Труди Канаван: The Magician’s Apprentice

Prinan looked up and grinned. “I wish Tessia could see you now. She’d have a good laugh.”

“I’m sure she would,” Jayan agreed. He felt a pang of affection for her, followed by an equally strong pang of anxiety. She’ll be fine, he told himself yet again. She’s still the best healer in the Guild. Of all the women in Kyralia – or the world – she has the best chance of surviving birthing a baby.

But she’d not had a child before.

Yes, but she’s assisted in the birth of plenty. She knows what to expect.

Maybe they’d waited too long.

But there had been so much work to do first. Developing healing and teaching it to others. Getting the Guild established and sorting out all the problems. And magicians certainly have a talent for creating problems...

The path rose and turned round a ridge before him. To stop yet another endless argument in his head, he set his mind on navigating it. He scrambled up, grasping at protruding rocks for extra leverage. His calves protested. His thighs strained. Then at last he’d reached the top. He sat on the ground, gasping for breath. Then he looked up and felt his entire body go rigid with cold.

For many heartbeats, all he could do was stare.

What had been green, fertile land ten years ago was now a blackened, scoured desert. From the foot of the mountains to the horizon stretched nothing but bare, blasted earth. His skin prickled as he realised he could make out lines radiating from somewhere to the north. Lines that were made up of gouges in the land, or the flattened trunks of trees. He barely registered the sound of Prinan reaching the top of the ridge and stopping beside him.

“Ah,” Prinan said. “The wasteland. No matter how many times I see it, I can’t get used to the sight.”

“I can see why.” Jayan glanced up at the magician. “The magicians who investigated still think it was the storestone?”

“We know of nothing else that might have caused so much destruction.”

“And Narvelan did it?”

“He disappeared a few days before, the same time the stone was stolen. And he’d been trying to convince us that we should weaken Sachaka by spoiling the land.”

“But we’ll never know for sure if that was what happened.”

“No.” Prinan sighed. “And the last chance of working out how to make storestones is gone.”

Jayan drew in a deep breath, then rose. “Well, if that’s what storestones can do, maybe it’s better that nobody found out.”

Prinan shook his head in disagreement, but did not argue. “So, do you think we need to build another fort here?”

Turning to look back down the path, Jayan considered. “I will have to think about it. This pass is by no means easy or fast to traverse. The fort in the main pass will only ever slow the advance of an army, not block it. If we cause a few land slips and carve away the path in a few places, this pass may not need anything more than watching.”

Prinan frowned, then nodded. “I suppose you are right. Though Father will feel we are being foolishly neglectful not building a big stone fort to block the way.”

“I understand,” Jayan assured him. “But surely if he has seen this,” Jayan waved a hand at the wasteland below, “he knows there is little chance of another invasion from Sachaka.”

Prinan nodded. “Narvelan may have been mad, but I suspect he was correct in his belief that destroying the Sachakans’ land would weaken the people. What Father fears is retribution. It would only take a few Sachakan magicans to cause havoc in Kyralia.”

“Then I will recommend we post a watcher on the Kyralian side.”

“I guess that’s the best we can do,” Prinan said. He sighed, then looked over his shoulder. “And there’s not much point us continuing on into Sachaka. Shall we head back?”

Jayan smiled and nodded. “Yes.” Back to Tessia. Back to await the birth of our son. Then he grimaced. And back to the never-ending work and arguments of the Magicians’ Guild.

GLOSSARY

ANIMALS

aga moths – pests that eat clothing

anyi – sea mammals with short spines

ceryni – small rodent

enka – horned domestic animal, bred for meat

eyoma – sea leeches

faren – general term for arachnids

gorin – large domestic animal used for food and to haul boats and wagons

harrel – small domestic animal bred for meat

inava – insect believed to bestow good luck

limek – wild predatory dog

mullook – wild nocturnal bird

quannea – rare shells

rassook – domestic bird used for meat and feathers

ravi – rodent, larger than ceryni

reber – domestic animal, bred for wool and meat

sapfly – woodland insect

sevli – poisonous lizard

squimp – squirrel-like creature that steals food

yeel – small domesticated breed of limek used for tracking

zill – small, intelligent mammal sometimes kept as a pet

PLANTS/FOOD

anivope vine – plant sensitive to mental projection

bellspice – spice grown in Sachaka

bol – (also means “river scum’) strong liquor made from tugors

brasi – green leafy vegetable with small buds

briskbark – bark with decongestant properties

cabbas – hollow, bell-shaped vegetable

chebol sauce – rich meat sauce made from bol

cone cakes – bite-sized cakes

creamflower – flower used as a soporific

crots – large, purple beans

curem – smooth, nutty spice

curren – coarse grain with robust flavour

dall – long fruit with tart orange, seedy flesh

dunda – root chewed as a stimulating drug

gan-gan – flowering bush from Lan

husroot – herb used for cleansing wounds

iker – stimulating drug, reputed to have aphrodisiac properties

jerras – long yellow beans

kreppa – foul-smelling medicinal herb

marin – red citrus fruit

monyo – bulb

myk – mind-affecting drug

nalar – pungent root

nemmin – sleep-inducing drug

nightwood – hardwood timber

pachi – crisp, sweet fruit

papea – pepper-like spice

piorres – small, bell-shaped fruit,

raka/suka – stimulating drink made from roasted beans, originally from Sachaka

shem – edible reed-like plant

sumi – bitter drink

sweetdrops – candies

telk – seed from which an oil is extracted

tenn – grain that can be cooked as is, broken into small pieces, or ground to make a flour

tiro – edible nuts

tugor – parsnip-like root

ukkas – carnivorous plants

vare – berries from which most wine is produced

whitewater – pure spirits made from tugors

yellowseed – crop grown in Sachaka

CLOTHING AND WEAPONRY

incal – square symbol, not unlike a family shield, sewn onto sleeve or cuff

quan – tiny disc-shaped beads made of shell

undershift – Kyralian women’s undergarment

vyer – stringed instrument from Elyne

COUNTRIES/PEOPLES IN THE REGION

Duna – tribes who live in volcanic desert north of Sachaka

Elyne – neighbour to Kyralia and Sachaka and once ruled by Sachaka

Kyralia – neighbour to Elyne and Sachaka and once ruled by Sachaka

Lan – a mountainous land peopled by warrior tribes

Lonmar – a desert land home to the strict Mahga religion

Sachaka – home of the once great Sachakan Empire, where all but the most powerful are slaves

Vin – an island nation known for their seamanship

TITLES/POSITIONS

Apprentice – Kyralian magician under training, and who has not been taught higher magic yet

Ashaki – Sachakan landowner

Ichani – Sachakan free man or woman who has been declared outcast

Lady – wife of a Kyralian landowner