The Apprentice Read online

The girl—Princess Eliza—stormed towards them. “Baird! Why was I not informed that you had returned? Did you not wish to see me? I would almost think that you were hiding something. That you wished to avoid me. I should have been the first to know that you were back. Did you know that there were some who thought that you might be dead? I. Was. Worried!” She punctuated every word by stomping her foot and poking Baird in the chest.

  “I was busy,” Baird said gruffly, stepping out of her reach.

  “That’s a lie! What could possibly be so important that it could keep you from announcing your return?”

  Unfortunately, it was at that moment that she chose to notice Rowan.

  “Who is this?” the princess demanded. “Leave us, servant.”

  Rowan flushed, and then he got angry. How dare she treat him this way. She may be a princess, but that gave her no right to act as she did. Baird had taken him on as his apprentice and he deserved to be treated with some respect.

  “You—” Just as he spoke out, Baird interrupted him.

  “Be respectful, Eliza. Rowan is no servant, and you should not treat him like one. And even if he were, you must learn to be more respectful and appreciative of those who make your life easier.”

  “Well, if he is not a servant, then what is he?”

  “While he was away, Baird decided to take on an apprentice. He has taken our young master Rowan here under his wing,” King Alden stated. He seemed very amused by the situation. The princess, however, did not like this unexpected development.

  “WHAT!”

  The princess shrieked. She turned the full force of her outburst on Baird, who stood silent and calm, waiting for her to calm down. “How could you just take on an apprentice? That is a formal procedure and there are rules and regulations that need to be followed.”

  “Now, Eliza—,” Baird said, trying to calm her, but she would have none of it.

  “No. No one approved of this apprenticeship so it is invalid and unlawful. How could you just take on an apprentice while you were away, Baird?”

  She turned and glared at Rowan, who returned the gaze equally.

  “Eliza, Baird made his decision, as is his right, and it is not your place to question it. I approve of his apprentice and I expect you to acknowledge the boy as well,” the king said. “In fact, I think it would be very kind if you would escort young Rowan around the castle and show him the grounds. I am sure that he is anxious to explore and it will give you both the chance to speak.”

  Both Rowan and Eliza began to protest, but the king silenced them with a wave of his hand.

  “Baird has been gone for a long time and there are many matters that we must discuss in private,” the king said. He turned to the princess and looked her directly in the eyes. “Elizabeth, I expect you to escort Rowan around in a manner fitting of a royal hostess.”

  In a voice so soft that Rowan could barely hear, the king added, “And please, do try to be civil.”

  “Fine. I will take him to the gardens and show him around our castle,” the princess said, making sure that Rowan knew he was a guest. Rowan looked to Baird to see if he might be able to stay, or at the very least go off on his own, but his master just gave him a look of sympathy.

  “Come,” Eliza said, looping her arm through Rowan’s and pulling him away. With any other girl at any other time, Rowan would have been pleased by the gesture. If not for the hostility between them at the moment, Rowan would likely have tripped with nerves. As it was, he stumbled and nearly tripped because the princess tugged at his arm with a surprising strength. He glanced back over his shoulder longingly but he could not free his arm from the princess’ and he was forced to allow her to lead him from the room as he watched Baird and King Alden walk away, already deeply involved in a conversation that Rowan wished he could be a part of.

  A second misstep forced Rowan to look ahead so he could keep his footing. Eliza firmly led him away from throne room and along a different path through the corridors than he remembered taking with Baird. Rowan marveled at the size and grandness of the palace, though he kept such admirations to himself. He would not give the princess the satisfaction of complimenting the palace that she claimed.

  They walked in silence until, finally, they reached the gardens. Rowan had expected them to be outside, but he found himself in a massive courtyard that stood open to the elements. There were many plants of various sizes and colors and types. A few he recognized, but many he did not. He wondered if perhaps there were other gardens outside the walls of the castle, or if the South could only grow gardens of a size that could be contained inside. The courtyard was indeed large and spacious, so much so that at least a dozen people could be present at once and yet each of them could feel alone, but to Rowan it felt confined.

  Rowan waited impatiently for the princess to say something, but she seemed intent on ignoring him. Fine. It is not as though I have any wish to speak with her, Rowan thought. He angled his body so he was facing away from her and tried to admire the garden scenery. It really was quite beautiful.

  But Rowan found it hard to enjoy himself in her presence. He wished that he had been allowed to wander on his own if he was not to attend Baird while his master spoke with the king. The press of her elbow against his ribs and the pull of her arm as she led where it pleased her kept him on edge. She refused to release him, making his blood run hot.

  Rowan decided to chance a glance in her direction to see if she was even paying him any attention. Though she kept her arm looped through his, she otherwise acted as though he did not exist.

  As he observed, Rowan could not help but admire her. She had long, curly blond hair that seemed to shine in the sunlight. Were he ignorant of her personality, he would have considered her beautiful. She was close enough to his own age.

  Why am I thinking about her like this, Rowan thought. Beauty does not justify her attitude. He banished the thought from his head.

  Feeling angry and annoyed, Rowan decided that the silence between them had gone on long enough.

  “Weren’t you to show me around in a friendly manner?” Rowan stopped walking and turned towards the princess, planting his feet firmly so that she could not ignore him. Rowan knew that he was antagonizing her, but he could not help himself. Her reaction to his presence and the way that she treated him was unjustified.

  Princess Eliza halted and turned towards him without releasing his arm, bringing her uncomfortably close. She stared up at him without speaking, her eyes cold and her lips pursed in a thin line.

  “I am showing you around the grounds, because it was asked of me and it is expected of me. I am a princess. But you are lowborn, a commoner who has set his sights higher than he has a right to. I do not know how you forced Baird to take you on as an apprentice, but you will not last. Baird may accept you, and my father may allow Baird to keep you, but I do not accept you. You are a poorly chosen apprentice; a mistake.”

  The princess’ remark made Rowan recoil. He retreated a step, pulling his arm from hers as she stared at him coldly. Rowan still doubted his position as Baird’s apprentice, especially now that they were back in the capitol where Baird had other obligations. He remained silent, not wishing the princess to know that her remark had wounded him.

  But he could tell by the look in her eyes that Eliza knew she had hurt him. Surprisingly, she did not push the subject much further. “I do not think that you deserve to be Baird’s apprentice,” she said, “and I doubt that you can prove me wrong.”

  With that, Eliza turned and walked away, leaving Rowan alone.

  Now on his own, Rowan continued to walk around the gardens. He tried to occupy himself, but he found it hard to pay attention to his surroundings. He wandered aimlessly, letting his feet take him where they would.

  He wound up staring at a beautiful white tree that stood bare against the elements. It stood raised above the ground, encircled by a rounded planter filled with soil. The shade it offered felt nice and as he sat down beneath it and relaxed, he real
ized that he finally had a moment for himself. He took in the scenery and closed his eyes. He wished he had a quill and some parchment, since it was a perfect time to write, something that he had not done since he left home. But as he lacked the tools, Rowan instead chose to just enjoy the moment.

  Chapter 14

  The sound of Baird’s voice made Rowan start with surprise, causing him to nearly fall to the ground. He snapped back into consciousness and opened his eyes, confused and disoriented. The last Rowan could remember was walking with Eliza before she left him alone. After that he remembered sitting down underneath a tree, where he must have dozed off.

  “Wake up.” Baird’s voice came from right behind him. Rowan turned around just in time to see a palm racing forwards to smack him on the brow, but not in time to stop it. The hand connected with a crisp clapping sound and Rowan’s head snapped back.

  “Ow!” Rowan cried out reflexively. “What was that for?”

  “This is a royal garden, not a pleasure garden and certainly not a place for you to sleep. If you were tired, you should have asked Eliza to escort you back to the bedchambers.”

  Rowan reddened.

  “If I wanted to find my way back, I would have done so on my own.”

  “So you say. Perhaps you might have asked another girl instead?”

  “No,” Rowan choked, making Baird laugh.

  “Where is the young princess? Eliza was supposed to be showing you around the gardens. I had thought to find the pair of you but you seem to be quite alone.”

  “She left.” Rowan looked at Baird and reluctantly added, “I might have provoked her, and after we exchanged words she walked off. I do not know where she is now.”

  “That is unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected. She was not too unkind, was she?”

  “No,” Rowan lied.

  “Good. Princess Eliza can be extremely quick to anger and her inability to temper her emotions is one of her greatest flaws. I worried she would take her anger out on you. She does not take well to change and for all that she says, she is quite possessive of me.

  “As she will one day be your responsibility—your charge—it would not do for her to act with hostility, though that much at least is to be expected. She really is quite nice once she warms up to you and you get a chance to know her. She is merely struggling to accept your presence and the changes that are to come.”

  Rowan nodded, remembering the moment she had walked away and how she had looked at him. A peculiar expression had crossed her face, but she had turned away before Rowan recognized it. He knew that it was not anger, though, and if he had to make a guess, he would almost have thought it was sadness he had seen. But then again, he was not even sure that he had seen anything at all and it was much easier to ignore it and remain annoyed.

  “What do we do now?” Rowan asked. Though Rowan was talking about the current moment, there was more on his mind and he truly wished for a more general answer that would tell him what was to come.

  They had finally reached their destination, the capitol city of Estoria, but Rowan had no idea what came next. There were things that needed to be done, but Rowan wondered how involved he was going to be. After all, Baird had sent Rowan away with Eliza when he talked with King Alden.

  “At the moment, there are no pressing matters that require attention.” Baird paused for a moment. “I think I will show you around the rest of the castle. Eliza has shown you the gardens, but there is much more to the castle grounds than this. To be honest, I find the gardens to be quite dull. They are far too quiet and isolated for my tastes.”

  Rowan welcomed Baird’s suggestion. The castle was something entirely new and exciting to him, and Rowan wanted to see more of the wonders and secrets that it could offer him.

  “That sounds interesting,” he said, getting up to follow his master out of the gardens.

  Baird led Rowan around the grounds, giving him a sense of where things were. The castle was even more vast than it appeared. Baird showed Rowan the library, the armory, the great hall and the ballroom. The throne room Rowan had already seen, but seeing it again gave Rowan a slightly better sense of where it was within the castle. Baird led Rowan through the halls, showing him the places where he would be able and likely to wander freely.

  There were, of course, areas that Baird did not take Rowan, such as the royal quarters, the servants' quarters, and much of the upper floors. The royal quarters were private and required permission to enter. The others were places Rowan had no need to visit.

  “There are lower levels to the castle as well, but they are old and much of that has fallen into disuse. The space is not needed, so there is no reason to maintain it. Even the dungeons have not been needed for over a generation,” Baird said as they walked out of the castle. Rowan tried to convince his master to show him the lower levels anyways as they sounded interesting, but Baird refused.

  “The lower levels of the castle house nothing but dust and empty storerooms. You will find nothing down there, and I do not want you to lose yourself exploring them.”

  Leaving the castle, Rowan expected to head back to Baird’s quarters. Instead, Baird turned east, walking around the castle. The grounds housed a number of buildings, which Baird identified as they walked, but there was little else of interest. Trees and brush had been planted and grown in patches. There was a large garden on the south side of the castle and a few other small areas meant for resting and offering shade.

  The grounds were large and impressive, but Rowan found his gaze wandering to the surrounding lands. Behind them and beyond the wall at the bottom of the rise, the city sprawled out, covering much distance. To the south, in the shadow of the rise, Rowan could see rows of small, squat buildings and flattened fields that looked to be for training and a large wood that spread out over a great distance.

  “Would you like to see them?”

  “What?” The question brought Rowan’s attention back to his conversation. Baird was staring at him, waiting for an answer that Rowan did not have.

  “You seem more interested in the training fields than the castle grounds.” Baird followed Rowan’s gaze down to the fields below. “Let me show them to you.”

  * * *

  The training fields were larger than Rowan had expected. The buildings near the base of the rise were barracks for soldiers-in-training, Baird told him. Indeed, Rowan could see boys, some young and some that appeared to be of an age with himself or perhaps older. There were also older men, some working with the boys and others on their own.

  The barracks housed all of the boys as well as the trainers responsible for them. Rowan watched them from a distance as he descended the rise with Baird. He wondered what they would be like.

  Baird led him towards the fields. Rowan counted four flattened fields spanning the distance between the barracks and the wooded area to the southwest, two of which were being used. Rowan watched the boys as they ran and fought. He could hear the sounds of shouting—encouragement from friends, cries from opponents, and the harsh voices of trainers shouting instructions over all others. He could see areas meant for fighting, for shooting, for running and for climbing.

  “This is where boys train to become soldiers. They work together under the tutelage of trainers and learn the skills of a soldier. These fields are where we host the Revel, a great tournament meant for young men to display their skills before the king and capitol.”

  “It looks like a much better place to spar than around the edge of a campfire on rough ground.” Rowan looked at all of the free space, thinking of all the ways that he could use such an area. There were many ways to train, and of course he would gladly do so, but he was more interested in how he might amuse himself.

  The ropes that were hung for climbing would be perfect for a game that he often played with Petar. And the dirt area meant for running would be the ideal place to settle which was the fastest brother. Running in the woods was fun, but there was never a great place to sprint. Rowan had always maintain
ed that he was faster than his brother, even if Petar won most of their races.

  “Why don’t we spar?” Rowan suggested. He had become used to sparring and enjoyed the practice. The western fields were relatively deserted, with only a few soldiers practicing alone or in small groups.

  Baird was reluctant, but at Rowan’s insistence he agreed to a short session. He led Rowan over to an area where they could select weapons. There were racks and stands that held wooden swords and quarter staffs, as well as other training weapons, some Rowan recognized and some he did not.

  Rowan trailed his hand along the hilts of the wooden swords, feeling them beneath his fingers before finally selecting one that looked to be no different than any of the others, though the grip felt good in his hand.

  “It is heavier than a stick, but not as heavy as I thought it would be,” Rowan said.

  “You say that now, but let us see how you feel later. These are training blades, but they are fully wooden and they are much lighter than true blades.” Baird swung his own practice weapon about in a quick motion.

  Rowan watched the swing carefully, noting that Baird’s swing was no slower than it had been with the sticks they had used while travelling. He swung his own sword and though it felt better than his stick and he could handle it easily, his swing was slower and slightly more jerky than it had been. Rowan tested the practice blade with a few more cuts and thrusts before he was ready to try it.

  “We shall skip the blade dance for now, since there is no time,” Baird said. And with that, the two began what had become a regular routine of exchanging blows.

  Baird’s words quickly proved true as Rowan’s arm grew tired. The blade grew heavy in his hand and he struggled to make his cuts and thrusts as quickly as he once did. He also struggled to block and parry his master’s blows, as they came harder and with more force than before.

  The exercise made Rowan sweat and pant with exhaustion. But training with Baird had strengthened his muscles and given him endurance. Rowan had gotten used to the intensity of their matches and now he enjoyed the challenge and the sport. He had noticeably improved and, though he was nowhere near Baird’s level, he was skilled enough to force his master to fight with him seriously.