Forgiveness

Summary: A tour bus disappears in an isolated part of England's country side where many people have vanished before. Balthazar goes to investigate, and since Dave is on spring break he gets to come along. Oh joy.

Disclaimer: All Publicly Recognizable Characters, Settings, Ideas, etc. are the Property of Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions. The Original Characters and Plot are the Property of the Author. The Author is in no way Associated with the Owners, Creators, or Producers of Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions. No Copyright Infringement is intended.

Chapter VI

May 21

"Balthazar?" whispered Dave as he poked his head into the sixteenth cell so far. He saw a form lying on the ground hands bound over his head. He approached to investigate and broke out into a smile when he realised it was his master. Letting his disguise fall he darted over to the older man.

He quickly took in what he could of his master's appearance which in the darkened cell wasn't much. He could see dry and crusted blood, but what had his attention was the shackles binding the older man's wrist above his head.

"Balthazar!" he called gently shaking his master "Balthazar, come on buddy we gotta go." Balthazar started to stir and Dave moved to magic open the shackled binding his wrists. Gently he lifted one of his master's arms and brought it to the older man's side. Balthazar inhaled sharply as the movement sent a spasm of pain up his arm.

"Sorry, you okay?"

"Not again," said Balthazar weakly, Dave was alarmed at the desperation in his master's voice "I can't do this again."

Dave frowned at the reply, he didn't understand it but his master had just begged for mercy that fact alone was enough to boil Dave's blood and chill his bones. He didn't understand why his master wasn't happy to see him, maybe he didn't recognize his apprentice? "Balthazar it's Dave. Sorry about this, but we have to go, how are your legs? Can you walk?"

"We're not going any— argh!" Dave had just moved the other arm. "Where," finished Balthazar with a slight hiss.

"What are you talking about? You're not Alyne in disguise again are you?" asked Dave readying a plasma bolt.

"You're not Dave this is just another nightmare. Ow." Balthazar turned to his apprentice, with an accusatory look. "You pinched me."

"And now you know you're not 's go," suggested Dave as he helped Balthazar into a sitting position. "Hold on, your shoulders are dislocated give me a minute and try not to yell." Dave took off his sweater and rolled it up, he placed the bundle under his master's armpit. "Okay ready?" asked Dave grabbing his master's arm.

"Go ahead. Ar—!"

"Well that's one down," said Dave with false cheer as he positioned himself to set the other arm. "Okay one more time. Ready?"

Balthazar nodded, this time he managed to keep quiet.

"Are they back in place?" asked Dave worried that he had messed up somehow.

Balthazar nodded, "They're back in their sockets, Dave, thanks."

Dave nodded and started digging in his pockets. "Okay now that that's taken care of, I got you a couple presents," he withdrew his hand and held out the two rings.

Balthazar's eye's widened and a smile started tugging at the corners of his mouth. This nightmare was starting out better then the previous ones, maybe it was real? He shook his head slightly. Alyne had probably made this one up to give him false hope, any minute now she and her cronies would come in and kill Dave, again. Still he could try and enjoy the ride. He tried to raise his hand to accept the offering but his arm wouldn't obey him. Dave smiled encouragingly and moved to place the focus on his master's right index finger and the wedding band on the left ring finger.

"There. Okay, let me see what I can do about your arms," Balthazar raised an eyebrow. Dave had been practising healing but he wasn't that good at it, wasn't that bad either. The apprentice noticed his master's expression

"I should be able to make it so that you can at least move them." Dave started on Balthazar's right arm, the master allowed himself to relax and tried to enjoy the soothing feeling he was getting from the healing. But he still expected Alyne to come through the door any second and kill them, and that dampened the mood considerably.

"How's that?" asked Dave.

Balthazar lifted his arm, clenched his fist and smiled, "Good job."

"Must you sound so surprised? I patched up your wrist too, not too well but we're short on time. Give me a minute and I'll heal the other." Dave got up and went to Balthazar's left side, kneeling down he began his work. "So how are your legs?"

"They're fine, Alyne's people patched them up. I think they were worried I'd bleed to death otherwise."

"How thoughtful," said Dave glancing up, momentarily "what's with the dreamcatcher?"

Balthazar reached up and grabbed the pendant, he magicked it off. He grinned slightly as he levitated it a few inches above his palm it felt good to us his magic again. He gazed at the thing ignoring his apprentice's stare.

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with," replied Balthazar flatly. The silver began to glow orange as it melted. Balthazar gazed at the molten silver, before directing it to the nearest wall.

Dave glanced up but didn't pause in his healing. "Help me up," Balthazar ordered a few moment's later when Dave was done patching up his wrist. Despite the healing he was still rather weak. Dave moved to help his master to his feet, placing the older man's arm over his shoulder. He couldn't believe how light the man was, even in the darkened cell Dave could tell Balthazar had lost a great deal of weight. He turned his attention to the cell door, he'd worry about that later. He recast his disguise spell, he darkened Balthazar's hair and skin and turned his eyes brown. He also gave him a guard's uniform.

"Okay, I know how to get out of the dungeon, but after that… I don't think the way I got in will work again,"

"We're not leaving the dungeon."

"Umm what?"

"Dave, do you think they'll look for us here, in the dungeon?"

"No…"

"Then it's a good place to hide, we'll find another cell, set up a snap shot wall and hide until we've recovered more, and have a plan."

"A plan would be good," said Dave.

The two wondered around the dungeon for a good fifteen minutes with Balthazar shooting down every cell Dave suggested, until the older sorcerer pointed out a cell door.

"That one," said Balthazar.

"Why that one?"

"Because off all the dust on the door, it hasn't been used in awhile so we shouldn't have to worry about the Orricks tossing another poor soul inside with us."

"Okay, in we go," said Dave. He was about to open the cell door when Balthazar stopped him.

"Walk us through the door, we don't want to disturb the dust, might give us away."

"Okay," replied Dave doing as instructed.

"I think we'll be okay if we take up half the cell," said Balthazar he removed his arm from Dave's shoulder and he started setting up a snapshot wall. A few moments later he nodded in satisfaction, and smiling at Dave walked to the other side, disappearing as soon as he past the entered the enclosed area. Dave followed suit.

He found his master, sitting on the floor with his knees bent and back against the wall. Dave held up his hand and magicked up a ball of light after setting it so it floated in the air a couple of feet above his head he turned to his master.

"Balthazar it was pretty dark in the cell, so I couldn't see much, but… you didn't say anything about them patching up your back, I saw a lot of… hooks there and then there's what they did you before and after."

"I'm fine Dave."

"And you'll be even better if you let me patch up you back. Come on Balthazar, it's probably already infected."

Sighing Balthazar shifted his weight and turned around so his apprentice could see his back.

"Oh man... Balthazar…" said Dave kneeling. "It's all my fault."

Balthazar rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. Thiswas why he hadn't wanted Dave to look at his wounds.

Balthazar's back was matted in dried blood and dirt, the bit of skin Dave could see was either blistering, and raw and even black in some places where he had been burned. The cuts from the lashes he had received hadn't completely healed, and had begin to fester as had the wounds from the hooks and the burns.

"This isn't your fault Dave, just focus on trying to heal what you can. Might want to start with cleaning the wounds."

"Right," said Dave he brought up his hand and started making a circular motion was he gathered up the water in the air, after vibrating the molecules a little so that the water was cool as oppose to cold he started using it to clear away all the dirt, grime and dried blood, he started on the left shoulder and worked his way across and down, slowly. After half an hour he was done. His master looked a lot better for the treatment. He sent the water to the far corner and started gathering up some fresh water from the air. Once again he brought the water to Balthazar's left shoulder, and this time focused on healing the burns and cuts. Water was useful for healing, since most of the human body was made up of water it helped give the duplicating cells building material, and had a soothing effect on the patient. Dave worked as before, he made his way across then down then right then down then left, with painstaking slowness. He spent three hours on the task. When he was finally done he leaned back putting weight on his hands.

Balthazar turned around, he was impressed that Dave had been able to keep up that kind of healing for so long, even Veronica would have been hard pressed for that task, of course she would have been far more efficient able to do as good a job in far less time with less magick, but still Dave's stamina was impressive.

Dave was perspiring from the effort, and his skin was pale, but his eyes were bright, and he was smiling, obviously pleased with his work.

Normally when Dave was this pleased with himself Balthazar would remind him he was an apprentice with a well aimed plasma bolt, or a burst of wind to knock him flat, but now didn't seem the time.

Balthazar rotated his shoulders, and stretched out his legs, he was feeling stiff from sitting down in one position for so long.

"Feels a lot better, thanks Dave. Good work. Now get some sleep I'll keep watch."

"I can take first watch Balthazar."

Balthazar held out his hand so it was centimetres from Dave's face. "Sleep." He ordered.

Dave's eyelids closed and he fell back. Balthazar levitated him before his head hit the stone floor and gently lowered him.

Balthazar stared at his apprentice's sleeping form, he realised after an hour of healing that this wasn't a dream, that Dave had come and gotten him. He was grateful, together they could stop Alyne. Not that gratitude was going to make him ease up on Dave's punishment.

Six hours later Balthazar was struggling to keep his eyes open, finally deciding there was no way he'd be able to give Dave a full eight hours sleep he stretched out his foot and started lightly hitting Dave's outstretched leg.

"Hmm, wha… Balthazar," said Dave his tone laced with annoyance.

The master sorcerer smiled, "Keep watch Dave," he chuckled before rolling onto his side and falling asleep. Dave sighed and propped himself up against the back wall, the next several hours were going to be very boring.

It was a little over eight hours later that Balthazar woke up. His stomach growled as he forced himself up into a seating position.

"Hungry?" asked Dave. "When was the last time you ate?"

"How long have we been here?"

"That long? Geeze."

"I'm fine Dave, how about you?"

"I'm fine, they fed me. Guess we should start thinking up a plan."

"Might be a good idea."

"Balthazar what are we going to do? I mean when we do beat Alyne what's going to happen to Aldercy? Aside from the bus people and a few others who were raised out in the world are they even going to be able to adapt? And won't they tell everyone about sorcerers? I doubt everyone from the bus is going to keep their mouth shut."

"They won't be believed, as for the Aldercy itself, we can leave it, without the Orrick family it should be a pleasant place to live."

"But what if someone goes and brings a camera crew shows them the invisibility shield?"

"Remember what I said about this place been a pocket dimension? Outside it only takes up about an acre, it can be moved. I'll call Charles Bailey when this is over he and I can gather up enough sorcerers to move Aldercy to another location, as for bringing the village into the modern world, it'll take a couple years to set up. We're going to have to find a place big enough before we bring it out of the pocket dimension. Then we'll find investors, buy the land and get building permits."

"Building permits?"

"I was thinking we could set Aldercy up as a sort of theme park, you know a set of real medieval villages, should make for a good tourist attraction. Of course the place can't spring up overnight, so we'll have to pretend to build the place. The time can be spent updating the villagers on the modern world and teaching them to deal with tourist."

"Will Bailey want to do that?"

"We sorcerers are somewhat organized Dave, we have a network of connections Bailey's the central hub. We all keep our ears to the ground and when something comes up we help each other out."

"Does Bailey get paid for that?"

"No, but been the hub comes with power and prestige, that's worth more to him then money. Anyway he won't have much trouble finding civilian investors to help buy the land. When this is over I'll give him a call and he'll gather up enough sorcerers to move Aldercy a few miles east. That way no tattle tale will be able to bring over a camera crew, it'll keep the place hidden until we can find a permanent spot."

Dave nodded, "Sounds good, now all we have to do is figure out a way to end this. Even if we beat Alyne and her sorcerers there's seven more villages, each with their own group. How are we going to beat them all?"

"I'm still working on that."

The next couple of hours passed in silence with Balthazar in deep thought and Dave practicing his magick. Balthazar taught him more healing spells which the youth practiced on his master. Dave also practiced transformation and elemental magick which in the cramped space was difficult but doable since there was water in the air, the walls were made of stone and Dave was perfectly capable of conjuring fire.

"Balthazar."

"Yes?"

"We need food, you've lost like ten pounds."

"I haven't lost that much Dave."

"You need to eat."

"I need to figure out how we're going to beat Alyne and her family."

Dave stood up. "I'm going to find some food."

"Sit down."

"I can do this Balthazar. I escaped and snuck down here, got you out just fine. I can steal some food."

"You escaped when everyone was asleep Dave. Go out now when the place is crawling with people and it will be a different story."

"Then I'll wait."

"To dangerous, I can survive without food, I've done it before for longer periods." His brow furrowed as he stared at his apprentice. "How are you holding up?"

"You're worried about me? I'm not the one they starved and tortured Balthazar."

"I saw you after that first experiment remember?"

"That was nothing compared to what they did to you."

"You're not going, I should feel better by tomorrow we'll go then."

Dave stared at his master slacked jawed and eyes wide. "Are you insane? There's no way you—"

"Dave, sit down and practice your elemental magic."

Dave opened and closed his mouth a few times then closed his eyes and took two deep breaths, realising there was no point to arguing and not wanting to upset his master when his health was in such poor shape the apprentice sat and started gathering water. An hour later he made a twelve inch ice figure of Becky.

Balthazar noticed and chuckled slightly at the sight. Dave saw and shifted the molecules so the figure looked like Veronica. He levitated the thing over to Balthazar.

Balthazar clasped the figure carefully "Nice. Now work with stone. Then meditate."

"Yes Sir," replied Dave with a mock salute.

Balthazar rolled his eyes at the sarcasm, though he was grateful for the small taste of normalcy it gave.

The hours past slowly with Balthazar helping Dave practice his magic and the two taking turns sleeping, Balthazar slept little though. Before he had been too exhausted to dream now however he knew he would. He didn't want Dave to hear him cry out. At least he didn't have to worry about a guard hearing him he had sound proofed the room earlier while Dave had slept.

"Balthazar you need to sleep." Said the apprentice suddenly seeing that hismaster was still awake.

"So you can sneak off and get some food?"

Dave looked at the floor.

"Dave, it's too—"

Balthazar never finished his sentence, he had been looking at his student's face and not Dave's right hand, so he didn't see the ring glow.

Dave had thrown up his hand midway through Balthazar sentence, in an attempt to catch the man off guard. It worked, Balthazar's body slumped as the sleep spell hit him.

Dave sighed and moved to shift Balthazar's sleeping form so the man would be in a more comfortable position. With one last look at his master Dave ran out of the cell casting an invisibility spell on himself before phasing through the walls.

Dave was starting to hate castles, seriously how hard was it to find a bloody kitchen? Pressed himself against a wall and struggled to slow his breathing which to his ears was loud enough to wake the dead.

The guards however didn't notice him as they walked by. That was the third patrol he'd come across in the last half hour. He shook his head 'Alyne must think we're still in the castle, not surprising considering the number she did on Balthazar… there was no way I could have gotten him out.'Thought Dave anger at the state his master had been in rising to the surface, he took a deep breath and tried to suppress his anger he needed to focus on the task at hand finding food and getting back to Balthazar.

Balthazar meanwhile was debating the best way to kill his apprentice, have the boy's tesla coils fire at him non stop for hours so Dave could 'practise' his shields? Maybe have the boy stay outside in the rain for with the task of not letting a book get wet with magic only? Manipulating rain was rather difficult took a lot of concentration then there was the cold, Balthazar remembered a similar exercise in his youth. He had had to stand out in the pouring rain for hours making sure a tomb of Merlin's didn't get a single drop of water on it, manipulating all those individual drops as they fell had been a gruelling task. He had been miserable for days from a bloody head cold. Ohhhh he had it hiking through a swamp chasing goblins. Goblins were excellent for practising tracking skills. He knew several who would be more then happy to help train and humiliate the apprentice. He'd have then set up traps, it would do Dave good to learn to keep an eye out for such things, yes… he'd have them set up lots and lot's of traps. Tracking goblins was the perfect punishment. Balthazar's lips curled into a grin that would have those who didn't know him running and those who did buying plane tickets to the other side of the planet.

Balthazar allowed images of a muddy and tired Dave trampling through a swamp looking for goblins and falling victim to their traps, now where was he going to find a swamp? He'd hate to have to settle for using Central Park, maybe he should set up a portal to one take Dave there on a weekend… yes that would work distance wouldn't be a problem, and if he skip training during the week Dave could get all his school work done, freeing up an entire two days. It would also give him time to set up the portal and organize the goblins somewhat, at least make sure they had enough time to set up traps. He wasn't worried about them been deadly goblins knew how far to push and when to back down, they rarely went out of line. They had a surprisingly strong sense of self preservation.

oo0oo

Josh Mcleod was a new addition to Megan's hand picked guards though not a battle castor himself he was handy in a fight and eager to prove himself. He had suggested to Megan that the two fugitives would hide in the dungeons. Megan had shot him down saying that their instincts would have been to get away and to stop bothering her and search the woods near the castle.

Josh had bristled at the dismissal but had followed orders, he had been ordered back to the castle to rest and decided to look through the dungeons he was sure the master sorcerer and Prime Merlinian where here somewhere, and he was determined to look through all the unoccupied cells.

He had even convinced his friend Gregory to accompany him, the two were cousins and had spent their childhood together and ten years apart during their trial hadn't diminished the friendship.

He would walk in, hold out his hand forcing a blast of wind through the cell then read the vibrations in the air with his palm. While Greg sulked as he leaned against the wall.

"You could help you know this would go faster."

"I'm only here because you're afraid of the injured fifteen hundred year old man."

"I'm not afraid, I'm just cautious or haven't you noticed one does not survive almost fifteen hundred years of war without some major skills."

"You used to be more sure of yourself couse."

"And then I was on my own for ten years."

Greg sighed, his mind drifting back to his own first days alone, the ten year sojourn was never fun for anyone.

"This one's too small," said Josh his expression something between a frown and wide eyed surprise.

"Excuse me?"

"I think it's a snap shot wal—" Josh was thrown back crashing into the door of the cell opposite.

Greg jumped and slammed the open cell door shut, he quickly opened the small window at the top held up his hand with his ring and poured smoke into the room the small cell quickly started to fill. Greg could hear a male coughing, sounded like the man was dying, knowing Alyne that was a possibility.

He threw open the door again and using his ears sent a concussion wave in Balthazar's direction. It was a direct hit. The master sorcerer hadn't even heard the cell door open again over his own coughing, the movement it caused sent waves of pain down his back his lungs were on fire his legs had given out soon after the cell began to fill with smoke, he was blind his eyes pressed shut against the smoke.

He hadn't stood a chance. When the concussion wave hit it sent him skidding across the floor and into the wall. The world went black.

Dave despite the danger of walking around the castle Dave was grinning, he had located the kitchen where he had found food and a sack to carry it all in. He had a few pastries, some fruit and some strips of jerky. And he hadn't seen a guard recently either, he wondered briefly where they had all gone then shrugged it off.

As he walked he stared preparing himself for the lecture and dressing down, metaphorically speaking that he was going to have to endure when he arrived back at the cell. Still any punishment the sorcerer came up with would be worth it. Balthazar needed food. After turning a corner saw the open cell door he sprinted towards it. He froze in the doorway staring at the scene.

Still no beta guys sorry for all the mistakes.