Free The Echidna's Scale (Alchemy's Apprentice) by Jeffrey Quyle

around to feel for the lantern and the flint and steel.  They were still in place, and he fumbled twice before he got a spark and lit the wick of the lantern, then stared in amazement at the changes that occupied his small, formerly comfortable cubby space.
    The room had bright colored pillows, small vases of flowers, and a painting of a soulful horse’s head on the wall.  It was tidied up, with organized piles of items, and a pink rug on the formerly bare floor.  His room was no longer his.  A girl had taken occupancy, in a clear and decisive manner.
    Marco slumped down on the soft bedding, heedless of who now had rights to the room.  He removed his sword and laid it on the floor within easy reach, and then he blew out the lantern and laid his head down, and fell asleep.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 5 – Back in the Lion City
     
    Marco awoke in groggy stages from his slumber in the hidden cubby beneath the pier.  He had slept soundly through the night, and when he awoke, he recognized the outline of dim light coming in around the edges of the door curtain before he realized that he was really back in the Lion City and then realized it was out of the ordinary for him to awaken in the Lion City.
    He sat up, then stood up, and pulled the curtain open to appraise the unexpected changes to the cubby again.  It didn’t really matter, he decided.  He was never going to live in the Lion City again; he was never going to be an apprentice in Algornia’s shop again.  He had no need to try to reclaim the space as his own, though it hurt to think of someone else possessing the space – and the freedom and refuge that it had once represented.
    With practiced steps he climbed up onto the pier, where various ships were loading and unloading, and the dockworkers made him dodge left and right as he strolled onto the solid land of the city.  He wore only a shirt and pants and a sword on a belt.  He momentarily thought of Mirra, and wished that she could be with him, both so that he could show her where he had lived, and so that he could be seen in the company of such an extraordinary beauty.
    Marco kept his golden hand in his pocket as much as possible, after seeing several pairs of eyes focusing on his unusual appendage.   He strolled around the long way through the city, crossing canals whose waters made him idly wonder where Cassius and Pesino were, and then he came around a corner and stopped at the edge of Chemists Square.  He was across from Algornia’s storefront, and saw that nothing had changed.  The entrance and windows were just as dark and mysterious as they had ever been, making him recollect how Gabrielle’s shop in Barcelon had been opened up and brightened to invite more customers to enter.
    Marco brushed past the entrance to an astrologer’s shop, and crossed the square, then grabbed the door handle to Algornia’s with his left hand, and pulled on the heavy wooden door.
    He stepped into the shop, the place where he had learned so much, and experienced so much, and let the door close behind him.
    “Just a moment,” Algornia’s voice rose from within the interior of the shop, and then the master of alchemy himself came striding into the room standing behind the counter and studying the customer who had entered.
    “Bless my buttons!” he spoke loudly after a second of observation.  “Phillippe, come here!  Teresa!  Come at once!” he turned his head slightly to throw his voice backwards, without taking his eyes off of Marco.
    “Look at you!  You look as fit as a fiddle!” Algornia spoke to Marco, as footsteps came hurrying towards them.
    “What is it grandfather?  Are you alright?” Teresa arrived just two steps ahead of Phillippe.  They both stood with Algornia, one on either side on the shop owner.
    “Where have you been?  Are you alright?” Algornia asked.
    Marco grinned, and all three came around the corner of the counter, to embrace him with a show of friendship that was