeks ago.

”I must do what must be done, Keegan.
 
You will fill my shoes as guardian quite capably, in time.”

“But I’m not ready!
 
I can’t even fully block Acamar’s attacks yet!”

The older wizard chuckled under his breath, though the power emanating from his staff never wavered.

“Acamar is my most trusted aide, and more importantly my oldest friend.
 
He will teach you well and you will come to no harm while he is near, though you may end up with a few bruises from his teaching methods.”

With this last thought, Phineas became more serious – almost stern in his appearance.
 
His staff began to glow brightly along its length as if gathering one last charge of energy before sealing the gateway.

“You must listen carefully, Keegan.
 
Whatever happens, listen to Acamar and let him guide you.
 
You must protect the amulet at all costs.
 
It can never be allowed to interact with the oracle in the Council chambers.
 
Remember Keegan, I am so very proud of you!”

The Guardian’s staff began to hum and quiver with the amount of power channeled through it, as long, spidery arcs of power spread out and intersected with the boundaries of the gateway.
 
The tempest in the chamber increased exponentially all around Keegan, until finally with a thunderous clap the portal wrapped inward on itself, shrinking to a ball of energy the size of a basketball.
 
Hovering for a nanosecond, the sphere exploded outward with a flash and then the chamber fell silent.
 
The force of the blast blew Keegan backward across the room, where he tumbled to the floor.
 
Desperately he scrambled to his feet, hoping to get to the portal.
 
One look at the ruined gateway and he froze in his tracks.
 
The edges of the stone archway were cracked and scorched from the heat, but what Keegan focused on lay in the center of the portal – the broken and splintered remains of Phineas’ staff.

###

Keegan sat at a small table on the balcony off the study, looking silently at the hills beyond.
 
It had been two days since his grandfather had permanently sealed the First Gateway.
 
The scorched, broken remains of his staff rested inside the bookcase of the study, sealed behind the glass doors.
 

“Your grandfather was very proud of you, Keegan,” said Acamar as he walked up from behind and placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“I barely knew him, Acamar,” Keegan said in a tired voice.
 
His eyes were dark from lack of sleep and bloodshot from the tears he had cried.
 
“I had just gotten some of my family back and now he’s gone.
 
He was so different from my father.”

Acamar smiled and sat in the chair opposite Keegan, the wind blowing his grey streaked hair.
 
“I know, Keegan.
 
I know.
 
I have lost a Master and a great teacher, but above all a friend.
 
Your grandfather saved me, Keegan.
 
He accepted me as a servant when no other wizard would because of my crime.”

“What do I do now, Acamar?
 
I’m not ready to be the Guardian.”

“Whether you are ready or not, the fact remains that you ARE the Guardian, Keegan,” said the older man, looking over his glasses at the boy.
 
“I promised your grandfather I would teach you everything I could and serve you as I served him.
 
I intend to keep that promise and will help you all that I can.”

“But you’re free, Acamar.
 
You told me my grandfather broke the binding and ended your service.”

Acamar leaned forward intently, “I serve you now, Keegan, because I
choose
to, not because I am bound into servitude.
 
Now, you need some rest,” he said as he got up from the chair.
 
“Your studies begin in earnest again tomorrow.
 
We have to be ready.”

Acamar strode from the balcony and left the study, closing the door behind him.
 
Keegan watched the older man leave; if he did not know better he would have sworn Acamar’s robes were a lighter shade than the day before.
 
Keegan shuddered at the thought of being the Guardian.
 
His studies would begin tomorrow to teach him to defend the castle against an all but certain attack from the missing wizard, Ducat.
 
He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes – hoping to delay for just a little while longer his first day on the job.

***

Keegan awoke with a scream.
 
Sitting bolt upright in bed, he was soaked with a cold sweat.
 
It had been nearly a week since the death of his grandfather.
 
The nightmares had begun a day or so ago and now occurred on a regular basis.
 
They had been vague at first, usually running away from some unseen foe pursing him through the fog.
 
As time passed however, the dreams took on more detail and became true nightmares.
 
The latest had him back in the lair of Seba’an, the Alderdrache.
 
The last time Keegan had been there, he had barely escaped a confrontation with the Shadow.
 
In this dream, however, he could not escape the oily blackness that engulfed him.
 
The Shadow surrounded him, chilling him to the bone with the cold of pure evil as they drained his life force.
 
He screamed the incantation for the portal that would take him to safety, but no matter how hard he focused or how loud he chanted, the spell failed.
 
He watched as his skin shriveled, becoming as frail as parchment as the Shadow devoured his essence.
 
The Shadow around him laughed at the pitiful little wizard-to-be, crumbling to dust and powerless to save himself until at last he was jolted awake.

“Solarus-minimus.”

Keegan started slightly as soft golden light filled the bedroom.
 
He turned toward the door and saw the housekeeper, Ms. Hoskins, standing in the doorway.
 
Her silver hair, pulled back tightly into a bun on the back of her head, gave her the appearance of a stern schoolteacher.
 
Her wire-rimmed glasses were perched on the end of her nose and she wore an obviously worried look on her face.

“Are you all right, Master Whitestone?”

Keegan ran his hand through his hair, brushing the wet strands out of his eyes.
 
“I wish you wouldn’t call me that,” he said with a tired sigh.

“But you
are
the Guardian now, young Master,” she replied with a disapproving frown.

He glared at the old housekeeper.
 
“I am
not
the Guardian yet, Ms. Hoskins.
 
I’m just an apprentice; and not a very good one at that, I might add.”

Ms. Hoskins huffed up, placing her hands on her hips and lowering her head so she could frown at Keegan over her spectacles.
 
Keegan knew this meant she was building up steam readying for a full broadside, or a ‘piece of her dusty old mind’ as Acamar would put it.
 
Acamar and Ms. Hoskins continued to have a prickly relationship since the death of Phineas, each trying to outdo the other with the caliber of their insults.
 
She still sometimes referred to Acamar derisively as “
Whiskers
” or “
Fleabag
” even though he spent much less time as a cat since being freed from his bond of servitude.

“
Now see here, young Master,
” she scolded.
 
“An apprentice you may be, but with the death of your grandfather the full responsibilities of the Guardian are yours now, whether you like it or not.”
 
She bustled over to the window and pulled back the thick drapes, letting in the first rays of the sunrise.
 
“Now, out of that bed so I can collect the linens.
 
Get yourself down to the study and I’ll be in with a fresh pot of tea and some breakfast before your studies.
 
You’d best hurry now before that teacher of yours gets back.
 
Whiskers
is already in a foul mood this morning and he’ll have you dodging spells on an empty stomach if you’re not careful.”

“Back?
 
It’s just now sunrise; where on Earth did he go this early in the morning?”