The Fuller's Apprentice (The Chronicles of Tevenar Book 1) (6 page)

Elkan leaned toward the boy. “What’s your name?”

“Roni Cobblerkin, sir.”

“How old are you, Roni?”

“Nine, sir.”

“And these are your parents?”

“Yes, sir.”

Elkan turned to the man. “Would you introduce yourself, please?”

“Yes, sir. I’m Master Raizel Cooperkin Cobbler, and this is my wife Master Jobina Tailorkin Tailor. I’m sure there must be some mistake. Our Roni’s a good boy. He knows better than to go stealing.”

“If there’s been a mistake, we’ll find out. Roni, were you in Master Nur’s shop?”

“Yes, sir. I was going to buy a honey roll. I had money!” He dug a grubby hand into his pocket and displayed a small copper coin. “But I didn’t get a chance. All of a sudden people were yelling at me and trying to grab me, so I ran. I was scared! But I didn’t do anything wrong.” He glared at Elkan.

“I understand, Roni.” Elkan sat back in his chair. He put out his hand, and Sardonyx moved under it. He glanced at the baker. “This happened just before noon, you said?”

“That’s right.”

“And where is your shop?”

The baker gave Elkan a detailed description of the shop’s location. When he was satisfied, Elkan nodded. “Observe, everyone.”

He put one hand on Sar’s back and held the other out, palm up. A pinprick of light sparked to life and expanded until it was a glowing golden globe several feet in diameter. The center of the globe cleared, and they looked through a round window framed with golden light into another place and time.

Josiah and the other spectators leaned forward to see clearly. The window showed a busy baker’s shop. People milled about, choosing the loaves or pastries they wanted and waiting in line to pay. Josiah could hear their voices, soft and hollow as if from far away, but clear.

Elkan studied the scene hovering above his outstretched hand. “Is this your shop, Master Nur?”

“Yes, it is.”

The view swooped to where Roni could be seen, waiting his turn. Another boy stood behind him. As they watched, the other boy’s hand snuck out. He picked up several honey rolls from the window display and slipped out of the shop. A customer turned and shouted; other voices joined her. Roni stared around. Seeing the many accusing glares aimed in his direction, he panicked and dashed for the door. The baker lumbered from behind his counter and gave chase, calling for the Watch. The window followed them out of the shop and into the street. Several watchers converged on Roni and took him into custody.

“See! It wasn’t me!” Roni jumped to his feet. “It was that other boy!”

The baker sat back in his chair, shaking his head. “I was so sure… But the boy’s right. He didn’t take the cakes.”

“No.” Elkan concentrated again on the sphere in his hand. “Let’s find the one who did. Master watcher, observe closely.”

The watcher stepped out from behind Roni’s chair and fixed her eyes on the open window. Roni’s mother pulled him into a hug, which he bore stoically, though he rolled his eyes. The scene in the window backtracked to the moment the other boy stretched out his hand. The viewpoint zoomed in until the boy’s face filled the circle. The watcher nodded at Elkan, and the view expanded again. It moved forward in time, this time tracking the other boy as he raced from the shop, ran down the street, and ducked into an alley. He stuffed the cakes into the pockets of his tunic and made his way down the alley, emerging into the next street calmly. He strolled until he came to a public privy, which he entered. The view didn’t follow him inside, but stayed fixed on the door. The passage of time sped up, passersby zipping along comically fast, until at length it slowed again. The boy hadn’t emerged.

Elkan looked at the watcher. “This is the present time. Go and fetch the boy here.” She nodded and left, beckoning her two comrades who were watching from the benches to join her.

Josiah kept his eyes fixed on the window so he wouldn’t miss the watchers entering its view, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed Elkan studying Roni. The boy sat back in his seat, a worried look on his face.

Within a few minutes, the watchers appeared in the window. They called out a warning and entered the privy. After a moment they emerged, dragging the shoplifter with them.

Elkan let the window fade to a blank gold dazzle, but he continued to focus on Roni, who squirmed under his gaze. Elkan looked back at the window and it cleared again. Roni and the other boy stood in the bake shop. The view began moving backward in time, slowly at first, then faster, tracking Roni as he backed away from the door of the shop and down the street. He retreated several blocks, then into a side ally. The other boy was already there, having backed more quickly to the same spot.

The view zipped back a bit more, than resumed normal forward progression. The boys’ voices became audible, and the volume increased until everyone could understand what they were saying.

“You’re sure nothing can go wrong?” Roni looked nervously at the other boy.

“Just be sure to make a big enough fuss so they chase you and not me. Then when they take you to the wizards, everyone will see it wasn’t you. I’ll hide in the privy. Everybody knows they aren’t allowed to look in there. I’ll take enough cakes for both of us.”

“All right.” The Roni in the window squared his shoulders, took a deep breath, and stepped into the street.

All eyes turned to the real Roni. He jumped from his seat, but his father’s hand on his arm stopped him. He scowled and ducked his head.

The baker surged to his feet. “It was both of them! I want payment for what they took, and I want them punished.”

Roni’s mother stood also. Her face was pale. “It was that other boy that took them. He was the one who planned it.” She turned to her son. “It was that laborer’s child, wasn’t it? I told you not to play with him any more. Now look at the trouble he’s gotten you into!”

Elkan let the golden sphere disperse, and held up his hand for quiet. Reluctantly, Roni’s mother subsided. Elkan turned to Roni. “Do I need to look back further and see who suggested the idea?”

The boy slumped in his chair, deflated. “It was both of us. We thought we knew how to fool the wizards. We wanted to see if we could get away with it.”

“It didn’t work, did it?” Elkan’s voice was somber.

“No, sir.”

“Roni, I want you to understand. Even if you had been able to fool me, the Mother still would have seen what you did. It’s her vision she lends us, to help us understand the truth. You know that what you did was wrong, don’t you? If you wish, I can show you how hard Master Nur worked to bake the cakes your friend took. I can show you how much he paid for the ingredients that went into them. I can show you how hard the other customers in his shop worked to earn the money they paid him for the cakes they bought. Do you need to see those things?”

“No, sir,” Roni whispered.

“The work of our hands is sacred to the Mother. When you steal the products of a man’s craft from him and deny him his rightful payment, you defy her. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Roni seemed very small and defeated.

The watchers brought the other boy into the room. Behind them, a tall man in the simple clothes of a laborer followed. They came to stand before Elkan.

The watcher told Elkan, “We took the time to find the boy’s father.”

“Well done,” Elkan told her. He addressed the boy. “What’s your name?”

“Adin Laborerkin.” The boy was sullen.

“And you’re his father?”

“Master Dagan Fisherkin Laborer, sir.”

“Master Dagan, why is the child’s mother not here also?”

“She’s been dead these three years, sir. I do my best with my boy, but I won’t deny he can get in a spot of trouble, sometimes.”

Elkan nodded. “Adin, do you admit to stealing the cakes?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Roni said the two of you planned this together. Is that true?”

Adin glanced at Roni, who glared at him. He turned back to Elkan, shrinking even more beneath his gaze. “Yes, sir.”

Elkan looked thoughtfully at him, frowning. He glanced at Sar, who returned his gaze for a long moment, then twitched an ear and looked away. Elkan turned back to Adin. “Is it, I wonder?”

Elkan came to a decision. “Adin, Master Dagan, sit down. This may take a few minutes.”

He laid his left hand on Sar’s back and extended his right. The ball of light appeared over his palm again. This time it stayed small, no more than a handspan in width. Anything within was visible only to Elkan, who bent over it, studying what it showed him.

For a few minutes they waited. Josiah guessed Elkan was searching backwards and forwards in time, trying to find some crucial detail. Finally Elkan sat back. He raised his hand, and the ball of light expanded to its full size and cleared.

Adin and Roni sat on a fallen tree by the river, pitching pebbles into the water. Roni turned to his friend. “I sure would like one of Master Nur’s honey rolls. Got any money?”

“Only a copper. Want to split one?”

Roni made a disgusted face. Both boys were silent for a moment. Then Roni sat up straight, his eyes widening. “We could pinch some.”

Adin looked aghast. “Are you crazy? They’d catch us for sure. Those wizards can see everything, you know.”

“Aw, come on, you’re smart. I bet you can figure out some way to fool them. Just think about it.” Roni poked him in the arm.

Adin bit his lip, but his eyes lit up with a calculating look. “I have been thinking of something that might work…”

As the two boys bent their heads together, Elkan let the window fade. “So, Adin, it was Roni’s idea, not yours. Yet you didn’t accuse him. Why?”

Adin stared at the floor. “I didn’t think you’d believe me, sir. I mean, he’s the son of a cobbler and a tailor, and I’m just a laborer’s son.”

Elkan spoke sternly, aiming his words at much at Adin’s father and Roni’s parents as at the boy. “The Mother’s justice is for all. The Mother values all work equally and makes no distinction between crafts. No one need ever be afraid to speak before the Wizard’s Court, because her window will always show the truth.”

He turned back to the boys. “Boys, come here and stand before me.”

They did so. Elkan nodded at Master Nur. “I believe you owe Master Nur an apology.”

“I’m sorry, Master Nur,” they each mumbled in turn.

“Master Nur, you wish restitution for what they took?”

“Yes, I do.” He tried to glare coldly at the shamefaced boys in front of him, but couldn’t quite keep the look from softening.

“Would you find a week’s worth of labor in your shop from each of them fair compensation?”

The baker nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“And you won’t seek to revenge yourself on them by treating them cruelly?”

“Of course not!” The baker looked sincerely shocked at the idea.

Elkan turned to the boys. “Are you willing to serve Master Nur faithfully, and work hard for him, in order to make amends for the harm you did?”

“Yes, sir.” Both boys seemed relieved their punishment was no harsher, though daunted at the thought of working under the man they had robbed.

“And you,” Elkan said, addressing the parents. “Are you willing to let your sons work for a week at the bake shop, in the understanding that if they don’t report for work and complete their duties satisfactorily, you’ll be held liable to compensate Master Nur?”

“Yes, sir.” Adin’s father was eager. Roni’s parents seemed reluctant, but they agreed to the terms.

Elkan looked around the room. “Does anyone have any objection to the proposed settlement?”

No one responded. “Good. The Mother sets her seal on this judgement.”

There was a general sigh. People rose to their feet and made their way out of the court area. A new group of people filed in.

Kaniel, Windsong on his shoulder, rose from the last row of benches and came forward. “I slipped in and watched the bit at the end. Very well done. I might have missed that final point if I hadn’t been paying close attention. Windsong and I are ready to get back to work. We can handle the rest of the cases if you want to stop for the afternoon a little early.”

Elkan stretched, then shook his head ruefully. “I expect there’s still need for healing. Come along, Josiah, we’ll finish up over there.”

Four

T
he last of the waiting patients were healed and sent home, and the last of the court cases were settled. Josiah helped Elkan and the other wizards fold screens and put them away in storage rooms. Everyone pitched in to move the chairs and benches into concentric rings, ready for the Restday service in the morning.

After supper, Elkan showed Josiah to the male apprentices’ dormitory. “You’re sure you’d rather stay here tonight than at your parents’ home?”

He nodded. Last night had been awkward enough. If he was going to be apprentice to a wizard, even unofficially and temporarily, he should act the part. “I’ll join them tomorrow after the service for the midday meal, if you don’t mind. Then I can say my good-byes and come back for supper and sleep here. You said you wanted to get an early start on Firstday.”

“That sounds like a good plan.”

“Elkan?” Josiah set his pack down at the foot of his bed. He spoke quietly, and Elkan drew close to hear him over the murmur of the boys preparing for bed.

“Yes, Josiah?”

“How are wizard apprentices chosen? Do masters choose their own, like in most guilds, or are there tests, or what?”

“Each spring the Mother speaks to the Guildmaster and reveals the names of the apprentices for that year. Why?”

“No reason. It’s just… I never considered making the Wizards’ Guild one of my choices. I never had any interest in the Mother or any desire to serve her. But today, seeing the work you do… I think I could do it. Maybe, if you’re satisfied with me when we get back next year, I could put in my application to be considered. I mean, I know I’ll be two years too old—”

“No one applies to the Wizards’ Guild, Josiah. The Mother chooses from all those of apprenticing age. Take me, for instance. I had every intention of apprenticing to my father as a farmer until a messenger showed up at our door with the letter announcing I’d been chosen.”