A Charmed Life

My leg burned as I stumbled through the moonlit streets, every step sending violent bursts of pain through me. No doubt about it - I'd broken it. My plan to sneak into one of the more dilapidated storehouses in the Velvet Way and hopefully make off with something of at least a little value to trade for food and lodging hadn't accounted for the poorly maintained roof giving in as I was looking for a way to lower myself to the floor, and I'd been lucky to get back to ground level with three of my limbs still more or less intact.
Still, I thought as another wave of pain forced me to my one good knee, it probably would have been less hassle had I landed on my head. As it stood, I was in a much worse position than I had been at the start of the night. There was no way I'd be able to do even honest work as I was, and my stomach was loudly complaining about the lack of attention I'd been giving it.
I hung my head, trying to regain my strength. It was at this moment that I saw a tiny shimmer out of the corner of my eye, in a gutter. A golden shimmer.
Swiftly, I hauled myself over to where I'd seen it. There it was - a small, trapezoid coin, a falling meteor emblazoned on its rear. A single Star. My heart leaped, and I grasped it in my fist tightly as if I were worried it would disappear.
That one tiny sliver of metal solved almost all of my immediate problems. I could get someone to set my leg, pay for somewhere to stay while it healed - somewhere nice, too - and ensure I was well fed to boot. Hells, I'd likely have quite a bit left by the time I was recovered. "Looks like it's my lucky night after all!", I laughed.
"I would not be too certain of that." The voice came from behind me - calm, female, and wizened. I turned onto my back and saw a woman silhouetted against the moon, her wrinkled face regarding me with an expression I couldn't quite place, but was all too close to disgust for my liking.
I pushed myself backwards with my hands, frowning at her. "Listen lady, I don't want any trouble", I said, trying to keep my voice calm. "But don't think that just because I'm injured I'm an easy mark. You'd best back off before you get hurt."
My display of bravado didn't seem to faze her. Whatever emotion she was feeling before, I'd only seemed to have intensified it, and her mouth twitched upwards in a sneer of contempt.
"Relax, child", she said. "I am not here to snatch your precious coin from you."
That gave me pause - and an obvious question to ask next.
"So...what? You're working security for the place I fell from? Here to run me off?"
She took a single step forward, and smiled when I flinched.
"So you ask, at least in spirit,", she began, "and so I must answer. You may call me Magdalena, and by laying hand upon my coin, you have acquired my services. Ask anything, and should it be within my power, I shall grant it. If you agree to the cost, that is. Information, such as I am now giving you, is always free when given."
I felt my heart drop through the bottom of my chest into my knees. I'd heard stories about things like this, of course. But I'd never thought I'd be stood in front of one.
"You're...one of them, aren't you? From the Hells? You can't have my soul, it's not for sale." My voice came out choked.
Magdalena's smile spread up her face, and her eyes sparkled in the moonlight.
"It never ceases to amuse me how quickly your kind will jump to that conclusion", she said, her voice taking on a light-hearted and almost jovial tone. "I assure you young man, I am not from the Fire Below, and even if I had the power to extract your mortal soul, I would have no use for it. My prices are measured in time - days of your life you would have otherwise have lived, taken from the last first to the here and now last. Information is, as I mentioned, free - and as such, you will be fully informed of the price of any request you make, and have ample opportunity to decline should you wish. And in accordance with the spirit of that rule, I shall give you some advice."
Her expression hardened, and her next words were harsh and commanding as the most severe guard-captain I'd ever encountered.
"Take that coin and hurl it down the drain next to you", she said. "If you have not the will to do so, simply spend it. Do not hold onto it, or me. You will be far happier for having done so."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. First the old woman had tried to convince me she could grant wishes, and with the next breath had implored me to be rid of her.
"Whatever", I said, shaking my head. "If you're as powerful as you say, how about you fix my leg? Shouldn't be too hard, right?"
The old woman closed her eyes and sighed.
"One day", she said. "The final day of your life."
"Sure", I said, climbing to my feet. I turned to walk down the street I'd stumbled on, away from this unhinged woman and her insane ramblings. And stopped. I looked down at my feet beneath me - the ones I'd risen to almost on reflex. Slowly, I turned my head to look at Magdalena. She hadn't moved - she was still there, regarding me with an almost sorrowful expression.
She was there for every day of my life since then. She was standing behind me when I signed on for a merchant caravan as a guard, the first honest job I'd ever managed to hold down. She was there when I struck the final blow against the hippogryph that had been stalking our wagons, earning me respect, acclaim, and most importantly a promotion. She was there when I met the woman of my dreams, and she was there when that same woman agreed to marry me.
All things I'd asked Magdalena for, in a roundabout way. I hadn't asked for the exact things that happened, but my requests were all fulfilled in spirit, and I always seemed to be in just the right place to take advantage of whatever situations arose. The price didn't seem important - days here, a few weeks for the big stuff, a few hours sprinkled in on occasion when there was an opportunity too good to pass up.
She was there for all of it, standing just over my shoulder, unseen by anyone else.
And she was there when, at the age of 37, I felt a stabbing pain in my chest and collapsed to the floor in agony.
"Magdalena?", I asked, and as always she was there to answer. "What's going on?"
"Information is free, as always, young man. Your heart is failing, as it was always destined to."
"Well, then fix it!", I demanded, my request coming out in a snarl of rage. "Fix it like you've always fixed my wounds, I don't have time for this!"
"No", she said. "You do not. Have the time, that is. You have no more days with which to bargain. You can no longer afford my services."
As I lay there, I heard my wife scream and rush to my side. It wasn't supposed to go this way. We were supposed to grow old together - to enjoy the years of our lives in each other's company. Years I had once had, and now no longer did.
"You tricked me!". I screamed in agony at the stony-faced monster that only I could see, who only slowly shook her head.
I felt my vision dimming, the strength leaving my limbs, and scrabbled at my neck for the coin - shining, polished, and threaded onto a pendant around my neck. My hand closed over it, but I no longer had the strength to pull it from my throat. Slowly, my awareness of the world faded into pitch black nothingness.