Free Apprentice by Eric Guindon Page B

were flashing around your money too much,” the rat told Benen.
    “So they robbed me?”
    “You made it easy, really. It was almost your fault,” the rat asserted.
    “Get back in the bag,” Benen said, angry partly because he thought the rat might be right. Orafin humphed but kept his tongue. They walked back to the tree-line where the tower was resting on the ground. Benen was relieved to see it still there. He had a brief fantasy that it might remain here for another day or two and he could get to know the bar wench Glenda better, but he knew they wouldn’t stay here that long and he had already risked too much for this one night.
    They ran to the tower and snuck back in. Once safely back in his quarters, Benen lay on his bed, feeling his many bruises and bumps. Nothing seemed broken. He sighed. It had been a good night, despite the beating and robbery at the end.
    The boys had been good company while they drank and he had very much enjoyed the drinking and the numb silliness it induced. Above all, he had enjoyed meeting Glenda, even just looking at her. She was a plain girl, by most standards, but to him she had been the most wonderful, most feminine creature in the universe that night and he would have given much just to have had a chance to get to know her better, to hear what her hopes and dreams were. He was pleased that she had tried to warn him of his danger, for he had finally deciphered the note she had given him, thanks to hindsight.
    Exhausted and happy, if beaten, Benen went to sleep. The next morning there was a spring in his step and a renewed desire to learn so that he could leave this bondage sooner rather than later.

CHAPTER 5: ACOLYTE
     
    It was shortly after his escapade in the small village that the wizard began to step up Benen’s education. Some of the lessons had already been covered by Orafin and Benen showed himself quite quick to learn those. The wizard seemed impressed. Unfortunately, this meant he thought Benen quicker to learn than he really was, which resulted in him teaching new concepts at a faster pace.
    “On the fourteenth of Spring, in Northern Osteria, at what time does the moon rise and set?” he quizzed Benen.
    Benen had a a set of notes filled with astronomical information he could consult. Unfortunately, this required the use of a formula and he was not very good at math. He struggled through it and was only a bit wrong. The wizard was disappointed but not angry.
    That night, Benen got Orafin to tutor him in mathematics, an area he knew less about than even magic. The rat and he were hard at work on this when the wizard was heard approaching by Orafin’s keen ears. He scuttled to a hiding place.
    “Studying hard. I approve,” said the wizard when he arrived. Benen could only nod to his master, he had not been given permission to speak.
    “Come boy, we’re going to do some practical work.”
    Benen did not know what this meant. The wizard normally did not give lessons after supper. This was highly irregular.
    Benen followed the wizard up to the highest of the towers and into the room at the very top. It turned out to be a large domed room with a roof that had a long narrow opening in it. It was designed so that the opening could be closed, like a clam closing its shell. In the centre of the room there was a large tubular device sitting on a platform connected through machinery to the contraptions controlling the roof.
    The wizard directed Benen to a crank and instructed him to turn it until told otherwise. This, Benen did. As the crank turned — easier than Benen would have guessed — the roof and the tubular device turned in synchrony, pointing at different parts of the sky. When instructed by the wizard, Benen stopped cranking and flipped the lever indicated. Then he cranked again, as directed, and saw the tubular device angle upward. Eventually, the wizard was satisfied and told Benen to step away from the crank and come with him to the device at the centre of the