The Devil's Bargain

Late at night, Cordelia was rocked close to her mothers chest by the fire. She opened her small eyes the tiniest bit wondering why she was no longer sleeping in bed. Her mother was crying, so she pretended that she was still asleep.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. Everything I touch dies. I’m so sorry.”

Cordelia's eyes shot wide open now, scared that being held meant she might also die.

17 years later

“Come on Thomas, the wizard lives right there!” Cordelia pointed ahead. Her unnaturally red hair had pulled loose from the ribbon, and thick strands were being carried toward the building by the wind. She leaned forward grabbing onto one of the rocks to help her up the hill. The moss that covered it was wet and slimy, so she wiped it on her already stained apron. She was glad she had just gotten her shoes fixed by the cobbler or the soles would be too worn down to help her keep her balance.

“In the barn?” Her brother asked from somewhere behind her.

“That’s what I’ve been told.”

She grabbed fistful of her dress and pulled the pink plaid skirt scandalously above her ankle so she could see what rock she was stepping on. Good soles or worn soles, she would still fall eventually, she just hoped that she wouldn’t twist her ankle and have to be carried home.

“You must be wrong. There is no way the king's trusted advisor would live in a shack.”

“It’s a barn,” she corrected him.

They kept walking for another hour, until they reached a few feet of flat earth at the top. Cordelia stumbled to a boulder first and sat on it, untwisting the water canteen and gulped as much as she dared leaving some for the walk home. Thomas fell in front of her and rolled on to his back with his arms and leg spread out like a star.

“Why does he have to live so far away?” she panted. The barn was bigger now but was easily blocked from her view by a raven flying past her.

“Because he’s a monster and no one wants him around.”

“Tom!”

“What? You’ve heard the stories too. It’s one thing to visit him in the daylight for a spell, but it’s a different story when the sun vanishes. There’s howling and gnashing of teeth. They say he’s summoned the dead and combined it with animals to make monsters that feed on blood. And that all those cute little bunnies in his yard are it’s dinner.”

Cordelia shivered with fear.

“Stop it, that’s not nice. You know the townspeople have said the same thing about me. Maybe we just need a chance to get to know him.”

Thomas sat up straight with a serious look in his eye.

“Who told you? Mark? Jimmy? Was it mom? I thought we had agreed not to tell you.”

She stared at her lap where she was twisting her fingers.

“I’ve just overheard it when I went to the market. They think my hair looks like this because I drink blood.”

He gave her that look older brothers give little sisters. That he’s told her plenty of times not to leave the house, and she should stop disobeying. The look vanished just as quickly as it appeared, and he stood up with a playful smile.

“Well, obviously they're too dumb to-- don’t move!” Tom rushed to her with his handkerchief. Cordelia froze with fear.

“What is it? A bug? A spider? A tic?!”

“You’re bleeding.” He wiped her neck then looked at the handkerchief. “False alarm, your hair’s just wet again.”

She put her hand to her chest and let out the breath she had been holding. She hated her hair.

“That wasn’t funny!” She shoved his shoulder and he laughed, folding the fabric back up again.

“It wasn’t a joke. I thought you fell and sliced your neck open. If you died, mom would kill me.”

“Whatever, let’s just keep walking so you don’t really get yourself killed.”

They walked side by side back down a slope trying to avoid the wet stones, which was all but impossible thanks to the rain that morning. Thomas was in front now and held her hand as she tiptoed from one rock to another.

“Do you really think the wizard can talk the king out of my draft? Or is this all a waste?”

Cordelia couldn’t look at him because of the shame. She had talked him into this, she had stared him in the eye and told him this would work, but truthfully she didn’t know. Spells were one thing. Everyone in the kingdom knew he would do any spell for a gold coin, but favors were different.

“Of course it will work. I told you that Steffan got out of his enlistment this way.”

“Right. Who’s family is he from again?”

Cordelia lost her balance on a rock and flailed her arms, grabbing onto his shoulder to save herself.

“Um, he’s the cobbler's cousin, I think. I don’t really remember, he’s from Kipleton.`` She lied. Even if he would be the first to get a favor from the wizard, they weren’t going home without it. She would make sure of it.

When they finally reached the barn, it was still small. Magic could be deceiving like that. With his love of gold, there was no doubt the inside was incredibly ostentatious. As they walked up the road they saw a blond man in work pants and a white shirt rolled up to his elbows and unlaced around his neck carrying a shovel to the side of the house. The wizard.

Cordelia bounced on the balls of her feet from anticipation and trepidation. The wizard. She hoped he wasn’t as cruel as they said.

Thomas motioned with his hand for her to stay by the road. He straightened his collar and used his most confident and charismatic walk, as if he was about to talk to his lifelong friend.

“Hello mighty wizard. We’ve come to ask a favor. My sister and I—“

“I have no business hours today. You can come back tomorrow to sell your wares, but I suggest you get here early. There’s always a line.” He said it so coolly without looking up. The wizard picked up a small plant, examined it, and placed it in a small hole before he decided to do more digging.

“We’re not here to sell—” she spoke up, finding herself walking closer to him.

Her brother put his hand up again.

“Shh. Stay here. This is between men and I’ll not see you get hurt because of this monster. Your Grace, we’re not here to sell wares—“

“Then don’t come back at all. I will not do spells for favors and I certainly won’t do them for free.” Thomas had angered him now. If he turned him into a frog or just killed him on the spot, it would all be her fault.

The wizard barely looked up before swiping his hand in front of them and causing a strange green and purple glow in the air between them. He went back to the hole he barely dug more of, and prepared the plant to go into the ground. Cordelia ran through the colored lights and knelt next to him, surprising the wizard.

“You can’t plant it like that. The hole is much too small. The roots will die.”

“I want the roots to die.”

“Why?” She looked at his face, which despite being smeared by dirt had the greenest eyes she had ever seen. It was more than a little unsettling. It was like the sun was inside him, lighting up green glass.

“It’s part of the cycle of life. This plant has been with me for 15 years, and it told me yesterday that it was time.” She swallowed, unable to blink as he talked, staring at her, his eyes fixated on her.

“You talk to plants?”

“Well they do most of the talking.”

Cordelia laughed nervously, realizing that everything around a wizard was magical, and turned to the nearest plant.

“Hello, what’s your name?”

Silence.

“That’s a weed, it's not smart enough to talk. How did you cross my barrier?” She looked at his creepy eyes, then turned around to see her brother watching her protectively, but too scared to touch the colored lights. “Is he magical too?”

“What?” she asked the wizard, but he didn’t seem to be talking to her. He stood up and swiped his hand again, banishing the barrier. Thomas ran to her, grabbed her by her arms, and pulled her behind him.

“Leave her out of this creature. I have a question to ask and I’ll trade whatever you want, but I’m not leaving here today without it.”

The wizard wiped his hands together, the brown dust turning red, then vanishing.

“Should I prepare some tea then?”

Thomas let out an actual animalistic growl, and lunged to grab the wizard’s shirt. A swift hand flick and Thomas froze in place, his eyes moving around panicked. The wizard cocked his head to the side to look at Cordelia.

“You should take a step back, it’s contagious. Don’t look so scared, I’ll let him go in a minute.”

Cordelia nodded terrified and took two steps back. She spoke up on her brother's behalf.

“We came to ask a favor, sir. My brother’s been drafted, and, um...”

“And you want me to get him exempt.” He walked around Thomas, gloating his power and control. “He’s recently married and expecting a baby, so he needs to stay home and provide for them.”

Cordelia felt more scared than before. If he could read their thoughts, what else did he know? He didn’t slip into her memories and see her getting dressed did he?

“No,” he responded. “And congratulations on becoming an aunt.”

The wizard finished walking in a circle and stopped in front of her, looking at her curiously. His eyes were uncomfortable to look at. Like he was an alien from the skies. Oh, no, he heard that too.

“What do you want in exchange?”

He stared at her and held up an empty hand, she looked at his palm thankful to have somewhere other than his eyes to look. A knife materialized. She was afraid her heart would beat out of her chest. He didn’t really kill bunnies and girls so his monsters could drink their blood, did he?

“Have you ever cut your hair?” he asked.

“What?”

He held the knife to her with a small bow and she took it in her shaking hand. In her left hand she grabbed a fistful of her hair, and in her right hand she angled the blade. She clenched her teeth anxiously and cut.

The cut strands turned black and fell into the dirt.

“I was afraid of that.” the wizard said. He snapped his fingers making the knife vanish and Thomas unfroze.

“Get away from her!”

The wizard put an arm around her brother’s shoulder and prevented him from moving his arms.

“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll send you back home safe and sound. On my best horse no less so you don’t have to waste your energy on those rocks. No military service just a life time of backbreaking farming. But in exchange, your sister stays here.”

“No deal!”

“Wait!” she said. She had promised her brother this would work.

“You won’t be harmed.” the wizard told her. “Your mother blamed herself for the curse on you, but it is no curse. You have magic like me. I can teach you as you want, or you can ignore me. But I promise you. Not everything you touch will die. Look, you gave my old plant new life.”

Cordelia looked between her brother and the wizard, and made her choice.