10 Minute Tales

May 22 - Prank

The cauldron bubbled gently, simmering its pinkish contents over the fire in front of them. The mage strode over, the mortar he carried filled with a sweet-smelling herb.

"And a dash of powdered blackroot leaves." he muttered to himself, upending the mortar. The flaky remains of the leaves drifted slowly into the cauldron below. The contents turned from their pink hue to a muddy brown, though it continued to bubble. "Maple, are you certain this is the correct recipe?"

"I've only told you it a half-dozen times, Ronny boy." the pixie fluttered into view. Her body glowed brightly, giving her the impression of being nothing more than a glowing ball of light with large, dragonfly-style wings that fluttered almost faster than the eye could track. "Next is the dragon fruit seeds."

"I've told you before, my name is Elron." he sighed, walking over to the ingredient cupboard again. "I'm not convinced that anything that shifts colours so rapidly will grant me the power you say it will."

"Best way to know it's powerful, right?" Maple replied, giggling quietly. "It's a fae recipe, I can promise that."

"You've lied to me before." Elron glanced at Maple out of the corner of his eye. "You don't have any proof, then."

"Ugh, but you are paranoid. You'd make a bloody good Vanith fairy, I'll tell you that."

"Vanith?" he paused, looking at Maple properly.

"Well, no surprise that you haven't heard of them before, they're incredibly skittish. Most fae don't meet them regularly, either."

"Interesting." Elron admitted, dropping the seeds into the mixture. It turned a brilliant blue, before the colour faded. It now looked like water. "Tell me more."

"Well..." Maple lengthened the word playfully. "I guess I could tell you a little something, if you can make it worth my while." Elron sighed.

"Fine, I'll plant another five maple trees, or would you prefer a bottle of syrup this time?"

"Ooh, bottle, bottle!" she giggled, flapping faster in her excitement. "Fine, I'll talk. They're a type of water fairy that prefers hanging around headwaters."

"The start of rivers?"

"Yep. Something about the energy of potential up there." she shrugged. "Anyway, they hide from everything because they're worried about pollution - even lazy fairies are enough to get them running for the hills."

"So what powers do they possess?" Elron asked. Maple grinned under the disguise of her glow.

"Well, I guess I could tell you, or..." she let the sentence drift off. Elron sighed again.

"Maple, you promised this time."

"Yeah, I promised a mage."

"What?" Elron looked over. He didn't see the liquid behind him swirling, tendrils of black going from the outside and meeting in the centre in a dark vortex.

"I don't have to tell you anything, farts-for-brains. After all..." Fwoomph! The cauldron's contents exploded, a solid pillar of some noxious fume or other shooting up in a pillar. This jet broke against the ceiling, the gases rapidly spreading and filling the room. Elron didn't have time to react before he inhaled the mixture. His insides burnt as soon as the noxious mixture touched his lungs. He felt himself blacking out from waves of pain that rolled through him, radiating to his every extremities. "You were stupid enough to trust a pixie." Maple grinned, sitting by the windowsill. This would be worth watching.