Page 83 of The Noldrin Witch

“Take your potions before the smoke spoils them!” Fabian urged.

Everyone hurried to remove their cauldrons from the fire. Elise didn’t need to, since hers was already on her team’s table.

“Go to the gardens!” Fabian ordered.

Conrad, who until then had barely exchanged more than a few words with Elise and Emery, was quick to set the next course of action.

“Let me carry the cauldron while you go and explain to Fabian your idea of the magic fire you mentioned,” he said. “With some luck, the rest of the potions are all spoiled.”

Elise and Emery stood motionless for a moment. They had already grown used to Conrad’s economy of language. It was a wonder what a bit of competition could do to a man. Elise herself could still feel Danu’s energy running through her veins. It was in moments like these, when danger was close at hand, that she found this particular gift from the male divinity most useful.

“Go ahead,” she told Conrad.

“I’ll see what happened to the other potions,” Emery chirped as he hurried off to gossip around the cauldrons.

Elise nodded.

Everyone eventually made their way to the gardens. Spirits were low, and the hopes of finding the recipe for the Healing Potion even lower. As it turned out, all the potions had suffered from the black smoke. Even the containers holding the illness looked a shade darker.

It all seemed lost. Only Elise and her team faced the disaster with hopeful expressions.

“Our potion didn’t suffer any damage,” Emery announced.

Fabian hummed, his eyelids lowered. “And I suppose what you rascals managed in a day is far better than the rest.”

“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Elise said firmly.

The entire magic staff fell silent.

She whispered a chant to light the candle Morgaine had given her.

“For light and fire, lend me a pinch of your power.”

The flame from the candle proved stronger than a hundred hearth fires, and after only a few sweeps with a wooden spoon, the potion began to boil. They had used the same ingredients as everyone else. Neither Elise nor her team had added a single thing.

Elise extinguished the flame with the same chant once everything had blended nicely.

“It’s ready,” she said.

What followed was nothing short of a miracle. One of those times you order a mug of ale and are handed a whole pitcher for no extra charge. One of those moments when a fellow drops a coin and you happen to be walking right behind them.

When Fabian tested the potion, not only did the green liquid turn clear, but even the black smudge transformed into drinkable water.

“For the heavens!” Fabian rasped.

Murmurs about the Devil’s hand spread through the crowd, though with the potion finally complete, even if Beelzebub himself had stirred the cauldron with one of his nails, few would have complained.

Emery and Conrad cheered with so much enthusiasm that Elise couldn’t help but smile.

Fabian came over to her. “Well done,” he said, and Emery immediately began shaking her by the shoulders.

It was indeed a glorious moment. Elise thought it almost too good to be true, but the miracles kept coming. Even Gwern clapped the moment Elise caught her eye.

Footmen were summoned to carry the news to the king. One stout boy nearly tripped in his excitement. The news seemed to be traveling fast indeed as more footmen came and went in all directions. A goose passing by took offense at the commotion and began squawking at the crowd. Bruno naturally took the matter personally and flew out to avenge the insult.

Elise would have aided Bruno against the goose, but a familiar presence making his way through the tumult made her halt. The tall figure sparked a ripple of whispers among the fairies.

“May I speak with you?” Kurt asked.