Cross Blades

Caronyne sat at the dining room table. She stirred the mixture that was soon to be the Purity Philter. Fagon had put Hermano to bed and he was sitting on the end of the table. Lafaard sat across from Caronyne, watching her every move. She tried to go as slow as she could, hoping that Lafaard would get bored and perhaps distracted. His hands twitched as he longed to reach for his bloodstone on the table out of impatience. “Hurry up! Don’t keep me waiting any longer!” Caronyne jumped. She looked at the last ingredient on the table: the nectar of the Century Lily. That lily only had one bloom in the world once every hundred years. She had gathered the nectar just before the storm, hurtling across Dimensions to bring it safely back home. All the nectar had to be used in one potion. If Lafaard got his hands on it, there would be none left for her children. Caronyne poured the nectar into a steaming bowl. Lafaard began to fidget out of excitement. Caronyne looked into the bowl. To her dismay, she had to impart the truth to Lafaard. “It’s finished.” Lafaard sat up, a hungry expectant glint in his eyes. Caronyne ladled the major portion of the Philter into a cup. Lafaard shakily took the cup and stared into the contents. He smiled, and some of the anger and hatred seemed to leave him. “You were always good at making tonics, Carry,” Lafaard said, more gently now. A plan had formed in Caronyne’s mind. For it to work, she would have to be quick. “That’s why you came to me?” Caronyne stalled Lafaard from drinking the Philter. “Yes, and you were the only one who had the nectar.” He tried to raise the glass to his lips. “The are other tonics for purity and many others equally skilled at making such things with the nectar,” Caronyne quickly said as she inched within grabbing range of Lafaard’s cup. “None as good as you,” Lafaard remarked as he raised the cup in a toasting sort of fashion. “And no tonic is quite as powerful as the Purity Philter made from the Century Lily. And, of course, as you know, the Purity Philter is most potent for a man when it is made by the woman he loves.” Lafaard reached for Caronyne’s hand. She drew back and pushed the bowl with the remnants of Purity Philter past Lafaard and over the edge of the table. It shattered, and, as Caronyne predicted, Lafaard watched it fall. Caronyne snatched the cup of Purity Philter from Lafaard’s hands. “In case you haven’t noticed,” she spat, “I don’t love you!” Caronyne swilled the Philter in a single gulp. “No!” Lafaard shouted as he stood. “Caronyne!” Fagon cried. “What have you done?” Caronyne’s face went blank as she felt the Philter’s consequences: she could not move as her mind fogged in the process of the Philter’s purification process. With the Philter coursing through her blood, Caronyne was being temporarily cleared from from all bad or impure thoughts. She staggered to the floor and by doing so, she nudged Lafaard’s bloodstone out of reach, which was splattered with the potion and rendered quite ineffective at the moment. Fagon leapt in front of Caronyne and held Lafaard by his collar. “Leave, Tapfer,” Fagon whispered. He shoved Lafaard roughly away. “Now!” Lafaard was now powerless without his bloodstone. He quickly grabbed his momentarily futile rock and darted for the door. He spun around with a horrible sort of madness on his face. “You’ll regret this, Caronyne!” Caronyne looked up, still regaining strength after the effects of the Philter. “I’ll spare you tonight, but I’ll come back! When I do, I’ll kill your family!” Lafaard roared. He swooped out the door and slammed it. Lafaard leaned against the door for a moment and ran his hand through his hair. He thought about his threat and muttered to himself, “I’ll kill them!” He stepped out again into the pouring rain, and hurled himself into the departing Dimensional portal.