The following is the beginning part of the first chapter of Keeper's Apprentice, a novel by Nef Rivers (Full Disclosure: Nef Rivers is the pen name for the Executive Producer of Midtoon) At this point the novel's first draft is finished.
KEEPER'S APPRENTICE
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER I
(FIRST DRAFT)
A sad sunset colored the sky the day Alasaris, apprentice to the Keeper of the Light, was called to attend a meeting of the Elder’s Council of Nassland for the first time.
“I don’t know why the Elders called me,” she told O’rayne, her younger sister, as they walked fast across the deserted courtyard. “The Light of Life is in no condition to be left unattended.”
“The Keeper said you were summoned,” responded O’rayne, struggling to keep up with Alasaris. “Your duties to the Keeper are sacred, but so is your allegiance to the Council.”
“I know,” said Alasaris. “I know the Keeper would not have asked me to come if it was not important, but what can be more important for the Keeper’s Apprentice than to help the Keeper?”
O’rayne did not answer. In fact, now that Alasaris came to think about it, O’rayne had been very quiet lately. Perhaps she should talk to her to see what was worrying her. Now, Alasaris had other concerns. Things were not as good in Nassland as she would like to think. Several things that Alasaris had always taken for granted were failing. The Light of Life, the small flame that kept the world of Nassland alive, was dying, and no effort of the Keeper, or her, seemed to help. Now the Elders wanted to talk to her. Why could they not leave her perform her duties as Keeper’s Apprentice? At a time like this, she should be in the Tower of the Light, Tending the fire with the Keeper and not attending a meeting with politicians and bureaucrats.
The streets were unusually empty for such a nice evening, but then, there were rumors of things coming out of the Void recently. Maybe no one wanted to be out at this time because of that. She did not know, because she had hardly been outdoors ever since the Light had started to fade and because she had no idea of what could be coming out of the Void.
Their footsteps echoed in the deserted street as they passed from one street to the other until she reached the central plaza where the council met. The Council Hall was a large ornate building made of carved granite. It stood at the center of the city of Nassland, but everyone knew that the true center of the world was four blocks away, in the Tower of the Light.
“Wait,” said O’rayne, using her fingers to arrange Alasaris’ long hair away from her face. “You have to let your hair down, Alasaris. You look terrible.”
Alasaris undid the ribbon that held her hair up and allowed it to fall down past her shoulders while her sister combed it into place. The Council was a very conservative body, and would frown at her appearance. Trust O’rayne to keep an eye on the details.
“Thank you,” she said to her sister. “I really appreciate you coming with me.”
O’rayne did not say anything, but her smile comforted Alasaris.
As the women climbed the steps to the great doors of the Council Hall, Alasaris heard a little voice beyond the corner. It sounded like a soft cry. Alasaris was about to ignore it, but when she extended her hand to the bronze knocker, she heard it again. Now she was sure, it was definitely a child crying.
“We don’t have time to lose,” said O’rayne as the Keeper’s Apprentice retraced her steps and walked to the corner. “The Elders await.”
“I will be there,” responded Alasaris. She was not going to leave a creature to suffer if she could do anything to prevent it.
Around the corner, hunched against the wall, a small child, probably six or seven years old, was sobbing bitterly.
“What is wrong, child?” Alasaris asked. “Why are you crying?”
The boy cleared his face. “I am not crying”, he hurried to say. “Men don’t cry”.
Alasaris tried hard not to smile at the boy’s effort to hide his feelings. The kid was bleeding from his knee.
“Why are you here all alone at this time? What happened to you?”
“I fell from there,” said the child, pointing at the stairs of the Council Hall. “My mother says I should not play on the stairs, and now she’s going to be very upset”.
Alasaris knelt beside the boy. O’rayne looked at her meaningfully. Yes, Alasaris knew that they would be late for the Council meeting, but she was not about to leave the boy face his tragedy alone.
“Your mother is probably very worried that you have not made it back home. I will help you if you promise to go straight home and tell your mother the truth”.
“Are you a Healer?”
“Come”, said Alasaris to the boy, extending him a hand. “Let’s do this inside, where we won’t be interrupted”.
The boy followed her happily. A bored Protector opened the doors when Alasaris knocked. They went in. During regular hours, the doors would be open and access to the Council Hall would be available to everyone, but this was a special meeting, and Protectors would be assigned to keep the building secure.
“Thank you,” said Alasaris to the Protector, who only grunted in return. The poor man probably wanted nothing more than going home to his family, instead of being in the lower level of the Council Hall, guarding a door. If there were a job that Alasaris would never enjoy, it would have to be the job of Protector.
“Let’s go there”, said Alasaris, pointing to an empty office to the left, by the door. During the day, Inquisitors, Adjudicators and Exponents would use the small offices on the lower level to hear the pleas of commoners, but at that time, they all stood empty. Alasaris pulled the old wooden chair and invited the boy to sit. O’rayne remained outside, crossing her arms and tapping her left foot on the floor.
“Now, don’t move”, Alasaris said, both to the boy and to her sister. “This will be done in no time”.
“Will it hurt?” The boy asked.
Alasaris reassured him and then placed her hands softly over the boy’s head. She could feel the greasy hair under her fingers as she started. She could have placed her hands over any body part. Other healers recommended placing the hands near the injury, supposedly to facilitate the healing, but Alasaris had always found it easier to do it as close to the head as possible. The center of a sentient being was on his head, and it was easier to find the person’s web from there.
Alasaris blocked all her senses, except the points of contact with the boy. She concentrated deeply on the tips of her fingers, until they were the only thing she could feel. She closed her eyes. As she had done many times, she found herself floating on empty space. Blackness surrounded her. It was frightening to most web healers to encounter themselves in that place, especially the first few times. For Alasaris, it was bliss. She inhaled the cool darkness and looked around her as thin lines of light took shape around her, strands of a spider web glowing under the morning’s sun. After some time, the strands became thicker and brighter.
Alasaris touched some of the strands with a hand she knew only existed in her mind. Seeing yourself as if you were outside of your own body was another unsettling thing about Web Healing. Alasaris always saw herself in Web space as a very attractive woman, wearing a dress of pure white brightness, and delicate jewels of silver and azure. It was thought that the image you saw of yourself when you entered a Web, represented some of your truest nature. If that was so, Alasaris was happy about the way she looked. The one thing she often wondered about when seeing herself from the outside was a strange character she could see tattooed on her forehead. It certainly looked like an ancient rune, but she could not guess the meaning of it. Oftentimes she had tried to draw it and bring it to the Recorders at the Library of Nasslands to het its interpretation, but she could never remember the character after returning to the physical world.
Bringing her attention back to the Web around her, Alasaris began her search for the injury. Web strands were so and frail, even the thicker ones, that there was always the danger of breaking them if one was not careful. Every strand represented a connection of the body and the soul. Each one represented a body part, but also a corresponding soul part. When she touched a strand, any strand, its meaning revealed itself to her. Reading a Web was like exploring the body from its innermost and most basic level.
The knee was easy to find; the injury was not. It was a tiny rip in the web, nothing serious. It looked like it had already begun to mend itself. She would help it a little. She extended her hand and touched the strand. She willed the strand back into shape until it was as whole and bright as were all the others around it. Alasaris smiled. She was good at doing that. She took pride in the fact that she, who was not officially a Web Healer, was better at it than most.
She let herself go. This was an uneasy part. Sometimes, a Web Healer would come back to the real world not knowing which way was up or down and collapse. That was one reason why Web Healers normally operated in pairs, or had a Nurse travel with them. This case had been easy, and Alasaris did not worry too much about getting hurt. It was still a little disconcerting when she opened her eyes, but she did not lose her balance.
The boy just sat there for a few seconds, rubbing his knee that now sported intact skin where the injury had been.
“That’s it”, said Alasaris. She was still holding to the back of the chair for support. “Remember to go home and tell your mother you are sorry you disobeyed”.
Alasaris smiled as the boy ran out of the room after thanking her effusively, but her smile froze when she saw, standing by the door, not her sister, but the Keeper of the Light herself.
“Keeper!” She bowed. “I didn’t know you were here”.
This is the beginning of the first draft of the book. The totality of it covers 246 pages right now.
I am currently working on revisions, so the final product may be diferent than what you see here. It has been a major undertaking, but it has been very interesting. Let me know if you want to see more and I will see what I can do.
