A master thought I should start my missions!


    The path to becoming a master and getting the marks was a very long one. First, an apprentice had to survive for years in lethal situations, where a single mistake could mean death. Then, once the Masters believed an apprentice had learned enough, they would graduate them to potentials. These potentials would be paired up and sent on a series of missions without the supervision of a master. Becoming a Bokor granted a lot of power and the Masters wanted to be certain that they weren’t promoting someone who wasn’t capable of using that power.


    I stole a glance at the gray-haired master and held my breath as I waited for my master to speak.


    “The council is waiting for another apprentice to pair with him,” Master Bran answered.


    I felt my heart swelling inside me. Master Bran thought I was ready to become a Master!


    “Looks like your lucky day.” Master Trine slapped me on my sore shoulder, “Master Junk just petitioned the council to send his apprentice on missions.”


    The joy I was feeling vanished. Master James, or Master Junk as some of the Masters called him, had the worst rate of graduating apprentices of any Master ever. Most of his apprentices died before they started their missions, and none had ever survived to become a Master. That’s why they called him Master Junk because that was the type of apprentices he turned out. Apprentices that were worth junk.


    I wanted to speak up, to plead with my master not to pair me with someone that would doom my chances of becoming a Master. I didn’t speak. To do so would only earn me a punishment worse than failure. I know that if the council paired me with a junk apprentice, then there would be no arguing it. We obeyed the will of the council.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    I hung my head as we started walking to the passage under the bridge. I had seen some of the Junk apprentices once. It had been when I was on cleanup duty. The apprentices had tried to bypass the whole process and had swallowed a heart stone. The magic had been too much for him and he had become Touched. I shivered as the memory of his screams shook me. I tried to forget watching a group of masters drag him to one of the warded cells.


    I let my hand touch one of the heartstones on the wall. The purple reservoirs of magic were all over the island fortress. Part of the job of being an apprentice is to tend to the stones to make sure that if there is ever an attack, the Masters would be able to draw on the magic to protect us. During my time as an apprentice there hadn’t been an attack, but some of the masters, like Master Trine, would talk about how the island had been under siege in the past. It was something that I hoped to never see.


    I followed Master Bran down the path to the city. Once we were inside the walls, the guards on the other side waved us through. Unlike Master Trine, who wanted to talk about everything, the apprentices just wanted to verify we had permission to use the passage and then get back to their chores.


    It wasn’t a long walk from the bridge to the houses. Part of the defense structure was to keep the masters close to the front gate and the council as far from danger as possible. The gate was the only way onto the island unless you climbed the walls, so any army would have to make it past all the masters before they could reach the leaders.


    There was a note tacked to Master Bran’s door. He pulled it off and read it. I wondered what he was reading but knew better than to ask. He’d tell me if he wanted me to know.


    “Report to the council.” My master muttered. He tossed the note at me.


    I had to reach forward to catch the letter. I looked up in time to see the door close in my face. For a split second, I wondered if I was supposed to follow. I got my answer when I heard the click of the lock.