Read Online The Seventh Apprentice by Joseph Delaney - Free Book Online

waited as she scrambled to her feet, his staff once more in the diagonal position. He breathing was still normal, and he looked totally calm and relaxed. He knew exactly what he was doing, and stood poised and ready.
    The way he fought was impressive. One day I could be like him, I told myself. It was what I wanted. I had to work hard to emulate my master’s skills.
    The witch was now chanting spells as she raised her blades again. My master wasn’t moving, and I suddenly grew concerned. Was he being controlled by her magic?
    But then I saw that he was striding purposefully forward, lunging toward her with his staff; the blade at its tip buried itself in the witch’s body. The knives fell from her hands, and with a scream she tumbled backward and rolled away down the slope into the mist.
    The Spook followed her, and now I saw that the blade at the end of his staff was red with blood. “Where’s my silver chain, lad?” he demanded in a gruff voice.
    “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I said. “It’s down there in the valley. I threw it at the witch, but it didn’t bind her properly. I should have listened to you and practiced more.”
    “Well, let that be a lesson to you,” he growled. “Now you know what those long hours of practice are for. Without my silver chain, I was forced to do it the hard way and stab her through the heart.”
    “Is she dead?” I asked.
    “Aye, lad.”
    “But won’t she come back from the dead?”
    “You’re right—that will happen eventually, unless we do something about it. But it takes days. . . . Sometimes a witch doesn’t stir until the light of the full moon shines over her body or her grave. We’ll wait for dawn and then, when we can see better, we’ll go down and do what’s necessary. Then we must deal with the remains of the farmer, his wife, and that boy’s father. They should be laid to rest properly. But now, lad, tell me all that happened to you. Tell me every detail and leave nothing out!”
    So we sat down together on the tree stump and I began my tale, taking my time and giving a full and careful account of all that had transpired. As I talked, my breathing and heartbeat returned to normal. I became calmer and started to feel safe for the first time in days.
    “You weren’t really turned into a pig, lad. You know that, don’t you?” my master said when I’d finished.
    I nodded. “But it seemed so real. At the time I was totally convinced.”
    “From what you’ve told me, that witch was just about the most powerful creator of magical illusions I’ve ever encountered. But I’ve no doubt that the majority of the magic was in that potion she made you drink. It altered your mind, changed your perceptions. If it hadn’t been for the fact that you’re a seventh son of a seventh son, you’d have stayed that way until the witch was dead.”
    “So Peter will recover now?”
    “It might take a while, but he’ll get back to normal. We’d better go down and make sure he’s all right, but there’s nothing dangerous in this valley anymore.”
    As we set off down the slope, I turned to the Spook and asked him. “What about before I drank the potion? I really thought I was standing on a hill, and those marble pillars seemed real enough.”
    “There’s a legend that comes from a country called Greece. It tells of a powerful witch called Circe who turned men into pigs. I’ve never visited Greece myself, but I’ve heard of it. It’s a very warm country in summer, and many of the old buildings have marble pillars such as you described.”
    “So you think the pig witch was Circe and I was transported to Greece?”
    The Spook smiled and shook his head. “Nay, lad, I don’t believe in that legend, so I never included it in my Bestiary.”
    The Bestiary was an account of his encounters with the dark, and a guide to the different categories of creature he had faced; he’d illustrated it himself. It was one of the few books I’d glanced at in his library,