The Witching Hour

Lunch was a rather simple affair, cold chicken, bread and salad. Nothing fancy, nothing heavy. Once I served it, I got mumbles of approval from all three. Today’s breakfast was quite hefty, after all, so a light lunch was just what we all needed. “Say, have you three thought of the midsummer gifts to give out at the festival, or do you want to join in on mine again?” Their deafening silence was all the answer I needed.

“Fair enough. The wine bottle that Midnight found will be the general gift. Speaking of which, I will need to brew some more mead. I guess that means we are going to Nekkal for some honey. As for personal gifts to close friends… I was thinking of giving Ivy a quartz crystal for her ‘shiny collection’ thoughts?” Soot looked up from his plate. “I’d suggest giving her an amethyst instead, since she found a quartz crystal a while back.”

An amethyst, eh? “Should be doable. Transmutation isn’t my forte, but it’s not that difficult to change quartz to amethyst. As for Nettles gift, I have something special planned. I will need to involve Lilly, though.” The others looked at me, but I just gave them a conspiratorial smile.

After lunch, I picked up the new broom from old Tobin. “Well, we need to go to Nekkal, so let’s get this over with. And before you ask, yes, I can continue the story on our way there. Now then, let’s go.” I hopped onto the seat of my new broom in the usual sidesaddle position. I learned early on that riding in any other fashion was both uncomfortable and undignified. As I hovered over the ground, Midnight jumped into my lap, while Winter perched on top of my hat and Soot landed on my shoulder. This would allow the enchantment on the broom to affect them as well, preventing them from falling off.

"Now, then, we need honey. Anything else we need to add while in Nekkal?" Midnight looked up at me. “It would be prudent to fetch some more milk, and eggs, Meowstress. We are running low on both.” I made a mental note to drop in at Appleridge Farm on the way back for fresh milk and eggs. “Thanks for the heads-up, Midnight. It would be annoying to find out we were out at a crucial moment. Now then, since we have a bit of time before we get to Nekkal, how about I continue where we left off?” The three of them all cheered at that suggestion. “Alright, so Soot just agreed to…”

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“… Become your Familiar.” I reached over and gave him some loving scratches. “Nice, I guess I should say welcome to your new home then. Want another helping?” He looked down at his almost empty plate with a half-lidded eye. “Sure, but it can wait a minute or two...” That earned him a chuckle from me. “I don’t mind at all.”

About an hour later, Soot was lying stomach up on the table, with his stomach looking fit to burst. “I… think I overdid it.” I gazed down at him as I began cleaning up. “Well, I suggested stopping after the third portion, so any suffering you are experiencing is self-inflicted and thus earned.” Soot groaned. “I would come up with some witty remark in response to that… but I have to agree, ugh, my stomach. Next time I try to go for a fourth helping, would you mind doing me a favor and stop me?”

I gave his beak a light tap. “Sure, I can do that. Now why don’t you do us both a favor and stay there while I read up on the familiar ritual?” Soot lazily lifted a wing. “As if I could move in my current state.” I shrugged. “It’s what you get for being a glutton. Anyway, I’ll just fetch the book and read it here.” My only reply was a weak, incoherent chirp.

Let’s see, which book would show familiar rituals? I scanned the many titles on the tomes, most of which were still obscured, to show I wasn’t ready for them. Wait, familiars is a basic thing, isn’t it? I grabbed the book and looked up the table of contents. Page 874, Familiar Rituals. Perfect.

I went back into the living room and flipped through the tome to get to the page. “Hmm, let’s see, there are three basic familiar rituals…” The first one was the Ritual of Eternal Servitude. From its description, I was pretty sure it was what Soot was under earlier. Unquestioning obedience, even suicidal orders, would be followed. The very idea of that was filling my mouth with bile.

The second I dismissed as soon as I read about it, since its description made it sound like the familiar would be treated like a pet, something Soot already showed extreme disdain for. As for the third… Life-binding Bond. The major draw for this ritual was that it added the lifespan of the familiar(s) and the Familiar(s) master together to determine how long they would live. The familiars were still subordinate in the bond relationship, but were free to refuse orders with no downsides. However, the familiars couldn’t do anything to harm their Master, while the master could punish the familiars. I was iffy on that last bit, but it was the best of my three options.

I read the three available rituals out loud for Soot. “You’re doing ritual number one and two over my dead body, you hear me?” It was difficult to take him seriously, as he was still too full to move. But his voice left no room for doubt that he was serious. “That leaves just Life-binding Bond.” I gently lifted Soot up and helped him onto his feet. “Thanks. I’m fine with that last one. It doesn’t encroach on my free will any more than necessary, and it has some perks for me, too. Besides, I doubt there would be any better familiar ritual out there.”

Well, if he approved…. I began looking into what we needed. “Hmm, that could be a slight issue.” Soot tilted his head and walked around so he could see what was written. “Oh, we need a ritual altar and wait for a lunar eclipse. The Lunar eclipse is just a waiting game. But the Altar, there’s no way we’ll be able to get the stone for that before the ground thaws.”

I agreed with Soots’ assessment. Thawing out the stone with magic would be doable, but trying to get a stone slab the size I needed when I would have to constantly expose it to repeated heating and cooling? It would crumble to dust. “I guess we’re waiting until spring, then.”

Soot gave an affirmative chirp. “It can’t be helped. The ritual altar for this requires a singular stone slab for the altar. And trying to get that while fighting off the cold… If you possessed another five decades of magic experience… maybe. However, since your magic reserves aren’t big enough to just rip a slab out of the ground, or conjure one out of nothing, it’s just not happening.”

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Soot ruffled his feathers a bit. “That winter was such a drag after that. Though I will admit that in hindsight, I’m happy you talked me in to stay until spring even if I would be freeloading. It got bad towards the end there.” I reached up and scratched him on his neck, below the beak. “Yeah, those blizzards hit hard out of nowhere.” As I spoke, I saw Nekkal come into view.

As a courtesy to the city guard, I landed a way off and approached on foot. Mostly because attempting to fly in would set off several magical alarms and would be a pain to sort out. As I approached the guards in their polished breastplates and navy-blue uniforms, they looked up and gave me a sideways glance, but let me pass with no fuss.

Nekkal is a big town these days, far removed from its humble beginnings as three houses and a small meeting hall. Cobblestone streets, uniformed guards patrolling and providing security, sturdy stone walls keeping out wildlife. “I remember when this was just a muddy, ramshackle village.” Midnight mumbled as we entered the market square. Soot looked down at her from my shoulder. “I remember when Mistress found this place, it was only a handful of houses surrounding a single communal farm out in the middle of nowhere.” Winter said nothing. Then again, considering how still she was sitting, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was taking a nap.

It didn’t take long to find what I was looking for. ‘Ser Grünwald’s Finest Honey’ The store imported honey from outside the region. Arthur Grünwald himself was a thickset, but friendly, middle-aged man, with a small graying beard and short grey hair that was showing signs of balding. I’d done business with his family for two generations now, and his son Peter was looking set to make it a third soon. His father, Markus, moved in here and made a modest living importing honey until I got a taste of some of it. The best honey I’d ever tasted. After my endorsement, his business boomed as the local bigwigs took an interest.

As I entered the store, I could hear arguing. “I am sorry, Ser. But as I have said multiple times now, these are reserved, and I cannot sell them to you.” Arthur was arguing with a scrawny, pale man that wore the usual butler’s attire. The head servant of one of the local nobles, no doubt. “And I say that whomever you are holding those for cannot possibly be more important than Milord and Milady.” Arthur noticed me, and a look of relief flooded over his face.

“If you think so, then why don’t you ask her yourself, as she is standing right behind you.” The butler turned around, his mouth open and ready to steamroll me with arguments about why the reserved goods were to be sold to him, no doubt. But he froze the moment he recognized me. A common reaction, as I worked quite hard early on to build a reputation that I was not someone you messed with once I realized I’d have to deal with people again. “O-oh, Ms. Morgana, h-how pleasant to meet you. Sylas Graves, a-at your service…. Y-you know Grünwald, I… I think Milord and Milady can make do with the usual honey from Kanderin, and let’s finish quickly. I’d not wish to delay Ms. Morgana from fetching what’s hers.”

The butler finished his business in record time and hurried out as fast as he could. Arthur sighed in relief, then looked up at me with his usual jovial smile. “He must be new in town. Most of the noble servants know I only reserve stock for one person, and one person only. Speaking of which, Ms. Morgana, it’s been a while, so I take it you will be taking the lot?” I gave him a pleasant smile in return as I pulled out my money pouch.

“Indeed, Arthur, I’ll take all of them, have some brewing to do.” At the news, Arthur rubbed his hands together. “Alright then, four 15 gallon jars of my best Jaldon Vale Honey coming right up, Ms. Morgana. That will be 9 gold, 50 silver and 37 copper. I know, I know, it’s expensive. Unfortunately, there’s unrest in the Jaldon Vale region, so import prices have soared. My most humble apologies.”

I knew Arthur wouldn’t be fibbing. He was honest to a fault and never tried to fleece his customers. A silent spell later and my suspicions were confirmed. Arthur was selling those jars to me at a loss. “Here’s 10 gold Arthur, now stop selling at a loss, you’ll go bankrupt. And then who’ll supply my honey?” Arthur blinked in surprise for a moment, then bowed his head in a gesture of gratitude. “As always, Ms.Morgana, your kindness knows no bounds.” I just waved him off. “Enough of that, Arthur, you’re making this awkward. I take it these are the jars in question?”

Arthur looked back up and resumed his usual jovial demeanor in an instant. “Indeed, Ms. Morgana.” I unclasped my small storage pouch and a few moments later, the jars shrunk in size and disappeared inside. “Five decades, and that sight still fascinates me. If you pardon my curiosity, Ms. Morgana, is there a limit to how much you can store in there?” I shrugged. “If there is, I haven’t found it yet. Now, Arthur, I would love to stay and chat, but I have to get to Appleridge for some more ingredients, so have a nice day, and we will see each other again later.” I gave a polite nod and wave as I left the store.

With my business at Arthur’s done, I headed back towards the gatehouse. “Well then, we have some time before we get to Appleridge. Should I continue the tale?” Midnight looked up at me. “I think that would be unfair to Winter, since she’s still asleep.” So she was napping. I reached up and gently poked her. “Hey sleepyhead, how long do you intend on snoozing?” I received a sleepy mumble in reply. “Well, I guess that means we won’t be getting any more story time until she wakes back up.” The other two looked somewhat annoyed at this development, but it couldn’t be helped.