The Sorceress' Aprentice

[KingCrowley]

The year was 1573 and a harsh Winter had fallen over the land of Vraellotia. Harvests were poor and many children went hungry for days on end. Many lost their lives to hunger and severe influenza that passed from family to family. The Wolfe family were no exception to this. A young woman named Aela had contracted the disease during her pregnancy, and it escalated while she was in labour. Her body exhausted itself and after giving birth to a healthy baby boy, she passed away. The baby boy was named Ewan Peter Wolfe by his Father, a noble, strong Knight of the Kingdom.

Ewan's Father believed in ruling with an iron fist over his son, and as a result he and his son never saw eye to eye on anything. At five years old Ewan was expected to be able to pick up a sword and fight combat with his Father. Needless to say he was very injured that day. After deciding his son wasn't fit for nobility just yet, he sent him down to the Castle's cook, Lilliana Welch to instil some kind of work ethic.

Liliana was a very busy, stout woman with a bright red face and small black piggish eyes. She always reminded Ewan of a pig, a nice pig--he liked all animals. The woman taught Ewan how to cook and how to clean, and some other basic skills, but she had no time to properly love him and discipline him, even though she'd wanted to. There were many young children working in the Castle kitchens and she couldn't afford to spend all her time on just one child.

When Ewan was nine years old, his Father lost his life in battle. The child didn't mourn, he hadn't known his Father all that well and what he did know he hadn't liked, so he wasn't sure how to react when he was told of his death. He just carried on his work down in the kitchens, like he knew he should.

~~~~~

On this particular day, King Orphius of Vraellotia was planning on hosting a grand ceremony in which he would form an alliance with the neighbouring Kingdom of Halenstheim. Everyone down in the Castle kitchens were rushing about, making sure absolutely everything went perfect for the grand feast. Nothing could go wrong, this alliance was incredibly important. So it was unfortunate that Ewan had been put in charge of handling the soup. He knew how to make soup, sure but he was a clumsy thing and often made critical mistakes.

"'Urry up boy! They're going to be wanting their soup soon!" Lilliana yelled at the boy and gave him a clip around the ear for daydreaming again. He seemed to do that a lot. "Now remember, the King of Halenstheim is allergic to carrots, so don't add that to the soup---are you listening, boy?!"

Ewan wasn't listening, but he pretended he was and just nodded his head. He was still sulking over the fact that he wouldn't get to eat any of the food from the feast and would be given bread and water. How unfair was that?! He turned back to the pot bubbling over the fire and started adding onion and turnip.

"Now---what did Lilliana say? Add Carrot but don't add potato, right?" he asked himself and then shook his head, "That cant be right." he pondered for a moment before deciding to add both carrot and potato to it, and he mixed the lovely, thick soup until it was nice and smooth. "There."

"Come on, come on!" Lilliana yelled, taking the soup from the boy and rushing it up the large stone steps to the grand hall. Ewan smiled, proud of his handiwork, but then he heard a screech from upstairs, everything went silent in the kitchen.

"HE'S CHOKING, HE'S CHOKING!" Ewan heard someone screaming upstairs. More silence followed, it was a long, dreadful silence, and then all Ewan heard was Lilliana's dangerous roar.

"EWAN! Get here BOY!" she called and the child went immediately still, wondering what he could have possibly done. Ewan bit his lip and hurried up the stone steps to the Grand hall where he found all eyes on him, and the King of Halenstheim on the floor, puffed up like a big warty toad. Lilliana grabbed the child and shook him roughly. "Did you put carrot in the soup, boy?!"

"Y-Yes---" Ewan answered and yelped when the cook gave him a good few clouts around the head.

"You stupid, good for nothing--"

"That's enough!" Ordered King Orphius and he walked over to the two of them, eyeing the child carefully. "Mrs Welch, this happened under your watch, you're just as much to blame." he then focused his attention on the child solely. He'd heard of Ewan's many, many mistakes and normally he would just throw the child out on the street to starve, but this was his best Knight's son, and he couldn't bring himself to do that.

"Mrs Welch, take him to the Sorceress Aurora's home beyond the wood. The boy can stay with her." He ordered.

The next thing Ewan knew, he was walking out of the Castle--his home---at Lilliana's side and he looked up at her, seeing how angry and upset she was. "I'm sorry Lilliana---I didn't mean to hurt anyone, or get anyone in trouble." he explained softly.

"Oh Ewan." Lilliana sighed. "You need to learn to listen little one." she pulled his cloak a little tighter around him, as it was getting colder as the sun went down. "Now I want you to be as good as you can for this sorceress, she's very highly thought of by the land, and I doubt she'll take your mistakes patiently."

"Oh--alright." Ewan answered and looked up when the two of them came to a small hut in the middle of the wood. "It looks very small." he pointed out which earned him another clip around the ear.

"Don't be so rude." Lilliana scolded and knocked on the door. When the door opened and the beautiful Sorceress stood there, the Cook handed over a note from the King, explaining how the boy would now be her responsibility by orders of the Kingdom which she had swore to serve. Lilliana then hugged Ewan goodbye and headed back to the Castle, doing her best not to cry.

-------

Ewan had lived with the Sorceress Aurora for almost a month now, and he had come to grow really fond of her, she was much kinder and more patient than Lilliana had been, even though he still loved the stout woman dearly. Ewan was currently sweeping up the dust from the floor when Aurora entered the room, dressed in her travelling cloak.

"I finished sweeping ma'am and--" Ewan caught sight of the cloak immediately and his little blue eyes lit up, "Where are we going? Shall I grab my cloak?" he asked, putting the broom aside and walking over to the magical being.

[La Fay]

Aurora Fae, known throughout the land to many in all the four greater kingdoms and beyond as one of the most powerful and well-known sorceress, who held oaths to all four of the greater kingdoms and their kings, and it had been under their protection that she had thrived as she had, becoming their mage and emissary for negotiations between the four great kingdoms and the magical communities, as well as the first line of defence against the more dangerous incursions of those who did not possess the intelligence of their counterparts.

She was a fair woman with near perfect completion and midnight black hair that was fine as silk, dressed in her green dress with long flaring arms, that went down to her ankles, she had an hourglass figure and was not overly muscles given her lifestyle of that of a mage, she hurried towards the door of her home as she pulled on her traveling cloak.

Hearing her charges voice she turned to look to him seeing her look at him with his eyes lit up as her steel grey eyes met his.

“We, are not going anywhere, I just received word that a trio of mountain trolls are approaching the village on the eastern side of the forest, I must head them off before the people are put in danger,” she explained as she moved to pick up her staff with was a foot taller than her made of a dark wood with a silver snake coiled around it up to id mid-section, as its top arched slightly with a clear gem at its top, “you are to stay here, and remain inside while I am away, I shouldn’t be longer than three hours, and will be back before it is time for dinner” she said as she moved and lifted the hood of her black cloak over her head.

[KingCrowley]

Ewan's face fell when his Mistress told him that she had received word of a trio of mountain trolls, and she was going to head them off--alone. "I can help." the little boy quipped, puffing his chest out to show how brave he was, for such a small thing. Even for a nine year old he was small, and rather on the skinny side, as he hadn't gotten to eat much in the Castle kitchens. A pout formed on his lips when the woman told him that he was to stay there, and remain inside. "But Mistress---" before he could protest any further, the Sorceress had vanished through the open door, and closed it behind her.

"I never get to do anything fun." Ewan sighed, kicking over the broom which had been standing erect against the kitchen table. It fell with a clatter and the child caught sight of a rather large spider scuttle across the stone floor. He recoiled and whimpered, he remembered how much he hated being alone and especially when there was a Spider nearby. He hated Spiders with a passion.

Looking from the spider to the door, Ewan grabbed his brown cloak and pulled his own hood up over his young head before pulling the heavy wooden door open. He could help, he just knew it. Besides, he really, really wanted to see a mountain troll up close. The boy shut the door behind him and then started running like a carefree puppy through the dark woods and out into the clearing.

From his position by the wood side, he could make out the figure of his Mistress approaching the mountains, more than a five mile walk away. Ewan scrambled down the grassy hill and started running off after her, the tall grass provided him with plenty of cover should the woman look back and find him following her. Thankfully, she didn't spot him, the lad had kept a good distance between himself and the woman.

Once she reached the foot of the mountain, Ewan crouched down behind a large assembly of rocks as he heard a low, loud growl, and felt the earth tremble under the weight of heavy footsteps. He peeked around his stone fortress and his eyes widened when he saw the huge mountain troll, coming dangerously close to his Mistress---whom the little boy was very fond of.

"Mistress!" Ewan shouted, coming out of his hiding spot. "Behind you!" he called.

[La Fay]

It had been a long walk from her cottage deep inside the forest to the mountains the trolls were reported to be descending from, she had received word that they would be making the end of their journey over the mountains within the hour and she had wanted to catch them off before they could make it out into the open, to keep them from getting near any villages, obviously her timing had been off, and when she heard the shout of her charge from behind her she knew it.

Turning to see one of the large beasts coming towards her wielding a large stone club that looked to have been a cave spike broken off at the thick end, she quickly acted raising her staff up to meet the cub at it came down on her, her crystal glowed as the two weapons impacted and in a bright flash of light the stone club shattered and the large grey troll was sent back several feet, before with a swing of her staff a silver arc of magic shot at it sending it head over heels and crashing down, spine first onto a large rock formation with a sickening squelch and crunch.

That was when the other two emerged from around the bend both just as large one with a large rock in its hand the other with a thick tree branch as they both started to make their way towards Aurora growling, but stopped still when she held out her staff and two circled of light covered the ground in front of them as the stones from around the area started to move and take on two humanoid shapes before one of them lunged at the first troll and the second did the same as the two newly formed rock golems attacked the trolls under their mistress’s command.

[KingCrowley]

Ewan stood and watched in wide-eyed awe when his Mistress so easily took care of the trolls. Maybe she didn't need his help after all. He came out from behind the rock completely and then hurried on ahead up the mountain, thinking he could still be of some use. With the small humanoid golems attacking the remaining trolls, and keeping them busy, Ewan climbed higher and higher until he was at a good vantage point.

He could cause a rock slide, and he could help crush the creatures. Even if they were fascinating to look at, he didn't have time to be awestruck. The child started pushing up all his weight against a supporting rock, knowing if that one fell, then the others would slide down and crush the trolls. He grunted and groaned, managing finally to slide it out of the way. There was a loud rumbling sound and the rocks began sliding.

One of the trolls looked up and gave a roar of anger, reaching out and grabbing little Ewan in his huge fist. Though the rocks came tumbling down and crushed the troll, with Ewan still in his fist. Luckily, Ewan hadn't been crushed by any of the rocks, but he'd come close. As the dust settled and the trolls were still, Ewan could be seen trying to climb out from all the rubble.

"Mistress, I'm stuck!" he called out, his leg had gotten trapped harmlessly between one of the rocks and the troll's shoulder.

[La Fay]

With her focus on commanding her Golems in the fight Aurora wasn’t able to locate Ewan until she saw one of the trolls grab him, her eyes widened as she went to smite the troll but was cut off when the rock slide hit them, and her face was covered in shock seeing both trolls and her golems crushed by the rockslide, along with Ewan.

“Ewan!” she called out seeing him disappear beneath the rocks as they fell, she stood still unable to comprehend what had just happened in front of her, the boy she had been charged with looking after had been crushed before her… she had failed to protect him... she had… a voice. She heard it beneath the rocks he was alive!

Raising her staff slowly the rocks began to shift and move as they moved away revealing Ewan alive and unharmed, dusty from the dirt but unharmed.

As he scuttled free from where he was she released the rocks letting them fall back into place before she rushed to the boy reaching him and dropping her staff before she enveloped the boy in a hug feeling herself tremble at nearly losing him, though he had only been in her care for a month, she had found herself coming to care for the boy in an almost motherly way, and she could not believe he was so foolish as to follow her, he could have been killed.

[KingCrowley]

Ewan of course, hadn't thought about the potential danger of manipulating a rock slide, and he ended up going down with the trolls beneath said rock slide. However by some miracle the boy was alive and he called out to his Mistress for help, as his leg was stuck but unharmed. Honestly Ewan must have had some sort of Angel looking out for him. He looked up in awe when the rock slowly levitated off of him, and he smiled, sliding down the other rocks and landing on his bottom at the foot of the slide.

He got to his feet and then gasped when he was suddenly enveloped in a tight, warm hug. His eyes widened and he hugged the woman back, he'd naturally come to see her as a Mother figure, because she took care of him and disciplined him in a way he never had been before. After a few moments, Ewan wriggled a little bit and looked up at the woman.

"I'm okay Mistress." he assured and then smiled, "We really showed those trolls what for, didn't we!" he said brightly, puffing out his little chest proudly. He was so happy he had been some use in the end, or rather he thought he had been of some use. Aurora could have likely handled the situation completely on her own.

[La Fay]

hearing him speak, Aurora immediately held him out at arms length, a look of fury and anger replaced her shock and fear and she looked at him.

"what in the name of all four kingdoms were you thinking Young man, are you trying to get yourself killed, why didn't you wait for me back at the cottage like i told you to do, why are you here" she scolded him unable to believe that he would disobey her like this and endanger his life in such foolishness.

[KingCrowley]

Ewan whimpered a bit when he was held at arm's length and scolded so harshly. He hated being scolded even if he knew deep down that he deserved it. "I-I well---there was this spider---and I didn't want to be alone---and I thought I could help---and I DID help." the boy explained, biting his lip and looking down at the ground a bit. He wasn't good at maintaining eye contact whenever he got into trouble.

"Don't be mad--everything turned out just fine, we defeated the trolls together!" he said, smiling up at her now, thinking that was just cause for not being in trouble, however given Aurora's history with discipline, he doubted he was going to be off the hook just like that.

[La Fay]

hearing his response Aurora felt her teeth grind in anger at the ludicrousy of his words.

"you almost died, had it not been the gods luck you have you could have been crushed by those rocks, what you were thinking starting that I don't know, but you can be rest assured when we get home we will be having a very long chat about this, and I can guarantee you by the end of it you won't be sitting down comfortably for a long time" she scolded before holding out her hand as her staff came to her before she pointed it to the side and in a bright flash a large white Stag with large antlers appeared and looked at them before bowing its head.

Aurora looked to Ewan with a stern glare, "get on Gwylim, this instant" she ordered her mind still racing from his near death.

(what implement do you thin for this is appropriate?)