Strange Alchemy Part 1

Emma felt a curl of hair drag down towards her eyes, she watched as a thick drop of sweat traced the edges, pulling it towards the ground. As she stepped towards the camp, the lock swung inwards, causing a salty missile to hit her eyelashes, stinging her brown eye causing it to involuntarily slam shut. “Blast it!” She hissed, brushing a thick suede glove against her face. Dust and dried tinder scraped her cheek. 

Ginnifer’s stupid peaked hat poked over a low wall a few meters away. “You okay?” She sang, Emma’s teeth ground as the saccharine tones brushed over her like the non-existent breeze. She watched as the point bounced along towards a low break. 

The petite and elfin woman rounded the corner, literally skipping up the path towards her. Slipping her hands free of her gloves, she threw them to the ground, sputtering as a cloud of dust billowed up from some ancient structure. Coughing, she bit her tongue. ‘Standing in this blasted heat with a bubbly little moron, probably in some ancient sty or latrine…’ 

Taking a breath, she retreated back towards their camp. “No, I am not alright.” She growled, flopping onto the stairs, her porcelain face obscured by the thinnest of shadows. “Can we please move on? It’s hot, and sticky, my hair is out of sorts and we only have a week before Lady Cork’s ball.”

She tried to parse the distance, Lady Katherine and Lady Magdalena were probably already there. Seething, she folded her Arms tight against her belly and turned away. The witch came to a rest, and bent forward, strands of green hair sliding downwards in thick curtains embracing the heart shaped face. “Aw, how can you NOT be having fun. Isn’t this where mighty Caspian fell while fighting the dragon? Imagine Lady Cork’s face if you presented her with his garter?”

Emma hissed, imagining the look on her patron’s face when she presented her a bindle of musty ash and fabric. “A desiccated tribute is sure to earn her favor.” She grumbled. “Besides, aren’t you supposed to be looking for Newtroot or some other nonsense?” 

Ginnifer tilted her head to one side. “Venomshroom actually. And no pouting, your father demanded I find some.” She knelt down, turning away and began fishing about in her pack. She produced a damp leather skin. It’s reddish tinge glistening in the noon sun. Holding it out, she smiled up at Emma. A tight, warm, spiteful smile. 

Taking it, Emma wrenched the lid free, and greedily sucked in a mouthful. Sighing, her shoulders slumped as she handed it back. “He demanded you make the tinctures. Not hunting for random fungus.”

Ginnifer laid her spellbook aside, gently replacing the skin and storing her current haul. “Tinctures need ingredients. Now, please be patient. I promise, we’ll leave soon. Morning at the latest.”

“Morning!?” Emma gasped, kicking a foot out and stamping it on the stone below her feet. The sound echoed for several seconds, longer than it took for her skirt to fall into place. The young witch looked at her blankly, and Emma brushed her forehead with the back of one hand. “Well can you at least cast a spell to make it cooler?”

“No! Weather spells are so incredibly complicated, I wouldn’t dare try!”

Emma glared at her companion. “I’m not asking for snowfall, this is utterly intolerable.”

Her companion punched her hips, still kneeling a short distance from Emma. “Miss Emma, you wanted to travel with me. You could have travelled with the cotillion.”

The aristocrat huffed, and turned away. “They’re no fun.” She whined. “Though right now you’re not much fun either.”

“Miss…” Ginni spat, rising to her full height. Her leather bodice below Emma’s eyeline. “I will not discuss it further. I must find a few more caps before we depart. The Maven of my coven won’t be able to help me unless we have enough material.”

She began to stomp back towards the wall, leaving her possessions piled loosely beside Emma. “Sit there and bask. I will be done when I’m done.”

Darting behind the wall, Emma watched as the conical cap shrank and disappeared into the distance. For an eternity, she traced the filigree of her gown, listening to the hissing drone of some infernal insect in the treeline below the decaying fortification.

She felt her nails digging into the fabric, and took a deep breath. Leaning forward, she retrieved Ginnifer's spellbook. Thumbing through it, she found crude doodles and brief sonnets. 

Her fingers danced along the worn ink lines. Some were written in plain text, and a few in some arcane script. Her eyes bulged when she flipped the pages and found herself staring at a crude drawing of a snowflake. The page was muddled and faded, but she did spy some things she recognized. Heat, cold, and a crude drawing of the venomshrooms Ginnifer had been collecting.

There were pictograms following the doodles. A bit of human hair, a small stone ground to dust, the stem of the Venomshroom, and some liquid. Beside the drawings was an arithmetic shape and a female figure trembling.  

Despite the nudity, Emma felt her lips curling. “Weather spells don’t look so complex.” she hissed, taking Ginnifers pouch in her hands. A heavy oaken Mortar and pestle sat off kilter in the cavity, one or two venomshrooms had tumbled inside. 

Beaming, she pulled it free and grabbed a bit of thin shale from the ground. She took the pestle and ground the fragile stone into a pile of dust. The sun rose even higher by the time she had plucked her own hair and added water. Gently, she lifted the purplish mushroom cap and tore the stem portion free. 

Dropping it into the pestle with the rest of the ingredients, Emma began to frown. Nothing seemed to be happening, and the sun had shifted enough that Emma wouldn’t be able to hide from it for much longer.

Suddenly, the concoction therein began to swirl and turn a bright pink. With a loud pop, she felt water coat her from face to boot. Sputtering she waved her hands about in an attempt to free her lungs. 

Suddenly, she felt a pit forming in the bottom of her stomach. Doubling over in pain, she felt similar to her holiday to the highlands, where she leapt from a great stone into a frigid stream. 

She hear Ginnifer’s boots crunching up the trail. “No-no-no-no-no!” She growled. “What are you thinking!” She screamed.

It was hard for Emma to pay much attention. She felt a floaty sensation in her belly as the serum soaked into her skin. 

She blinked, watching as the entire earth seemed to come alive around her. Exploding outward in all directions as she felt herself swaying. When the feeling passed, she blinked in confusion. The world was… larger!

“Oh no!” She squeaked, rolling around on her hands to take in everything. Ginnifer knelt beside her, beaming. 

“Oh my, this is interesting! I’ve never seen a shrinking spell!” Ginnifer beamed, brushing a massive digit by Emma’s cheeks. The woman could only shiver as she looked up at her once tiny friend. Whipping back, she brushed the locks of brown hair from her eyes. “Well, you should stay cool now. Little things don’t retain heat the same way. It’s why we don’t generally use lizards in our spells.” She beamed. 

Emma could only take in her surroundings, once uninteresting, now impossible obstacles. Turning back, she squeaked up at her friend. “You must fix me!” Her voice creaking. 

“I told you, I don’t generally touch spells outside my comfort zone. You’ll have to stay tiny until we reach my Coven in Ragusa.” Emma sputtered, drawing her limbs into a tight embrace.