Paintbrush part 2

Paintbrush part 1 here

"Ah! I see you are back, finally," Aldimar sniffed when Rogue and I came through the old wooden door.  Rogue hiccupped.  "What's wrong with the dog?'

I blushed.  "Er… while we were in town I got her a little treat."

Aldimar glared at me, then at Rogue who hiccupped again.  "You'll spoil that dog someday!" he stormed.  "Now come help me with my work, apprentice."

Unwillingly, I followed; sure it was going to be about Rogue's barking.  But I was wrong.  "These, young Sasha," he began, holding up the vials I had seen earlier, "are magical.  Unfortunately, I don't know what they do.  I need someone to test them."

"Not me!" I said quickly.

"I didn't say it would be you.  Don't interrupt.  I was thinking of that annoying animal."

"Rogue? But that's not fair! You have no idea what they'll do to her!"  My cheeks flushed, I stared staunchly at Aldimar.  He put the vials gently down on the table and then stood up.  I could tell he was about to roar one of his angry speeches about how 'he was the master and I the apprentice' blah blah blah.  I didn't care.  Rogue would not be treated like a guinea pig.  I didn't even like how guinea pigs were treated.

"Whether you like it or not, those vials need to be tested and if you or I won't do it, than the dog will!"

"I'll do it then!" I said, folding my arms across my chest.

"Nonsense.  The dog will do it and that's that.  Do you know how long it took me to get those?  I bartered, I begged, I bribed…"

I rolled my eyes.  He did these speeches for every magical item he ever got, changing it every time, when chances are he got them cheaply at a thrift shop.  Most of the 'magical items' weren't magical anyway.  Those vials looked more like paint than magical objects.  Paint?  An idea started to form in my mind. 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

That night, I tiptoed as quietly as I could past Aldimar's bedroom and into the room that served as his laboratory.  Moonlight filtered through a window high on the wall, shining on the shelves that contained the vials and the other magical objects.  That's odd, I thought, the liquid in the vials was white before.  The colors had changed.  Now one vial was blue, one red, on yellow, and one green. I grabbed the vials and soon as I had them in my hands, the color faded and they were once again a luminescent white. Hmm, I thought, now what? I needed something to paint on.

My eyes, now used the dark, roved around the room.  I should have thought of this before.  Soon my gaze landed on Aldimar's bookshelf.  His wizardry books!  Much as I disliked marring any of his things, I ripped out the last page in one of his smallest books.  Maybe he wouldn't notice.  I slowly moved a table so the moonlight hit it and laid the paper and vials on it.  In an instant, the vials had taken on the bright colors I'd seen before. "Perfect," I whispered, then grabbed a chair, scooted it to the table and sat down.  Then I remembered the paintbrush and lifted it out of my pocket. My eyes widened and I drew in an awed breath. The strange carvings and letters I'd seen earlier seemed on fire with moonlight.  Silver leaves entwined around the strangely shaped characters, shining so that I could hardly take my eyes off it. But I had a job to do.

Opening the blue vial, I dipped my paintbrush in it.  Suddenly my eyelids drooped as I fought to stay awake.  How late was it anyway?  Shaking my head to clear it, I started a scene of the ocean, remembering it from when I had visited it as a child.  It could have been just my sleep-smudged mind, but I could have sworn the bristles on the paintbrush changed shape and size depending on how I needed to use them. They were soft and supple when I brushed the waves onto the page, and then thick and firm when I needed a stronger stroke. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I put the paint brush down.  I was wide awake in an instant.  Funny, now I wasn't a bit tired.  I tiptoed into the small kitchen, almost tripping over some pans on the floor.  Reaching for a cup, I filled it with water as silently as possible.  Then I went back tot the table, sat down and picked up the paintbrush.  My head almost sank to the table with drowsiness.  I dipped the paintbrush in the water, watching the blue swirl away.  Abruptly, I wasn't tired anymore.

With the red liquid, I started on a sunset.  It was horrible.  This awful painting looked like a three year old had done it.  Why was I a wizard's apprentice, anyway?  I should be studying art.  My parents were unfair.  All these thoughts sped through my mind as I painted the scarlet sun.  Washing the red off the paintbrush, my anger faded and I dipped into yellow.  Without warning, my arms broke out in goose bumps. A shiver crawled up my spine like an icy finger as I added yellow to the sunset.  Was there something watching my back?  Images of ghouls, goblins, hags and demons floated menacingly into my frightened mind.  The darkness around me seemed darker all the sudden.  What would happen, I wondered, if Aldimar caught me?  Was that footsteps behind me?  Resisting the urge to peer over my shoulder, I washed my paintbrush off.

All menacing images left my mind.  There wasn't anything to be afraid of.  What was the worst Aldimar could do?  Besides, he slept like a log.  Smiling, I layered my paintbrush with green to give the cerulean sea a little emerald tinting.  Suddenly the image of Aldimar wheezing and snoring in his sleep popped into my mind.  I snorted quietly and a smile crept onto my face as I worked.  Then I did laugh as I remembered my fear of goblins and demons.  They didn't even exist!  My hand jerked as I laughed.  Now my painting looked as if green dye had leaked into the ocean.  How hilarious!  I shook with my laughter, not afraid of Aldimar anymore.  What was he going to do, send me home?  Good for me!  I laughed harder. 

Hearing the creaking of a bed, I quickly washed off my brush.  My laughter left me in an instant and I realized what I had done.  That was when Aldimar appeared in the doorway.  "What are you –" he spluttered his face purple with rage.  Thinking fast, I threw the green vial at him.  The liquid splashed all over his face and for a moment he looked almost like an eggplant.  Then, to my utter surprise, he started laughing!  It was the first time I had seen him smile, much less laugh.  He laughed till tears came and just kept laughing as I ran out of the room with my painting and paintbrush clutched in my hands.  I could still hear him laughing as I dashed into my room.  Rogue was there, stretching on my pallet.  "Come on, Rogue!" I hissed and we bolted out of the room and out of the house.

This was my chance to get away and become the artist I'd always wanted to be.  I took it.


The End (for now)