Yma3591 Presents: On the Way Home (A Last Apprentice Fanfiction)
Chapter 1
Unexpected Visitors
The crisp morning air breezed through my cloak as Alice and I followed the Spook out of Kenmare. Soft, green grasses brushed my boots as I followed my master across the hills of Ireland. My master walked with a renewed strength and seemed to be younger than ever. Recently, we learned that the enemy has been defeated and already retreated from the County. The Spook told me that it was because we bound the Fiend, the dark clothed in flesh. The manifestation of evil represented by the enemy soldiers had thus been dissipated. The world seemed to be a much brighter place and the dark has receded. We were now heading back to the County, our true home, but I still have fears about Alice. She had just been rescued from the Fiend's domain by the Old God Pan, and hadn't had a full recovery yet. Alice's hair was now stark white, purely from the shock of visiting the Fiend's domain. I still am afraid that she might have been closer to the dark than ever now. I quickly stole a glance at Alice and she smiled back to me. Her pretty brown eyes looked at mine and she asked:
"What's the matter Tom, ain't no cats around here to get your tongue!" We both laughed at her joke but my master suddenly stilled us.
"Be quiet lad, you too girl. Claw has sensed something behind that hill!" I stopped and noticed that our dogs- Claw, Blood, and Bone- were growling. They had sensed someone's presence here and were warning us. Quickly, I readied my staff in the defensive position Bill Arkwright had taught me.
"Who goes there?" The Spook demanded, proceeding forward towards the hill with his staff. Suddenly, I felt the air chill around me, a warning that something of the dark was there. Before we had any time to react, an orb of light flew toward us. I felt Alice suddenly tense by my side. The orb seemed familiar, but I couldn't remember what it was. Claw began to bark furiously with her pups as more and more orbs flew out from behind the hill. After a couple of seconds, thirteen orbs of light were circling and dancing around us. To my shock, my master gave a groan and fell to his knees. It was just a moment ago that he was full of strength, and it shocked me to see him suddenly weaken drastically. Right after my master fell, I felt a tugging sensation in my head and my body turned impossibly cold. I gasped out loud, trying to gain feeling, but it felt as if the sun itself was dimming and water was clogging up my ears. My senses were all dying and I suddenly realized that these were Romanian witches who were draining my life force. We had been taken by surprise and now we couldn't fight back. The last thing I heard and felt was Alice muttering in the Old Tongue and another sliver of ice sliding through my body before falling into the dark.
"Tom! Tom! Wake up!" Alice's worried voice broke through my unconscious state. My eyelids flew open and I looked around me. My master was sprawled over the ground, his staff in the grass a couple inches away from his hand. Alice's dress was slightly covered in mud. Her normally high cheekbones were tense and her eyes had a tired look in them. Our wolfhounds were at her side, whimpering with fear.
"What happened, Alice? The last thing I remembered was my sight dimming and my ears deafening. I heard you mutter something before I fell unconscious. What did you do?" I questioned her.
"Had no choice, did I? They were Romanian witches and they were draining you and Old Gregory of your animas. I used a spell I learned from that shaman's notebook how to protect you against them. Ain't my fault that I'm forced to use dark magic to save us!" Alice replied quickly, seeing my disapproving look. I remembered during our visit to Mona that a buggane drained my animus, the life force of a person, and I felt the same experience from the Romanian witch attack. During my state of unconsciousness when the buggane drained me, Alice had spoken through my head:
"Get harder or you won't survive. Just doing what Old Gregory says won't be enough. You'll die like the others! You've got to match the dark, Tom!" I realized then that Alice and I were a new way to fight the dark. There was a sliver of darkness inside me, so I could use the dark against itself. This was the reason that my Mam gave birth to me, as the hunter of the dark. For the umpteenth time, Alice saved my life using dark magic. Although my master had his beliefs, I would have to compromise myself if I want to survive and be the hunter, not the hunted. I gave a sigh, Alice did have a point.
"You're right, we have to use the dark to fight the dark, but you know that my master wouldn't approve. Ever since you returned from the dark, he's been suspicious of you and I don't want him to put you in a pit!" I was worried that the Spook would eventually find out how much Alice had been corrupted. He would immediately bind her if that were the case. The only reason he hasn't bound Alice already was because of how many times she proved useful, along with the reminder about the love of his life, Meg Skelton. I heard a feeble moan near me and looked to see my master getting up.
"Well lad, don't just stand there gawping, retrieve our bags!" The Spook commanded me, slowly sitting up. I went over the hill and found the bags. Quickly, I snatched it up and brought them back to my master.
"The girl used the dark again, didn't she?" The Spook demanded. Alice nodded sadly and looked away.
"Slowly but surely, lad, she's becoming a malevolent witch. The girl was born with the heart of a witch and she has no choice to continue." I felt sorry for Alice, but my master was slowly being compromised to the dark and it was contradicting all his beliefs. The Spook gave a sigh of resignation. "Well I suppose it was all for the best, girl. I still have my life and so does the lad there. Although this goes against my beliefs, I will have to fight the dark with the dark," He shook his head, "Maybe in the future, all spooks will use this as a new method for our trade. Who knows? We spooks may even be using dark since the day we started! The best thing to do now is to continue back to our County, we'll sort things out there."
I nodded, albeit a bit surprised at my master's acceptance of the dark. We started across the hill at a faster pace. Our dogs started bounding forward with renewed vigor. The Spook, Alice and I were rapidly approaching Killorglin.