The Apprentice Read online

  While Baird kept the horse under control, Rowan grabbed the tent and began to set it up within the small area of protection that they had. He stabbed the poles into the ground with difficulty, struggling to find a spot that had enough dirt to hold the poles in place. But when Rowan took out the sheet that would cover the tent, the wind almost ripped it out of his grip. He tied it down on one side but had to struggle to get it to the other. The force of the wind was great enough to rip the covering from Rowan’s hands. It would have been lost had Rowan not already anchored one side. As it was, the sheet was left flapping in the air, secured to the ground where Rowan had tied it down.

  Even though he was prepared for the force of the wind, Rowan still struggled to pull the loose end of the sheet to the ground. He managed the task, but suddenly realized that he would need to let go with one hand to tie the sheet down.

  Rowan was strong and had a secure grip, but if he released the sheet with either hand he would likely lose it for good. The stakes holding it down on the other side had been loosened already. He struggled to hold it in place. And then he felt, rather than heard, the sheet begin to tear.

  Panic shot through him and for a moment he thought he might lose his grip, but suddenly Baird was beside him. He had seen Rowan struggling and left the horse by itself to help Rowan pull the sheet into place.

  “Tie it down quickly before it gets ripped in half,” Baird shouted as he held the cover in place, but Rowan was one step ahead of him. He fumbled with the rope for a moment before he managed to tie it down once and for all.

  As soon as he was done, Baird released the sheet and hurried to the other side to reinforce the stakes securing the tent to the ground while Rowan added several more ties to the side he was working on.

  By the time they were done, the black horse had fled. Knowing that there was nothing more they could do, Baird pulled Rowan inside the tent.

  “Will Chourl be alright?”

  “He should be fine,” Baird replied. “That horse of yours is smart. It’ll know to stay put. The one I’m worried about is my horse. It’s more likely to be hurt or killed outside of this protected area, and I don’t want to walk all of the way to Estoria. Stupid animal,” Baird muttered angrily, lighting a candle so they could see. He immediately began working on fixing the tear in the tent cover.

  Rowan focused on warming up. His clothes were soaked all the way through, so he decided to strip them off and replace them with a spare set from his pack. The clothes, like everything else in his pack, were slightly damp, but they were a vast improvement over his current ones. Changing was awkward since both men were stuck inside and the tent was small, but they managed.

  Their shelter was buffeted by the wind, causing it to flail about as the storm continued to howl outside. Rowan was constantly worried that the tent wouldn’t be able to withstand the force of the storm. The cover was ripped back and forth, pulling at the ropes that held it in place.

  Fortunately the tent was able to offer protection against the rain. Except for the spot where the fabric had been torn, the covering kept out the worst of the water. Baird managed to do a decent patch job on the rip, but it was not waterproof and the rain dripped inside. Rowan was glad to have escaped the storm, but the tent could not protect them from the cold.

  Chapter 10

  The following day brought with it a change in the weather. The storm had begun to die down throughout the night; the wind was not as strong and the rain had gone from a downpour to little more than a drizzle.

  Now that the storm had passed, Rowan was able to safely leave the shelter of the tent for a moment to stretch. The tent was fairly small and it had been an uncomfortable squeeze to fit both of them while they slept. The night had left him incredibly sore and cold.

  Rowan took a quick glance around. The sky was still hidden by a thick layer of clouds, but they were not as dark as they had been the previous night. He saw Chourl lying down nearby and felt a wave of relief that the horse had stayed put and was safe, but he did not see Baird’s black horse anywhere.

  Chourl remained calm when Rowan approached and allowed him to tend to his saddlebags without fuss. After quickly checking the horse, Rowan ran back to the tent where he heard Baird cursing.

  “Dammit!” Baird’s voice came from the tent. “The rain ruined almost half of our food.”

  Baird held up several bundles of waterlogged bread and other foods as Rowan entered, escaping once again from the rain and the cold. After a quick glance to make sure that all of the food was useless and nothing could be salvaged, Baird tossed it all outside. Smelling food, Chourl stood and approached to sniff the discarded meal.

  “What about the rest?” Rowan asked, grabbing his own packs to check and see if anything was damaged by the water. His main concern was the book that he had brought with him, and once he had made sure that that was alright, he began to check his other items more methodically.

  “Most of it was with my horse in the saddlebags. I didn’t have time to get it before he spooked and ran off.”

  “Oh. That is bad,” Rowan replied absently. He had kept Petar’s bow wrapped in order to protect it from the elements, so he didn’t worry too much about that. Most of his arrows, however, were soaked in water. The arrows were not completely useless, but they were waterlogged and damaged. Several other things had been damaged beyond repair as well, but nothing vital.

  “It is quite bad. We do not have enough left to make it all the way to Estoria. We will have to keep our eyes open and try to do some hunting along the way. We will likely have to stop in either Estion or Barrinell. Do you still have your bow with you?”

  Rowan held up the bow for Baird to see.

  “Good. There is no water damage or damage of any kind that I can see,” Baird said. “You said that you know how to shoot. If you see anything while we travel, be sure to hit it, because whoever makes the kill gets the bigger, better half of the animal.”

  Rowan did not like the thought of eating whatever they could find, nor did he like the way Baird smiled after that last bit of information. His smile made Rowan uneasy. He resolved to keep his eyes open and his bow at the ready.

  After they had both gone through their packs and then re-packed everything that was still usable, including their bedrolls, Rowan and Baird took down the tent. Together they ate a small meal that consisted mainly of meat and they drank whatever water they had collected that could not be carried.

  Since Baird’s black horse was nowhere to be found, they decided that it would be best to let Chourl carry the packs while both of them walked. Without his own horse, Baird would not be able to keep pace with Rowan while carrying his saddlebags. They kept their eyes open both for anything that they could kill as well as for the missing horse. They were lucky enough to find Baird’s mount little more than a mile away, sheltered among some brush. Unfortunately, the horse was without Baird’s saddlebags, meaning that they were little better off than before.

  “It looks like it will take us a lot longer than just two weeks to make it to Estoria, which is unfortunate because I should have already been back in the capitol by now,” Baird said as they walked.

  “You mean you were already expected to have returned?”

  “Yes,” Baird responded. “The king sent me on my mission quite some time ago. I was expected to have returned several weeks past.”

  “What were you doing?” Rowan asked, curious about what his master had done before he came into Rowan’s life. Or before Rowan intruded into his life. Rowan did not know which was a more apt description. They were both true in their own ways, but he suspected that their meeting was more of an intrusion on Baird’s life.

  “It is a long story.”

  “What else have we to do?”

  Baird hesitated. “It is not my tale to tell. I may have lived the events, but there is much at stake if others knew what I was about in the North.”

  “I will tell no one. I know how to hold my tongue.”

  “Better for
you not to have to worry about a secret that is not yours. Besides, a secret that you don’t know is a secret you cannot tell. Under the right conditions, almost any man will talk.” Baird’s gaze glazed over as he spoke the last sentence. His expression soured as though he disliked the direction his thoughts had taken.

  Rowan wanted nothing more than to press the issue, but he felt that pressing any further would quickly end the conversation. So he kept his silence. It was not long before Baird spoke again.

  “I suppose that telling you of my travels in the North will help to pass the time. Besides, after what you saw during that storm, well, perhaps you have some right to understand. I trust you to not speak of this after hearing it.” Baird paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts.

  “I believe that I mentioned earlier that I was sent north on a mission for the king,” Baird said. Rowan nodded, though he could not recall exactly what had been said.

  “I left the capitol many months ago in order to head north to Terratreos. King Alden has been working towards peace with the other countries and he wished for me to go and speak with the Terratrean chiefs. Terratreos is a warring country that has long been divided amongst itself into numerous tribes and factions, all prone to violence and feuding against each other. They are loosely ruled by a single chieftain, though his is a rule born from power, fear, and respect. The high chieftain unites the tribes but does little to keep them from warring amongst themselves. He has little authority and he is not a ruler as is King Alden.”

  “I don’t understand. How can this high chieftain rule without ruling?”

  “You must understand that there is a vast cultural difference between our country and theirs. I will not stoop to calling them savages as many others do. I have walked among them and spoken with them. I have seen what they are capable of.” Baird paused, not seeming to notice that he had stopped talking. “The Terratreans act differently and see the world in a different way. Their high chieftain is a ruler, but at the same time he does not rule. Rather, he occupies a position that demands respect and fear, and that can be used to sway the tribes into following his decisions. But they do not always listen, and it is not required that they do. To become the high chieftain, one must defeat and kill the previous chief. The Terratreans value strength above all else, and weakness is discarded. So perhaps it would be more accurate to say the high chieftain is a title that demands honor. The holder of the title is afforded respect and sometimes loyalty, but not service. Do you see?”

  “I think I do. At least, I can sort of understand the idea, even if it confuses me.”

  “You do good to admit your confusion. Many will say they understand when they do not, and in doing so they remain ignorant. It is a poor thing, to value the appearance of knowledge over knowledge itself.”

  There was a brief lull in the conversation as they walked, Rowan waiting for Baird to continue his tale. As he was about to prompt his master to return to the unfinished story, Baird resumed.

  “Until recently, the high chieftain had been moderately accepting of King Alden’s proposal. The Terratrean tribes, you see, do not view the land as we do. They have no borders and do not believe that maps can divide the land. Power is what they value, and a tribe can only have so much land as it can defend. This is part of the reason why they often raid in the North. They see no border and do not see their actions as war. To them, the villages of the North are weak and not deserving of the land they hold. They are like animals.”

  Rowan clenched his fists to keep from disrupting Baird. He had heard tales of raiders coming from the north to pillage and sack towns and villages. Traders spat whenever they spoke of such things. Nestled as it was among the mountains, the Vale saw no such violence. But it heard of them, and it feared them.

  “King Alden wished for me to make the Terratrean high chieftain understand that our border is not to be crossed.”

  “We should not have to tell them. We should fight any that try to come and keep them away. Do we not have armies?”

  “Do you truly believe that there are no soldiers in the North? You are a fool if you do. There are forts and soldiers along all of our borders. The North is guarded, but it is a large area and there are not enough soldiers to guard the entire border against small raiding parties. This is no war.”

  Rowan bit back a response, not wishing further argument.

  “King Alden wished me to try and convince the high chieftain to sign a peace treaty. The document would have done little, but the high chieftain would have been made to understand that his agreement meant that his honor was at stake if he could not bring the tribes to heel. I think that the man saw it as a challenge, and Terratreans are not known for allowing a challenge to pass them by. They are stubborn to a fault and will hack through a tree that stands in their way without even considering that it would be simpler to walk around it.

  “Unfortunately, when I arrived I discovered that the balance of power had shifted. The original chieftain had been killed in single combat and a new leader held the title. He was less than receptive to King Alden’s ideas for peace. But the king had given me a task, and I was not going to give up without trying. I did my job. Under the guest right, which granted me a week among them—longer if I could demand it and face any who challenged my right to stay—I tried to convince the new high chieftain that it would be beneficial for him to sign the treaty. I spent several days making offerings, doing my best to sway him towards our side. I fought against their warriors to demonstrate my skill and I tried to make a challenge out of peace, but my efforts bore no fruit. I believe that there was someone working against me, trying to undermine my mission. After two weeks of negotiating, I had gotten nowhere. My suspicions grew and I shifted my efforts towards discovering who had already gained influence before me.”

  “Did you find them out, the people working against you?” Rowan asked.

  “I was able to confirm that there was indeed someone else present amongst the tribes, but I did not discover their identity, which worries me greatly. I decided that the best course of action would be to act as though I had left, seeing if I could find out who was undermining my negotiations. After three days of waiting and searching, I found a lead. One of the lower chiefs, who had actively and loudly spoken against me, met with a man who spoke with a Southern accent. I took him by surprise, but he told me nothing. My actions alerted whoever I was searching for that I hadn’t left the country yet and that put me in a dangerous position. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to find any real leads and since my presence was no longer a secret, I decided it was finally time to leave for real. I hiked the mountains into the Vale, hoping to confuse anyone looking for me, but we both know that I was followed. The storm forced me to stop near Corrinth and I ended up sheltering with your family.”

  “Wow,” Rowan said. When Baird had shown up at Brennon’s house, Rowan had left with the knight because he saw his opportunity to escape to a life of adventure, despite Baird not wanting him at first. Rowan suddenly felt uncomfortable, as though he were an intruder in Baird’s life. He didn’t even know anything about his master’s personal life. What if Baird had a son? What if they arrived in the capitol only for Rowan to find out that Baird had people waiting for him?

  “Are you married?” Rowan suddenly blurted out. He immediately regretted his decision and wished that he had remained silent.

  Baird, who was leading his horse to give it a break from riding, almost tripped in surprise. The big man stumbled forward, barking with laughter as he quickly regained his balance. Rowan’s face flushed with embarrassment as Baird turned to address him. His master had to take a moment to calm down and stop laughing, and that single moment of silence seemed to stretch on forever to Rowan, who felt incredibly awkward.

  “No, I am not wed,” Baird said, still chuckling. “Could you even imagine me being married to someone?”

  Rowan felt even more embarrassed for asking the question. Now that Baird said it, Rowan did have a hard time picturing him
married with kids who were waiting for him back at the capitol. A woman who could hold any degree of control over Baird would have to be very strong. But even knowing that Baird didn’t have a family waiting for him, Rowan couldn’t entirely shake off the guilty feeling that he was an intruding presence in Baird’s life. Though he did feel slightly relieved that he wasn’t going to be forgotten once they reached the capitol.

  “Rowan, you can be sure that no woman has been strong enough to tie me down. And I strongly doubt that any woman ever will. The path I walk does not involve settling down and sharing a life with loved ones.” Baird was still laughing over Rowan’s question, but when he continued speaking his tone was slightly more serious and layered with affection. “The only person that has been important to me is King Alden’s daughter, the Princess Eliza. I consider her the daughter that I never had.”

  There was a pause before Baird continued.

  “And since I have decided to take on an apprentice, I suppose that would make you the next most important person. And I probably ought to warn you, Eliza can be a very jealous girl.” Baird laughed again. “I hope she doesn’t take any offense that I’ll be returning with an apprentice this time.”

  “Why would that matter?” Rowan asked, picturing some little girl fuming over his presence.

  “Well, Eliza can be a little hellion when she has a mind to, and I would rather not have her making my life miserable, as only she can do. I am responsible for the safety of the royal family, and I often act as her personal escort whenever I’m in the capitol. Alden knows I dislike it when he makes me watch over her, but he does it anyways just to annoy me, and because I am the only one with any manner of control over the young princess.”