The Doormaster's Apprentice

  * * * * *

  He woke to sunlight shining on his face. Voices drifted up through the open window. He rolled over and lifted himself up on one elbow. With a yawn he scratched his head and looked out the window. In the street below his friend Mica stood next to the Doormaster. He was dressed in a dark brown homespun shirt fastened at the neck with leather drawstrings. His deerskin pants were tucked into sturdy high-topped boots. From under a wide brimmed hat his black hair hung down his neck.

  Suddenly Liam remembered. Today he was leaving to install the door. He was late! Jumping off the bed he smoothed out his robe. At least he didn’t have to get dressed. He grabbed his pack and rushed down the stairs.

  Mica and the Doormaster were standing next to a battered old cart as Liam burst outside. He tried to smooth down his hair that stuck out in odd little clumps.

  “There you are my lad. Hope you enjoyed your last night in a soft bed. For a fortnight it will be rocks for pillows and starlight for a roof.” The Doormaster looked around and took a deep breath. “A fine day for young men to be starting an adventure.” If he took note of Liam’s disheveled look he gave no indication.

  Frowning, Liam ran his hand over the weathered side rail.

  “It is a bit rugged, isn’t it lad? But a lonely road is not the place to display your wealth. No need to attract unwanted attention.”

  “We won’t be attracting much attention with this rig,” Mica said. “Unless you include wood beetles in your tally.”

  “Won’t the door attract attention?” Liam asked.

  The Doormaster’s eyes twinkled behind his rose tinted spectacles. “Tell me lad. Do you see a door?”

  Liam looked in the cart, but all he saw was a layer of straw. “No sir, but won’t they look under the straw?”

  Smiling, the Doormaster lifted a false panel at the back of the cart and pointed. The door had been slid into a compartment hidden under the cart’s floor.

  “And that’s not the end of it, lad. Pick up the seat.”

  Examining the seat, Liam discovered two small hinges. “It looks like a door, sir.”

  “Well open it lad.”

  Liam pulled up on the seat and found he wasn’t looking at the floor of the cart at all but into a small cupboard filled with dark brown bread and sharp yellow cheese.

  “The seat is a door that I linked to a cupboard. Hodekin and I will keep it stocked for you. Should be enough there for breakfast and lunch, in case someone has missed his.” The Doormaster winked at Liam.

  Feeling a little guilty, Liam looked back at his master with a smile. “Thank you sir.”

  Mica looked over Liam’s shoulder. “Hard beds will seem softer with our bellies full.”

  “One last thing,” said the Doormaster. He handed Liam a pendant on a chain. “This will show you where to place the door. It is linked to its twin, which is located somewhere on the shore of Yellow Finger Lake. Follow the King’s Highway beyond Fairgrove. Sometime on the second day, I should think, it will swing north, pointing out a path leading into the woods. Follow it until you find its twin. It is there that you will install the door.”

  From an inside pocket of his robe he pulled a small silver box. He handed it to Liam. “Once you have found its mate you can place both pendants in here and set the box in the cupboard beneath the seat.”

  Liam put the box into his pocket and slipped the chain over his head, tucking the pendant inside his robe. It felt cool against his skin.

  “Well lads, time for the adventure to start. Keep to the road. Keep together. Keep your wits.”

  With that the boys climbed up on the cart. Mica snapped the reins, and with a wave the boys headed down the road.