Finding a Familiar

Heron was more than happy to be setting out again. So, after the quick breakfast he had went and gotten the carriage all ready.

Elswyth checked his work, and actually looked semi-impressed. That left him feeling accomplished. He was pretty sure she still thought of him as being mostly useless.

The two of them quickly scrambled up onto the carriage and soon they were moving. Heron grinned to himself and pulled out his book.

Elswyth glanced at him, "Studying again? I don't see why. You can't cast much anyway, as you are now."

He frowned at her. She was not exactly wrong, but still…. With a lift of his head, he answered her in a somewhat uncaring voice, "Well, all I need is a familiar. Better to prepare first. How hard can it be to find one, anyway?"

"How would I know?" She rolled her eyes, "I'm no wizard. I don't even really personally know any wizards."

"You know me."

"Proper wizards."

He frowned at the jab. He wished he could prove to her that he was a proper wizard. But, he could not. Well, he could try a small spell but he had a feeling she would just laugh at that.

So, he did his best to ignore her, and instead focused on reading. Or tried to.

Unfortunately, now he could not help but just think about familiars. He really should look into getting one.

He did know how to go about doing so. It wasn't exactly hard, but it was time-consuming and rather conspicuous. There had been no opportunity back home to take that step.

So, he placed his book down and payed attention to their surroundings. Keeping an eye out for a good place to perform the ritual to bind a familiar.

Elswyth was being quiet as she directed the carriage. He did not really care though.

After a while of driving, he noticed a place that looked decent enough. Nice and secluded.

"Stop the horses." Even as he spoke he was already excitedly standing up and vaulting off the carriage, stumbling into a run but managing to keep his feet.

"What in the five kingdoms are you doing?" Her shocked voice followed him but he did not stop. Already he was pulling out the stuff he needed.

"Seriously? You're doing this now?"

"No better time than the present. I don't want to end up in that situation again."

He drew the necessary shapes on the ground with a sharp stick he had found, and lit the candles for the ritual.

Then he sat on the ground in a cross-legged position and began to chant solemnly.

He heard Elswyth sigh and then she moved away, grumbling, "Whatever…"

He lost track of time as he repeated the chant over and over again. He really hoped that this was in fact the correct ritual and that book had not just been messing with him. Only one of his books actually had this in it. The others all assumed that a wizard would have a master to teach them.

But then he felt something against his wrist, coiling around it tightly. A sharp pain pierced his skin and he opened his eyes with a gasp. His eyes fell on the critter attached to his hand.

A viper. A poisonous snake. He almost shook it off but then it lifted up its head and looked directly into his eyes and he felt a jolt of recognition.

This small critter was his familiar. It was not what he had been expecting. He had really been hoping for a cat or something easier to blend into society than a viper. If it was his familiar why had it bitten him though? Especially since it was a poisonous critter.

It flicked out its tongue at him and he realized that it was actually pretty cute. He felt a small smile lift his face, and he tentatively reached his other hand out to it. It immediately moved, shooting to climb up his arm and then decking into his sleeve. The feel of the small smooth scales were cool against his skin.

He wondered if Elswyth knew any ways to deal with snake bites. He turned to look for her, and not seeing her called her.

"Oh? Are you finally finished?" She sounded just a little bit annoyed with him. "Did you at least get your familiar?"

"Yeah." He nodded, "Do you know anything about poisons?"

"Why?"

"It bit me?" He pulled down his sleeve and looked at the two small wounds.

She walked over and took his arm and looked at the holes as well. "Your familiar did this? It doesn't look too bad, not even red really. Are you sure your poisoned? You might be immune to your own familiar's poison you know? Also, what kind of creature did you get that it has posion."

The snake stuck its head out of his sleeve, and smelled the air with its tongue at the sound of her voice. She stared at it for a minute then shrugged, "You really are odd for a Amrielian, you know that right?"

"Whatever. So, I'm good." He pulled his hand out and smiled relieved, "I'm pretty sure I would succumb to poison pretty easy, and I don't want you to have to deal with that mess."

She shrugged, "Well, wouldn't be the worse job I've taken."

Heron did not say anything. It was true, she had had some pretty nasty jobs before. He found himself admiring her for her ability to cope in all kinds of situations.

Heron cradled his new familiar as he followed Elswyth back to the carriage. The little viper kept wiggling in his hands and because he wasn't used to trying to hold it, it managed to get out of his grip and slithered back up his sleeve.

Which tickled. A lot. Heron barely managed to keep from making any sound. He was not sure why but he really did not want to embarrass himself in front of Elswyth.

So, instead of focusing on how much having a snake in his sleeve tickled, he tried to think of a name for his familiar. A snake. Male. He was not sure how he knew that but he did. Must be part of the familiar bond.

Elswyth offered him her hand to help him back up on the carriage and Heron accepted it. What was pride when he had already disgraced himself anyway.

He settled back down against the back of the seat and almost instantly felt drowsiness come over him. Before he knew it he had fallen asleep.