The Wheelwright's Apprentice (13 page)

Art hy"> someone ead come to worry a little bit with every task he did that Ellary might try to sabotage his work. He had come to see Ellary as a very insecure girl. He guessed that she was quite unhappy and didn’t really know what to do about it. This piece of insight only told him why she was being so difficult. It didn’t help him stop her. He had thought of confronting her, but it was still too early and she might deny everything and run to her father. He contented himself with being vigilant.

He was given a job drilling holes in a set of carriage rims. The holes had to be drilled very carefully so as to avoid cracks. They also had to be exactly so far apart and to an even depth. It was precision work, and one mistake could ruin the whole rim. When he finished he realized that this was a good chance for him to be embarrassed should a crack be found in any of the holes. After he finished he hid the good rims and left out a set he had been practicing on. He Willed them to resemble the ones he had worked on and went to report to his Master.

As he stepped onto the porch of the main house, he heard a small noise. It was as if something small had fallen to the floor. He looked down, and there was a button. He checked his shirt and it was the third. Wondering whether it was coincidence, he decided to go back to his room and sew his button back anyway. He didn’t see anyone come out of his room so he pushed the door slowly so that he could see if the shoe had been moved. It had. He quickly looked to see if anything new had been put into the room. If there had been if wouldn’t be anywhere too difficult as they had had only a minute, if that. He made a quick scan of his room. It was in the pocket of his jerkin, hanging up. Not money or jewelry, simply a carving tool. He heard several steps coming up the stairs to his room so he Willed it onto the workbench where Master Jangon did most of his carving, and got out his needle.

The door burst open and there was Jangon himself flanked by Dannoy and Trorn. Art looked up, posing theatrically with his needle in his hand. It seemed he was not expected to be in his room as none of them could speak immediately. Standing up, he said apologetically, “I am sorry I am just sewing a button back on, Master. I will be back to work as soon as I can.”

Jangon found his voice. “I am missing a special carving tool, and Trorn said he saw you looking at it and examining it.”

“Oh yes, it was a funny looking thing, but I left it right on your workbench where I saw it.”

Dannoy looked at Trorn and then at Art, “Do you mind if I make sure it’s not here?” With Art’s assent, he quickly went through the room, revealing only the book his father had given him as anything out of the ordinary. “You can read then?”

Art nodded, “Yes, but not as well as I would like.”

Jangon butted in, “How about your numbers, any good?”

“I’m not too sure of your standards,

so I was waiting for you to test me, Master.”

Forgetting about the tool, Jangon laughed, “I never thought to test you as I didn’t think you could read or figure. I’ll do that tomorrow.”

Dannoy turned to Jangon. “I’ll have another look at your workbench.” He scrambled off downstairs and moments later came back, waving the tool. “Right where he said it was.” And that put the whole matter to bed.

It seemed it was going to be one of those days. Art figured he had to look at the rims that he had left out almost as bait. On exas ter. I wiamination it seemed that Ellary had taken the opportunity of all the men being busy with him to make a small crack in one of those rims. Art simply took his good set to Master Jangon who approved the work.

Dinner that evening was a rather restrained affair. Master Jangon addressed Art just before they sat down to table, “Gim, I am sorry that we thought you might have taken my carving tool. You have done very well since you came to me and have done nothing wrong at all. It is in our nature to suspect the newcomer, and that was unjust.”

Dannoy and Trorn echoed this with a pair of sorrys. Art then replied, “You are very kind, Master, most Masters would have said nothing. Please let me do well for you in the future.” This of course left everyone at the table wondering what was going on. Art thereupon behaved as if nothing unusual had happened. Both Trorn and Ellary seemed distracted, and the conversation lagged. Trorn had no idea how Art had managed to get the tool back to the workbench so quickly. He couldn’t say anything as he was the one who had put the tool in Art’s jerkin. He also had no idea why Art had covered for him by agreeing he had touched the tool. Trorn knew Art had never even seen the tool as he had taken it straight from its rack.

Ellary for her part was not only wondering how Art had easily sidestepped all the potholes she had placed in front of him, but could not understand why nothing had been said either. She was astute enough to see that someone else had tried to set Art up and she didn’t know why that hadn’t come out. She was one very confused young lady.

As soon as the main course was finished, Art stood up, and said, “It’s my night to help at the Temple. Please excuse me as they are expecting me.” Art nodded to his master and left without waiting for a reply.

Although most of the people at the table wanted to talk about Art now that he had gone, no one managed to broach the subject. They just looked at each other until Mistress Salia broke the silence with, “Now, who would like a nice slice of apple pie?”

Art dashed to his room and took the short cut to the Temple. He had some better clothes there and he changed as soon as he had paid his respects to Anaxis. Moments later, he was in Red City, hundreds of miles away ready to meet Amia. She was waiting for him at their usual place in the Temple vestibule, but she was not sporting her usual carefree smile. She just flung herself at him and hugged him as tightly as she could. He merely hugged her back. After a while she managed to loosen her grip slightly and whispered in his ear, “I’m pregnant.”

19

“I’m pregnant!” These were unexpected words. For a sixteen year old boy they were unimaginable. He just held her back for the longest time, eventually whispering, “Don’t worry I am sure I can work something out whatever it is. Whatever we want, whatever you want, I think we had better, I know I had better get something to eat and we can talk about it afterwards...” His voice had cracked and trailed off.

This was the first time Amia had seen Art anything other than supremely confident and fully in control. In a way, she was happy to be seeing that he was occasionally completely at a loss. He was in fact a normal boy, or would have been if he didn’t have the Will.

They walked mutely hand in hand for a while and ended up at the Porcelain Kettle. Amia needed a cup of tea, badly. After two cups and a very big slice of a cream-covered cakeas tend , they both felt stable enough to talk.

“What do you want to do?” was the predictable first question.

Her equally predictable answer, “I have no idea,” merely elicited a squeeze of the hand from Art.

He was at a loss as to what to say or what to ask, so he waited a bit and then said, “I will do whatever it takes to ensure that whatever you want to happen happens.” He had at last recovered his poise and went on, much more confidently and reassuringly, “It will be alright. I will make it so.” He gripped her hand and put his face closely in front of hers. “I can do anything can’t I? I have the Will.”

Being able to do virtually anything and knowing what that anything might be were two completely different things. Amia knew that, but she also had confidence that Art would sort things out. It wasn’t that he was so powerful and could do so much, it was that he really cared and that he was inventive. If there wasn’t an obvious way he would make one. This was what allowed her to relax for the first time since she had found out. As long as it was Art, he would make it right. For the first time that evening she smiled, and for the first time since he had greeted her he smiled back.

They left with their arms around each other and went to Calando’s inn where they grabbed a quick snack before borrowing one of his rooms. It was a different kind of lovemaking that they enjoyed that evening. They spent a lot of time holding each other, kissing and stroking each other’s faces before they indulged in a very tender and slow congress.

Art knew he had made Amia happy. He parted from her knowing that he would find a way to keep his promise to make everything right. He had to. Amia had no idea exactly what she wanted yet. He had no idea what he wanted; it was just too new for him. He hardened his heart against his wants. She was the important one here and her wishes were paramount. She had only a normal life, and the wrong decisions at this stage could easily ruin it. He might live hundreds of years, and have other chances. The problem was that if he did make a wrong decision, he might regret it for a very long time.

Work proceeded normally at Master Jangon’s shop. This was a blessing, as he didn’t need any problems there while he had a really big one to worry about. There were no more pranks played on him, and it seemed that he was more accepted. Trorn was openly friendly and helpful, and Ellary actually smiled at him. That was a first. Art felt able to relax for once, which was just as well as he had a lot of thinking to do. How would he feel if she wanted to keep the baby? What about if she didn’t? His head was whirling. He told himself,
“Don’t worry until you know what she wants. What ifs aren’t any help. Calm down and wait.”
Nonetheless, Art spent an anxious week.

Two days before he was due to see Amia again, he was called into the office by Master Jangon. Ellary was standing beside him smiling. “Gim, it’s your turn to help Ellary carry the shopping. Don’t leave anything behind.” With that gruff direction Art had his first chance since coming to Master Jangon’s shop to see something of the City; he was also going to be alone with Ellary for the first time. He wondered that she hadn’t objected.

“Here, Gim,” Ellary told him, as they passed through the hallway, “grab those two bags hanging on that peg.” They were the first words she had said to him for quite a while.

As he took the bags, Art told himself,
“Perhaps it will be a bit more normal now. I am slowly being accowl
Their destination was a marketplace quite a bit away from the shop, where all sorts of provender was for sale. It was huge. Art groaned when he discovered that Ellary’s shopping list was huge too. It was going to be a long haul back to the shop. Art contented himself with looking around seeing what was recognizable and what wasn’t while the bags were loaded fuller and fuller.

The market also had a corner for livestock. Ellary told Art, “I’ve got everything I wanted, but I want to take a few minutes to admire the piglets. I think they’re cute.”

Art followed her over to the livestock area, found a spare patch of ground and sat down. He knew he would need all his energy to carry the shopping home. “I’m sitting down now. Let me know when you’re ready to leave,” he called out to her. She ignored him, so he ignored her and cast around him, watching the day go by.

Several minutes later he heard several loud curses followed by screaming. A bull had broken free somehow from its enclosure, and was amongst the shoppers. The bull had gored Ellary and flung her down and trampled on her as he turned. He immediately ran towards Ellary and the bull. He Willed the bull’s left foreleg broken so that the bull stumbled and fell away from her. He scooped her up and they vanished.

As soon as he had appeared in the Temple, he ran through it, straight to the room where he did his healing. Anaxis wasn’t there, so he shouted to the nearest acolyte, “Get Anaxis and get him now!” The acolyte didn’t know that it was Art as he was still wearing his “Gim” face, but seeing the state that the patient was in, he left running. Art gently laid her down on the table.

Art was already keeping her heart going himself and was concentrating on stopping the worst of the bleeding, but couldn’t do more on his own. He needed help. It didn’t seem to be coming. He took his attention away from the heart to see if it could work on its own. It couldn’t. Unless Anaxis came to help it would be all up to him. He decided to gamble and leave the heart stopped for a short time. She would lose less blood without it pumping too. He concentrated on stopping the bleeding from the thigh where the bull’s horn had gored her. By now several of his regular helpers had shown up and he quickly asked for a clean cloth and water. He was given them, opened the wound wide enough to clean it, and then Willed it closed by stages. He had taken less than a minute. He Willed the heart to start again, leant back and took stock. There were still a lot of injuries.

One at a time. That was the way to do it, but which one was the worst? He could see lots of bruises. The ones on the torso were probably the ones to go for first as there could be internal bleeding. Fortunately Ellary was unconscious. It was hard for him to keep the heart beating and heal at the same time. There was no sign of Anaxis, so he slowed the heart and tried to tackle the injuries individually. After a while Ellary appeared to be coming around so he blocked her pain. He tried letting go of the heart to see if it could beat on its own and falteringly, it did. He quickly tackled the worst remaining injury, the right kidney. Being able to bring all his Will to bear, he opened her up and repaired all the internal contusions and burst blood vessels, siphoned off the blood washing around and Willed it back into her bloodstream. He was working fast now that he didn’t have to concentrate on the heart. It seemed that she was at last out of danger, but there was still a lot to be done.

“You are Art, aren’t you?” came from one of the helpers beside him, a big, broad shouldered man called Hanston. “You’re still wearing another face.” Oner fg too. He of the others held up a mirror for him. He peered into it and then his face flowed cleanly back to being Art.

“I was too busy, thanks,” he told his audience. “Now I’ll do the left forearm and wrist.” He spent another half hour working on her many minor breaks and contusions. Eventually he was finished. She was still unconscious and had lost a lot of blood. She was however totally healed, and but for the shock and the blood loss was in as good shape as she had been before. He gave instructions for her to be kept warm and comfortable, and to be fed beef broth when she woke.

He sat down and was handed a cup of sweet tea which he gulped down. With returning reality, he gasped, “Her parents, they have to be told. Please send someone to Master Jangon the wheelwright. He scribbled directions on a piece of paper and the man who had held the mirror for him promised to have the message delivered. Art was exhausted. He also had to put back his “Gim” face and tell Ellary’s parents a good story when they arrived. A minute or so later, it came to him.

“Hanston, I need a favour. If you need to know why, you can ask Anaxis when you see him.” Art put his hand on a big shoulder. “I’ll owe you one.”

Hanston smiled, “You have the Will and you’ll owe me?” He rubbed his hands together happily. “No problem, what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to be in the vestibule to meet the girl’s parents when they arrive. I simply want you to tell them their daughter is fine and that the boy who brought her in was so exhausted that you made him lie down and rest. That was me wearing the face that I left on too long. After you have spoken to them, I’ll come forward, that’s not much, is it?”

Art went and sat in a chair in a corner to rest. He put his “Gim” face back on, but didn’t bother with cleaning the blood off his clothes as he was now supposed to have carried her the best part of a mile while she bled on him. He drifted off.

He woke up to see Master Jangon and Mistress Salia standing over him. “You were asleep when we arrived so we didn’t want to disturb you. We saw Ellary, but were told not to wake her. It seems that you were quite the hero today.” Mistress Salia hadn’t spoken to him so kindly before, so he stood up and replied, “I only did what anybody in my position would have done.”

He got a very good smile from Master Jangon. “But you did it. Why don’t you go home and take the rest of the day off?” Art thanked them and went home.

Later at dinner without Ellary, whom Art had told Hanston to keep for two days at the Temple, they all tried to pump Art for the story. He was easily able to tell them of the trip to the market and the rampaging bull. He chose to leave out the goriest details as he didn’t want to upset her parents. When he was asked about his trek to the Temple, all he said was, “I just wanted to get her there. I didn’t think of anything else.” As soon as he could, he excused himself citing the need for rest. He really did need to rest and was soon fast asleep.

Two days later, he was again visiting Red City and Amia. She greeted him happily and kissed him fondly. She was all smiles. Art guessed she had not only chosen which path to take with respect to their baby, but had also come to terms with that decision. He decided to wait until they were having their meal before he broached the subject.

She steered him back to the cafe where Deria, her neighbor, worked. Art thought that she wanted to show him off to Deria again. They took a secluded table atludtify">< the back and Deria appeared almost at once with two glasses of water. “Art, how nice to see you again. I hear you have made Amia very happy. She grinned widely and placed the glasses down. “I can suggest the lamb stew. It’s meaty.” Now she looked wicked. They both ordered the stew.

Finally, here was a good time to ask that all important que
stion, “Amia darling, I can see that your mind is made up, so what do you want to do about our baby?” He nervously reached for his glass.

Amia took his free hand and cheerfully said, “Art, I know you can do anything. I can’t stay pregnant. I really am much too young to have a baby, and both my parents and my Master would go crazy. On the other hand, there is no way that I could get rid of the baby we have made together. I know you can work it out!

The sound of his glass shattering on the floor was very loud in the silence.