Publisher's Synopsis
Sandy stood in front of the brownstone cottage he shared with his mother. He awaited the last load of bloody bandages to take to the waste disposal site where they burned them. Johonna Sandresson walked to the door and dumped her handful of medical waste in the rusty wheelbarrow.
"Don't dawdle," she warned him. "You have classes this morning."
"I'll hurry," he said, waved, and left the cottage pushing the full wheelbarrow on the gray cobblestones.
He passed the only two brownstone cottages near his mother on the left with a small park on the right. Sandy turned left on the first street. Most of the gray stone shops had not opened yet, though the bakery at the far end had customers lined up for the new loaves. The aroma of freshly baked bread wafted from the store.
Sandy came out at the edge of the town square. Awnings of yellow, red, and green, a rainbow of colors, flapped in the early morning breeze. He skirted the square as vendors hawked their goods, trying to entice the shopper over to their stall so they could sell them their wares. Frying sausages joined the aromas that tried to mask the stench of too many unwashed bodies in one place along with piles of horse apples.
As Sandy got ready to make the turn right to the fire site, he noticed a dozen black robed masters hurrying to the academy he attended for magical training. They spoke among themselves, but Sandy was too far away to hear anything.
Sandy shrugged as he strode to the site and dumped the waste down the dark metal chute.
Without the load, he returned home much faster only to have his mother hand him a note.
"This came for you minutes after you left," his mother said. "The gray robed apprentice said it was from Master Albrecht."
The young man tore it open and read it. "Come to the Mage's council chambers at once. Signed Master Walter Albrecht." Sandy paused, and then added, "I'd better get washed up, get my robe on, and get over there."
After taking a short sponge bath, Sandy dressed in pants and a clean gray robe signifying he was an apprentice, shoved the note in his robe pocket and dashed over to the academy.
***
One of the red-robed mages grabbed Sandy Sandresson by his collar as he entered the Mage's Academy.
- council is only for Master Mages, not gray-robed apprentices," he said. "Now go." He pointed to the door.
Sandy straightened up and fumbled in his robe. "Here. Master Albrecht invited me." He thrust his mentor's summons into the master's hand.
The mage examined it.
"I see you have the right to be here. Find a seat and mind your manners. Don't know why Walter invited you," the mage mumbled as he joined others entering the chamber.
Sandy crept into Mage's council chamber. Voices whispered around him. He hummed a song extending his hearing.
"Why did Master Albrecht call this meeting?"
"What is going on?"
"Heard something happened at the Veil of Verloon."
Sandy stopped a few feet inside and moved out of the way. The hushed tones of mages in robes of black with red, green, blue or various other colored sashes to denote their specialty buzzed around the room. They stopped and stared.
Guess they're wondering why he was there. Why did Master Albrecht ask him to come? At seventeen, he was only in his fifth year of magical and musical study.
