The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga by Taliesin Govannon (important books to read .txt) 📕

                “I’ll have to send twenty pounds back with you guys when you go.” Tiffany said, grinning.

                Then an idea hit me. I wonder…

                "Hey Tiffany," I said, "You'll have to come by for a visit someday. Maybe help us set up a grow room?"

                “That would rock!” She said, exhaling a long stream of smoke. “I so need to get out of this mountain. I’m lucky if I get to see the sun once a month!”

                “Wouldn’t you miss your Uncle?” I asked.

                “Ah, he’ll be okay.” she said with a wave. “Besides, he travels all of the time… I’d probably only see him a little less than I do now.”

                “Show me how to run the hydroponics, and I’ll tend your babies.” Gaia said. “My skin color isn’t just a pigment, it’s a vocation. I do wonderfully with plants!”

                “Fae weed is legendary.” Evelyn said. “Gaia will probably help your yield and your THC level!”

                “I wonder if I can make a cannabis beer?” Trevor mused.

                “It’s not hard.” Tiffany said with a shrug.

                “I like her.” Trevor said, pointing.

                The rest of us laughed.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                The next morning brought yet another ridiculous meal… that time it was quail eggs and caviar on brioche toast… and there was a lot of joking around the mess hall about ‘living like the one percent’ in between morning calisthenics and  the shooting range. I sat with my friends at Jexo’s table again, sitting to his right.

                “I take it your stay here has been comfortable.” Jexo said, spooning more caviar onto his already loaded toast.

                “It’s been lovely.” I assured him. “Your niece has gone above and beyond to fulfill our every need.”

                “She’s excellent at everything she does.” he said.

                I looked over at Tiffany, and she was beaming.

                “I know.” I said. “That’s why I’d like for her to come back to Ohio with us.”

                Everyone near us stopped eating, and Tiffany’s face shifted from pride to shock in an instant.

                Jexo looked at me, his face unreadable. “You want her to join your team?” he asked, voice trembling somewhat.

                I have a feeling I thought, that if the big guy is this close to showing emotion, I may have bitten off more than I could chew here.

                I had come up with the idea while Tiffany and I were exploring the day before. She was smart, capable, and had skills that many of us lacked. She also fit in well with the small crew we had with us, and I didn’t doubt for a moment that she’d jibe just as well with the whole.

                Besides, her being around just felt right.

                “I’m a new Sorceress,” I said, “and I’m still coming into my power. I’m facing an unknown, powerful enemy, and I need to surround myself with the best. Sargent Collins is the best. She’s also become my friend.”

                Jexo looked straight ahead. “I have heard stories about the court of the Sorceress, about the legendary figures who came to be known for what they had done on behalf.” He turned to face me again, a tear in his eye. “You are blessing my family with an unimaginable honor.”

                Woah. I looked at Tiffany, and she mouthed “thank you”.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                Gauntlets of Criscoula the Incredibly Tall I read from the side of a wooden box. “These sound interesting.” I said.

                Tiffany typed the item number into her tablet and took a look. “Gauntlets of Criscoula… “ she said, “… Okay, here. Hmmmm.”

                “What?” I asked.

                “Seems that they give the wearer a ten percent greater chance of hiding without being found.” she replied. “Kinda boring, actually.”

                “And how tall was Criscoula?” I asked, next, though I suspected what the answer would be.

                “Says here he was just over five feet.” Tiffany read next.

                “Typical.” I walked along the aisle and studied everything on the shelf that was eye-level for me. Let’s find something good.

                We had come to one of the category four warehouses to look over Jexo’s collection of mystical artifacts. Thus far I had found objects that would let you jump three spaces in any line without penalty, grow a particular variety of tomato, or add six inches to your apparent, but not actual, height. I had not only not found anything good against rampaging hellephants or mysterious lakes, I had yet to find anything useful.

                "Gee,” I continued, “this is beyond imagination!”

                “Really?” Tiffany said, doubt in her voice.

                “Yeah.” I replied, grinning. “I never imagined that someone’s stash of mystical objects could be so boring and useless.”

                Tiffany shrugged. “Most mystical objects are incredibly specific, and most were created to meet a particular need at a particular time. The only reason they appear useless to us is because we don’t have that need.”

                “Like the ‘ring of Bingham’, which lets you look down women’s shirts without detection?”

                “If you’re lonely and horny enough...”

                “Point taken.”

                I walked a little farther, not finding anything I even wanted to take out of the box and look at. Jexo would probably wet his pants over Vincent’s collection! I thought.

                “The most powerful stuff is on the top two rows, like I told you yesterday.” Tiffany reminded me. “Items on the lower shelves are less dangerous, and thus less guarded.”

                “What’s up there?” I asked, looking up at the crates obscured behind the orange Fae force field.

                “Let’s see… “ Tiffany said, scrolling. “Ah! Okay… there’s the soul sword, it pulls your soul out of your body if it so much as nicks you, so every wound is instantly fatal.”

                “Ugh!” I said, wincing.

                “And then there’s the Portal of Elradu,” she continued, “opens a gate to unknown realms.”

                “That sounds less scary.” I said.

                “Depends on the realm.” Tiffany scrolled farther. “Eve’s Medallion… hmm, that’s strange.”

                “What?” I walked closer to her.

                “It says that the item description is for level