Seven Came to Dinner

[Palustris]

Seven Came to Dinner

Chapter One.

Eddo was an honest man, though that really does not describe him properly at all. Eddo was a very honest man. Even that does not really describe him. Eddo could no more be dishonest or cheat than he could give up breathing. Strangely enough there are very few completely honest people in the world and many of them are shunned by family and neighbours for being that way. Eddo had something else, he could be totally honest without upsetting other people.

When his family realised this, they used to bring their disagreements and problems to him, knowing that he would sort things out fairly and honestly and gently but firmly. When his neighbours heard this they began to bring their disputes to be solved. Eddo found out the truth and gave his decisions. His fame spread across the country and soon anyone with a problem that needed an honest decision came to Eddo. Even the king asked for his advice. He became so well known that there was even a saying about him. Whenever there was a problem, people would say "Oh, use your Eddo."

Very often, all people had to do was to threaten to take a problem to him for the person in the wrong to admit it.

Some people did try to persuade Eddo to make decisions in their favour by promising him huge rewards or favours, but Eddo could not be bought. The ruler of the country in which he lived recognised the value of having such an honest man, so he gave Eddo a nice house and paid him a good wage. Eddo accepted, on condition that it did not mean he would decide in the king’s favour if the king was in the wrong. The King laughed and said "Whilst as king, I am never wrong, it is right and proper to have at least one honest person in the Kingdom." Eddo had bowed and accepted the King’s gift. Life was very pleasant and he and his wife settled down to raise a family.

One night Eddo was working very late on a particularly difficult problem, trying to find out the truth of an argument between two farmers as to who owned some puppies. His wife and the servants had all gone to bed, so, when there was a knock on the door, Eddo answered it himself. He was not surprised to be disturbed late like this; his fame was so great that even the local outlaws and robbers used his services. At the door was a cloaked figure with a large hat pulled down over its face.

"Can I help you?" asked Eddo

The figure did not speak, but pushed its way past Eddo and into the room where Eddo had been working. Eddo sighed and closed the door and followed the figure into the room. Just in case it was dangerous, Eddo sat behind his desk. The figure sat in the shadows at the other side of the room.

"You are Eddo?" The figure spoke in a deep voice with a peculiar accent that Eddo could not place,

"Yes, how can I be of service?"

"I am sent to you to by a group of people who need your help. They need a decision making that they cannot make themselves. It must be an honest decision." The way the figure spoke was very odd, almost like growling.

"I will try to help, if you can explain what is the problem," said Eddo.

The figure shook its head. "They must explain it to you themselves. I cannot. I am only a messenger. In three nights time you must send all your family and servants away. You must be in this house on your own. If there is anyone else here then these people will not come in and all of the world will suffer. This is important!"

Eddo nodded. It was a strange request, but there were people around who did not want to be seen together.

The figure carried on. "You will come to no harm. These people have taken an oath that they cannot break."

"That is good to know," smiled Eddo.

"You will serve Dinner for yourself and the seven people, but not one of them is to help in the food preparation. They trust you, but not each other. This is a purse of gold to pay for the food." The figure reached under its cloak and took out a purse.

"That is not needed, "said Eddo.

"You must take it," insisted the figure. "These people do not wish to owe you anything."

"Fair enough," replied Eddo, "But it will not make any difference to what I decide. I do insist though that your friends promise to abide by whatever decision I come to."

"They are no friends to me," growled the figure. "They have already agreed that they will accept your decision. May I tell them to come then?”

"Yes!" Eddo nodded. "I will have Dinner for eight ready at 7 o’ clock, three nights hence. I promise that no-one but my wife and servants will touch the food. They do not need to fear poisoning."

"No poison can harm these people, what they fear are magic potions."

"Then no magic potions will be added to the food," promised Eddo.

"Thank you. Now I must go." The figure stood.

Eddo lead the way to the front door. The figure seemed less tall now than when it had first come in and less upright. When Eddo opened the door, the figure almost knocked him over in its haste to get out. As it fled into the night, Eddo heard a faint growl. "Rrrrrememberrrr!" then it was gone. Eddo was almost certain that it got down on four legs to run away.

[ideasguy]

What an intriguing opening chapter, Eric
Lead on, please

[Palustris]

Chapter Two

On the night of the Dinner party Eddo’s wife and servants prepared the food and then left the house as requested. Mrs. Eddo was not too happy about leaving him alone with seven strangers, but Eddo kissed her and promised that he would be very careful. "After all," he smiled. "Who could possibly do anyone any harm after eating one of your delicious meals?" Mrs. Eddo had to be satisfied with that.

No sooner were they out of sight, when there was a knock at the Door. Eddo opened it.

"Not too early am I?" The visitor was female and dressed all in black.

"No, no, please do come in," said Eddo.

"The others are not here yet I see. I am always early. What a lovely room," she said as Eddo showed her into the Dining room.

"Oh, I suppose I had better introduce myself, Calizone," went on the woman. "Is there anything I can help with?"

"No thank- you," replied Eddo. "I was told that none of you were to have anything to do with getting the food ready."

"Very true, we do not want any nasty accidents with poison now do we?" As she spoke Calizone went round the table nervously, it seemed to Eddo, rearranging the cutlery. "There," she said. "That's better. The others will be here soon. I am sure I saw them in the sky as I came in."

Before Eddo could ask her what she meant by ‘in the sky’, there was a loud knock on the door. Eddo went to answer. There were three women there, dressed all in black like Calizone. They nodded to Eddo and allowed themselves to be led into the Dining room.

"She been here long?" one of them asked suspiciously.

"Only a minute or two," laughed Calizone, before Eddo could answer. "Only had time to tell him my name. Shall I introduce you?"

"We’ll do it ourselves,” sniffed the one who had spoken. She turned to Eddo. “I am Anigore."

Eddo bowed.

"And I am Magrib," said the second.

Eddo bowed.

"My name is Sharon," said the third very fiercely.

Eddo bowed and kept a straight face.

The three newcomers went and sat down. Eddo did not have time to say anything when there was a thunderous knocking on the door.

"That will be the others," remarked Sharon. "They were just behind us."

Sure enough when Eddo open the door there were three more black clad women on the door step. They came in.

"Jecks," said the first as she went into the Dining room.

Eddo bowed.

"Athaga," said the second.

Eddo bowed.

"Tracy," snarled the final woman.

Eddo bowed.

"Shall we dine and then get down to business," he said. "The food is good and hot and it would be a shame to let it spoil."

They sat down and Eddo poured each a glass of wine. The meal began. Eddo found it rather odd. The women looked suspiciously at every dish and did not begin to eat until Eddo himself had tasted his. He wondered why they were so terrified of being poisoned.

Once the meal was over, Eddo had cleared the dishes and sat down at the table again. "Well, now ladies shall we begin?"

There was a few minutes silence as the women sat and looked at each other waiting for one of the others to begin.

"This is silly," said Calizone. "We could sit here all night waiting for each other. As the youngest, I will explain, OK?"

The other six nodded.

"What you see before you, Eddo, are seven witches.”

Eddo suddenly felt very nervous. It must have shown in his face, as Calizone laughed and said, "Do not be alarmed, we have sworn on Cauldron and Broom that no harm will come to you or yours for what happens here tonight. And believe me, the breaking of that oath is impossible for a witch to do."

Eddo smiled in gratitude and relief.

Calizone carried on. "As you probably know, at present there is no Witch of the Dark Forest."

"I had heard. Something to do with a cat and a spell going wrong I believe," Eddo nodded.

"Something like that. Now, each of us here would very much like to be the next Witch of the Dark Forest and to put it simply, we would like you to decide which one of us it should be," Calizone finished.

The others nodded.

Eddo did not know what to say for a moment. "Let me get this straight, you want me to choose the next Witch?

All seven witches nodded.

"But why does there have to be a Witch?" Eddo wanted to know.

This time, it was Athaga who answered. "There has to be a Witch. Have you not noticed that children are getting more and more badly behaved? Parents cannot say ‘Behave yourselves or the Wicked Witch will get you’ when there is no Witch."

Sharon added, "And have you not noticed that the story tellers have stopped making up new stories? That always happens when there is no Witch in the Forest.

Tracy piped up. "And how do people know how good someone is without someone bad to compare them too?"

Calizone grinned, "Besides, which is worse, seven witches all trying to beat the others at being bad, or one witch on her own?"

"We have given our promise that the ones not chosen will leave the Seven kingdoms forever," sniffed Magrib.

Eddo could see that one Witch would be slightly less of a problem than seven.

"You MUST choose one of us and you must choose the one who is the most wicked of us, too!" said Jecks.

That really made Eddo sit up. "The most wicked one? But what is to stop me choosing the least wicked?"

"Nothing at all, except that we have asked you to choose the most evil and if you are as honest as they say you are, then that is what you must do. Anything else would be dishonest." Magrib spoke this time.

Eddo had to admit they were right. It was an awful thing, but if he was to stay honest he had to do what he was asked to do. "But how am I to know which witch is the most evil?"

Calizone answered, "We will tell you the worst thing we have ever done and leave you to decide. Magrib as the eldest will go first, then down the ages until it is my turn as the youngest. Agreed sisters?"

The other six nodded.

Eddo had little choice but to agree. He sat back in his chair and prepared to listen to seven tales of evil.

Calizone leant over and whispered. "Do not worry we are not that evil............yet."

[Palustris]

Chapter Three

 Magrib coughed nervously and sniffed before beginning. "The village where I used to live is up in the hills above the River. The people up there are much the same as people anywhere, greedy, not very bright and very, very dull. They are pig farmers, by the way. The only time they do anything other than exist is once a year, when they have what they call Hog Day. That is when they slaughter all the pigs, except for one boar and the breeding sows. When they have finished they have a grand feast where they gorge themselves stupid on pork and drink as much cider as they can hold. The worst part of it is that they never invite me. So, last year, I went anyway. Not one piece of meat was I offered and not one drink of cider. So, I turned the lot of them into the pigs they behaved like and left. As far as I know, they are still up there grubbing around in the dirt, eating everything in sight, to get fatter and fatter. Pigs they are and pigs they can stay until the spell is broken. Or, until next Hog Day when the next village along is planning to go and turn all the pigs they can find into ham and sausages. She sniffed and sat down.

Eddo shuddered.

Jecks was next. "If you journey to the north of here you come to the Ice fields. It can be very cold there, but I like it. There is a tribe of people who live up there. They keep out of my way and I usually keep out of theirs. However, one day, this spring, they had the cheek to drive their herd of reindeer through my ice garden. The whole thing was ruined. Worst of all the stupid animals trampled through my cottage and put out my fire. Now as you might realise, the only reason anyone can live up there is because of fire. I was furious, but they just laughed. So I cast a spell, which put out all their fires too and stops any fire they ever start from burning. They have been living on cold food ever since. Cold they are and cold they can stay, until the spell is broken. Or, until winter starts in a few weeks time and they freeze to death."

Eddo shivered.

Athaga took Jecks’ place. "I live to the South, where the green lands of the Seven Kingdoms give way to sand. It is nice and warm, though some find it too hot. The people who live there know their way around and where to find water and where there is water there are things to eat. Usually, they stay away from me and I stay away from them. I spend a lot of my time doing the most wonderful sand sculptures. This last autumn, they decided to hold their annual camel races right across one of my latest works. And they laughed when I protested. So, since the Sand is hot, I made it even hotter for them. Everywhere they go now, the water dries up. They have been trying to cool off ever since. Thirsty they are and thirsty they will stay, until the spell is broken. Or until summer comes and the Sand country is too hot for people, then they will melt."

Eddo gasped.

Anigore was next. "I live up on the Moors. On a clear day you can see right to the edge of the Seven Kingdoms. I love the open spaces where my sheep can wander as far as they please. The people down in the valleys are farmers. They usually do not bother me and I do not bother them, often. Last spring one village decided that they need more land, so they came up on to my moors and began to build walls and clear the bracken and gorse. Then they ploughed the moors. They laughed when I protested that their walls stopped my sheep from finding food. So since farmers need water to grow their crops, I gave them water. It has not stopped raining on them since then. Wet they are and wet they will stay until the spell is broken. Or, until the winter when the rain turns to snow and they find themselves buried in deep cold drifts."

Eddo went cold.

Sharon rose from her seat. "I live in the Mountains, The air is so clean and fresh and good you can almost live on it. The lower slopes are covered in beautiful pine forests but my place is the highest peak. The folks who live on the Mountains are mostly woodsmen. They cut down trees for the people in the Valleys. One day last summer, they discovered that they could make more money by turning the trees into charcoal. So, my beautiful clean air was turned into smoke as they cut down the trees and burned them. They would not listen to me, so, as they seem so fond of fires, I made it so that every thing they touch burns to a cinder. Fires they started and fires they will get until the spell is broken. Or until winter comes and the fires they start will melt the snow and they will be buried under avalanches."

Eddo choked.

Tracy began her story. "My home is in the town, just a short distance away from here. I had a shop selling spells and potions. To buy the shop I had to borrow the money from the rich men of the town. The silly people of the town did not buy my spells, so the rich men took my shop away from me. They boasted that everything they touched turned to gold. I put a spell on them, but since they love gold so much, my spell was different. Now everything they touch turns to stone even their precious gold. Stony hearted they are and stone things will stay until the spell is broken. Or, until Counting Day, when they have to personally give the king his due. If they cannot pay they have their hands chopped off!"

Eddo swallowed nervously.

Finally, it was the turn of Calizone to leave her chair and step forward. She smiled at Eddo and then at the other Witches, "You know, there is no possible way in which I can compete with my sisters. I am too young to have done anything as bad as these have done, so I did this instead." She snapped her fingers. There was a flash of bright blue light that made Eddo sit back and blink. When his eyes cleared he could no longer see all the witches, only Calizone still stood in front of him.

He jumped to his feet. "What have you done?"

"Relax, you are safe. Remember the promise I made. No harm can come to you or yours." Calizone was busy now going from chair to chair. She had a large black bag. She picked something up from each chair where the other six witches had been sitting and dropped it gently into the bag. When she had finished she came to stand in front of Eddo. "There you are!" She opened the bag and Eddo looked in. Looking back out at him were six large and very ugly toads.

Calizone then carefully closed the bag and put it on the floor next to her chair. She sat down and smiled at Eddo. "Now I really think that you do not need to decide who is to be Witch of the Dark Forest, do you? After all, there is only me left, now. A toad cannot expect to become such an important figure, now can it?"

"That is wicked," said Eddo. "You promised that no harm would come to them either."

"True and no harm has come to them. They have not been hurt, just altered." Calizone sounded very pleased with herself.

"I thought that Spells would not work on Witches," Eddo was still rather shocked at what had happened.

"True, they cannot, but they can be harmed by a Magic potion, if one can get them to swallow it."

Eddo shook his head. "But you did not touch the food so how did you get them to swallow anything?"

Calizone laughed. "I did not need to, but I did touch the cutlery. The potion was on the soup spoons."

"If you knew you were going do this, then why did I have to sit through all those awful stories of wickedness? You could have spared me that."

"Not easily, the potion had to have time to work. If I had made it stronger they would have been able to taste it. I was just beginning to wonder if it was going to work myself."

Eddo shook his head, he still was rather confused. "I still do not understand how you can change the others into toads, without breaking your promise."

Calizone sighed. "It is easy really. You know that when a witch’s spell is undone, it hurts her rather a lot?"

Eddo nodded.

"Well, if you are as honest a man as everyone says you are, then you are going to rush off and try and undo all those spells."

Eddo nodded.

"I thought you might, so I am saving them from being hurt. A toad does not feel anywhere near as much pain as a human being." Calizone rubbed her hands together. "And in any case they will not stay toads forever. If anything should happen to me or when I die, they will all turn back into themselves again. Mark, I do not intend to let anything happen to me and I am going to try to live for a very, very long time." She stood up and picked up the bag of toads. "And now you really must forgive me, but I have a Cottage to see to."

Eddo still had a few questions to ask. "But how do I undo those awful spells?"

Calizone added. "Remember that there is always a clue somewhere to help you. And thank-you for the delicious Dinner."

Eddo looked doubtful.

Calizone stopped at the door. "I am sure if you think hard enough about it you will find a way to cancel them out."

Then she was gone.

[Palustris]

Chapter Four

Next morning Eddo sat in his study trying to think through what the witches had said, that might help him undo the spells. He had to find a solution quickly, Counting Day was very close. He sat and scratched his head, he could not think of anything.

His wife brought him his morning coffee. "You look very worried," she said.

He explained the problem to her.

"When I am stuck for something to make for Dinner, I write down all the things I have in the cupboard and see if anything suggests itself," she said.

Eddo thought that was a very good idea. He wrote down the spells, as the witches had told them to him.


pigs eating everything,
no fire
no water
too much water
too much fire
turn everything to stone.

No matter how often he read it, nothing occurred. He sat flapping the piece of paper in front of his eyes to cool his brain. As he did, the words ‘no water...too much water were the only ones he could read. As he read them, Calizone’s last words flashed into his mind, ‘Cancel them out’.

"Of course, that’s it." He rearranged the spells and came up with this list

no fire-too much fire

no water-too much water

pigs eating everything-everything turned to stone

The last one worried him. He could not see how one could cancel out the other, but as he had very little time left he had to take the risk.

He went into the nearby town and called the business men to a meeting. Since it was Eddo who had sent for them and as they were desperate, they all turned up. They looked very sorry for themselves. All of them were wearing thick leather gloves. As one explained, this was the only way they could avoid touching things.

Eddo explained his idea. He finished with. "Since it would be impossible to bring the pigs here, you must go to their village."

The business men were very doubtful and on the point of turning Eddo down, until he remarked. "Of course you could stay here until Counting Day. I believe the punishment for not personally handing over your taxes to the King is having ones hands cut off, is it not? And I am sure he will not want a lot of stones."

After that there was little else they could do. They ordered their coaches to be got ready and set off for the hills. Since the poor men could not touch food without it turning to stone, they had to bring their servants along with them. Since they were not sure it was going to work, the business men’s wives came along too. Since their mothers were going off on an exciting trip, their children insisted on coming too. If it had not been for the witches spell, it could have been quite an enjoyable day out.

When they reached the village, Eddo organised the servants, women and children into parties and all the pigs were herded into the centre of the village. The pigs were extremely fat and they had eaten almost every thing that could be eaten.

"Now," ordered Eddo. "Business men, remove your gloves and start turning everything to stone, except the pigs of course."

The business men started. They found it easier to crawl along on their hands and knees, than to bend down and touch things. Their children found it hysterically funny to see their fathers crawling along nose to nose with a herd of extremely fat pigs. However, very soon there was almost nothing left for the pigs except stone. The richest business man turned the last piece of mud to rock. For a minute nothing happened, then there was a flash of flight and the pigs disappeared. In their place was a crowd of rather shamefaced people. Eddo handed one of the businessmen a handkerchief. Gingerly he took it. It stayed cloth. He wiped his face.

Far away in the Dark Forest, Calizone smiled as she heard two toads squeal in pain. She took the two out of their cage and gently patted each on the head. A tiny spark seemed to pass from them to her. Then she gently put them outside the door.

Eddo was very relieved. He left the celebrating businessmen and villagers and headed off to find the villagers who were suffering from non-stop rain. It was not hard. He could see the cloud from a distance. He entered the village and was immediately soaked to the skin. The Villagers came rushing up and handed him an umbrella. They had heard of him before and so it was easy to get them all together to explain his idea. They readily agreed to go with him to the Dry lands.

It was a very odd procession that made its way down from the hills. The sun shone everywhere, except on the travellers. The roads they used soon turned to mud as they went along. If anyone except Eddo left the group, a small cloud detached itself from the main one and continued to drop water on the unfortunate person. Eddo was very glad when they reached the edge of the Dry Lands. He left the rained-on group and went looking for the people who needed the water. It did not take long. Again, it was fortunate that Eddo was known to these people. It did not take much persuasion for these normally shy people to come to the edge of the dry lands. They were very thirsty.

Eddo warned the two groups to stay apart for the moment. He suggested that before they stopped the rain making spell, the Dry-landers should take a Rain maker to the places where there was normally a spring or a lake. This was done and Eddo went to watch as one group of rain-makers stood by a dried up pool. The Dry-landers danced and sang as the rain quickly filled up the hole in the ground.

When there was water back everywhere where it used to be, the Dry-landers went to stand next to a Rain-maker. For a minute the two groups mingled, then there was a flash of light and the rain stopped. The Rain-makers looked very relieved, but many of the Dry-landers looked a bit disappointed. They had been enjoying the shower! Not that it mattered, very soon, a group of Dry-land children was gleefully swimming in a newly filled lake, while the ex-rain-makers were sitting on the shore enjoying the sunshine.

Back in the Dark Forest, Calizone smiled as two more toads squealed in pain. She took the two out of their cage and gently patted each on the head. A tiny spark seemed to pass from them to her. Then she gently put them outside the door.

Once again, Eddo did not stop for the celebrations. He set off for the Mountains, to find the Charcoal makers. It was not hard. All he had to do was follow the smell of burning. He found them huddled in their village surrounded by ashes. Fortunately, their houses were made of stone, but everything in them that could burn had been burnt. They were extremely glad to see Eddo. There was no difficulty in persuading them to go with him to the frozen north lands.

It was not the easiest of journeys. They had to avoid anything that might burn. It got even harder when they reached the Northlands as the frozen ground began to melt. Soon they could go no farther. The land turned to mush and mud. Eddo left the Charcoal makers and went on alone to find the people of the Ice Fields. It did not take long. Eddo found them huddled together trying to keep warm. They were only too willing to follow him to where the Charcoal burners sat in a patch of hot mud. The Ice Field people rushed across and hugged a Charcoal maker. Eddo could see the pleasure on their faces as they felt the heat. Then, there was a flash of light and the fires on the mud went out.

Back in the Dark Forest, Calizone gave a smile as the last two toads squealed in pain. She took the two out of their cage and gently patted each on the head. A tiny spark seemed to pass from them to her. Then she gently put them outside the door.

The Ice Field people looked rather sad when the fires went out, but they soon cheered up when they discovered that they could at least get things to burn. The Charcoal makers were equally pleased not to set fire to everything in sight.

Eddo left them to their celebrations. He was tired and ready to go home.

Back in the Dark Forest, Calizone smiled and stroked the large ginger cat which was sat on the table. "Don’t worry, I won’t turn you into a messenger again."

It purred.

"You know it is really going to take some getting used to, being six times as strong as I was. I wonder if Eddo realises just how much power he has given me?"

The cat purred and washed its front paws.

"No? I thought not." Calizone whirled round the room. "Oh I AM going to have some fun now."


THE END

[ideasguy]

Well thought out Eric!
I have to say I was worried for the people under those terrible spells!
Eddo is quite a hero.

I hope they all lived happily ever after without ever upsetting Calizone.

I admire how you sow notions early in the story which "germinate" later in the story