The Sorceress’s Apprentice: The Elder-Codex Series

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are the products of the author’s imagination / delirium.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living, dead, or undead is purely coincidental.

The Sorceress’s Apprentice Copyright © 2016 by JL Lahey

Cover Illustration Copyright © 2016 by JL Lahey

Map Illustration Copyright © 2016 by JL Lahey

Rune Illustrations Copyright © 2016 by JL Lahey

Wanted Poster Illustration Copyright © 2016 by JL Lahey

Interior Illustrations Copyright © 2017 by JL Lahey

Acknowledgments

Cover Art by – Phu Thieu

Map Designed by - JL Lahey

Map Drawn by - Hiru Walisadeera

Dwarven Runes Created by – JL Lahey

Artificer Runes Created by – JL Lahey

Elven Coin Medallion Illustration by – Olga Volkova

BA’AL’s Belt Illustration by – Olga Volkova

Iron Sphere Illustration by – Olga Volkova

BA’AL’s Goggles Illustration by – Olga Volkova

Crusher Illustration by –Mar Ballesterous Rodriguez

Fiat Lux Illustrations by – Jarek Madyda

Wanted Poster Illustration by –Betsy T. Darshack

Special Thanks To

Write On the Edge - Writing Group

Yuma Arizona Library & Staff

Yuma Foothills Library & Staff

Imaginary Friends Design Studios

-—-——-

Third Edition – 2018

I Dedicate This Book To:

Carolyn Lahey

My Mom

—-

James Lahey

My Dad

—-

Andrew Zollman

(Information Resource Scapegoat)

—-

Frank Ferguson

(In My Opinion Consultant)

—-

Robert Zollman

(Official Tattoo Checker)

—-

Terry Oda

(Tech Department Head)

—-

Jenn Oda

(Tech Department Head’s Boss/Wife)

—-

Jeff Bentley

(Responsible for pre-reading everything)

(That I write)

—-

Karen Palmieri

(Undertaking the ardent task of editing)

Chapter One

I always feel really safe there!

The stories, the great stories usually start at the beginning.

This one, we are going to start right here. On a hill, a small hill, a hill covered in fresh green grass. Patches of multicolored wildflowers dotting over it.

The distant yelling and laughing of children echoes across the field.

The laughing and yelling steadily grows louder and louder.

A small boy crests the top of the hill. He appears to be about seven years of age. He has dirty blond hair, hazel eyes and is of a pale complexion. His clothes are threadbare and baggy. He seems to be exhausted and he is not laughing.

As he makes it to the bottom of the hill, he trips and crashes into the dirt. He just manages to pull himself up as three other boys crest the top of the hill and stop.

The lead boy is notably larger than all the other boys. They are all carrying clods of dirt and upon seeing the boy stand up and attempt to run away, they laugh evilly as they hurl dirt clods at him.

The large boy yells as he runs down the hill, Ugly little Badger, I'm going to catch you and make you eat dirt again!

As the large boy and two other boys run to the bottom, three other boys crest the top of the hill. They are also carrying dirt clods. When they see where the other boys are heading, they run down the hill to join in on the chase.

The small boy is running as fast as his little legs will allow him, but he begins to slow from exhaustion as he nears the wood’s edge.

Gaining on the small boy, the large boy throws his last remaining dirt clod. It strikes the small boy in the center of his back. The strike is hard enough to almost knock the small boy off of his feet. The small boy does not slow but cries out in pain. He continues to run and does not even slow as he passes right into the Dark Wood.

As the other boys catch up to the large boy, they can see that he has stopped just outside the edge of the Dark Wood and he is yelling into it between panting breaths, Badger... You ugly thing... I told you to not come near any of us... We don't want to get any of your ugly on us... When next... You follow... We are going to do more to you than... Taking your clothes... Or making you eat dirt! I'm going to come up with something truly horrid... So, don't you be following us no more! You hear? I hope slavers get you!

The small boy who is well into the woods does not reply. He is slumped against the backside of a tree, hiding, holding his side and trying to breathe as he feels a burning in his lungs like he has never felt before.

All the other boys yell taunts as they throw their remaining dirt clods into the woods, in the hopes of scoring a lucky hit. When they run out of things to throw into the woods, they lose interest and move on.

Once his hands cease shaking and he is able to breathe, the small boy stands up and steps deeper into the woods. He knows that he is not ever supposed to enter these woods. The elders say dark evil unmentionable things transpired in here long ago, but he also knows the other boys dare each other to come in here, but they are too terrified ever to try it.

As the boy moves through the woods, he hears odd bird calls, but he sees no birds.

He smells sickly sweet odors emanating from oddly shaped mounds of soil on the ground. As he passes them by, he notices the grass that they are covered in is overly bright and green.

He sees up ahead, a circular clearing of trees with a circle of odd looking porcelain colored mushrooms in its center He knows from every story of the Sidhe that he has ever read, this is an obvious trap and he moves on.

After he passes the clearing he comes to the far side of the wood, he sees in the distance the edge of a small town and walks towards it. As he makes it to the edge of town, he passes a sign that reads, GROWEIN.

He chuckles to himself: That is an appropriate name for a town surrounded by orchards and farmland.

The boy slowly moves down the side of the street, through town and up the wooden steps that lead to a long stone and wood building.

As he enters the building, he sees a man setting up rows of benches for rest day services. The boy walks over and sits on the end of the middle bench, in the center of the room.

The man sees the boy and walks over to him.

The boy looks up at the man, Good day Brother Hauns.

Brother Hauns smiles, Good day to you Badger, you are however about two hours too early for rest day services.

Badger looks down at his mangled shoes, I will not be in the way. Is it okay, if I just sit here?

Brother Hauns’s face acquires a concerned frown, That should be fine, but how are you feeling? You look paler than usual.

Badger still not looking at Brother Hauns, Just tired.

Brother Hauns stares at Badger for a moment, I'm going to go make some tea, you look like you could use a cup. Come with me.

Brother Hauns walks to the rear of the building. Badger slowly stands up from the bench and follows him.

At the back of the building brother Hauns opens a door and walks through the doorway, as Badger makes it to the doorway he sees the room is a small kitchen. He steps into the room.

Brother Hauns motions towards a small table with two chairs set against one wall. He steps over and stokes the fire in a black iron stove set against the back wall as Badger takes a seat at the table.

Once he is seated, he notices a large wooden bowl of shiny red apples is set on top of the table. Badger's stomach curls in upon itself and makes a loud gurgling sound.

Brother Hauns turns at the noise to see Badger looking like he is about to bolt out of the room. Brother Hauns smiles, That sound means that you are hungry. Eat an apple; there are plenty.

Badger grabs an apple and begins to devour it.

Brother Hauns watches him for a minute before he turns back to the counter where he is making tea. He places the tea he had out, back into a wooden box and moves it back onto its spot on the bottom shelf. He reaches up to the top shelf and pulls down a battered looking metal tin. He very carefully measures out the tea into a strainer and places it into a cup.

When Brother Hauns turns around, he sees Badger is gnawing on the apple’s core. He seems to be trying to remove every bit of food from it that he can.

Brother Hauns sees that the boy’s efforts are hindered by the fact that he is missing a good many teeth. We can talk as the water heats. You may have another apple if you eat this one, slower.

Badger nods his head and takes another apple from the bowl.

Brother Hauns calmly takes a seat at the table, I always wanted to know, is Badger your real name or a nickname?

Badger replies between bites of apple, I do not know what my birth name is. I was left in a basket on the doorstep of the orphanage when I was a newborn. The orphan master took one look at me and said, O’, wow this one has a face like an ugly little badger! I have been called Badger ever since that day.

Brother Hauns moves back over to retrieve the teapot, pours hot water into a cup and sets it in front of Badger. He motions for Badger to drink the tea, Does that name bother you?

As Badger sips the tea, It used to bother me when I was younger, but I do not care about it anymore.

Brother Hauns can easily tell that Badger is lying, but he decides to let the subject drop, Why is it that every time there is a service, you sit in the middle of the sanctuary, on the end of the bench?

Badger slowly finishes another sip of tea, If I sit in that spot none of the other kids can pick on me. I always feel really safe there.

Brother Hauns not wanting to push the subject too far, Is there anything you wish to speak about?

Badger immediately looks agitated, No. How are you liking the town?

Not wishing to agitate Badger further, Brother Hauns moves along with the change in topic, Well I was stationed here by my order six months ago, the townsfolk are honest and friendly, it's quiet and there's plenty of work for me. The only bump in the road, as it were, is that the sanctuary and the town hall are the same building... But that really is not that big of a deal.

Brother Hauns watches Badger devour his apple, Finish your tea. I need to complete the last of the setting up, then I need to put on my robes before the whole congregation starts to show up.

Brother Hauns smiles and gazes at Badger for a moment before he leaves the kitchen.

Badger downs the last of his tea and begins gnawing on the second apple core. As his eyelids start to droop and his head begins to feel heavy, he lays it down on the table and is fast asleep!

Sometime later, Badger awakens to the sound of a man and woman arguing. He knows the male voice is Brother Hauns and the female voice is Kiara, the midwife. He tries not to move so he can listen to their conversation. He wants to know what they are arguing about.

Kiara is talking sternly to Brother Hauns, What did you give him? I've been trying to wake him up through the entire service!

Brother Hauns sighs, It's called Braun-Tea.

Kiara with anger in her voice, I have never heard of Braun-Tea!

Brother Hauns sounding very calm, Braun-Tea is what you give wounded soldiers when you need them to get up and go right back into battle, without fear. I prepared and administered this tea to many soldiers and knights when I was assigned to the Duke’s forces. He should not be sleeping. There is no way he should be able to sleep for hours after drinking it.

Kiara, sounding skeptical, What is in Braun-Tea?

Brother Hauns quickly names what Badger assumes are types of plants or herbs, but he has never heard of any of them.

Kiara hisses at Brother Hauns, You gave that to an eight-year-old? Those herbs should have him bouncing off the walls! If they do not kill him outright first!

Brother Hauns, still sounding calm, I have measured out those doses hundreds of times and I have never had any issues. The child is malnourished, exhausted and apparently suffering from some kind of trauma. I've seen that look on soldiers who have faced death. Something has happened to the boy. Then with a surprised sound in his voice, Eight?... I thought he was seven!

Kiara raises her voice, I am the midwife for this entire county. I have spent my entire life in this Dukedom. I know the names and ages of every child here. I check on the orphans at least once a month!

As quietly as possible, Badger lifts his head from the table and sits up. He sees Brother Hauns and Kiara standing at the far side of the kitchen arguing.

Kiara, staring Brother Hauns in the eyes, Badger was left at the orphanage in a basket. I examined him that day and I could tell he was no more than three days old. He is eight! He just isn't that big of a child.

Brother Hauns acquires a serious look to his face, Do the orphans receive enough to eat? I watched him devour two apples like he hadn't eaten in days.

Kiara lowers her eyes and looks away from Brother Hauns, The Duke sends a stipend to the orphan master to pay for their food, housing and schooling. I have no idea how much it is or how the orphan master spends it, but lately, the orphan's clothing has become more disheveled and I have been hearing about some of the orphans stealing food.

Brother Hauns smiles, Okay then, at next week's town meeting I guess we are going to have to discuss the orphan’s situation.

Suddenly Brother Hauns looks over and notices that Badger is awake and staring at them.

Kiara sees Brother Hauns reaction and spins around. Once Kiara sees that Badger is awake she darts over to him. O', thank the light, are you okay?

Not giving him any time to respond, Kiara takes Badger's face in her hands and gazes into his eyes while smiling, How are you feeling? Does your chest hurt? Can you breathe okay? Does your head hurt? Can you see okay?

Badger smiles up at her, Actually, I feel great... Nothing hurts... Everything is so bright... I... I feel really good!

Kiara turns her head and gives Brother Hauns a scathing look.

Grinning, Brother Hauns smiles back at her, See, he's fine.

Kiara looks back at Badger, Stand up and walk around the room for me and be careful.

Badger rises from the chair and moves about the room. He knows not how long he has been asleep, but he is not at all stiff or sore.

Before Badger can ask, Brother Hauns states, You slept through the entire rest day service, you must've really needed the rest. Are you sure you feel okay?

Badger blinks a few times, stretches his back, arms and neck, I do not think I have ever felt this good before. I feel like I could run forever.

Brother Hauns smiles at Badger, I gave you a special tea and you seem to have had an odd reaction to it. It was supposed to greatly invigorate you and give you a healing boost, not knock you out for three hours. I am sorry about that. Are you willing to forgive me?

Badger lets out a small laugh, There's nothing to forgive, I feel really great! Brother Hauns thanks Badger and apologizes to him anyway.

Kiara nudges Badger towards the door, You should go play. Go on, enjoy the remainder of your rest day. I need to have a word with Brother Hauns!

Before Badger can leave the kitchen, Brother Hauns tells him, Why don't you take another apple for later.

As Badger runs out of the kitchen, he thanks Brother Hauns and grabs an apple from the bowl. Badger runs through the sanctuary and out into the street.

As soon as Badger has left, Brother Hauns looks towards Kiara, Is there some reason that he speaks so formal? He sounds more adult than child.

Kiara, still looking in the direction Badger ran off in, I never see him playing with any of the other children. He is always reading when I stop by the orphanage. The words he uses and the way he says them, he learned from those stacks of old books that they have stored in the orphanage's back room. He does kind of speak like a character from one of the great tales though.

Kiara walks over to Brother Hauns and wraps her arms around his middle. She then lays her head on his chest, You need to be more careful with those herbs, you're lucky he did not have a worse reaction.

Brother Hauns wraps his arms around Kiara and kisses her gently on top of her head, I am a master herbalist. I have been studying and practicing herb craft my entire life. I would still be attending to the Duke’s forces in battle except for that one little vow that I broke, which caused my order to send me here... For which I am ever grateful, because it let me meet you.

Kiara smiles then sighs, I do not doubt your mastery, but what did you put in that tea to make his eyes change color?

Brother Hauns pulls away from Kiara slightly and gazes into her eyes, There is nothing in that tea that would change his eye color. What are you referring to?

Kiara returns Brother Hauns’s gaze, Badger's eyes are hazel, but when he woke up just now, they were a bright cobalt blue. Kiara sees a concerned frown slowly pass over Brother Hauns's face as he looks towards the direction Badger had gone.

Badger runs out of the church, jumps over the steps and shoots down the street. Before he knows it, he is past the sign, out of town and heading to the point to either turn towards the orphanage or out towards the fields and into the woods.

He feels too good and full of energy to go back to the orphanage, so he decides to start out into the field while eating the bright red apple.

He is almost done with the apple when he passes the hill in the middle of the field. He hears multiple voices yelling in the distance. Badger decides he really does not care if all the other boys chase him. He feels good enough to run all the way back to town if he has to. He begins heading in the direction of the yelling while finishing his apple.

He is almost to the far south edge of the Dark Wood when he hears crying amongst the yelling sounds. Badger immediately runs towards the sounds, figuring that Duane, the largest of the orphans, has chosen someone else to torture.

As Badger runs up to the tree line, he sees Duane and three of the other orphans up in a tree and they're yelling and crying. Badger stops to savor the image. He then notices a large black bear at the bottom of the tree as it rears up on its hind legs, placing its front paws on the tree and begins shaking it back and forth.

Badger can now hear more orphans screaming from within the tree. Realizing that all six of the other male orphans are up there: It is a good thing that the three orphan girls never play anywhere but in town and around the orphanage.

As the bear begins to rock the tree back and forth violently, Badger hears a loud sounding crack and realizes the tree is about to break.

Only pausing for a single heartbeat, Badger charges straight towards the bear. As he makes it to within throwing distance he uses his forward momentum and hurls the apple core at the bear.

The apple core smacks the bear in the back of its head, causing it to immediately turn around. Upon spotting Badger, the bear drops down on all fours and charges.

Badger, who did not completely work out his plan before hitting the bear with the apple core, thinks to himself: That bear is a lot bigger... I should be running now! Then he does what he does best, he turns and runs as fast as his little legs will carry him.

Badger, who only minutes ago, felt better than he can remember ever feeling before, now can only feel a growing fear as he hears the giant black bear gaining on him.

He puts everything he has into running as fast as he can. Badger realizes the bear is still going to catch up to him. He sees the hill in the distance and decides to run towards it in the hope of cresting over the top, forcing the bear to stumble and fall, buying him time to escape.

As Badger approaches the hill, he thinks he can feel the bear’s hot breath on his back. As he slows from running up the hill, he begins to panic, realizing he is not going to get away from the bear. He begins to shake as he thinks he just wants to be somewhere safe.

He crests the top of the hill with the bear a single heartbeat behind him: I am always safe in that spot in the sanctuary. Badger can feel something uncoil inside himself as cracked black light envelops him. He sees an overlapping image of the sanctuary and the other side of the hill at the same time and vanishes.

Brother Hauns is moving the extra benches back to their non-rest day positions when he hears a loud air rushing sound from behind him.

Turning to face the center of the sanctuary he sees Badger, standing there shaking. He looks extremely pale, standing on a pile of dirt that is covered in fresh green grass and multicolored wildflowers.

Badger gasps, BEAR! and immediately falls forward, landing on his face.

Chapter Two

I want to see you do it!

Slowly regaining consciousness, Badger realizes that he is lying in bed, but it is definitely not his, this one is soft. The sheets are clean and the blanket he is wrapped in actually smells nice. He forces his eyelids open and is instantly stabbed in the eyes with light. He lets out a long-anguished groan which causes him to immediately begin coughing. He now realizes that his mouth and throat are absolutely dry.

A soft nearby voice tells him to take a sip and not to speak. It takes him a few moments to recognize that the voice is Kiara, the midwife.

He tries to understand what Kiara is repeatedly saying, I am holding a teacup in front of your mouth, take a sip. Badger opens his mouth and slowly takes a sip, he swirls it around his mouth before swallowing.

Opening his eyes, the barest minimum, he sees through his trembling eyelids, Kiara looking very distressed holding a teacup, You need to drink all of this, you have been asleep for the last two days.

Badger lets Kiara slowly pour the rest of the tea into his mouth. After a few moments, he is finally able to speak, What... Happened... To... Me?

Badger can see tears in the corners of Kiara's eyes as she smiles down at him, I will let Brother Hauns give you the details, but you'll be happy to know that all of the other children were saved from the bear because of your actions.

Badger does not respond, instead, he just takes deep breaths, blinks a lot and glances around the room.

Kiara looks towards the door and then back down at him, Do you feel up to eating some broth? You need to start getting your strength back, you're too pale.

Badger nods his head then realizes that he feels sore all over his body and every time he moves he can hear popping noises from his joints. He knows that he has never before felt this tired, sore or exhausted.

Kiara rises from the chair that is next to the bed. She departs, taking the empty teacup with her.

A few minutes later Brother Hauns steps into the room, he walks over to the bed, All right, you have slacked off enough, two days’ sleep is all you get from rescuing people from a bear attack! He is smiling by the time he finished the sentence, letting Badger know that he is joking.

Badger's voice cracks as he attempts to speak, What happened to me?

Brother Hauns sits down in the chair next to the bed, What do you remember?

Badger tries to get the moisture from his mouth to his throat, All I remember is charging to the top of the hill with the bear right behind me and I just wanted to be safe... Then I was in the sanctuary.

Brother Hauns takes a deep breath, What I'm guessing and this is you know basically only a guess. You somehow managed to pull on some kind of magic and you did what sorcerers call translocation. That basically means to magically move a person from one place to another, without passing through the space in between. Do you understand so far?

Badger nods his head, so Brother Hauns continues, So you managed to move yourself and the top part of that hill into this building. It only took a couple of hours to clean up the mess so don't worry about that. What you need to worry about is that you almost killed yourself in the process.

Kiara comes into the room carrying a large steaming mug with a spoon in it. She looks at Badger, Do you think you can sit up to eat this?

Badger nods his head and slowly manages to prop himself up against the headboard. When he is settled, Kiara carefully hands him the mug and spoon. As soon as Badger smells the broth, his stomach begins to growl.

Brother Hauns rises from his chair and motions for Kiara to sit down, he walks across the room and carries over another chair and sits down next to her.

When he and Kiara are both settled, Brother Hauns continues, You are way too young to control or harness that kind of power. When you’re older, you should become a powerful sorcerer, considering what you were able to do at your age. When you're a little older if you wish, I can send a letter to the Duke's court requesting an apprenticeship with the Duke’s personal spell casters. They do not take apprentices on though until they are at least ten years of age.

Badger is overwhelmed by all of this and focuses all his energy instead on drinking the broth.

Brother Hauns smiles at him, When you appeared in the sanctuary you yelled, BEAR! before passing out. I knew you were heading back in the direction of the orphanage. So, when you appeared I knew something was wrong. I alerted the townsfolk there was a bear on the edge of town in the direction of the orphanage.

Brother Hauns takes a sip of his tea before continuing, A number of townsfolk grabbed weapons and went looking for the bear and they eventually found it near that big hill outside of town. I was told that an enraged bear was found and was attacking the top of a hill. They watched it for a good five minutes trying to dig up that hill and it looked like it was trying to find something hidden from it.

Brother Hauns nods towards Badger, As a group, they chased the bear off. At that point, they heard crying sounds emanating from the woods and went to investigate.

Brother Hauns chuckles for a moment then continues, The townsfolk found the six orphan boys up in a tree. They had all soiled themselves and were crying like little girls. They managed to stammer out that the bear had treed them and that you had charged up and enraged the bear so it would chase you, but they were all too scared to get down out of the tree after.

Brother Hauns is trying not to laugh as he finishes the story. Kiara gives him a scornful look as Badger chuckles, then smiles and drinks his broth.

Badger spends two more days in bed, in the back of the town hall, recuperating with Brother Hauns and Kiara taking care of him.

Various townsfolk stop by to check in on him and to tell him that he did a great thing and that he is a good person. Some of the townsfolk and farmers from the neighboring area bring gifts of clothes to the sanctuary to be donated to the orphanage. So, as Badger packs up to leave, he has new long johns, new pants, a new shirt and new boots that he needs to wear three pairs of socks to fit into.

The town blacksmith gifts him with a heavy leather jacket covered in black iron studs. He tells Badger that he used to wear that jacket when he was a little kid, but he had not been able to fit into it since he was eight years old. The bottom of the jacket hangs down to Badger’s knees and he has to roll up the sleeves to use his hands, but he does not care. He loves the jacket. It is the nicest thing he has ever been able to call his own.

The morning Badger is