Shaper of Stone (The Shapers Book 1) (2 page)

Chamberpot?

Great. Why do I feel like this wasn’t
going to end well.

-o-

I got dressed and took care of my other
business. I felt weird just leaving the chamberpot behind, but I
didn’t see much of an alternative. The clothing fit perfectly,
better than my old stuff. Even the boots were the right size. I’ve
always worn sneakers and was surprised by how comfortable the boots
were.

I was sure it couldn’t be a
dream. No one had to pee that bad in a dream without waking up. That
didn’t rule out head trauma, but I didn’t really think
that was the case either. And if it was, there wasn’t really
anything I could do about it.

I felt pretty good when I stepped out
in the hallway to join the others. I was ready for whatever adventure
I was about to begin when I saw the lizard man from earlier standing
with Abella. So much for feeling good or ready.

This time I was not going to run away.
Instead I stood in the doorway and sized him up. His skin was dark,
avocado green and rough, but not scaly like I would have expected.
His snout stuck out from his face a good six inches and ended with a
pair of huge nostrils that would have looked funny if not for the
mouthful of sharp teeth right below. His eyes were bright yellow with
a slit like pupil. They reminded me of a cat. There were three ridges
across his hairless skull and a number of rings pierced the middle
one. I didn’t get much of a chance to count them as he pulled
up his hood once he noticed me staring at him.

On the plus side, at six feet tall I
was easily a head taller than him. Unfortunately, he probably had
fifty pounds on me, and I bet he knew how to use that sword at his
waist. If it came down to it, running looked like my best option.

Tavi stepped forward with the
translator and held it so both Abella and I could easily grasp it.
Which we did.

“Thanks Tavi.” I said to to
him once I had a grip on the strange device.

Abella turned to the boy and repeated
my words. Then turning back to me she said, “Devin, only the
person holding the translator can understand you. It will be
necessary for me to translate to others. Tavi does not speak, but he
can hear, and I’m sure he appreciates your words.”

Tavi smiled and nodded his head up and
down at me as Abella spoke. I had forgotten that she was speaking in
her native language, and it was being translated for my benefit. For
the others in the room it must have been like listening to one half
of a telephone call.

The walking lizard said with a deep
gravelly voice, “Mistress Abella, The Master awaits.”

I jumped a foot when I heard him. First
he spoke, and for some reason I just didn’t expect a man sized
lizard to be able to do that. And second, he spoke English.

As soon as my feet touched the ground I
blurted out, “Holy cow! You speak English? How did you learn to
speak English? Where are you from?”

His nostrils flared as I spoke, but he
responded to Abella not me. “He should be restrained. Look at
him. There is something wrong with this one.”

Abella patted my arm with her free
hand. “No Carvis. He is fine. He doesn’t understand.
Grant me a moment to explain to him.”

“Devin, Carvis does not speak
your language. He speaks mine, but when you and I are joined with the
translator, you will find that you understand any language that I do.
When Carvis spoke, you understood him because I understand him.”

I had to admit I was a little
disappointed. The lizard guy, Carvis, didn’t seem quite so
scary when I thought he spoke English. Then again, considering what
he had to say about me, I don’t think he and I were on the road
to a great friendship.

“Carvis was with my uncle on the
day they found you. He carried you back and has hardly left you
since. He is one of my uncle’s most trusted guards. It is his
duty to keep you safe.”

“As my master orders, no harm
will come to you. Here, you pose the greatest danger to yourself with
your running and screaming. Should it prove necessary, I will protect
you even from yourself.” Carvis then turned to lead us down the
hall. “Come, Lord Vatrale has already waited too long.”

Abella smiled reassuringly at me and
motioned for me to follow our guard. I would have liked to keep
talking as we walked, but carrying the translator while moving didn’t
seem like an easy task. After we both let go, Tavi fell into step
right behind us carrying the device cradled in his arms, and we all
set off to see Lord Vatrale.

-o-

We went down several long halls with
side passages and turns. I lost track of the number. It was easy to
get confused along the way. The only room that stood out in our trek
was a massive library that was filled with books.

I would have loved to stop and look
around, but Carvis didn’t even slow down as we passed. I made a
note to ask Abella about it later.

The walk was spent in silence. Carvis
and Abella didn’t talk to each other, and without the
translator hands, I wouldn’t have understood anything that was
said. At one point, I started to whistle just to make some noise, but
the look Carvis gave me put a stop to that.

Not that he looked at me any different
than he normally did. He might have loved it for all I could tell
from his expression, but all in all, he was a little scary and having
him stare at me wasn’t high on my list of fun things to do.

We passed a few people along the way.
They moved quickly to step out of our path. Their heads bowed low.
None of them would make eye contact with me.

What little confidence I had at the
beginning of this journey quickly faded. I was wondering if the
people we passed knew something I didn’t. Now that we stood
outside the last door, I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that
I was the doomed man preparing to face my executioner.

-o-

Carvis opened the door in response to a
deep voice from within the room. The guard stepped aside to allow
Abella and I to enter with Tavi running in before us. The boy placed
the translator on a table between two chairs and just as quickly
returned to the hall to stand next to the lizard man. Giving me a
final glare, Carvis closed the door with a heavy thud, and for the
first time I saw Lord Vatrale.

The master of the house looked frail. A
few wisps of gray hair hung over ears that stuck out from the side of
his head. His pale skin was marked with so many dark circles it would
have been easier to think of them as his natural tone. He appeared
almost skeletal. If he wasn’t wearing a dark blue robe, I bet I
could count every bone in his body. He was also tall. Taller than me
at least. He was standing beside his desk, not sitting behind it, as
he waited for us.

And his teeth looked perfect. When he
saw us enter, he smiled broadly and stepped forward, taking me by the
arm in a surprisingly strong grip before leading me to one of the
chairs. He talked the entire time. He had a deep voice that didn’t
match the frail body. Were I to only hear his voice, I would expect
to see a much younger and healthier looking man.

Abella took the remaining seat and
handed me one end of the translator while she grasped the other.
Finally I started to make sense of her uncle’s words.

“... to see you up and about so
soon. It was only yesterday that we found you, and from your
condition we didn’t know what to expect. The surgeons
predicated that you would sleep for a few days. It appears that they
were wrong.”

He grinned at me as he sat on the
corner of his desk, towering slightly over us. “I knew it. I
knew they underestimated you. I could sense it about you. You see,
that is what led me to you. The aura about you. It is very rare. In
fact, I haven’t seen another like it in years. I sense much
promise in you boy. Much promise indeed.”

Well, so much for being the doomed man.
I was half expecting some evil tyrant from the way the servants
seemed to cower as we passed, but instead I get this hyperactive
grandfather figure. Maybe I’m not the only one bothered by
Carvis. It wasn’t like I saw another lizard man along the way.

“Now, my boy, tell me all about
yourself. What happened that left you looking like death at the edge
of the road?”

What happened? That was the real
question. “Honestly, I have no idea how I got here. I don’t
even know where here is. It isn’t home. That’s for sure.”

For the next half hour or so, I shared
what I remembered about my last night at the bookstore. Abella was
the only one who understood me and we had to pause frequently so that
she could translate for her uncle. Not once did he seem to doubt my
story, and for the most part he let me speak with few interruptions.

Vatrale in turn told me about his land.
I learned that we are in the Barony of Kelit which in turn was part
of the Kingdom of Harith. Vatrale was appointed steward of these
lands after the death of the Baron’s line over twenty years
ago. He held the land in the King’s name. Should a new Baron be
appointed, that could all change.

I didn’t quite follow how you can
have a Barony without a Baron, not that it really mattered. The whole
feudal system seemed about as confusing as trying to make sense of
the corporate structure in some business. In the end, it probably
just came down to whatever the guy in charge wanted.

I think he would have gone on for
hours, but about half way through my head started to ache. It seemed
to get worse the more we spoke.

I took advantage of a long pause to
raise my free hand like a kid trying to get the teacher’s
attention. Which in a way was how I felt at the moment.

“Would it be okay if we talked
some other time. I’m not feeling very well and I think I
probably should get some rest.” While Abella relayed my request
I wiped my forehead with my sleeve, and it came away damp from the
sweat beading there.

“Of course my boy. The translator
can be very taxing to those not used to it, which is why I prefer to
let my niece translate for me. Carvis can take you back to your room,
and we will speak again tomorrow. There are a few tests I want to
conduct. It would be best if you are fully rested before we start.”

With that proclamation he jumped down
from his perch on the edge of the desk and helped me to my feet. My
vision blurred and I stumbled, but he was there to catch me. For an
old guy he moved quickly. Together he and Abella lead me to the
doorway where Tavi and Carvis stood waiting.

I swear the lizard man snorted when he
saw me. I must have looked as bad as I felt. He quickly slipped an
arm around me and after exchanging a few words with Vatrale that I
couldn’t follow, he helped me down the hall.

The journey back to the room was even
more quiet than the one from it, and it was not until Carvis dropped
me on the bed that I realized the others did not come with us. Not
that I cared right then. My head hurt so much that all I wanted to do
was sleep.

Sleep and... Wait a minute, did he say
he wanted to do tests.

On me?

I hate tests.

-o-

The next day I was back in Vatrale’s
study with Abella sitting next to me. Tavi stood just behind us. He
was so quiet that if I hadn’t seen him come into the room, I
would never have noticed him there.

Sometime during the night, the kid had
moved into my room, and from the moment I woke, he remained with me.
I’m glad he had. He seemed to know instinctively what I was
looking for and immediately produced it. His face lit up with a smile
whenever I thanked him. Considering I didn’t speak the language
and he didn’t speak at all, we did a great job of
communicating.

And, I could tell by how rigid he was
standing, that something was bothering him.

Vatrale sat on the opposite side of the
desk. The surface was bare except for a black and green ball about
the size of a golf ball. The old man squished it like clay and began
to roll it back and forth. He kind of looked like a kid trying to
make a snake.

“Devin, this material is called
nerafpan. It is very rare and very special and can be molded only by
the people we call Shapers. In the hands of anyone else, it is like
the hardest steel. The strongest blow with a hammer or the highest
heat of a forge is not enough to change its shape.”

Finished with his snake, he rolled it
across the desk to me. I stopped it before it reached the edge. The
clay was warm, almost hot actually, but not enough to burn my hand.

“Now it’s your turn, my
boy. Take the nerafpan and mold it into something new.”

With a shrug, I pinched one end of the
clay and bent it around into a circle. Well, if he could make a
snake, I could make a ring. I only had one free hand at the moment,
the other still held the translator, so it wasn’t like I was
going to do anything fancy.

When I was done, there was a very sad
looking circle of clay in front of me, if you could still call
something that was straight on one side and had a couple of sharp
corners in it a circle. At least the ends came together.

When I looked up, the old man had such
an intense smile on his face it was almost scary.

“That didn’t seem very
hard,” I said, breaking the silence.

After Abella translated what I said to
him, Vatrale replied, “Exactly right my boy. For those like us,
those with the talent, it is like molding wet clay. It is supposed to
be easy.”

He picked up the ring and turned it
around in his hands before handing it to Abella.

“Show the young man what I mean.
Break his ring.”

She let go of the translator. I was
already starting to get a headache again from the device, but I
missed being out of the loop. At least for now everyone was quiet as
we watched her try to pull the ring apart.