The
Mistress of Agoravilla
For God, his Benedictions…
1
On
a moonless night, in the middle of a dense green forest, somewhere in Northern
Europe, a stranded couple, stood beside a halted red jeep. One was a fair
skinned, red haired, short, lean structured girl in a red sleeveless shirt and
brown pants with a ruck sack over her shoulders and another was a thin, tall,
blond man, with short spikey hair and rectangular frameless glasses on, wearing
an ordinary light green collared t-shirt and brown khaki shorts. He too carried
a backpack, but possessing a few more items than that of the girl.
Fay
White was twenty seven years old and got recently engaged to Callum Collins, an
ordinary executive in an I.T firm, the spikey haired twenty nine year old man,
now with his head sunk into the bonnet of the red jeep, the one he had
preferred to drive, over his regular Prius, in an attempt to recreate his
childhood trips, riding along with his father in a similar jeep from the East
Coast to the West in the States. Now he wished he had bought his regular car
which he was so used to fixing, even though it wasn’t in any way as glamorous
and as manly as the one he was finding it difficult to bring back to life.
Everything
had been fine, when the couple had started their cross continental drive across
Europe, after landing in Lisbon and then picking the jeep from a friend for
their long drive north-east, a choice made by the duo to celebrate their recent
engagement. Callum was a simple minded, easily afraid, gentle-natured man, who
preferred to travel in luxury and to already well traversed vacation spots,
drinking and lying down on a hammock under a palm tree, as seen on the covers
of travel brochures and greeting cards. Fay, on the other hand, was adventurous
and loved to do everything the tough way, exploring, hiking, mountain climbing,
swimming and enjoying the life of a primitive human. She might have preferred
to be seen as Lara Croft, but Callum saw her as a female Bear Gryllis and hoped
and prayed there wouldn’t be any urine drinking in their trip.
Callum
had tried hard to convince Fay that they could get a flight to Paris, then to
London and later to Amsterdam, visiting all the major vacation spots and
monuments in between, in the midst of fellow tourists, but Fay, the more
dominant of the two, convinced him that she would rather see the countryside
and the forests with no signs of any human existence nearby, than the yells,
cries and silly laughter of over excited, careless tourists with maps, cameras
and more annoyingly, travel souvenirs in their hands.
The
buying of miniature Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, Statue of Liberty and Kremlin
palace, was in no way sufficient to give her the satisfaction of bringing home,
a part of the land she had visited. She preferred to collect soil samples and
pick exotic flowers and plants, native to the lands she stepped in. Such was
the nature of Fay, a complete contrast to Callum, who was satisfied in doing
what others before him usually did.
Fay was also very competitive, tough
and never took no for an answer, while Callum often gave up easily and
preferred to enjoy life the easy way. He was pretty easily scared and did not
in any way like to be even remotely close to anything dangerous, not that there
were many who preferred to, but certainly Fay loved the eerie and the ominous,
which she saw as thrilling and exciting.
She
was actually enjoying the situation they were in then, while Callum was on the
verge of becoming hysterical, wondering why suddenly their car, their radio,
their cell phones and their GPS device had all come to an abrupt stop.
“Complete darkness,
chilly air, all our tech shutting down for no apparent reason, no sign of any
vehicles nearby, lost with no clue as to where we are…a perfect setting for a
horror movie” said Fay in a horror inducing tone, perfectly aware that her
boyfriend would not appreciate either the tone or the words spewing out of her
lips.
“Well, whoever is
writing your script, tell him it’s kind of an overused setting…And no one likes
a horror story, these days…Why can’t we be in Romantic Comedy script?” asked
Callum, fiddling with the innards of the jeep, having no idea what was where
and what he was hoping to do.
“Why did you have to drive us here, wherever
this place is. Didn’t your gizmo tell us where we are?”
“The GPS device stopped
getting signal about an hour ago…Didn’t want to freak you out. You were asleep
and I thought I could find my way to someplace where we could receive the signal
again before you woke up. And then everything stopped. My cell phone and GPS
both went black. There seems to be no problem with any of it or the jeep, as
far as I know. It’s really strange…”
“I’m telling you, there
are supernatural forces at work…Oh wait, I think I saw something behind those
shrubberies…Is-is that a pair of eyes?” Fay pointed out towards a dense
overgrowth with a horrified face, causing Callum to panic and hit his head
against the opened hood of the car.
“What? Where? What is
it?” Callum looked around rubbing his head and picking his flashlight from the
bag, which also failed to work. He just waved it around, as if it was some kind
of weapon, as he had nothing else to defend himself or his girlfriend with, if
they did end up in some sort of danger.
“Oh come on, are you
really that gullible? There aren’t any ghosts, ghouls or zombies in here, Cal”
laughed Fay, not caring one bit about denting her boyfriend’s confidence or
regretting for having been responsible for him hurting his head. It was his
ignorance and silly belief in beings that did not exist that made him hurt
himself, was her perception.
“It’s not funny,
Fay…You know I am not comfortable with anything paranormal or ghastly. Why do
you have to scare me like that?”
“I’m just trying to
make you realise what a big baby you are and that one day you might have a
baby, who might actually end up a baby, even after growing up, after seeing a
big baby like you.”
“I don’t know if it’s
because I’m all anxious and panic stricken or because I hit my head against the
bonnet, but I really didn’t understand a word of what you just said there” said
Callum, closing the hood of the car, coming to the conclusion that there wasn’t
anything that he was aware of about the jeep, to fix it.
“So what do you propose
we do now?” asked Fay seeing her boyfriend locking his car down.
“Guess we have to walk
our way to the nearest spot with some signs of human life. Why aren’t there
even any street lights here? No shops, no houses, not even a car or a truck,
passing by” asked Callum looking around for any sort of light at least in the
distance. But as far as he could see, there was nothing, except for the flame
from Fay’s lighter, which she was holding in front of her.
“Don’t know, really
weird, isn’t it? Oh wait, what’s the light there?”
“Cut it out, Fay. I am
not a fool to fall for it twice” said Callum, now once again inside the jeep,
packing his bag with his GPS device and the water can that was left under the
seat, both of which, he had forgotten to take, before he had locked the doors.
“No, I’m serious. Look
over there…Two bright lights hovering over there” and that was exactly what
Callum too noticed, as he locked the jeep doors down for the second time and
looked where his girlfriend pointed.
Three dark hooded figures of different sizes
with black robes over them, walked a few feet ahead of them with lanterns in
their hands. Callum, for some reason, did not feel comfortable with the
appearance of these figures even though he was longing for some company to help
them with their equipment and to probably offer a ride for them to a more
inhabited place.
Fay had no such
feelings and was quick to go after the figures, calling out for help, much to
Callum’s dismay.
“Hello…hey, over
here…Could you folks please provide us with some assistance…Hey! Can you see
us? Follow the flame of my lighter!” she yelled raising the lighter high over
her head.
“Quiet down, Fay. We
don’t even know if they understand English. Or what sort of people they are…What
if they are bandits or some sort of murderers?” whispered Callum, pulling back
Fay by her arms.
“I don’t think there
are seven year old murderers” said Fay pointing towards the smallest of the
three figures.
“We are in a different
country, who knows how things are here-” even before Callum could complete his
sentence, he noticed the three figures halting and turning in their direction,
raising their lanterns. Only the two larger figures had lanterns with them and
not the smallest one.
“Hold on, right
there…We are coming” Fay caught hold of Callum’s arms and ran towards the
figures, dragging him along.
Callum could see only
parts of the faces of the three individuals, since most of their body was
covered with large, black blankets. The largest one was a male, probably in his
forties, with large, bushy moustache, green powerful eyes, a bald head and a
pudgy face. The next biggest being was a female in her late thirties, with a
pointed nose, fair skin and dry lips, blonde locks, dropping down beside her
ears, from between the revealing part of the thick blanket. The smallest one
was an eight year old boy, not seven as thought by Fay, with gleaming green
eyes, just like his father, rosy cheeks and black hair, peeking out of the
visible part of his head, from within his blanket.
The man also carried a
crossbow over his shoulder and the woman had a large crescent shaped pendent
with a red stone at its centre, dangling between her breasts.
“Excuse me, sir,
madam…We were just driving by and our vehicle and our equipment stopped
working. Is there a motel or a mechanic shop nearby, where we could find some
help?” asked Fay, pointing towards her jeep far behind her, while facing the
trio in front of her.
The husband and wife saw each other with a
confused look and the kid smiled innocently towards Fay. Callum felt that they
were not able to comprehend what his girlfriend was saying so he decided to
gesture towards them, to make them understand.
“Our jeep” Callum
pretended to turn an invisible steering wheel in mid-air, “stopped” then raised
his hand signalling the word halt. “Cell phones, not working” he put his right
hand to his right ear, as if holding an invisible phone and shook his head. “We
are lost” he kept looking from one side to another, which Fay understood as her
boyfriend trying to signify getting lost, but felt as a word that she could
surely use to beat him in dumb charades, the next time they played with their
friends. “You know-” He pointed his index finger towards them and put the same
to his temple. “-a place to sleep?” he made a triangle with his hands and then
closed his eyes, dropping his head down. “We are-“ he waved towards himself and
his girlfriend, “-very tired” slumped his shoulders and dropped his head again.
“Not to mention,
hungry” Fay lifted her right hand and rubbed it against her tummy.
“We do speak English,
but we did not understand the words said earlier by you” said the man.
“But hunger, sleep and
a place to stay, yes, we do understand that” said the lady, with a sweet voice
and a gentle, comforting tone.
“Unfortunately, we do
not have anything valuable with us to provide you with and you’d have to ask
someone else for help” said the man, ready to lead his family away, not wanting
any further talks with the couple before them.
“But-“ began Callum,
but the lady’s voice continued to say what he wanted to say.
“But there isn’t anyone
else here to help them, is there, dear? We’ve got to do something for them”
“We do not know who
they are and where they are from. We do not want to get ourselves into any sort
of trouble” said the husband, with a lowered voice, which was still clearly
audible to Fay and Callum, amidst the silence of the night.
“It’s alright, sir, we
mean no harm to you or your family. We are simple folks on a trip to celebrate
our engagement” said Callum and Fay quickly raised her hand and pointed towards
the diamond ring on her finger, with a large smile.
The lady smiled back,
from within the hood and the man puffed air out restlessly.
“We are travellers
ourselves with very little resources in our possession. But we do know of some
place where you can find all that you seek” the lady turned a little, raised
her hand and pointed towards a narrow rocky pathway, between two large
shrubberies nearby.
“That way? There seems
to be no proper road or lights. Where does it exactly lead to?” asked Callum.
“Well, to the
Agoravilla mansion, of course. The Mistress there is a kind woman who would
treat you well and fulfil your needs. Now come on, dear” the lady said no
further. She simply, abruptly turned away from the couple and kept walking
forward, with her husband leading.
“That was rude”
whispered Fay to her boyfriend.
“And awkward” added
Callum.
The kid, who had
started following his parents, turned back towards the couple and ran in their
direction. Fay and Callum got a bit nervous as to whether he had heard them
speak ill about his parents’ reaction and was about to get them in trouble with
them. But he just smiled once again, picked an apple from his pocket, under the
blanket and handed it over to Fay.
“Well, thank you dear”
Fay received the apple and saw the boy skipping behind his parents, not saying
anything to her.
The couple gazed
towards each other wondering about the maladroit conversation that had just
happened with the strangers and decided to follow the pathway, pointed to, by
the woman. Fay threw the apple in the ruck sack, hanging on her back and Callum
picked up the water can that he had placed on the ground, before he had begun
his gesturing. Off they went, between the shrubberies following the pathway,
hoping to find the mansion that could fulfil all their needs.
There were just rocks,
plants and trunks of fallen trees in the path taken by them and Callum wondered
if he could reconfirm with the family, who had pointed them towards the pathway,
if they were indeed right about the presence of the mansion beyond all that or
had they given a wrong direction in the darkness. However when Fay and Callum
looked back, there were no more lantern lights or individuals in hoods walking
around. In fact, there was nothing but darkness everywhere…
2
The couple walked along
the path for fifteen more minutes and as far as they could see, there was no
mansion anywhere. The flame from Fay’s lighter did not provide sufficient light
and Callum’s battery operated torch still did not work, so they picked up a
piece of wood from the ground and lighted it to use as a torch. While Fay’s
eyes were completely on the horizon longing for the appearance of the Mistress’
mansion, about whom they knew absolutely nothing, Callum’s eyes were on the
ground, fearing if they would step on a snake, a spider or a scorpion that
could potentially sting them to their death. The temperature was dropping fast
and Callum’s teeth began chattering. Fay too shivered a little, but she was
much more tolerant and capable of handling the changing conditions around her
than Callum.
He, of course, did not
want to appear weak and vulnerable before his girlfriend, who already knew
everything about him, having known him for over five years, yet Callum tried to
hide his chattering by whistling and crooning some old country classics, but it
only aggravated his shaking. Fay moved closer to him and hugged him as they
walked, hoping to warm him and herself up with each other’s body warmth. They
often bought the burning wood closer to them and hovered their hands over it,
to reduce the impact of the cold, but surely that wasn’t helping enough.
“Aren’t you bothered a
little about the sudden disappearance of those three folks? I mean they
couldn’t just walk away so fast. It had just been a matter of minutes since we
turned away from them” asked Callum, trying to distract both their minds from
the cold.
“I don’t know and I
don’t care. I just need a place to bunk and some food to eat. My stomach is
grumbling”
“Why don’t you have the
apple that the boy gave you?”
Fay remembered about it
just then and was quick to jump into her rucksack. Even before she started her
exploration within it, she spent a few seconds rubbing her hands on the insides
of the bag, which seemed to provide her with some warmth. Then she started
digging in, traversing through her various items, including a mini make up kit,
her sunglasses, her purse, her cell phone that had stopped working, her three
pairs of clothes, as she always preferred to travel light, at least on the
clothing department, soap, brush and her sanitary pads. No matter how much she
searched, she couldn’t find the apple or a possible hole in the bag, through
which it could have fallen out.
“That’s strange, the
apple’s missing and there is no hole in my bag either, so it couldn’t have
fallen out”
“Did you put in your
bag or did you just throw it over your shoulder thinking you were dropping it
in your bag?” asked Callum, as he had seen Fay earlier in the day, doing the
same with a tin of cold beverage. “Are you that lazy, to not just remove the
bag from your shoulder and put something in?”
“I
don’t remember what I had done…Maybe I had dropped it somewhere. Never mind, we
should reach the mansion in a short while…Speaking of which, how much farther,
did the lady say, it was?” asked Fay, not wanting to give her boyfriend a
chance to belittle her.
“Uh…she did not say
anything regarding the distance, did she? She just said about a mansion at the end
of the pathway between the shrubberies, on which we are travelling right now.”
“Well that is not very
bright. Who would not ask for the distance?” Fay now found a fault to pin on
her boyfriend.
“They weren’t
travelling by a car or a bike. They were walking and as far as I could see,
there isn’t any other place for them to have come out from, except for this
mansion they said about. So I presumed it was a walkable distance…They couldn’t
have just known about the mansion, if they had not come from it sometime
recently”
“Don’t make assumptions
on your own, Cal. They might have come across the mansion in the past and might
have remembered about it, when we asked for a place to rest. And you said you
saw nothing around, which probably included the mansion as well, but they said
it existed somewhere. What if they also had some house or a shop nearby, from
where they could have come and the same being not visible to us from the
distance? There are so many possibilities-“
“Oh come on, Fay, don’t
show your frustration on me, due to an empty stomach. We should come across
something eventually” Callum cut short her rant, sensing the raise in her
voice. The last thing he wanted was for them to have an argument then. This was
already a frustrating night in their long journey.
It took them ten more
minutes before they came across some sort of light and it wasn’t any grand
mansion, but an old, shabby, tiny, shack, with a lantern hanging outside, which
now appeared like a palace to the couple, who were longing for a place to rest
and an escape from the cold.
They knocked on the
stained, wooden door with fungus all over it and from within came a short man
of about five feet five inches, in his late twenties, with golden, curly hair,
clean shaven face and a pleasant smile. He too like the family, that the couple
had come across on the road, was fully covered with a blanket, his being grey
and only his face and parts of his head were visible.
“Greetings sir and
madam, how might I help you” said the man in a voice, as comforting and
friendly as the lady they had seen on the road.
“Hello to you too…We
were just travelling past this region and our jeep broke down, along with rest
of our equipment” Callum waved his battery operated torch, that had stopped
working and it caught the gentleman’s gaze, like a laser point catching the
attention of a cat. His eyes moved wherever the battery operated torch moved,
as Callum spoke, waving it around and pointing it towards the direction, they
had come from.
“It’s really freezing
and we are hungry. We were told about a mansion at the end of this pathway,
where we could find someone to help us. But we did not imagine this pathway to
be so long and we did not come across the mansion, as of now. We were wondering
if you could give us a better picture as to where the mansion is” explained
Fay.
“And probably provide
us with something to keep us warm” added Callum.
“The Agoravilla
Mansion? Well that is still some distance away from here. And it is not a great
idea to travel there at this time of the night. Nocturnal beings are often seen
roaming around seeking food and you two might just as well lie down on a dinner
table and invite them for a feast” said the man, holding the door of his shack
open, beyond which, Fay noticed very few, but expensive looking objects, like a
grand, oval mirror, a traditional grandfather clock, a silver pocket watch
lying on an seemingly expensive oak table, a dirty bronze goblet and a bust of
an unknown man with a thin beard. The shack, the objects within, and the person
speaking to them did not really appear coherent.
Callum however did not
notice the inside of the shack and his eyes were on Fay, when the man spoke
about wild animals roaming around, realising how dangerous their stroll, from
their jeep to that shack had been. He had anticipated snakes and lizards, not
bears and wolves.
“What are we going to
do now? We’ve been lucky so far to not encounter any dangerous being, but who
knows when our luck will wear out?” asked Callum, genuinely concerned.
“Might I suggest
something? Why don’t you two good folks rest inside my shack for the night and
we’ll leave for the mansion, together first thing in the morning…”
Fay and Callum stared
at each other and then nodded their heads immediately without even any ‘we do
not want to be an hindrance’ act, thanking the gentleman for his kind offer,
without which, they could have really suffered. Fay also wanted to have a
closer look at the objects within the room, that were visible to her, through
the gap between the partially opened door and the owner of the shack himself,
who was standing and blocking the view of most of the interior of the house
with his body. But when Fay tried to enter the room, the man requested her and
her boyfriend to enter the shack through another door towards the side.
The couple did so and
the room that this door on the side, led to, was plain and dull, with nothing
inside but a wooden cot, which the couple were to share and some old, woolly
blankets. Neither of them could ask for more and had to be really grateful to
the man for even letting them in. There wasn’t any fireplace or an electronic
heater within the room, but it was certainly much less colder inside, than it
had been outside and also the woolly blankets provided just enough warmth that
they needed. The door to the other room, with the objects seen by Fay, was
locked by the man, as he entered the room where the couple were, as if
signifying that it was off limits for the couple.
“Let me formally introduce myself. I’m
Matthews Miracle, an ordinary woodcutter in this part of the woods. I live
alone here and there isn’t much more to say about me, if you think about it”
said the man with a smile, bowing before the two.
Callum and Fay
introduced themselves back and said about their misfortunes on their trip to
further north of the continent. Much of the things said by the couple, did not
seem to make sense to Matthews, as he stared at them with a puzzled look, but
did not bother to question further to know more. Callum noticed that Matthews
still did not remove the blanket over him, even after shutting the doors and
windows and when remaining on the inside of the shack.
Fay also spotted a tiny
protrusion, right from the hips of Matthews, seeming like the hilt of a dagger,
behind the thick blanket and this troubled her. She did not fear Matthews, but
she was uncomfortable with him for some reason, just like how Callum had felt
with the family of three whom they had come across earlier in the evening.
Callum however had no such feelings towards Matthews, as Fay had felt nothing
with the trio and was joyfully conversing about various irrelevant things, till
a loud thunder, brought the three of them to the topic of weather, which was
usually the conversation starter.
“That’s quite a loud
thunder…are you sure this shack is safe to be in? Please don’t mistake me to be
disrespecting your courtesy” said Callum, not wanting to offend Matthews by
speaking lowly of his home.
“I understand your
concerns and I too feel this place to be not so safe…I mean, it is perfectly
alright to spend time when there is heavy rain or lightening outside, but it’s
not the best place to be when a storm is about to come” said Matthews casually,
while handing the duo a cup of tea each.
“A storm? There is a storm coming to these
parts?” asked an uneasy Callum.
“Yes, I expect it to
hit the region sometime tomorrow in the evening. Therefore I intend to travel
with you to the mansion and seek shelter under the wings of the Mistress”
“How can you be so sure
about the storm and its timing?” asked Fay, suspiciously.
“I believe I haven’t
said about the timing with great surety. But yes I am sure that a storm is on
its way. Men of the woods know it well. Wilderness teaches you a lot. If you
have the endurance to survive, the patience to observe and the determination to
not give up, you can learn a lot from Mother Nature” said Matthews sipping on
his tea.
Callum and Fay had their
tea as well, but they experienced absolutely no taste nor felt their hunger to be
easing. It was if they were consuming plain air that had no effect on their
stomach or their tongue. Both were aware that they were not in a situation to
complain and they simply chose to not speak about any discomforts in front of
Matthews, to appear courteous and not whiny.
“So that is why you
said we can all go to the mansion together, when we said about our intention to
go there. By the way, have you ever been to the mansion and met the Mistress
yourself? What is she like?” asked Callum, curious.
Matthews silently sat
there for a few moments, watching the wall in front of him with a serious
expression, as Callum asked about the Mistress and replied a few more moments
later, in a soft, uneasy tone.
“Let’s just say that if
she likes you enough, she will never let you get out, ever again”
3
Fay
could not wait to meet the Mistress about whom the family on the road as well
as Matthews had spoken greatly of, or at least what little they had said about
her, sounded great to the couple. The lack of enough information on the
Mistress also did its part to increase Fay’s curiosity regarding her. And Fay
felt that it would be better if she and her partner left this little shack as
early as possible. Not only because it was a tiny, shabby, uncomfortable place
to be in (the very place that had appeared as a palace when they had been out
on the cold, now looked as miserable as it really was, after spending some time
within), but also Fay was not really at ease with a strange man carrying a
dagger within his blanket and having bizarre, expensive, classy items within a
shack.
Fay
wondered if Matthews was a thief who invited passers-by to his little place,
allowed them to sleep there and then stole things from them (the objects on the
other room, being such stolen items, in her perception), after murdering them
with his dagger. It did appear as an over the top thought as no passer-by could
have walked around with a grandpa clock, a human bust or an expensive table for
Matthews to murder and steal from them, but that did not ease her suspicion of
him. Fay wanted to discuss about it all with her boyfriend, who seemed to be
extremely comfortable in the presence of Matthews in that little shack, but she
decided to wait till they were left alone by the woodcutter.
He
went to sleep, the moment Matthews said his good night after a series of
conversations about more unimportant topics between the two (with Callum speaking
about football, the Democrats, computers, leaving Matthews with a puzzled look
and with Matthews speaking about the woods, the animals, his village, the
survival in the wild and more about the weather, leaving Callum nothing to
contribute on the subjects, as he knew nothing about the life in the
wilderness) and left the tiny room to
his own room with all the expensive items. Fay could not relax and she had her
eyes on the door, beyond which Matthews had walked out to his own room, wanting
to make sure he did not return, intending to kill them for whatever they might
possess and whatever he thought they had with them.
Her
vigil did not last long, as her exhaustion emerged victorious over her resolve,
bringing with it sleep and by the time she woke up, she was greeted by Matthews
with a bowl of fruits. The couple had them for their breakfast and once again
they felt complete and prolonged emptiness in their stomach and tastelessness
in their mouth, even after finishing the entire bowl.
“You might not be satisfied
with what this poor woodsman could offer you, but I am sure that we could find
a more sumptuous feast in the Mistress’ mansion, the journey to which has to
commence as soon as possible. It was raining heavily all night long and though
it might appear to have stopped now, we have to understand that it is the calm
before the storm. We have to use this quiet period to our advantage” said
Matthews, already prepared with a pair of old, torn shoes and a large sack over
his head, to protect him from the showers, once it commenced later in the day.
He was still covered with his blanket, but the protrusion of the dagger like
object near his hips wasn’t as obviously visible then, as it had been the
previous night.
Callum seemed to have
not noticed it the previous night and now he had lesser chances of spotting the
hilt, with the curves and wrinkles of the blanket better aligned to hide the
protrusion. Fay still did not speak about her uneasiness with Matthews to
Callum, which she had hoped to do the previous night, after Matthews had walked
out of their room, but Callum had so quickly fallen asleep, that Fay had not
had the chance to share her thoughts with him. When she had woken up, Matthews
was already in their room and she once again did not get the opportunity.
The opportunity seemed
like it was never to come, as Matthews hurried the couple to get on with their
journey and locked his shack down, leaving all his belongings inside. Fay
wanted to ask why he wasn’t bringing along any of his valuables, if he was so
concerned about his shack not having the strength to withstand the effects of
the storm. If the shack was to get decimated, wouldn’t the objects within?
“Nothing is more
valuable to a man than his health and well-being. Other than that, whatever is
lost, can be regained. Besides the shack might even survive the storm. I just
don’t want to risk your lives as well as mine, taking a chance. If I were to
have something, no force in this world can take it away from me. Whatever I am
to have, nobody can stop me from having it”
Callum did not want Fay
to speak further about Matthews’ possessions, as he considered it to be rude
and Fay did not like Callum treating her like a child telling her what she
should and should not speak about. The trio of Callum, Fay and Matthews began
their journey from the shack to the Agoravilla mansion, the distance to which
wasn’t said accurately by Matthews, when Fay asked him about it.
“Not too far away from
here…” “We must get there in a matter of time…” “Our legs are good enough to
carry us there” were the replies given by Matthews each time Fay questioned him
in a different manner, (in terms of miles, hours and possible mode of travel)
to deduce the exact distance.
Matthews even offered
to carry the couple’s bags, sensing the duo to be slowing down not even half
hour of walking later. Fay tried to refuse politely, but Matthews insisted and
Callum offered his bag, as well as asked his girlfriend to hand over her
rucksack, to please the man who was showing so much kindness to them.
The darkening sky, the
damp ground, the pervading petrichor and the fast dropping temperature was
accompanied by thick white fog that was soon covering the entire expanse of
land that was visible in front of the travelling trio.
“Not to fear friends,
occurrences of fog are quite common in these parts of the land. Just walk alongside
me and we should be fine” said Matthews and walked a little forward to the
couple.
Neither Fay nor Callum
knew much about meteorology and Fay was wondering if fog can occur before a
storm or was this one more of the oddities they were witnessing in their long
journey so far.
The couple, despite not
talking to each other over petty differences that morning, were still hugging
each other and rubbing hands together as they walked along the path, unable to
bear the cold conditions. Matthews had given them one of his woolly blankets to
use if conditions went really chilly and Callum had packed it in his bag, which
was then being carried by Matthews. It seemed a perfect time to get it out and
he halted Matthews and got it out of his bag. The curly haired man was losing
patience fast, on seeing the time taken by the couple to unravel the blanket
and cover themselves with it.
“Friends, we are
progressing really slowly. We need to hasten. I’ll be walking ahead, just
follow me once you are comfortable having covered yourself with that blanket”
said Matthews and started moving forward, the bags of the couple, still on his
shoulders
Callum agreed to do so
and it took some more time for him to properly cover both himself and Fay with
the same blanket, which wasn’t of a very great length to cover either of them
fully. So it was a mini struggle with Fay cursing Callum for not thinking of
borrowing an additional blanket and Callum getting back at Fay for not even
having the presence of mind to get one in the first place.
By the time the duo were done arguing and
covering themselves up to provide the best possible level of warmth and focused
on following Matthews, there wasn’t much to be seen ahead of them. The
visibility had dropped significantly and all they could see was dense white
clouds all around them. Callum felt a bit suffocated, as if a white blanket was
being used to cover his entire body including his head and Fay was just more
ill at ease, not knowing what was where. They could not even see Matthews
clearly and only a silhouette of a dark figure was visible ahead of them,
amidst the fog. They decided to follow the figure as swiftly as they could and
they struggled to run ahead, with both of them being covered with the same
small woolly blanket.
Even the thumping noise of Matthews’ footsteps and the rustling of
leaves under his sole started to fade and Fay began to panic, much sooner than
Callum, this time around, despite being the stronger and more confident of the
two.
“Where did he go? Do you see him? I’m losing track of him” she whispered
to Fay.
“I’m losing him as well, but I can still see a faint shadow ahead of me.
We have to hurry. We can still catch up to him. Hello! Mr. Matthews…Please slow
down”
The duo heard a faint reply, the words having absolutely no clarity.
They yelled again calling out his name and the reply grew even fainter and by
the third time Fay let out a cry, there was no reply whatsoever and even the
shadow that Callum was keeping his eyes on disappeared.
Eventually the couple came to a stop, when they accidently placed their feet
inside a small mud puddle and almost slipped forward. This slowed them down
even further and both of them were sure that they now lost Matthews completely.
“Where is he? I can see nothing ahead of me…He’s got our bags and all
our items. Our cellphones, our passports, our travel documents, my make-up kit,
the keys to our house, my wallet…everything is in there. He’s not coming back
for us, is he?” Fay launched questions after questions towards Callum, who
stood there, peering into the fog, hoping to somehow spot Matthews.
“Don’t worry… he is not going to run away with our belongings. He does
not seem the kind of guy to ditch us and steal our stuff. He’s probably lost
us, as we’ve lost him”
“I don’t trust him. I saw some random, expensive, valuable items in his
room, the kind not seen in the house of a simple woodcutter living in a shack
in the middle of nowhere. There is something not right about him. I even saw a
dagger hidden under his blanket. He must use it to kill people and rob them off
their valuables…Oh God, this is awful” Callum was able to sense Fay shivering
inside the blanket shared by the two of them.
“What are you talking about? I did not see anything of that sort. You
are just over exaggerating your own misconceptions and assumptions. Wait, I see
something. There, do you see it? A dark silhouette…That’s Matthews, isn’t he?”
“I can see it as well. The figure seems to be getting larger…” confirmed
Fay squinting her eyes and trying hard to concentrate on the figure.
“That means he is coming towards
us. He must have just now realized we are not following him. He must be coming
back to get us. And you jumped the gun on him-” Callum stopped what he was
intending to say, when he noticed that there was no staff or their bags being
carried by the figure. And as the figure got closer, it appeared larger than
Matthews had been, when they had seen him at the same distance.
“That’s not Matthews…That seems like someone else?” said Fay making a
statement in the tone of a question, not sure if she was being correct.
“Mr. Matthews, is that you?” asked Callum, not wanting to prolong the
suspicion and get to the answer right away.
“Berrycloth…Calhoun
Berrycloth is my name-” came a booming voice and an old man about six feet
seven inches tall, with a strong muscular body, long greying hair, thin white
beard, plenty of scars all over his arms and the visible part of his legs, with
one major scar running across his right eye, came to a halt not more than six
feet ahead of the couple, “-and who might you be” he leaned forward with a powerful
glare.
Both Callum and Fay
took a couple of steps back in fear and held onto each other tightly, with Fay
being the relatively less scared of the two.
“We are just a couple
of individuals on our way to the Agoravilla mansion…” said Fay, trying to put
up a brave face and sounding confident and authoritative.
“Does the lady have no
name? And does the man have no bollocks?” laughed Calhoun, on seeing the way
Callum was cowering behind Fay and his lips shivering.
The sound of his
laughter made Fay’s hair on her arms stick up and Callum’s face was fast losing
its colour.
“I-I’m
Cal-lum-Callum Collllins…And thiss isss m-my girll-girlfriend Fay” stuttered
Callum.
“We mean no harm and
have no intentions to poke our nose in anyone’s business. Now if you’ll please
move aside, we’ll continue our journey” said Fay, not staring the man before
her, in his eyes.
“Did you say you were
heading to Agoravilla Mansion? And you intend to visit it under such awful
weather, when dangerous beasts are on the prowl and in the company of a
coward?” asked Calhoun, pointing his thick fingers towards Callum.
“He is not coward…he is
just being cautious” said Fay, trying to show her boyfriend to be stronger than
Calhoun was assuming him to be and to give Callum confidence that she still
believed in him and he had to be strong in such a precarious situation. Neither
of them knew who the man was, but by the looks of him, he must have been in the
midst of great many deal of tough situations and emerged successful, was the
thought that came to Fay’s mind.
“Well, let us not
disagree with the gentleman, shall we…I think it would better if we turn back
and head to the shack, giving up on the idea of visiting the mansion, if the
path leading to it is a tough one. Matthews already said about dangerous
animals in these parts, the coldness is unbearable, we’ve lost the man who was
to lead us to the mansion, along with our possessions and we can hardly see ten
feet ahead of us. The shack might survive the storm and we can, with it,” said
Callum, already making up his mind to turn back, not having the mental strength
to move forward.
Fay understood the
point being made by her boyfriend and she too felt it to be the best decision.
She had already thought of telling the same to Callum, but had refrained when
she had seen the large figure approaching them, whom she too for a brief
moment, believed to be Matthews returning. Now with him nowhere to be seen,
their chances of making it to the Agoravilla mansion lessened even more. She
just hoped that they survived the storm in the shack and that Matthews returned
to the shack once the storm passed over, with their belongings. She knew they
had to break open the locked shack and she did not mind paying for the damages
if Matthews returned with everything they owned. If not, she did not mind
ransacking the shack and taking all the objects she had seen within, for
herself. How she was ever to get them back to a place where they could sell
them and make money out of them, she had no idea and decided to think of
something, as time went by.
But all that changed
with the next few words said by the large, thick skinned gentleman.
“Yes, the puny and the
weak have no chance of overcoming the obstacles in the path to the
mansion…especially the woman kind, who are nothing but a burden and a
distraction even to a strong minded man” said Calhoun and just walked past
them, saying not a single word more.
As mentioned before,
Fay was a very competitive, strong-minded, ‘never say no’ kind of character and
when somebody said she could not do something, she got the urge to do it right
away, no matter how tough it was. Now, not only did Calhoun insult her and her
boyfriend individually, but insulted the whole of the womankind and Fay grew
desperate to prove him wrong and make it to the mansion, no matter what
obstacle came her way.
Having been in a relationship with Fay for
over five years and having lived with her in the same house over three, Callum
knew what Fay was about to say next and he dreaded the words that he expected
to come through her lips, which did, not long after.
“We are going to the
mansion. We reach there or die trying”
