The
Book
“Darn
it!”
Of all the days to lose something important today was
definitely not the day. Chara hastened frantically from bookshelf, to
table, to cupboard and the stupid book was nowhere to be found. The
Master would be expecting her any minute for her first instruction
and she was going to be late. It was a bad start to one of the most
important days of her life. She was going to be the apprentice of the great Master Korrin, grand master of the royal citadel. She had
been chosen amongst a dozen candidates, alone, she had been deemed
worthy of the honor, and now she was going to be late because she
could not find her tome!
Chara was sweating profusely, and her
heart was beating frantically in her chest. What was she going to do?
Could she show up without the book? Surely not! “You stupid,
no-good, daft….idiot!” She chided herself. She had already looked
under the pillow in her bed, in all the drawers of her nightstand,
but she felt compelled to search through them again. Once again, they
revealed no book. She looked out through her tiny bedroom window,
looked at the blue sky and felt the fresh breeze pouring into the
stuffy room. It was always warm in here. “Good thing, I used
that book to prop the window open with”, she thought. Then it
dawned on her, the book! It was in the window, jammed between the
sill and the windowpane. She was so relieved that she almost burst
into tears. She swiped the book from the window and ran from the
room. She hurried towards the Masters chambers. Before knocking on
the door, she straightened herself, took a deep breath, and prepared
to begin her new life as an apprentice mage.
Written by Anita K. Olsen Støbakk
Winner of the Desucon Fantasy 2015 Short Story Competition.
Winner of the Desucon Fantasy 2015 Short Story Competition.
