The Serpent's Orb Read online

  “Do I have to buy it back?” Jack asked.

  “Maybe, but you won’t have enough money. If Derr expects some remuneration, I expect you to use your wits and the certificate of ownership on the second page to retrieve it. The errand should take you less than two months. I insist that you return by the last day of the second month.”

  Jack read the certificate, but his mind was focused on being gone for two months. Would such a thing be possible? What an adventure his errand might be! His attention returned to the certificate. It was signed and sealed by a solicitor in Dorkansee. It looked official to Jack, but he could easily be fooled. He didn’t know if he would be up to an eight-week errand, after all. The phrase “country bumpkin” came to mind and Jack, in all honesty, thought that it would fit him well once he took his first step out of Raker Falls.

  He took a deep breath. Learning was never easy in the extended school, but with hard work, Jack had prevailed. He would succeed here, too, he thought.

  “Are you nervous?” Fasher asked.

  Jack sighed and nodded his head. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”

  “I haven’t either,” Fasher said. “Do your best. I will take you back if you don’t retrieve it, so don’t desert me. You have a lot more to learn, but I will give you this lesson. Pay close attention.”

  Jack sighed again. “I am ready.”

  Fasher gave Jack a metal rod with a pointed top as long as his forearm. “This is a wand.”

  “As in magic wand? I can do tricks with this?”

  The wizards chuckled. “No, you can’t. But you can charge this with your power and with a spell, you can unlock the power to shock your foes.” Fasher’s eyes went to Jack’s sword strapped to his waist. “It might be more effective than that.”

  Jack’s hand went to the hilt of his new sword. “I know it isn’t the best weapon, and I am willing to carry another, especially if I can learn a spell.”

  Fasher smiled. “I thought you might feel that way. You extend the wand and think of power leaving the pointed tip and say ‘Zap.’”

  “That is it?”

  “There is a little flash of light when it happens. You can try it out. The wand only has a few charges in it at present, but you can charge it by holding it.”

  Jack pointed the rod, which was heavier than he envisioned wands to be, and thought of the white light and a flash of power. “Zap!” The wand bit his hand, and he dropped it on the floor. Jack shook his hand. “I was the only one affected!” Jack said.

  “I assure you that you weren’t.” Fasher rose from his chair and pointed to a little brown spot on the wall. “You did that.”

  “I did?” Jack said. He joined Fasher at the wall to see the charred circle smoking. “I could kill someone with that,” he said looking at the floor.

  “You could. Didn’t I tell you that control is a key factor to manipulation? Using an object of power without proper training can be dangerous. That is why I haven’t taught you anything yet, but I want you to have more protection than your feeble sword skills.”

  “They aren’t feeble,” Jack protested.

  “Penny says they are.”

  “She would know?” Jack said with a sigh. It was only chance that she was the skewered one, but he softened his comment. “Actually, my ability with a sword is average, at best.”

  “We can move on. One more try with the wand, and this time think of controlling your power output.”

  Jack aimed the wand at a different spot on the wall. This time he thought of the zap alone and said the magic word with a little less verve. He could see a thin line of light splash against the wall, but there wasn’t a burnt hole. He ran up and felt the warmth of his projection. “Better?”

  “Better,” Fasher said. “I will admit, if your life is depending on the wand, more is better.”

  Jack had already figured that one. “It has lost most of its power,” he said, looking at the wand. “I will do more experimentation once I have restored its power.

  “It is made to gain maximum power quickly. Overnight should do it, and you’ll get around ten zaps,” Wizard Tempest said. “I have one more object.” He pulled out a half-inch square crystal cube. “This is more important than the wand.” Fasher put it on the desk. “What color is the cube?”

  Jack looked at it closely. “It is clear.”

  “Now touch it.”

  When Jack put his finger on the little square two sides turned a clear blue.

  “Turn it around on your palm.”

  Jack did as he was instructed, and the blue sides shifted so that color always pointed northwest. He could orient it so that only one side was blue. “If this is a compass, it is off,” Jack said.

  “It is keyed to the Serpent’s Orb,” the wizard said.

  “I need to keep this to find the orb, then.”

  Fasher nodded. “I highly recommend it,” he said with a slight sarcastic bite.

  “Do I need to keep this powered?” Jack asked.

  “Good question. The answer is probably not. It doesn’t require much magic, but if it fails to work, you know what to do.”

  Jack smiled. “Clutch it to my bosom.”

  “If that is what you want to do,” the wizard said. “Bare skin powers objects the fastest. Those are the only objects of power I’m willing to trust you with on this errand. Come back with the orb in two months, and you will learn more. There is one more thing I need to do, and for this, you will have to lay down on my examination table.”

  Jack did as he was bid. Fasher treated few patients at his house, but he kept the examination table ready against a wall.

  “Relax and close your eyes,” Fasher said.

  Jack fell asleep, but when he awoke, it was as if he hadn’t slept at all.

  “There. A little extra protection,” Fasher said. “That is all I’ll say for now. You are ready to go.”

  Jack nodded. “I will finish up and then leave. Where will the merchant be?”

  “The well at the village square in about an hour. You can take this with you, as well.”

  Fasher tossed a small soft-bound book on his desk. “Something to learn while you are on the road.”

  “These are spells?”

  The wizard shook his head. “No. That lists possibilities when using the first three manipulations. It is actually an Alderachean primer. You will understand when you read it. A wizard has all those memorized in the first year of training. Penny already has one.” Fasher made a shooing sign with his hand. “It is about time you were on your way. Penny and I need to leave now in order to make it to our appointment out of the village.”

  Jack gave Fasher a little bow. “I will return.”

  “With the orb,” Fasher said. “Good luck and happy travels.”

  As Jack walked past Penny, he could see her struggling to sit properly on her chair. He had cut half-an-inch off one of the legs, and she kept rocking in her chair. She looked at him with questioning eyes, but Jack turned his away, so they wouldn’t answer her question, or she wouldn’t see the smile on his face. Penny didn’t say goodbye, so Jack didn’t say goodbye to her.

  While finding places for the wand and the book, Jack heard the door shut. They had left before him. He grabbed the key hanging in the study and locked the house after him, leaving the key under the rock on the left side of the porch. He didn’t take much with him, but Fasher had given him the same amount of money he would have earned in three years working for his father. He wondered if that would be enough for his errand.

  Chapter Five

  ~

  J ack couldn’t resist saying goodbye to his mother before meeting up with the merchant, but his parents weren’t home, so he stopped by at the wood shop not far away from the meeting place for his ride.

  “I thought you’d be gone,” Jack’s father said.

  “I will be as soon as I say goodbye.”

  His father frowned. “I thought we wrung all that out at your birthday dinner, but it doesn’
t hurt to see my youngest son before he leaves for who knows where.”

  Jack clamped his lips shut before speaking. These were tender words compared to what he usually got from his father. “I’ll be back in two months. As far as I know, I’ll be heading to Dorkansee and back.”

  “Wait a moment,” his father said. He left Jack standing in the shop while entering his office.

  His father came out with a notebook and a small bag. That couldn’t be a purse, could it? Jack thought.

  “I’ll pay you to sketch any unusual furniture styles you see. I’ve never been to Dorkansee, so who knows what kind of ideas you’ll come back with.” He shoved the notebook and the purse in Jack’s hands. “Be gone.”

  Jack turned to go, but his father caught Jack’s sleeve. “Be well and come back whole, son.” He squeezed his youngest son’s bicep and quickly left him standing alone at the doorway before Jack could reply.

  A cart had just drawn up at the well, so Jack looked for his father, but the man wasn’t coming back. He hustled over to the cart.

  “Are you the wizard’s helper?” a crusty old farmer said.

  Jack nodded and then looked inside the onion-filled cart. “I didn’t think it was the season for onions,” he said.

  “I keep ‘em in my root cellar. They stays fresh until the fall,” the man said. His smile was peppered by gaps in his teeth.

  Jack stared at the load. They didn’t look fresh to him, but he shrugged his shoulders and began to climb up to join the farmer. Fasher had called him a merchant, but as far as Jack was concerned his ride was a dirt merchant.

  “I’m to take you as far as Orderton. The wizard said you would be buying a horse. You can buy my nag if you please.”

  Jack looked at the old swayback horse. “Thank you, but I’ll pass. You’ll need it to get home.”

  “If you don’t buy my horse, you’ll have to ride back with the produce. You can put your pack up here, but your body goes in the back.”

  “Won’t I damage the onions?” Jack asked, trying to reason with the farmer.

  “Push ‘em aside, boy. Hurry, I want to get to Orderton before the sun sets.”

  Jack didn’t see much of a choice. He was tempted to buy the horse, but he could stand anything for half a day.

  A few hours later, Jack regretted his decision. His clothes must have absorbed all the odor of the onions, and he was tired of reading out of the little Alderachean book. Most of it was the same as the book Penny had given him to read, but there were spells mentioned occasionally in the book he held, so he had to read every paragraph as boring as it was.

  He couldn’t even smell the onions anymore, and that was a very bad sign. The farmer pulled out a jug of something that made him sing tuneless songs he couldn’t understand, but the man managed to guide the horse. The sun continued to beat down on Jack, and the trip became an ordeal. He wondered if Penny was the one to arrange his transportation. If so, she would be grinning about now as she rocked back and forth on her chair.

  Jack arranged the onions well enough to permit him to sleep in the cart. He woke up well into twilight. They definitely weren’t in Orderton, in fact, they were sitting in the middle of a field of something or other. The shoots were nearly a foot high, but Jack couldn’t tell what they were.

  The farmer snored, having collapsed on the driver’s seat. Jack sniffed the jug, and it must have been home-brewed liquor. No wonder the farmer fell asleep, Jack thought as he grabbed his pack and walked off the field. He thought he saw a person walking on a track parallel to the field. He ran toward him.

  “Can you tell me the way to Orderton?” Jack asked.

  The person screwed up his face. “You stink!” he said.

  “My ride to Orderton from Raker Falls was an onion farmer. He made me sit with the onions.”

  The man took a step back and spoke to Jack with his arm across his face. “Go the way I’ve come. Turn right at the first little crossroads, and that lane will take you into the town. It’s a good hour’s walk from here.”

  “Thank you. If you need an onion or two, that cart in the middle of the field is full of them.”

  The man laughed. “For some reason, I’m in no mood for onions tonight. Good luck in Orderton, since you will definitely need it.” He waved his hand in front of his face and ended up waving to Jack as he resumed his walk.

  The sky was darkening, and if Jack wanted a place to spend the night, he would have to get going. He began his walk and had to sit down on a low rock wall that bordered the lane to tie his boots tighter. The moon had risen, giving Jack enough light to make his way, but he played around making a torch that burned a foot above his outstretched hand.

  That was something he didn’t know how to do before he started with the wizard. Fasher hadn’t taught him very much other than the fact he had more magical talent than he ever imagined. Jack could feel the torch starting to bleed his power, so he moved the flame as far ahead of him as he could. It flew about fifteen feet in front of him and then quickly guttered out.

  Jack had to smile. The little book had said to expect a range of about four feet for a flame, but then if Jack didn’t have extraordinary potential, he didn’t think Fasher would have bothered with him, and Penny would likely be planted six feet underground.

  By the time he trudged into Orderton, Jack was very tired. He decided he wouldn’t go into town, but backtracked to a meadow where he gathered enough dry grass to make a bed of sorts and fell asleep.

  In the morning, Jack woke, stretched, and checked his pack, relieved he wasn’t robbed during the night and counted that to luck as much as anything. Jack rummaged around his pack for some of the trail food he had packed. He pulled out some wrapped jerky and opened it up.

  He yelled as he felt ants climbing onto his hand. Jack dropped the jerky and began opening up all his food. Every package was sabotaged. Penny would definitely be laughing it up, but hopefully not with Fasher Tempest.

  Jack had to empty out his pack and get rid of ants and whatever other little critters now infested it. At least he was close to Orderton, so he proceeded to return to the outskirts of the town. His odor problem hadn’t vanished in the night, unfortunately, and Jack’s stomach was complaining very loudly by the time he found the stable that Fasher had noted.

  “Is there a market close by? I can’t exactly walk into a pub smelling like I do,” Jack said to the stableman.

  “You are worse than my horses. There is a market two streets that way,” the man pointed to the east. “Did you come here on business?”

  Jack nodded. “I’m here to buy a horse to take me to Dorkansee.”

  “Saddle and tack needed as well?”

  Jack raised his arms at his side. “This is all I have with me.”

  “You ride well enough?”

  “I spent time as a stable boy when I was younger,” Jack said. He thought back to the summer a few years previous when he had worked at Raker Falls’ good inn. He had learned more about horses than he had ever expected to learn. He was happy to finally put his knowledge to good use.

  The stableman considered Jack. “So you know your horses well enough?”

  Jack shook his head. “I’m no expert, but I know a horse from a nag, and I am comfortable with used stuff.”

  “I’ll have a few possibilities for you when you return from filling your gut,” the stableman said with a smile.

  Jack found the market. It wasn’t much bigger than the one in Raker Falls, but it did have a greater variety of street food. He filled his stomach and bought enough extra to make up for the food that Penny had ruined. Jack’s attitude about pranks had always been to be prepared to receive as well as give, so he put it down to an equally good prank from the girl.

  Once he had made his purchases, Jack thought it time to put the marketgoers out of the misery of having to bear his rank odor and left for the stable.

  The stableman had Jack examine three horses. One was tall, but the horse’s legs didn’t feel right to Jack. H
e looked at the other two and settled for a horse with a deep chest and sturdy legs. It looked fit and had a good coat and teeth.

  “I do not intend to chase anybody with it,” Jack said. “What about the saddle and tack?”

  “For traveling, you picked the best one. You do have a good eye. I thought you’d pick the tall one to match your height.”

  Jack looked over the rest of what he’d need to ride and picked out a well-used saddle that had been taken care of. He ended up with a new bridle since everything else had seen its time.

  “And the price?” Jack asked.

  The stableman mentioned a price that Jack thought to be reasonable. They dickered for a respectable amount of time and settled on a slightly lowered amount, so he paid for his new horse.

  “Can you direct me to a good, modest inn? All I need is a good night’s sleep and a bath. I’ll pick up the horse tomorrow when I leave.”

  The stableman smirked. “Make sure the bath comes first.”

  ~

  Jack walked through the market. He had to wash the clothes he had worn for the past day in the bathtub after he had used it. His spare set didn’t smell much better, but not bad enough to cause people to walk on the other side of the market lane.

  He bought another set of clothes, a set of saddlebags and some leather strapping to figure out a way to mount his wand to his shin along with some bedding and cooking implements.

  Making a suitable strap for the wand was beyond Jack’s ability, so he returned to the market and found an old, ratty, long-knife sheath in a tent filled with cheap weapons. He recognized a sword like the one his parents had purchased. It wasn’t even as expensive as Jack had thought, but he guessed it served well enough as a deterrent like his father said.

  Back in his room, Jack cut a section out of the sheath so he could put his hand on the wand while riding. He sat in the little chair in his room, and it seemed to work well enough. He stuffed everything in the saddlebags and intended to use the strapping he had already bought to secure his things to the horse.