Page 20 of Sorcery, Swords & Scones
“I’m starting small,” Lira reassured her as she narrowed her eyes at the pages of the book. “It’s a temporary vanishing powder, and it only requires a handful ofingredients and a few incantations. I should be able to pull it off. I’m good at following recipes, after all.”
“Is magic that easy?” Sass asked, hoping that Lira’s attempts at a vanishing powder didn’t make the entire tavern disappear.
Lira shrugged. “Why shouldn’t it be? This book has all the spells written out. If I follow the steps, I can’t go wrong.”
“I thought you said that your gran’s baking recipes were loose on the amounts and required some testing to get right.”
Lira peered up and nibbled her lower lip. “You’re right. I did say that.” She shook her head and returned her gaze to the spell. “But this is different. The measurements are much more exact for her spells. See?” She pointed to the page. “One spoonful of burdock root mixed with an equal amount of bone dust.”
Sass watched nervously as Lira scooped a spoonful from two different burlap bags and poured the powders into her mixing bowl. “Do I need to ask where you got these?”
“Iris doesn’t know why I wanted them, but she knows I’ve been curious about trying my gran’s spells.”
Sass made a mental note to talk to the apothecary later about giving Lira magical ingredients. Especially since Iris knew well that the spells from the mage’s book hadn’t always worked as they should have.
“Now I stir it with a raven’s feather,” Lira said, picking up a blue-black feather and using the pointed tip to mix the ingredients.
“I thought we agreed that a vanishing spell wouldn’t be all thatmuch help,” Sass said, as Lira motioned for Crumpet to turn the page of the book.
“This is just for practice,” Lira grinned at her as Crumpet fluttered from one side of the sizable leather book to the other to flip the page. “Once I’ve mastered the easy spells, I can move on to something that can do some real damage.”
Sass bit back a groan, suspecting that an untrained rogue playing mage could do a decent amount of damage even with easy spells.
Lira turned back to the book, squinting at the spidery script on the yellowed parchment. “Now I add a cup of sugar and a pinch of salt.”
“Why don’t I ask Iris to help?” Sass hitched a thumb behind her. “She ran with your gran for ages before they both retired. Maybe she has some insight into the spells.”
Lira added the sugar and salt as she shook her head. “No need. I’m almost done. I only need to mix in the water and oil and then blend everything until it forms a sticky dough…wait, this doesn’t sound right.”
Sass took a step back.
Lira straightened, frowning. “This isn’t the rest of the instructions to make the vanishing powder.” She bent forward and eyed the corners of the pages, then slid a withering glance to the flutterstoat. “Crumpet, why are these pages stuck together?”
The enchanted creature let out a flurry of indignant squawks as he stamped on tiny feet to the edge of the table and then took flight across the room and out the window.
Lira sighed as she pried apart two of the thick parchment pages. “It isn’t Crumpet’s fault. These pages are old and stuck together because the book was closed for so long. Most of the spells are in the back, but it looks like my gran added the occasional recipe between the spells.”
Sass blinked at the bowl and then at Lira. “Are you telling me you almost made vanishing cookies?”
Lira gave Sass an apologetic look. “I guess I shouldn’t be experimenting with spells I don’t understand. Sorry, Sass. I really thought my gran’s magic might be the answer.”
Sass marched over, picked up the bowl, and promptly walked to the window and tipped the contents out of it. “Promise me you’ll never try to make a potion or craft a spell again.” When Lira opened her mouth to protest, Sass added, “without supervision by a trained mage.”
Lira fluttered a hand at the window where her botched powder had been tossed. “That wouldn’t have been so bad.”
“Until we tried to make Florin vanish by hurling cookies at her.”
Lira put a hand over her mouth. “Or we served them to our patrons, and parts of them started disappearing.”
Sass shuddered as she thunked the earthenware mixing bowl back on the table. “No more freewheeling magic. I have enough to worry about without thinking that you might be accidentally whipping up a batch of truth serum scones.”
Lira's eyes brightened for a beat at that thought, then she schooled her face, nodding solemnly. “I promise. No more attempts at magic.” She furtively stowed the burlap bags of questionable ingredients. “The only scones I’ll make today will be cinnamon ones.”
Sass’s shoulders relaxed, and she rested a hand on Lira’s arm. “Thanks for trying, though.”
Lira patted Sass’s hand. “Don’t worry. This might not have worked, but we’ll figure something out.”
Sass returned her friend’s smile but didn’t respond as she left the kitchen for the great room. She hoped rather than believed that Lira was right.
