Lumina

13 ~ Experiment

Landon

Sparks of gold popped in miniature explosions within the vial, only to fizzle out as the liquid, color of deep wine, consumed them. All too quickly a rate.

Frustrated, Landon scribbled the results of this concoction as the chemical interactions battled inside the small glass container. Weeks now he had been pent up in this lab with Terralum's Queen working on the formula.

Weeks now, they had achieved next to nothing. The progress was showing, with each attempt leading them one step further than the last. But it was exhaustingly slow, the results steadily coming back as failures.

Their attempts were in the hundreds now, mixing new batches daily. The Guard Captain watched, irritable, at another failed mix. A tragic excuse of a title, but Vita had to give him some title in this land to keep the peasants from squawking.

"The chemical continues to overpower your magic," Landon observed aloud.

"If I put anymore in, the effects of the formula become voided," Vita answered, her voice just as sharp with frustration.

A ting rang softly when he placed the vial back in its holder. "An idea," he said and pulled off a glove, reaching his hand into a pocket. What he held up stretched a sharp breath from Vita. "Just a bit from the girl, freshly absorbed from her this morning," he explained and handed the object to Terralum's queen. All it had taken was a quick snag while healing the princess after training.

The small stone glowed at Vita's touch- embedded with a taste of the princess' magic.

Pretty little thing she was, however uncoordinated training her had proven to be. Then again, she didn't need to become a full fledged warrior, just enough to satisfy Vita's vanity. The girl hadn't even noticed when he took the bit of magic from her, so trusting of him she was. So naive of the darkness lurking at her heels. Like an open field of Syracuse, her magic threatened to sweep him away when he first reached for it, pricked some from her.

Wondered if she tasted that sweet, as well. Would have taken her right there, felt the softness of her, had she kept her questions to herself.

Had he kept his mouth shut.

Perhaps it was the sheer innocence of her question, he knew she had no one to repeat it to. Even so, that didn't excuse his slip of such a thoughtless admission, even for her. If the Princess had recognized his country's name, the conversation may have ended very differently.

Well, and the princess would be dead soon anyway, if the rising activity of her magic was any indication.

"Fascinating," Vita murmured after transferring the stone's magic into the vial. The sparks, stronger now, reacted with the liquid and swirled together until the gold shimmered within the mix instead of fighting it. "I'm impressed, Lockhelm. I'd not thought her developed enough yet."

"We'll let it settle before applying it to the test subject."

They would test the animals first, starting with rodents and working their way up. There were enough rats in this gods-forsaken country that there would never be a shortage of them.

Vita's eyes slid over to a larger cage. "If we want quick results," she suggested, "We should skip the animals."

The figure inside the cage stirred, aware of the sudden attention. "We don't know how it will react once consumed, we shouldn't waste resources before there's been a chance to observe it in more controlled circumstances."

"There are plenty of resources in the dungeons, Lockhelm. Get it ready."

It was an effort to stifle the argument at his lips, he felt he would never get used to following this woman's orders. Science couldn't be rushed, especially not with this particular experiment.