The Serpent's Orb Read online

  By

  Guy Antibes

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Map of Corand & Lajia

  Wizard’s Helper Character List

  Excerpt of the second book in the Wizard’s Helper series – The Warded Box

  Copyright Page

  Author’s Note

  A Bit About Guy

  Books by Guy Antibes

  Copyright ©2019 Guy Antibes. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the permission of the author.

  ~

  This is a work of fiction. There are no real locations used in the book; the people, settings, and specific places are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblances to actual persons, locations, or places are purely coincidental.

  Published by CasiePress LLC in Salt Lake City, UT, April 2019.

  www.casiepress.com

  Cover Design: www.ebooklaunch.com

  Book Design: Kenneth Cassell

  Editing: Amy Hoffman

  Primary Reader: Beverly Cassell

  ~

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  ~

  A new series, a new hero, a new cast of characters. Our new hero is a little rougher cut than my recent ones. He also starts out a bit older. I got the idea for this series from one of my sons after he was introduced to The Green Knight legend. In this one, our hero gets an errand from his wizardly master that he is woefully underprepared to perform. Excitement ensues. I hope you enjoy this first book in the Wizard’s Helper series.

  — Guy Antibes

  Map for The Serpent’s Orb

  Chapter One

  ~

  J ack Winder waggled the old, nicked-up practice sword at four of his friends. “I go to fight in battle,” he laughed as he looked at the point of the blade, “but I don’t know whom I’ll be fighting, do you?”

  They all shook their heads. Two of Jack’s friends fought a mock duel with him as they made their way through the woods outside of Raker Falls, the village where they had all grown up. They reached the clearing where most of the duels took place, practicing for the village guard. Most village boys had to spend six months in the guard in their eighteenth year, and before they went in, they fought pre-arranged duels, often after dinner.

  Jack was close to joining the guard unless he could find a job other than working in his father’s furniture shop. His swordsmanship wasn’t particularly adept. His recent growth spurt had put him half-a-head taller than the tallest of his friends, and that made him clumsier than he had been, but he knew where the pointy end was, and that was all the guard needed.

  He began to warm up, joking around to make his friends laugh.

  “Jack Winder?” A voice called out his name from across the clearing. He said wind, like winding a thread around a finger. It sounded like a twelve-year-old, and the boy was just a bit taller than one. He wore a leather breastplate and a dented metal helm. Although the guard encouraged protection, most of the Raker Falls boys disdained the use of armor of any kind, although Jack always wore gloves to protect his hands, at his father’s insistence.

  “The name is Winder, as in the wind that blows. You are beholding his golden face as you speak,” Jack said, with a lopsided grin on his face. “Now that you can pronounce my name properly, any specific rules?” he asked.

  The armored boy paused. “Rules?”

  Everyone stopped when an unfamiliar young girl stepped into the clearing. “I am your opponent’s second,” the girl said, “and your opponent’s sister.”

  Jack put his fists on his hips and looked at the armored boy. “Is this your first duel?”

  The helm dipped, but then snapped up. “It is. We just moved to Raker Falls. First blood?”

  That made Jack laugh. “No, sir,” he said. “A touch is more than good enough. Three out of five?”

  The helm nodded, and the boy thrust out his sword. Jack noticed that the pose was perfect. This was no village boy’s initial address. The boy had had some training. Jack mimicked his opponent’s pose, making his friends laugh.

  “I’ll say ‘start,’” the little girl said.

  The boy began to attack. It was all Jack could do to push his opponent’s blade aside. Parry, parry, parry, was all Jack could think of. The boy’s slashes and thrusts were precise, but they lacked strength. Still, Jack wasn’t able to get in a touch. When the boy ran his blade across Jack’s knuckles, he could feel his opponent’s blade slide through the leather.

  “Touch!” the boy said excitedly.

  Jack held up his hand and removed the scored glove to see the damage. A tiny line of red began to blossom at the top of two of Jack’s knuckles. He silently thanked his father for making him wear gloves. Jack made ready for the next onslaught. As soon as the girl called start, again, Jack struck the boy’s helm. “Touch!” he said.

  The helmet wasn’t much protection since the blow had dented in the forehead and twisted the helmet on Jack’s opponent’s face. He was surprised the boy hadn’t taken it off to adjust it. Jack suspected the boy might not be able to see through the right eye-hole. The duel began again. Jack heard a bit of a high-pitched growl coming from the boy’s helmet.

  He wasn’t prepared for the flurry of strokes from his opponent that forced Jack to back-up. He stuck out his sword, pointing it at the boy’s chest to hold the onslaught off with his superior reach. The boy charged and ran right into Jack’s sword. It pierced through the thin leather breastplate and sank in. Jack’s opponent collapsed.

  Jack dropped his sword, staring at the bloody tip.

  “Pen!” the little sister cried. She looked at Jack with tears in her eyes. “What have you done?”

  “Me?” Jack said. He looked back to see his friends running away.

  He was left alone with the girl and her brother. “We have to take him to the healer.”

  The girl shook her head. “The wizard is my uncle. He will heal her.”

  Jack hardly heard the girl as he felt for a pulse, but didn’t find one. He removed the boy’s helm. Long hair tucked into the top fell away. His heart sank as he removed the breastplate, revealing more of the girl. No wonder she wore armor. He didn’t have time for such thoughts. He lifted the little girl’s sister up.

  “We’ll take her home. Where do you live?”

  “Elm Manor,” the younger girl said.

  Jack knew the name of the largest house in the village. A wealthy merchant from the capital had renovated the rundown place and recently moved in.

  “I’ll take her there. You fetch the wizard.”

  She took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded then disappeared into the woods, leaving Jack alone with the injured girl who appeared to be dead. His stomach felt like the bottom of a dark pit. His life was ruined, even more than it already had been. He had been plopped in the village jail enough times for pranks and things, but murder? He might hang for that.

  He picked up the girl. S
he was lighter in his arms than he had expected, and he began to walk as quickly as he could into the village. The journey wasn’t easy, especially since his friends had deserted him. By the time he made it to the village outskirts, his arms felt like they would fall off, but he kept to the outside pathways, so people wouldn’t see him.

  The gate to the manor was shut. Jack had to yell and yell to get someone to open it up.

  “What is a boy like you doing at our gate?” a woman said from a crack in the gate.

  “There has been an accident,” Jack said. “This girl has been stabbed.” That was all he could think of saying. He couldn’t exactly say he had run her through with his sword and hoped to live through the next five minutes. “I sent her sister for the wizard.”

  The woman put her hands to her mouth and moaned. A man pushed her aside and opened the gate.

  “In,” he said. “Put her there,” he pointed to a long table in the courtyard.

  Jack laid her down and stepped back. He realized his hands and front were covered in blood.

  A man dressed in silk clothes entered the courtyard. “Penneta!” His eyes grew large. “What happened?”

  Jack was about to open his mouth when the village wizard entered, followed by the little girl. The man was near as new to Raker Falls as the family he faced.

  The wizard took the girl’s wrist. “She is dead or close to it. Everyone, stand back except for one person who will need to assist.” His eyes rested on Jack. “Someone young and strong.”

  “I will help,” Jack said, feeling very guilty. Perhaps he should have left her in the clearing, but he quickly cast that thought out of his mind.

  “Come,” the wizard said. “To bring someone back from the brink of death requires more force than I can muster at one time, and had I known I would have brought an object of power. There is no time left, so give me your hand.”

  Jack rubbed bloody fingers on his trousers and extended them to the wizard. The man eyed Jack suspiciously and took his hand. The wizard put his other hand on the wound and closed his eyes and muttered something. Jack felt a jolt strike him from the top of his head to the bottoms of his feet as he felt his eyelids flutter and sensed himself collapsing to the ground in a heap. He heard someone say, “She lives!” before passing out.

  ~

  Jack woke to darkness. He was laid out on a mattress. Had the wizard killed him? Had he used all his energy and died, ending up in one of the four hells the priests of Alderach kept harping about on Alderach's Days? He put his hands to his face and smelled a whiff of something. Blood? Maybe he wasn’t dead.

  He sat up and seemed fine, so he rose from the bed and felt his way along the wall to a door. He lifted the latch and opened the door to a dimly lit corridor. Jack went back inside and conjured a floating flame, looking for a candle. He spotted one by the bed and lit it before he ventured out into the corridor.

  The place wasn’t as nice as he had expected a newly renovated manor to be. A maid passed him, carrying a covered tray, and gave him a disgusted look, but Jack was used to that expression on adults.

  She stopped and turned to him. “You are up. The master asked that you be shown the door as soon as you woke. Stay here. I will return to escort you out.”

  He returned to his room and left the door open until the woman returned and led him out into the village street. Jack looked back at the dark shape of the manor and sighed. At least he hadn’t been arrested, but his parents would not be happy with him showing up in the middle of the night.

  He padded home and had to use the hidden key to enter the cottage. He slipped into his room, but just as soon as he had taken the bloody shirt off and put on a nightshirt candlelight lit up the edges of the door.

  “Open the door, Jack. Your mother and I want an explanation.”

  Picking up the bloody shirt, he opened the door and let his parents in.

  “This is what happened.”

  “Son!” his mother cried.

  “The blood isn’t mine. I had a guard duel after dinner. My opponent wore a cheap helm, and during our session, it was battered. The girl—”

  “Girl? You fought a girl?” his father said. “What kind of stupidity is this! I know you often don’t use your head, but this…”

  “She wore a helm and a breastplate, but they were little more than playthings instead of real armor. As I said, I doubt she could see very well from the eyeholes, and she ran into my sword. I’ll admit she’s the better with a weapon, and all I could do was fend off her attack.”

  “And that blood was hers? Is she dead?” Jack’s mother asked, her hands to her mouth.

  “She was dead,” Jack said. “But Fasher Tempest showed up and brought her back to life. He used me to do it.”

  “Used you? What nonsense is this?”

  “He borrowed my power, my magic, or something. Anyway, I was used up, and I fainted. They sent me home as soon as I woke up. I swear that is what happened.”

  Jack sat on his bed, looking at his parents.

  “Who was the girl? I assume you know her parents. I’ll have to see them tomorrow to apologize for another one of your idiotic pranks, yet again.” His father’s anger lit up the room.

  “The girl’s name was Penneta Ephram.”

  “The wizard’s niece?” Jack’s mother asked. “The richest people in Raker Falls?” She wailed.

  Jack nodded. “I should have made her take her helm off before we started, I guess.”

  “You guess?” His father snorted. “You haven’t heard the end of this. Make sure you aren’t late for school tomorrow!”

  Chapter Two

  ~

  T he classroom had yet to fill up, not that it would really be full when it did. Jack, under duress, had been registered for extended school, and that meant two additional years after most students graduated at age fifteen. For most students, it was provided as a way to gain the extra knowledge needed to enter the University of Dorkansee, the capital of Corand. For Jack, it was a punishment inflicted by his father for being more independent than was comfortable for the family.

  None of Jack’s friends attended school anymore, and he had a score to settle with them for abandoning him the previous evening. He slouched in his chair doodling on his slate board. Life was coming up fast for Jack. When the school year was finished, he would be slapped into the guard to join two of his friends who had witnessed the duel.

  Master Yokel walked in and looked up at Jack over his metal-framed reading spectacles. “I’m surprised you are with us today,” he said. “It isn’t often I teach a killer of your reputation.”

  Jack sat up. “I didn’t kill anyone,” he said. “It was a guard duel gone wrong. It happens. Wizard Tempest was summoned to successfully heal my opponent.” Jack tried to be very careful with his words. He only had a few months left before he graduated and if he had any hope to escape a life as a common worker in his father’s woodshop, he needed that certificate.

  Master Yokel furrowed his brow. “I was certain my source said your opponent was killed.”

  Jack put a hand to his face. The only other people who knew of the duel and didn’t know Penneta Ephram had been saved were his friends. At least one of them turned on him.

  Jack caught on that his teacher didn’t say that he had killed a girl. “My opponent was near death,” Jack said. “I carried the body to the family house, and the wizard did what healing wizards do. I was told the person lived.” Jack narrowed his eyes at Master Yokel. “Who told you I was a murderer?”

  “An eye witness,” Yokel said, but he didn’t mention a name.

  “One of my friends?” Jack asked.

  Yokel turned red and nodded.

  Jack had been betrayed before, but not for something so important.

  A guard poked his head in the classroom. “Ah, showed your face, after all, Winder. Come with me.”

  Jack grabbed his books and stared at Yokel. “I will be back,” he said as he left the classroom.

  The guard e
yed Jack uneasily. “Are you going to be trouble? Am I going to have to use my manacles?”

  Jack shook his head. “I am being arrested for murder?”

  The guard nodded. This was a repeat of what had just occurred in the classroom, Jack thought.

  “Who told you I killed someone?”

  “Dabbitt Jenner.”

  Jack curled his fists. “He doesn’t have the full story. Where is the body? Who did I kill?”

  “Your friends—”

  “Friends? All of them?”

  “Four, anyway, came in early this morning—two are guards by the way—and said they witnessed the murder.”

  Jack stopped the man in the street. “It was a guard duel,” he said. “My opponent ran into my outstretched sword. She didn’t die. I carried her to her house, and Wizard Tempest healed her.”

  “Her?” the guard asked.

  “Penneta Ephram. She showed up in some play armor. It looked real enough to me, and we fought. She is rather good, by the way,” Jack said. “To keep her from cutting me up, I held out my sword like we’ve been taught and her helm kept her from seeing my blade. She ran into it.”

  “That is the truth?”

  Jack nodded. “The breastplate and the helm hid her feminine features. I thought I was fighting a boy who hadn’t started turning into a man.”

  “Then let’s go visit the manor. I always have been curious to see what they did to the place.”

  When they arrived, the guard put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. Jack didn’t know if he did it out of companionability or to keep him from running away. The guard pounded on the door that Jack had yelled in front of the previous night.

  “I’m here to see if Penneta Ephram dallied with this young man last night?”

  The man at the door eyed Jack. “No duel. No injury,” the man said.

  The guard looked at Jack. “I didn’t mention a duel or an injury,” he said.

  “Nothing happened!” the man said as he shut the gate and Jack heard the lock.