100 - The Witching Road

"Ss . . speak . . muh, muh . ." Caj spluttered, "Mother Marion, the gypsy! Ahhh! Boss, the gypsy . . she lives in an old hut by the river, ahhh . . she's gone now, left to Juteheim some weeks ago . . witchcraft! My love . . I am bewitched!"

Caj was compelled to row and talk - his mouth and arms moving together in a strange rhythmic cadence.

"Mother Marion, she said - I went to see her, she did me a reading with her cards and she said 'Caj, you be cursed. Caj you have a loathing upon you'."

"A loathing?"

"Aye, a . . a curse of hatred - ah! Boss! What have you done to me? She sung to me, after the card - a beautiful song it was too - and I told her my story, all I've told you . ."

"A song - what song? What did she sing?"

"No, no . . she . . I don't know the song . . it went da da da dun dun sha la la, ah, I can't remember."

"Mother Marion, Mother Marion . ." Magnus muttered the name to himself, committing it to memory. There had to be something more here. A gypsy on a garden world knowing about curses and singing? It sounded like the work of a seer - but why would a seer be living as a gypsy here in Jute?

Without any further instructions Caj kept rowing and talking.

"My love - she has red hair, oh what pretty red hair! I . . I love her, I'll marry her, I will! If only I knew her name . ."

"You love her and don't know her name?" Magnus raised an eyebrow, seeing the tears stream down Caj's face once more.

"I don't know her name . . I don't know where she came from or where she's going . . I love her, I love her, I love her." Caj responded fiercely. "She came into my boat three days ago crossing from east to west - every second - that's all it was, see? Every second she was in my boat, every second that I had her here, just she and me . . those were the sweetest seconds of my life."

"Whoa. Wait up . . three days ago? And you only know her from taking her across the bloody river? You don't even know her name?" Magnus looked at the crying Caj incredulously. "Pffff, ah hahaha! Really? Hahahaha!"

Caj looked straight at Magnus, his sullen tear streaked face set in a perpetual frown, his arms moving the oars and moving the boat through the fast flowing river waters at a steady pace.

"I have never been in love before . . what have you done to me? I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to tell you . . I am in love . . she left and I must stay, I cannot escape my curse! Ah! If it were not for my curse, I would have been after her like a shot! She was so pretty . .

I love her flame red hair, I love her fierce eyes, I love the scar on her face - I love everything about her and I can't stop - not in my dreams, not in my waking hours or deepest sleeps - I cannot escape the sound of her voice, even with the scar that covered half her face . . ah, I cannot stop crying - my love is gone, is gone, and I don't even know her name . . I am in love, in love . ."

"ENOUGH. Hells, enough! Stop talking! I get it, I get it, you love her . . ahahaha! Just keep rowing Caj, hells alive!" Magnus fiddled with the Lund family ring on his finger, looking at the shore.

Caj rowed on in silence, his eyes filled with fear - flinching every time Magnus moved.

They approached the western banks of the river Stor, Caj taking the boat to a little beach with wooden planks forming something of a dock, various stakes of wood with fishing nets stretched between them a little bit further up the shore.

Leaping from the boat, Caj dragged it up out of the water, his eyes darting this way and that - but before he could even start to make a run for it Magnus intoned "STAY" in a deep measured voice, rooting Caj to the spot.

Magnus climbed out of the boat, pacing up and down the shore and looking at Caj, clicking his fingers and seemingly lost in thought.

"Met her three days ago . . ah-hahah . ." Magnus snorted with laughter. "Flame red hair . . scar over half her face . . huh. Thats some coincidence."

In Magnus' mind surfaced the image of a woman he'd seen standing next to Waldemar - one of the deformed members of the Witching Road who'd slaughtered all the hunters of the horn.

"Flame red hair, a scar covering half her face. What was her name? Ah! I remember! Petra! Ha!"

It made sense - the members of the Witching Road must have been making their way back to their homebase, each of them possibly going by a separate route - Petra must be on her way to Juteheim.

Caj's lower lip trembled. "Petra. You know her? You ain't lying to me?"

"Why would I lie?"

"Petra? Is that the name of my love . . my love . . my Petra!" Caj fixed Magnus with a fierce look, his fear seemingly evaporating in front of his desire to know more. "Lars! Boss! Please, what do you know her from? She is beautiful, is she not? Are you . . are you her lover? No! No! Where is she? Where does she live? Ah! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me Boss!"

"Haha! I don't know if you are lucky or unlucky Caj, but you certainly are sincere, ain't you just?"

Magnus had his eye on Caj's aura - as unbelievable as he found it, he couldn't detect the slightest sign of falsehood - just as before - did the divination of the Martial Court Cultivators simply not work on Caj? Was the young thief immune to Mens?

"I'll do anything you ask! Anything! Where has she gone? Please!"

Caj fell to his knees, hands clasped before him.

"Boss! You are a great magician, right? A hero! Please, please . . I am a poor and simple cursed thief, nothing more! I have been a fool, but I repent!"

"Repent? You . . you don't know who I am, do you?"

"Yes! I know - you are a great hero - Lars, right? You must be the strongest hero in all of Jute! Even in your rags I can see your heroic aura! To command me to do your bidding with a single word - I cannot fight against you, sir!"

"Ahahaha!" Magnus' hair curled at his words - what nonsense! Truth or not, Caj sure liked to talk a lot of shit. To obliterate Caj would take no more than a flick of his finger - Magnus had a thousand ways to see the crying Caj dead before his body hit the sand . . but that would be no fun. A devious thought took root in Magnus' mind. It would be better, wouldn't it, to see Caj suffer at his own hands . .

"Alright! Ha! A hero, right! I'll tell you - Caj, I'll tell you everything you want to know, but! But the knowledge isn't free, oh no."

"Anything!"

"Her name - Petra, you believe me, right? The scar on her face is on the left - her left, that is - and goes from the top of her forehead right the way down her neck and to her chest, right?"

"That's right! That's her! Petra! Ah my love, my Petra! I'll give you anything, anything of mine that you want, it is yours!"

"You really are a hopeless romantic, ain't you Caj? Hells - one boat ride and you've gone right of the deep end . . right, alright . . so . . hmm. The price . . the price . . hold up your hand. Missing a finger, right? Well . . I've told you her name. Now,"

An evil grin spread over Magnus' face. He took the Heart Sword from its ragged sheath and held it out, the sword struggled slightly in his grasp, but no where near enough to fight Magnus' strength.

"Put your hand on the blade. This is the price, Caj . . if you want to know about your 'love' then I will tell you - but, every bit of information will cost you a finger . . ok, just the joint. Good price, huh? You've got, what? Four and a bit fingers left on that hand?"

Caj froze, still kneeling on the sand, his eyes now fixed on the gleaming edge of the curved blade centimeters aways from his face.

"Don't kill me! Don't . . I'll . . I'll give you gold . . all my coppers . . all . ."

"Tsk tsk, that isn't enough. Come now, it's a great deal, put your hand on the blade. You want to know, right? Or, we could just . ." Magnus prodded the tip of the Heart Sword into Caj's neck, drawing blood. "We could just be done with it all, you know?"