Page 44 of Board Games and Broomsticks

Nyssa reacted on instinct, her hands coming up as the same shield spell she’d used in her second trial fell from her lips.

‘I beseech the ancestors, to lend me their aid,

and summon Earth, Air, Water and Fire to form this blockade.’

The spell was a lot easier to cast without the pain of the brooch rippling through her body. A translucent, golden barrier appeared before her half a second before the chair made contact, sending the offending object crashing into a splintered heap at her feet.

‘It’s that damned warlock,’ Alaric cursed, glaring daggers at the rattling chest. ‘He must be trying to get out!’

‘Not on our watch!’ Liora grumbled, already moving towards the chest. One of the knives from the draining board flew at her, only missing her by a hair’s breadth as the bard shifted out of the way just in time.

‘He’s not going to make this easy,’ Nyssa said. ‘Everyone come behind the barrier spell. Quickly.’

More and more objects were floating about the café now, poised and ready to fly at them at a moment’s notice. Nyssa huddled beside the fireplace with her friends, her brow sweating from the effort of keeping the barrier spell going after not having cast one in so long.

‘We have to stop him!’ Liora said as the other board games began to fall from the rattling shelves. Even the walls seemed to be shaking – if they didn’t do something soon, the entire place could come down on them.

Of all the things she hated Morven for, it was the prospect of him destroying this place that truly made Nyssa’s blood boil. This was her space. One she’d created to be a safe haven for people like her.

And there was no way in all the hells she was going to let him destroy it.

‘I need a diversion. Something to keep the magic distracted while I go for the game and neutralize Morven’s magic.’ If the wards weren’t strong enough, it was the only other thing Nyssa could think to try. There were just a handful of neutralization spells strong enough to have a chance at working against a warlock of Morven’s calibre, most of which Nyssa hadn’t read since the last time she and her coven had gone up against him. Even though it had been years, Nyssa had studied the neutralization spells so many times she was fairly certain she could recall at least one successfully.

Hopefully.

‘Oh, a diversion we can do.’ Alaric grinned. The air around him began to shimmer as the sharp tang of the earth just after rain tickled Nyssa’s nose, and, between one blink and the next, the druid before her shifted from human to wolf.

It was the first time Nyssa had seen the druid shapeshift, and she wished she had more time to appreciate just how beautiful his lupine form was. Unfortunately, the lid of the chest containing Familiars chose that exact moment to break open, emitting from its depths the now fully reformed, living version of the game’s owl.

Elowen instantly drew the vines of the few plants in the café towards her, wielding them like a whip, whilst Liora picked up her lyre from the table. ‘El and I’ve got this one!’ she said, fingers already beginning to pluck a soothing, enchanting tune. Without the protection of her earplugs, the effects of it immediately began to loosen Nyssa’s muscles and calm her heart rate. Thankfully, Nyssa was now well-practised at resisting the music’s allure without the earplugs, and so instead of slowing her into the same confused, hazy state the owl was currently in, Liora’s tune only helped Nyssa keep her fear at bay.

It made maintaining the barrier around her as she began to weave her way through the now-wrecked café a little easier. Alaric stalked ahead of her, a second shield against any objects Morven sent flying their way; in his large, lupine form, it took the druid no effort at all to bat them aside, and Nyssa couldn’t help but wince at the sight of her beloved furniture and decor getting smashed into pieces.

Rather them than us.

She was more than halfway to the chest now. Sweat had soaked her jumper to her back and plastered strands of hair to her face, and there was an awful, drilling pain behind her eyes that made her stomach roll. Just a little further.

Nyx jumped up on to her shoulder from a nearby shelf, her presence an immediate boon against Nyssa’s magical exhaustion. It gave her the burst of strength she needed to take the final few steps to the chest, where the fog and the heavy presence of Morven’s magic was at their strongest.

‘Alaric, I need you to keep Morven occupied. He’ll focus on whoever he deems the biggest threat, so make it showy.’

In response, the druid let out a dramatic howl and pounced towards the chest, teeth snapping at tendrils of fog and tail bashing away any projectiles that came his way. Liora and Elowen came up to stand beside Nyssa, the former now with a subdued and very sleepy-looking owl on her shoulder and the latter commanding the vines under her control to snake around and reclose the lid of the chest. It was the opening Nyssa needed – and she wasn’t going to waste it.

Quickly dropping her barrier, Nyssa began to chant one of the neutralization spells she’d spent so many evenings studying:

‘I call upon thy sacred power,

to aid me in my darkest hour;

Bind the magic, hold it tight,

I shall prevail against my foe tonight.’

There was a moment when the air in the café seemed to hold its breath, when the fog curled around everything Nyssa had built and made her certain she’d failed as it seemed to thicken and spread.

Please work, Nyssa added silently. Please.

And then, with a gust of air so strong the windows of the café shattered, the fog – and the magic fuelling it – disappeared.