Shoshanna ran her fingers against the carvings in top edge of the stone basin. "Matty, these runes look like the ones in your book, the Suomi ones." She circled the stone basin to the lid which lay on the floor. She tried to pick it up. "It's too heavy. I don't think all of us combined could have lifted it off. And here... Matty look! It's the Deathly Hallows!" Sure enough, on one side of the lid the deathly hallows was carved and stained by a reddish substance. On the other side was a symbol wholly unfamiliar, dyed in the same reddish hue. She stood again, once more looking at the strange ruins, running her finger along them. "The bread of life..."
"and the salt of death..." Matt read.
"the gold of knowledge..."
"The three in one it is making that the owner may become..."
He and Shoshanna looked at each other. "Master of Death." they said in unison.
"Guys, look over here." Ceelee had moved off after seeing her mother. She waved them over to an open book that sat upon a table set up as a sort of workbench. "I don't think the hallows are here by accident..." She turned to the cover of the book, upon which was a large symbol of the hallows embossed in the red leather. Letting the pages fall they read upon the final line, Ignotus Peverell. "I think it's a journal," she said.
"Ignotus Peverell's journal?" Shoshanna breathed. The group all stood stunned. Since the Deathly Hallows had been revealed to be less myth than fact the Peverell brothers had become something of legends to the wizarding world.
Skimming the words, Matt stopped and picked up the book. "This last entry seems to be about the sampo," he said.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Read it," Izzy demanded. The others nodded and Matt began:
Some years ago, my brothers and I set out on a mission of exploration, to travel the world searching to deepen our understanding of the magical arts. It was while we were in Copenhagen where we first heard of the Maiden of the North who was said to be so beautiful as to cause a man to take leave of his senses. Naturally, my brothers, Antioch and Cadmus wished to see this beauty for themselves that they might woo and win her. We traveled to the frozen land of Pohjola where we first encountered the blind shepherd, Nasshut. We asked him about the Maiden of the North and he did confirm she was very beautiful, so much so that even a man such as he felt himself affected though he could not see her. We inquired as to where she resided and it was then that he told us that the Maiden was the daughter of a sorceress who lived in the castle to the North. She would not accept just any man to win the hand of her daughter and had created a series of impossible tasks that a man must accomplish before he could win the hand of her daughter. My brothers and I were confident that we could pass any trial. Though the shepherd could not have known, we were powerful wizards in our own right, each having achieved great things in our respective areas of expertise and each of us carried with us the results of our work. Antioch, my eldest brother, was a great hero whose wand, carved by hand from the branch of an Elder tree, had never failed to win a battle; there was no doubt his was the most powerful wand in all the world. Cadmus, who was older by some years than I, had studied ways to breach the barrier between life and death, carried with him a stone of his own invention that allowed him to temporarily recall the dead to the world of the living that he might converse with them and gain their wisdom. And then there was I, the creator and bearer of the invisibility cloak. Between the three of us there was no task we could not accomplish.
Still, there was no reason to be foolhardy on the matter. Knowing that it might be a trap they sent me, under the cover of my invisibility cloak, to scout the area and determine if the rumors were, indeed, true. As I walked by a swamp I found myself singing a tune. It was then I heard a cry for help from within the swamp. Not revealing myself I went to see what it could be and found a fine-featured young man who had ventured into a bog and was slowly sinking into the quicksand, a wand well out of reach.
"Bard, bard help me! I heard your song and tried to follow you but got stuck."
Suspecting the man to have been hunting me I asked him, "What will you give me to help you?"
"Whatever you wish. I will give you the hand of my sister, Aino, in marriage."
"And how do I know you will keep your word?"
"I will tell you where you can find her."
"And where is that?"
"She is at the lake in the glen near the castle."
"And how will she know you have made this promise?"
"We can travel together and I will tell her."
I knew this to be a trick. Once he had his wand and knew where I was he would put an end to me. "That is no good."
"Then here is my ring," he slid a golden ring from his finger. "Show that to her and she will believe you and do as I have promised."
"Throw it over to the shore," I said.
"No, you will have to take it."
"I am sorry then, I cannot help you."
"Take it then!" he flung the ring to the shore. I let it lie. "Aren't you going to take it?"
I could see he was watching carefully for me. "It would not be right for me to take the ring until after you have been rescued."
"Where are you Bard? I can't see you. Take my hand and pull me out."
"There is no need for that." I waved my wand and in an instant he was free. He grabbed his wand and attempted to summon the ring, but I levitated it away from him. It was clear I was the stronger wizard of the pair of us. "It is bad form to break an oath," I said.
"Then take it and may it bring you nothing but misfortune!" The young man stalked off through the trees. Once I was certain I was clear of him I claimed my treasure and continued on.
As I approached the castle I heard the most beautiful song that bewitched me mind and body. I followed the sound to find a woman of indescribable beauty with great dark eyes and silvery hair bathing in the lake in a glen near the palace. As she looked to me, I regret to say I wholly took leave of my senses and, throwing off my cloak, chased after her. But as I was about to grab her she turned into what I took to be a fish and swam away. Exposed as I was, the wizard who was her brother revealed he had been lying in wait for me, cast a grievous spell upon me, causing my body to begin to die in slow, agonizing pain. The young wizard approached me and asked what my name was and how he had not seen me approach. Not wanting to place my brothers at risk, I told him my name was Väinämöinen, a traveling bard, who was seeking the sorceress of the North that I might entertain her with my song. At the invocation of her name the Queen of Pohjola appeared. It was then I realized why her daughter enjoyed such fame for it was clear she was a Veela, a dangerous magical creature that may take the form of a woman of such beauty that she could request a man jump off a cliff for her and they would without a thought. Knowing now what I was against I quietly cast a protective spell which had the effect of lessening her power. She was surprised that I was not, even though in my death throws, attempting to curry her favor.
"I am Louhi, the Mistress of Pohjola. Why do you not try to woo me?" she asked.
"Because I am dying, my lady." I told her.
"How did you come to be in my glen? How did my son not see you?"
"Because I am a powerful wizard, my lady. He was unable to see me until I wished to be seen."
"My son is a powerful warlock, able to see through any spell."
"That only serves as greater testimony to my power," I said.
"Why are you here?"
"I come on behalf of two other wizards even more powerful than I who wish to woo your daughter, the maiden of the north."
"Who are these wizards?"
"Lemminkäinen, master of the wand, and Ilmarinen, master of the stone." I gave her the false names that she would be unable to locate them or curse them from afar.
"And who are you?"
"Väinämöinen."
"Are you not a master of anything?"
"I am the master of the unknown."
"You speak in riddles wizard. The wand, the stone, the unknown? What are these things you speak of?"
"Should I kill him?" her son asked.
"No. Wizard, I will contain the curse my son has placed on you if you go to your friends and have them come to me and I shall test the three of you to see if any of you are worthy of my daughter by forging the sampo. If you do not return I will release the curse and you shall surely die."
"I will go to them at once and tell them, my lady."
With a wave of her hand the curse was lifted. I hurried back to my brothers and told them of all that had transpired. Antioch was eager to go but Cadmus was hesitant. He had consulted with the souls who wandered the land through his stone and heard that Louhi was an evil queen obsessed with what she called the sampo, a mysterious magical object that would give the owner power over death. I told him he must go or I would die. I reminded him if Louhi were looking for power over death then we would need his help to create this sampo. Fearful for my life, he reluctantly agreed to come along.
We were met with great fanfare at the palace. We were led to the throne room where we were greeted by King Sariola and his Queen Louhi. Both were fantastically handsome people. I noticed that Queen Louhi wore a full seal skin as a shawl which gave her a rather savage appearance. Beside the king stood the young wizard from the swamp and on either side of the thrones were a number of beautiful young ladies, including my Aino, the eldest of which had long hair like a black scrying mirror, eyes so dark and large as to be almost black, and a graceful long neck. She was adorned in a black dress with red rose petals. Of all the daughters she was by far the most beautiful.
"Greetings wizards from the south," the queen said. "I have heard of your coming. That you wish to challenge for the hand of my daughter, Tytär." The nymph-like maiden in black raised her eyes to us. Around the iris I thought I glimpsed a rim of red.
It was Cadmus who stepped forward first. "Yes, my queen," he said. I noticed his eyes never wavered from the eldest daughter.
"And what are your names?"
"I am Ilmarinen, master of the stone," Cadmus said, repeating what I had told him.
"And I am Lemminkäinen, master of the wand." Antioch pushed past Cadmus, not wishing to be overshadowed.
"I see there are three of you," the queen observed.
"There are."
"How will you choose who will be her husband?"
"It will not be I," I said. "For I am already promised to your other daughter, Aino. Your son has already agreed to the match."
"It this true, Joukahainen?" The queen asked the young man. He appeared to want to object.
"It is true, my lady, for he gave me his ring to prove it." I held up the golden ring for her to see. With a flick of her fingers the ring flew into her hand. She examined it carefully.
"It is his ring and a pact between wizards is binding. Aino, you will become this man's bride."
"Mother, no! I cannot marry this long bearded vagrant! How could you brother?" the young girl cried.
"Do not embarrass me Aino." The girl fell silent. "That is, of course, if you survive the test. If you should fail, you will join your friends in the grave." At that Aino smiled wickedly. Joukahainen chuckled as though he knew he had tricked me.
"That is fine," I said without the least bit of worry for I trusted my brothers and I would find the solution.
"You will have a fortnight to forge the sampo, the bridge between life and death. If you have not done so in that span then you will die."
Antioch and Cadmus appeared nervous, but I simply asked. "Is that all?"
"For fine wizards such as yourselves a fortnight should be more than enough time."
"Oh no, you mistake me, my lady," I said. "I meant, will there be any other tasks?"
The court appeared momentarily shocked. I could see the muscles working in Joukahainen's jaw and wicked Aino's smile turn that she appeared as though she might weep. In truth, I did not know how we would accomplish the task of mastering death in a single fortnight, but I was not about to give them the satisfaction of knowing how dire our situation was.
For the first week we attempted to work diligently but our efforts were frequently interrupted by Louhi and her daughters, particularly Tytär who delighted in tormenting my brothers by setting them against each other fawning on one and ignoring the other one day and then secretly meeting with the other the next day but not with enough discretion that these meetings were not readily discovered.
Often times, late at night, I would put on my cloak and sneak around the castle to see if I might find something, anything to help with our predicament. It was on one of these nocturnal sojourns that I came upon the king staring into a reflecting pool that led out to the sea. He appeared sad as he stared, yet he did not approach the water.
I removed my cloak and stepped forward. "What is troubling you, my king?" I asked.
He did not turn. "Aino does not wish to marry you," he said.
"And, in truth, I do not wish to marry her. If that is what troubles you then you may worry no more. But I do not think that is what has led you here."
"No, it is not, though I am glad to hear it. I love all my children, but they have been poisoned by their mother's influence for far too long. You seem nice fellows. I would not wish for you or your friends to make the same mistake I have."
"And what mistake is that? Does it involve the seal skin your wife wears?" For by now I had suspected, both from Aino's transformation at the lake and Louhi's insistence on always wearing the skin that there was far more to it than simple warmth.
"Yes." The king regarded his reflection in the pond sadly. "I was once the king of the Selkies and often, when I was younger, I would swim in this very pool to the amusement of the queen. She seemed to me then a kindly woman who had been forced into marriage by the tyrannical king. I felt sorry for her, this young, beautiful queen who spent hours by the reflecting pool singing about her sad fate. I fell in love with her and swore when I became the King of the Selkies I would free her from the tyrannical king. When I became the king I revealed my true nature to her and asked if she would join me as my queen. I should have realized there was something amiss when she was not surprised that her seal pet had revealed himself as the selkie king, but I was blinded by my love for her. She told me how she wished she could, but that the king would murder her family if she left. She convinced me that I must kill the king and then she would truly be free to join me. I did as I was told but when I returned I found she had taken my skin and would not return it. It was then that I discovered her true nature. She had never cared for me, only for my power. Still, I loved her. Part of me still loves her though I know the witch she is. She knows you cannot succeed, just as the men before could not. She will use your blood and bones, freely given, for her spells."
"Then we should leave," I said.
"My boy, you cannot leave. You have made a contract with the mad witch of Pohjola. There is a curse upon you so long as the contract remains unfulfilled. If you attempt to leave you shall surely die as hundreds before you have."
"Is there nothing you can do to help us?"
"There is one thing. There is a book in her room that tells of what is needed to forge the sampo. If you can take that it may be possible for you to create the sampo. Though if she finds you have been there she will murder you and your friends."
"Do you know when she will be away from the room?"
"She often eats a special meal at midnight, you may find the opportunity then."
I thanked the old king profusely and went to steal the book under cover of my invisibility cloak as the queen dined on a midnight snack of human parts brought to her by the blind shepherd, Nasshut.
I returned with the book to my brothers, telling them all of what I had heard from the king. I had expected that once they heard the tale they would want to flee but neither did, both too in love with Tytär to even consider the idea. With the aid of the book we were able to forge the sampo. As our progress continued it became clear that we might possibly succeed in our mission. I came upon the king once more at the pool and he warned me that Louhi intended to steal Antioch's wand and Cadmus's stone that we would not be able to cast the final spell to awaken the sampo. I warned my brothers. Cadmus set his stone into the handle of Antioch's hairbrush, wagering that none would suspect it was there. Antioch would not hide his wand, instead he kept it with him, bragging of its power, that it was unbeatable and that it would be best if none made the foolish attempt to try.
That night, as I was on one of my late night walks, I heard the treacherous Tytär speaking in secret with Antioch, plying him with alcohol. She assured him it was he she loved and not Cadmus and if he would prove his love by capturing the black swan that swam in the underground river of Tuonela then she would run off with him. He agreed. I begged him not to go but he was drunk and would not listen to reason. Finally, he agreed that if something should happen to him he would convey the message through Cadmus's stone. The next morning we awoke but Antioch had not yet returned. It was on searching his room that Cadmus noticed Antioch's hairbrush was bleeding. When we went down to breakfast I saw Antioch's wand in the hand of Tytär and knew what had happened.
Convincing Aino that I would give her freedom from our contract she led us down to the underground caves where flowed the river Tuonela. As we approached the place where the black swan was rumored to live we saw blood and flesh floating in the water. It was then that Aino said, "You will never complete the sampo. We shall feast on your bones in the halls of Pohjola tonight." Then she laughed and transformed into that strange creature that was something akin to a bird and a seal, leaping into the water she swam away. It was not long before we found the remains of our brother. The blind shepherd was there and he told us the whole tale of how he had been convinced by the Maiden of the North that the villainous Lemminkäinen intended to kill the sacred black swan that guarded the river to the underworld that night and that he must stop it. When he arrived it was just as she had said. He carefully snuck up behind the passed out Lemminkäinen and slit his throat, allowing the body to fall into the river. The swan tore the corpse to pieces. It was then I realized the black swan was Tytär, and that she had arranged the murder of our brother and stolen the wand.
There was little else for us to do. We collected the pieces of our brother's body and brought them up to where the sampo was. It would now have its true test. But we could not finish the spell without Antioch's wand. Cadmus and I were despondent, for we were so close, and yet we could feel death upon us, vengeful for attempts to cheat him. That night, we sat in our room agonizing over what we still might do.
"You might still escape, brother," Cadmus said to me. "Take your cloak and broom and leave here. I will distract them with the sampo. If you leave now you may make England before they discover the truth."
"But what about you? I can't leave you. I have already lost one brother, I will not lose two. Come with me. Between the two of us we can fight off her guards."
"No, I won't leave Tytär. I am in love with her and should rather face death than a day without her."
"Brother, can you not see she is wicked? She has attempted to delay our work by distracting you and Antioch. Did you not see the wand she held? She killed our brother and stole his wand. Surely you cannot love her knowing that!"
"I saw. But I love her still. It is not her fault, her mother has forced her to do these things."
"You are mad. She'll cut your throat like Antioch's."
"She may, but still, I will not go without her. Save yourself, brother."
"There must be some other way. Why can't I see it?"
"Clever Väinämöinen, always looking for another way. You cannot see it because there is none. I have consulted the dead, a hundred young men like us, they have told me there is no way for us to succeed. Let one of us escape."
There was a slight knock at the door, like the pecking of a bird. I opened it and a large black swan waddled in, our brother's wand held firmly in her beak. In a moment she had transformed into the lovely Tytär. "Mother asked me to eavesdrop on you, to make sure you did not try to escape. Do you truly love me so much you would give up your life to me, Ilmarinen?" she asked.
"I would a hundred times over," Cadmus said.
"Then take this wand and promise me that when we are wed you will take me far far from this cursed place and we shall never return." she handed Cadmus the wand.
"Anything," he said, handing the wand to me and taking both her hands in his.
"That is all well and good, but first we must finish the sampo," I said. "Ilmarinen, ready the stone."
Cadmus plucked the stone from the handle of the brush and spoke the incantation. The stone glowed within his hand. He placed it in the center of the stone basin. I then took Antioch's wand and cast the incantation upon it. The stone floated above the sampo. Silver liquid poured forth from the stone filling the basin. The spell complete, I took the stone and returned it to my brother. "Let us see if it works," I said.
I levitated Antioch into the pool, watching as the silvery liquid turned gold and enveloped him. Once he had been wholly immersed, we raised him once more. Where the stitches had been, his flesh was whole and unblemished as on the day he had been born. He let out a gasping breath and sat.
"Brothers!" he cried.
I tossed him his wand. "Lemminkäinen, I believe you dropped this."
He caught it. "I didn't drop it..." he said slowly, as though it were only just coming to him. "It was taken from me. I was murdered. I remember. He slit my throat."
"Who did?"
"Nasshut, the blind shepherd. And then... I remember... she ripped me apart... Agh! I can feel her beak tearing my flesh!" He grabbed his head in his hands as though in pain. "Why did you bring me back? I don't belong here," he moaned.
"Because you are our brother and we need you. It was a cruel trick that took you away from us, not a proper death," I tried to explain but he would not hear it, only continuing to moan.
"I will kill that shepherd!" Cadmus declared.
"No!" Tytär cried. "If you kill him then you should kill me as well. He was tricked by my mother into murdering Lemminkäinen."
"He said it was you who tricked him," I said. "He recognized your voice."
"He is blind. My mother knows how fond he is of me so she must have imitated my voice." I could tell she was lying, but my brother clearly believed her.
I nodded, for there was little I could say or do. The king had claimed it was his wife's influence that had caused his children to be so cruel. Perhaps separation might improve Cadmus's woeful choice. "There is nothing more to be done then. Let us pass the test and leave this place."
We announced the sampo was ready.
The entire court gathered in the throne room. Antioch, himself, floated the sampo out for all to see to no one's shock more than Louhi's.
"My lady, members of the court," I said. "I present to you the sampo." The crowd was stunned.
"But that is impossible!" Louhi cried.
I bowed before Louhi, "Queen of the North, we have done what you asked. As you can clearly see, it works. Now give use what you promised and we will be on our way."
"One moment!" Louhi cried. "It has not been fully tested."
"Lemminkäinen has been brought back to life, death has been defeated."
"Yes, but the sampo does not just give one the power to defeat death, but to be master over him," Louhi cackled. She approached the sampo and, placing her fingers on the runes I saw the faces of the court appear in the glassy silver liquid. She stopped on three of the guards. She struck the liquid with her fist and suddenly the three guards fell over dead. My brothers and I stared at each other in shock. I looked to the king who nodded sadly. "It is perfect," she said. "Now we shall be able to conquer the lands to the South. No one will be able to oppose us."
"Then we shall take our prize and go," I said, hoping that we might regroup once we were outside Pohjola and find a way to steal the sampo back.
"You couldn't possibly leave before the wedding," she said. "Who among you will take my daughter for his bride?"
Cadmus stepped forward, "I shall have her, for it is her I love more than any other in the world. I pledge my eternal love, today and all day hence." At this Tytär only smiled treacherously.
"So it is decided. Ilmarinen will marry my daughter. The wedding will occur in three days time."
Once we returned to our room we discussed, under the cover of the muffliato charm, what must be done. "We must take the sampo and leave this place at once," I said. Antioch said nothing, but nodded.
"But how?" Cadmus asked.
"Perhaps my father might know of a way?" Tytär suggested. "But the way to him will be heavily guarded."
"That is no matter," I said, and I threw on the invisibility cloak and promptly vanished.
I found the king, once again, standing by the reflecting pool. "Your majesty," I said. "I need you help."
"There is nothing I can do for you. By tomorrow, you will be dead. She will never let you leave here alive," he said, sadly. "And then she will use the sampo to conquer the southern kingdoms."
"You majesty, do you know where she is keeping the sampo?"
"It is in the high tower, but you will be dead long before you reach it. I do not know how you even managed to come this far."
"With this." I showed him my cloak. "I know you hate the evil your wife has done. Help me and we can put an end to this."
The king nodded. "But what can I do?"
"We'll need a boat. How soon can you have one for us?"
He looked toward the pool. I saw a series of ripples. "Perhaps in half an hour."
"Good. I'll need you to come with me." He nodded and I covered the both of us with the cloak.
When we arrived at the sampo the king, seeming to appear from nowhere, ordered the guards away that he might examine the sampo in private for any curses. I snuck in behind him. We then covered the sampo with my cloak and I cast a spell to make myself invisible. The guards did not suspect a thing as we levitated the sampo to the reflecting pool where Cadmus and Antioch were to meet us, having been told of my plan through my patronus. Tytär waited next to a small boat that bobbed up and down in the reflecting pool which was no longer still but roiling. I could see dozens of seals swimming about under the surface.
"Reveal yourselves," I ordered and Cadmus and Antioch both appeared, having used magic to make themselves invisible.
"What should we do with it?" Cadmus asked.
"We should destroy it," Antioch said without hesitation. He pulled his wand to do the spell but Cadmus grabbed his arm.
"No!" Cadmus cried.
"You should not stop me. It is an evil thing, it can only bring darkness."
"But think of the good it can do!" Cadmus argued. "It can bring the dead back to life."
"There's no good in that," Antioch muttered.
"Perhaps not to you, but to others. Think about orphaned children, about widows. Think of all the lives that could be saved."
"Väinämöinen, what say you?" Antioch asked.
"I think Ilmarinen has a point. It can bring the dead back to life and heal grievous injuries. We should take it back with us, keep it safe in my workshop." I should have listened to Antioch, to this day I regret that I did not, but I was blinded by the potential of the thing to do good, not considering the cost.
"Do as you like then," Antioch said, clearly displeased.
"If she catches us she will kill us," the king said.
"Then we must make certain that even if she catches us it will do her no good. We must put a spell on it that will prevent it from opening."
"There are few spells she cannot break, but there is one," the selkie king said. "Are you familiar with blood magic?"
It was decided that we would use blood magic to cast a curse that would prevent the sampo from being opened. Cadmus, Antioch, and I each pricked our fingers and dripped blood on one end and the king did the same on the other. Antioch, having the most powerful wand, cast the incantation that the sampo might not be open without the living blood from both.
It was not long before the queen realized her precious sampo was gone. She flew into a rage, transforming into her bird-like form, her rage giving her the appearance of a harpy, cloaked only in a seal skin. Though we were pushed along by a favorable wind and assistance from the selkies, she was soon upon us, Joukahainen carried on her back. Joukahainen jumped onto our ship, wand at the ready, and began to duel Antioch while Cadmus and I fought Louhi.
"Traitors! Villains!" she screeched when she saw her husband and daughter aboard. "I will blot your lives from existence unless you return the sampo to me and return to Pohjola."
"Never," the king said. He took a spear and lunged at Louhi, slicing the seal skin from off her shoulder but she cut him down with her sharp talons before we could shield him. The king fell from the boat, sinking into the depths. The seal skin fell upon his body like a shroud, sinking with him as he disappeared.
"Served him right. He was always weak. Foolish," Louhi hissed. She flew at us again, forcing us to shield ourselves. Suddenly we saw a green light flash from the other side of the boat. Joukahainen fell backward into the sea.
Antioch wiped his hand across his bloody brow. "Serves you right, you crack-brained cock-bawd."
"My son!" Louhi cried. She flew at Antioch who began to duel her, matching her blow for blow in pitched battle. Never before had I seen anyone duel so quickly or fiercely. He fought as if he had no fear of death, making risky strikes at her. "You'll pay for his death with your life," she screeched.
"Try to take it you hag!" He struck at her with his wand, causing a blast to send her back and rocking the ship violently. Seeing the attention of all occupied by the battle I threw my cloak over the sampo.
"The sampo!" I shouted. "It has gone overboard!"
Louhi looked to where the sampo had been and shrieked her displeasure just as Antioch managed to hit her with a slashing curse, slicing off half of her wing. "No!" she cried. "My sampo!" As she fell she dove at me. "This is your doing!" she shrieked. But Antioch jumped in the way, spreading himself out to shield me. She wrapped her talons around him, pulling him with her. Both went down off the side of the narrow boat. We waited for some time, but neither ever resurfaced. And thus death took the first brother.
We returned home. Cadmus and Tytär, both believing the sampo to be at the bottom of the sea, left to begin their own lives while I returned to my workshop with the sampo safely hidden. For a time all seemed well. But Tytär, used to being the pampered daughter of a queen, soon found life as the wife of Cadmus to be intolerable. She became cruel and even violent to those who she felt she could oppress. He remained deeply in love with her, but she openly despised him, claiming she could not marry him until he was a man suitable for her. She became hungry for power, forcing Cadmus to acquire more lands and wealth by whatever means was necessary until he was quite well off, but even that was not enough to sate her appetite. She began to practice dark magic and to entice Cadmus to do the same that they might become the rulers of all the land.
Now at this time there was a boy who lived in the village near their land holdings, an orphan adopted by a poor family, whose parents had been killed in the war, known only as "the Potter's son". The only momento he had of his parents was a small knife. He had no idea that he was, himself, a powerful wizard. He was hired by Cadmus to tend the animals, but Tytär took delight in tormenting the youth. One day she took a loaf of bread and baked stones into it. When he went to cut it his beloved knife broke on the stones. Overcome with grief his powers manifested themselves and Tytär was struck through the heart with a magical arrow.
Cadmus was overcome by grief but eventually was enticed to marry the daughter of a local wealthy merchant. She bore him a child but he never loved her and every day he pined more for his lost love. She grew cold to him, only caring about showing off her wealth. He became obsessed with his stone, spending days alone in his room. He came to me one day and asked me had the sampo truly been lost, for he had given a great deal of thought to what had happened and questioned whether something so heavy could have been so easily thrown overboard. I told him it had been and advised him to move on for I knew he would attempt to bring the malevolent Tytär back. He begged me to help him recreate the sampo, that surely we could. That he had heard tales from traders of a wand made of elder wood that was unbeatable and if it was, indeed Antioch's wand, perhaps we could do it. But I refused. In my age I no longer saw the promise of the sampo, now I had come to fear its power, as I should have before.
Cadmus was infuriated and challenged me to a duel, which I refused. But he would have his satisfaction. A battle ensued and much of my workshop was destroyed and many of the items lost but for those stored in this cavern. Even the ring I had taken from the Prince of Pohjola he took from me, it was this that caused him to be distracted long enough that I was able to disapperate. He combined it with the stone and the power of the ring boosted the power of the stone that he was able to bring back his lost love, in a manner. But she was only a pale facsimile, neither truly alive nor dead. She cared only for death and cared nothing for him. Driven mad by her specter he hung himself from the balcony of his fine house that he might join her. And thus, death took the second brother.
I am old now. I have guarded my secret for many years, and now I wait patiently for death to come for me. Dear Beedle, my oldest friend, I give you this last tale that you might add it to your collection in whatever manner you see fit. I only ask that you disguise those involved that they may not be recognized for the sake of our children and our children's children. I bequeath my cloak of invisibility to my son and trust you will deliver it to him safely. For years I have been the master of death and now I look forward to greeting Death as an old friend, that we may depart this life as equals.
Your dearest friend,
Ignotus Peverell
Underneath the name was the symbol of the deathly hallows.