Spooktober 2022 of Galedon
CW: gore, death of child
1. Portrait
In the castle in Narya, where the King and the Queen live, there is an ancient portrait. It is located in an old nursery, on the old side of the castle, where almost no one ever goes. For a good reason, that is, it is said to be haunted. Kids are never allowed to play there, not since princess Quillan went there once while playing hide and seek... and she didn't come back the same. She never spoke about what she saw or experienced there, but all we know is, she wasn't found for a long time. The servants went looking everywhere, they searched behind every door, under every table and in every cupboard, and the princess was nowhere to be found, like she had vanished. Until much, much later that day, after searching all the rooms many many times, she was found in the old nursery. She was staring into the portrait and talking an unknown language to it, like she was having a conversation. She was unresponsive, and they had to carry the princess out of the room. After that she always had nightmares, and would try and sleepwalk back to that old nursery room. The door had to be kept locked, and a guard was assigned to stand by the entrance to the old side day and night. The thing is, no one could quite describe the portrait. Some people saw an old woman in it, other people a child, some people just saw a house with lights in the windows... They tried to remove the portrait, but it seemed impossible. They would take it down, but somehow, when no one was looking, it found it's way back to the wall. So they vowed no one should ever go in the room again. 2. Vanish
Far south-east on the continent of Tamar, there are the Misty Mountains. They always have a thick fog over them, and if you ask about them, you will be told, that whoever crosses the mountains, will never return, but will be gone forever. If you have any inclination towards magic and spirituality, you will probably have a good guess about what's behind those mountains - the Realm of the Dead. It it not quite true however, that no one can return. If you're strong enough in your magic, and have paid the price, you can go there, and back. But no one shall walk into the Realm of the Dead like into their garden, you have to pay the appropriate price. 3.Abandoned
Far far in the west lies the adandoned castle of Drungol. It is told, that a long time ago an evil magician kept his lair there. He summoned a lot of demons and spirits to guard it. The nature around the ruins was killed as he pulled the life out of the plants to use in his magic. Nature has reclaimed her own now, and the ruins are covered in plants, but his summonings are still there, lurking in the shades, waiting to take you with them… or perhaps be freed and to return to the Realm of the Dead. 4. Enchant
The enchanted forest of Dal Miamar are a very special place. It is the home of all sorts if fantastical forest creatures, large and small. From the tiniest fairies who live in acorns, to forest dragons, who do not breathe fire, but can choose to breathe life or death upon their opponent. If you go there in the night and look in the magical spring, you might see the future, and the first morning sun rays bring out the golden maiden, who dances only in the dawn visible to human eye. It is a truly enchanted forest and full of magic. 5. Misfortune
Quite a few things are believed to cause misfortune or bad luck. On Naremma Island, they believe that more than 7 children will cause misfortune to the family and draw too much of the mother's life power. In the Northern lands it is believed, that if a Para is left unattended with livestock, they will get sick. Paras are also associated with other kind of misfortune, although for the most part, they're just acting as helpers to magic users. In the North is also believed that if you wear red during your pregnancy you will bleed too much when giving birth. 6. Chasm
To enter the Realm of the Dead you will need to cross a chasm. By this point you have already crossed the Misty Mountains, and behind them is a chasm. Over it goes only a narrow rope bridge with flimsy handrails. It does not look strong enough to carry even one person, but it is the only way over the dark, deep chasm that you cannot see the bottom or the other side of. But once you step on the bridge, you will see the other side. It's not far at all, probably less than 10 meters. It looks like a dark forest is on the other side. There is a gate too, made of old trees, so old they have died and turned gray. They've been bent and braided together at the top, creating a kind of archway. If you look behind, the chasm is still there, but the bridge has disappeared, and you can't see the other side anymore. You have entered the Otherworld, the Dream world, the Realm of the Dead, Ethia's, the goddess of death's land. For most, there is no way back. 7. Thorn
You have entered the Realm of the Dead, crossed the bridge and are now standing in front of the gate. There is a gatekeeper of course. She is sitting cross-legged by the gate, on the floor, not looking at all dangerous, or even respectable. She is small, has dark skin and white hair. Her eyes are pitch black, and her nails are long. It looks like she is wearing shadows, rather than clothes. On her head she has a hawthorn crown, with leaves and berries and it is the only thing on her that looks properly coloured. She might not look like much, but you somehow know, that you will not cross this gate unless she gives permission to you. Once she notices you, she will stand up. She is very tiny, the size of a child. "I am Oka (writer's note: it means "thorn"), the guardian of the Otherworld. Who are you, and what business do you have here?" Her voice is deep and echoes, like she is speaking with the voice of thousands, instead of one person. 8. Howl
In the Northern mountains live the Mountain Wolves. They are especially large wolves, who have perfectly adapted into living in the mountains. They can grow to be 1,5 meters high, large enough to carry a small person on their back. In the steep mountains they are better mounts than horses, but much more difficult to tame. Wild, they are unpredictable and dangerous, but once tamed, extremely loyal to their human, although still skeptical of other humans. The Hiisi folk of the North have a special bond with the mountain wolves. If you however, are a human and in the mountains without shelter, and hear the howling wolves, expect trouble. 9. Mirror
In the forest of Dal Miamar there is a magical spring. You can only find it when the moon is full and guiding your way. It is being guarded by a spirit, who might look like a deer or an owl. If you drink from this spring, with the permission of the guardian of course, you will feel magically refreshed and your mind will be clear and open. If you look into it however, you might see the future. If you are a seer, it will give you three sights, one of which is true and two are not. If you do not have the gift of seeing the future, you will simply see one thing, that may or may not be true. You might give special gifts to the guardian to see specific things too, like if you offer it a flower crown made of ten different flowers all picked within the same hour on midsummer night, you will see your future spouse. 10. Broken
"I need help," the little girl told me in a determined voice. "This is broken."
She held up a box. It was a pretty box, but nothing extraordinary, and quite frankly I did not understand why she needed my help to fix a simple box. Also it didn't look broken. I was a magician, with expertise in dealing with the dead, and in my opinion a carpenter would have been a better fit to fix a wooden box.
"My dear, I think you have come to the wrong person. I know nothing about carpentry," I told the girl.
"No. This is a very special box," she said, holding it up still, like she wanted me to have a look.
I shrugged. I was sure there was nothing that special about the box, but I could humor a little girl. I took the box, and immediately a strong presence went through me. It wasn't hostile, but it wasn't friendly either. A carpenter would have been a very bad fit to fix this one.
"I can fix this. But it will take some ingredients and some time. You can come back after the next new moon. It will also be expensive. I need a whole 5 gold pennies for this kind of work. You can pay when you pick this up," I said, wondering in my head, how on earth the little girl was holding that box with such ease.
"I can pay now," she said and after a little bit of fiddling, picked up five gold pieces out of her money pouch hidden in the skirts. "I'll be back after the new moon." 11. Escape
I had been investigating the forest on the continent of Tamar. It was very unlike any forest I'd ever been to. The trees were so much larger, and the forest floor was almost clear. I didn't see anyone, but I heard sounds high up from the trees. They sounded like humans, but somehow brighter and clearer. They were clearly following me, but I could not see them. It didn't sound hostile, but I felt uneasy. I was looking for something, a plant, a magical plant I had been searching for all over the known world, and finally I had come to Tamar, where I may be able to find it. The forest floor was so empty thou. Some odd vines were climbing the mighty trunks of the massive trees. It was getting darker too, and I thought I should head out of the forest soon. I heard some leaves rustle, and jumped. Whatever caused that sound was big! I pressed myself flat against a tree, and looked around. I could still see a little in the dusk, and I could not help but to scream. It was the largest animal I had ever seen, it's eyes shining in the dark, and giant teeth clearly visible. It was growling softly, and sniffing. Any moment it would notice me. I was holding my breath. Suddenly, I felt a soft tap on my shoulder, and nearly screamed. A tiny person was there, on a rope ladder. They were speaking a language I did not recognize, but the message was clear - get on the ladder and climb, if you do not want to die a very painful death very soon. I grabbed the ladder and hoisted myself up, not a moment too early. The giant creature had jumped, and landed where I had just been standing. I climbed faster, as it reared against the tree trunk and tried to grab me with it's front paws. I followed the tiny person up the ladder, and soon landed at the most beautiful treehouse I had ever seen. My heart was still pounding, as I flopped on the floor to catch my breath. "Thank you, you saved me!" I said to the person in front of me. They smiled, and shouted something in their own language. Soon a few more of these tiny people ran over from somewhere. "You are nor from here," one of them stated in my language. I didn't answer, as it was not a question. "Only strangers go down on the forest floor at night. We know better not to go there. You will certainly die." "So, what was that thing?" "The shadow lion. The most dangerous creature around here. But only at night. It sleeps daytime. You have to sleep here tonight, you cannot go down." "How can I thank you for saving me?" "We are the guardians of the forest. We save people who are stupid and would die otherwise." I sighed. I guess I was stupid, but in all the texts I had read, nowhere was there any mention of a shadow lion. "I will show you your bed." I followed this person, and finally had time to look better around me. The treehouses were full of intricate carvings and filigree ornaments. There were bridges between the trees, to ensure that one would never have to step down on the ground to go from one tree to another. These people were very small, and I felt too big among them, but when we finally had passed quite a few trees, we arrived at a treehouse that was bigger than the others. There were two hammocks in there, and I was told I could pick either. In the morning there would be someone to guide me back. I lay there for a moment, staring into the stars, but eventually fell asleep, and slept better than I had in ages. I woke up in my hammock at the last moments of the ethereal dawn light, before the sun would shine above the trees and make everything bright and clear. The same small person, who I'd talked to last night, was sitting on the floor gazing into the distance. "Oh, you're awake. Good sleep? You want breakfast?" "Yes and yes, thank you." They led me one floor up on the treehouse, on narrow stairs carved into the tree with ornamental handrails. There was a picnic throw on the floor, with lots of delicious looking foods, bread, herb oil for dipping, jam, fresh fruit and tea. I sat eagerly down. There were no plates or cutlery, so I picked up some bread. It was delicious dipped in the herb oil. "So, if I may ask. Who are you actually?" "We are guardians of this forest. We help people, and take care of the forest." "Do you know anything about a plant called witch's tongue?" "Never heard that name. How does it look?" I took out the drawing from my bag, and handed it over. Their face lit up. "Yes. Yes we know this. It grows south. Very rare, but valuable. Are you a witch?" I nodded. I guess I was. 12. Slime
"Oh dear god, what is that?" I whispered, while lurking in the small cave, some way on the mountain, above the river. My companion shook their head and gestured me to be quiet. I turned back facing the horrifying creature that was crawling on the riverbank, it's back half still in the water. It was sniffing along the mud, probably where our we had walked a moment ago. It had a long greenish body partly covered in scales, short sturdy front legs with webbing between it's long toes. It was breathing heavily through it's short snout, two rows of sharp pointy teeth visible, and everywhere it went, dripped a thick, slimy trail of saliva. "That's what we need," my companion mouthed silently to me. I knew. The fresher the better, and this would not be more than a few minutes old when we would bottle it. We just needed to distract the creature. We were safe in the cave, but this creature could prowl under the surface for hours in hope for prey, we could not let it see us. I grabbed a stone, but again my companion stopped me,shaking their head. Instead they took their bow and fired an arrow far away from where we were hiding. The creature lifted it’s head up, sniffed frantically and quietly and quickly slid back in the water. We could only see bubbles where it had zoomed off. We didn’t have long, so we sprinted down the rocky landscape as quickly as we could, our vials ready to collect the slimy saliva from the muddy rocks. Then we should get out there and as far away from the river as possible. Bottles klinging we ran away, feeling more relieved at every step. We got the saliva, and also didn’t get dragged to the bottom of the river and eaten. 13. Haunt
”This place is haunted,” she said in a matter-of-fact voice. I looked at her, and spent a moment just staring at her, before I realized what she had said. She was a peculiar child, I had been told.
”How do you know?”
”Oh I come here all the time. I wouldn’t have known it’s haunted, but that’s what the adults say. I just come here and play with the other kids. We have loads of fun, but we haven't seen the ghosts yet. There’s a young lady too, she’s waiting for someone, and she watches the kids while she's waiting. I guess she's been waiting a long time.”
I continued to stare in silence. The house was empty. There was no one living there, had not been for many many years, certainly not when this girl had been alive. But I too had heard the rumors of it being haunted.
"Come, lets go and say hello to my friends!"
I followed the girl silently and reluctantly. She opened the creaky gate, and skipped across the over-grown grass on the path. Soon she waved at someone, but I could not see anyone. She shouted hello, and then started talking rapidly with someone, pausing every now and then to listen to the answer. But the answer never came, nor did I see who she was talking to. I started feeling uncomfortable, and shivers went up my spine.
"We should go now," I said, but to deaf ears. She was still in the middle of that conversation.
"Here's Ivy. She's my best friend here." She had walked back to me, and was presenting me to someone, but yet I could not see anyone there.
"We really should go back home now," I said stiffly, nodding briefly to the direction I assumed her invisible friend was standing. "We shouldn't stay here for too long. They will get worried we got lost."
"I don't get lost. There's always someone to show the way. And they know that."
I sighed. I understood now what they meant by peculiar. There she was, a 5-year old, who was talking to the ghosts in a haunted house, and didn't even realize it. How knew how many she had following her at any given time, as only she seemed to see and hear them. Where others felt weird and scared, she saw friends and understanding. 14. Ruin
Far up North lay the ruins of @Brími. Once it was a small town, but for centuries it has been but a ruin. Although an impressive one, that is. It is located at the edge of the glacier, and this is where the ancient rituals were made, with terrifying sacrifices, to win the blessing of the Goddess of the Frost. It is a place with powerful magic, and once you've visited, you will not go back the same. It is a popular place for pilgrimage, and most people who live in the North, will go there at least once in their lives. If you ever wanted a favor from the Goddess of the Frost, this is the place where you should go. But beware, if you go unprepared, it might well be the last thing you do. 15. Mist
It was getting late, and we'd better find a place to rest. We'd been walking though the forest for days, and seemed to be no closer to getting out. It was a peculiar forest, and many people had told us we should be careful and excercise proper precautions when entering. I think we got it all right, we had the offerings - fresh bread, beer and honey, and we'd stopped and waited before entering... and so far everything had been good. We put up our shelters and went to sleep, one of us keeping watch. In the early morning hours, during the blue moment before sunrise, we all got woken, not only by our guard but also by a weird feeling. A thick mist had descended over our camp. There was something uncanny about this mist, and soon we started hearing voices. They weren't loud, but rather sounded like they came from far away, and were more like cries for help. We could not see anyone, but everyone could feel the presence of spirits.
"Who are you? What do you want?" I cried into the mist.
No one answered, but the voices calmed down a bit. Then I almost screamed, as I felt someone touch my arm lightly. Then I heard a voice, and I wasn't sure if it was in my head or not.
"Look."
It was like pictures were drawn onto the mist. They were not very clear, but what looked like a temple was engulfed in flames. People were running around, seemingly shouting in panic, and then characters emerged from the shadows, taking the priestesses, tying their arms and throwing them into a carriage. One small child was taken separately, into a different carriage. Then the sight changed, and there was now a camp, in what looked like the same forest we were in. The priestesses were kept in the camp, and this child, who could not be older than 5 or 6, was still being kept separate, in a different tent, seemingly in better conditions than the others.
"We need help," the voice whispered, and suddenly the mist was gone. We all looked at each other in confusion. What was going on?
16. Whisper
In the summertime, every new moon in the village of Draugavik, from the sunset to sunrise, is the night of spirit migration. It is a dangerous time to be outside, as the hundreds of spirits who inhabit the village alongside humans, wander across the island, whispering as they go. Their otherworldly presence is enough drag any living being into their world as well, and their whispers will make anyone question their sanity. It is rumored, this migration is why the locals are a peculiar sort of folk, seeing and hearing ghosts where no one else does. They do have precautions to protect especially children. But it is also said, that these whispering spirits also offer them some knowledge or information, that makes it worth staying on this island, on the borders of this world and the other. Anyone who sets foot on the island, will be affected somehow, especially if they spend the night of the spirit migration on the island, even with proper precautions
17. Shadow
"Have you noticed something weird about that girl?"
"What do you mean?" I was confused. Or, not so confused, I had noticed a lot of weirdness around the girl, but I could not point my finger at what exactly it would be.
"Well, something's not right. She does not seem to be aware of it herself, but there is darkness, some kind of shadow on her soul. She can see and hear things we others can't. She does it with unsettling ease."
I nodded. I knew this. Just a few days ago the neighbour girl, who had been watching her for the day, told me she had gone to the haunted house and claimed to have friends there. She did not seem to realize they weren't real people.
"The thing is, this can't continue. She is dangerous to herself and people around her, who knows what will happen if something happens, someone makes her angry, and that darkness inside her gets loose. We have to do something before it's time to send her to school... or before she might have children of her own. Who knows what kind of monstrosities she will birth if left like this?"
In my opinion this was unnecessarily harsh talk, but of course, something had to be done. I did not think she would be a danger to herself or anyone else really... But I understood, my friend was speaking from an experience, where the local healer had been corrupted by shadows, resulting in her whole family's death. I sighed.
"I'll talk to the father," I said. "The mother is sick, so we must not bother her."
18. Spirit
During the waning moon, you might see small lights in the forest. They look like the flames of a candle, and you might also confuse them with will-o’-the-wisps, but these are different. Will-o’-the-wisps glow a bluish light and will only appear in swamps and bogs, while the spirit lights are warm yellow coloured. They are not hostile, it is said that they are the spirits of mothers who have died before their children are adults, and they come and watch their children grow. If you are the child of one of these mothers, you can sense their presence more strongly, but you cannot talk to them. 19. Relic
Relics are not generally something, that is considered very important in most parts of Galedon. But in the North, there is one particular item, that could be considered a relic, and is very important to the people of the North. It is the book, that the first people who came to offer things to the Goddess of Frost, used to read out their prayers from. It has all the original texts in old language, and the tears and the sweat and the bloodstains. It is kept in a big temple in Sváldur, and all the texts have also been copied in case something would happen to the original. 20. Unquiet
It was disturbing. I was used to nature sounds, and in this empty house, that was an inn in the winter, but in the summer just an empty house no one could sleep in, there should have been no other sounds. The next similar houses were one days worth of traveling either way along the road, and except for the other two travelers, the house was empty. Our horses were in the stable building, and the two other were asleep. But I could not sleep, because I kept hearing these odd sounds. They sounded like whispers, but I could not understand what they would be saying, or even what language they would be speaking. Sometimes it sounded like the sound of tiny feet on wooden floors, but there was nothing. Even in the light of the moon, I could see it was empty. Like the wind blowing, but there was no wind, or weird crackly noise, like someone was burning a fire, but there was no smoke. I lay there awake, listening to the weird sounds. The horses were fine I was sure, I would have heard if they got restless. The night felt very long, and I guess I eventually fell asleep, but I had the weirdest dreams. It was the same inn, but it was filled with weird fey folk, with animal faces and paws instead of human feet, or folks with wings or who sounded like birds when they talked. And yet in the dream I understood everything they said. They were having a good time, and invited me to join. They gave me the tastiest mead I've ever had, and danced all night long, their tiny claws tapping against the wooden floor. In the morning I asked the two fellow travelers, if they'd had any weird dreams, and they told uncannily similar stories to mine. And then I found a perfectly round stone next to my bed, with a sleeping fox painted on it. I picked it up, and as I did so, it felt like someone whispered to me "thank you, it was fun". On the backside there was a fox's pawprint on the stone. It felt warm to the touch, and I put it carefully in my pouch. Whatever it meant, it probably was important. We must have crossed paths with a fey wandering or something like that. 21. Shatter
"No, it's mine!" the girl shouted. She was maybe 8 years old, with long black hair and dark brown eyes, which looked like they were burning with anger.
"No, you can't have this, it's dangerous," the adult explained. "Do you even know what it is?"
"Of course I do. I've always had it. Do you know? If you did, maybe you wouldn't be so keen on taking it away."
The adult hesitated for a moment, like she didn't know what to say. But then she lunged at the girl, and tried to force the wooden box out of her hands.
"No, you can't do this! You don't know what you're doing! You can't take it away from me! It's important!"
"What is important is, that you learn to respect your elders. Maybe your parents let you do whst you wanted, but I am not going to," the adult wheezed through gritted teeth, and wrestled the box out of the girl's hands.
But she wasn't ready to let go, and as she tried to get the box back, it slipped through both of their fingers and dropped on the floor, and shattered into pieces. At the same time an eerie darkness filled the room, and the girl stood paralyzed with fear in the middle of the room, facing the adult, who apparently hadn't known to expect this. But the girl knew what would happen, and also that there was nothing she could do to stop it from happening.
"You little witchdaughter, I know what you are, and if you're trying to scare me with your stupid tricks, it won't work," the adult said triumphantly.
The child spoke again, and her voice had changed, it was a mere whisper, but echoed through the room and made shivers go through the adult's spine.
"You still don't see it, do you. There is very little I can do now to help you. You did wrong and now you will pay."
As the girl spoke, a shadow had been forming in the darkness, and now it was bigger than a human. It towered behind the adult, and then, suddenly, in a split second, it attacked. The girl closed her eyes and covered her ears in horror. Would she have looked, she would have seen the flesh ripped off the bones and disappearing into the shadow, and blood splashing everywhere. There wasn't even time for screams, it was so quick. She turned to face the door, so she wouldn't need to look at the horrifying sight when leaving the room. Once it was quiet, she tapped her shoulder, and the shadow creature shrunk in size, as it sat on her shoulder like a big, black bird. The girl scooped quickly up the remains of the box, put them in her pocket, and walked out of the room and locked the door, taking the key with her. 22. Lock
The girl didn't make it far, when many adults came rushing over.
"We heard noise," one of them said. She was a tall woman, and her face was expressionless.
The girl looked at them. Their eyes seemed to be fixed on the shadow on her shoulder. She nodded. There had indeed been noise. Slowly, she put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out the remains of the box, that now looked slightly burned. She held them out on her palm. The tall woman stopped immediately in her tracks, with and expression of horror forming on her previously so untelling face. The others seemed clueless.
"What happened?" she asked almost in a whisper.
"Alice tried to take the box from me, and she grabbed it. I was telling her not to, but she wouldn't listen. I tried to take it back, but then it fell on the floor, and shattered, and it got loose. I don't think there is much... And it needs a new lock. Made by someone who knows what they're doing," the girl said, in a weirdly calm voice. The meltdown over this would happen later, when there was no one to see, and when it was safe.
"Has this kind of thing happened before?"
"The lock got broken once, years ago. I'm not sure why, but I was much younger then... It got repaired by a necromancer."
"Does it have to be a necromancer? I'm afraid we don't have one in the school."
"I'm not sure. It't not techincally dead, so I guess not, but it is quite a specialist thing... I know there is a necromancer in town, but they're far on the other side. And it's not only the lock that is broken, it's the whole thing. Although it shouldn't get hungry for a while," the girl made a grimace.
23. Door
"Close the door quickly, dear, so you don't let anything in," the older lady said, when I stepped inside her little hut.
I hastily shut the door, and closed the copper hook as well.
"Now that's better," she smiled. "Now do sit down, I have some cordial here you might like."
As I sat down, I wondered, what the anything would be, that could be let in, if the door was kept open for too long. Most dangers around here, were pretty big and easy to spot. But I wasn't a witch, so I wouldn't know much about spirits and things. The cordial was excellent, with a rich taste of honey, and I was served some saitaka fruit with it. They were my favourite fruit. I started to tell the old woman why I had come to her from so far away, but I was interrupted, as something rattled against the door. I jumped in my seat, but she calmly looked at the door without saying anything, and encouraged me to keep talking.
"Fear and getting startled will only encourage these kind of creatures. Keep going as if there's nothing there."
I took a quick look at the door, that was now silent, and continued talking. Then it happened again. I kept talking as calmly as I could, but the door was getting louder and louder. She waved her hand, telling me to pause, and walked to the door. She took a small bag from her pocket, tied it to the copper hook, and muttered some words I could not hear.
"Just a precaution. Having new faces makes them curious, and sometimes they get a little, hmm, over-excited. That should do the trick though, so please resume your story."
"I will, but can I just ask, who or what are they?"
"Oh, just some spirits, and I guess there are a few forest goblins there too, they like to mingle with the spirits. There's a gate to the Otherworld behind the house, and sometimes the gatekeepr can't quite keep up with everyone who's walking though the gates... But the copper and salt should keep them outside, and now I do really need to hear the rest of your story my dear." 24. Curse
The girl was walking through the city, accompanied by a long woman. They'd come out in the early morning, in hopes of the city being qiueter. Although the few people they met, naturally gave way to the girl as she was giving off an aura of something very different than se looked. The way was quite long, and they didn't speak much. The necromancer lived far on the other side of the town, on the edge of the forest. The cottage looked distinct even from a distance. It was dark, and not very inviting, however the gate was open, and there was light in the windows.
"Come on in, I've been waiting for you since yesterday," said a voice from the shadows. They stepped forwards, and in the house it was surprisingly cosy. It was lit with candles and lanterns, and a fire was burning in the fireplace in the middle of the room. They sat down, and the girl immediately handed the broken pieces of the box to the necromancer, who took them, and quickly looked at the shadow sitting on her shoulder.
"Well, while I work on this, you could tell me why exactly are you tied to that thing."
"I was cursed at birth. I don't remember anything of course... But I was a twin, and the youngest child of my family. So I was the 7th, and my twin woul have been the 8th. My mother was very sick, and the local magician told my father, that if they killed my twin, their lifepower could save my mother's life. But it all went wrong of course, and the spirit of my twin got... twisted, somehow. But also it was tied to me, because we are twins. My mother survived, but also I am now tied to this spirit of my twin... and it's a bit uncontrollable sometimes. The box is made of our life tree, hawthorn... and the lock was copper. I've always gotten along well with this spirit thou. It's never threatened me, only the people who are mean to me, but I don't want it to hurt anyone either! It just.. does, it's got a will of it's own. When I was small there were many accidents, other kids would get severely injured, or go missing, after we had fights or they were picking on me. Other parents told their kids not to play with me... It was getting very hard to get anyone to babysit me, my mother was still sick, and my father was busy looking after the other kids. Then when I was 4, we moved to a different place, a much bigger city. There my father sought the help of a skilled magician, who made that box, and said, that it needed to be always kept safe and with me. I should feed the spirit regularly, and it would stay happy. The hawthorn was calming it, and copper is used to harness spirits. It worked for a while, the lock had to be repaired once, when another kid shoved me, and it fell to the ground. If it wasn't for the box, that kid would surely have been dead or missing a limb now. Adults around me, except my parents, always thought I wasn't aware of it, or something like that.. That I didn't know it was my twin spirit made it possible for me to see ghosts and spirits and such, because it's my tie to the Otherworld. And since the box, everything went fine, for a few years. But then I got sent to school, and yesterday this school order keeper tried to take the box from me, and it shattered..."
25. Posses
The child was crying, and would not stop. The mother was nervous, she had done all the spells and precautions to protect her baby from the dangers of the spirit wandering, but what if she had forgotten something... She took the baby in her arms, and it immediately calmed down. But as soon as she tried to put it down in it's crib, the crying started. She shook her head, and shook the crib. It felt weird. Then she suddenly realised something. She had forgotten to put the salt under the mattress. She shook her head in disbelief, and hurried to the kitchen pantry. With the baby resting on her other arm she filled a small canvas bag with salt, and rushed to place it under the mattress, and as soon as she did that, a weird screeching noise filled the room, and then the window opened with a bang. Hurriedly the woman ran to close it, placed the copper hook and the salt bag in place, and then she sunk on the floor, holding her baby tight. That had been close, if the spirit had had more time it would have properly possessed the crib, and the might not have noticed before it was too late. And her husband wasn't home either. The crib was safe now, but she took the baby to sleep in their bed that night. They both needed it. 26. Abyss
I opened my eyes and tried to get up slowly. I wasn't sure what had hit me, but I was feeling quite bad. My head was sore, and my mouth felt very dry. I also felt a sharp pain behind me left ear, and as I put my hand there to feel it, I noticed I was bleeding. My shirt felt wet from the blood by the neck. I was reaching for my bag, I knew I had some bandages there... but my bag wasn't there! I was starting to panic, and staggered as I stood up rapidly to get a better view of my surroundings. They didn't look familiar. The scene around me looked burned, blackened, like from a very large fire. A dragon? But surely I would have been more hurt by a dragon? I took a leap backwards when I noticed the big abyss a couple of meters in front of me. It had not been there before. I was getting more and more worried, as I had no memory whatsoever of what had happened. I creeped closer to the abyss again, with pain throbbing in my head, and feeling dizzy. I lay down on my stomach and looked down in the abyss. It was very deep. I could not see the bottom. It was not very wide however, I thought I could jump over it, if I wasn't injured. 27. Echo
I stared down into the abyss. I did not kow what had causetd it, but there was something uncanny about it. It didn't look natural. I shook my head and backed away. I had to treat my wound first, so I started looking for my bag properly. I was quite dizzy, so it was hard, but finally I saw it, about 10 meters away, on the edge of the burned area. It's contents were scattered all over the floor, but I managed to find some bandages that were not too dirty. I did as good a job as I could on my own, and resumed to look at the weird abyss. It was so peculiar. The walls looked like they were made of shadows instead of actual, solid material. I took a stone, and dropped it in. It immediately vanished, but a moment later I heard an echo that told me it had reached the bottom. So there was a bottom. I listened for a moment, and sure enough, I heard some more echoing noise. Almost like someone was talking, and like there were lots of tiny footsteps. Were there people down there? But whatever is was, it sounded too small to be human. 28. Darkness
I wasn't afraid of darkness. That's what I told myself, when I was walking down my own yard to the well, to get some water to boil for our daughter who was sick. But in that moment I did not believe myself. I was very afraid, and was using all my willpower not to dash madly back to the house. I needed this water, our daughter needed it. I had however, that feeling of being watched, and by someone who wasn't friendly. We had lived in the house for so many years already. I had never been afraid, and the darkness had always been my friend. But something was different, and for every step I took, I started to feel more and more like I should not be outside. I shook my head, and turned around. I saw something for a split second, as it disappeared from my sight. That was enough. The empty water bucket fell onto the ground and I sprinted back in the house as fast as I could. I heard footsteps behind me, and as I slammed the door shut behind me, I felt someone pushing on it. I shouted for my spouse to bring the salt, as I with trembling hands fastened the copper hook. The door continued being pushed, but I knew, if the thing out there was any sort of spirit, it could not open a door that had been shut with a copper hook. My spouse arrived with the salt, and I heard a scream from upstairs. I ran up the stairs, to our daughters room, and saw a shadow behind her window. It's long, creeping fingers were sliding underneath the window frame, moments away from opening it.
"Shut the hook! Now!" I shouted, and our daughter, who was closer to the window, reached over and tried to close the hook. However the shadow fingers grabbed her wrist, and she froze in panic. I rushed over to help her, and together we managed to wrestle the hook shut. Color had escaped my daughter's face, and she felt cold to the touch. I heard my spouse running around, closing the other hooks, and placing bags of salt by every opening as well. I took our daughter in my arms, frightened by her coldness, and carried her downstairs. She was trembling silently. My spouse was in the kitchen, fear shadowing her otherwise so bright face.
"What is going on?" she said, in a silent voice.
"I don't know. I was getting water for Vina, for her fever. We've run out. But as I went outside, I felt like something was there... something bad. It tried to follow me inside, and whatever it was, it grabbed her wrist, when she was trying to close the window hook. She's now all cold and pale."
My spouse just looked at me in horror. I didn't know what to say either. It was scary. We didn't have immediate neighbours, the closest people were behind the fields and the pastures, hundreds of meters away, but the road way was much longer. And of course this happened while other members of our family were away. Our daughter was still silently crying in my arms, and I stroke her hair gently. My spouse walked over to the fireplace, and put a couple of logs into the ember, that slowly started to spark, and soon burned with a hearty flame.
"I guess we have no choice but to wait for the morning. Maybe sunrise will chase the thing away."
"I guess," I said, I wasn't sure what to think. "I think we should all sleep together tonight, I said, holding our daughter still tightly in my arms. She was calmer now, and she was no longer trembling. The crackling of the fire was calming, and my spouse got some snacks out as well. She buttered thick slices of bread, and got out some mead. We were on our guard, and if there was a silent moment, we could hear rattling on the windows, and footsteps outside. We heard rustling from the roof too. Our daughter had fallen asleep, but I knew we adults wouldn't sleep. Salt and copper would keep it outside, but we could only hope it would flee once the darkness would disappear. The night was long. The noise outside died out after a while, only to come back more fierce next time. Of course we both knew about all the demons and spirits that were wandering in the darkness, but neither of us had never really faced one.
After a long, anxious night, the morning arrived. Once the sun came out, we felt the weird shadow retreat. But we both knew, it wold probably be back next night. It might even be hiding in the shadows of the stable of the forest behind the fields and pastures. We had made our plan during the long hours in the night. So we packed enough food and water for a day, took one of our horses and put our stuff and our daughter on the horse. Then we started walking towards the shaman of the village, about half a day away. We made sure to lock all the doors of our house and other buildings with copper and salt. The animals would be fine outside in the late summer. We were hoping to stay in the village overnight, and return tomorrow.
30. Tear
The journey to the village was uneventful. Our daughter was holding it together so well, considering she was still unwell. In normal circumstances only one of us would have gone, but we could not risk having to spend another night not knowing what was lurking in the dark. The village was one of the larger ones outside the big city, which was a day's worth of traveling more from the village. There was a staffed inn all year around, and we booked a room there for one night. It was quite empty, as places usually were in the summer season, people being busy working on their fields. My spouse and our daughter stayed in the room to get some rest... I was exhausted too, but my errand was best done as soon as possible. I could rest later. The village looked normal, and people greeted me quite happily. We knew a lot of people from the village, as we did visit quite often. I didn't stop to talk to anyone, but headed straight to the shaman's cottage. It was on a central place, close to the market square, which was quite busy. I knocked on the door, and the shaman came to open. They were a small person, sat in a wheelchair, clad in bright white robes and wearing lots of different amulets around their neck and on their belt. After I entered, they carefully closed three different hooks and placed about half a dozen of different bags on a shelf on the door. I stood silently and watched. After they were done, they gestured for me to sit down on the bench next to the wall.
"Well, it's been a while since you last came here, hasn't it", they said smiling. "How is your daughter?"
"That's part of the reason I'm here," I said, and explained her sickness, and what had happened last night.
The shaman listened to me, and I could not read much in their facial expression. When I finished, they were silent for a moment. Then they started wheeling back and forth, gathering different ingredients in an evergroving pile on their lap. They spoke as they continued looking for different things, adding wood to the fire etc.
"Has there been any changes in your surroundings lately? New neighbours? Anything weird happening in your environment?"
I shook my head, I had not noticed anything out of the ordinary lately. But then again our house was quite far from the road, and we did not keep watch. Perhaps we should?
"Well, I do get a weird sense off you. Let me look at you. Did you wear these clothes last night?"
I nodded. I turned around, and heard the shaman gasp.
"What is it?"
"Did anything touch you last night? When you ran away from the footsteps and that shadow?"
"I didn't notice... only our daughter."
"You have a tear on your cloak, it would perhaps be best if you took it off so you can look at it too."
I took my cloak off, and as soon as I did, the shaman grabbed it, and laid it on the table. I saw the tear clearly. It looked like it was made with sharp claws, and yet I had not felt anything last night. It must have tried to grab me when I was by the door.
"You need to wash this cloak, or actually it is better if I do it... This will be enticing to other shadow creatures as long as it's not washed properly. And for your daughter, I'll make a potion, and an ointment for where she was touched by the shadow. Make sure she drinks the potion as soon as you get back to her, and do not worry, I'll make it taste good. For your house, here's some incence. Burn one stick of it every evening at sunset for a week, and make sure the smoke gets all around the house. As extra, I'll give you a couple of herbal candles for warding against evil spirits. Well, you can come back for your cloak, potion and ointment in a couple of hours."
I decided to hear back to the inn for a good meal and some rest. 31. Drown
My spouse and daughter were both awake as I got back. They seemed happy to see me, and I kissed them both. We headed to the tavern part of the inn, and ordered today's menu, which was game stew with honey-roasted poatoes and carrots, freshly baked bread, and herby butter. Me and my spouse got some tasty dark ale, and our daughter got some goat milk. She was feeling a bit better, but still had a fever.
"So the shaman asked, if there had been anything weird or new close to our home lately," I said to my spouse.
"I didn't think there was... It's been quite ordinary lately," she mused, while buttering a slice of bread.
"But last week, when I was playing by the rocks on the shore, I saw something weird," said our daughter suddenly. "I didn't think it was anything bad... but there was a weird kid in the water, they were about the same age as me. They didn't say anything, but I told them who I was and that I would go and play with them again. They just waved at me, and we threw the ball for a while. I thought it was like a neighbour kid who I hadn't met yet. And then right after I came back home I got sick. I didn't dare to say it last night, but the shadow behind my window had that kid's face... did you not see their face mum?"
Me and my spouse looked at each other. We had never heard about another kid the same age as our daughter anywhere nearby. All the kids within walking distance were a bit older or younger.
"So can you tell me, what did this kid look like?"
"Oh, they were quite small and thin, and pale. A bit shorter than me. They had black eyes and black hair and quite dark circles around their eyes. I thought maybe they'd been sick recently."
Cold shivers went down my spine. I remembered this kid. But they hadn't been alive for a few years. Our daughter had been born less than a year ago when it happened. The miller's kid, a small 5-year old, pale kid with pitch black eyes and hair, didn't look anything like anyone in the miller's family, and everyone thought it was odd, and maybe that's why the kid stuck into people's memories so easily. Anyway, one day they had been playing on the shore, on the rocks, on their own like they liked to do so much. And then, they just never came back. Drowned, said the other people around, and for the lack of better evidence that was declared to be the fate of this kid. It was, after all, the logical explanation for a kid disappearing at the shore. The evil mouths would say, the miller didn't look after this kid properly, because he thought they were a changling.
Later that day, when I went to pick up the stuff from the shaman, I also told them about the same story our daughter had told us. The shaman seemed worried, and said it might well be the encounter with this drowned child that had caused our child's illness. They said they could not do much from afar, but would come and visit in a few days to check out the yard and perhaps the rocky shore.
1. Portrait
In the castle in Narya, where the King and the Queen live, there is an ancient portrait. It is located in an old nursery, on the old side of the castle, where almost no one ever goes. For a good reason, that is, it is said to be haunted. Kids are never allowed to play there, not since princess Quillan went there once while playing hide and seek... and she didn't come back the same. She never spoke about what she saw or experienced there, but all we know is, she wasn't found for a long time. The servants went looking everywhere, they searched behind every door, under every table and in every cupboard, and the princess was nowhere to be found, like she had vanished. Until much, much later that day, after searching all the rooms many many times, she was found in the old nursery. She was staring into the portrait and talking an unknown language to it, like she was having a conversation. She was unresponsive, and they had to carry the princess out of the room. After that she always had nightmares, and would try and sleepwalk back to that old nursery room. The door had to be kept locked, and a guard was assigned to stand by the entrance to the old side day and night. The thing is, no one could quite describe the portrait. Some people saw an old woman in it, other people a child, some people just saw a house with lights in the windows... They tried to remove the portrait, but it seemed impossible. They would take it down, but somehow, when no one was looking, it found it's way back to the wall. So they vowed no one should ever go in the room again. 2. Vanish
Far south-east on the continent of Tamar, there are the Misty Mountains. They always have a thick fog over them, and if you ask about them, you will be told, that whoever crosses the mountains, will never return, but will be gone forever. If you have any inclination towards magic and spirituality, you will probably have a good guess about what's behind those mountains - the Realm of the Dead. It it not quite true however, that no one can return. If you're strong enough in your magic, and have paid the price, you can go there, and back. But no one shall walk into the Realm of the Dead like into their garden, you have to pay the appropriate price. 3.Abandoned
Far far in the west lies the adandoned castle of Drungol. It is told, that a long time ago an evil magician kept his lair there. He summoned a lot of demons and spirits to guard it. The nature around the ruins was killed as he pulled the life out of the plants to use in his magic. Nature has reclaimed her own now, and the ruins are covered in plants, but his summonings are still there, lurking in the shades, waiting to take you with them… or perhaps be freed and to return to the Realm of the Dead. 4. Enchant
The enchanted forest of Dal Miamar are a very special place. It is the home of all sorts if fantastical forest creatures, large and small. From the tiniest fairies who live in acorns, to forest dragons, who do not breathe fire, but can choose to breathe life or death upon their opponent. If you go there in the night and look in the magical spring, you might see the future, and the first morning sun rays bring out the golden maiden, who dances only in the dawn visible to human eye. It is a truly enchanted forest and full of magic. 5. Misfortune
Quite a few things are believed to cause misfortune or bad luck. On Naremma Island, they believe that more than 7 children will cause misfortune to the family and draw too much of the mother's life power. In the Northern lands it is believed, that if a Para is left unattended with livestock, they will get sick. Paras are also associated with other kind of misfortune, although for the most part, they're just acting as helpers to magic users. In the North is also believed that if you wear red during your pregnancy you will bleed too much when giving birth. 6. Chasm
To enter the Realm of the Dead you will need to cross a chasm. By this point you have already crossed the Misty Mountains, and behind them is a chasm. Over it goes only a narrow rope bridge with flimsy handrails. It does not look strong enough to carry even one person, but it is the only way over the dark, deep chasm that you cannot see the bottom or the other side of. But once you step on the bridge, you will see the other side. It's not far at all, probably less than 10 meters. It looks like a dark forest is on the other side. There is a gate too, made of old trees, so old they have died and turned gray. They've been bent and braided together at the top, creating a kind of archway. If you look behind, the chasm is still there, but the bridge has disappeared, and you can't see the other side anymore. You have entered the Otherworld, the Dream world, the Realm of the Dead, Ethia's, the goddess of death's land. For most, there is no way back. 7. Thorn
You have entered the Realm of the Dead, crossed the bridge and are now standing in front of the gate. There is a gatekeeper of course. She is sitting cross-legged by the gate, on the floor, not looking at all dangerous, or even respectable. She is small, has dark skin and white hair. Her eyes are pitch black, and her nails are long. It looks like she is wearing shadows, rather than clothes. On her head she has a hawthorn crown, with leaves and berries and it is the only thing on her that looks properly coloured. She might not look like much, but you somehow know, that you will not cross this gate unless she gives permission to you. Once she notices you, she will stand up. She is very tiny, the size of a child. "I am Oka (writer's note: it means "thorn"), the guardian of the Otherworld. Who are you, and what business do you have here?" Her voice is deep and echoes, like she is speaking with the voice of thousands, instead of one person. 8. Howl
In the Northern mountains live the Mountain Wolves. They are especially large wolves, who have perfectly adapted into living in the mountains. They can grow to be 1,5 meters high, large enough to carry a small person on their back. In the steep mountains they are better mounts than horses, but much more difficult to tame. Wild, they are unpredictable and dangerous, but once tamed, extremely loyal to their human, although still skeptical of other humans. The Hiisi folk of the North have a special bond with the mountain wolves. If you however, are a human and in the mountains without shelter, and hear the howling wolves, expect trouble. 9. Mirror
In the forest of Dal Miamar there is a magical spring. You can only find it when the moon is full and guiding your way. It is being guarded by a spirit, who might look like a deer or an owl. If you drink from this spring, with the permission of the guardian of course, you will feel magically refreshed and your mind will be clear and open. If you look into it however, you might see the future. If you are a seer, it will give you three sights, one of which is true and two are not. If you do not have the gift of seeing the future, you will simply see one thing, that may or may not be true. You might give special gifts to the guardian to see specific things too, like if you offer it a flower crown made of ten different flowers all picked within the same hour on midsummer night, you will see your future spouse. 10. Broken
"I need help," the little girl told me in a determined voice. "This is broken."
She held up a box. It was a pretty box, but nothing extraordinary, and quite frankly I did not understand why she needed my help to fix a simple box. Also it didn't look broken. I was a magician, with expertise in dealing with the dead, and in my opinion a carpenter would have been a better fit to fix a wooden box.
"My dear, I think you have come to the wrong person. I know nothing about carpentry," I told the girl.
"No. This is a very special box," she said, holding it up still, like she wanted me to have a look.
I shrugged. I was sure there was nothing that special about the box, but I could humor a little girl. I took the box, and immediately a strong presence went through me. It wasn't hostile, but it wasn't friendly either. A carpenter would have been a very bad fit to fix this one.
"I can fix this. But it will take some ingredients and some time. You can come back after the next new moon. It will also be expensive. I need a whole 5 gold pennies for this kind of work. You can pay when you pick this up," I said, wondering in my head, how on earth the little girl was holding that box with such ease.
"I can pay now," she said and after a little bit of fiddling, picked up five gold pieces out of her money pouch hidden in the skirts. "I'll be back after the new moon." 11. Escape
I had been investigating the forest on the continent of Tamar. It was very unlike any forest I'd ever been to. The trees were so much larger, and the forest floor was almost clear. I didn't see anyone, but I heard sounds high up from the trees. They sounded like humans, but somehow brighter and clearer. They were clearly following me, but I could not see them. It didn't sound hostile, but I felt uneasy. I was looking for something, a plant, a magical plant I had been searching for all over the known world, and finally I had come to Tamar, where I may be able to find it. The forest floor was so empty thou. Some odd vines were climbing the mighty trunks of the massive trees. It was getting darker too, and I thought I should head out of the forest soon. I heard some leaves rustle, and jumped. Whatever caused that sound was big! I pressed myself flat against a tree, and looked around. I could still see a little in the dusk, and I could not help but to scream. It was the largest animal I had ever seen, it's eyes shining in the dark, and giant teeth clearly visible. It was growling softly, and sniffing. Any moment it would notice me. I was holding my breath. Suddenly, I felt a soft tap on my shoulder, and nearly screamed. A tiny person was there, on a rope ladder. They were speaking a language I did not recognize, but the message was clear - get on the ladder and climb, if you do not want to die a very painful death very soon. I grabbed the ladder and hoisted myself up, not a moment too early. The giant creature had jumped, and landed where I had just been standing. I climbed faster, as it reared against the tree trunk and tried to grab me with it's front paws. I followed the tiny person up the ladder, and soon landed at the most beautiful treehouse I had ever seen. My heart was still pounding, as I flopped on the floor to catch my breath. "Thank you, you saved me!" I said to the person in front of me. They smiled, and shouted something in their own language. Soon a few more of these tiny people ran over from somewhere. "You are nor from here," one of them stated in my language. I didn't answer, as it was not a question. "Only strangers go down on the forest floor at night. We know better not to go there. You will certainly die." "So, what was that thing?" "The shadow lion. The most dangerous creature around here. But only at night. It sleeps daytime. You have to sleep here tonight, you cannot go down." "How can I thank you for saving me?" "We are the guardians of the forest. We save people who are stupid and would die otherwise." I sighed. I guess I was stupid, but in all the texts I had read, nowhere was there any mention of a shadow lion. "I will show you your bed." I followed this person, and finally had time to look better around me. The treehouses were full of intricate carvings and filigree ornaments. There were bridges between the trees, to ensure that one would never have to step down on the ground to go from one tree to another. These people were very small, and I felt too big among them, but when we finally had passed quite a few trees, we arrived at a treehouse that was bigger than the others. There were two hammocks in there, and I was told I could pick either. In the morning there would be someone to guide me back. I lay there for a moment, staring into the stars, but eventually fell asleep, and slept better than I had in ages. I woke up in my hammock at the last moments of the ethereal dawn light, before the sun would shine above the trees and make everything bright and clear. The same small person, who I'd talked to last night, was sitting on the floor gazing into the distance. "Oh, you're awake. Good sleep? You want breakfast?" "Yes and yes, thank you." They led me one floor up on the treehouse, on narrow stairs carved into the tree with ornamental handrails. There was a picnic throw on the floor, with lots of delicious looking foods, bread, herb oil for dipping, jam, fresh fruit and tea. I sat eagerly down. There were no plates or cutlery, so I picked up some bread. It was delicious dipped in the herb oil. "So, if I may ask. Who are you actually?" "We are guardians of this forest. We help people, and take care of the forest." "Do you know anything about a plant called witch's tongue?" "Never heard that name. How does it look?" I took out the drawing from my bag, and handed it over. Their face lit up. "Yes. Yes we know this. It grows south. Very rare, but valuable. Are you a witch?" I nodded. I guess I was. 12. Slime
"Oh dear god, what is that?" I whispered, while lurking in the small cave, some way on the mountain, above the river. My companion shook their head and gestured me to be quiet. I turned back facing the horrifying creature that was crawling on the riverbank, it's back half still in the water. It was sniffing along the mud, probably where our we had walked a moment ago. It had a long greenish body partly covered in scales, short sturdy front legs with webbing between it's long toes. It was breathing heavily through it's short snout, two rows of sharp pointy teeth visible, and everywhere it went, dripped a thick, slimy trail of saliva. "That's what we need," my companion mouthed silently to me. I knew. The fresher the better, and this would not be more than a few minutes old when we would bottle it. We just needed to distract the creature. We were safe in the cave, but this creature could prowl under the surface for hours in hope for prey, we could not let it see us. I grabbed a stone, but again my companion stopped me,shaking their head. Instead they took their bow and fired an arrow far away from where we were hiding. The creature lifted it’s head up, sniffed frantically and quietly and quickly slid back in the water. We could only see bubbles where it had zoomed off. We didn’t have long, so we sprinted down the rocky landscape as quickly as we could, our vials ready to collect the slimy saliva from the muddy rocks. Then we should get out there and as far away from the river as possible. Bottles klinging we ran away, feeling more relieved at every step. We got the saliva, and also didn’t get dragged to the bottom of the river and eaten. 13. Haunt
”This place is haunted,” she said in a matter-of-fact voice. I looked at her, and spent a moment just staring at her, before I realized what she had said. She was a peculiar child, I had been told.
”How do you know?”
”Oh I come here all the time. I wouldn’t have known it’s haunted, but that’s what the adults say. I just come here and play with the other kids. We have loads of fun, but we haven't seen the ghosts yet. There’s a young lady too, she’s waiting for someone, and she watches the kids while she's waiting. I guess she's been waiting a long time.”
I continued to stare in silence. The house was empty. There was no one living there, had not been for many many years, certainly not when this girl had been alive. But I too had heard the rumors of it being haunted.
"Come, lets go and say hello to my friends!"
I followed the girl silently and reluctantly. She opened the creaky gate, and skipped across the over-grown grass on the path. Soon she waved at someone, but I could not see anyone. She shouted hello, and then started talking rapidly with someone, pausing every now and then to listen to the answer. But the answer never came, nor did I see who she was talking to. I started feeling uncomfortable, and shivers went up my spine.
"We should go now," I said, but to deaf ears. She was still in the middle of that conversation.
"Here's Ivy. She's my best friend here." She had walked back to me, and was presenting me to someone, but yet I could not see anyone there.
"We really should go back home now," I said stiffly, nodding briefly to the direction I assumed her invisible friend was standing. "We shouldn't stay here for too long. They will get worried we got lost."
"I don't get lost. There's always someone to show the way. And they know that."
I sighed. I understood now what they meant by peculiar. There she was, a 5-year old, who was talking to the ghosts in a haunted house, and didn't even realize it. How knew how many she had following her at any given time, as only she seemed to see and hear them. Where others felt weird and scared, she saw friends and understanding. 14. Ruin
Far up North lay the ruins of @Brími. Once it was a small town, but for centuries it has been but a ruin. Although an impressive one, that is. It is located at the edge of the glacier, and this is where the ancient rituals were made, with terrifying sacrifices, to win the blessing of the Goddess of the Frost. It is a place with powerful magic, and once you've visited, you will not go back the same. It is a popular place for pilgrimage, and most people who live in the North, will go there at least once in their lives. If you ever wanted a favor from the Goddess of the Frost, this is the place where you should go. But beware, if you go unprepared, it might well be the last thing you do. 15. Mist
It was getting late, and we'd better find a place to rest. We'd been walking though the forest for days, and seemed to be no closer to getting out. It was a peculiar forest, and many people had told us we should be careful and excercise proper precautions when entering. I think we got it all right, we had the offerings - fresh bread, beer and honey, and we'd stopped and waited before entering... and so far everything had been good. We put up our shelters and went to sleep, one of us keeping watch. In the early morning hours, during the blue moment before sunrise, we all got woken, not only by our guard but also by a weird feeling. A thick mist had descended over our camp. There was something uncanny about this mist, and soon we started hearing voices. They weren't loud, but rather sounded like they came from far away, and were more like cries for help. We could not see anyone, but everyone could feel the presence of spirits.
"Who are you? What do you want?" I cried into the mist.
No one answered, but the voices calmed down a bit. Then I almost screamed, as I felt someone touch my arm lightly. Then I heard a voice, and I wasn't sure if it was in my head or not.
"Look."
It was like pictures were drawn onto the mist. They were not very clear, but what looked like a temple was engulfed in flames. People were running around, seemingly shouting in panic, and then characters emerged from the shadows, taking the priestesses, tying their arms and throwing them into a carriage. One small child was taken separately, into a different carriage. Then the sight changed, and there was now a camp, in what looked like the same forest we were in. The priestesses were kept in the camp, and this child, who could not be older than 5 or 6, was still being kept separate, in a different tent, seemingly in better conditions than the others.
"We need help," the voice whispered, and suddenly the mist was gone. We all looked at each other in confusion. What was going on?
16. Whisper
In the summertime, every new moon in the village of Draugavik, from the sunset to sunrise, is the night of spirit migration. It is a dangerous time to be outside, as the hundreds of spirits who inhabit the village alongside humans, wander across the island, whispering as they go. Their otherworldly presence is enough drag any living being into their world as well, and their whispers will make anyone question their sanity. It is rumored, this migration is why the locals are a peculiar sort of folk, seeing and hearing ghosts where no one else does. They do have precautions to protect especially children. But it is also said, that these whispering spirits also offer them some knowledge or information, that makes it worth staying on this island, on the borders of this world and the other. Anyone who sets foot on the island, will be affected somehow, especially if they spend the night of the spirit migration on the island, even with proper precautions
17. Shadow
"Have you noticed something weird about that girl?"
"What do you mean?" I was confused. Or, not so confused, I had noticed a lot of weirdness around the girl, but I could not point my finger at what exactly it would be.
"Well, something's not right. She does not seem to be aware of it herself, but there is darkness, some kind of shadow on her soul. She can see and hear things we others can't. She does it with unsettling ease."
I nodded. I knew this. Just a few days ago the neighbour girl, who had been watching her for the day, told me she had gone to the haunted house and claimed to have friends there. She did not seem to realize they weren't real people.
"The thing is, this can't continue. She is dangerous to herself and people around her, who knows what will happen if something happens, someone makes her angry, and that darkness inside her gets loose. We have to do something before it's time to send her to school... or before she might have children of her own. Who knows what kind of monstrosities she will birth if left like this?"
In my opinion this was unnecessarily harsh talk, but of course, something had to be done. I did not think she would be a danger to herself or anyone else really... But I understood, my friend was speaking from an experience, where the local healer had been corrupted by shadows, resulting in her whole family's death. I sighed.
"I'll talk to the father," I said. "The mother is sick, so we must not bother her."
18. Spirit
During the waning moon, you might see small lights in the forest. They look like the flames of a candle, and you might also confuse them with will-o’-the-wisps, but these are different. Will-o’-the-wisps glow a bluish light and will only appear in swamps and bogs, while the spirit lights are warm yellow coloured. They are not hostile, it is said that they are the spirits of mothers who have died before their children are adults, and they come and watch their children grow. If you are the child of one of these mothers, you can sense their presence more strongly, but you cannot talk to them. 19. Relic
Relics are not generally something, that is considered very important in most parts of Galedon. But in the North, there is one particular item, that could be considered a relic, and is very important to the people of the North. It is the book, that the first people who came to offer things to the Goddess of Frost, used to read out their prayers from. It has all the original texts in old language, and the tears and the sweat and the bloodstains. It is kept in a big temple in Sváldur, and all the texts have also been copied in case something would happen to the original. 20. Unquiet
It was disturbing. I was used to nature sounds, and in this empty house, that was an inn in the winter, but in the summer just an empty house no one could sleep in, there should have been no other sounds. The next similar houses were one days worth of traveling either way along the road, and except for the other two travelers, the house was empty. Our horses were in the stable building, and the two other were asleep. But I could not sleep, because I kept hearing these odd sounds. They sounded like whispers, but I could not understand what they would be saying, or even what language they would be speaking. Sometimes it sounded like the sound of tiny feet on wooden floors, but there was nothing. Even in the light of the moon, I could see it was empty. Like the wind blowing, but there was no wind, or weird crackly noise, like someone was burning a fire, but there was no smoke. I lay there awake, listening to the weird sounds. The horses were fine I was sure, I would have heard if they got restless. The night felt very long, and I guess I eventually fell asleep, but I had the weirdest dreams. It was the same inn, but it was filled with weird fey folk, with animal faces and paws instead of human feet, or folks with wings or who sounded like birds when they talked. And yet in the dream I understood everything they said. They were having a good time, and invited me to join. They gave me the tastiest mead I've ever had, and danced all night long, their tiny claws tapping against the wooden floor. In the morning I asked the two fellow travelers, if they'd had any weird dreams, and they told uncannily similar stories to mine. And then I found a perfectly round stone next to my bed, with a sleeping fox painted on it. I picked it up, and as I did so, it felt like someone whispered to me "thank you, it was fun". On the backside there was a fox's pawprint on the stone. It felt warm to the touch, and I put it carefully in my pouch. Whatever it meant, it probably was important. We must have crossed paths with a fey wandering or something like that. 21. Shatter
"No, it's mine!" the girl shouted. She was maybe 8 years old, with long black hair and dark brown eyes, which looked like they were burning with anger.
"No, you can't have this, it's dangerous," the adult explained. "Do you even know what it is?"
"Of course I do. I've always had it. Do you know? If you did, maybe you wouldn't be so keen on taking it away."
The adult hesitated for a moment, like she didn't know what to say. But then she lunged at the girl, and tried to force the wooden box out of her hands.
"No, you can't do this! You don't know what you're doing! You can't take it away from me! It's important!"
"What is important is, that you learn to respect your elders. Maybe your parents let you do whst you wanted, but I am not going to," the adult wheezed through gritted teeth, and wrestled the box out of the girl's hands.
But she wasn't ready to let go, and as she tried to get the box back, it slipped through both of their fingers and dropped on the floor, and shattered into pieces. At the same time an eerie darkness filled the room, and the girl stood paralyzed with fear in the middle of the room, facing the adult, who apparently hadn't known to expect this. But the girl knew what would happen, and also that there was nothing she could do to stop it from happening.
"You little witchdaughter, I know what you are, and if you're trying to scare me with your stupid tricks, it won't work," the adult said triumphantly.
The child spoke again, and her voice had changed, it was a mere whisper, but echoed through the room and made shivers go through the adult's spine.
"You still don't see it, do you. There is very little I can do now to help you. You did wrong and now you will pay."
As the girl spoke, a shadow had been forming in the darkness, and now it was bigger than a human. It towered behind the adult, and then, suddenly, in a split second, it attacked. The girl closed her eyes and covered her ears in horror. Would she have looked, she would have seen the flesh ripped off the bones and disappearing into the shadow, and blood splashing everywhere. There wasn't even time for screams, it was so quick. She turned to face the door, so she wouldn't need to look at the horrifying sight when leaving the room. Once it was quiet, she tapped her shoulder, and the shadow creature shrunk in size, as it sat on her shoulder like a big, black bird. The girl scooped quickly up the remains of the box, put them in her pocket, and walked out of the room and locked the door, taking the key with her. 22. Lock
The girl didn't make it far, when many adults came rushing over.
"We heard noise," one of them said. She was a tall woman, and her face was expressionless.
The girl looked at them. Their eyes seemed to be fixed on the shadow on her shoulder. She nodded. There had indeed been noise. Slowly, she put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out the remains of the box, that now looked slightly burned. She held them out on her palm. The tall woman stopped immediately in her tracks, with and expression of horror forming on her previously so untelling face. The others seemed clueless.
"What happened?" she asked almost in a whisper.
"Alice tried to take the box from me, and she grabbed it. I was telling her not to, but she wouldn't listen. I tried to take it back, but then it fell on the floor, and shattered, and it got loose. I don't think there is much... And it needs a new lock. Made by someone who knows what they're doing," the girl said, in a weirdly calm voice. The meltdown over this would happen later, when there was no one to see, and when it was safe.
"Has this kind of thing happened before?"
"The lock got broken once, years ago. I'm not sure why, but I was much younger then... It got repaired by a necromancer."
"Does it have to be a necromancer? I'm afraid we don't have one in the school."
"I'm not sure. It't not techincally dead, so I guess not, but it is quite a specialist thing... I know there is a necromancer in town, but they're far on the other side. And it's not only the lock that is broken, it's the whole thing. Although it shouldn't get hungry for a while," the girl made a grimace.
23. Door
"Close the door quickly, dear, so you don't let anything in," the older lady said, when I stepped inside her little hut.
I hastily shut the door, and closed the copper hook as well.
"Now that's better," she smiled. "Now do sit down, I have some cordial here you might like."
As I sat down, I wondered, what the anything would be, that could be let in, if the door was kept open for too long. Most dangers around here, were pretty big and easy to spot. But I wasn't a witch, so I wouldn't know much about spirits and things. The cordial was excellent, with a rich taste of honey, and I was served some saitaka fruit with it. They were my favourite fruit. I started to tell the old woman why I had come to her from so far away, but I was interrupted, as something rattled against the door. I jumped in my seat, but she calmly looked at the door without saying anything, and encouraged me to keep talking.
"Fear and getting startled will only encourage these kind of creatures. Keep going as if there's nothing there."
I took a quick look at the door, that was now silent, and continued talking. Then it happened again. I kept talking as calmly as I could, but the door was getting louder and louder. She waved her hand, telling me to pause, and walked to the door. She took a small bag from her pocket, tied it to the copper hook, and muttered some words I could not hear.
"Just a precaution. Having new faces makes them curious, and sometimes they get a little, hmm, over-excited. That should do the trick though, so please resume your story."
"I will, but can I just ask, who or what are they?"
"Oh, just some spirits, and I guess there are a few forest goblins there too, they like to mingle with the spirits. There's a gate to the Otherworld behind the house, and sometimes the gatekeepr can't quite keep up with everyone who's walking though the gates... But the copper and salt should keep them outside, and now I do really need to hear the rest of your story my dear." 24. Curse
The girl was walking through the city, accompanied by a long woman. They'd come out in the early morning, in hopes of the city being qiueter. Although the few people they met, naturally gave way to the girl as she was giving off an aura of something very different than se looked. The way was quite long, and they didn't speak much. The necromancer lived far on the other side of the town, on the edge of the forest. The cottage looked distinct even from a distance. It was dark, and not very inviting, however the gate was open, and there was light in the windows.
"Come on in, I've been waiting for you since yesterday," said a voice from the shadows. They stepped forwards, and in the house it was surprisingly cosy. It was lit with candles and lanterns, and a fire was burning in the fireplace in the middle of the room. They sat down, and the girl immediately handed the broken pieces of the box to the necromancer, who took them, and quickly looked at the shadow sitting on her shoulder.
"Well, while I work on this, you could tell me why exactly are you tied to that thing."
"I was cursed at birth. I don't remember anything of course... But I was a twin, and the youngest child of my family. So I was the 7th, and my twin woul have been the 8th. My mother was very sick, and the local magician told my father, that if they killed my twin, their lifepower could save my mother's life. But it all went wrong of course, and the spirit of my twin got... twisted, somehow. But also it was tied to me, because we are twins. My mother survived, but also I am now tied to this spirit of my twin... and it's a bit uncontrollable sometimes. The box is made of our life tree, hawthorn... and the lock was copper. I've always gotten along well with this spirit thou. It's never threatened me, only the people who are mean to me, but I don't want it to hurt anyone either! It just.. does, it's got a will of it's own. When I was small there were many accidents, other kids would get severely injured, or go missing, after we had fights or they were picking on me. Other parents told their kids not to play with me... It was getting very hard to get anyone to babysit me, my mother was still sick, and my father was busy looking after the other kids. Then when I was 4, we moved to a different place, a much bigger city. There my father sought the help of a skilled magician, who made that box, and said, that it needed to be always kept safe and with me. I should feed the spirit regularly, and it would stay happy. The hawthorn was calming it, and copper is used to harness spirits. It worked for a while, the lock had to be repaired once, when another kid shoved me, and it fell to the ground. If it wasn't for the box, that kid would surely have been dead or missing a limb now. Adults around me, except my parents, always thought I wasn't aware of it, or something like that.. That I didn't know it was my twin spirit made it possible for me to see ghosts and spirits and such, because it's my tie to the Otherworld. And since the box, everything went fine, for a few years. But then I got sent to school, and yesterday this school order keeper tried to take the box from me, and it shattered..."
25. Posses
The child was crying, and would not stop. The mother was nervous, she had done all the spells and precautions to protect her baby from the dangers of the spirit wandering, but what if she had forgotten something... She took the baby in her arms, and it immediately calmed down. But as soon as she tried to put it down in it's crib, the crying started. She shook her head, and shook the crib. It felt weird. Then she suddenly realised something. She had forgotten to put the salt under the mattress. She shook her head in disbelief, and hurried to the kitchen pantry. With the baby resting on her other arm she filled a small canvas bag with salt, and rushed to place it under the mattress, and as soon as she did that, a weird screeching noise filled the room, and then the window opened with a bang. Hurriedly the woman ran to close it, placed the copper hook and the salt bag in place, and then she sunk on the floor, holding her baby tight. That had been close, if the spirit had had more time it would have properly possessed the crib, and the might not have noticed before it was too late. And her husband wasn't home either. The crib was safe now, but she took the baby to sleep in their bed that night. They both needed it. 26. Abyss
I opened my eyes and tried to get up slowly. I wasn't sure what had hit me, but I was feeling quite bad. My head was sore, and my mouth felt very dry. I also felt a sharp pain behind me left ear, and as I put my hand there to feel it, I noticed I was bleeding. My shirt felt wet from the blood by the neck. I was reaching for my bag, I knew I had some bandages there... but my bag wasn't there! I was starting to panic, and staggered as I stood up rapidly to get a better view of my surroundings. They didn't look familiar. The scene around me looked burned, blackened, like from a very large fire. A dragon? But surely I would have been more hurt by a dragon? I took a leap backwards when I noticed the big abyss a couple of meters in front of me. It had not been there before. I was getting more and more worried, as I had no memory whatsoever of what had happened. I creeped closer to the abyss again, with pain throbbing in my head, and feeling dizzy. I lay down on my stomach and looked down in the abyss. It was very deep. I could not see the bottom. It was not very wide however, I thought I could jump over it, if I wasn't injured. 27. Echo
I stared down into the abyss. I did not kow what had causetd it, but there was something uncanny about it. It didn't look natural. I shook my head and backed away. I had to treat my wound first, so I started looking for my bag properly. I was quite dizzy, so it was hard, but finally I saw it, about 10 meters away, on the edge of the burned area. It's contents were scattered all over the floor, but I managed to find some bandages that were not too dirty. I did as good a job as I could on my own, and resumed to look at the weird abyss. It was so peculiar. The walls looked like they were made of shadows instead of actual, solid material. I took a stone, and dropped it in. It immediately vanished, but a moment later I heard an echo that told me it had reached the bottom. So there was a bottom. I listened for a moment, and sure enough, I heard some more echoing noise. Almost like someone was talking, and like there were lots of tiny footsteps. Were there people down there? But whatever is was, it sounded too small to be human. 28. Darkness
I wasn't afraid of darkness. That's what I told myself, when I was walking down my own yard to the well, to get some water to boil for our daughter who was sick. But in that moment I did not believe myself. I was very afraid, and was using all my willpower not to dash madly back to the house. I needed this water, our daughter needed it. I had however, that feeling of being watched, and by someone who wasn't friendly. We had lived in the house for so many years already. I had never been afraid, and the darkness had always been my friend. But something was different, and for every step I took, I started to feel more and more like I should not be outside. I shook my head, and turned around. I saw something for a split second, as it disappeared from my sight. That was enough. The empty water bucket fell onto the ground and I sprinted back in the house as fast as I could. I heard footsteps behind me, and as I slammed the door shut behind me, I felt someone pushing on it. I shouted for my spouse to bring the salt, as I with trembling hands fastened the copper hook. The door continued being pushed, but I knew, if the thing out there was any sort of spirit, it could not open a door that had been shut with a copper hook. My spouse arrived with the salt, and I heard a scream from upstairs. I ran up the stairs, to our daughters room, and saw a shadow behind her window. It's long, creeping fingers were sliding underneath the window frame, moments away from opening it.
"Shut the hook! Now!" I shouted, and our daughter, who was closer to the window, reached over and tried to close the hook. However the shadow fingers grabbed her wrist, and she froze in panic. I rushed over to help her, and together we managed to wrestle the hook shut. Color had escaped my daughter's face, and she felt cold to the touch. I heard my spouse running around, closing the other hooks, and placing bags of salt by every opening as well. I took our daughter in my arms, frightened by her coldness, and carried her downstairs. She was trembling silently. My spouse was in the kitchen, fear shadowing her otherwise so bright face.
"What is going on?" she said, in a silent voice.
"I don't know. I was getting water for Vina, for her fever. We've run out. But as I went outside, I felt like something was there... something bad. It tried to follow me inside, and whatever it was, it grabbed her wrist, when she was trying to close the window hook. She's now all cold and pale."
My spouse just looked at me in horror. I didn't know what to say either. It was scary. We didn't have immediate neighbours, the closest people were behind the fields and the pastures, hundreds of meters away, but the road way was much longer. And of course this happened while other members of our family were away. Our daughter was still silently crying in my arms, and I stroke her hair gently. My spouse walked over to the fireplace, and put a couple of logs into the ember, that slowly started to spark, and soon burned with a hearty flame.
"I guess we have no choice but to wait for the morning. Maybe sunrise will chase the thing away."
"I guess," I said, I wasn't sure what to think. "I think we should all sleep together tonight, I said, holding our daughter still tightly in my arms. She was calmer now, and she was no longer trembling. The crackling of the fire was calming, and my spouse got some snacks out as well. She buttered thick slices of bread, and got out some mead. We were on our guard, and if there was a silent moment, we could hear rattling on the windows, and footsteps outside. We heard rustling from the roof too. Our daughter had fallen asleep, but I knew we adults wouldn't sleep. Salt and copper would keep it outside, but we could only hope it would flee once the darkness would disappear. The night was long. The noise outside died out after a while, only to come back more fierce next time. Of course we both knew about all the demons and spirits that were wandering in the darkness, but neither of us had never really faced one.
After a long, anxious night, the morning arrived. Once the sun came out, we felt the weird shadow retreat. But we both knew, it wold probably be back next night. It might even be hiding in the shadows of the stable of the forest behind the fields and pastures. We had made our plan during the long hours in the night. So we packed enough food and water for a day, took one of our horses and put our stuff and our daughter on the horse. Then we started walking towards the shaman of the village, about half a day away. We made sure to lock all the doors of our house and other buildings with copper and salt. The animals would be fine outside in the late summer. We were hoping to stay in the village overnight, and return tomorrow.
30. Tear
The journey to the village was uneventful. Our daughter was holding it together so well, considering she was still unwell. In normal circumstances only one of us would have gone, but we could not risk having to spend another night not knowing what was lurking in the dark. The village was one of the larger ones outside the big city, which was a day's worth of traveling more from the village. There was a staffed inn all year around, and we booked a room there for one night. It was quite empty, as places usually were in the summer season, people being busy working on their fields. My spouse and our daughter stayed in the room to get some rest... I was exhausted too, but my errand was best done as soon as possible. I could rest later. The village looked normal, and people greeted me quite happily. We knew a lot of people from the village, as we did visit quite often. I didn't stop to talk to anyone, but headed straight to the shaman's cottage. It was on a central place, close to the market square, which was quite busy. I knocked on the door, and the shaman came to open. They were a small person, sat in a wheelchair, clad in bright white robes and wearing lots of different amulets around their neck and on their belt. After I entered, they carefully closed three different hooks and placed about half a dozen of different bags on a shelf on the door. I stood silently and watched. After they were done, they gestured for me to sit down on the bench next to the wall.
"Well, it's been a while since you last came here, hasn't it", they said smiling. "How is your daughter?"
"That's part of the reason I'm here," I said, and explained her sickness, and what had happened last night.
The shaman listened to me, and I could not read much in their facial expression. When I finished, they were silent for a moment. Then they started wheeling back and forth, gathering different ingredients in an evergroving pile on their lap. They spoke as they continued looking for different things, adding wood to the fire etc.
"Has there been any changes in your surroundings lately? New neighbours? Anything weird happening in your environment?"
I shook my head, I had not noticed anything out of the ordinary lately. But then again our house was quite far from the road, and we did not keep watch. Perhaps we should?
"Well, I do get a weird sense off you. Let me look at you. Did you wear these clothes last night?"
I nodded. I turned around, and heard the shaman gasp.
"What is it?"
"Did anything touch you last night? When you ran away from the footsteps and that shadow?"
"I didn't notice... only our daughter."
"You have a tear on your cloak, it would perhaps be best if you took it off so you can look at it too."
I took my cloak off, and as soon as I did, the shaman grabbed it, and laid it on the table. I saw the tear clearly. It looked like it was made with sharp claws, and yet I had not felt anything last night. It must have tried to grab me when I was by the door.
"You need to wash this cloak, or actually it is better if I do it... This will be enticing to other shadow creatures as long as it's not washed properly. And for your daughter, I'll make a potion, and an ointment for where she was touched by the shadow. Make sure she drinks the potion as soon as you get back to her, and do not worry, I'll make it taste good. For your house, here's some incence. Burn one stick of it every evening at sunset for a week, and make sure the smoke gets all around the house. As extra, I'll give you a couple of herbal candles for warding against evil spirits. Well, you can come back for your cloak, potion and ointment in a couple of hours."
I decided to hear back to the inn for a good meal and some rest. 31. Drown
My spouse and daughter were both awake as I got back. They seemed happy to see me, and I kissed them both. We headed to the tavern part of the inn, and ordered today's menu, which was game stew with honey-roasted poatoes and carrots, freshly baked bread, and herby butter. Me and my spouse got some tasty dark ale, and our daughter got some goat milk. She was feeling a bit better, but still had a fever.
"So the shaman asked, if there had been anything weird or new close to our home lately," I said to my spouse.
"I didn't think there was... It's been quite ordinary lately," she mused, while buttering a slice of bread.
"But last week, when I was playing by the rocks on the shore, I saw something weird," said our daughter suddenly. "I didn't think it was anything bad... but there was a weird kid in the water, they were about the same age as me. They didn't say anything, but I told them who I was and that I would go and play with them again. They just waved at me, and we threw the ball for a while. I thought it was like a neighbour kid who I hadn't met yet. And then right after I came back home I got sick. I didn't dare to say it last night, but the shadow behind my window had that kid's face... did you not see their face mum?"
Me and my spouse looked at each other. We had never heard about another kid the same age as our daughter anywhere nearby. All the kids within walking distance were a bit older or younger.
"So can you tell me, what did this kid look like?"
"Oh, they were quite small and thin, and pale. A bit shorter than me. They had black eyes and black hair and quite dark circles around their eyes. I thought maybe they'd been sick recently."
Cold shivers went down my spine. I remembered this kid. But they hadn't been alive for a few years. Our daughter had been born less than a year ago when it happened. The miller's kid, a small 5-year old, pale kid with pitch black eyes and hair, didn't look anything like anyone in the miller's family, and everyone thought it was odd, and maybe that's why the kid stuck into people's memories so easily. Anyway, one day they had been playing on the shore, on the rocks, on their own like they liked to do so much. And then, they just never came back. Drowned, said the other people around, and for the lack of better evidence that was declared to be the fate of this kid. It was, after all, the logical explanation for a kid disappearing at the shore. The evil mouths would say, the miller didn't look after this kid properly, because he thought they were a changling.
Later that day, when I went to pick up the stuff from the shaman, I also told them about the same story our daughter had told us. The shaman seemed worried, and said it might well be the encounter with this drowned child that had caused our child's illness. They said they could not do much from afar, but would come and visit in a few days to check out the yard and perhaps the rocky shore.
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