The Miscast Spell
Eira and Dafydd stumbled out of the shimmering portal, robes askew and eyes wide with panic.
“Quick, seal it!” Eira cried, her normally serene voice pitched high with alarm.
Dafydd frantically waved his arms, muttering an incantation. With a sputtering whoosh, the portal winked out of existence.
Eira rounded on her mentor, hands on hips. “A celebratory feast, you said. A bit of harmless fun, you said! All I can say is at least you put a locator spell on his crystal!”
Dafydd had the grace to look sheepish. “How was I to know the boy would mistake the levitation potion for ritual wine?”
As if on cue, a muffled thud sounded from the direction of the nearest oak tree. Eira and Dafydd turned to see a dazed Alex dangling upside-down from a branch, the shredded remains of a flower garland tangled in his hair.
“Um, little help?” he called weakly.
Eira buried her face in her hands. “Ancestors preserve us, we’ve unleashed a floating menace!”
Dafydd stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Perhaps we should have started him off with something milder. Like a simple invisibility charm.”
“Oh, brilliant idea!” Eira threw up her hands. “Then we’d have an invisible, flying, drunken scientist careening about the sacred groves!”
Alex, still bobbing gently against the tree bark, hiccuped morosely. “I told you I can’t hold my liquor.”
Eira sighed gustily and marched over to the tree. Grasping Alex’s flailing hands, she muttered a quick charm as she concentrated on the energy holding him there. She cut it with imaginary scissors. With a yelp, he tumbled free of the branches, landing in an ungainly heap at her feet.
“Right,” Eira declared, pulling Alex upright and brushing leaves from his hair. “New plan. We’re putting this one to bed until the potion wears off.”
“Probably wise,” Dafydd agreed, trying and failing to hide a grin.
As they half-carried, half-floated Alex back to his guest quarters, he mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, “Best party ever.”
Eira shook her head despairingly. “Next time, we’re sticking to non-magical beverages. Like good old-fashioned mead.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Dafydd chuckled. “The boy’s learned a valuable lesson about responsible potion consumption.”
“Did you even think to warn him that, that table contained other drinks than mead?”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
Eira shook her head. “Well, we’ve learned a valuable lesson about not letting scientists anywhere near our brew!” Eira retorted.
Eventually, the miscast spell slowly wore off and Alex’s misadventure became a much-chuckled-over story around the druid fire, a new rule was added to the enclave’s hospitality guidelines: No levitation drafts for the guests from the future. At least, not without proper supervision.