“Potionmasters Pt. 7”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Additional Note: While this story can be read by itself, it is a continuation of a previous Take Ten to Write story. Therefore, it would be beneficial to read the previous parts of the Potionmasters story which can be found here.

Prompt: “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” – Epictetus

I’d like to say that I do well in high-pressure situations, but that would be a big fat lie. I’m horrible under pressure, and even worse when my mentor is screaming at me to help get away from the potion covering the floor that burns skin on touch.

“You NEVER buy ingredients from the North Dirkid merchant!” Hidir screeches. “NEVER! Do you understand me?!”

“Yeah, yeah, I understand,” I mutter.

“Good. Now GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!”

I wince at his tone and race out of the room to find a ladder or something that Hidir can climb across to reach the doorway. As I tear apart the shop, I suddenly remember; I lent our ladder to Urielle last week because she needed to fix a leak in her roof. Without Hidir’s permission, of course.

“Hidir’s going to kill me,” I mutter to Berirn.

She sits with a quiet mew and starts to groom herself.

Well, there’s no use regretting it now. Hidir’s screams follow me as I run out of the shop to find Urielle.

Of course, she’s not home. Neither is her husband, nor any of her five children.

I continue racing around the village, trying to find something, anything, that can help.

Eventually, I do find a ladder. It’s leaning against the castle wall, which means that it’s either being used for construction or an attack. Either way, there’s no way they’ll miss just one of their ladders, right?

Without hesitation, I grab it and rub back to the shop, almost tripping and rolling down a hill on my way back. Somehow, I make it back in one piece.

I throw the curtain open to see that the potion on the floor is still rising. Hidir immediately begins shouting again when he sees me and I lower the ladder to him with trembling hands.

Miraculously, Hidir’s able to crawl across safely. As soon as his feet are back on solid ground, he grabs me and runs to the exit.

The door closes behind us and the shop explodes. I’m thrown away and land next to Berirn, who lets out a soft yelp.

I groan as I roll over to look at the damage. When I see the shop, I let my head drop back to the ground.

I’m so dead.

Final Comments: Potionmasters is a really fun story to write, and I feel like the characters are starting to develop more (at least in my mind).

Overall Rating: 😊