A Tiger's Tale of Two Sisters
By Azure Avians
Published by Bluetrix Books at Smashwords.
© 2010 by the author
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A Tiger's Tale of Two Sisters
"Oh, is that all? Locate the princess's flying tiger before dawn." Derision dripped from my sister's tone.
"You're the almighty sorceress. What's the problem?" My sister Sian loved lording her magic over people. I was giving her the perfect opportunity to prove her spells were more effective than my sword, and she still complained.
Oh-so-casually, she waved her fingers in the direction of the hearth, stirring the fire. I'd added a log while waiting for her to return to her rooms, but it hadn't yet caught. At her gesture, the flames leapt higher and sizzling and crackling noises filled the room. The light played off thick carpeting and rich, heavy draperies hanging at the stained glass windows.
She folded her arms and scowled at me. "As always you insist on treating magic like making a wish. How many times must I tell you, I practice just as diligently at my art as you do at your swordplay."
I refused to be drawn in to our debate tonight. "The tiger, Sian. Before dawn. Can you help me or not?"
Pursing her lips, she gave me her long-suffering look. "Do you truly need to simply locate him? Or must you actually retrieve him by sunrise?"
"I need to have him back within these castle walls. And not enchanted any more."
Eyes narrowed, she regarded me with a calculating look. Even with her mouth twisted and her golden eyebrows drawn together in a scowl, she was still the pretty one. "If I do this for you, Serulean, you will stop belittling my skills."
Not even our parents called me 'Serulean'. Everyone just called me 'Ser'—everyone but her. Yet another aggravation she enjoyed.
Well, if she succeeded at this, maybe she'd be on her way to earning some respect. Maybe. I waited, glaring back at her.
"And he must be alive, I presume."
Of all the stupid . . .
I reminded myself she was baiting me. She had to be, right? Because no one could possibly be that mind-numbingly, idiotically stupid, and still survive.
"Completely unharmed." I bit out the words through clenched teeth, the only thing that was keeping me from shouting at her. If the princess didn't care about her tiger, she wouldn't be so upset about losing it. "And UNenchanted, but I have the potion for that. You just need to find him for me."
Her delicate brows arched high. "Oh, really."
"Quit. Wasting. Time. Tell me what you need. And how quickly you can work."
"A seeking spell is quite complex," she began in her teaching tone of voice. Her students allegedly considered her 'dulcet' voice mesmerizing.
I just found it obnoxious and cut her off immediately, before she could really get going. "What do you need?"
She pursed her lips at the interruption. "Something that belonged to the beast. Harness or saddle, perhaps."
"How about fur and claw shavings?" I took the pouch from my belt and held it out to her. It paid not to act all high and mighty, not that she'd grasp that fact. If I hadn't been friends with the man who groomed Scimitar for the princess, I'd never have gotten the stuff.
Sian warily regarded the satchel resting in my outstretched palm. Lips pursed, she lifted it with two fingers. "You fully understand that if any of this is not from the beast, the seeking spell will be nullified."