On the inside of his wrist sat another kiss mark from Eldora. Jack groaned and fell back into his pillow, not wanting to get up and face the day or face the fact that all Eldora said in his dream was true.
The End
Character List
The Serpent’s Orb
Jack Winder – Our hero and the wizard’s helper
Penneta Ephram – A girl in Jack’s village
Fasher Tempest – The village wizard
Tanner Simple – A wandering mercenary
Helen Rafter – A wandering mercenary
Ozzie Quist – A burnt-out wizard
Aramore Gant – Patriarch of the church of Alderach
Derr Mason – Wizard in possession of the Serpent’s Orb
Simara Khotes – Lajian wizardess in Dorkansee
Henry Oppen – Simara’s companion
Heros Soffez – A leader among the Soffez Family
Igar Khotes – Simara’s father
Grigar Soffez – Wizard relative of Heros
Amara Soffez – Wizardess
~
The Warded Box
Lark Handercraft – Tesorian wizard
Ralinn Bonarin – Lark’s apprentice
Eldora – Goddess of Water
Amee Newbright – Leader of the Morakans
Jim Lessikan – A Morakan
Pakara Jimaroon – Priestess of Eldora
Corina Bell – Former priestess of Eldora
Baron Overvale – Tesorian noble and leader of an army
Whelham Waterford – Wizard and brother of the King Kaleen
King Kaleen – King of Tesoria
Jorey Balcon – Grand Wizard of Tesoria
Wessa Fanstrong – Archpriestess of Eldora
Harida Maltwill – Noble and sister to the late Queen
Norris Everlight – Leader of Tesoria’s criminal underworld
Ran Maltwill – Chancellor and brother of Harida and the late Queen
Panderites – A Tesorian insurgent faction
Sparrows – A Tesorian insurgent faction
~
Chapter One
~
J ack Winder, Fasher Tempest’s wizard’s helper, sat on a low rock wall, with a wooden rod, an object of power that he had created. He gazed across the street waiting for one of Fasher’s patients to arrive home. He brushed off the white tabard that Fasher made him wear when on errands in Raker Falls and began to whistle.
“Do you expect a dog to respond to that mindless, tuneless sound?” a female voice said from behind.
Jack sighed. Who let Penny Ephram out of Fasher’s office? She was the bane of his existence, but he smiled nevertheless. “It looks like it worked,” he said with a smile.
He turned to see Penny sticking out her tongue at him. She quickly stopped and turned red.
“Do eighteen-year-old girls stick out their tongues? I thought that was more like something your ten-year-old sister might do,” Jack said.
“Fasher met the patient,” she said, pointing to the cottage where Jack’s errand had taken him, “and already gave him an object.”
“You volunteered to fetch me?”
“Ordered. Time to return, he has something to say to both of us,” Penny said.
Jack rose and removed the tabard. His errand was over, and he didn’t like wearing the thing any longer than necessary. It was a punishment anyway.
“Fasher will get mad,” Penny said.
“Penny is already mad,” Jack said.
That kept her quiet. He slipped the tabard over his head when they came in sight of Fasher’s house, which served as the wizard’s office where they both worked.
“Lose your courage?” Penny said. She looked at him derisively.
“No. I just don’t want anything to detract from whatever Fasher has to tell us.”
She lifted her chin up in the air and walked ahead of him, presumably to tattle. Jack didn’t care. The girl was Fasher’s real apprentice, and she was still in the early stages of learning how to apply wizardry to healing.
Jack wasn’t in line to follow her. Fasher had told him he was headed down a different path, but Jack didn’t know what that was, other than being the wizard’s errand boy on two long, dangerous adventures. He stepped up to the front door and entered the office part of Fasher’s house.
“In here,” Fasher said. “Join us for a little celebration.”
“What is there to celebrate?” Jack asked in an offhanded kind of way.
Fasher stood with an arm around Corina Bell, the old flame that Jack had brought back with him from his errand to Tesoria. Both of them were smiling.
“We have gotten married this morning in a very private wedding ceremony at the temple,” the wizard said with a grin. It was a bit silly for Fasher to grin like that, but Corina’s smile wasn’t silly at all. “Corina wants to spend some time at the seashore, so we will be gone for a few weeks.”
Penny groaned. “You aren’t leaving me alone with him, are you?”
“Is there something wrong with that?” Fasher said. “You will be working with Amelia, Raker Falls’ best healer, including me, while I’m gone. Jack will be doing some research for me.”
“No errands?” Jack asked.
Fasher smiled the sly way he normally did and shook his head. “None for the foreseeable future. If you find yourself at loose ends, help your father in his shop or something, but I won’t be pleased if you end up in jail.”
“Not I,” Jack said, looking at Penny. “I just hope your apprentice can stay out of trouble.”
Penny frowned and folded her arms.
“When are you leaving?”
“Tomorrow. I will talk to you in the morning before I leave. You may have the rest of the day off.” Fasher looked at Penny. “I told Amelia that she could find you at your parent’s house.”
She looked rather stricken, Jack thought.
“Congratulations to both of you,” Jack said, grinning. He stepped forward and gave Corina a gentle hug and shook Fasher’s hand. “I’m glad to have been some small help to reuniting you after all this time.”
“Instrumental would be the term I would use,” Corina said, taking his hand. “I have never been happier. I take that back; when I first met Fasher, I was just as happy.” She winked at Jack.
Fasher cleared his throat. “We have things to do. Both of you may leave.”
On the way to his home, Jack thought that with Fasher gone, the old Jack would have been turning cartwheels on the street to his parents’ house, but not now. Jack wondered if Fasher would let him do some wizardly research while his mentor enjoyed his honeymoon. He sat at the kitchen table watching his mother do some early preparations for their dinner and told her Fasher would be gone.
“He is letting you and that Ephram girl spend all that time alone in his house?”
Jack laughed. “Nothing would ever happen between us. She has never forgiven me for killing her.”
“Maybe that is what she holds against me. Even if I saved her life again, I doubt if it would change anything, not that I’d want such a thing to happen.”
A Bit About Guy
~
With a lifelong passion for speculative fiction, Guy Antibes found that he rather enjoyed writing fantasy, as well as reading it. So a career was born, and Guy anxiously engaged in adding his own flavor of writing to the world. Guy lives in the western part of the United States and is happily married with enough children to meet or exceed the human replacement rate.
You can contact Guy at his website: www.guyantibes.com.
†
Books By Guy Antibes
WIZARD’S HELPER
Book One: The Serpent’s Orb
MAGIC MISSING
Book One: A Boy Without Magic
Book Two: An Apprentice Without Magic
Book Three: A Voyager Without Magic
&
nbsp; Book Four: A Scholar Without Magic
Book Five: A Snoop Without Magic
~
SONG OF SORCERY
Book One: A Sorcerer Rises
Book Two: A Sorcerer Imprisoned
Book Three: A Sorcerer’s Diplomacy
Book Four: A Sorcerer’s Rings
Book Five: A Sorcerer’s Fist
~
THE DISINHERITED PRINCE
Book One: The Disinherited Prince
Book Two: The Monk’s Habit
Book Three: A Sip of Magic
Book Four: The Sleeping God
Demeron: A Horse’s Tale - A Disinherited Prince Novella
Book Five: The Emperor’s Pet
Book Six: The Misplaced Prince
Book Seven: The Fractured Empire
~
POWER OF POSES
Book One: Magician in Training
Book Two: Magician in Exile
Book Three: Magician in Captivity
Book Four: Magician in Battle
~
THE WARSTONE QUARTET
Book One: Moonstone | Magic That Binds
Book Two: Sunstone | Dishonor’s Bane
Book Three: Bloodstone | Power of Youth
Book Four: Darkstone | An Evil Reborn
~
Quest of the Wizardess
The Power Bearer
Panix: Magician Spy
~
THE WORLD OF THE SWORD OF SPELLS
Warrior Mage
Sword of Spells
~
THE SARA FEATHERWOOD ADVENTURES
Knife & Flame
Sword & Flame
Guns & Flame
~
Hand of Grethia
~
THE GUY ANTIBES ANTHOLOGIES
The Alien Hand
SCIENCE FICTION
The Purple Flames
STEAMPUNK & PARANORMAL FANTASY with a tinge of HORROR
Angel in Bronze
FANTASY
~
* * *
[AH1]Just flagging b/c the header on the serpent’s orb didn’t appear until the text of the book and had the title aligned to the right