Rite of Passage
by BookwormDragon
Disclaimer: Neither the Sorcerer's Apprentice Universe nor any of the Characters in the Sorcerer's Apprentice Universe belong to me. No profit is made from this story on my part. No copyright infringement is intended.
Balthazar watched his new apprentice struggle against the enchanted cleaning supplies in amusement.
He was actually rather proud: he had been in his fourth year of apprenticeship before he had had either the skill or the courage to attempt such a thing. At the time, he had thought that Merlin was going to murder him, but looking back, he realized that his Master must have been just as amused as he was now.
Of course, Veronica had put them all to shame: as the only female apprentice, she had been assigned more womanly chores, such as sewing. It had been months before any of them had been able to pass by a tapestry or bed curtain again without flinching. There is nothing quite like waking up sewn into your own bedclothes as if they were a burial shroud. Poor Hovarth had been up late that night and had been sewn into one of the tapestries lining the drafty halls. He had been sneaking in after curfew through a seldom used corridor, of course. It was only by chance that a servant had noticed the wriggling bundle and rescued him before he died of thirst. Apparently, he had so enraged the enchanted needles with his angry and insulting language that they had actually managed to gag him somehow.
Dave's frustrated cries brought him abruptly back to the present. The boy may have just joined a long line of apprentices in their everlasting quest to get out of the necessary chores of life, but he was still the Prime Merlinian and they didn't have time for this now. He'd better intervene before Dave electrocuted himself and lost his magic.
He'd waited too long to find the Prime Merlinian and finally be free of the geas laid upon him. He was not going start the whole process over again.