A tale of the Daughters of Chaos. Characters by Eric and Maxine Rawlinson. Story by Eric Rawlinson
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Autumn was the magical time of year when the trees of the forest seemed to burst into flames, the greens becoming gold, orange and red. The sight of these magnificent trees brought hundred of tourists during the season to the northern provinces and here was no exception. Magicians and sight seers alike flocked to the open aired taverns to eat, drink and socialize while seated in the middle of this beautiful sight. Marielle thought of this as she watched. watched as one of these amazing leaves finally let go of its tree and fall to the ground in the open air restaurant she and her friend was enjoying. The meal was excellent, and the atmosphere was as well. Dessert was on it's way and Marielle was enjoying her glass of red tea, while her friend finished off the last of her sixth flask of ale with a sigh.
“You're making a scene,” Marielle muttered, then smiled at the barmaid who took away the flask and replaced it with another.
The gnome Jenny wiped her mouth and stirred the next flask with a finger. “Oh come on, you would be too if you weren't doing that 'I'm the responsible one' racket you try to pull off once in a while to make yourself seem better than me and more eligible. What kind of Daughter of Chaos are you?”
Marielle rolled her eyes, then sniffed, “What ARE you drinking?”
“It's called Dragon's Breath!” Jenny slurred put the flask to her lips and began to drink.
“I can tell why.” Marielle groaned, watching Jenny's throat work double time as the liquid flowed down her throat. No matter where they went, Jenny would always stir up trouble for them. Marielle would complain more often, if she didn't end up having as much fun as Jenny did.
Jenny finished it in one draft and gave a satisfied sigh. She whooped and slammed the flask on the table, which drew the eyes of nearby patrons. “Your problem is that you have something up your butt because we're in a fancy place during a fancy dancy event. Look around, everyone's uptight.” She waved at the other customers. “Dinning in the open air is always like that. If they do something embarrassing, everyone will know. Everyone is watching and anything can happen.”
“Are you drunk?”
“Yes, but I'm still right.” Jenny looked from side to side, running a finger back and forth across her lips. “This sure is an expensive place you know.” She snapped her fingers. “Let's play Seeds of Chaos. Loser take the bill.”
Marielle decided to give up and shrugged. “Fine.” Seeds of Chaos was a simple game that was rarely played because of its nature and objectives; the person to create the most disturbance with the simplest spell would be declared the winner. It was the favourite game of young wizard apprentices and Daughters of Chaos.
“I'll start.” Jenny mused, scanning her surroundings. They were set up in a large circle, with tables arranged around the perimeter and spiralling into the centre, where a large table was laid out with the harvest for everyone to bask in its glory. The two sorceresses sat a few tables away from the last and were paces away from the buffet. Most of the restaurant’s patrons were of the common species, humans, halflings, elves, a handful of dwarves and finally, what Jenny was looking for, one grumpy looking half-orc.
She waited patiently until the barmaid walking past with several bowls of stew on a tray. She counted to ten, then flicked the air in the barmaid's direction. The tray jumped out of the woman's hand and dumped five bowls of steaming hot stew onto the half-orc's head and lap. The orc's eyes went wide and wild. He rose shakily to his feet, stared menacingly at the barmaid, than walked off.
“Damn!” Jenny grumbled, “That ALWAYS works...” She pouted.
Marielle rolled her eyes. She aimed with her finger and spoke a single word. And as commanded, the stone tiles on which the half-orc walked became as smooth as ice. He slipped, his legs shooting high into the air and landed right on his head. Jenny had to stop herself from bursting out as the innkeeper ran over to offer his assistance, but she did giggle when the half orc punched the inn keeper into the wall.
“That doesn't count!” Jenny snapped, “I started it!”
Marielle pointed to the half-orc. As angry as he was, he had simply left without fighting anymore. The other patrons seemed to have ignored the fact a maddened half-orc almost went on a rampage. Maybe they were used to it. Even the serving girl who spilled the soup went on to serve the two wizards their fruit platter with pumpkin bread and cauldron cakes with a smile. Marielle helped herself to a slice pumpkin bread, while Jenny stuffed a whole cake into her mouth and chewed.
“Well, we lost our half-orc.” Jenny grumbled, “Now what are we going to do?”
“What are YOU going to do?” Marielle teased, peeling an apple with her knife. “It is your turn, my dear.”
Jenny grimaced and picked up three grapes and gave the matter a thought. She popped one of the grapes into her mouth and her eyes lite up. She ate one of the other grapes and grinned at the last one in her hand. This too she popped into her mouth, but instead of chewing, her jaw danced as though she were playing with it. She let out a hum, took a deep breath then spat the grape out. It flew across to three tables and landed onto another group's table, a group of about eight persons of mixed origin.
“Nice.” Marielle smiled, impressed. “But none of them noticed it.”
Jenny shushed her and watched expectantly. She waited. And waited. And waited.
“I think you used to large of a fuse,” Marielle said after few moments.
“One of them has to eat it!” Jenny hissed.
“What?! Jenny, you didn't poison it!”
“Of course not. It's against the rules!” Killing someone in Seeds of Chaos was strictly forbidden. “Just watch.”
Marielle watched for a couple of more seconds, and when it became apparent that none of them were going notice it, let alone eat it, she turned back to Jenny.
“Mind if I go while we wait?” Marielle asked.
“Meh.” Jenny shrugged, still watching expectantly.
Marielle took another look around, thinking of all the simple spells she knew, which were numerous. At that moment the serving girl passed by with a platter of sandwiches. Marielle weighed the possibilities, and decided on a route that would not get the serving girl fired. She snapped her finger three times while waving her other hand and spoke a single word. The platter gave off a small glow for a moment. But the serving girl did not notice as she placed it down in front of the hungry patrons.
A woman took a bite from a sandwich. It let out a shriek as though the sandwich was hurt by the bite. Another took a bite of sandwich. It too screamed out as if in pain. The table became a chorus of screams for a moment until the patrons finally threw down their sandwiches. The resturant became a murmur of conversation, loud enough to cover up Jenny's fit of laughter.
“That one never gets old.” Jenny wiped a tear from her eye then started laughing again when a sandwich screamed out in horror once again. “Never.”
“I'll never forget the time I first used that one.” Marielle sighed. “I once had the boar's head look at the people at the table and squeek, 'Please don't eat me...'. It was so funny.”
Jenny laughed harder, than got a hold of herself before someone could notice. “My turn, unless we want to declare that a winner.”
Marielle rolled her eyes, “Please. The game doesn't end until someone runs away screaming and flailing.”
Jenny thought for a moment. Her time bomb hadn't exploded yet, but it was only a matter of time, she hoped. Summon some sort of vermin? Not clever enough. Summon a zombie or the like? Too complicated. Zombies usually attacked on sight. Fire was fun, but unwise, especially in these conditions.
Then she suddenly got an idea. She turned to get a better view of the buffet table. It wasn't so far away, and there was so much to choose from. Fruits, finger goods, little rolled up pastries, pastes and of course, loafs of bread with a knife. She wondered whether it was better to enchant the knife for her plan, or the bread. Thinking back at her last defeat, the knife was a better idea. It made it more likely to get the job done. She passed the idea of making the knife scream. It might get suspicious, and Marielle would call her on copying. She twiddled her fingers and stuck her tongue in her cheek. Then she clucked and waited.
A dwarf walked up to the bread and carved himself several pieces with the knife. He made a rough job of it, and because the bread was so hard, many crumbs fells off and onto his sleeve and even flew up into his beard. He attempted to brush the crumbs from his body, but he shrugged and walked back to his table.
Marielle raised her eyes. “What? You crumbed somebody? 'Oh look out for the vicious crumbs'?”
“Just watch.” Jenny smiled.
The dwarf sat back down at his table, but something was wrong. His bread was really itching. He started scratching, but the itch only moved. And then his arm began to itch. And when he itched that, it began to move. Soon the dwarf became a fit of itching, jumping back from the table and failing around, shrieking. He ran to the centre table and threw himself into a large keg to submerge himself. Jenny was in hysterics.
“You animated the crumbs?!” Marielle finally got it as the dwarf came out drenched from head to foot, looking embarrassed at what he done.
Jenny heaved into her hand so that she could only nod.
“That's mean.” Marielle huffed, but still cracked a smile. Her turn, she thought. In the time waiting for the dwarf to react to his crumby invaders, Marielle developed her own plan. She took up a chuck of cheese with a toothpick in it. She ate the cheese and held the stick in her mouth. She took small parts of the food on the table and doused them with her tea and some of Jenny's drink. She mixed it up into a paste and spoke a single power word. Then she stuck of the stick into it as though poisoning a dart.
She had already chosen her target. A man and a woman were sitting at a table a short distance away. She was chatting aimlessly about something, while his gaze wandered, yet frequently lingered on one of the cute servant girls. Using her spoon as an catapult, she fired the dart into the man's neck.
The man turned to the wife and stood up. “I'm sorry! But I don't love you! I've hate you! I only married you because I could never be with the one I love, but you were the only way I could be near him! I love your brother!”
The room gasped and Marielle went wide eye. “Wow,” She muttered. “That was... not what I expected to hear.”
Even Jenny was too stupified to laugh. “Well, you obviously won. The chaos ensuing from that will last years. But as you know, I'm more of an instant gratification sort of girl.” She took a sniff. “What is that anyway?”
Marielle got over her shock and looked down at the concoction of what used to be food. “It's a little spell called Pillow Talk. One touch and they tell you a secret. Not just any secret. A secret that burns at their soul, always on the tip of their tongue, but in the back of their mind.”
“Evil, malicious and invasive.” Jenny scolded. “Can I try?” She stuck her own toothpick in the potion. “Any words?”
“The incantation is good for a few minutes.” Marielle said offhandedly.
Jenny lined up her own shot, this time at a table with more people. She let fire into a man, who got up and yelled, “You know why the city guards get away with murder and the Mayor won't do anything about it! Because the Mayor and the High Judge are gay lovers!”
More tables gasped and this time both Jenny and Marielle went wide eyed.
“Wow.” Jenny finally spoke as people began to look around in confusion. “Two confessions of homosexuality under three minutes. What are the odds?”
“Best three out of five?” Marielle offered.
A scream broke their train of thought and they turned to see an elf had jumped up onto a table and began taking off his shirt while dancing. Jenny whooped and clapped as other looked around in confusion.
“There's always one who can't resist the grape!” Jenny beamed. “Pity, I really wanted it to be a girl.”
The accumulated incidences had stirred up the patrons, who hissed, murmured, even shouted in confusion as they started to make their way up. And it was then that an angry half-orc returned with armed guards and he pointed at the two wizards at their table.
“Time to go!” Jenny shouted, and both she and Marielle pointed at the buffet table, which erupted, throwing food in every direction. Jenny and Marielle held hands and ran through the pandemonium and out the small gate. But not before the guards spotted them and chased them down. If they had had their staffs with them, they would not have been captured. But for now they had been caught, shackled and sent off to a holding cell.
The Captain on duty looked at the two sorceresses in his jail sell with a smile. “Well, well, well. What have we here? Two apprentices from the academy, no doubt from the looks of you. Didn't they tell you that playing Seeds of Chaos was forbidden by city law and the Academy itself? You'll be expelled for this.”
Marielle and Jenny trade looks, then looked back at the Captain. They said nothing.
“Of course your Headmaster will be informed. You'll stay here until he comes to retrieve you. After that, I'm sure you'll never be allowed to practice magic again. And good thing too.”
Jenny launched herself at the door, rattling it. “Please sir!” She cried, tears coming to her eyes, “Don't bring the Headmaster here! I can't be sent back! I can't leave! And for Korrt's sake and all of the deities of mercy, I can't go in the box again! I'll be good! Please... I'll be good...”
The guard chuckled, “I'm sorry deary, my hands are tied.” He put on a grin and raised an eyebrow. “However. I might be persuaded, if you were to return with certain... favors.”
“Um, eww.” Jenny turned up his nose. “I never do 'favors' for minor charges. Besides, you're ugly.”
The guard snarled. “Then I guess you have no choice. I'm going for the Headmaster.”
Marielle sauntered up to the door. Even behind bars, Marielle commanded respect with her posture, her tone and of course, her aura that could not be denied.
“Before you go back and turn us over to your Headmaster.” Marielle voice was smooth, calm and incredibly sexy. She looked deep into his eyes. “I must ask you one question.”
“Well?” The guard asked.
“Where are your pants?” Marielle raised an eyebrow.
The guard looked down and shrieked to find that he was unclothed below his belt. He screamed and ran from the room, leaving the two women laughing like banshees until they fell into each others arms.
Of course they were in trouble. The Captain of the guard would go to the Headmaster to find that they were not apprentices, but two wandering wizards that were playing games with the locals. Then they would be subject to the laws of the land, which were probably more damaging than being expelled. But then again, how was the captain, the guards, the mayor or the headmaster to know that they were dealing with two of the most powerful and feared wizard women the land had ever known?
Jenny sighed, “Well, that was fun. But we ended up in jail. So who won?”
“We'll call it a draw.” Marielle said as they got up and looked at the cell door. Marielle looked at Jenny. “Know what else is a simple spell?”
Jenny smiled and the two of them pointed at the lock.
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