Apprentice

Chapter 51

01. Reskeme was tired, he didn't see why people worked so hard to become an apprentice. He was packing up a trunk with clothing and bedding for Kellar, He glared over at the Mage who was sitting on a chair drinking a steaming cup of coffee. he grumbled, the brew smelled delicious, after the blissful expression on Kellars face Reskeme had asked for some. The master mage had only laughed in his face, The mage had told him each cup of coffee would cost him, 5 coppers. Reskeme had almost fainted, the master mage had been drinking the beverage as his life depended on it.

02. Reskeme couldn't believe how much that beverage costs, his new master was undoubtedly rich, he could only stare jealously while contemplating how he could borrow some without getting noticed. Reskeme had washed all the clothing and had let it dry for the master mage, the list of tasks he was told to do seemed never-ending. When he finally got finished with the massive amount of clothes Kellar has, Kellar said," the soldiers hauling logs to repair the hole in the wall look like they need help." Reskeme groaned his armour was nice for protection and he refused to take it off, Reskeme grumpily walked over towards the group of soldiers hauling logs.

03. Reskeme was pointed to a pile of rope and metal plates, he was told by a grumpy sergeant to carry all of the items to the wall that was across the courtyard. Reskeme walked over to the neatly piled up metal and rope. He picked up a coil of rope, Reskeme felt the burn in his arms. He carried the 5th thing of rope across the courtyard, Reskeme was drenched in sweat and panting for breath. He could see Kellar sitting on a chair that looked soft and comfortable. The mage was attentively creating something, Reskeme was curious but decided he would be able to ask when he was finished.

04. Reskeme remembered Kellar say something about creating an amulet, Reskeme was dubious about trusting the mage. The last time he had trusted someone like that he had become a slave, Reskeme sighed, it's not like he stood a chance at resisting if Keller wanted to cause him harm. Reskemes attention was taken, The group of soldiers had finally cleared a large section of the destroyed wall. The gap was big, showing just how much damage the Darvan mages had done. He was instructed to carry over a stack of metal plates, Reskeme grunted he wondered what on Laurentia these were for. Two soldiers dug a hole into the ground the slotted a long thick tree into the hole next to the wall. The soldiers waved over Reskeme and took the sheet of metal, Two guards held the first pole against the second and used the piece of metal with spikes and a hammer to bolt them together.

05. the rope was used to thread between the logs adding another layer to hold them together. Reskeme was interested in the process, He wanted to know how he could get around this kind of wall in the future. The wall slowly came up, each thick heavy log required 5 or more soldiers to put in place, He could see the soldiers in the distance cutting down new trees, and preparing them for the new wall. Reskeme soon got stuck on the worst job in his opinion, he was handed a long wooden stick with metal on the end. He was told to dig holes in a line for the new poles to go in, Reskemes cursed his new master, Kellar had been the one to suggest digging to the soldiers.

06. The other soldiers happily shared the labour, Reskemes familiar was laughing at him from the shade as it happily lay there doing nothing. Digging was much less interesting than building a wall, Reskeme stabbed his metal stick into the ground yet again tossing dirt wildly to the side creating a pile. His arms were burning and his back was tired, he finally completed his portion of the digging after an hour or so. Reskeme was quickly informed that he was in fact not done the digging and was told to dig the next trench, he was upset to note that the next section was twice as long as the first section had been.

07. He excused himself to go get a drink and go to the privy, Reskeme needed to recast his illusions. After he finished business Reskeme returned to the trench, He picked up his metal stick and joined the group of soldiers to begin digging again. Reskemes hands and back were screaming at him by the time he finished his part of the work, Reskeme let out a sigh of relief as Kellar finally waved him over. Reskeme slowly walked over, setting down his metal stick and stepping out of the trench.

08. Kellar was still holding a long chain with something oddly shaped in his hand. Reskeme Asked the obvious question," What are you doing with that piece of metal." Kellar corrected him, It's a necklace or the proper term amulet." Reskeme replied, " Alright, What are you doing to that amulet.?" Kellar said," I'm glad you asked, I'm creating the amulet I promised to make for you." Reskeme looked over the surface of the amulet with a furrowed brow. He couldn't understand any of the markings that covered the entire surface. Kellar said," you are lucky that I am good at runecrafting, and no it's not the same as normal spell runes. Kellar said," the Enchanting runes are much more efficient for lasting long term.

09. Reskeme said," So what does the amulet do?" Kellar passed the amulet to a hesitant Reskeme, Kellar replied," This will hold four layers of magic, the only problem is once we create the enchantment it's permanent until destroyed. Kellar said," people will think you are hiding something but will never expect what you are actually hiding. Kellar said, I'm, not an illusionist, you must create the three layers that you can, it's a shame you can't cast the fourth layer, as you won't be able to add one on later." Reskeme was holding the amulet in his hand, It looked an odd copper colour and was oddly beautiful with all the markings on it. Reskeme was interested in the new markings, he was excited that he wouldn't half to cast his illusions every hour or so.

10. Kellar said," alright let's begin, you may want to sit down as this isn't going to be pleasant. Kellar said You are going to create your three layers of mana around yourself, only this time you are going to channel mana through the amulet to do it. Reskeme pressed the other end of the amulet to Kellar's hand. Reskeme slowly channelled creating his three layers as thick as possible, he made his skin a dark brown his hair, a light blond and for the third layer he created his eyes to be a normal light green. Reskeme wanted to look as average as he could.

11. Reskeme finally completed his layers, and tried to stop channelling, Kellar had other ideas and pulled mana in a torrent through Reskemes body until his body shook. The amulet glowed lightly before turning dark again, Reskeme gasped for breath and couldn't force his fingers to open, his muscles clenched and wouldn't let go. Reskeme glared hatefully at Kellar for a moment before he realized that it was his body's natural reaction to so much pressure. He sighed as he was finally able to release the amulet to the ground.

12. Reskeme lay on his back, and stare up at the sky, He took long breaths and picked up the extremely valuable amulet. Reskeme understood that getting this item would not be easy for anyone but a powerful image. He placed the chain of the amulet over his neck and hid the rune-covered area of the amulet under his armour. The necklace was cold and felt odd around his neck, he wondered how long it would take until it felt comfortable. Kellar said," good, the amulet will pull in mana from the air all the time and power the layers you created." Reskemes eyes widened he said," you mean I don't need to go through that again. Reskeme was referring to the instance that had just left him gasping and feeling like he was dying on the ground.

13.Kellar laughed, Reskeme grumpily rolled onto his hands and climbed to his feet. The effort of standing was extremely difficult, charging the amulet took all of his energy. Reskeme said," well what do I look like?" Kellar stepped into his tent and brought out a reflective glass. Reskeme looked at the reflection of himself, he looked exhausted, The young man in the mirror had brown leather armour covering his whole body with a brown cloak. He had blond hair almost to his shoulders, dark brown skin, light green eyes and most stunning of all he actually looked like a normal young man now.

14. Reskeme happily walked back to his tent, he grew angry when he arrived, the tent that he had so proudly set up was laying on the ground. Reskeme did what anyone would do in his situation, He crawled into the tent and fell asleep without even bothering to set it up. After a long uncomfortable night he finally awoke, Reskeme was starting to realize that he disliked sleeping in armour. the hard edges made hs sleep uncomfortable no matter what position he was in, he decided it didn't matter as he would much rather an uncomfortable sleep than loosing his new armour. Reskeme vengefully kecked his arch-nemesis the tent as he tried to find the exit.

15. Reskeme crawled out of his tent in what could only be called morning, light shown in his face and the clanking of working soldiers filled the air. He almost panicked when he realized a soldier was staring straight at him. Reskeme hadn't channelled his spells and was going to panic until he remembered that he now had an amulet. Reskeme asked," what do you want?" The soldier said," Report to the commander for your new mission." Reskeme nodded to the messenger and slowly stretched. He put his weapons case on his back and headed for the commander's building. Reskeme snacked on his dried jerky, his stomach was grumbling, lately, his body was getting used to having three meals a day which always made him hungry in the morning.

16. Kellar was waiting in front of the commander's building And looked unhappy, the man was leaving the commander's building carrying a message. Kellar walked towards Reskeme, Kellar said," well get packed, we are going to check on the northernmost fortress, the damned commander has sent me as a damned lowly messenger. Kellar looked upset, the only thing Reskeme could do was laugh.