Chapter Ten: Byron

“Woah!” Byron slipped a protective arm around his mate’s shoulder as the tavern shook.

Not that his mate seemed concerned. If anything, she seemed excited, drawn to the movement in the rafters above their heads.

Whatever comes our way, I am ready,his dragon bristled.

I don’t think the tavern intends to maim us, Byron said as a table leg appeared from the shadows above. Though perhaps we should have read the small print on that waiver.

Correction, several table legs that belonged to several tables, which descended from on high, like props in a theater, heralded by the sound of rattling glassware.

“I guess the first trial is about to commence,” Morwenna said as she hurriedly collected the waivers from everyone in the bar. “Congratulations on getting this far. As we’re not sure what’s about to happen, I feel like I should let you know the windows are not emergency exits. If it comes to it, pick a door and hope for the best.”

“What is the first trial?” Stan asked, his eyes bright with excitement.

“How am I supposed to know?” Morwenna answered. “If I did, I would have listed ‘furniture descending from the ceiling’ as one of the hazards on the waiver.”

“You genuinely don’t know what the trials are?” Byron asked as the tables finally landed on the floor.

“Nope,” Morwenna said as she approached the tables, which were now evenly spaced out around the tavern.

This reminds me of our old chemistry classroom,Byron said.

Remind me,his dragon said. Were you any good at chemistry?

You don’t remember?Byron asked.

I slept through most of the lessons,his dragon said with a yawn.

Let’s put it this way, Byron said. I was always much better at theory than practicals.

The tables that had appeared from the rafters were arranged in four rows of five columns, with sufficient space between them to allow the couples plenty of movement around them without the risk of knocking into anything or anyone.

Each tabletop was littered with a number of dried herbs, small plants, and crystals. A small cauldron on a tripod sat in the center of each, surrounded by various potion-brewing paraphernalia. Byron was glad that he recognized at least some of the tools and items from his time writing the Handbook for Young Witches. However, among the beakers, tongs, and burners, there were plenty of unfamiliar items…and some that looked a little out of place…

You might have to update your handbook, his dragon said.

“Oh, look. That’s interesting.” Morwenna placed her big stack of papers on the bar, next to a rolled-up scroll Byron was sure hadn’t been there previously. Morwenna picked it up and started reading. “Listen up! Our first trial is to brew a potion. Now, that’s not so bad, is it?”

There was a murmur through the crowd.

We definitely should have brushed up on our witch’s handbooks before this.

“All the ingredients you need are on the tables, along with all the required tools.”

“Is that a wine glass?” Stan asked, pointing to one of the tables at the back.

Morwenna raised her head to peer over at the table. “So it is. Well, improvisation is the name of the game here.”

“And there’s a pint glass.” Stan ducked down and checked out the rest of the tables. “And that’s a…”

“Points will be deducted for time wasters and criticism.” Morwenna shot a laser-sharp look at Stan. “They will also be deducted for any breakages or damages to tavern property.”

“Improvisation, you said.” Stan nodded as if giving Morwenna permission to continue and was met with a steely stare before the witch went back to reading the scroll.

“I did. This is a tavern after all, not a laboratory, so you will have to make do,” Morwenna went on. “You will each make a potion. A recipe is also provided.” She rolled the scroll back up and placed it in a pocket.

There was a beat of silence.

“That’s it?” Amelia asked. “We just have to make a potion?”

“Yes, it would appear so.” Morwenna nodded.

“Are there any other rules?” Another voice asked.

“Further instructions will, I’m sure, be provided if needed,” Morwenna replied.

“I think that means when the tavern decides to share them,” Stan said in a theatrical whisper.

“Points will also be deducted for smart mouths,” Morwenna finished, fixing Stan with another icy glare.

He had the grace to look sheepish, though Byron noted the mirth dancing in his eyes as he muttered, “Shot glass.”

Byron followed Stan’s gaze and smothered a smile as he spotted what was indeed a shot glass among the glass tubes and measuring jugs.

“Are there any more questions?” Morwenna asked, her voice layered with a thinly veiled threat. Everyone, including Stan, wisely kept their mouths shut.

“Very well, then,” Morwenna said, clapping her hands together. “You have exactly one hour to finish brewing your potions. The time begins...now.”

The room erupted into movement as every participant rushed toward a table. Most couples aimed for a table with the fewest ‘improvised’ items, and there was some tussling, but before a fistfight broke out, Morwenna yelled, “Points will be deducted for unseemly behavior! I will not tolerate violence when so much precious glassware is on the line!” Her voice echoed around the room, instantly silencing the squabbling and causing even the most boisterous of participants to shrink back in apprehension.

“Good,” Morwenna said, nodding approvingly. “Now remember, creativity and resourcefulness are key here.”

“I thought she said there was a recipe. Surely, we just follow that,” Byron said as he joined Cassie at the table with a wine pitcher.

His eyes moved across the oven gloves and old spectacles that must have replaced any form of safety gear, to the wooden spoons and cocktail shaker, before drifting to the table Amelia and Jerome had chosen, which looked almost state-of-the-art with a large mortar and pestle and even a small bellows.

Cassie chose this one,his dragon said.

Maybe she knows something we don’t, Byron said.

“Should we start with reading the recipe?” Byron asked as he began sorting through the items on the table, putting them in some kind of order. Dried herbs to one side, followed by fresh, followed by mineral, with the appropriate tools placed near each.

“Sure,” Cassie drawled as she watched him with some curiosity.

“Organization is key,” Byron said, frowning as he picked up a nutcracker. “I guess that belongs with the mineral reagents.”

“I thought Morwenna said creativity and resourcefulness are key here,” Cassie replied, and he could not tell if she was being sarcastic or literal as she picked up the small note placed on the corner of the table. “Okay, this is not…” Cassie gnawed on her bottom lip.

“Not…” Byron tried to look over her shoulder. “Oh.”

“It’s just a list of ingredients.” Cassie glanced around the room at the other couples, who had already started working on their potion.

“So let’s start,” Byron suggested. “We can figure it out as we go. These ingredients must create the potion we need.”

“But we don’t even know what the ingredients are supposed to make,” Cassie said, her voice rising. “We don’t know what order to add them, how they should be prepared, what heat if it requires magic.”

“Take a breath,” Byron said. “I’m sure we can figure it out. You’re a witch, after all.”

“Oh, so because I’m a witch, I’m supposed to know what to do?” she shot back at him.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Byron said. “But you have brewed potions before.”

Cassie ran a hand through her hair. “I haven’t brewed potions for a while.”

“Well, that’s better than what I’ve got to offer. I have never brewed potions,” Byron said.

“But you wrote a handbook…” She pressed her lips together. “You never actually made the potions it contained?”

“No,” he admitted and winced as if he’d lost her respect. “But I have read extensively on the subject.”

“I have read extensively on the subject of cheese making,” Cassie retorted, her brow furrowing as she scanned the tangled mess of ingredients before them. “It doesn’t mean I’m any good at it.”

Byron winced at her words. “Point taken.”

“Okay. Let’s gather the ingredients listed. Maybe it will come to me.” Cassie placed the recipe on the table and reached for the moonlit water, which was held in a wine bottle, while Byron grabbed the gossamer silk and rose petals, arranged in different snack bowls.

“Careful with the pixie dust,” he warned as Cassie closed her hand around it.

“Did you read that in a book?” She arched an eyebrow at him but loosened her hold, picking up the small vial with great care.

“Okay, here are the silverweed roots and a quartz crystal.” Byron placed the ingredients down in front of her.

Cassie stared at them for a moment before she raised her eyes and looked around the room at the other couples. “I don’t think I can do this. I don’t know what goes first.”

“The rose petals and the moonlit water,” Byron said with more confidence than he felt. “The moonlit water is the only liquid here and is commonly used with rose petals to make a stable potion base.”

Are you sure? his dragon asked.

I’m sure they won’t explode, Byron answered. The pixie dust, on the other hand, can be a little volatile.

Cassie turned her head to look at him, her gaze penetrating. “Rose petals and moonlit water it is.”

She picked up the wine pitcher and tipped the red rose petals in first, then poured in the water. “They need to infuse.”

“They do,” Byron agreed. “And then we need to heat the silverweed roots over the Bunsen burner to get rid of the bitterness.”

“Well, that would depend on what we’re making,” Cassie replied. “Because the bitterness might be meant to temper the sweetness of the rose petals. But that would depend on what we are trying to brew.” Her brow creased as she stared at the ingredients. “The thing is, I don’t get it. These ingredients don’t go together.”

“Which ingredients?” Byron asked.

“Hello.”

They both jumped to see Morwenna standing across from them, hands clasped behind her back as she surveyed their table.

“So, Cassie, Byron, how are we feeling about our lovely concoction, hm?”

Cassie and Byron glanced at each other.

“Honestly, we’re a little unsure of the recipe we’ve been provided,” Byron said. “Perhaps we could get some of those further instructions.”

“What a lovely suggestion. I’ll make sure to put it forward. Now, what have we started with?”

Cassie frowned. “Well, we’ve made a potion base with the rose and the moonlit water.”

Morwenna nodded approvingly. “What a lovely choice. A classic, even. Some great potions have been brewed off the back of these two common ingredients. You might want to use a few more ingredients if you don’t just want mildly sweet water, though. I also see that your workspace is so…organized. What a wonderfully tidy table. Really, orderly.” Morwenna nodded again before she drifted away from the table and headed for the next table. “So, Amelia, Jerome, how are we feeling about our lovely concoction, hm?”

Cassie shook her head. “Um, ingredients…the gossamer silk and the pixie dust. Those don’t mix at all.” Cassie chewed on her bottom lip. She looked up once more, but the other contestants were huddled around their ingredients. “I don’t think this is right.”

“I think we should stick to the recipe. It’s the one thing we have been given.” Byron picked up the paper and read it again. “I’m sure if we use them correctly, in the right order, we’ll make the potion and pass the first trial.”

And if we don’t, we’ll fail and likely lose our mate, his dragon said.

We can’t fail, Byron said firmly.

It would be embarrassing for the author of the Handbook for Young Witches to fail at a simple potion brewing, his dragon said. You probably don’t even need magic for this, just some technical knowledge.

Thanks for making me feel worse, Byron said with a huff. This was not going the way he’d hoped.

“I don’t know what order they should go in.” Cassie was shaking her head, looking perplexed. “The pixie dust is too reactive to use with the gossamer silk, it’ll just disintegrate.”

“What about the...” He reached for the tumbler filled with small lumps of quartz crystal, but it was gone. “What the?”

A screech rent the air, and they both turned to see one contestant jump sideways, knocking over a vial filled with a luminous liquid that spilled across the floor, giving off a faint glow as it seeped into the cracks between the floorboards. A collective gasp filled the room, all eyes swiveling toward the commotion.

“Kael!” a woman screeched in dismay. Kael, the man figure with emerald eyes and hawk-like features from the queue, looked at the spilled liquid with an expression of shock that gradually twisted into a mask of frustration. Kael’s partner, the petite woman with red hair, was frantically attempting to mop up the mess with a piece of cloth, her movements frenzied and haphazard. “Are you just going to stand there?”

“I wasn’t the one who knocked it over.” Kael folded his arms.

“Oh, I see how it is!” She looked up from the glowing liquid, which stained her fingers. The room was silent except for the soft sizzle of whatever potion the couple had brewed.

“Brushworth!” Morwenna called, and out of nowhere, the floating broom dashed over, batting the woman away while a mop and bucket got to work scrubbing.

Byron shared a glance with Cassie.

“Maybe I’m mistaken, but they mixed the pixie dust and gossamer silk,” Cassie said. “And then likely added the silverweed. The silk wasn’t strong enough to bind it all together. Strange, though…”

“About it glowing?” Byron asked.

“No, those two were so loved up when we came in here, but now look at them.”

Byron glanced round to see them still bickering. “I guess they cracked under the stress. But that still doesn’t help us. What do we do with this potion?”

Cassie shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know that this recipe isn’t right.”

“Then don’t trust in the recipe. Trust in yourself,” Byron told her. “Remember the fickle cauldron? This surely can’t be any more difficult than brewing with that.” He glanced down at his watch. “We just need to brew something.”

“But I told you, I am not good at this,” she hissed. “That’s the whole reason I entered the competition.” Byron tilted his head to the side and stared past Cassie. “Are you even listen…”

He shot out his hand and grabbed an imp with was creeping across their desk, one of the quartz crystals hoisted above his head. “Got you.”

The imp squeaked in surprise, dropping the crystal.

“He was stealing?” Cassie turned on the little creature, who was trying to push Byron’s fingers open so he could make his escape. “Maybe I should add him to the potion.”

“Maybe we should.” Byron’s eyes narrowed. “You live in the rafters, right?”

The little creature chattered at him, his voice so high and fast, like the whistling of a stiff breeze, it was hard to make out what he was saying.

“And these tables came from the rafters,” Byron continued.

“Do you think he knows what we are supposed to be brewing?” Cassie asked, peering at the little creature, who watched them with beady little yellow eyes.

Byron shrugged, then he placed the imp down on the desk and covered him with a beaker, before placing the quartz crystal on top of it to hold it down. “Maybe we should add a little heat.”

“Wait.” Cassie placed her hand over his. “If he helps us, we might get disqualified.”

“Morwenna said we should be creative and resourceful.” Byron eyed the creature under the beaker, who was trying to push it over and escape. “I think this counts.”

“So now you are saying we shouldn’t follow the recipe or the rules?” Cassie asked.

“That’s the thing. We don’t know the rules.” Byron ran a hand through his hair and then sat down heavily on a stool. It was as if the walls were closing in on him. This wasn’t a fair competition. Not fair at all. Competitions had rules, they had parameters, they had guidelines. This was nothing but chaos in the guise of a competition.

He looked around the room at the other couples, frantically picking up and placing down ingredients before picking up the recipe. He could see imps darting through the air and clambering all over the tables, whisking away ingredients back up into the darkness of the rafters.

Cassie looked at him and sighed before she picked up the Bunsen burner and lit it.

“Are you—?” Byron sprang to his feet.

“If your sentence ends with heating the silver root to remove the bitterness, then yes.” She eyed him curiously. “Do you really think I am capable of torturing a poor defenseless imp?”

The imp turned toward them and shook a tiny fist as he chattered in his high-pitched voice.

“I’m not sure if he’s taken offense at the word torture, or defenseless,” Byron said with a grin. “Tell me what you need me to do.”

“You’re not going to like it,” Cassie warned him.

“Try me.” Byron arched an eyebrow at her.

“Grab the Brinz Spice. And the Giggliop Flower.” She pointed to the leftover ingredients. “I’ll need some Horsho Pepper, too.”

“You’re going off-piste?” Byron asked.

“Off what?” Cassie asked.

“You’re not following the recipe.” Byron grimaced.

“I don’t think we were expected to follow it at all,” Cassie replied and then lowered her voice. “I think Morwenna gave us a clue in the first line she read from the scroll. And the other clue is on these very tables.”

Byron thought for a moment. “‘You will each make a potion. A recipe is also provided.’” His eyes widened, and Cassie nodded. “Oh my goodness!”

“You get it now? I don’t think it matters what we brew. I just think we need to have something by the end of this, despite all the…imp!”

Byron grabbed a hand fan that was likely there to replace the bellows they didn’t have and swatted away an imp that was heading for their dried sage.

“Ready to get to work?” Cassie asked.

“What do you have in mind?” Byron asked.

Cassie added the silver root to a test tube and heated it with the Bunsen burner. “I need you to make a paste from the Brinz Spice and the Horsho Pepper.” She pointed to the herbs and spices he’d already collected. “You need to juice that starfruit, then mix it all together.”

“On it.” Byron went to the ingredients he’d just collected, only to see another imp taking off with the Horsho Pepper.

“Oh no, you don’t.” With a twist of her hand and a muttered spell, Cassie sent the gossamer silk through the air. It landed on the imp, catching him in a fine net.

“Good catch!” Byron said with a nod of appreciation as he retrieved the pepper from the imp.

“Why, thank you!” Cassie flashed him a bright smile, which was both beautiful and infectious. “That silk was useful, after all.”

We’re going to complete this task, his dragon said.

But then he saw someone approach from his peripheral vision and Cassie froze.

Jerome, his dragon ground out.

He didn’t know what it was, but something about the guy set his teeth on edge, and he reflexively balled up his fist. Maybe it was because he was dating Amelia, who Cassie clearly had some tension with, but he wouldn’t let him cause any trouble.

Was there anything in the rules about turning our opponents to dust?his dragon said as a surge of jealousy coursed through him.

No, Byron said. I don’t believe there was.