Spring ? 7 ? 3 The Pigsty

  Stepping through the portal was like stepping out of a live fire.

  Well, not quite. They did, indeed, step out of a fire, but other than a few wafts of hot air and some sparks floating by her vision, Josie was not touched by the flames themselves. It was a disconcerting experience, most of all when she glanced over her shoulder to look back to the forest - only to find nothing more than the massive fireplace they seemed to have just stepped out of. It was set into a wall, built with rough-hewn stones and dark with soot. Josie shook her head and turned to face the room they had entered.

  In front of the fire sat several low pieces of furniture, all carved from large tree trunks and arranged in a loose half circle. Their bark was rough and still intact, while the seating surfaces gleamed smooth from years of use. Fur throws and pelts added to the rustic feel, inviting weary wanderers to settle down and gather around the warmth. Nan marched on, leaving them behind. Up ahead and above in the rafters, Josie saw Jake settling down on a beam, where he started to clean his feathers. To their left was a long, weathered oak bar, countless flasks and bottles on shelves behind and enormous barrels stacked in both the room's corners beside it. Even though the whole tavern tap room was filled with serving tables and sheltered seating nooks along the walls, no patrons or guests were about, the place seemingly abandoned and quiet but for the crackling fire.

  “Well, well, well,” a woman’s voice said. “If it isn’t young Agatha.”

  “My name is still Agathe,” Nan stated beside Josie, her tone firm and unwavering. She pronounced her name the German way, pointedly putting an emphasis on the hard consonants and the “e” at the end. “Show yourself, Cousin. This is a bit too melodramatic, even by your standards.”

  ‘Young’? Josie wondered. Glubsch still purred in her arms, although not as loud as was his usual habit. She trusted his senses and he emanated no fear, just curious anticipation.

  A small chuckle answered Nan’s words, but suddenly a candle on one of the tables in the middle of the tavern sprang to life, the flame growing brighter until it revealed two people seated there. One was a huge man, his arms, bulging with muscle, crossed in front of his equally impressive chest. Gray streaked his dark hair at the temples and ran through his dense beard, both framing his wide, angular face. Dark eyes glittered with the reflections of the firelight and despite sitting, he towered over the person beside him. Standing up, he must be a giant of a man, Josie thought, and flinched a bit as his face turned hostile at the sight of Nan. The other person was a woman, in all likelihood the one who had spoken before, and a velvety, dark green gown hugged her lithe figure. With a dress so blatantly showing off her curves, the pulled up cowl that wrought most of her face in deep shadows provided quite the contrast. Josie was unable to make out any discernible features, no matter how much she strained her eyes. Nan had marched on and only stopped when she was but a few paces away from the occupied table. Josie had followed and kept close behind, heeding Nan’s earlier instructions to stay near. She wouldn’t have admitted it, but she was quite glad to be able to hide behind Nan - most of all from the giant man, who continued to glare.

  “I would say ‘welcome back’, Cousin, but I should not to begin this conversation with a lie,” the woman said. Josie still couldn’t make out more of her features than her mouth, the lips painted red and curled into a smirk. “So, with the pleasantries out of the way - what in all nine hells are you doing back here?”

  “Yes, that,” the man spoke for the first time, his deep voice rumbling with a bass so rich the very air seemed to tremble. “You should not have come, Aga,” he added.

  “She comes to ask for a favour, she comes to ask for aid,” croaked Jake from the rafters above.

  “A favour? Aid? From us? I can see, time on the other side has ravaged your body, dear Cousin - but has it also addled your mind?” the woman laughed, incredulity in her smoky, melodious voice.

  “Aid for the little ones, protection against the Uncanny,” answered the Crow in Nan’s stead.

  “What ‘little ones’ are you speaking of, you wretched bird?” growled the huge man.

  The girl had followed the conversation with great interest. Something about it felt - familiar, almost as if Josie had heard them speaking together before. Of course, this was impossible, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on what caused the feeling of recognition anyway. At the man’s question, Nan turned to Josie, beckoned her forward with a wave of her hand, and the girl stepped up to the table. Glubsch wriggled a bit in Josie’s arms but stayed put, still purring.

  “This is Josie, my ward. The cat came to her under uncanny circumstances, and I surmise he might be a familiar. Josie, meet the Witch Hepzibah and this Tavern’s innkeeper, Joseph.” Nan introduced them.

  The strange woman swept her hood back with a swift motion, so Josie could see her eyes growing wide at the same time as the man’s. Both blinked a few times and shot a furtive glance at each other.

  “Where did you just...” the Witch started to speak, but then trailed off, her eyes loosing focus for the briefest of moments. “Your… ward? And a familiar! But how could that be possible? Your side was starved of magic ages ago - which was one of the reasons for the migration of all Magikin!” the Witch burst out, and now that Josie could see her, she marvelled at the beauty of her high cheekbones and chiselled features, her green eyes perfectly complemented by luscious waves of crimson hair. The woman was stunning and had no need to enhance her natural - or maybe magical - beauty with cosmetics or an overabundance of jewellery. The single piece she wore was a modest necklace with a drop-shaped gemstone, its sultry dark, red colour catching the warmth of fire light.

  “I can not say,” Nan answered. “Not because I do not want to, but simply because I do not know. Life has been - quiet. Very quiet, for a long while. But now - well, first the Cat arrived, and then Veilwood House changed,” she explained, and the disbelief on the other woman's face increased even further.

  “Veilwood? It awoke from its slumber?” Hepzibah asked, her mouth agape.

  “What do you mean by slumber?” Nan answered with a question of her own.

  “Well, it is a Witches’ House on Witches’ land, what did you expect? But as I said before, your side has been so poor in magic that it could not withstand, so it went dormant.”

  “See, it was the house itself - I didn’t do it after all. I thought, I was going bonkers,” Josie exclaimed, looking at Nan, her words causing Hepzibah and the innkeep to chuckle.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  “Feisty, your little one. Feels familiar,” the Witch scoffed at Nan, then turned to the man sitting beside her. “What do you say, shall we hear them out? The little one is already quite fascinating,” she added, implication weighing on the curiosity in her words.

  Josie frowned at this, yet kept her mouth shut.

  “You already convinced me to keep my doors closed tonight, so we might as well,” the innkeeper motioned to the large, wooden double door, blocked at the moment by a heavy bolt. “Got nothing better to do, and I want to hear about the Uncanny and tidings of the other side.”

  “Let us hear her tales! Never a dull moment when young Agatha is around,” Jake spoke up once more, and this time Josie couldn’t resist enquiring further.

  “Why do you call her Agatha? That isn't her name. And why do you and Jake call her ‘young’?” she blurted at the Witch, inwardly cursing herself for her impatience.

  “Ha! As I said, your ward has some zest! You were quite right, Jake, never a dull moment, at least some thins remain the same. Well, little one, the answers to these questions might be longer than you expect. I will tell you, if you truly want to understand, that is. But for now, suffice to say, we call her young because she is, quite simply, a fair bit younger than Jake and I are,” the woman told her.

  “How could she be younger? Not to be rude, Nan, but you are old - and she is, well, not…”

  “Did you tell the little one nothing of our ways, Agatha?”

  “I did not have the opportunity yet, and your ways are not mine. Not any more. And it still is and always will be ‘Agathe’,” Nan snarled the last part through gritted teeth, causing Josie to perk up as she had never before heard Nan this agitated.

  “Still so quick to anger. Ah, the fervour of youth,” the woman sighed with exaggerated theatrics and the faintest hint of cruelty mingled with the Witch’s smile. “Little one, the first thing you need to learn is that here, not everything has to be as it first appears,” she addressed the girl.

  “So what you look like right now isn’t true?” Josie asked, which caused Nan to grunt a chortle, promptly hidden in a cough.

  Hepzibah took no offence by her directness and ignored Nan’s small outburst.

  “I am a Witch of certain talents, and thus I choose the face and body I wear as my own. When one has lived with magic as long as I have, there is no ‘true’ any more, just what my magic can do and what it can not. But as you seem to have a specific picture in mind, would you rather I looked like this?”

  She swept her hand over her face and body in a swift and fluid motion, and, all of a sudden, an ancient woman with manic eyes under bushy eyebrows sat there. Her limbs were gnarled and twisted by age, her hands cramped like claws and her face as wrinkled as a raisin. A shock of filthy gray hair framed her gaunt features, tangled and matted from neglect. The old hag cackled heinously at Josie, showing off rotten teeth and a green tongue under her crooked wart nose, but the girl was unfazed.

  “I don’t care, really. I was just curious,” she said with a light-hearted shrug. Glubsch just grunted. “That’s a neat trick, though Definitely makes you look more interesting,” Josie added to hide her true awe of the Witch’s first appearance. Magic or no, she was a bit too cocky and rude to Nan. Even if she didn’t know what had happened between the three adults for their behaviour to be as reserved as it was, this made Josie instinctively want to stand up to Hepzibah. One should always try to mind one’s manners.

  “Feisty, indeed,” the hag snickered, and with another motion of her hand, her former beauty returned. “I like you. I might just try my hand at your education to spite my young Agatha. Could be amusing.”

  “Are you quite done with your shenanigans? I do not care for your glamours, and it rather seems, the little one does not either” the man rumbled.

  With a small jolt, Josie realized why the conversation sounded so familiar. Neither of the people here used contractions or abbreviations while speaking, just like Nan! At school, Josie had been ridiculed for talking too much like Nan, which meant her peers thought it sounded crazy and odd. Josie had made a point of changing her language patterns to better fit in. Strangely, hearing the people here gave her a sense of security, as if this peculiarity made her own quirky self belong, too.

  “Come here and sit down, little one. Are you hungry?” the giant man asked Josie.

  As she looked at him, shy and a bit intimidated by his towering presence at first, she saw that his features had softened, and that he regarded her with quite a different attitude than he did Nan. What was that all about?

  “I could eat,” Josie nodded at him and smiled. “Do you maybe have some Kibble for my Cat?”

  “I do not know what Kibble is, but I will find something for your companion.” He stood up and offered his chair for Josie to sit down, leaving the room through an unobtrusive door behind the bar.

  Josie put Glubsch on the floor, where he immediately started sniffing around, and went to sit at the table, taking a seat between the red-haired woman and Nan.

  “So, let us get to the interesting parts. What name has been chosen for your companion?”

  “His name is Glubsch,” the girl stated, in full anticipation of having to explain the meaning.

  Yet, to Josie’s surprise, a sly smile played on the Witch’s painted lips and she nodded. “Quite fitting. He has very big eyes, indeed.”

  “You speak German, too?”

  “Why, of course I do. Did you not hear that Agatha and I are Cousins? Well, of a sort, at least.”

  Before Josie could ask what the woman had meant by that, the innkeeper returned with two clay bowls and put the smaller one on the ground for Glubsch. The Cat promptly started to lap the contents up, accompanied by loud smacks and even louder purring, as was his habit when he enjoyed his meal. The huge man gave the small animal a light pat on the head before returning to the table.

  “Cooled down some thick chicken broth for the urchin,” Joseph rumbled. “And this is for you, little one.”

  He set down the other bowl in front of Josie, and the girl beamed.

  “Semmelkn?del und Rahmschwammerl!” she sighed, causing the Witch and the innkeeper to laugh yet again.

  “Well, seems Aga has taught you some, at least,” the big man smiled at Josie and squeezed her shoulder with a surprisingly gentle hand. “You go on and call me ‘Beck’ from now on. ‘Joseph Becker’ I am only to strangers, and you little one, are a stranger no more if you know the correct names of my dishes.” He sat down with them and addressed Nan, his tone challenging. “You vowed to never return. What, pray tell, brought you back, gracing the humble old Pigsty with your presence?”

  Both her cheeks filled up to bursting, Josie almost choked and frowned in puzzlement. Pigsty?