CHAPTER THREE: Slytherin
The small village was horror stricken. They had no idea how a sudden break out of the plauge had plundered their small village. Nearly twenty miles from any high way, and no news had come of it's reaccurence. One by one, the villagers dropped dead. Some had tried to escape but lay dead or dying in the surrounding woods. The only explanation they could think of is the stranger.
He was tall, pale complexion with dark midnight hair. His robes were very richly made, and he was well groomed. He had come, asking about a certain man that used to live in the village. The Priest had left nearly fifteen years ago. Then, when the stranger left, the first case of plague showed itself.
Cries of pain echoed in the street as bodies lay spread out, rotting in plain view. Wild animals had smelled the decaying flesh and over ran the village, feasting upon the recently deceased.
After a few months, the last living villager lay in his bed, drifting between life and death, clutching at a small cross which embeded its image in his hand. At first he thought he was halucinating when he saw the stranger appear standing over him. A frightening evil grin appeared on his face.
"Am I dead?" The villager asked, eager to be released from his rotting body.
"Not yet." Came the reply.
A coldness swept through the villager, and he closed his eyes and opened them only to find the stranger still hovering over him, like an angel of death. Then, a look of understanding came over him.
"You...you did this." The villager began coughing, blood sputtering from his mouth. "My family, my friends...all dead...and you... Why?"
"Aria." The stranger only said that one word, but its meaning was three fold. "You burned my Mother. You're whole town betrayed her friendship. I took my revenge, and you suffered the consequences." The grin was gone from his face, replaced by an evil sneer.
"But...that was ages ago. We tried finding her two sons but they were gone. We blamed the Priest but he fled...we tried..."
"You obviously didn't try hard enough."
The villager looked horrified as his life slowly slipped from his body, leaving a dead, cold corpse behind.
Ever since Skyler had told the story of Aria's death, Salazar had been haunted by her screams, and the pain of it sickened him. He finally resolved to leave the house and search out the village his mother had lived in and destroy every one in it. He had not counted on the one man who condoned her death to be gone. This Priest, however far away he was, must die.
Salazar walked out of the house, glad to be rid of the stinch. He looked around him at the death and decay and smiled. It felt powerful, fullfilling and even thrilling to be able to wipe out a whole town. Granted, they were all Muggles, but it was just a start.
"Pity it leaves such a mess and stinch." He said to himself. "A quicker, easier way would be more welcoming, I'll have to look into it."
Salazar left the town and traveled from village to village, in search of the Priest. He had many leads, but no success. It seemed that the Priest had left a wake of misery and pain wherever he went. Salazar was almost sad to put to rest such a person. They could have put their heads together and found a way to place the world in their hands. But, as it is, the Priest was a Muggle, and killed his mother.
His travels took him up and down England, through Germany down to Italy, and even into Africa. He reached Spain when he came to a small village that had the latest news of the evil Priest. Salazar stayed in town a while, to hear the news, and collect all the information he could. It seemed it had only been a few months since the Priest left.
"He always wore a cross around his neck." Someone said.
"What's so surprising about that?" Spat Salazar.
"Well, it was always with him. We made gifts to him of more richly crosses, made of gold encrusted with gems, but he refused. It was an ugly, worn cross."
Salazar jotted this down mentally, before going on to the next meeting house when a cry of angry voices came from down the street. Salazar stopped dead in his tracks, looking at the group of people down the road.
They seemed to be angry, and shouting furiously, when the reason came into plain view. A woman was bound together, being forcefully lead by the angry mob. Salazar's eyes widened as he took in this scene. It was his mother, all over again...
Her clothes suggested she was a peasant, but her beauty surpassed even the Queen. Her long dark hair fell in sheets of silk. Her face resembled porclean, her eyes were two black pools of liquid midnight sky. She stumbled, as the crowd pushed her.
"Stop!" Salazar commanded, and surprisingly, they stopped. "What's wrong here?"
Someone in front spoke up who looked to be the head of this mob. "We caught ourselves an adultress and a theif. Seems she'd sleep her way into people's houses, and steal what they've got."
Salazar looked at the man, as if he was peering deep into his soul. The man backed away, a little scared.
"That's not why you want her dead." Salazar finally said. "You tried to seduce her with gifts of your wife's jewelry. She refused, and you're afriad she'll tell your wife."
The man's mouthed opened into a wide O, and fear shown in his eyes. Salazar lookd around the crowd, one by one, "You all tried to sleep with her! Some of you took her by force! Women, you're mad with envy!"
The girl in question staired transfixed at Salazar, not noticing the angry cries from the crowd soon shouted for the death of the intruder as well as hers. They began to move closer to Salazar when he brought a thin piece of wood from his robes, and pointed it at the crowd. Quite suddenly, every one began screaming, grasping at their clothes. They were all on fire!
"There, girl, now mar your apperance and find another place to live." Salazar took one final look at the girl, then began walking towards the edge of town.
Slowly, the girl began to follow him. Her hands were still bound, but she took no notice of them.
"I said leave!" Salazar said without turning around.
The girl kept following him. Salazar quickly turned around, now that they were on a road between a field and a forest.
"Are you daft, girl?" Salazar shouted. "I said--"
"I've seen you." Surprisingly the woman's voice wasn't soft or sweet, as Salazar thought it would be, but deep and warm, like honey.
"What?" Salazar tried to look angry, but the persistence of this woman intrigued him.
"I've had dreams for the past month. I've seen you, traveling the world...seraching, always seraching...but not for something...for someone..."
Salazar's cool front passed, as surprise took over his features. "How?"
"I come from a long line of witches and wizards, as you have. My true gift is sight, but I have no wand."
"But, the villagers...they wanted you dead because..." Salazar paused to collect his thoughts. "How come they didn't think you were a witch?"
"Humans can be blind." She smiled, a warm glow emmenating from her being. "My parents tried to put a charm on me before they died, but it turned out to be a curse. They wanted me to be beautiful, so everyone would like me and not mean harm to me...but men want beauty for different reasons." She paused, and memories of her life fled into view.
"I'm sorry." Salazar truly was sorry. If he wasn't on his own mission he'd head back to the village and curse them all for this strange creature. "I can drop you off at the next village and procure lodgings for you, but that's all."
"No, I'm going with you." She said, as if her word was law, and she had Salazar almost believe it.
"No, I don't rest, I'm on a search, as you've said."
"I've seen myself following you, traveling through countries and across seas. I'm going with you."
Salazar's fists balled up. He didn't want to share his victory of the Priest with another person. "Fine!" He finally shouted. "But I'm not here to pamper a woman's needs. You keep up." And with that he tapped his wand against the cords around her wrists, and they fell to the ground.
"Don't you wish to know my name?" She asked, trying to keep up with his quick strides.
"No!" He muttered, keeping his eyes strait on the road.
"It's Kalista." She said.
"I said "No."
"What people say and mean are two different things."
"I suppose that's another one of your gifts?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"You could say so."
* * *
The small pub was crowded with witches and wizards of every sort. The room was dark and dank, and smelled of rotting meat, but that didn't keep anyone from ordering a pint and a good meal. The torches on the wall cast eerie glows over the shady characters. No decent wizard would be seen anywhere near the Black Cauldron, nestled in the middle of Nocturn Alley.
"We're going in there?" Kalista asked, stopping in her tracks.
She had a hard enough time entering the dark alley, but to enter a building would be sofficating.
"I have a good lead on the man I'm looking for. If you wish you can stay here." Salazar said, his features determined.
Kalista clutched at her hands, arguing with herself. It had been a month of following this stranger, and she had no clue as to who he was than when she first met him. The only conversation he'd have with her were of Muggles and how they should be gotten rid of. No mention of his past was ever brought up.
"Ok." Kalista followed Salazar into the pub, and scrunched her nose and the fowl smells.
The people in the pub were huddled together, discussing something so important, they put a Mute charm around themselves. Others were alone, and staring evily at the two new cusotmers. Kalista kept her eyes on the back of Salazar's head. He made his way through the crowd, not noticing the dark glances shooting his way, or just choosing to ignore them. Kalista knew he was a very powerful wizard, but his looks didn't quite mirror his abilities.
"I must speak to the owner." Salazar said to the bar maiden.
She was rubbing the counter with a dirty rag, and looked up at Salazar. "What for?" She smiled.
"That is none of your business." Salazar replied.
"Well it is," The woman brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. "Seeing as I'm the owner."
"Do not play games with me, woman. It is of an urgent matter." Salazar's voice grew cold but seemed to have no affect on the woman.
"And I says to you, sir, that if it is important, put away your manly ideals, and follow me." The woman called to someone near by, who took her place rubbing down the counter while she untied her apron, and motioned for the two to follow her into the back of the pub. She opened a door and closed it behind them. She pulled her wand out of a pocket and started a fire.
The room was small with a wooden table in the center. A few stacks of chairs were against the wall, but with one flick of her wand, three chairs flew across the room, and were set up by the table.
"Have a seat. I'm Lizbeth, and I own the Black Cauldron. Me father gave it to me when he died." She looked real proud at procuring such a dirty establishment at the death of a close relation. "Me brother, Borris, tried to cheat me out of it, but he's no longer with us, is he?" She started to cackle, which sent shivers down Kalista's spine.
"Look, I need information." Salazar's voice was no longer emotionless, but was drenched in desperation. It seemed to sober Lizbeth up, for she stopped smiling.
"What is it you need?"
"I'm looking for a man...a man I thought was a Muggle but have recently discovered to be a warlock. Disguises himself as a Priest. Very power hungry." Salazar's eyes couldn't be seen in the darkness, but Kalista knew they were pleading for cooperation.
"I knows him." Lizbeth leaned back in her chair, looking as if she had a treasure hidden somewhere in the room and only she knew where it was.
"Well...who and where is he?" Salazar nearly shouted.
"What's it worth?" Lizbeth asked, now leaning closer to Salazar.
Salazar looked around the room, then rested his eyes on Kalista. "The girl."
Kalista's eyes opened wide at what she heard. Was Salazar actually trying to sell her to this woman? She thought of running out of the room, but her feet were glued to the floor, scared of what Salazar might do. She'd seen what he could do if things didn't go his way.
Lizbeth rested her eyes on Kalista, as if seeing her for the first time. She grabbed at the girls hair, and lifted her face to the fire light. Kalista shook her head away.
"She's beautiful, but I don't deal that way. Does she have any special magic?"
"She can see things, the future, the present."
Lizbeth sat pondering this, then said, "It's a deal." They shook hands, not noticing the tear streaming down Kalista's cheeks. "The man you're seeking is evil. He'd stop at nothing to get what he wants, that one. Name's Roddy, no one knows what it's short for, no one cares. Comes to the Alley every now and then, passed through here 'bout a month ago, won't expect him till next Fall." Lizbeth paused and magicked herself and Salazar a cup of some liquid that bubbled. Lizbeth took a drink and continued. "Masquerades as a Priest, worming his way into Muggle societies, acting as King. Keeps his wand in a wooden cross around his neck."
"Where did he say he was heading when you saw him last?" Salazar asked greedily.
"Didn't say." Lizbeth stood, motioning that the conversation was at an end and walked Salazar to the front of the pub.
He was standing outside the door, and turned around. "Take care of her." He handed Lizbeth a huge sack that jingled as he passed it to her.
"You love her, don't you?" Lizbeth asked, weighing the sack in her hands. Salazar looked offended. "Don't act like you don't, 'cause I knows you do. She'll be waiting here when you get back."
Salazar nodded a thanks to the woman, and began wakling away.
"Oh, that puts me in mind!" Lizbeth shouted after him.
Salazar turned around and looked curiously at Lizbeth.
"Someone was here just t'other day, asking the same questions, only he didn't sell his love to get the answers." Lizbeth began laughing, and closed the door.
The small village was horror stricken. They had no idea how a sudden break out of the plauge had plundered their small village. Nearly twenty miles from any high way, and no news had come of it's reaccurence. One by one, the villagers dropped dead. Some had tried to escape but lay dead or dying in the surrounding woods. The only explanation they could think of is the stranger.
He was tall, pale complexion with dark midnight hair. His robes were very richly made, and he was well groomed. He had come, asking about a certain man that used to live in the village. The Priest had left nearly fifteen years ago. Then, when the stranger left, the first case of plague showed itself.
Cries of pain echoed in the street as bodies lay spread out, rotting in plain view. Wild animals had smelled the decaying flesh and over ran the village, feasting upon the recently deceased.
After a few months, the last living villager lay in his bed, drifting between life and death, clutching at a small cross which embeded its image in his hand. At first he thought he was halucinating when he saw the stranger appear standing over him. A frightening evil grin appeared on his face.
"Am I dead?" The villager asked, eager to be released from his rotting body.
"Not yet." Came the reply.
A coldness swept through the villager, and he closed his eyes and opened them only to find the stranger still hovering over him, like an angel of death. Then, a look of understanding came over him.
"You...you did this." The villager began coughing, blood sputtering from his mouth. "My family, my friends...all dead...and you... Why?"
"Aria." The stranger only said that one word, but its meaning was three fold. "You burned my Mother. You're whole town betrayed her friendship. I took my revenge, and you suffered the consequences." The grin was gone from his face, replaced by an evil sneer.
"But...that was ages ago. We tried finding her two sons but they were gone. We blamed the Priest but he fled...we tried..."
"You obviously didn't try hard enough."
The villager looked horrified as his life slowly slipped from his body, leaving a dead, cold corpse behind.
Ever since Skyler had told the story of Aria's death, Salazar had been haunted by her screams, and the pain of it sickened him. He finally resolved to leave the house and search out the village his mother had lived in and destroy every one in it. He had not counted on the one man who condoned her death to be gone. This Priest, however far away he was, must die.
Salazar walked out of the house, glad to be rid of the stinch. He looked around him at the death and decay and smiled. It felt powerful, fullfilling and even thrilling to be able to wipe out a whole town. Granted, they were all Muggles, but it was just a start.
"Pity it leaves such a mess and stinch." He said to himself. "A quicker, easier way would be more welcoming, I'll have to look into it."
Salazar left the town and traveled from village to village, in search of the Priest. He had many leads, but no success. It seemed that the Priest had left a wake of misery and pain wherever he went. Salazar was almost sad to put to rest such a person. They could have put their heads together and found a way to place the world in their hands. But, as it is, the Priest was a Muggle, and killed his mother.
His travels took him up and down England, through Germany down to Italy, and even into Africa. He reached Spain when he came to a small village that had the latest news of the evil Priest. Salazar stayed in town a while, to hear the news, and collect all the information he could. It seemed it had only been a few months since the Priest left.
"He always wore a cross around his neck." Someone said.
"What's so surprising about that?" Spat Salazar.
"Well, it was always with him. We made gifts to him of more richly crosses, made of gold encrusted with gems, but he refused. It was an ugly, worn cross."
Salazar jotted this down mentally, before going on to the next meeting house when a cry of angry voices came from down the street. Salazar stopped dead in his tracks, looking at the group of people down the road.
They seemed to be angry, and shouting furiously, when the reason came into plain view. A woman was bound together, being forcefully lead by the angry mob. Salazar's eyes widened as he took in this scene. It was his mother, all over again...
Her clothes suggested she was a peasant, but her beauty surpassed even the Queen. Her long dark hair fell in sheets of silk. Her face resembled porclean, her eyes were two black pools of liquid midnight sky. She stumbled, as the crowd pushed her.
"Stop!" Salazar commanded, and surprisingly, they stopped. "What's wrong here?"
Someone in front spoke up who looked to be the head of this mob. "We caught ourselves an adultress and a theif. Seems she'd sleep her way into people's houses, and steal what they've got."
Salazar looked at the man, as if he was peering deep into his soul. The man backed away, a little scared.
"That's not why you want her dead." Salazar finally said. "You tried to seduce her with gifts of your wife's jewelry. She refused, and you're afriad she'll tell your wife."
The man's mouthed opened into a wide O, and fear shown in his eyes. Salazar lookd around the crowd, one by one, "You all tried to sleep with her! Some of you took her by force! Women, you're mad with envy!"
The girl in question staired transfixed at Salazar, not noticing the angry cries from the crowd soon shouted for the death of the intruder as well as hers. They began to move closer to Salazar when he brought a thin piece of wood from his robes, and pointed it at the crowd. Quite suddenly, every one began screaming, grasping at their clothes. They were all on fire!
"There, girl, now mar your apperance and find another place to live." Salazar took one final look at the girl, then began walking towards the edge of town.
Slowly, the girl began to follow him. Her hands were still bound, but she took no notice of them.
"I said leave!" Salazar said without turning around.
The girl kept following him. Salazar quickly turned around, now that they were on a road between a field and a forest.
"Are you daft, girl?" Salazar shouted. "I said--"
"I've seen you." Surprisingly the woman's voice wasn't soft or sweet, as Salazar thought it would be, but deep and warm, like honey.
"What?" Salazar tried to look angry, but the persistence of this woman intrigued him.
"I've had dreams for the past month. I've seen you, traveling the world...seraching, always seraching...but not for something...for someone..."
Salazar's cool front passed, as surprise took over his features. "How?"
"I come from a long line of witches and wizards, as you have. My true gift is sight, but I have no wand."
"But, the villagers...they wanted you dead because..." Salazar paused to collect his thoughts. "How come they didn't think you were a witch?"
"Humans can be blind." She smiled, a warm glow emmenating from her being. "My parents tried to put a charm on me before they died, but it turned out to be a curse. They wanted me to be beautiful, so everyone would like me and not mean harm to me...but men want beauty for different reasons." She paused, and memories of her life fled into view.
"I'm sorry." Salazar truly was sorry. If he wasn't on his own mission he'd head back to the village and curse them all for this strange creature. "I can drop you off at the next village and procure lodgings for you, but that's all."
"No, I'm going with you." She said, as if her word was law, and she had Salazar almost believe it.
"No, I don't rest, I'm on a search, as you've said."
"I've seen myself following you, traveling through countries and across seas. I'm going with you."
Salazar's fists balled up. He didn't want to share his victory of the Priest with another person. "Fine!" He finally shouted. "But I'm not here to pamper a woman's needs. You keep up." And with that he tapped his wand against the cords around her wrists, and they fell to the ground.
"Don't you wish to know my name?" She asked, trying to keep up with his quick strides.
"No!" He muttered, keeping his eyes strait on the road.
"It's Kalista." She said.
"I said "No."
"What people say and mean are two different things."
"I suppose that's another one of your gifts?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"You could say so."
* * *
The small pub was crowded with witches and wizards of every sort. The room was dark and dank, and smelled of rotting meat, but that didn't keep anyone from ordering a pint and a good meal. The torches on the wall cast eerie glows over the shady characters. No decent wizard would be seen anywhere near the Black Cauldron, nestled in the middle of Nocturn Alley.
"We're going in there?" Kalista asked, stopping in her tracks.
She had a hard enough time entering the dark alley, but to enter a building would be sofficating.
"I have a good lead on the man I'm looking for. If you wish you can stay here." Salazar said, his features determined.
Kalista clutched at her hands, arguing with herself. It had been a month of following this stranger, and she had no clue as to who he was than when she first met him. The only conversation he'd have with her were of Muggles and how they should be gotten rid of. No mention of his past was ever brought up.
"Ok." Kalista followed Salazar into the pub, and scrunched her nose and the fowl smells.
The people in the pub were huddled together, discussing something so important, they put a Mute charm around themselves. Others were alone, and staring evily at the two new cusotmers. Kalista kept her eyes on the back of Salazar's head. He made his way through the crowd, not noticing the dark glances shooting his way, or just choosing to ignore them. Kalista knew he was a very powerful wizard, but his looks didn't quite mirror his abilities.
"I must speak to the owner." Salazar said to the bar maiden.
She was rubbing the counter with a dirty rag, and looked up at Salazar. "What for?" She smiled.
"That is none of your business." Salazar replied.
"Well it is," The woman brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. "Seeing as I'm the owner."
"Do not play games with me, woman. It is of an urgent matter." Salazar's voice grew cold but seemed to have no affect on the woman.
"And I says to you, sir, that if it is important, put away your manly ideals, and follow me." The woman called to someone near by, who took her place rubbing down the counter while she untied her apron, and motioned for the two to follow her into the back of the pub. She opened a door and closed it behind them. She pulled her wand out of a pocket and started a fire.
The room was small with a wooden table in the center. A few stacks of chairs were against the wall, but with one flick of her wand, three chairs flew across the room, and were set up by the table.
"Have a seat. I'm Lizbeth, and I own the Black Cauldron. Me father gave it to me when he died." She looked real proud at procuring such a dirty establishment at the death of a close relation. "Me brother, Borris, tried to cheat me out of it, but he's no longer with us, is he?" She started to cackle, which sent shivers down Kalista's spine.
"Look, I need information." Salazar's voice was no longer emotionless, but was drenched in desperation. It seemed to sober Lizbeth up, for she stopped smiling.
"What is it you need?"
"I'm looking for a man...a man I thought was a Muggle but have recently discovered to be a warlock. Disguises himself as a Priest. Very power hungry." Salazar's eyes couldn't be seen in the darkness, but Kalista knew they were pleading for cooperation.
"I knows him." Lizbeth leaned back in her chair, looking as if she had a treasure hidden somewhere in the room and only she knew where it was.
"Well...who and where is he?" Salazar nearly shouted.
"What's it worth?" Lizbeth asked, now leaning closer to Salazar.
Salazar looked around the room, then rested his eyes on Kalista. "The girl."
Kalista's eyes opened wide at what she heard. Was Salazar actually trying to sell her to this woman? She thought of running out of the room, but her feet were glued to the floor, scared of what Salazar might do. She'd seen what he could do if things didn't go his way.
Lizbeth rested her eyes on Kalista, as if seeing her for the first time. She grabbed at the girls hair, and lifted her face to the fire light. Kalista shook her head away.
"She's beautiful, but I don't deal that way. Does she have any special magic?"
"She can see things, the future, the present."
Lizbeth sat pondering this, then said, "It's a deal." They shook hands, not noticing the tear streaming down Kalista's cheeks. "The man you're seeking is evil. He'd stop at nothing to get what he wants, that one. Name's Roddy, no one knows what it's short for, no one cares. Comes to the Alley every now and then, passed through here 'bout a month ago, won't expect him till next Fall." Lizbeth paused and magicked herself and Salazar a cup of some liquid that bubbled. Lizbeth took a drink and continued. "Masquerades as a Priest, worming his way into Muggle societies, acting as King. Keeps his wand in a wooden cross around his neck."
"Where did he say he was heading when you saw him last?" Salazar asked greedily.
"Didn't say." Lizbeth stood, motioning that the conversation was at an end and walked Salazar to the front of the pub.
He was standing outside the door, and turned around. "Take care of her." He handed Lizbeth a huge sack that jingled as he passed it to her.
"You love her, don't you?" Lizbeth asked, weighing the sack in her hands. Salazar looked offended. "Don't act like you don't, 'cause I knows you do. She'll be waiting here when you get back."
Salazar nodded a thanks to the woman, and began wakling away.
"Oh, that puts me in mind!" Lizbeth shouted after him.
Salazar turned around and looked curiously at Lizbeth.
"Someone was here just t'other day, asking the same questions, only he didn't sell his love to get the answers." Lizbeth began laughing, and closed the door.