Chapter 36: Dark Legends

He insisted on catching up and showing her around for the rest of the month, dodging any questions about his letter and the urgent matter they had to discuss. Instead he tempted her with cheerful trips to historical sites: castles and ruins from the times of Alexander the Great. She followed along, trying her best to ignore the beauty of the scenes (which was easier as the days began to grow colder). Still, he refused to give her any hints as they made their way from a pub to a natural spring.

"Syri i kaltër" her father explained walking ahead despite Calamity's huffs to keep up. "Means Blue Eye. It's the biggest out of 18 springs which surface from the earth some 25 km away from Saranda, in the south of Albania."

They reached the spring and Calamity had to admit, even in her annoyance, that it was lovely. Its color was deep blue in the center where the water flows out, and light blue at the sides where the green vegetation creates an impression of eyelashes.

"The ancient legend tells that the waters sprung to the earth from a dragon that was burned by a clever peasant who had fed it a mule loaded with touch-wood and cinder," said her father. "I once heard from a young man I knew ages ago that the spring dried up and turned into a blind eye of white color. There was no warning, it simply disappeared for a bit. Many people said that divine powers were involved and this was a sort of a punishment against those who wanted to bargain with the Blue Eye. Course, it came back."

"It's lovely," Calamity agreed.

"I still remember visiting here in 1954. I dove in and saw the current of the water coming out of a dark tunnel. Inside the current was so strong that my mask was swept away from my face, so I was forced to keep it with my hands. The deeper I went the stronger the current became until I felt I could not go further as the pressure of a strong river flowing out of the tunnel was unbearable."

"What did you do," asked Calamity curiously.

"What any person might do when faced with the impossible," he replied with a smile. " I could go no further so I left, but I still think about it every week or so. What could have been."

"Is it magical," asked Calamity curiously. Her father gave her a sideways glance.

"Why else would I bring you here?"

Calamity watched him as he dipped his hand in the water, then pulled it out once more.

"Promised you I would show and tell, but I had to make sure it was safe."

"Well, if it's safe, let's hear it."

There was a rustling nearby and some muggle backpackers appeared, laughing and joking in a foreign language.

"Pub is better," her father said and they headed back.

The pub was run by a young woman, with long dark lashes and velvety thick black hair. Her father waved the woman over. She stepped form behind the bar to reveal she was dressed in a long over cloak with images of suns, eagles, moons, stars, and snakes. The fabric was colorful and rich in detail and if Calamity watched the vest, it seemed that the sun and snakes were moving.

"Zamira, this is my daughter Clara! She's a doctor in America."

"A doctor," Zamira said with a pleasant and cordial laugh. "He acts as if he hasn't told me every time he visits. So glad to see you came to see us."

"I've been telling her the legends of the Blue Eye," said her father before Calamity could respond.

"Albania is full of legends," Zamira agreed.

"Why not get a pint with us and share some stories, I know you have a few."

Zamira looked around. Everyone seemed to be settled. With a flick of her wand a stool appeared. With another, a beer poured itself, tapping away some extra foam away, before floating gracefully to the table.

"Have you told her my favorite," Zamira asked.

"I saved it for you," Calamity's father grinned.

Calamity looked between the two of them. Her father's eyes danced gleefully and Zamira's cheeks were flushed with laughter. Were they... flirting?

Zamira took a sip and leaned close, motioning for them to do the same.

"You know the Rozafa Castle in Shkodra? There is a legend that says that three brothers built it. They worked for days and days, but the castle wasn't getting any taller. The wall they built during the day collapsed at night, and so they could never get any furthe rin their project. One day a nice old man greeted them as they worked. He seemed wise in his years so the brothers said, "All the best to you, old man, but as for us...by day we work, by night it collapses. Can you give us any advice? How can we keep the walls standing?"

"I know," said the old man, "but it is a sin to tell you."
"On our heads be the sin, because we want this castle to stay up."
The nice old man thought about it, and then he asked: "Are you married, brave lads? Do you have three lasses at home?"
"We are married," they said. "All three of us have lasses. We'd liek to keep them well fed, so tell us what to do to keep this castle standing!"
"If you want to keep it, swear this to each other on your honor: don't tell your lasses, don't speak at home about what I will say. Whichever of your wives brings your lunch tomorrow, take her and wall her up alive in the wall of the castle. Then you will see that the wall will stay in place and remain for ever and a day."

That night, the eldest brother's wife asked him about his day and without a second thought he explained to her about the old man and urged her not to go there the next day. The middle brother also broke his word and told everything to his lass. Only the youngest kept his word of honor. He did not speak at home, he did not tell his wife anythign about the old man or the prediction.

In the morning, the three of them got up early and went to work. Hammers struck, rocks broke, hearts beat, the walls grew higher.

At home, the lads' mother knew nothing. She said to the eldest "Daughter-in-law, the workers want bread and water; they want a gourd of wine."The eldest daughter-in-law answered her: "Upon my word, mother. I can't go today because I am ill."

She turned to the middle wife, but the middle wife said, "Upon my word mother, I can't possibly go today; I'm going to my parents' house the night."
The lads' mother turned and said to the youngest daughter-in-law, Rozafa, who jumped to her feet in eagerness.
"Upon my word mother, I would go but for my little boy. I am afraid he will want the breast and he will cry."

"Oh you go, we'll look after the boy, we won't let him cry," said her sisters-in-law.

The youngest stood up, took bread and water, took the wine-gourd, kissed her son on both cheeks and set off. She climbed up Valdanuz Hill and drew near the place where the three men- her two brothers-in-law and her husband- were working. When they saw her their hammers stopped striking and their faces grew pale. When the youngest saw his wife, he threw the hammer from his hand, he cursed the stone and the wall. His wife, Rozafa said:"What is the matter, my lord? Why do you curse the stone and the wall?"

The eldest brother-in-law broke in, "It was a black day when you were born, our dear sister-in-law. We have sworn to wall you up alive in the castle wall or it will never stand and our whole family will starve."
Rozafa looked at each brother in turn: the oldest determined, the middle abashed, and the youngest weeping.

"If you must wall me in, you must," said Rozafa. "But I have one request for you. I plead when you wall me leave my right eye exposed. Leave my right hand exposed. Leave my right foot exposed for the sake of my newborn son. So that when he starts crying I can see him with one eye and caress him with one hand. Let me rock his cradle with one foot. if you do this, then the castle will rise strong and my son will be happy. May my breast turn to stone, may the castle stay firm, may my son grow up brave, and may he become king and rule!"

They agreed and took Rozafa and they walled her up in the foundations of the castle. Even though she did it willingly, they could hear her crying for want of her son.

The walls rose. They grew high and did not collapse as they had before. But at their base the stones are damp and mossy to this day, because of the mother's tears still fall for her son."

"We haven't been there," said Calamity curiously, looking at her father.

"No, we haven't," he agreed. He looked at Zamira as if they knew something she didn't.

"No one goes there," Zamira said, she stood and the stool disappeared.

"It's in the muggle tourists books," Calamity said. "I saw it when we stopped by the library."

"Well the muggles don't know, do they," said Zamira. She took a sleepy looking old man's cup and filled it with tea.

"Don't know what?"

"Don't know about the magic," Zamira said. Calamity was getting annoyed. They were acting as if she were a child.

"Clara," her father said gently. "You've never been around dark magic, but it has a feeling. You can tell when powerful dark magic has been performed. It makes the air vibrate and blue pools go blind white before turning back to normal."

"And the castle has that," asked Calamity skeptically. "Because of a legend?"

"Because of a murder," Zamira said firmly, her dark lashes made her eyes look more foreboding than lovely. "Forty years ago a peasant was abducted here and stolen away to the castle. They found her at the bottom of the castle wall, laying on the moss looking surprised but unharmed."

Calamity took a sip of her pint as Zamira was called to a table across the pub. She muttered a muffling charm and turned to her father.

"That's the show and tell?"

"That's the show and tell," agreed her father.

"I suppose it is too much to ask what I'm suppose to get from that."

Her father's expression grew dark. "There's something happening. I've been in dark circles for too long not to see it. There is something happening- something with Tom Riddle."

In the back of her mind, in some distant dream memory Calamity felt a nudge in her brain. That name was familiar and yet unfamiliar at once.

"Who," demanded Calamity, but her father took another sip and muttered the counter charm. The buzzing of the muffling charm disappeared. Zamira returned.

"How long are you staying for," she asked Calamity cheerfully.

"She's leaving tomorrow," her father answered before Calamity could. "Got to get back to the UK. Dumbledore called."

"Pleasure to meet you before you leave," Zamira said.

Calamity nodded and agreed, but she was trying to retell the story to herself so she wouldn't forget to tell Sirius when she saw him. Maybe he would know who this Tom Riddle was.

A/N: Review PLEASE!