Chapter 7

They entered the woods a little over an hour after leaving the castle. Eugene directed the soldiers to follow a specific path until they finally reached a rundown cabin in a clearing. Smoke puffed from the cabin’s chimney and Eugene ordered the riders to halt. He dismounted his horse and called out.

“Keller!”

Silence reigned in the clearing around them. Then the cabin door opened and a small man stood silhouetted against the light from within. The man’s hair appeared silver in the light from the cabin and hung down the sides of his face. He had a hat that sat askew on his head. It looked ridiculous but he seemed not to notice or care. He left the cabin and stepped out onto the porch.

“Eugene? Is it you?” he called in disbelief.

“Keller,” Eugene said as he walked forward and climbed the steps up to the porch where he stopped. He offered his hand and Keller took it. They shook hands briefly before Eugene pulled him close and hugged him.

“It is me,” Eugene said.

“I can see now that you stand before me,” Keller said smiling a toothless smile. “Come, inside. Let us talk.”

Eugene followed Keller inside and closed the door behind them.

They sat at the small table that stood in the center of the room. The chairs were uneven but Keller didn’t seem to mind. Eugene on the other hand felt that he was perpetually falling backward.

“What brings you here?” Keller asked. There was only one thing that would bring a man like Eugene here. That was if he needed something unsavory done.

“I need your help please, Keller,” Eugene said.

“Well, of course, I will help if I can,” Keller replied. His eyes were small and the corners wrinkled with age. They were black and deceitful but Keller never deceived clients unless clients had double-crossed him.

Keller and Eugene however, had a past. Eugene had used him before and they had ended in disagreement. Keller felt he had been done in at the time but Eugene had resisted and refused to pay more than he said they had agreed.

Keller had eventually stopped asking for what he felt he was still owed and Eugene believed that Keller had finally accepted that Eugene was right. But it wasn’t the case.

“You told me many years ago of a witch that lives in these woods. I wish to meet her. I need her help.”

“Aye, I remember. She is still here.”

“Can you introduce me to her?”

“I think it will be better if I take her your message. People prefer to have a go-between when it comes to dealing with her.”

“Thank you for your caution, but this is something I feel I must explain in person.”

Keller was silent a moment. She doesn’t see anyone unless they have been introduced. She will curse you outright if you go on yer own.”

“Very well then. All I can ask is that you tell her I would like to see her. I do not wish to share this business with anyone but her.”

“As you wish. There is a fee,” Keller asked.

“Of course. How much is it?” Eugene asked.

“Five hundred,” Keller said coldly and without hesitation.

“Five… are you insane?” Eugene exclaimed.

“That’ll cover what you owe me from last time plus for my help now,” Keller said bluntly.

“We settled last time. I don’t owe you anything!” Eugene said angrily.

“We never settled,” Keller said shaking his head. “You simply assumed that ‘cos I stopped asking, I had settled. I knew you’d need my help again someday merchant. And here we are. Five hundred or nothing.”

Eugene stood, “I’ll find her myself.”

“Be my guest. Tomorrow I’ll most likely be feasting on you after she turns you to a rat. Humans make tasty rats I daresay. You’ll be making a one-way trip if you know what I mean,” Keller said calmly.

Eugene stopped and turned slowly. “You’re lying,” he said.

Keller shrugged. His toothless gums made him look as if he was pouting but he had no anger and he wasn’t upset “If you say so. It’s your choice. I know ain’t never seen anyone come back after they tried to find her alone. Maybe she’ll shrink your head or cut you up for her potions. I have been lucky enough to catch some really large rats though after people have taken it upon themselves to find her.”

Eugene sighed. He leaned forward and looked into Keller’s eyes. “We settled you son of a bitch!”

“So says you,” Keller said holding Eugene’s glare.

Anger and tension hung in the air between them. Finally, Eugene spoke. “Two-fifty. That’s all you get. Take it or leave it.”

Keller’s eyes narrowed as he chewed on a small stick he had carved with a knife.

“Okay,” he nodded finally. “I’ll go see her and then you can meet her.”

Eugene stood and pulled a wad of money from his pocket. He counted out two hundred and fifty pounds and gave it to Keller. “Settled, agree?”

Keller took the money and counted it. “Two-fifty,” he said. “I’ll go see the witch. You wait here,” he said making sure he never agreed with Eugene.

Keller made his way through the woods. He thought of Eugene. He didn’t like the man. Eugene thought because he was rich, he could do as he wished. He thought he could railroad everyone into doing what he wanted. Eugene thought he had won this time again but it wasn’t so. Keller was done with people like Eugene who thought they could ride roughshod over other people. This time Eugene would realize he had to pay the right amount and that getting what you wanted, wasn’t something you bargained for. People had skills and if you wanted to use those skills you paid what they asked. When you argued for discounts, you diminished their value and the value of the work they did for you.

Keller walked for an hour before he reached the witch’s home.

He stopped and looked at the dark cabin. Smoke drifted from the chimney. Other than that, there was no sign of life. He reminded himself that when dealing with a witch, even smoke drifting from a chimney was not necessarily a sign of life. He entered the clearing and approached the cabin slowly. He hated coming here and was always filled with dread.

“Can I help you?” a woman’s voice said from behind him.

Keller jumped and spun around. It was the witch. He was sure of it.

“Y… yes please,” he stuttered. “I… um… I’m looking for Kalnedra the woman who lives here.”

The woman smiled and stepped closer to him. He did not recognize the woman who approached him but he was sure it was Kalnedra.

“It has been a long time Keller,” the woman said. “Things change. People change. Are you surprised?”

“Kalnedra?” he asked, the fear clear in his voice.

“Yes, it is I,” she smiled. For an instant, Keller thought his vision had failed him and the beauty before him turned into the old ugly witch he had always known before the beauty stood before him again. The change had been but a moment but it was enough to convince him that he was talking to Kalnedra. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company this time?”

“I… I… come to make an introduction for someone,” Keller stuttered.

“I know. Why?”

“Be… because he asked me too,” Keller replied.

“I am aware of that. Yet you feel you have been done in, not paid enough for this task and the previous task, yet you do it anyway. Why?”

Keller had not known the witch could read minds and he hesitated not knowing what to say.

“You need say nothing,” Kalnedra smiled. “I read your mind and it is like having a conversation with you anyway. You believe that I must exact payment from this man myself to make up for how he has done you in. That is not very fair to me now is it?”

“Forgive me, Kalnedra. My thinking is not of the intention to do you in but to see justice done to a man who has for far too long ridden roughshod over anyone and everyone he needed to do his bidding.”

“I do not enter into matters of justice, Keller. You know that. But perhaps I may be willing to bend my rules. I sense that you may have a point with the man you seek to introduce. I will spare my demand for payment until after I have met him. Then I will decide if I will demand my payment from you or claim it directly from the man you wish to introduce. Think on my offer for if I exact payment from you it will be eternal.”

“I understand, Kalnedra. I do believe you will find it preferable to exact payment from this man as opposed to me and I thank you for your consideration.”

“What is it that this man wants?” Kalnedra asked. Her eyes were bright green, almost glowing. They mesmerized Keller, hypnotized him so he could not lie even if he wanted. While he was held entranced by her gaze, he could feel her seeking answers in his mind. He thought that she was making sure he had not been sent by someone else who practiced the magic arts. Why she would think so he had no idea, but it was the only reason he could reasonably think of.

“I did not ask, Kalnedra,” Keller replied honestly.

Kalnedra retreated from his mind. “Very well then. Send him to me. I will see what he wants but do not believe that I will accept your suggestion to demand payment from him until I say so.”

“Yes, Kalnedra. I wish to suggest something but only if it pleases you…” Keller said trailing off baiting the witch.

“What do you wish to suggest?” she asked curiously.

“Perhaps rather than you demanding payment from him, you could cast a spell on him to pay me whatever he owes me as well as your fee. It would be easiest.

Kalnedra laughed loudly, wickedly. “You ask I should do your work for you? What of the payment for the spell?”

“Your spell would force him to pay all outstanding monies and the cost of the spell.”

“If only it were that easy Keller. You must make an effort to find my payment should I demand it. Perhaps I will offer you a discount for your ingenuity for no-one has ever asked me what you have asked. Perhaps they are too afraid to display such arrogance.”

Forgive me, I intended no arrogance Kalnedra…”

“What you intended…,” she interrupted him sternly, “… and what has been understood are two different things. Begone now. I have tarried with you long enough. Send your customer.”

“As you wish,” Keller said and retreated hastily back the way he had come looking over his shoulder repeatedly with fear. He promised himself then, that when this was over, he would leave these woods and go and live somewhere else.