The Legend Of The Wizard's Apprentice (Book 1) (22 page)

“No, Master, don’t leave me! I have been your faithful servant for over one hundred and forty four years. Where am I to go now?” Crying, Pan dropped to the floor and sobbed. Everyone else felt the tension in the room and all decided that now would be a good time to head downstairs to the main banquet area and wait for Pan to regain his composure.

Kerwyn turned towards his master trying to find some sort of logic in what he had just been told. Holding the little acorn in his hand, he looked down at it and said to himself, “You are the most important thing in our world and I am holding you in the palm my hand.” Looking back up at his master, Kerwyn had a look of horror on his face.

“What if I lose it, Master? I cannot be entrusted to carry such an important and incredibly powerful item. Master, you must take this acorn, the fate of the world depends on it. You must take it. Please, Master, I am not ready for such a huge responsibility,” said Kerwyn in a very small voice.

“I cannot accept the acorn, Kerwyn. You have been given and charged with the protection of the acorn from not only the forest witch but from the Guardian of the Tree of Life. This is your responsibility and you will have to learn how to deal with it. This is something that I cannot do for you. I will always be here to support you and we will figure out what to do with the acorn but you are the Keeper of the Tree of Life and the acorn is the most important thing any of us could have. Our duty is to bring the tree of life back to the world because if we don’t, the world will die and be lost to the evil that is coming to take over our world, Alberic,” Master Sernett said feeling the same overwhelming task that had just been given to his apprentice and himself.

“But, Master, why me? She has been lying in bed for me to come for one hundred and fourteen years. What makes me so important to the world? I am just a human that looks like an elf; an apprentice with two different eyes; one filled with good the other hiding an evil being that wants to destroy me and the whole world. Why me? I am not special. Why me?” asked Kerwyn.

Pan, starting to rise, looked over at Kerwyn and said in a very quiet yet serious voice, “Master Kerwyn, you are special to the world. You are all that she would talk about for the last forty or so years. She said that if you fail, our world would cease to exist. She said that you were instrumental with the survival and future of Alberic, that you would be the last hero this world would ever need.”

“I am a nobody; just a human apprentice. I still have a long ways to go before I am a master wizard even though the people have been calling me one. Again, I am just an apprentice wizard and what could I possibly do that would even count me as a hero?” Defeat sounded in Kerwyns voice, and the look of anguish on his face showed the inner turmoil that he was in.

Master Sernett reached out and put a hand on the young man’s shoulder and said,” Let’s go get something to eat before there is nothing left here that we can do.”

“Mister Pan, would you be kind enough to supply us with food and lodgings? I don’t much relish the thought of going back to the clearing at night; we already have had our fill of vampires,” said Master Sernett.

“Masters, this place is now your home more so than it is mine. Master Kerwyn has the acorn from the Tree of Life and this is, until it dies, the old Tree of Life. Master Kerwyn is the owner of this tree until the day it dies. He holds the key for the new Tree of Life in his hands. I pledge my services to you, Master Kerwyn, until the day you either leave this place or until the tree dies. I am also sure that all of the other Tree of Life staff will pledge to you as well. One day when the Tree of Life has been restored, we will all return to you and re-pledge our services. This is our home and all the staff is almost like family. We have been together for a very long time and we always will stay that way. We will always serve the Guardians of the Tree of Life for that is our purpose in this world, and that is what we enjoy doing. Our future is in your hands, Master Kerwyn, and as Druantia said; you need to survive.”

Turning on his heel, he left the room calling out for all the staff to gather in the main banquet hall for a meeting. Once all were assembled, he told them that Druantia was dead and that Master Kerwyn was the new Guardian for the Tree of Life’s acorn. He told them that he needed everyone to pledge themselves to Master Kerwyn and do as he commands. Pan also told them that everyone would be out of a job and homeless at the end of the month as the old Tree of Life was dying and it would become uninhabitable. The cries and tears that were shed showed just how much these people had loved Druantia. Everyone outside the three had thought she had been some old mean witch when she really was a very kind old Guardian of the Tree of Life who had been forgotten in time.

As everyone regained composure and came to deal with the news they had all been just told, each creature that was part of the staff of the Tree of Life pledged themselves to Kerwyn and promised that if he had the Tree of Life reborn, they would be back to serve him. Even the dirty old harpy came to them and pledged herself to Kerwyn. She explained that the witch had taken her in after a bad storm made her fall from the sky and break a wing. The witch healed her when everyone else would have left her to die or, worse, killed her. All the creatures that worked for the witch ended up having their life extended and they all felt that it was because the Tree of Life regenerated them every night when they slept. To sleep in one of the bedrooms in the Tree of Life is like having the best sleep of your life plus a vacation all in one. You wake up completely refreshed and ready for the day.

Once all the pledges and introductions were made, the staff ran off to get food and to get the bedrooms ready for their guests. Even the Cyclopes had rooms that were big enough for them to stay in and in each room there was a huge hot water tub that they could even take a bath in. Celie made good use of her tub. She was like a fish and once she got in she didn’t want to get out. By the time she finally did drag herself out of the tub; her skin was all wrinkly from being in the water too long.

Also, in each of the chambers there was the same perfection that was throughout the tree. Kerwyn decided to walk around and explore the incredibly well stocked kitchens and pantries with Durin. The dwarf was always ready to taste test anything that any of the cooks wanted him to taste. There was even one cook who was a female dwarf named Ardwinna and she thought that Durin looked handsome without a beard. She said that most dwarven males rated their masculinity by how much facial hair they could grow and even Kerwyn had to laugh when Ardwinna said the dwarven females did the same thing. When a dominant male dwarf met up with a dominant female dwarf there was always bound to be a lot of hair and bushy beards involved. Ardwinna said she left the dwarf kingdom for the same reason Durin had: she didn’t have a big bushy beard either. The only difference between her and Durin’s family was that her family were just blacksmiths and not royalty like Durin’s. Still, they had been embarrassed by her lack of womanly facial hair. Durin and Ardwinna were hitting it off pretty good so Kerwyn decided to leave Durin there and go back to his room for a bath and an early night’s sleep.

On his way back to his room he stopped in on Master Sernett just to see if he was ok from the day’s events.

“Master, it’s me, Kerwyn,” Kerwyn said as he stepped into his master’s bedroom making sure to knock before entering. The room was L shaped and he heard muffled voices from the other side of the room. Because of the room’s shape, he needed to turn a corner to see who was there. At first Kerwyn couldn’t see who the other speaker was but after rounding the corner, he saw Pan sitting with Master Sernett having tea and cookies.

“Come in, Kerwyn. We were just talking about you,” said Master Sernett.

“Yes, please Master, please come in take my chair. I will stand,” Pan said, jumping up offering Kerwyn his chair.

“Nonsense,” said Master Sernett, “Kerwyn, would you mind grabbing another chair form the other room and bring it in?” Master Sernett asked.

“No, no, no. I will get the chair for you, Master Kerwyn. Please take my chair while I get the spare chair from the other room.

“Please sit back down,” said Master Sernett to Pan in a voice that said
do as I tell you, and don’t argue with me
. Kerwyn chuckled as he had heard Master Sernett’s tone used with him many times. Thinking back, it seemed almost like another lifetime ago now.

“Not at all, Master, although I won’t stay long as I am tired and I am still having a bit of a problem wrapping my mind around all that has happened today. I still can’t believe that Druantia is gone and she left me the acorn from the Tree of Life,” Kerwyn said as he went into the other room to grab the extra chair. Pan still looked like a deer caught grazing on someone’s flowers and looked as though he wanted to sprint from Master Sernett’s room as fast as he could.

“Kerwyn, it has been a tough day for all of us. Pan here was just telling me about the first time he met Druantia. He was just a young satyr at the time. Pan said that he was out frolicking in the clearing just outside this majestic tree and Druantia came outside, pointed a finger at him and said, ‘you come here; I need some help as I am starting to feel weak, and you look like you are full of energy. You will now be my main caretaker until the time a young wizard shows up with two different coloured eyes, one will be bright ice blue, and the other will be black as midnight, each will have a glow all their own. I instruct that you shall bring them to my room as soon as they are within the clearing’,” Master Sernett said reciting the story that Pan had told him.

“Yes, Master Kerwyn, when we were told that there were two wizards on the path coming here I knew that it was you. Master Druantia’s health had been failing much faster and I was worried that she would pass before you showed up. After the harpy came and told Druantia the story of the wizards, she regained some of her life back, almost like she had saved this burst of energy just to be able to speak to you, Master Kerwyn,” said Pan.

“Pan, why do you insist on calling me
Master
Kerwyn?” he asked, “I am not a master. I am just an apprentice. Master Sernett is the Master Wizard, not me.”

“Ah, Master Kerwyn. I call you Master for a different reason. You hold the future of the entire world and all life of Alberic in your pocket. You are my master because Druantia chose you to be her replacement as Guardian over the Tree of Life. The honour of Master goes with that. I serve the Tree of Life now and always, and he or she that is the Guardian of the Tree of Life is, and will always be, my master too. I live to serve because life is important and without the Tree of Life, everything will fall to evil and wither away to death. So it is with the greatest of respect that I call you my master and Creator of Life; the one that will give birth to the new Tree of Life,” Pan fell quiet after that last burst of conversation, wondering if he said too much and had offended Master Kerwyn.

“Pan, what if Druantia was wrong and I am not the one she was waiting for? Or what if I am not ready to be this person that everyone wants me to be?

What if I fail, or worse, mess it up so that things can’t be fixed? I have been entrusted with something so important to the world. I don’t think that I am strong enough to do this task,” Kerwyn said, his head downcast and almost at the brink of tears.

Pan stood up and crossed the space to Kerwyn’s chair, placed his hand on his shoulder and said in a very serious and gentle voice, “Master Druantia didn’t make mistakes and she did not choose wrong. The Tree of Life responded to your coming and produced an acorn. If you were able to fool Druantia, know that it is impossible to fool the Tree of Life. Trust me, you are strong enough or the tree would never have chosen you. It only has one acorn and it allowed Druantia to give it to you. Trust in the Tree of Life, as it trusts in you.

Anyway Masters, I find I am tired myself and would like to head off to bed. I bid you both a goodnight and I will see you in the morning at breakfast.”

With that Pan picked up his chair and returned it to the other room. He walked out the door, leaving Kerwyn and his Master sitting there in silence while they pondered the dilemma they were both in.

“Master,” Kerwyn said about fifteen minutes later breaking the silence and shocking his master back to reality.

“Pan seems very sure that I was chosen for this adventure. How am I to know how and when to do whatever it is that I need to do with the Acorn? Do I just plant it in the ground, water it, and hope that it will grow? Or do I cast a spell and say
grow big
and watch it grow?” Kerwyn asked.

“Kerwyn, this is the Tree of Life. I have no idea and this tree has been around since the time of man first started. I am afraid there is no rulebook or instructions as to what to do. I hope you will know what to do when the time is right. Anyway, Kerwyn, let’s get some sleep. Go on to your bedroom and get some rest. Sleep would do us all some good,” Master Sernett sent Kerwyn off to bed, as he simply didn’t have the answers that Kerwyn was looking for. The only one old enough to know those answers would be the dragon, Fafnir, but would he be willing to tell Kerwyn what to do, and when the time would be to plant the acorn from the Tree of Life?