Anthony’s Apprenticeship Under Lorent the Cleric

“Ant! Get over here!” Lorent’s impatient assistant shouted through the hallways of the stone temple to get Anthony’s attention.

In a room down the hall Anthony scrambled to put his quill safely above his workspace where it would not get ink on the parchment he was copying. He walked as quickly as would still be considered polite to Lorent’s office. Piena, the assistant, was sitting in Lorent’s chair, at Lorent’s desk, looking over Lorent’s paperwork, as usual.

“Yes sir, how can I help you?” The boy said between pants.

Piena looked over the edge of the scrolls he was examining and smiled at the young boy. “Lorent is going to be traveling to Makenza to meet with his order of Holy Shepards. He needs you to do preparations for the journey.”

“Yes sir,” Anthony replied. He got the necessary information from the assistant and turned to head out the door.

Then Piena said, “and one more thing Ant.” The boy turned around, “You got a letter today.” The assistant waved his hand, and a small parchment floated off the desk and towards the boy. He snatched it out of the air once it was close enough. “Unfortunately it’s not good new.” A devilish smile danced across the assistant’s face.

The first thing Anthony noticed before was not who it was from but that the seal had already been broken. Anthony bared a grin at the man behind the desk and said, “Thank you.”

The gods gave out many gifts in Anthony’s world. Some, like people like Lorent, were given the gift of significant magic. Lorent could heal others of almost any trauma. Lorent was a cleric belonging to the order of the Holy Shepherd. The gods gave others minor magical abilities. Piena was one of these people and could move things with his mind but could not perform tremendous feats. Most people had this level of magical ability. Others, like Anthony, had no magical abilities at all. Some would say he was cursed and none of the gods had given him favor. And while all evidence pointed to this being true, the boy still had some gifts.

These gifts weren’t given to him by the gods, at least not directly like magic was. These gifts were given to him by his mother. He could read and write his letters and combine the numbers doing sums and arithmetic. These were gifts his mother, who had once been a priestess, had taught him.

He now used them to serve the cleric Lorent as a scribe and secretary. Healing was a time and energy consuming task for the cleric. For food, water, shelter, and a continued education Anthony served the holy man by planning all travel and transposing the man’s many scrolls and documents. Anthony took the job because he with it he could send money to his mother and father. But that wasn’t his only motivation. He also dreamed that Lorent could cure his lack of magical abilities. Unfortunately, in the past five years of service, the man hadn’t said a word to Anthony.

Anthony sat back down at his small table in the study and unfolded the letter he had received. It was from his mother, but he didn’t have to read the signature to know that. Of the two people in the world that cared about him, she was the only parent that could write.

Sweet Anthony,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am low on ink so I must be brief. The crops are filling in, but they are not as plentiful as we had hoped. Your father says this is because he has been unable to work them every day. I have had to assure him that it is merely a rough season. He has failed to work in the field because his health has been leaving him. I have done what I can with the few herbs and medicines I have, but it has not done much for him.

I have no desire to distract you from your apprenticeship or your studies, but if you can find the time to steal away and visit your father, it would do wonders for his fading heart.

Love always,

Father & Moth

The ink of the letter produced a gradient on the page. The boy’s name was in jet black ink, but by the time the signature came, the lettering was made with an empty grey. He held the paper at an angle to the light and saw that the last two letters were not written in ink but had been lightly scratched in. She had continued to write the final letters without any ink.

Anthony reread the note until he understood his mother’s meaning. His father was dying, but she didn’t have the heart to tell him. Unfortunately, with Lorent’s trip to Makenza coming up there would be no way for him to visit them.

He cursed the gods as he had many times before under many different circumstances. His father was too young for death in Anthony’s mind. The boy had always dreamed that once he became an assistant for the cleric, he would be able to move his parents into the halls of the assistant so they wouldn’t have to work the farm in their old age.

He had pitched the idea to Piena before since the man had no living relatives himself, but the assistant just snorted and told him that he would rather have the rooms empty than filled with peasants.

Anthony had retorted with a comment about when he became an assistant he would show the Holy Shepherd’s love by filling all empty rooms with people who needed them. Unfortunately, this leads to Piena continually mocking him about his dream of becoming an assistant. At every turn, Piena stopped the boy from showing his few abilities off to Lorent or any person of mention. It was after that point that Anthony quit sharing his dreams with anyone.

He sat and thought about the information his mother sent him. Anthony mourned his father’s sickness but steeled himself against grief that would stop him from doing work. Then he pulled out scrolls, maps, and timetables off of the shelves of the study. His mind went to work at what it did best. Anthony began making travel plans for more than one party. By the wee hours of the morning, and many candles later, he had three things: an inkling of hope for his father’s recovery, a clear map for Lorent’s journey, and a letter to his mother that he would have to send without Piena finding it.

Three days later Lorent and his caravan set out for Makenza following the path Anthony had set for them. It would take them five days to get to the city. The group was small. It contained three minor priests that followed the cleric and a boy younger than Anthony whose parents had paid Lorent for his safe passage.

The first day of travel was uneventful. Anthony started the morning early, packed the cleric’s bags and prepared the animals for the trip. He double checked that the scrolls Lorent requested were stored safely in a small waterproof chest. Anthony packed the food, medicine, and other supplies carefully on the mule-drawn cart.

The company left the temple an hour after sunrise, ahead of schedule thanks to Anthony’s preparations. The rest of that day was uneventful, and they made camp in the evening at a spot Anthony found on an old map. Around the campfire, Lorent remarked to the group that he felt great spiritual energy in the place.

Piena replied with, “Thank you, my lord, I made sure to find a place that would suit you.” Anthony stayed quiet.

The next morning Anthony awoke before sunrise, prepared the company’s breakfast and loaded the supplies that had been used at camp back onto the animals. As he did this, he overheard a conversation between Lorent and his assistant.

“I had a dream from the Shepherd last night,” Lorent said in an inconspicuous tone. “She was warning me that this journey is being used for selfish purposes.”

“Hmmm,” Piena replied with interest. Anthony’s forehead began to sweat despite the cool morning breeze. “Did the goddess mention who was manipulating the voyage?”

“No,” Lorent replied, “That part she did not reveal to me, the future is still not clear. You are the only one who knows this. We must stay vigilant and keep the young boy who is in our care safe. His mother paid me well to lead him to Makenza safely.”

“Of course of course,” the assistant said.

“I will consult my priests individually to see if the goddess blessed them with any knowledge that I do not have. Maybe she will reveal which one of them may be behind this.”

“That seems very wise indeed my lord,” Piena replied.

The conversation ended, and Anthony quickly got back to work wondering how he would handle being found out by Lorent.

Anthony was on edge the entire second day of travel, but no one approached him with the subject. Lorent was as stoic as ever, and if he hadn’t heard their conversation, the boy would have never expected the cleric to be on to his plans.

On the third day of travel, no one had approached Anthony about the potential deceit, and he had all but forgotten about it until the end of the day.

Lorent was leading the caravan and consulting one of his priests as the party approached a fork in the road. The cleric halted the party and Piena came to the front. Anthony followed with the map of the journey.

“Which way do we proceed Piena?” Lorent asked.

“To the right my lord,” the assistant said without consulting Anthony.

Anthony spoke up in a meek tone, “Actually sirs, I planned for us to go left.”

Both men looked at him surprised. Anthony presented the map. It showed that both ways lead to Makenza, and the right path was undoubtedly shorter. Piena pointed out this much and looked down his nose to challenge Anthony to disagree.

“I admit the right is a shorter path, but it is through the mountains and will be hard on the animals. The left path is longer but smoother, and I made sure that we left with enough time. This way will get us to Makenza with plenty of time and the horses, not to mention we, will be fresher when we arrive.”

Piena scoffed in disagreement. “You are wasting all of our time with this.” He turned to Lorent for agreement. “Lord, which direction should we take?”

The cleric looked at the horizon. The sun was about to set. “It sounds like we have time regardless of the path we take. Let us make camp here for the evening, and you two can settle the decision between yourselves.” Lorent dismounted his horse and lead them to a clearing to make camp.

Anthony proceeded to prepare food for the evening and cooked for everyone as usual. Piena didn’t bring up the situation of which path to take and by the time dishes from dinner were finished Anthony had no energy to argue with the assistant. The group went to bed around the embers of the fire.

Late in the night, Anthony was shaken awake. The boy gasped for air, but a hand covered his mouth. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw Piena looming over him. “Look Ant,” the man spat, “I don’t know how you found out about my plan, but I won’t let you ruin it. We’re taking the mountain road so the thugs I hired can take care of Lorent.”

Anthony’s eyes grew wide in shock, “Mrmmr,” he said through his muffled mouth. He didn’t know anything about Piena’s plot, but now that he did he wasn’t going to let Piena get away with it. He tried to cry out again but couldn’t make a sound. Piena held the boy still and silent with both his hand. Then the evil assistant used his magic to levitate his knife out of its sheath. The blade floated from his waist to Anthony’s throat. He felt the sharp metal press against his neck.

“You know, no one would notice if you were gone. I wouldn’t even have to hide your dead body very well. Lorent wouldn’t even remember you if you disappeared.”

“You’re a useless little non-magic boy,” the man continued “your only talent is being able to write and plan, and even that you seem to mess up. Well, this time it’s going to cost you your life.”

“No, it won’t.” A voice came from the darkness. A sword was unsheathed and illuminated the campsite with its light. The sword lit up its wielder’s face. Lorent was standing in front of the boy and the assistant. Slowly the rest of the camp started to wake up in the commotion.

The knife that was magically held at Anthony’s throat dropped to the ground as Piena lost concentration on it.

“I dreamt like there was someone tricking me and going to betray me.” Lorent said, “Then I heard the scream of a boy in my mind. I woke up and heard your whispering carried through the night. You were the one that planned to betray this caravan.”

By this time the cleric’s followers were surrounding Piena and the boy. “Tie him up and we will carry him to the authorities in Makenza.”

The assistant looked at the knife that was laying on the ground. He tried to move it, but Anthony put his small hand on the hilt. He felt it struggle in his hand, but Anthony fought Piena’s magical powers. Then a priest put his hands over the assistant’s eyes and put him into a deep magical sleep.

The next day they took the long path around the mountain as Anthony had suggested. Halfway through the day’s travels they came across a man and woman waiting on the side of the road. The man was young but looked sick and weak. The woman appeared tired from helping him on their journey. As Lorent approached them, he halted the caravan to see if he could provide aid.

The cleric approached the couple. “I see you are tired and sick, is there anything I can do to help?” He asked.

“You are kind sir,” the woman responded, “Our son mentioned that if the gods were good, we might be able to find you on this road. We were hard-pressed to get here quick enough, but it seems we were blessed.”

“Your son, how did he know?” Lorent looked at the woman confused.

Then Anthony trotted up on his small pony, and his mother smiled at him. After he got down, they embraced, and he greeted his father who was seated on the ground propped against a rock. The man was pale from his fading heart.

“Sir Lorent. I have not been entirely truthful.” Anthony began to explain. “We took the longer path so that I could see my father once more before he passed. I knew that I would not be able to leave your service to see him so I thought I could meet him on the road. I’m sorry that I hid this from you.”

Lorent let out a wondrous laugh, “Boy you could not be more wrong. I am grateful that we took this longer path for it saved my life.” The cleric squatted to inspect the old man. He looked at Anthony’s mother and asked what was wrong. After hearing the diagnosis, he told one of his priests to fetch specific herbs and medicines from the cart.

Lorent prepared a potion and changed a spell to help the father. By the end of the short break at the side of the road the man was able to stand up. “Here are some spare herbs.” Lorent said, addressing Anthony’s mother, “Please give them to him as you see fit, he should be better in a week.”

“Thank you, sir,” she responded. “Is there anything we can do to repay you?”

Lorent smiled, “No your son has been enough of a blessing to me. Is there anything else we can do for you? Do you need supplies for the way back home?”

“No there’s nothing,” the woman responded.

“Actually, there is one thing,” Anthony said interrupting. His parents and Lorent looked down at the small boy. “If you wouldn’t mind sir, I was hoping we could give my mother more ink so that she could write me. She ran out writing me the last letter about my father.”

“Do we have any extra?” Lorent asked one of his priests. The priest shrugged not knowing.

“Yes, we do,” Anthony said, “I brought an extra vial,” the young man produced a small black bottle out of his satchel.

“Of course you did,” Lorent said with a smile. He took the bottle out of the boy’s hand and passed it on to the mother. “Please write to him as often as you can. But more importantly, come visit.”

“Thank you sir, but we could never intrude like that,” the mother protested.

“Nonsense,” the cleric rebuffed, “Your son is my assistant now since the last one has been so dishonest. Your son has an honest soul, and as the assistant, he has extra rooms for his family at our temple. Please come join us when your husband is healthy enough to travel.”

“Assistant?” The mother said in shock. She looked at Anthony for clarification, but he was as confused as her.

“Your son has served me loyally for years. He has learned a lot from his texts and from watching me. He may never have magic powers but he has an honest heart, and that is far more valuable than magic.” Lorent looked down at the boy. “That is if you will be willing to work with me and continue the work of the Holy Sheperd.”

Anthony beamed with admiration. The midday sun illuminated his hero. Anthony replied boldly, “Thank you, sir. I would be honored to serve you and the Sheperd.”

PHOTO CREDIT: rdnk, b1gw1ght, Albion Europe ApS, Visual hunt, Polyrus, hans s, VisualHunt, h.koppdelaney, Visualhunt, Olivia Anne Ungemach, hans s, Keith Williamson