Page 34 of The Nowhere Witch
Wards
Review and practice for final week leading up to appointment.
“They might test you on defense and offense. Since that’s not my strength, we might have to ask…”
I jerked my gaze to his, daring him to say Hawk’s name.
“…Oscar or someone else,” he finished, smartly changing his answer. “I’d do it, but I’m not good enough in combat to teach anyone. What you’ve done already on instinct way surpasses my abilities.”
He was right. I needed to be prepared in that area as best I could. Problem was, if I asked Oscar, he might tell Hawk. I’d already been down that road and hadn’t liked the terrain even on much sunnier days in our relationship.
But there was another very solid option.
“I think I can handle that on my own,” I said.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I’ve got something in mind.” I turned to the cauldron, trying to do a fast bait-and-switch with the conversation before he delved any further into plans he wouldn’t want to hear or agree with.
He took a rag and wiped out the cobwebs inside.
“Do people use these things much?”
“It’s a rarer field of practice. A lot of the old-timers like them, though, and they have their purposes.” He blew into it, trying to rid the thing of the last bits of dust and debris.
I backed up as some rust flakes headed for me.
“Why not just do a regular spell?” I wiped some gunk off my eyelashes.
“Spells are more of a broad magic. This is the stuff you go to when you need finesse and precision. Don’t mind its size. I never splurged on a bigger one. This is a hand-me-down, but it gets the job done.”
“It looks like a very nice cauldron. So what are we making?”
He put the cauldron on the wood stove, smiling at his achievement. I was just hoping we didn’t have to eat anything out of that thing.
“Do you cook stuff to eat in that?” I asked, figuring out an excuse for lunch if needed. I might be on a cocoa-only diet starting today.
“Definitely not.” There was a pause and a shrug before he added, “Well,mostlynot. I might’ve used it for soup on the odd occasion, but that’s not what it’s meant for. Let’s say you want a guy to notice you but you don’t see him much. When you do, it’s in a crowded situation, and maybe you don’t want people to know what you’re up to. That’s when you drag out the cauldron.”
He grabbed another book by the couch, brought it over, and flipped to one of the many dog-eared pages.
“I was going through this last night. There are basics that they might look for, but none of them will be easy to test. The love potion. The illness. The cure. The hate. Still, it’s better if you know them to be safe. There’s also another potion—it’s harder, but I’ve got a gut feeling they might throw something like this at you just to take advantage.”
“What is it?” I asked, trying to look at the page he’d marked.
“A time-reverse potion. It’s basically like the fountain of youth. It’s not easy, but I think we add it in anyway.”
“How much harder is it?”
“You’d need to be at minimum a high Middling and also have infinite magic, because it’s a real depleter.”
“Can I do that?”
“You’re kidding, right?” He pushed the book toward me.
“Not really. I know I’ve done some interesting things, but maybe I’m using up everything I have. What if I’m going to run out soon?”
“You and Hawk never talked about this?” Zab grabbed a nearby stool and sat.