Journey to the stars and worlds of imagination: 2025 A: Apprentice

An apprentice is a young person who works for someone in order to learn their skill. In the Dragshi Chronicles, apprentices at the Ceoltier Guild learn from the guilds masters and scholars to be teachers, musicians, and arbiters of justice. An apprentice can be identified by the color of his cloak lining which is a light green the color of new hay as opposed to the darker emerald of a master.

The master - apprentice relationship is not always congenial. In the Windmaster Novels, the wizard Bashim treated his apprentice, Nobyn, as a slave. He also kept his knowledge to himself sharing very little.

The following excerpt from Windmaster Legacy shows a different relationship. To set the stage, Ellspeth, not much more than a fledgling mage herself, is Bashim’s prisoner. Yet she sees Nobyn's yearning and starts to teach him how to use his magic. Nobyn had just brought Ellspeth's meal to her cell. A meal tainted with a sleep potion. And she asks him remove the magic spell.

Nobyn’s low question interrupted Ellspeth’s reflection. Another sliver of hope joined the others to produce more optimism than Ellspeth had thought possible a few hours before. An evenness she didn’t feel colored her tone. “I’ll give you the incantation and show you how to use it by taking the sleep injunction off the water. Then you try clearing the food.”

Held breath and a sparkle in Nobyn’s eyes told Ellspeth she was on the right track.

“Your powers are strong enough to know if the spell worked,” she added.

On Nobyn’s next visit, she did not even have to ask him to remove Bashim’s spells from the food and drink. Nobyn sat the jug of water and plate with meat and bread on the floor in front of the bench. His eyes scrunched in concentration, he mouthed the words he had learned such a short time ago. Sheer joy filled the youth’s face at his success. “I never knew I could feel this way,” he muttered. “Is this how it feels to be a mage?”