The Master

Ever since the day of the Fateful light, the Holy light, the Celestial light or whatever the historians in the high fingered towers called it, Frizzlefish, had been depressed. Initially he had been cross that he had missed the alignment, well cross was a little bit of an understatement… perhaps livid had come closer to his actual feelings. Initially his anger had been directed at his young apprentice Evercreech (just who was he to have witnessed the Great Conjuncture anyway?) but then the initial resentment had simmered away as he found himself in possession of a celebrity, of a potential seer, mayhaps even a prophet? The prospect of having an apprentice who had actually learned something unlike the parade of dunderheads who had come before seemed like maybe a ringing endorsement of his methods. So it was this unhealthy mix of resentment and pride that Frizzlefish had found himself initially filled with.

Travelling back from that encampment had become something of a blur in his mind. He had requested local villages to help pack up, but they were all wary of his Apprentice, the Boy With The Sky In His Eyes as one old man dubbed him and Frizzlefish, although unable to openly admit it, felt a similar wariness. The Boy With The Sky In His Eyes himself seemed oddly changed too, a calmness, a serenity had come upon him, oceans lapped behind his corneas, his eyes were a paradise of soft blues. Gone were the heavy hazel set eyes that Frizzlefish had become so used to seeing, eyes that usually looked out from behind his heavily furrowed brows. Now the brows seemed soft, the Apprentice, although only 20 years old, seemed to have lost years yet somehow gained a timeless quality to him, a man outside the normal realm of ageing, a man outside of life itself.

There had been little conversation those few hours and days as they travelled back to the Castle. Evercreech did his work uncomplainingly, packed up the brass telescopes and cauldrons and they slowly meandered homewards along the river. One night though Frizzlefish had brought up the subject: they were sat toasting rabbit paws by the fireside and he could not help but whisper…. “What was it like? Like to see? To really see?”

And Evercreech had replied with a grunting and a gurgling and Frizzlefish thought some terrible beast had inhabited him or invaded the camp or something for all of five seconds before he realised Evercreech was laughing at his question. Evercreech bestowed a hearty belly laugh, a gaping mouth and a hooting cacophony of sounds. Frizzlefish felt a dull roar of anger in his head and belted his Apprentice around the ear, but Evercreech didn’t stop, Frizzlefish, a tired old man, had not the energy to continue any kind of beating but instead stormed off into the surrounding woods to sulk and, whilst there, collect firewood as he collected his thoughts.

And so it had been, this resentment in his heart as they trudged home, but when he appeared at the Castle gates the denizens had swarmed around him and Evercreech and his pale blue eyes. They had both been summoned to the High Chambers, had met with the Lord himself. Scientists and sorcerers had to be sent for. Frizzlefish found himself at the centre of this attention for Evercreech would do little more than grin and sit serenely. Frizzlefish embraced his new role as Keeper Of The Boy With The Sky In His Eyes (as he imagined the title to be) and fielded questions from dignitaries, nobles and academics. He found himself enjoying the attention, he spoke warmly of how he had trained the boy to observe the Conjunction, how he had considered Evercreech to be worthy of looking upon the stars and achieving enlightenment.

What exactly this “enlightenment” was the scholars, scientists, sorcerers and statisticians never found out. Frizzlefish didn’t know either, but with his ability to waffle undulled and with all his laurels and credentials they were happy to sit and make eager notes. As for the Boy With The Sky In His Eyes he had disappeared from view. Frizzlefish had had him clothed in white robes sent down from the Lord’s tower, a high honour, but when he paraded in front of the scholars they always seemed to be covered in grime and dust. Considering Evercreech to be unsightly he mostly seemed to be spending a lot of time in the high attics contemplating quietly. Some of the more adventurous scholars came to see him and look into milky blues eyes, but none of them stayed long, it was as if his presence were enough to shatter some of their deeply held illusions on their own importance. So Evercreech stayed away from the circus mostly, being brought up his dinner to one particular attic that he seemed to favour, having been granted permission to remain wherever so he felt most comfortable. The prestige of having one so Enlightened in the Castle persisted for some months, Frizzlefish spinning out more and more stories and writing treatises on the subject.

Eventually the scholars stopped coming. Frizzlefish sent out more letters but everyone seemed satisfied with what they had already seen. In his office Frizzlefish sighed and leaned back in his chair. Yes he had been promoted now, he no longer slept in the encampment outside the Castle walls. He had a part of a floor on a tower to himself now, a desk, a stack of books and a tiny bedroom beyond. He looked at the latest notes he had started writing on the “blue eyes” – something lofty about the blue being seen as a symbol of the ancient Enchrachian king’s wives, dressed as they often were in blue… until he had remembered that purple had been the traditional colour of their cloth…. He crumpled the parchment and threw it into the mean fireplace squeezed into the corner of the room. Frizzlefish got up from his desk, it was lit with a small electrical lamp, something he had not had before… before the “blue eyes.” He switched the lamp off and looked out of the window onto the hinterlands below the Castle. He could make out the site far below of their last encampment, very little trace remained of where he and Evercreech had over wintered every year for the last six. The moon was full and cast it’s ghostly light over the scene. Frizzlefish felt a pang of nostalgia, although old he missed nights by a proper fire with his Apprentice and their meals of impromptu fire cooked animals. He suddenly yearned for those days, simpler days. He drew his cloak about him and slipped from the small room he now called home.

He walked the empty corridors of the vast castle, spiralling upwards through forgotten back entries and draughty stone staircases. He eventually reached attic level and pushed open a heavy hinged door. The scene that greeted him seemed unreal. A vast window let in a sheath of moonlight, it pooled in the middle of the attic floor, empty save for a figure in dirty white sat cross legged, highlighted by this seemingly unearthly light.

Frizzlefish approached, he suddenly felt a fear, a nervous affliction of a sort he had not felt for a long time. He started to speak, the words tumbling from his mouth in haste and disorder. “Sorry… I haven’t… I haven’t seen you in such a long time, I have been busy, papers, lectures, documents, you know how it is…. But I didn’t forget about you, it’s just I…” he paused. For the first time in his life, old Frizzlefish was completely tongue tied in front of his young apprentice. This was unprecedented. He tried to rally words again but instead Evercreech spoke.

“Sit” he grunted. “Sit down Master.”

Frizzlefish quietly obeyed and sat facing Evercreech. He noticed Evercreech’s eyes were closed, his robes seemed to billow round him although there was no breeze. My god… thought Frizzlefish he has become something else….

Evercreech spoke again. His voice was low, “Ere, Master, you are troubled, why?”

Frizzlefish pulled himself together, creakily he spoke, “All my life I have studied magic. Studied wisdom. Studied ancient texts. All my life I have striven to understand the universe… and what… what have I to show for it? These wrinkles and these old bones! And my eyes strained by candlelight, pouring over maps and manuscripts, my hands burned from mixing potions and pollutants…. and…” He suddenly broke down crying, his sobs old and feeble “And I still don’t understand it… I don’t know anything!”

Evercreech sat and listened to his old master’s tears, a soft smile played on his lips. “And you think, Master,” he said calmly, “you think you should have been the one to see the event in the sky, the one that struck me dumb?”

“Yes” said Frizzlefish, simply and sadly.

Evercreech finally opened his eyes and looked at his master huddled on the floor. He smiled and said “Ere, well master, I still think you’re the most wised and cleverest person I ever met. I been trying to get away from them crowds that been coming for ages and you kept them busy so they stopped hasslin’ me. That’s pretty wise, eh?”

The old master found himself chuckling lowly at what his young apprentice had said. It was true, he had kept them busy with his notes for a long period. Some of his theories had got so wild he half expected the scholars to get up and leave. But no they had sat with an earnest look upon their faces as they scribbled down his words. He wiped away the tears and sat and looked calmly into the face of Evercreech. Suddenly, with a shock, he realised what was different, Evercreech no longer had the blue eyes! Instead his eyes were of deepest brown, they seemed darker than they ever had been before but maybe that was just the juxtaposition in what Frizzlefish had expected to see. “Oh…!” was about all he could squeak, but Evercreech just smiled back, understanding his alarm.

“Master, if it’s alright with you, can I continue being your apprentice? I was worried that you might be put off now you’re in with all those fancy scholars and that? I been turning over in my head what I wanted these last few weeks and I realised I wanna find out more about all this stuff ye see. Cosmos and that. And see you are pretty smart and that, I was wondering if… if you could teach me?”

Frizzlefish stood up, grinning in the moonlight. His depression suddenly lifted, his old eyes filled with tears. He was glad to be useful again.