Free The Guardian's Apprentice (Beyond the Veil) by J. Michael Radcliffe

feel extremely exposed and vulnerable.   Turning his ankle on a loose stone, he stumbled.   He reached out in the darkness and grabbed a small tree for support as he pulled himself to his feet.   Attempting to remove his hand, he was startled to discover that he could not release his grip from the small sapling!   He pulled harder, but it accomplished little.   Bracing his feet against the base of the small tree, he pulled as hard as he could, and with a sudden loud SNAP! his hand pulled free.   He landed hard on his backside, and was just sitting up when he suddenly heard a loud guffawing off in the dark.
    “Who’s there?” he shouted.
    The only response was the sound of even harder laughter.   Keegan finally snapped; jumping to his feet, he whirled in the direction of the laughter.   Pointing his ring toward the sound he screamed “ SOLARUS!” and with a sudden jolt a hot, white beam of light shot into the darkness, illuminating everything within a hundred feet.
    “Aaaayeeaahh!” came a scream from somewhere in the center of the beam.
    “Blinded us, he has!” came a second voice, shrieking in panic.
    Unfortunately, Keegan couldn’t see the source of the voices as his beam of light had blinded him as well.   Shielding his eyes, he tried to peer into the distance where the sound came from.
    “Show yourself!” he shouted in the direction of the voices.   “Show yourself and I’ll turn off the light.”
    “Curse you!   Curse you, all right!” shouted the first voice
    “Fine, we gives up just turn down the light!” came the second.
    Hesitating just for a moment, Keegan said “ Anstrahlen ” and the light dimmed considerably, shrinking back into a small orb above his hand.   He could now make out a large figure standing in the woods.   It had large beefy hands covering its eyes to shield them from the glare.   Suddenly Keegan’s jaw dropped as he took a closer look at the creature.   Now that it was near the path he could see the creature had not just one head on its shoulders but two!
    “Ya didn’t have to blind us - we was only havin’ a bit o’ fun”
    “Who are you?” demanded Keegan “and why were you trying to trap me?”
    As the creature shuffled closer, Keegan could see it stood roughly two heads higher than him.
      “My name is Grum,” said the left head as the creature gestured towards its chest with its left hand.   “And this here’s me brother Grim,” he said pointing to the head on the right.
    “Your brother?”
    “Aye.”
    “But you’ve only got the one body?” said Keegan.
    “Aye, so?”
    “Well, normally a person only has the one head….” said Keegan carefully.
    “Hmph.   One might say that you’ve got one head too FEW, boy!” Grum was obviously quite unhappy with the young man’s observation.
    “Look, I didn’t mean to offend you.   I’m new to these parts and quite honestly I’ve never met anyone with more than one head before.”
    The creature folded its great burly arms in front of its chest.   “Hmph.   Well boy, we’ll overlook it this time.   Mind you though, we won’t be taken it so easy the next.”
    “Damn right!” said Grim. “You younglings show no respect, asking a stupid question like that!”
    “Look, I didn’t mean to be rude.   You just surprised me,” said Keegan.   “I’ll just be on my way and leave you -- er, the two of you -- to your own business”
    Keegan started to walk forward, but noticed that the giant had placed itself squarely in the middle of the path.
    “You’ll not be going anywhere just yet,” said Grum.   “T’aint often we get visitors down this deep in the forest.   Now what might ya be doin’ this far into the woods?   Hmm?   ’Specially at this time ah the night?”
    “I’ll wager two Crowns he’s a poacher!” said Grim.
    “Bah! He’s too little to be a poacher, you dolt.   And he don’t have a bow, so how’s he gonna kill anythin’ eh?” retorted his brother.
    “I’m