The Wizard of Elsewhere

1.11 - From Beyond The Moon and Sun

Double, double toil and trouble;

    Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

    In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

    Wool of bat and tongue of dog.

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

    Lizard's leg and howlet's wing.

For a charm of powerful trouble,

    Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

— Actual recipe from The Witches Book of Potions 101.

* * *

"...To a Beautiful Game." Barnibus said to The Forerunner, and, reaching deep into his robe, so deep that his elbow crossed the line of his lapel, pulled out....

"Chess! Game of strategists and knights and glory to be won an' lost!" Exclaimed the Forerunner exultantly, and she flipped to her feet.

It was an impressive flip.

The Forerunner arched her back and sprang from her crosslegged position into a tight roll in mid air to her feet so smoothly that it looked like it had been done in slow motion and left Barnibus staring, slack jawed, board and beard hanging limply from either hand.

The Forerunner giggled gleefully into the night. "An age an' more hast passed an' ne'er a mortal dared challenge the ... to..." and her mirthful grin curled down into a — "What. Is. That?!" She spat.

"Th-this?" Barnibus stuttered, feeling completely off his footing, and very very glad he'd pulled out one board and not the other. "Why, I — as I said. This is a Beautiful Game. And — ah —"

— Stir this cauldron —

Barnibus shuffled foot to foot, and then something like Daring surged in him and he babbled out "From where doth thee hail from Forerunner?" And cringed but tried not to look like he was cringing. He waited for the blow to fall.... And it didn't.

The Forerunner froze, looking puzzled.

That did not warm the glacial quality of her hiss, though. Far from it. "Thricely asked an' twicely answered. How brazen thee to ask again. What right have thee, yee of mortal ken?"

Part of The Forerunner expression looked disappointed for some reason. The rest of it twisted into something so ugly it looked disfigured. "To ask of me for such an answer," she spat. "To —"

"— question!"

The Forerunner froze again. Somehow even more still than before. Like a statue. "...What?" She asked finally.

Barnibus was breathing so shallowly his heart was palpitating. "Played us a game of questions and answers! Spake I just a question plain. A-a-and I ask as thee has done the same! Thee halest from elsewhere just as I, wherefore art thee from? Forerunner One?"

The Forerunner — twitched. And then an expression of utmost surprise blazed across her face.

"That game ceased!"