(Continued from Ch 40, The Old Grind)

The Chronicles of Rapina
Chapter 41, The Sorcerer's Apprentice


By mid summer the laboratories were all finished and Thane began doing all of his work on advanced animations at the new abode. Rapina now had quarters, a lounge and a kitchen. Her elaborate healing potion setup had been moved to a special laboratory that Rapina had helped design specifically to house it. The security for the lab was such that Kent could supervise it. He would ring a bell and retire to a small room if anything he could not handle went wrong. It almost never did.

Rapina again cooked the meals for Thane, Rames and herself. They had their regular morning magic lesson and an outdoor weapons practice right after it. She helped Thane somewhat with the lab work for his advanced animations, and oftentimes went on corpse recovery missions to ruined forts in Avengene. She also frequently visited the pirates, but otherwise she had a great deal of time to read and work on plans for herb gardens.

Red Jack had left his his old stomping grounds because of the heat from Turnmoor and the incensed Lord Li'Yieraun. Since Thane had told him the giants and orcs were doing well against Avengene's forts, Jack had reasoned that the nobleman would have his hands full. He had sailed East and North through the forest and into Northeastern Avengene where he began to prey on settlements along the three branches of the river. Thane was overjoyed, not only because Jack was making life worse for Avengene, but because just about every town in Avengene had a church and a priest of the vindicator.

Thane was very pleased with himself for mastering the advanced techniques for the creation of moaning skeletons. Thanks to the giants, and Red Jack's raiding, he now had fourteen of them serving as scribes. The very thought of priests of the vindicator being obliged to copy books on necromancy and other arcane subjects twenty-four hours a day made Rapina giggle. Thane had gotten permission to have the books on scrying he had borrowed from a colleague copied, and the moaning priests had recently finished the project.


Mid summer marked her first anniversary with Thane. When August arrived she celebrated her seventeenth birthday. Probably because her potion set-up was the mainstay of his magical income, Thane had been extremely generous on her birthday. He gave her a lot of clothing and lingerie some of which she could wear when extremely charged with the energy of many lovers. He and Rames also got her a crossbow and various other weapons. After a year of intensive study, Rapina could still not do so much as a single cantrip. She realized how difficult the road ahead of her was. True magicians were rare for a reason. She had devoured hundreds of books during her nights and days of reading powered by the energy of her lovers, but she still felt so far from being a real caster. It often took years and years of study before a person developed the ability to cast. Some never developed it at all.

The second year of Rapina's apprenticeship brought new trials and new accomplishments. Her herb gardens were planted and flourished, and she set up a new skeleton lab for the making of powder of disenchantment. She studied intensely, reading a great number of works from Thane's library, a library that Nordula's books had greatly enhanced. All the while Guardian Thane continued his lessons for his two apprentices.

With Rapina he concentrated on the necromantic principles behind energy drain and on a comprehensive set of exercises that she was to do to develop her talents in that area. The necromancer maintained that Rapina had the potential to be a better healer than he was, and healing was essential in this time of conflict. In spite of all of her knowledge, Rapina was unsure it would ever take her anywhere, she could not say if she would ever cast like Thane. On the other hand, she could see real improvements in her skill with the rapier, archery and in unarmed combat. Elizabetta now offered training in stealth, climbing, crossbow archery and in small thrown weapons such as knives and stars. Thane was so satisfied with her skills of deportment that he drilled her only occasionally. Instead, Rames was now giving her lessons on military tactics.
-------

This ends, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, chapter 41 of The Chronicles of Rapina.
The story continues in chapter 42, Cast At Last.

Copyright 2001 by Rapina