098 - The Witching Road

Caj - bold as day - the same greasy black hair and small darting eyes, now with two long streaks of tear stains on his cheeks, Caj! Magnus recalled every detail - every second that he had spent in the company of the rat-faced swindling bastard.

When Magnus had been at his lowest - in the first days after leaving Pa Lund and Uncle Willis in the fishing village near Kloster and setting off to the east - in that time when he had been suffering most, both from the loss of all he knew and loved and from the after effects of Festus' foul experiments - there was Caj, the grinning thief - calling him 'Boss' and thieving almost everything out from under him - his Uncle's horse, his pouch of gold . . . hells! I even had to trade away the Lund ring just to cross this bloody river!

At the sight of the skinny youth Magnus couldn't help but feel an immense dark emotion well up inside - like acidic bile rising in his gut - a deep desire to rush out and strike Caj down at once!

Caj rowed his ferry right onto the muddy banks of the Stor, the old woman disembarked, embracing Caj briefly and pressing a purse of coins into his hands saying 'There, there. Don't cry lad, don't cry. Take it all, I don't need any change - you keep it."

Caj bowed his head, swiftly pocketing the coin purse and replying "thank you, thank you . . I don't deserve such kindness . . thank you."

"Don't be silly! You take care now Caj, you hear? Take care of yourself, dry your eyes . . and don't be wasting your time here neither - go after her! If you really love her don't waste your time ferrying here none, go! Forget about your silly friend - he's long dead by now!"

"I can't do that . . I can't . ."

"Take my advice lad, take it as wisdom from someone who has lived many more years than you - don't let opportunities like this slip away!" The old woman hefted her wicker basket up onto her shoulders, embracing Caj a final time before setting off down a forest path.

Caj remained on the prow of his small boat watching her leave, tears still streaming down his face, his lower lip trembling. He seemed utterly miserable, a truly dejected look in his eyes. Magnus watched on in surprise as Caj reached beneath his shirt and pulled out a gold ring on a cord, holding it up and looking at it mournfully.

The gold ring . . it couldn't be . . it was! Even at a distance Magnus saw as clear as day; the ring Caj had around his neck, it was the Lund family ring! The very same gold ring he'd been forced to trade to get accross the Stor in the first place!

A coincidence? It . . it couldn't be, right? Why the devil would Caj have my ring . . why the hells would he . . nah . . no - it was just some ring . . just some gold ring the thief must've picked up somewhere . .

Magnus' mind churned - the sight of Caj weeping and holding his ring pierced right through to his heart, for an instant every thought of violence - his every desire to see Caj torn to pieces - was quelled, but only for an instant. Magnus stared . . no . . this is Caj. He is a thief, a trickster! He . . he is playing a scam! Thats right! He's just telling some sob story! Some nonsense about his love and his silly dead friend . .

Ah hells!

Magnus gave up on trying to reason through or make sense of Caj's words. If there were any answers to be had he'd force them out of the thief!

"Ah! Boss, *sniff*, you need a ride Boss?" Caj tucked the ring back under his shirt, wiping the tears from his face with a filthy sleeve, standing as soon as he saw Magnus approach.

"Thats right, I need a ride across."

"No problem Boss, just what I'm here for!" Caj looked at Magnus with bleary eyes, a sad smile on his face. "Sorry for the crying Boss, hope you don't mind . . hop in, I'll have you accross the Stor in no time at all!"

He doesn't recognize me.

Magnus looked for any reaction from Caj as he got into the small boat, any flicker, any slight sign of recognition - nothing. Caj leapt out of the boat and pushed it out into the river waters, clambering in and taking up the two oars, sitting facing Magnus. Tears flowed freely down his face, Magnus sat in silence for a few more moments before asking.

Magnus examined him up close - Caj hadn't changed much in the months since he'd seen him last - riding away on the back of a guards horse after Magnus had freed him from a chain gang. He looked just as thin and wretched now as he had then.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"I'm sorry Boss, it's nothing, it's really nothing - don't mean to be bothering you with it, just ignore it. Hey, my names Caj, *sniff*, sorry, sorry. Can't help it . . can't help it, Boss. Just pay it no mind . ."

Before Magnus could say anything in return Caj spoke again.

"I can't help it, you see . . *sniff* I'm in love."

"In love? You look pretty miserable for someone in love!"

"I know, I know, right? Hells . . I'm in love, Boss, and it hurts awful bad. You see . . it happened two days ago, and I can't leave Boss . . she's gone, my love, my light - she's gone gods know where, and I can't go after her . ." Caj's voice trailed off, his rowing taking the boat out from the shallows of the river bank and into the deeper midstream waters of the Stor.

Magnus studied Caj's face for any tell, any twitch or sign of falsehood - his memories from the Seers Baqir and Zaynab were full of lessons on how to read people, full of all sorts of tricks to look out for and to employ in the arts of song and divination . . but Caj displayed none of these signs. As far as Magnus was able to tell, his every word was genuine - unburdened by falsity.

It had to be a scam . . knowing Caj, knowing what he had done in the past . . it was impossible that it wasn't a scam, impossible that there wasn't some game he was playing to rob his passengers of their goods, one way or another . . .

"You must think me a fool, don't you, Boss? Ah haha! I am! I am the greatest fool to ever have lived - I wager, I wager every coin you have that you've never met a bigger fool than I!"

"No? Well . ."

"Never! Ah hells . . I'm sorry Boss, I'm sorry. It must be awful; I don't mean to waste your time with my stupid story . ." Caj fell silent.

"No, it's alright. Caj, was it? Nice to meet you Caj, I'm . . I'm Lars. I'm interested - very interested in hearing you out, no need to be sorry all the time."

"Ah-ha . . Lars, that right? You from these parts? From the Gifhorn-Klotz? My story . . . it isn't much to tell. Here I am - Caj the Swift! Caj the Quick! Caj . . Caj the poor deluded fool who is cursed to row back and forth and watch as the woman he loves turns her pretty red head and disappears down the road . .

*sniff*

It might be a strange question Lars, but have you seen a man . . a really sick man with black lines all over his face and arms. He might be wearing bandages, I don't know . . he stinks, like rotten fish, real bad. His name is Magnus . . have you seen anyone like that? He was going east . . to the Empire Swamp." Caj paused and wiped "You ain't seen him, right? It's strange, ain't it? Ah hells . . what do I know . . poor Magnus . ."

"Magnus? Magnus Lund?" Magnus replied.

"You know him?" Caj shot to his feet, nearly losing his balance and falling into the Stor. "You know Magnus?"

"Yeah, I know him, I know him." Magnus caught hold of Caj before he did himself a mischief and they both settled back into the boat. "I knew him, Caj . . he's dead. Long dead."

"Dead?"

"Yep."

"Really?"

"Yep. Saw it myself. Black lines, yellow pus, about so high, right? Dead."

Caj looked at Magnus, tears rolling down his face. "Dead. Really dead . . I'm free! The gypsy . . ahahaha! The bloody gypsy was wrong! I'm free! My love, wait for me my love!" Caj roared out, taking the oars and rowing with all his might towards the distant bank.