A Captured Cauldron by R.K. Ashwick

Author:R.K. Ashwick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: RK Ashwick Books

RULE 18:

TAKE CONTROL

Dawn

Dawn had never seen Eli so anxious before.

“What do you mean they pulled up the demonstration?” he said, gripping the final corner of Banneker’s enchanted paper until it crumpled. “It wasn’t supposed to be for another two weeks!”

“Did he say anything else?” Sherry peered over his shoulder.

“Nothing.” He handed her the note, then ran both hands through his hair. “Is there anything else we can say to him? Any other note we can send?”

Banneker fidgeted with a leather bracelet around his wrist. “That was the last of our paper. I could try to come up with another way⁠—”

“It’s too late at this point,” Grim cut in, setting a heavy hand on Eli’s shoulder to anchor him in place. “Beake got us the important information—we’ve got one week to prepare and we know where he’ll be. Now it’s our turn to put the plan into motion.”

An uncomfortable silence settled over the workroom, leaving only their thoughts, the distant bustle of Rosemond Street, and the scratch of Rory’s pen on paper. The same taut concern crossed all their faces, Dawn’s most of all. There was no plan. Just like Banneker’s paper, they only had scraps to work with. A few disguise ideas here, an entrance strategy there…

And a signature wand that hadn’t even been started yet.

But while Dawn’s nerves paralyzed her, Sherry’s drove her into harried action.

“Well, I’ve got the clothing for Grim and Eli.” She dragged Viola and a reluctant Xavion to a table piled with fabric. “This jerkin and cloak should match the travelers we saw at the Forge entrance. I’ll add some armor underneath the cloak, naturally⁠—”

“And I’ll get a disguise spell going.” Viola nodded to energize herself. “Yeah, we can do this. Xavion, do you have the extracts we talked about?”

The potioneer rolled their eyes and handed over a bag of clinking crystal. Viola dug into it and pulled out a tiny vial.

“Hm.” She held the clear liquid up to the light. “Good. Keep this up, and I might make you your favorite dessert one day.”

Xavion snorted. “As if you know my⁠—”

“Earl grey cake with fernberry jam, lavender buttercream, and candied rose atop a vanilla cinnamon glaze.”

Xavion swallowed, their voice shaking. “N-no, that’s—that’s not it.”

Viola smirked. “Thought so.”

In the other corner, Eli and Grim had gathered for quite the opposite discussion.

“I still think we can sneak in a weapon if we’re careful,” Eli murmured.

“That guards will be looking.”

“We’ll make them invisible, or—or shrink them.” His eyes glinted at the idea. “Sherry might have something, actually… Hey, Sherry!”

The whirlwind left only Dawn and Banneker in the middle of the sawdust-covered floor. She turned to the artificer, but he was already lost in his own planning, muttering to himself as he gathered a pile of scraps and baubles before him.

“If I can reactivate this with…” He hefted a copper scrap in his hand, then tossed it aside. “No, if I combine these parts with the old wand parts I salvaged…?”

His mutterings ran in useless circles. When Dawn forced herself out of her own nerves and joined him at the table, he gave her a weak nod.

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