Page 6 of Tanglewood Magic (The Three Sisters 2)
“There’s nothing wrong with you or your dress, Circe,” he said through a grimace.
“Then why are you scowling at me?”
“Come on, you two!” Medea called. “The game awaits.”
Rhys avoided her question and gestured toward the ballroom. He did not escort her as they made their way inside, even though it was customary for partners to enter arm in arm. Based on the gruff energy coming off the man, she’d definitely read him wrong days ago when she’d thought he might kiss her. Clearly, he was not interested. He looked as if he didn’t even want to be there.
She followed him to the third quadrant and stood inside her ring. In front of her, there was a feather, a stone, a large crystal, a potted sapling, a silver chalice filled with water, and a red wax candle that flickered at her from its sector. She studied the objects, trying to come up with a strategy. As painful as it was, she had no choice but to engage with Rhys again. He was the one who understood how to play.
“Shouldn’t the feather be the easiest to move?” Circe asked him. “I can simply levitate it over the line into Isis and Brody’s quadrant.”
Rhys scoffed. “It is, but it is also the easiest for them to move back, as well as the other item whose sector you put it in. Also, feathers are extremely hard to layer with enchantment. Their nature is to remain pure.”
“What do you recommend?”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “The tree, of course. Green magic has always been my strength.”
Of course. He owned an apothecary, for Fates’ sake. She lowered her voice. “The tree it is. We’ll go with your strengths first. As for me, I’m fairly good with water and earth elements, but transformation is my specialty.”
“So I’ve witnessed.”
From across the field, Medea whistled to get their attention. “We draw to see who goes first.” A servant entered the room carrying an ornate gold box. “The coins are numbered. Number one makes the first move.”
The servant approached Circe, and she drew a coin. “Two,” she announced.
“That’s a good position,” Rhys said. “It allows us to react to the first couple’s strategy.”
“One,” Zelaria said. Her partner, Tamsin, was already studying the board, his knuckle pressed to his chin.
“Very well,” Medea said. “You go first. House rules are that you get one move to layer as many spells as you can execute at one time. The only requirement is that you must restore the nature of your object to its original state and move it at least one square before you add any other elements to the mix.”
“What does that mean?” Circe asked Rhys. “Restore the nature of your object?”
He laughed. “It means if a competitor freezes the water in the chalice, we have to melt it back into water before we can move it or enchant it ourselves. It sounds simple enough, but remember, we must do it in one layered spell. Any more than four layers and things become… unpredictable.”
No kidding. Circe wasn’t sure she’d ever done a spell like that in her life.
Medea dropped a red silk ribbon on the floor to signal the start of the game, and Zelaria floated her feather over Medea’s candle. It burst into flames and rained ash into the sector. Circe grimaced, finally understanding the game. Now Medea would have to restore the feather before moving both feather and candle.
“Our turn,” Rhys said. “I’m second-guessing our plan. Do you trust me to make the first move?” Their eyes met, and she was back in his laboratory, his lips so close to her own.
She couldn’t help gazing at his mouth as she answered. “Yes, please.”
Rhys drew his wand and floated the heavy stone over Isis’s sapling, raising it high into the air before allowing it to drop on the plant. Its branches flattened to the floor.
“That’s it, Bloodgood. The gloves are coming off!” After an exchange of whispers with Isis, Brody moved their chalice into Circe’s candle sector, and the water sloshed over the rim, dousing the flame.
“Easy enough to fix,” Rhys whispered.
The game continued, and soon it was clear that each team had their strengths and weaknesses. Medea was a master spellcaster, able to consistently layer five spells at once, but as a dragon, her partner Tavyss could contribute only fire and a very simple protective ward. Isis and Brody were particularly good with setting traps, for example, enchanting the crystal to shatter after the next move, but they were terrible at green magic and lost a turn trying to heal the sapling Rhys had destroyed. Zelaria and Tamsin managed some truly creative fire and water spells, at one point tunneling the water into the stone, which proved a puzzle that thwarted Medea for three moves, but they struggled with defensive magic.
Unsurprisingly, Circe and Rhys excelled with plants and water as well as strategy, but they often fell for Isis’s traps. After dozens of moves, however, it was clear that Zelaria and Tamsin were in the lead with only the rock and crystal left in the same sector of their quadrant. Rhys and Circe were in second place, with three objects in two sectors, the sapling in one and the crystal and the feather in another. It was their turn.
“I have an idea,” Circe whispered. “But I’m not sure if it’s against the rules.” She cupped her hand and whispered it into Rhys’s ear.
“Brilliant,” he said. “Do it.”
She raised her wand and, with an intricate pattern of interlocking swirls, transformed the sapling into a rock badger. The creature walked into the neighboring sector, shoved the crystal and feather into its marsupial pouch, and then bound into Zelaria’s quadrant where it curled up and fell asleep.
