The Echidna's Scale (Alchemy's Apprentice)

“Hey!” he shouted as Pesino snuck up behind him and poked him in the ribs, just as she had done the previous night.  And just as he had done the previous night, he started forward, and fell into the water of the harbor.

“Pesino!  That’s mean!  And I think it’s a way for you to flirt with me,” Marco said.

Pesino’s head snapped back, and the smile on her face became a straight-lined pair of lips.  “And were you flirting back last night?” she asked as they stared at one another.

“I was, a little,” he said slowly, wishing that he could prevent the words from emerging. 

“And,” Pesino closed the distance between them, “do you remember our kiss?” she asked.  “Because I started it, but you responded, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Marco’s voice was husky now, despite the cool temperature of the water.

“Would you like to kiss again?  Would that be flirting some more?” Pesino inched even closer.

Marco closed his eyes.  “I’m engaged to a woman, a good woman, a beautiful woman.  I shouldn’t do this,” he told her, hoping that he had the will power to resist.  His inhibitions against telling the truth had been stripped away, and with them he feared that some other inhibitions had been removed as well.

“Is she a land woman, a woman with legs?  Is she close by?  Is she the woman you left behind at our village?” Pesino breathed the questions.

“Mirra is my beloved, and she does have legs, as I do.  She is far away in Barcelon, and I’ll return to her someday, when all of this is done.  And though I think you are very attractive, I do not want to break her heart, Pesino; please don’t temp me,” he begged.

“Am I tempting?” Pesino asked.  Darkness had fallen, Marco realized, and he could see the pale oval of her face, and the softly tanned curves of her bare shoulders, falling down to the waterline, where her flesh was partially visible through the opaque water. 

Alchemy’s Apprentice Series

1.
      
The Gorgon’s Blood Solution

2.
     
The Echidna’s Scale

The Inner Seas Kingdoms Series

1.
      
The Healing Spring

2.
     
The Yellow Palace

3.
     
Road of Shadows

4.
    
A Foreign Heart

5.
     
Journey to Uniontown

The Ingenairii Series

1.
      
Visions of Power

2.
At the Seat of Power: Goldenfields and the Dominion

3.
The Loss of Power: Goldenfields and Bondell

4.
The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold

5. Against the Empire

6. Preserving the Ingenairii

7. Rescuing the Captive

8. Ajacii and Demons

9. The Caravan Road

10. The Journey Home

Also by Jeffrey Quyle

The Green Plague

For more information, visit the Ingenairii Series on Facebook,
www.facebook.com/ingenairiiseries

The
Echidna’s Scale

Alchemy’s Apprentice Series

Book
2

Jeffrey Quyle

Index

Chapter 1
–
The Nightmare                                                                    
 
Page 1

Chapter 2 –
The Fall                                                                                    Page 9

Chapter 3
–
The Temple on the Isle                                                      
 
Page 12

Chapter 4
–
The Caverns Belo
w
                                          Page 20

Chapter 5
–
Back In The Lion City            
 
                                          Page 41

Chapter 6 –
Honesty                                                                                    Page 52

Chapter 7
–
Transformations                          
 
                                          Page 68

Chapter 8 –
The Partners Come Together                                          Page 83

Chapter 9
–
Departure From the Lion City            
 
                            Page 93

Chapter 10
–
The Amber Trade Roa
d
                                          Page 99

Chapter 11 –
Among The Pixies                                                        Page 115

Chapter 12
–
              The Pixie Story                          
 
                            Page 127

Chapter 13
–
A Mountaintop Interlud
e
                                          Page 141

Chapter 14 –
The Marriage Ceremon
y
                          
 
              Page 150

Chapter 15
–
Honeymoon                          
 
                                          Page 155

Chapter 16
–
The Lonely Road            
 
                                          Page 159

Chapter 17
–
Adventure at Clovis            
 
                                          Page 172

Chapter 18
–
The Curse                          
 
                                          Page 198

Chapter 19
–
Negotiating a Trip            
 
                                          Page 206

C
hapter 20
–
The Blind Marchiones
s
                                          Page 214

Chapter 21
–
            
 
A Different Vision                                                        Page 231

Chapter 22 –
              Arima’s Wilderness                                                        Page 235

Chapter 23 –
              The Echidna’s Cave                                                        Page 244

Chapter 24 –
The Unwinnable Battle                                          Page 252

Chapter 25 –
An Underworld Guide                                                        Page 262

Chapter 26 – Alone With A Ghost
                                                        Page 273

Chapter 27 – The Memories Lost
                                                        Page 275

List of Characters

Marco, alchemy apprentice from the Lion City

Mirra, Barcelon daughter of Coosie, mother of Sybele

Glaze, Brother of Mirra

Sweetness, cook at Sant Jeroni castle

Sheafield, huntsman at the castle

Perago, steward of the Sant Jeroni castle

Porenn, acolyte on the Isle of Ophiuchus

Algornia, alchemist of the Lion City

Iasco, high priestess of the Order of Ophiuchus

Cassius, Merman of Kreewhite’s village

Pesino, Mermaid siren of Kreewhite’s village

Mitment, guard on the Isle of Ophiuchus

Folence, Barcelon priestess of Ophiuchus

Iago, sorcerer of the Corsairs

Kilson, captain of the palace guard in Barcelon

Constance, dress model in the Lion City

Siplin, duke of Barcelon

Sybele, infant daughter of Mirra

Sty, alchemist of the Lion City

Echidna, great mother of monsters in the north

Asterion, minotaur guardian of the underworld

Prologue

(the story of The Gorgon’s Blood Solution)

            
 
Marco was an under-achieving apprentice in a prestigious alchemy shop in the Lion City, one of the most powerful trading metropolises of the cities around the rim of the Great Sea.  On a fateful day, a strange, unknown elderly woman gave him a coin, and a threatening stranger frightened him into swallowing the coin.

             
Marco became suddenly proficient in alchemy, rapidly completing a complex formula and showing promise.  But before his promise could be realized, he was caught up in an unforeseen raid on the city by a band of brutal Corsairs, aided by a powerful sorcerer who traveled with them. 

             
Seeing captives destined to become slaves, Marco freed two girls he recognized, but was caught by the sorcerer and taken captive by the Corsairs as they fled from the Lion City harbor.  Out at sea, Marco discovered that the other captive held in the bowels of the Corsair ship was a merboy, Kreewhite.

             
Together, Marco and Kreewhite escaped the sinking ship in a storm, and landed on an enchanted island, Ophiuchus.  They became separated, and Marco found that the island was a center and a temple for a female cult of healing. 

             
Marco used his time on the island to befriend dolphins in the surrounding sea.  He left the island under a cloud of disapproval, and went to a medium-sized city, Barcelon, where he found work for a dying alchemy shop.

             
Marco healed and helped a young mother, Mirra, and then helped save the city from both a plague and a raid by the Corsairs and their sorcerer-leader.  He suffered a deadly curse by the sorcerer – who he killed, and then fought a bloody battle at the palace of the duke to overcome the threat of the curse.  The duke was so pleased with Marco’s successes that he made him a nobleman and gave him a castle of his own.

             
To be healed from his deadly wounds, Marco was taken back to the isle of Ophiuchus.  Afterwards, he returned to Barcelon, and journeyed to a remote mountain castle to finally be re-united with Mirra, with whom he had fallen in love.