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“He died in service to the village.”
    Benen sobbed when he heard his father grudgingly agree.
    When this decision had been made, the wizard increased the pace of his walking.
    “You were listening to them, weren’t you?” Benen asked the wizard. The bearded face turned toward him.
    “Master,” the wizard said to him.
    “I’m sorry?”
    “You will address me as Master and you shall not talk to me unless I have first spoken to you. This is your first lesson.”
    “Is that really the first thing you teach about wizardry?”
    The wizard’s brows came together and a wicked smile came upon his face. By this time, they had walked far enough to be out of any villager’s line of sight. The wizard stopped walking and turned upon Benen, looming over him menacingly.
    “No. You’re right. This will be the true beginning of your education in wizardry, boy.”
    Using only one hand to make arcane gestures, the wizard intoned more of the syllables Benen was beginning to recognize as parts of magical incantations. The wizard’s other hand was holding onto Benen’s arm, preventing him from running away. Benen could feel a strange sort of tingling through this contact; it made his hair stand on end.
    When the wizard had done with his casting, he smiled again, quite broadly.
    “Lesson one, my apprentice, is that a wizard can use a single hand to perform magic if there is need. It is more difficult, but manageable to experienced wizards. Even more difficult is casting with no hands, but it is still possible to do.”
    “What was the spell you cast?” Benen asked. Immediately after the words were out of his mouth, Benen started hearing them echo again and again, rising in pitch and intensity until he felt his ears would burst and his head explode. He screamed involuntarily at the pain. When it reached its peak, a minute later, it began to recede. Benen was left panting, his head aching.
    “I think that answered your question,” said the wizard smugly. “Remember: address me as Master and no talking unless I have given you leave.”
    Benen almost said Yes, Master but stopped himself in time. The wizard smiled again.
    “Maybe you can learn. Come along now, my home is some distance away.” The wizard let go of Benen’s hand then and instructed him to follow until told otherwise. Benen did as the wizard asked. He suspected the spell did more than just punish him when he spoke out of turn. He feared what it would do to him if he disobeyed a direct order like this one.
     

CHAPTER 2: SCULLION
     
    The walk to the wizard’s abode was long enough they had to camp overnight. When it came time to stop, the wizard looked up to the sky and stared at it for a few seconds before nodding with satisfaction.
    “Boy, find some wood and bring it back here. Enough for a fire to last the night. Do not stray and come back here without delay. Do you understand?”
    “Yes, Master,” Benen replied, as he must. He left the meadow and searched for dead fall in the brush and light forest nearby. He gathered his findings in a big pile central to his search area. As he was carrying his latest armful back to his pile, he heard a howl in the distance. It startled him so that he dropped the load and stood frozen in place.
    I have no weapon to protect myself , he thought. Then he realized that even with a weapon, he wasn’t trained to fight and he was a small seven year old; what could he do against a wolf or worse?
    Having worked this logic out in his head, Benen decided he needed to get back to the wizard. He loaded his arms with wood from his pile and made his way back to the meadow as fast as he could.
    Looking back to make sure nothing was following him proved to be a mistake: there was something behind him!
    From the darkness in the near distance he saw the faint glimmer of moonlight reflecting on animal eyes — eyes looking at him.
    He hurried and his rushing made him lose, bit by bit, his load of kindling and branches. He didn’t care