Wielder: Apprentice: Book 1 of Lady Shey's Story (The Wielder Cycle) (15 page)

“It was Marella,” Sheyna said. “She was never fooled.”

Ianthill gave Marella a stare.

“I felt the presence of the creature that attacked her at the tower, and the disguise just melted away in front of my eyes.”

“Mindwielder,” he said. “You are our defense against any more of these things showing up. I want you to keep an eye out. In the meantime, Enowene, make arrangements to get Sheyna out of here. There are too many essence wielders on this island to keep her secure.”

“She is supposed to go to Toborne’s tower in Symbor.”

“Gods no! I don’t want her apprenticed to him any longer.”

Enowene took a deep breath. “Think about it for a moment. If you suspect him, the last thing we want to do is take her away from him.”

Sheyna felt the anger welling up inside her again, and she lashed out. “You plan to use me again!”

Enowene appeared shocked. “I mean to protect you. Marella will stay by your side. I will work out the details with Toborne. I have been in the spy business long enough to know what happens to those we try to hide away. This way we will hide you in plain sight.”

“Like you did when you left me on the streets!”

“As long as you were on the streets, nothing such as this was ever going to happen to you. You really must see the truth and get over this nonsense. As long as you were a common orphan, no one cared about you.”

Sheyna gasped.

“That didn’t come out right. I simply meant that no one suspected you were special while you were of no consequence to anyone.” She turned to Marella. “Mindwielders can speak to each other over long distances with their thoughts. Has Dicarion taught you this yet?”

“We have discussed it,” Marella answered.

“Excellent, I will discuss it with him. Toborne’s tower is not far from mine. I will have Dicarion stay with me, and you can communicate any danger with him.”

“I know you are apprehensive, dear girl, but Enowene is right. We need to know for sure if Toborne has anything to do with all this. It is your test as an apprentice wielder. Are you able to do this for us?”

“Toborne is a master. How can I?”

“With your wits about you, I know you can do your duties as an apprentice and no one will be the wiser.” Ianthill’s voice was commanding and forceful.

“I will do it as long as it helps me find my mother.” A thought dawned. “Is there really a Veric?”

Enowene put her hand on Sheyna’s shoulder. “Aye, there is. Your mother did send you both away. I don’t know how this thing had the information it had, but it certainly fooled me.”

Sheyna was glad when Marella offered to stay in her room with her after nightfall. Neither she nor Marella felt like eating supper, and both retired to Sheyna’s room early. She tried to relax even with Marella gushing about how adeptly Sheyna had dispatched the dark creature. She assumed that Enowene had her spy network take the body somewhere, and she imagined Ianthill studying it in seclusion. Her thoughts constantly played the scenario of the attack over and over in her mind. Occasionally she dwelled on the stolen box, and the thought of leaving it behind haunted her. What if Akros was one of the creatures or even the same creature? But if he was, why would he try to talk with her and trick her? The imposter seemed genuinely surprised it had been stolen.

That night a storm raged, and both girls stayed up until it passed. Sheyna tried to fall asleep as soon as she realized Marella was no longer talking and had obviously drifted asleep. Her eyelids felt heavy, and she was soon on the verge when she heard a faint scraping on her window. She immediately thought of waking Marella but decided it was nothing. A few moments later, her window unlatched and started to open. She realized that if she tried to wake Marella, it might alert the intruder. Instead, she found her two daggers and stalked closer to the window. At the moment when she was about to pounce, she caught the sight of her mother’s box sliding through, followed by Kyrie. She relaxed her grip on the daggers.

“Oh, you startled me,” Kyrie said. “Are those daggers meant for me?”

“What is going on?” Marella was awake.

“It’s Kyrie, and he has my mother’s box,” Sheyna said, barely containing her glee.

“How did you find it?” Marella asked.

Sheyna took the box and opened it to see if everything was inside.

“I . . . uh . . . happened upon it.”

“What did you do?” Sheyna asked with suspicion.

“It was Akros. I found him in the bushes near the bedchambers at the rear of the citadel. The box was lying next to him.”

“Lying next to him? What was he doing?”

“I suspect nothing. You see, he was quite dead.”

With the business of Sheyna’s trial concluded, the time to return to Symbor had come. Sheyna told Morgoran and Enowene about Akros, but when they went to the spot Kyrie had indicated, there was no sign of Akros’ body alive or otherwise. Enowene suspected that Kyrie had spun one of his tall tales, and she was convinced it was Kyrie, a known thief, who had actually stolen the box; the story of Akros was concocted so he could return it consequence free. Sheyna accepted Enowene’s explanation and dropped the matter.

After a ferry ride to Ormond’s Arch, Morgoran, Sheyna, Ianthill, Marella, and Enowene returned to the tower in Symboria via the Migarath Portal. The tower was a dark and strange place to her after spending so much time in Rugania. The corridors of the adjacent long buildings, where the apprentice quarters were located, were cold and empty. Marella dragged behind her, exhausted from the draining side effects of the Migarath Portal. The portal had also taken its toll on Sheyna, and she and Marella both went straight to their chambers for a nap.

Sheyna searched her private room for a place to hide the box and her jade figurine where they would not be obvious to any more thievery. She pried up a floorboard, placed the box with the figurine in it inside, replaced the floorboard, and moved the corner leg of her bed over the loose board. Anyone who tried to get at it now would surely awaken her in the process.

A knock on the door interrupted Sheyna’s rest. She lumbered sleepily to the door and flung it open, prepared to scold whoever dared to interrupt her nap. It was Enowene. She was wringing her hands.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Sheyna asked.

“I’m not sure how to tell you.”

“The best way is to be out with it,” Sheyna said.

“Very well, we have been keeping the Silver Drake hidden. We had it all along,” Enowene confessed.

Sheyna yawned. “I thought you might have it somewhere safe. I am not surprised you kept it a secret.”

“It was stolen this morning.”

Sheyna became fully alert. “What! Who took it? Who even knew you had it?”

“That’s what I hesitate to tell you. It appears Veric took it.”

“Are we falling for that trick again?”

“No, it was he. He came to the tower this morning demanding we give it to him. Of course, we tested him immediately and Dicarion was convinced he was the actual Veric, the dragon knight sworn to protect the Silver Drake. Morgoran was still hesitant to hand it over. Veric, as the protector of the Silver Drake, knew exactly where we had it hidden, and he seized the opportunity to take it by force. Morgoran and Ianthill are pursuing him as we speak.”

“Why tell me now, then?”

Enowene entered the common room and pulled the door closed. She gestured to the common table for Sheyna to sit down. “It’s your figurine. Morgoran recognized that it may be linked to your mother. We thought you might be able to use it to track her.”

Sheyna’s suspicion grew with each of Enowene’s words. Kyrie had been trying to steal the figurine from the first day he arrived at the tower. She rarely let the statuette out of her sight now because of it. Suddenly she had a terrible thought and bolted back to her room. Her bed had been moved and the floorboard was askew. She immediately checked the box and found that the jade figurine was gone.

“No, no, no, this can’t be happening again. How many times can one girl be the target of thieves!” She doubled back to tell Enowene, but she, too, was gone. “Another trick like Marella’s illusions!”

Marella, hearing Sheyna talking to herself, came into the common room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “What are you going on about?”

“You will not believe a word I say about the matter. Enowene came to the door, and while she was distracting me, my figurine was stolen yet again.”

“Mistress Enowene was in on it?”

“It wasn’t really her, I’m assuming. I think it must have been the kind of illusion you told me you can do,” Sheyna said.

“I will go down to Enowene’s chamber with you. Give me a moment to splash some water on my face.” Marella disappeared into her room.

“Thank you,” Sheyna called after her. “I believe I will go splash some water on my face, also.”

Both girls had finished washing their faces and were heading for the door when behind them an abrupt noise, coming from the window, startled them. They both simultaneously dashed to the center table in the common chamber, preparing to defend themselves. After a few long moments where nothing happened, the round window finally creaked open and Kyrie slipped in. He was rather worse for wear; his clothes were torn and ruffled, and his face was dirty. He only wore one boot. He noticed the girls seated at the table. “Oh thank Fawlsbane I found you here safe,” he said.

Sheyna jumped up from behind a chair. “Where have you been, and why are you so dirty? I had almost given up on you. I thought something must have happened to you in Rugania, and give me back my jade statuette!” she added as an afterthought.

Kyrie looked away sheepishly. “I’ve been chained up in the dungeons below this tower. I just got away a few moments ago. I don’t have your precious jade figurine, but I know who probably does have it.”

“You lying little thief,” Marella accused. “This tower has no dungeons.”

“It did, but they have been sealed off and concealed by Toborne. He goes down there to create the most hideous creatures you can imagine.”

“What did you just say? He does what?” Sheyna said, surprised.

Kyrie shivered. “He experiments with necromancy and death. He has found a way to control the Silver Drake.”

Marella suddenly became very interested. “The Silver Drake? You saw it in his possession?”

“Aye, I have seen it. Toborne has it, and he uses it to create evil creatures. He plans to create an army to take over all of Symboria; from there, he will conquer the world.”

“It seems you were not so paranoid after all, Sheyna,” Marella said.

“I am still not completely convinced; after all, Kyrie has lied to us before.”

Kyrie took a breath. “Aye, I did, but not now. I have come with a warning. Toborne’s plans are to use your enchanting abilities to force the Silver Drake to his will forever.”

“I knew it!” Sheyna said. “He evaded all my questions about the Silver Drake. I wonder if there is anything he told me that was true?”

“Oh, and the jade statuette you have is important to him. It also has something to do with controlling the Silver Drake. I also heard him say he would take it from you by force if needed. He is the one I suspect has it now.”

“That does make sense,” Sheyna said. “How could it help him control the Silver Drake, I wonder?”

Kyrie shrugged his shoulders. “I only heard what I heard.”

“Take us to the dungeons where you escaped, Kyrie,” Sheyna said.

“Oh no, not on your life. Not on my life, for that matter,” he said.

“Okay, show us where you escaped, and we will go in that way,” Sheyna instructed.

Kyrie thought for a moment. “I suppose I could do that.”

“Good, take us there now.”

Kyrie led them down the back way of the tower once they had stopped by their rooms. He hung in the shadows to avoid being seen by the other apprentices or groundskeepers. In the alleyway, behind the main tower base, he pointed to a large hole burrowed into the ground next to the cobblestone streets. “That’s the spot; it leads directly to the dungeons. It is a bit dirty going, though.”

Marella glowered at the dirty hole. “Ugh, I am not going down there. It’s filthy.”