Just as soon as Kazimir glanced over at the requests in the hall of knights he was out the door again. His old pal Khalash had put in for another request only a couple days after his first. “Sure, is a busy old man,” shaking his head as he abruptly walked back out the door.

So far, he was still only a page and had flown under the radar of the elites. Not having to worry about too much protocol or being dragged into something messy was a bit pleasing to him. He enjoyed his life as a wandering helper so far.

The street was lively, and sunlight brightened the faces of passerby’s. He thought about the last time he saw him and the foot massage they enjoyed together yesterday. His feet still felt relaxed from it. Before long, he arrived at the potion peddlers shop and knock on the door.

“Khalash, I’m back. I saw your recent posting.” The door swung open with the ever-inviting shop owner.

“Oh, delightful. I had hoped it would be you,” he pointed at Kazimir’s feet, “How are the toes doing?”

With a smile, Kazimir replied, “Better than I would have thought. Thanks for showing me the place. So, what’s this new task?”

“Of course, of course. It seems the old hermit didn’t have everything I needed so I need a young strapping lad to fetch me some herbs from the forest.”

Kazimir leaned forward half in the doorway now, “And the request said I can get a taste of the elixir. Will it have a similar effect as the root I chewed on?”


Khalash shrugged his shoulder high, “Maybe…one way to find out. Here’s the list. Off you go.” Kazimir took the list as the shop owner retreated to the pits of his workspace, leaving the mage to begin his task.

The sheet rattled of three ingredients to find and the relative locations and difficulties of each. “Well, I suppose I’ll start with…curly fern.” He trekked back to the forest again. This time more cautious not to encounter anymore bears walking his way.

Almost immediately he came upon what he thought was the curly fern. He matched them to the picture and plucked them for storage in his bag.

“Easy enough. Next on the agenda is…blue lichen. On rotten logs, huh. Well delightful.” The last sentenced rolled of his tongue with a sarcastic note.

Wandering around for almost an hour he began to get a bit weary of looking for rotting logs. This was something his magic was ill-suited for. He was actually a bit surprised at how little he had needed magic for all of his assignments thus far. He began to wander aimlessly through the wild, lost in thought.

His trance broken when he caught a glimpse of a fallen tree. Rushing over he saw the rotten wood tumbling to the ground and a strange blue herb growing out of it. “Finally, here we go.” He snatched it up and opened the note to see what the next target was. The soothing effect of the foot massage wearing off.
“Oh, you're kidding me.”

word count 505/1000

“A red leaf vine. In a massive tree somewhere deep in the forest,” He checked his resolve, “Alright…here we go.”

Kazimir ventured deeper into the woods on the lookout for the tallest trees he could find. It was time to make haste as he didn’t know how long it would take him to get that far into the forest. Another hour spent, and the canopy above had been getting higher and higher as the surrounding trees were gradually getting taller.

Soon he saw a tree towering over the rest. An oddity among the evergreens around him. This had to be it, he thought. Approaching the base of the tree he set his bag down, tightened the straps of his backpack and rewrapped his scarf snuggly around his neck. “So, I guess there is only one real way to handle this.”

Stepping side to side, he evaluated the tree. It was thick, and the branches were hefty and scattered all about it. The leaves weren’t exceptionally bountiful, and maneuvering wouldn’t be difficult. “It’ll be just like the old games of capture the flag.”

The leaves around his feet rustled with the gathering of the wind. The breeze billowed upward from his pants to his hair. “By the blessings of the tiger in the west.” The wind blew faster, transforming the light breeze into an uplifting gale. He felt the weight of his body unhindered. With a bend of his knees, he pushed of flicking the leaves into the air at his feet.

He rushed upward and grabbed hold of the first branch. Using his momentum, he swung himself to the top of it. Immediately, kicking off again, the wind carried him upward to the next one and then to next. He leapt between them with ease.

The canopy was with reach. One mighty leap spiraled him towards it. He Thrust his hand and created a rapidly expanding sphere of air that pushed a hole open in the interwoven branches. A technique used to make protective domes but had other utility as well. He soared through the gap and gazed out at the treetops before him.

Landing on one final branch he stood next to the red leaf vine. He safely tucked it in his bag and sat on the branch taking in the view for a moment. He could see all of Magnolia from here. Before he became too lost in thought he dropped back to the forest floor and traveled back toward the town. He made note that he would need to come back here one day.

A couple of hours passed by and it was sunset as he emerged from the forest. The Magic shop was near, and he was ready to finally taste this sweet elixir.
“I’m here with your herbs. It turned out to be a delightful walk.” His entrance roused the owner to rush over and take the herbs.

“Good, good. I knew you would like it, and you’ll like this even more.” Khalash threw the herbs into a bubbling cauldron and stirred them for a few minutes. Soon he ladled the mixture out into a small vial and looks at Kazimir, “Take a sip kiddo.”

Kazimir happily drinks part of it and feels the same sensation that he had from the root. Khalash noticed the effectiveness without Kazimir saying anything and with a hurried nod, “yes yes, wonderful. Now I have much work to do.” He walked him to the door with his reward and sent him on his way. No doubt he wanted to dive into making more of them.

Wor count 1105/1000