Free An Unexpected Apprentice by Jody Lynn Nye Page A

transformation was complete, and crawled to his feet, careful not to drop his burden. How much he had suffered to gain it! How much privation and pain! The reward would be worth all the trouble, he thought, and a bitter smile bent his lips. The book was his. From the moment he held it in his hands, nothing could harm him or
deter him. It was rightly his, and its powers belonged to him. If any could guess his purpose, kings would send armies against him. Mages would call up the most powerful forces in existence. All their efforts would be useless. The power lay in his hands.
    Eyes were upon him. Nemeth recalled the last time he had felt every being looking at him. They were laughing, laughing at him! Though it was so very long ago every detail remained fresh in his memory. They were the goads that drove him when the book’s guardians attacked him. They were the extra strength upon which he drew when his spells proved too weak to withstand theirs.
    He would show those who had humiliated him that they could not treat him with such trifling disdain. He would cause destruction on the very site of his disgrace, and bring the world crashing down upon his tormentors. As long as he was assured of that, he did not care what became of him afterward. Since the very day he had learned about the book’s whereabouts, he had begun to make his plans. The preparations had cost him dearly—but he had already lost all. Gaining the book would restore to him all that and more. He had nothing to lose in the essay. That knowledge was a shield and a weapon against those who would stop him. But he had succeeded at drawing forth the book. How it had been kept hidden for so long he did not know.
    Nemeth hugged the hide-wrapped parcel to him again, as though he was embracing a precious child. He felt a great urge to open it and enjoy its beauty, for it was a beautiful thing. He looked around. This was not a proper place. He must find somewhere more suitable. He could pause in his journey for a moment to refresh himself by turning through a few pages. Nemeth could see the entire book in his memory, every word. It unrolled through his dreams. The stories it told led him on nighttime journeys beyond the confines of his poor human brain, into the realms of other beings, living and never-living. It took joy in its own creation, and shared that joy with him. It was a part of him, or was he a part of it? Of that he was uncertain, though he felt it had preserved his sanity during the months it had taken to walk from Sheatovra to Niombra.
    The sun beat down upon him. He had done without its scrutiny for a long while, and disliked it peering into his business now. He shook his fist at the sky, sending a curl of hate in the sun’s direction. His power had not risen to the level where he could snuff out the blazing orb, but it was only a matter of time. All creation would wither at his hand, if he chose. He smiled, and the movement hurt the newly grown skin of his
cheeks. He would decide later what would befall the sky and the rest of the world.
    Behind him a bubbling growl attracted his attention. From the surf a pale tentacle as long as his body uncoiled. The claw at the end, dripping with blue poison, felt for him. Nemeth watched dispassionately. The creature hauled itself out of the surf, its cone-shaped body rearing up ten feet high, muscular tentacles digging into the sand. It was mud-colored except for the red fleshy lips drawn back to show endless rows of translucent, sharp white teeth, and the bright, flat, golden eyes each the size of Nemeth’s head. It turned one eye toward him, and the slitted pupil widened. A deeper growl issued from its throat, and the poisoned claws whipped around to point at him. The beast lurched up the sand, anger giving it the speed it would normally lack without the water’s support.
    The ugly beasts had been following him for some time. He had killed many, but always another came to take its place. It was as if they did not