It was a sunny and warm day, a mild kind of warm that makes you feel that spring is in full. In stark contrast, as if to spite the idyllic weather, Callan Ithal felt chills scuttle down his spine.
The customer, a rather severe looking, if comely, woman looked at him as if he didn’t deserve to walk the earth. Her hair was so black it had blue highlights, with her eyes bearing the pale blue of one who is blind. Which might, maybe, explain why he felt she was just looking through him as if he wasn’t there. Finally, after what seemed an eternity of minutes she spoke.
"I know you have very specific things you list as to your function in events but we will pay you whatever you ask if you comply with this request made by my mistress". She had an odd accent, one that he couldn’t place, even though Callan had become proficient at picking them out having worked the streets of San Francisco all his life.
His father and grandfather had told him that a deal like this would come, and eerily enough described in exacting detail who it would come from, even if they were off by a large margin in the age department. If this was the same woman they spoke of she was well past a hundred years old and wrinkly but with the shape of one who had trained diligently their body. They would always agree she was a witch from the old lands. Just as his family were descended from, supposedly, some mage or Maji or whatever in Europe before his family fled the Great War.
It was all bullshit; his family was poor and always had been and they did "magic" only as a way to get money while they lived in one ramshackle place or another. "Do I get to at least know the details of this request to preform?" Callan said with a dry weary tone.
The woman stared down her nose in a certainly witchlike way, which almost made him laugh, but her eyes stopped him cold they were, for the briefest of times, pure black. He swallowed convulsively by reflex as he sat straight up, but within the space between heartbeats her eyes were normal once again. "The only time one knows anything is when they choose to not be blind to what happens around them. The details of this will be as follows, whatever amount you set half will be paid to an account of your choosing by the end of the day, the rest will come after your job is done. Transport and lodging will be provided for you as you travel to our home. In short, everything is already taken care of, all that is required of you is to say yes."
How can she speak so calmly, he wondered. Did she think he didn’t see that freakish change to her eyes? He was beginning to have serious doubts about this whole thing but it was exactly what he needed when he needed it. "What about....". Callan was cut off before he could even finish the question.
"Your.... tenement? If you could even call it that, will also be provided for and even repaired, it is the least we could do for this excuse of a home your family has chosen for itself". The sneer of contempt was withering on her face and in her tone.
Callan took a sharp breath, "How do you know this is a place my family has stayed long?".
The lady cackled loudly, pushing the limit between adorable and annoying "Fool boy, what you think I am, magic or something? We did a background check before we ever met you, or is that so surprising in today’s world?"
Callan laughed sheepishly and thought briefly what an idiot he was for freaking out over nothing. His mind had no doubt there was something going on behind the scenes here but he had need of this deal badly.
"Fine I will take your request, I Callan Ithal, last of the line of the Lady of the Lake shall make the wish truth and amaze your house with all my wonders." The woman laughed that cackling laugh once more as Callan stood and flourished a fanciful bow. "Boy, you are most young but you have the makings of greatness in you, don’t throw it away with pretty words," She handed him a ticket and set of papers with an odd watermark bearing a downturned sword in front of a full moon. “Take this, young magician and follow the course, we have set a guide for you and as of now half of your money is in the account 500 million as I believe you were going to ask for a billion." Callan’s mouth dropped in astonishment "Close the flytrap boy its unbecoming after such a grand statement. We did a bit of our own magic called a private investigator who overheard you say that is the price you would ask about this coming deal to a friend of yours at the Excalibur bar."
Callan snapped his mouth shut with an audible click. " Oh, also, you better hurry your flight leaves in two hours and if you are late the deal is off and you’ll receive nothing more." Callan huffed a sigh and narrowed his eyes, " You may just really be a witch giving me two hours to get to a flight when you know exactly how close I am to the airport yet can’t get there with a vehicle I do not possess. I will have to go by foot and carry nothing but what will not slow my pace." the lady shrugged and made a sound of disappointment.
"You complain much but the sons of Merlin have always been known for their timeliness for the jobs they have done. I am the one to watch over your hovel of a home and make repairs so I would get running and get to the plane. Also, I rather dislike that you call me a witch but I have been called worse and it fits the situation, you a mage and me a cruel witch sending you to riches and adventure." She made a shooing motion with both hands with her back bent like an old crone "You better run before this old hag has her way with you like my mother did with your father" she winked slowly at Callan’s shocked face, he then shook himself and laughed and gathered his things wondering what was in store for him, either way, the price was paid.
TWO DAYS LATER
Callan arrived at a castle in the mountains not really sure exactly where or how, all he remembered was getting on the plane and then everything being a blur after the hostess gave him some vodka to calm him down. He always had a bit of a fear of flying just like his father and grandfather. He was surprised there were no ominous clouds, no terrible lightning or thunder, no howl of wolves, it was just a sunny day in the brisk mountain air as he stepped out of the white sedan of a make he was unfamiliar with, A man in a clean suit shoved open with difficulty the front door, obviously having trouble. Nothing was as he pictured it in his mind, no sinister atmosphere, no creepy butler guy, nothing, everything was just as it seemed, ordinary even if outside the normal that he had lived with all his life. The man who struggled with the door rushed down the stairs, obviously collecting himself after the effort of dealing with the door. He was tall yet not exactly muscular.
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The man bowed deeply "Good sir you are invited into this the home of the family of Tanrea Du Paendrag and his wife the Lady Olivae Du Lac of France. They welcome you with open arms and offer you room and comfort as you perform your duties on this day the Thirty-First of October, the birthday of their daughter Morrigan Paendrag, the first born and heiress to this estate." He coughed a bit at the end and Callan was torn between being impressed and worried for the man who clearly overworked himself. "Get up and stop bowing, I am no noble or anything like that just a guy doing his job same as you which by the way very impressive recall ability being able to say all that clearly while tired from opening that overly large and heavy door. Now let’s get the party started so I can go home and we all get drunk and happy for the rest of our lives."
The man escorted him inside and through a courtyard overflowing with greenery and flowers of every type and color and then finally inside a large main hall which was filled with kids from twelve to twenty all with very dark hair yet amazingly blue eyes, each and every single one of them, many of them girls and very few boys. Most were seated at the table or milling around it with a plethora of food being served. He caught the eyes of a boy maybe sixteen or eighteen, clearly the eldest boy with maybe a girl or two older. "Gavain, if he fails can we flay him alive and cook his flesh to eat?" Callan stared into the boy’s eyes as they shifted to black and the teeth in the smile grew pointed and swallowed on instinct while blinking, when Callan opened his eyes again the kid’s eyes were normal and the smile wide with normal looking teeth. I am going crazy he thought to himself. " God you foreigners are all the same scary castle creepy children and you shit yourselves over a few words, your ignorant fucks." The kid laughed in an obviously contrived evil cackle.
The butler shook his head and smiled an apology to Callan then turned back to the boy, "Mordred how many times has your mother told you not to prey on the guests that come here, you ruin the mood and the meal with your antics." the boy looked slightly rebuked but still smug. "Come now Master Ithal I will take you to Lady Morrigan this is not the task you were given and I fear the one before you is much harder of the two." something was tickling in Callan's mind, something was sounding familiar, but he shrugged and put it away for now and let himself be lead up a winding staircase that was very narrow yet well-lit and very clean, the stones polished smooth with centuries of use. After many flights of climbing they finally reached a hallway just as narrow as the stairs "This is where I leave you Master Ithal. The Lady waits for you Beyond the Door and don’t worry the Young cannot follow or bother you here, you are safe from their pranks and whiles."
Callan stared at the door for a brief moment as ice tried to claw its way up his spine. "Why not take me all the way to the door.........?" as Callan turned to face Gavain, yet the butler was nowhere to be seen, out of a narrow hallway and incredibly narrow stairs, Callan rationalized to himself there was no way to disappear, that it must be one of the many secret passages a castle like this undoubtably had.
Taking a deep breath Callan strode to the door and knocked loudly three times a pause then twice more. He had no idea why he did so and it stuck him as very odd that he did, all his life he had only knocked on a door four times. A very specific oddity of his.
"Come in Traveler and be welcome for the service you provide me." The voice was astonishing, it sounded soft as silk and somehow familiar.
Callan slid the wooden door open surprisingly light for how heavy and thick it looked. "Uh, Pardon the intrusion Lady, I am here to preform my wonders for you, and it seems, you alone." Callan was getting chills just coming into the room, at a quick glance he saw the room was furnished in dark colors, mostly black, but still quite beautiful in a way. Far too gothic for his personal taste.
Morrigan laughed richly, again sending a tingle of familiarity through his mind, even the room was somehow familiar. "Come Callan and show me these wonders of yours."
He stepped further into the room seeing all of it at once. a four-post bed with thin gossamer hangings partially shrouded Morrigan from sight but still showed her more than ample figure, he hesitated at the sight of her, and briefly wondered if she was naked, he always had been a bit lecherous, he reflected as he shrugged.
"No need to be so shy my Dear Callan, come here and sit with me" she stepped away and around the bed and revealed that, to his slight disappointment she wasn’t nude but instead was wearing a rather well-fitting silk dress dyed a deep black that caught light at odd points making it seem as if she was wearing a night sky in all its beauty.
Callan walked over to an indicated table while watching her closely, she had pale skin the color of fresh milk and eyes of two colors, one the blue of ice the other the green of an emerald both of them bright and intense in their expressive nature.
Finally managing to seat himself and to not just stare at her figure, he looked to those mesmerizing eyes and swallowed at how they appeared to see everything he was thinking.
She sat down directly across the small table from him "How old am I Callan?" she said softly, the silky voice smooth yet utterly familiar.
The first thought in his head was twenty-two hundred and twenty-eight years but he dismissed that as impossible and intently looked at every part of her and saw that she must be somewhere between twenty two and twenty eight. "You are twenty five my Lady."
She giggled like a bubbling stream. "While flattering your first answer was more honest sweet boy."
Callan looked at her in confusion, he only said one answer, she was twenty five. "I’m confused…" Callan tried to speak but was cut off.
Morrigan interrupted him as he tried to express his bewilderment, "Of course you are my Dear Callan, you are dealing with things beyond your knowledge. Now call for the soul of my father, I will guide you but it is something only you can do." Morrigan reached forward and touched his brow with two fingers as she made contact, he flinched in amazement of how hot her fingers were, suddenly he heard a voice both in his mind and audibly. "Ah, my beloved daughter, how good it is to see you once again; you have found him. The one who was to be reborn has been at last, and not just the boy before you, the King has been as well."
Callan jerked back in shock breaking contact with Morrigan, feeling ice in his soul. "What the fuck was that?"
Morrigan's face turned sour. "Mind your language sweet boy before I make you a mute, or was it a newt, I can’t keep track." Then she smiled wide showing vivid white teeth and before Callan's eyes her green eye became black and he blinked and again but this time it persisted her eye was really black, he felt a deathly chill crushing his heart. "Sweet boy, my Dear Callan, you have two days to run before I chase you down and make you mine forever, whether you like it or not, though I am certain when I do do so you will be physically happy even as your mind and soul screams for me beautifully."
With perfect timing, a shrill scream echoes down the hall to the door and cuts off sharply. "Looks like my darling boy is having his fun too. He wasn’t joking with you just so you know, he wanted your fear to feed on. Now be a good boy and run fast for me, I do so enjoy the hunt" Callan ran for the door without any thought but to get away from this madness, he still could hear her whisper in his mind. "You have two days my love, make them count, make me enjoy this".