Prisoner The Night Before

The last place that Amy Foster wanted to be was in the lab. So, naturally, that's where she found herself as the evening waned. The only window high on the ceiling spilled orange light into the room in a counterpoint to the candelabras high above their heads. But it wasn't the light that made her fidget like she was a schoolgirl again. Nor was it the various lab equipment that littered the many tables in the room. She didn't mind Alchemy, really. It wasn't her preferred school of magic, but it was sensible and orderly. She couldn't really fault it that.

No, the reason she didn't want to be there was standing at the simple wooden table at the front of the room with his fingers stroking his chin. "Still not stable. I knew creating another one wouldn't be easy, but can I really only have managed to create two of the components through all of this experimentation?"

As her Master was not talking to her, Amy paid his statement as little mind as she dared.

"No luck then with that method, as originally thought," her Master said. "Amy."

Amy rose, trying not to feel quite so stiff. "Yes, sir."

"I want you to use your Glamour to infuse this gold with Fae magic," he said. "And be quick about it."

There was nothing to it; she had to follow his orders, or there would be consequences. As she didn't particularly want to think about such consequences much less have them happen, she focused as much as she could on drawing a Fairy Ring in a small area that was still clear on the wide open floor of the laboratory. She picked the spot as far away from the other Runes on the floor as possible.

Once it was there, she infused it with mana to power it up. Once it hit a particular point of infusion, she initiated a summon.

"I'm here!" the Fairy said, appearing out of the green lines of the Rune. "Yes?"

"Infuse the gold with Fairy Dust, please," Amy commanded quietly.

"Okay, fine," the fairy replied as she started to comply. As the fairy did as she was bid, Amy tried to fight off a shiver. What was she doing?!

"That should be plenty," Master Ribbon said.

"That will do, Fairy. Thank you," Amy said.

"So I'm all done?" The Fairy asked in the distinctive high-pitched voice of one of the Fae.

"Yes. Thank you." Amy waved her hand as she dismissed the Fairy from the Human Realm.

Master Ribbon took the now infused gold and put it in one of his instruments and set it up. He was immersed in the intricacies of the strange device until suddenly he glanced back at Amy. "That's enough, Amy. You may go. I will see you in the morning." Amy didn't need any more permission; she left as quickly as her legs could move her.

She breathed a sigh of relief once she felt her mana investment in the Fairy Ring rune left her, and she watched the last few rays of the setting sun disappear.

She felt tainted.

She had used Glamour to help someone... help him, no less!... to do something that might help the people who had gotten into this mess! The one thing that she had promised herself that she wouldn't do, she had done. She needed to wash herself. Thankfully there was a stream not far out of town where she could cleanse herself of this taint.

The lab was in a building on the outskirts of town, giving her easy access to the small wooded area that lay adjacent to the main southern road. As soon as Amy had escaped the confines of the road and houses and civilization, she felt a little better. She stepped quickly and efficiently through the woods on a path that she had taken many times before. She barely had to pay any attention to where she was going. The stream came into sight before she had to do anything about a lantern.

In the last bit of visible twilight, the lantern could be seen next to the tree that she had left it against. Next to it was a brush and some soap. She stripped and laid her clothing in its normal spot on the bank and sank into the cold water. She took the brush and began to scrub.

She didn't know how long it would take for her to feel clean again, but she did think that it would be worth it no matter what. Though...

Something in the woods felt wrong this night.

Having washed in the dark many times before, Amy knew where everything was in relation to her as the darkness enveloped her. It was best if she didn't turn on the light until she was dressed once again. However... something was different tonight. A feeling that there was Sorcery among the natural Glamour, upending the normal balance of the forest. It must be the Beast.

But.. the Beast hadn't been around for over a week! Wasn't it gone? But no... this was the same sinking feeling that she had when the Beast was anywhere nearby. When something was in the woods that should not have been. And there was really only one thing that could be in the woods that would give some sort of alarm to Amy. And that was the Beast.

Maybe tonight it wouldn't kill anyone.

It was a bit of a vain hope, but... there had been times in the past few months, even during the height of the Beast's terror, that it hadn't caused a casualty even when Amy knew that it had been running around. Maybe it was when it couldn't find a victim. But she hadn't been out washing when she'd felt its presence before. Maybe she was the only possible victim. Well, she wouldn't be an easy victim. Not when she could use her Glamour for protecting something. That wouldn't cause a single shiver.

The feeling slowly faded. She had apparently not been noticed by the Beast as it went through the woods to wherever it was going. She was left alone with her thoughts and the darkness, as she had been originally. So she continued to wash off the taint of helping the one man who had ruined her life. The man who served a dead man. A dead man that she had been forced to serve ever since. The taint of the Archmage.

Though now she wondered idly if Master Ribbon had anything to do with the Beast.