THE CONJURER APPRENTICE
(3 months later)
"Orion you must come, something bad has happened", Minna rushed to tell me.
"What's wrong Minna?" I asked the sister of the village's healer.
"Bommurs was beaten unconscious, and Raven was taken away by the town hall", Minna told me.
"What happened?" I asked Minna.
"It's Michonn and his brother Darronn, they wanted Bommurs and Raven's serpent armor and when they refused to give them, so they beat them up", Minna told me in a nutshell about what happened to my friends.
"Where was Raven taken?" I asked Minna.
"To the Town Hall, they were accused of stealing", Minna told me.
"We'll go there right away", I replied to her.
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"My son is not a thief, Orion gave the armor to him?" Caelum told the village court, pleading and explaining on behalf of his son.
"Yes, Orion gave it to us", Raven added to his father's argument.
"There is no way you cheap beggars could have such valuable magical items you must have stolen it from someone", Michonn said to them.
"Yes, Caelum you must explain how you got the magic armor", Wilmonn the Baron of Slowan told Caelum.
"But I already told you the truth, the carpenter's son gave my son the armor", Caelum pleaded with the Baron.
However, the Baron doesn't believe a word that Caelum said. In his mind, there was no way the poor villager could afford armor that he would struggle to get.
"You are just making up the story. The carpenter's son like your son cannot afford to buy such a valuable magic armor. He must have stolen it from someone", the baron told the hunter.
"It is the truth", Caelum pleaded with the baron again, this time kneeling and begging.
"There is no need to beg for reason", I told Caelum suddenly as I walked into the Town Hall before announcing to everyone, "Yes, I gave the magical armor to Raven and also Bommurs".
"Another liar. What is with you poor peasants of my town", Wilmonn shouted to Caelum without addressing me at all.
"He's another thief quickly arrest him, he also stole another one of those magical armor", Michonn told the town's guards before signaling them to arrest me.
"Who dares arrest me while I hold this", I told the guards as I held a badge in my hand and raised it before the court of elders in Slowan town.
"That is a Conjurer's Badge", one of the elder shouted out in surprise and the entire hall quieted down upon hearing the mention about a Conjurer.
"He's not a Conjurer, this Orion. We know him, he is the beggar son of the carpenter", Michonn shouted out to the town court.
"My son is right. How can the carpenter's son become a Conjurer? He must have stolen the badge", Wilmonn told the court of elders.
"Arrest him immediately", one elder shouted to the guards when I stopped him.
"This is not a Conjurer's Badge. This is my Badge, the Badge of an Apprentice Conjurer", I told the town hall loudly.
"Apprentice Conjurer?" the people in the court asked between themselves.
"Since when are you a Conjurer Apprentice?" Wilmonn the baron finally asked me.
"I've become Conjurer Greenduff's apprentice, didn't you all hear?" I asked the court of elders as they murmured among themselves.
"There is no proof of it. You are lying", Michonn accused me.
"I have a letter from the Conjurer Greenduff accepting me as his apprentice. His magical seal is on the letter", I told them as I brought out a letter.
Suddenly, the letter that I brought out lit up brightly as the image of Greenduff's head appeared briefly over the document, right above where his signature was. This was the magic of the Conjurers, leaving a magical sign, when they endorse a letter or contract.
Baron Wilmonn respectfully took the letter from Greenduff from me and studied it with his town elders. The letter was genuine, and they respectfully returned it to me.
"Now that we have the matter of my Apprenticeship settled, we shall come back to the matter at hand, and while we are at it, bring me a chair", I told the court.
"What chair?" Baron Wilmonn asked me.
"Well, the chair you are sitting on is good enough for me, at least there is no better in this damned town", I told the court who rose up in angry murmurs.
"Who is this boy to demand from us, elders of the town?" they asked among themselves.
But Wilmonn, the baron wasn't angry at my request. At least his anger if he had them wasn't apparent on his facial expressions.
"Give him my chair", Wilmonn told his guards as he gave up his chair for me and took another chair.
"Father, why must you listen to him? He's just the beggar son of the carpenter, just bloody arrest him", Michonn shouted to his father.
"Not just the son of the carpenter anymore, a Conjurer Apprentice", I reminded the baron's youngest son.
"Stop it hear him out first, he's the Conjurer's apprentice we can't arrest him like that", Wilmonn told his son before he asked me, "where did you get the magical armor, did you steal from your Conjurer master?", Wilmonn asked me.
Although the Baron can arrest anyone he likes in his village, he was a little reluctant when it came to me because I was the Conjurer's apprentice.
Although Greenduff wasn't wealthy or powerful he was nevertheless a conjurer which was a prestigious occupation in this world, and he was a member of the Conjurer Court in Drachia which was beyond even the jurisdiction of the kings of the Ten-Kingdoms.
Nymera kingdom, our kingdom wasn't even worthy of being considered as a part of the Ten-Kingdoms of the land. We were just an outlying land of barbaric people that the civilizations of the Ten-Kingdoms couldn't be bothered about.
"Just arrest him", Michonn shouted out to the guards.
"Nobody here can arrest an Apprentice of the Conjurer's Court, even the King of Nymera doesn't have that authority", I told the town's court and elders to their shock and fear.
"Who is this boy who can defy even the king of our land?" one of the elders asked.
"The Carpenter's son and a Conjurer Apprentice of the Conjurers Court of Drachia", I replied to him.
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