The Guardian's Apprentice (Beyond the Veil) (6 page)

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean...” stuttered Keegan.

“I don’t care what you did or didn’t mean,” hissed the older man.
 
“You will learn that magic is not a toy to be trifled with and believe me, it is far better for your long term survival if you learn that from me and not from your enemies.”

Keegan was suddenly getting a lump in the pit of his stomach.
 
His companion had failed to mention a threat to his life before.

“What do you mean enemies?
 
I don’t even know anyone here.”

“Do you honestly think that everyone was in favor of bringing an outsider like yourself into a position of this much power and responsibility?
 
If Thornback has his way, you’ll be incinerated on the spot and your ashes used to fertilize the gardens at the castle,” Acamar replied.

“Who is ‘Thornback’?” asked Keegan, not quite believing what he had just heard.

Acamar sighed, leaning against a tree for support.
 
“I’m sorry, I should say
Master
Thornback.
 
I have known him for several hundred years and have grown to loathe the man.
 
Cedric Thornback is an ambitious, power hungry, deceitful man who just happens to be the head of the order of the Dark Arts.
 
Master Thornback has been passed over for the position of Chancellor twice before and without a strong wizard in charge of the Council things are likely to get
very
ugly.
 
Master Whitestone, the one to whom you shall be apprenticed, is the only wizard with both the courage and the power to face down the threat posed by Thornback.”

“It sounds complicated,” said Keegan.

“Complicated isn’t exactly the word I would use in this case.
 
Your government officials can’t summon demons to kill their opponents,” said Acamar with a chuckle.

“
Demons?
 
Surely you can’t be serious!”

“It has happened on occasion, although the last time was back in 1804,” Acamar said. “The practice fell out of fashion because demons are too tricky to control; doesn’t take much for one to turn on the wizard that called it into being, you see.
 
It’s much easier to resort to the tried and true methods of poisons, hexes and such.”
 

If he did not know better, Keegan would swear that the older man was toying with him.
 
As the two men continued down the path that normally would have led Keegan back to his office building, he began to notice subtle differences.
 
The hum and buzz of traffic was absent; in its place however, was another sound he could not quite make out.
 
It was a distant whistling sound like something moving through the air at a very high speed.
 
As they reached the edge of the park, Keegan stopped suddenly.
 
The street was still there, but it was cobblestone instead of pavement; the buildings were not quite right either.
 
Where his office building should be was a large fountain with something that looked like a griffin standing in the middle spouting water.
 
The other buildings looked as if they had been built eons past, yet they still stretched high overhead.
 
The people bustling about were what really caught his attention though; everyone was dressed in robes like Acamar’s.
 
He also noticed creatures that were not quite human moving amongst the crowd.
 

Suddenly the sound that Keegan had heard reached a level he could no longer ignore.
 
A shadow passed over him and he looked skyward; hurtling straight towards him was the largest dragon he could have imagined!

“Look out!” he screamed at Acamar, who just stood there with an amused grin while Keegan panicked and dove headfirst into the bushes at the edge of the path.
 
The dragon landed with an earthshaking
whump
not five feet from where the older man stood.
 
Keegan carefully peeked out of the hedge and saw Acamar walking right up to the beast!
 
The older man stopped ten paces directly in front of the dragon and bowed deeply.

“Greetings, Brimstone!
 
You have been well, I hope?” asked Acamar.

“Greetings, my old friend; all is well with you, I hope?” the dragon inquired, bowing his head slightly in return as wisps of smoke curled upward from his nostrils.
 
The beast stood at least fifteen feet tall at the shoulder with enormous, bat-like wings, now folded neatly at its sides.
 
The most striking thing of all was its color - it was the darkest, blood red that Keegan had ever seen, yet its cat-like eyes were a brilliant gold.

“I am quite well my friend, though I’ve been given the task of baby-sitting the dunderhead in the bushes over there,” said Acamar, gesturing to the hedge where Keegan had landed.

The dragon chuckled deeply and swung its massive head over to where Keegan’s head was poking out of the bush.
 
“You may come out youngling,” the beast said.
 
“I have been sent to transport you to the Council, not to eat you.”

Keegan was not quite sure whether to believe the creature or not.
 
Deciding he did not really have a choice, he slowly clambered up out of the bushes.
 

“It’s just that I’ve never seen a dragon before, much less had one speak to me,” he said with a hint of defiance in his voice.

Acamar walked over to where Keegan now stood and patted the boy roughly on the back.

“Allow me to introduce you to Brimstone, one of the courier dragons currently in service to the Council.
 
He will transport you to the castle where the Council convenes.”

“Wait a minute,” said Keegan as the realization sank in.
 
“You mean you’re leaving me with a dragon?”

“Aye lad, I am; Brimstone has been a trusted courier for as long as I can remember and he can offer you much stronger protection than I ever could.”
 
Giving a slight bow to Brimstone, Acamar turned on his heel and transformed back into the large black tabby.
 
“And remember,” he said over his shoulder “show
respect
above all else.”
 
Bounding off through the bushes, he quickly disappeared.

“You needn’t worry youngling.
 
No harm shall come to you while you are in my care,” said the dragon.
 
“Climb into the harness and we shall be off.
 
We must make haste.”

Realizing he had little choice, Keegan walked over to the dragon’s front legs, which looked like two great scaly red trees with great curving talons digging into the soft ground.
 
Strapped to the dragon’s breast was a large harness, although it was more like a small gondola cab really, centered between Brimstone’s forelegs.
 
He grasped the rope ladder dangling from it and climbed upward into the cab; after pulling up the rope ladder, he secured the door.
 
“I’m ready,” he shouted out the window.
 

Brimstone craned his neck downward and eyed the cab and its occupant.
 
“Look in the compartment under the seat.
 
You shall find a set of robes there.
 
One must wear the proper attire for an appearance before the High Council.
 
To appear before them in your mundane clothing would be disrespectful.”

“All right,” said Keegan, cringing at the smell of the dragon’s hot, sulfurous breath.
 

This thing could obviously turn him to a cinder with a single snort if it so desired.
 
He unlatched the top of the seat and opened the hinged lid.
 
Within the small compartment, he found a set of grey robes and a small leather belt with several pouches attached, along with a set of soft leather boots.
 
Shedding his suit and dress shoes (but deciding to keep his t-shirt and boxers on), he put on the robes and boots and then picked up the belt.
 
Looking through the pouches, he discovered that one of them contained an odd looking gold and silver medallion inscribed with runes.
 
Another contained a dozen or so vials, each with a different colored liquid inside, while a third contained bits of parchment and a small writing quill.
 
The fourth contained a dozen sachets with foul smelling powders in them.
 
Placing the belt around his waist, he put his wallet in one of the inner pockets.
 
It was then he noticed Brimstone had turned his great scaly neck downward and was watching him with interest.
 

“What is all this stuff, anyway?” he asked the dragon.

“”The Guardian thought it best if you had a few coins and tools of your trade in the event we are separated,” the beast hissed.
 
The potions and powders will serve to protect you if necessary.
 
They are the prepackaged kind that even a child could use.
 
Simply follow the instructions written on the container and they should function well enough.
 
Not as good as the true potion made from scratch of course, but they are at least dependable.”

Rising to his full height, the great dragon stretched out his powerful wings and took to the air with a sudden upward thrust.
 
Unprepared for such an abrupt takeoff, the force threw Keegan to the seat of the cab quite violently.
 
Terrified of heights, he quickly fastened the leather seat straps around his waist and hung on to the handholds for dear life as Brimstone banked sharply to the right and turned towards the north.
 
Quickly gaining speed and altitude with each powerful beat of the dragon’s wings, the ground receded until the park where Keegan had entered this world was just a speck in the distance.

###

They had been in the air for over two hours, continuing to angle northward on their way to meet the Council members.
 
Keegan tried to watch the scenery to get some idea of what this world looked like compared to his own, but they were simply moving too fast and too high for him to see any details.
 
As the sun was beginning to set, the temperature began to drop, a fact not lost on Keegan since the gondola cab he was riding in had three open windows.
 
He had just worked up to a good bout of shivering when he noticed that the dragon began to angle downward, towards what looked like a small valley nestled between two small mountains.
 
There was no sign of any buildings.

Surely, the Council doesn’t meet out here in the middle of nowhere.

“Hang on, little man,” rumbled the dragon, as he suddenly closed his wings tightly to his sides and dove straight downward to the valley below.

The sudden descent pressed Keegan back into the seat, even as he gripped the leather hand straps in shear terror.
 
As the ground rushed up at them, he was certain the dragon had decided to commit suicide by diving straight into the mountain.
 
With a sharp snap, the dragon’s wings suddenly opened just seconds before they reached the ground.
 
Stretching his wings wide, the dragon gave one huge flap and touched down as gently as a butterfly landing on a flower.
 
Keegan unlatched the door of the gondola and stumbled out onto solid ground.

“What the blazes were you trying to do, kill me?” shouted Keegan as he tried to regain his balance.

The dragon just glanced down at him with a toothy grin and started chuckling, a sight even more unnerving than Keegan would have thought.

“If I had wanted to kill you there are much simpler ways, youngling,” the dragon snorted as wisps of smoke curled up from his nostrils.
 
“For example, if I don’t roast you alive I could leave you here in this valley, lost and alone until you are found by those who seek to prevent your apprenticeship to the Guardian.”

“But why would anyone want to prevent my apprenticeship?”

Keegan noticed a certain look in the dragon’s eye that he decided he really did not like.
 
He had the distinct feeling that he was going to end up as the beast’s dinner or worse, left to fend for himself in the mountains.

“There are those who believe that the separation between magic and non-magic is long overdue to end,” the dragon hissed.
 
“
W
hen
that separation ends, the non-magic shall take their proper place, serving their masters.
 
I am told that a missing apprentice would help bring our worlds together that much quicker.”

“You said ‘when’ the separation ends,” said Keegan as he edged backwards towards the forest behind him.
 
“I thought you were a loyal servant of the Council?”

The dragon advanced on him, lowering its head until it was now level with Keegan.

“I have served the Council for all of my adult life, ever since the Great Uprising five hundred years ago.
 
Those of us who refused to surrender were put into bondage as punishment.”

Brimstone stood up to his full height and tore the harness from his breast.
 
Behind where the gondola cab had been was a solid gold amulet the size of a dinner plate, hung ‘round the dragon’s neck with a gold link chain.
 
Keegan could see some strange writing on the amulet, and could see there was a giant emerald the size of a baseball set in the center.
 
“This accursed amulet has kept me in slavery to the Council, but with the completion of my current task, my servitude comes to an end.”