Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 314

This week's picture prompt is a digital creation by Ciara, or Aura, as she calls herself online, and She Freaks, She Speaks, over on Facebook. She has some wonderful digital art, and she also has a shop where she sell crystals and crystal jewellery. If you like that sort of thing there's a lot of choice. I have also used one of her pictures before on Week 301 with the teapot, & Week 291 I with the stained glass bath.

A Tricky related story, exploring some backstory. The last time I wrote one about Tricky was on Week 312. 

The General Guidelines can be found here.

How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here. 

There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.


Activated

“Have you got it?”

“Yes, it was easy, he gave it to me withoutquestion.”

“Good.” Douglas Bottle, aka Gandalf, tookthe smooth, large, palm-sized obsidian from Adric and turned it over in hishands. “It is rather special, isn’t it?”

“Oh yes.”

“And it records, you say?”

“I’ve tested it a few times, it’s quiteeasy to activate, you just have to use a combination of energy light andsound.”

“Sound?”

“Yes, if I use a certain pitch orintonation with some keywords, and run some magenta light through it, it turnsit on.”

“And you can play it back the same way?”

“Yes. And it’s personalised; every person’svoice has a different level of intonation.”

“So I can’t activate it then?”

“Not recordings I make no, but you can makeyour own.”

“So it’s like secret recordings for eachindividual?”

“Yes. Though, Dufray has managed to recordon it and I’ve managed to activate it by running light through it, so I’m notquite sure.”

“Secret recordings he’s made?”

“Oh no. I’m not even sure he knew it wasrecording; it was just him jabbering on to his flock of birds. But it’s how Irealised it could record and I’ve been testing it out since.”

“It would be a neat trick to leave it in aroom to capture conversations.”

“Nice idea, but it needs to be activated byenergy light, which has to be sustained.”

“Shame. So there’s no way we can do thiswithout him knowing?”

 “Ithought you were going to drug him?”

“Yes, but I was hoping to do it subtly sohe wouldn’t catch on. Here …”

Gandalf led Adric downstairs into a dimlylit basement, one lined with shelves full of different bottles containing liquidin an array of colours. He took them over to a bench where three bottles withcat heads as stoppers stood. The innards of each one glowed with swirlingcolours, but what unnerved Adric was that the heads moved as though alive,blinking and meowing. Gandalf stroked one of them and it omitted a purr.

“What are those?”

“They’re just enchanted. If anyone but me touchesthem they will hiss or bite to alert me to any trespasser. Their contents havetaken me years to develop, and it’s this particular potion I was hoping to testout on Dimitri tonight.”

“He’s no fool. How will you get him to takeit?”

“Oh it’s tasteless, thus easy to put into adrink.”

“Okay. Will he be dopey or out of it? Toactivate the stone I need to create an energy light set up.”

“You could say it’s for protection. It’snot like he will know; he has little concept of this stuff, he just does as Itell him with any of the enchantments or energetic communications he partakesin. He won’t be out of it so much as loose tongued. I’m intrigued what he willcome out with.”

“So am I. But remind me again why youwanted this recorded?”

“I don’t trust Dimitri, or his endgame. Hetreats folk like us as disposable. So should any of this not go the way we wantit, we have something to blackmail him with … should that time come.”

“Oh my father would love to get his handson anything that would incriminate Stanislav. He’s itching for a reason to disposeof him.”

“He’d have to find him first.”

“Indeed, he’s a slippery bugger.”

“Which is why I’m hoping to pin him down onthis recording. Now, go back upstairs and get everything ready. He’ll be herein a moment.”