Beauty and the Magician (Tales of the Red Witch Book 1)

Chapter 11 - A heroine enchanted

As the sun sloped down in the sky and Eben surveyed the various holes in the torn up field; he finally came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to find anything this way and he needed something more to get the charm to work.

He stood in the middle of the field with one hand holding the shovel and the other twisting a muddy abused button on his now less than green waistcoat.

A magician can derive magic from two things. There is magic in words and there is magic in nature. He had the words for the locator charm but the magic could be amplified with a sprig of Gypsophila paniculata, the fresher the better. He checked his waistcoat pockets for some but came up empty. He reached up calling down his coat and searched it's many compartments.

He managed to find some in one of the interior pockets but it was so dry and desiccated that it crumbled upon removal.

He ran a dirty hand through his sweaty hair pushing a stray lock back off his forehead. He should go back to the shop and see if Toby has some, but he dreaded having to return home empty handed and ask his smug apprentice for help. Besides, he knew the garden in the back yard of his house was so poor and unattended that it rarely produced anything useful.

He should really pay more attention to it. However, he knew he lacked the ability to grow anything other than useless weeds. He sighed. Toby wasn't much better. They both apparently had withered brown thumbs.

He twisted his torso looking around the field, hoping for the little flower to magically appear. He could make one, turn a cornstalk into the needed Gypsophila. But he knew, magically transfigured plants wouldn't work. Transfiguration was only a change of appearance; it didn't alter a thing's inherent nature. Magic couldn't do that, it was against the very laws of it's existence.

He wasn't sure what brought up the image of the village in his mind. He pictured the main street and suddenly a picture clear as day popped up. He froze. There was a flower shop on Main Street, several doors down and across the street from his door.

He would have smiled at his own brilliance if he wasn't so hot and frustrated and coming to the realization that he only had to do this because the charm wasn't working in the first place. It didn't matter, surely the shop had some Gypsophila there and then he would be able to find whatever the charm was trying to lead him to. He whispered the incantation shrinking down the shovel, his coat and hat and shoved them all into his waistcoat pocket before turning back into a crow and flying back into town.

He wobbled slightly as he landed and turned back into himself. He felt wrung out like an old rag. He looked down at his clothes, he even looked like an old rag. He probably should have conserved his magic and walked back then maybe he could have charmed some of the dirt off.

He should put his coat and hat back on for appearances sake, but he was too hot and muddy and found he didn't care much for what the village would think right now.

Eben made a small effort to brush off the drying mud and marched over to the flower shop tossing the jeweled cufflink in the air and catching it every few steps. He felt a slightly renewed determination. This had to work. He took a deep breath and tucked the cufflink back in his pocket.

He rubbed a hand over his head. He was certain his hair was now sticking up in every direction. A quick look at his reflection in the glass of the shop door, confirmed that.

He scowled at his own slovenliness. It didn't matter, he had no reason to impress anyone in a flower shop, right?

He grabbed the handle and pulled, a bell over the door tinkled as he entered.