Chapter 13
Unwelcome guest
Sleep once again was difficult for me, not because of the dreams this time, the bad dreams stopped the night I opened the door at the bottom of the stairs. I believe it was because of my conscious. The thought that someone has to die before I could try to rectify my error sat uncomfortably inside of me constantly playing on my mind. Godwin had told me to stop thinking about it and get on with my studying. That was easier said than done as I also had Beth on my mind too. Eventually she would want paying so Godwin said and I wasn't looking forward to that time.
On a brighter note, I finally got my hands on some of Godwin's tea; it was well worth the wait. The tea was the most delicious beverage I have ever tasted and it also made me feel that I had so much energy, no wonder Godwin felt years younger.
It was now late afternoon and the temperature was cooling down, we had just got back from another visit to the village to see Grover's wife again and check on how her foot was healing, it turns out the ointment Godwin had left her did the trick, Grover was so happy he gave us a tray full of cakes and pastries, I looked forward to getting home and getting stuck into them.
"I am surprised we haven't had a visit from any Ogres recently." I said as I was unpacking Godwin's bag.
"That can only be a good thing," Godwin replied. "I suspect the cure I made them has worked. I hope we don't have another visit because if I am seen with another Ogre I will be hauled back down to Woodridge and they won't be as lenient on me as they were last time."
"Well it would be nice to go see the king again; he said we would be welcome any time."
"Yes, yes, we will have to wait until we know the outcome of who is sitting on the throne first, I wouldn't want to turn up and find the warlord there." He sat himself down by his desk and started stirring a sickly green mixture.
"Can I ask how you knew what could cure them of the curse?" I asked.
Godwin laughed. "It is because I am the greatest alchemist the world has ever seen!"
"Yeah, but seriously..."
"Ok, well it took me awhile to work out what exactly was wrong with them; Ogres are not the easiest creatures to talk to as you may have found out but eventually I managed to get enough information to make the temporary cure," he stopped stirring and faced me. "Ogre physiology is completely different to our own but the symptoms they were showing were not that dissimilar to what we would call a cold."
I was surprised at this. "So you really gave them a cold remedy?"
"Well not quite, it was a bit more complicated than that. It took a lot of research; I had to travel far and wide searching for some age old records of any similar illness in the past. Let me tell you it wasn't easy, there is not much recorded about them but I did find something that was like what they had a few hundred years ago, that's how I knew about the moss that I needed." He was looking quite smug with himself.
"So you don't actually know if it worked properly and cured the curse." This sounded a bit off to me.
"Nope I don't but I thought it would have an eighty percent chance of working going by how my temporary one went."
"That's unbelievable!" I was a bit angry now. "You made them believe the curse would be destroyed by your magic cure!"
"Listen Lemon, part of the cure is hope. You will be surprised at what you can achieve when you have hope. Besides, while talking to the Ogres that came to me I found out who the sorcerer was that the warlord paid to create the curse in the first place."
"How would that help?" I asked.
"Every piece of information you can gather helps. His name is Dermagor and he is a scryer of the dark arts. I have known of him for some time and know he is not powerful enough to create a proper curse; he just made the Ogres think he could. As I said, I found out some things from the Ogres and one thing I found out was they seemed to start getting ill from drinking from their water supply. What I believe happened was that Dermagor cultivated a flu like virus and managed to get it in their water." He had a big grin on his face.
"So it wasn't a curse after all!"
"No, it wasn't, after a while it would go away by itself but by then the warlord could overthrow the kingdom and we should all worry if that ever happens."
"You are just as bad as that sorcerer! You let them believe you could rid them of a curse!"
""If the opportunity arises to be seen in a greater light Lemon, take it with both hands." He said. There was a knock at the door. "You can get that, I'm a bit busy." He turned back to his mixing.
The alchemist was an incredibly crafty man I thought as I walked to the door, he had convinced the villagers he was a grumpy old man that needed to be avoided and he convinced an Ogre Kingdom that he was a miracle maker. This alchemy business sounds like it could be a very interesting occupation. I opened the door. "Hello, I am Lem, how..." I then went flying backwards with a crushing pain in my chest; I crashed into the bookcase on the back wall which sent books tumbling down almost burying me. The wind was punched out of my lungs as I looked up through blurry eyes to see the figure of the Ogre warlord breathing heavily in the doorway.
The warlord had to crouch down to squeeze himself through the door, his huge body cracking the framework as he entered. He looked down at me with a sneer on his ancient looking face. "Where is he?" The warlord bellowed.
I could hardly breathe let alone talk. The warlord snorted and went into the next room. I tried to get up but the pain in my chest made me collapse back down again. I could hear glass smashing in the lab and the warlord was bellowing again, I hoped Godwin had got out of there. I tried to get up again, this time I managed it and I staggered to the lab door, my head was swimming and I felt dizzy. The floor in the laboratory was covered in broken glass and spilt fluids; the warlord was holding Godwin up against the far wall by his neck with the alchemist dangling three feet off the floor gripping on to the Giants wrist.
"You are to blame!" The Ogre screamed covering Godwin’s face with spit. “I would have been triumphant but for your wretched cure!"
I noticed the warlord was not in the best condition, he was bruised, battered and badly cut. Blood was running down his leg and he had obviously been in a very vicious battle.
"I will take my anger out on you wizard!"
Godwin's face was turning blue as the Ogre applied pressure to his throat.
The chest of drawers that Godwin kept his weapons in was face down on the floor and there was no way I could get the pistol from it. I quickly searched my pockets for a potion; my hand fell on my father's old pen knife. That will have to do I thought as I pulled out the blade and charged at the beast screaming at the top of my voice. The Ogre turned and looked at me; I must have been a funny sight to him, a young boy with a tiny blade trying to take on a warlord of Kalth.
As I charged I slipped on the spilt potions on the floor and I fell, but as I did I reached out with the pen knife and plunged the two inch blade into the Ogres leg just below the back of his knee, I pulled down with all my strength to rip open his leg from his calf to his ankle.
The warlord let out a horrendous scream and released Godwin who fell to the floor taking massive gulps of air and holding his damaged throat, the Ogre collapsed like a demolished building crashing down and only just missing landing on me by inches.
I was up instantly and by Godwin's side helping him to his feet. "We have to move!" I cried. Godwin couldn't speak so I dragged him out of the room and began to climb the stairs.
The Ogre was roaring in pain. "You cannot run from me!" He bellowed. I was panicking now, the pain in my chest was still there every time I breathed in and I grimaced as I hauled Godwin up the stairs with me. "Where shall we go?" I said as we reached the top. Godwin pointed to his room to the right, he was holding his throat with his other hand and he didn't look good I hoped the Ogre hadn't done too much damage to him.
I pushed open the door and we both fell in, I could hear the warlord at the bottom of the steps now starting to come up. Godwin's room loo
ked like the lab down stairs, with the addition of a bed pushed up against a wall. Even when he was resting he was still working.
Godwin got up and headed over to a desk with a lot of alchemy equipment sitting on it. The sound of the Ogre climbing the stairs was frightening, he was growling as he came and you could hear the dragging noise of his ruined leg as he pulled it up behind him. I looked for a way out, the large window that looked out on to the garden and the greenhouse roof didn't open. We were trapped.
Godwin was searching for something on his desk; he was pushing things on the floor in frustration.
"What are you looking for?" I said listening for the Ogre, the warlord was now at the top and I could see him staring at me from the top of the stairs through the open door; his stare froze me to the spot. Then he started to come towards me dragging his leg behind still with my pen knife sticking out of his ankle. I rushed to the door and slammed it shut. "Can you hurry up and find what you're looking for!" I screamed at Godwin. He was rummaging through some small packets then plucked one out and held it up with a smile, just as the door was smashed in.
I was thrown across the room and landed by the window; the broken door was ripped from its hinges and slammed into Godwin knocking him down. The Ogre stood there with anger and rage on his face.
We were doomed I thought; the warlord would finally get his revenge. I hauled myself up and looked out the window at the scene outside, this would be my last view I would ever see I thought, and then I saw the greenhouse roof directly below. "The Grimly!" I said and I turned to face the Ogre, it was looking for Godwin but the alchemist was unconscious under the broken door and hidden from his sight.
I stood up straight. "You can't beat us!" I said definitely. "We helped to take down your army, you are weak and pathetic and I will destroy you myself!" I hoped I sounded confident because I didn't feel it. I tensed ready for the Ogre to attack.
The warlord's face went red with anger. "You will be first to die boy!" It shouted as he charged towards me. I was ready, just before he reached me I ducked to one side avoiding his shoulder charge, I spun around him and with all my force pushed the Ogre, this combined with the warlord's momentum helped him go crashing through the window and fall down towards greenhouse. That's when my luck ran out. The warlord managed to twist himself around and grab hold of my tunic pulling me down with him.
We both crashed through the greenhouse roof in a shower of glass and landed heavily on the plants below. I landed on top of the big beast softening the landing slightly, I rolled off breathing hard, I felt like I had broken my ribs. The Ogre was groaning, he was still alive; I managed to get up and head into the greenery to hide out of sight.
I lent up against the trunk of a small Palm, I hurt all over and I didn't think I would be able to move ever again. The Ogre was moving, I could hear it getting to its feet.
"Is that the best you can do?" He called out. I just sat there panting through the pain. The warlord was coming in my direction and there was nothing I could do about it. A giant shadow covered me and I looked up to see the warlord looking down at me.
"When I'm done with you, your master will be next." He said through clenched teeth.
This was it I thought, my time as an alchemist’s apprentice was short but entertaining.
Directly behind him a black cloud was billowing up, it reached twice the warlord's height and started to form into the shape of the Grimly. I laughed even though it hurt to do so. The warlord looked at me confused and then he seemed to sense something behind him and turned around slowly.
The Grimly let out an ear piercing roar, then the stunned Ogre was enveloped in the cloud. At that point I passed out to the dreadful screams of the warlord.
When I awoke I was still leaning up against the Palm. I wasn't sure how long I had been here, it could have been a minute or a day, and I had no idea. The pain was still intense and threatened to send me unconscious again. Through blurry eyes I could see something shiny by my feet, I tried to focus and the dark tried to take me again but I managed to see what it was, my pen knife sat there with the blade tucked neatly away. An image of Godwin appeared above me, he was talking but I couldn't understand what he was saying and then I blacked out again.
Chapter 14
A visit to my mothers
The trip to my aunt’s house in Renworth didn't take me long; Godwin had allowed me to take the wagon and blaze, to save my legs and I was very grateful for that.
It had been three weeks after my encounter with the Ogre warlord; it took me that long to heal. I had a cracked rib and bad bruising all over, Godwin was fantastic in helping me recover; he plied me with medicines, potions and ointments to help me regain my strength. And let us not forget the tea; I had so much of it everything I ate or drank tasted of tea.
I had left the alchemist repairing the house and the greenhouse when I left, he was fixing the greenhouse roof to begin with as the Grimly didn't like the gaping hole in its home and he made that clear to Godwin. Of the warlord there was no trace, what the Grimly did to it neither I nor Godwin knew but I would be ever grateful to the creature that lived in the greenhouse. Godwin was happier then I had ever seen him before. As it turned out his cure worked perfectly and the Ogre king managed to defeat the Ogre warlords army.
When I arrived at my auntie’s house my mother came running out when she saw me pulling up outside, I hardly had a chance to get down from the wagon before she was giving me hugs and kisses. She looked very well, better than I had ever seen her.
My auntie Trish made us a feast that kept us filled up as we talked until the early hours of the morning. I didn't tell my mother about everything that had happened to me since I started my apprenticeship, she would just worry. I told her I was enjoying what I was doing, learning the trade and helping people with their problems. She was happy for me and told me if I ever get bored to come and see her. I laughed at that, somehow I didn’t think I would get bored working with the old alchemist.
I spent three days there constantly chatting before I finally had to leave; I told her I would be back as soon as I possibly could and left her a box of the alchemist's special tea. "Drink plenty," I said to her. "At least two cups a day." The thought of the dreaded Night Terror I released came into my mind and it had seen my mother in my dreams, if she drank the tea it wouldn't be able to get into her head I hoped. Of course I didn't tell her that, I just said it is good for her bones.
My mother and auntie waved me goodbye on the morning of my fourth day there, I felt good about myself as I passed through the forest heading back home. I only made one stop on the trip and that was at the large rock by the river where all this started. I soaked in the sun and peace for a while, until a sudden feeling of being watched came over me, I looked around and saw nothing other than Blaze chomping on the grass. Time to go I thought. The little girl Beth entered my head and I shivered. I don't think being an alchemist's apprentice is going to be the easiest of lives.
A special note to readers
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