A Collection of Souls

From “The Curse of Two Dragons Manor” In the fall the wind still hisses and howls through the pine trees above the old manor house, now the country home of a business man and politician from Warsaw. It is the same wind that has sung its mysteries across the cold lake in front of the place, the same wind that has spoken its warnings to the valley below for over eight centuries where so many have labored in the fields, birthed children, sought the powers of local healers when sick, and died with prayers upon their lips for something better in the next world. The valley was once a rich and verdant place, which was why the Count’s people originally came from West Prussia to live and take dominion over the peasants who tilled the soil. They became his serfs, his property when he purchased the land. He would take from them a share of their labors and agree to protect them with his knights in times of conflict. But his kind would struggle over the next century to keep and rule the lands they appropriated; they would look in dismay as more peasants chose to leave the land, join one of the Crusades in the name of the Church, and then return with eyes opened to a world of commerce and new opportunity. Few who left the land would return to it. And so, a time of great turmoil began, full of political intrigue, full of religion and full of magic, full of hopeful souls and rife with evil villains. Local legend has it that after the arrival of the Count a coincidence of events conspired to lay a great curse upon the valley that deepened as each generation of the Ordov family rose to supplant the last. Some say the curse still lies in wait. The girl called Adrianna was the liveliest of the twins born to the peasant woman, Celestina, and her husband, and so the midwife, Old Baba, a conjuror and crone known for her secretive and magical ways, chose Adrianna as payment for services. Ania, the calmer of the two girls, remained with her mother. This arrangement seemed fair at the time. Celestina and Miroslav were poor serfs working land on Count Ordov’s manor. A male heir would have eventually relieved some of their burden of labor. A female heir would be accepted and loved, but offer unlikely future recompense. Twin girls would offer only greater scarcity of means for the young family. So, Adrianna was to go live with Old Baba, learn the ways of herbs and conjuring, and assure the old crone an heir of her own. Old Baba had only one demand—that Celestina and Miroslav never make mention of Adrianna, nor make any future claims regarding the child. Adrianna would forever remain the charge of the witch, who, after all, seemed to have the best of intentions to heal and protect the families in the valley. “Trust Old Baba—you cannot care for the two girls and have any but scarcer means.” This was the tenth day after their birth, and Baba had come once again from her home in the hills down the path along the edge of the turnip field and through the gate to minister to their health and the mother’s recovery. She had come again in her hooded cape, with her walking staff, and with her herbs and chants and spells, but nothing like the image of the wrinkled, hook-nosed hag that has come to be associated with the witches of her time. She was not in the extremities of old age. Her skin was still smooth; her mind was quick; her hand was firm; her smile was warm. Celestina was up and about with her duties in the hut. As the day drew near to part with Adrianna, she had second thoughts. “How can I part with my own flesh? And how can I choose which to let go?” she tearfully beseeched Old Baba. The witch paused to measure her words. “You cannot pay me in other ways. I would not scourge you if you paid me not a penny,” she replied at last, “but this is the way of good fortune for both girls, as well as for you and Miroslav. Trust Old Baba—Ania will be the most beautiful child in the valley and find rich reward in the man she marries; Adrianna will learn all I can teach her and gain powers beyond my own to heal pain and disease and know the ways of magic.” And so it was done. Baba carried Adrianna back up the path with her. The baby cooed and made no complaint, for Baba was a gentle soul. The mother would not see her child again for many years.