While still a young child James was bought by the Sorceress Lauren. She told his desperate family that she was looking for an apprentice. In reality she recognized the great store of magical energy the young boy held and she desired to feed from him; and thus take his power for her own.

The local people had another name for the Sorceress; they called her the Swamp Witch and most were in fear of her though they all needed her potions to survive living on the edge of Drake's Swamp.

James would learn many things while being the slave of the Swamp Witch, many of them bad but his experiences would make him someone to be reckoned with.