Did itwork?
Chapter 19
“That’sall you need to say?” the girl asked, eyes wide inadmiration.
Unexpectedly, a frog fell from her mouth and plopped into the water-filledbucket.
The girl stared down at thefrog.
Angelique stared down at the frog withher.
The frog swam in its newly claimedbucket.
Andsilence.
I messed up.Angelique decided.Badly. Verybadly.
“It worked!” The girl laughed, and a second frog joined thefirst.
“Itworked?” Angelique’s words were liberally coated withshock.
“I wanted frogs, toads, snakes and the like—my garden has been overrun with bugs. They’re going to eat all my plants—oh!” The girl caught a toad and a green garden snake before they fell into the bucket with the happyfrogs.
Angelique’s head hurt. “Your garden is getting eaten, so the thing you most wanted wasfrogs?”
The red-haired girl nodded. “We used to have frogs, toads, and little snakes all around the oasis, but about five years ago, a bunch of herons escaped the royal aviary and flew here and ate most of them. Our gardens have been plagued ever since then—and not just mine, but the whole village,” she explained, dropping two more toads and another frog. “This will help everyone!” she brightly finished, with another gardensnake.
“I see. That is very…practical of you,” Angelique said, slowly warming to the idea. “It will have a longer-lasting effect,anyway.”
“Exactly,” the girl said as she set the toads and snakes loose on the ground, releasing them on the oasis. “If I had wished for fruit or food, it all would have rotted in a few weeks! But these little fellows should successfully repopulate the oasis for years to come and save the villagers’gardens!”
“Yes,” Angelique agreed. “I am glad you are pleased with your boon.”I just hope vipers and cobras aren’t included with your wish forsnakes!
The girl peered at her bucketful of frogs and laughed. “I’ll have to come back with a different bucket—Mamma sent me, seeing as my sister couldn’t draw any water with her jewel bucket, but I’m not sure she’d welcome me home with frog bathwater.” She winked, not at all shaken when a giant frog splashed into the bucket, flinging water across hergown.
“Then…enjoy? And may the boon grant you great happiness.” Angelique said, not quite certain how to draw the conversation to a close.What am I supposed to say—live happily ever after with your frogs, dear child?Ridiculous!
“I will!” she promised. “Thank you, LadyEnchantress.”
Angelique waved bemusedly and watched the girl hurry back up the pathway that led to the village, dropping two toads as shewent.
“That was unexpected.” Evariste’s voice came from directly behind Angelique, making herjump.
Is appearing quietly and mysteriously an advanced skill covered directly before I am made a full LadyEnchantress?
“That she wanted snakes?” Angeliqueasked.
“And toads and frogs, yes,” Evaristeagreed.
Angelique scuffed a slipper in the dust. “Did I make a mistake in granting the boon? I thought that by making it temporary, she wouldn’t be able to come up with anything that would have large-scale repercussions—politically orenvironmentally.”
“No, it was a very good boonbecauseit is temporary,” Evariste agreed. “Though next time, you should ask them what it is they want and have them verbalizeit.”
“It was too risky to leave it up to her without hearing anything about it, wasn’t it?” Angelique sighed as a fat toad hopped past herfoot.
“Given that she clearly had a kind heart, it was a relatively safe bet she wouldn’t wish for anything malicious, but it was a bit risky, yes,” Evariste said. “The real danger, however, was in the magic. Often times, leaving things vague in a spell makes the spellwork unstable. That you got it to stick—and stay balanced—is very telling of your power,Angel.”
Angelique scoffed. “You give me too much credit, MasterEvariste.”
