One to See, One to Speak, One to Listen

Contains gore and horror some readers may find disturbing. Rated 14+

Author's Intro: This story is meant to revive the Gothic literature so famously crafted by one of my favourite writer's, Edgar Allen Poe, and as such, the language and style is deliberately antiquated. Thank you for reading my all time favourite work of horror - Les

***

There had been a time when such was the grim renown of the cabin in the clearing which stood on chicken's feet that the mere mention of the owner's name served to deter all but the damned from entering her woods.

Alas, the grasp of modernity is ever unyielding. Progress must march onwards and so, grain by grain, the sands of infamy slipped into lore, and the shroud of motherly wisdom became entombed instead into a children's parable.

As for my involvement in the affair, the ingress of my induction trickled forward as it so often does from the utmost innocuous of beginnings.

As an historian of children's literature, I had been tasked with unravelling the origin of a beloved fairy tale. Tracing the source of the story had led me deep into the Bohemian Forest along the German-Czech Republic frontier and onto the doorstep of the lonely cabin where I had borne unwilling witness to an ancient ritual.

Now, as I stood upon the brink of dissociation, I could do naught but beg for absolution before falling into the madness of allegory.

It had all been for her.

It had always been for her.

It will always be for her.

It is done.

From within the depths of the decrepit den, in the luminescence of a lone candle, a delicate figure in white drew her last breath before her age of innocence was lost forever to eternal shadow.

*

It had arrived one week earlier.

C.O. The Department of English, Glasgow University

June 30, 1922

Dear Dr. Danica Moravek,

You may have read in recent headlines that yet another child has gone missing — this time one Anicka Rose, aged six years old. It is the third disappearance of a child in the past three months, and, as may be assumed, parents are demanding answers.

Additionally, three American tourists have also been reported missing. With regret, we have been unable to provide anyone with sufficient explanations.

As one of the foremost experts in philology, we implore you to help us.

We can offer you a substantial reward, as well as train fare and accommodations. Our precinct is located near the hamlet of Boží čes. Bring whatever you require; local supplies may be limited.

If it were not urgent, we would not deign to disturb your work. However, we regard you as the singular person who can dispel the vicious superstitions, which have driven some residents to violence.

The villagers believe Baba Yaga has returned.

Most humbly yours,

Sgt. Brazda of the Československá Armáda

The cheery voice of the steward and his refreshment trolley interrupted my musings. I accepted the soothing cup of tea and sipped it as best I could manage on the lurching train, tucking the letter back into the safety of its dirty envelope which had been left to me on my doorstep in the dead of night the previous evening.

It was curious to think why this particular story should be suddenly thrust under my magnifying glass. Yet, given my personal history with it, I was not sure why it had not entered my mind previously to dissect it.

I had spent many a night curled in my mother's lap enraptured by the peculiar description of the bony-legged woman whose cabin was surrounded by a fence of skulls.

With a skittish half smile, I remembered listening to the queer detail of Baba Yaga's comical, chicken-legged hut and being frightened by the description of the old woman who, when not eating humans — particularly naughty children — travelled the world with Death himself in an iron kettle so that her ravenous hunger could consume the souls of newly-dead sinners.

But the smile vanished when I recalled what followed the first time she had recounted the fairy tale. Upon crying over the unfairness of children being eaten simply because they were naughty, my mother was quick to admonish me:

"Fairy tales are rarely fair, nor do they have happy endings, and more often than not, they have sad beginnings. Do not dismiss the plight of Baba Yaga, who was nothing more than a woman forced to live off the land, banished to the woods for only God knows why."

The thought of what my mother, Zdenka, would think of me taking this journey if she had still been alive to accompany me crossed my mind. It was approaching a year since she had passed, yet her voice was as clear in my memory as if we had spoken yesterday.

Once more I pondered the sergeant's bizarre request.

Why had it been assumed I was the woman to call upon when literary hysteria had taken root?

The dubious reason the unknown postman did not wish to accompany me was troubling. Regardless, I was determined to help if it were possible, and had immediately packed my bags, books and boots before boarding the next available train.

I flipped open the file folder and began reading the diary inside. It was un-dated, yet plainly an antique. I moved each page with gloved fingers as delicately as if feeding a hummingbird.

Dearest sister,

Joseph hath lain with me in the cabin a month ago. Though he pledged me his troth, I awoke to find him absconded — with both my maidenhead and my meagre purse.

I know not what I shall do now. Father hath turned a blind eye to my suffering. He cares not that I was lured into sin.

I have nowhere to hide, nothing to eat, and my future feels bleak as the coming winter. The child and I shall surely starve.

Ever thine, Eleonora

*

Blindfold removed, I took in my surroundings. My breathing was ragged waves. The ancient trees pressed in around me, their clapping leaves imitating jeering spectators at a mediæval beheading.

I stood in the darkened woods, dressed in nothing, my bare body exposed for all to see, hands bound and mouth gagged; whatever freedoms I had assumed could never be stripped of me had vanished when they removed my clothes.

Next to me, my fellow kidnapped victims, also naked, were arranged in a lineup: a middle-aged man, a young blonde woman, and a matriarch. Each had been dragged into the woods on a leash blindfolded as I had been. Each was taking in the scenery as I was.

I had no idea who they were or why any of us had been included in this depraved gathering, but I soon discovered the aberrant reason.

"One to see, one to speak, one to listen. Forever hungry."

The eerie refrain of the villagers as they had paraded us to the cabin in the woods echoed in my mind, reverberating inside me in increasing pandemonium.

I wanted the words to stop.

But I dreaded the silence.

The middle-aged man was first to be pulled forwards. Though he dug in his heels, his writhing body was placed upon the altar in front of the cabin and tied down. From inside the darkened doorway strode a figure hooded in a blood-red cape.

Two of the villagers lashed a rope around the man's neck and pulled it taut. I averted my gaze, but the person holding my leash wrenched my head forwards again.

Then, as abruptly as it had begun, the strangling ceased and the hooded figure, the witch, picked up a rusty, grime encrusted farrier's pick, forced it into the man's eye sockets and scooped.

I remember the distinct squelching sound of their removal.

The man revived and above his gagged screams the witch addressed her audience:

"Eyes that see but choose to look away, eyes that care not for their fellow-creatures; we have seen your soul and your eyes belong to us."

I had not noticed it before, but adjacent to the witch sat a large, black dog. The witch discharged the eyeballs to him, and he snapped up the viscous treat with relish.

Bile rose into my mouth; the diary's sorrowful words about the father figure had rung true.

When the witch carved into the man's abdomen with the knife, the sloshing rip of the loosened bowels was almost as repugnant as the smell. The entrails landed on the ground with a steaming splatter which seemed to echo endlessly.

Both women muted their futile wailing after the dog devoured the eyeballs. I remained dry-eyed, as angry and unforgiving as Montresor leading Fortunato to the catacombs.

There had to be a way out of this predicament.

*

Dearest sister,

It is not true! Yes, I did goeth to the crone's den in the hope of a medick. However, once there, the decision was made for me, and I lost the babe to natural causes. I stayed on with Agnes for the length of time required to heal and determine a way to earn my pittance — a seamstress my intended pursuit. But, alas! My reputation hath been further ruined by rumours from my former neighbour's daughter. Reluctance to employ me hath turned to refusal.

Ever thine, Eleonora

*

The young blonde was bowed to the altar from her feeble hiding place behind the elder woman. Plump and beautiful, cutting down something so pure was a sin. But, perhaps, I thought, that was the point.

The villagers once more took up their erie refrain,

"One to see, one to speak, one to listen. Forever hungry."

Upon removing her noose, they crowded around the altar, each taking their turn to force-feed the victim's mouth with bits of the forest floor. The blonde's limbs lay listless in their restraints as the leaves and detritus were wedged into her mouth, but she twitched in her bonds when her larynx was torn from her throat with a filleting knife.

The witch raised her knife for a second time and modified her earlier proclamation:

"Voice that chooses to speak falsehoods, voice that cares not for their fellow-creatures; we have seen your soul and your voice belongs to us."

When the instrument pierced her innards, it was hard to tell if the strangulation had been more effective for her than the man since she had no voice left with which to scream. The blonde’s intestines joined the man's with a repulsive spatter; her larynx, the witch fed to the salivating, black hound at her side.

*

Dear friend,

Agnes hath been summoned to join me on trial, and I am sick with grief that this most kind and generous soul is to share my fate. The biddies in the village condemn me with the vilest words imaginable. None are willing to listen to my plight. None are willing to believe the truth. I cannot bring myself to pray for God's mercy on my behalf or theirs.

God hath closed His ears.

Agnes, lo! I hear the horse steps and the squeaking wheels of the jail cart come to carry us to our deaths. My hand trembles as I write. Will no one defend me? Have I not always been a godly and obedient daughter and friend? Am I to die on a pyre for a sin I did not intend to commit and another which, even hath I commited it, should not be a sin?

They are here.

Fare-thee-well, friend.

*

The old woman moved with a level of decorum which surprised me for it cloaked her nudity in grandeur. Her stoic ascent to the altar was under her own strength.

"One to see, one to speak, one to listen. Forever hungry."

When she slipped on her counterparts' entrails, however, her composure crumbled like a dried leaf, and the old woman flung herself onto the witch's robes in a desperate bid for salvation.

The witch's countenance remained concealed, so it was with some assumption on my part that I concluded the nod given to her hangmen implied the witch would reward her victim's earlier courage — or status as an elder — by strangling her to the point of death before moving on to sweeter meats.

The strangling concluded with greater haste. The witch raised a cleaver.

Said the witch:

"Ears that choose to ignore the truth, ears that care not for their fellow-creatures; we have seen your soul and your ears belong to us."

When the old woman's ears were sliced off and fed to the dog, the victim stirred not a muscle, nor when her bowels were drained onto the steaming pile at the witch's feet. It appeared I was fortunately correct in my earlier summation and peace was already upon her.

I shall not die on their terms. I have wriggled free of the knots.

*

Dearest Eleonora,

My heart is sick with the loss of mine only sister. Worse still, my time of lying in has begun early. I am forever alone in the dark. I long for thy company with an unending ache in my bosom; only my tears and thy words printed here have I to keep me company and mark the day's passage.

If I had known my soul would perish when thy body burnt to ash on the pyre, I would have climbed upon it whither thou stood. I no longer believe in God's mercy or justice and I have made my wishes knownst to Lucifer. When my child is born, we shall come and find thee.

Together, vengeance shall be ours.

Your loving sister, Madeleine

*

One of the villagers yanked me forwards by the leash around my neck, and I dropped before the witch on my knees. I shut my eyes, not in prayer but to keep them from noticing I was no longer afraid.

They may have taken my clothes; they would never take my dignity.

Someone slapped my bare back with a switch, and my eyes sprang open. The pain cut through me, yet I kept my resolve as sharp as the blade I had managed to collect from one of my captors and conceal between my thighs.

I had only one card to play and I was not too proud to beg for the life of my unborn child. Cupping my barely burgeoning belly, I blurted out my secret,

Their reply was swift and immoveable.

"It matters not...it matters not...it matters not..."

I laughed with mirth at their lack of compassion. It was the height of irony that the disclosure of my pregnancy and pleas for mercy should fall on deaf ears!

They repeated their new chant, placing their arms round each other and swaying in a circle surrounding the witch and I. For the first time, I wondered if their pupils were dilated from more than the darkness.

The tightening circle was a fortunate misstep on their part. No longer did I perceive the single possibility of ending my life and my child's on our terms; I newly determined I might have an opportunity to bring the witch down to hell with me.

Carpe diem.

My lunge took the witch by surprise, and I stabbed her in the side. But the witch reacted as though I had tapped her with a feather. She extracted the knife like it were some pesky insect, cast it aside, and cackled. Looking up into the cavity under her hood from my place at her feet, I could have sworn she was smiling at me.

Using the last of my strength, I scrambled forward and retrieved the blade from where it had fallen. I levelled the point to my throat, but the acolytes arrested my hands before I could release my vein. Two days starvation had taken its toll and I was too fatigued to try again. My body and mind could not agree upon defeat, however, and I seethed with acrimony. It was at that moment of despair I shared the briefest of conversation with the witch over the thrumming din.

It is essential that I record it here for you, dear friend, word by word:

"You were not brought to me to die, nor was your child. But you may not ever leave the forest again."

"Then that is still a punishment. There is no honour in your pardon."

"Fairytales are rarely fair, Danica."

My stomach dropped to my knees. That sentiment was so familiar.

Too familiar.

Though she did not need to, the witch threw back her hood to reveal her face. The confirmation that Zdenka, my once loving and gentle mother, had played hostess to this morbid ritual was the final grain of sand, and the tears I had been holding at bay slid down my face like a torrent of rain.

Before I could make further inquiries, my mother gestured over my shoulders to several figures in black that had previously been hidden in the shadows. Zdenka waved her arm, and I recognized the visage of the young Anicka, whose disappearance had first brought me to these evil woods, when she tottered forth with a chalice.

My apprehension did not succeed against my dehydration.

I drank the bitter liquid dry.

Once the last drop was drunk, Zdenka took my hands with an icy cold grip and kissed my cheek with frozen lips:

"Madeleine was your great, great, great, great grandmother, my child. I have reached my 100th year. My time has ended."

"Will I be permitted to raise my daughter? I am assuming it will be a daughter."

"Yes, after you sleep. But first, you must sleep."

We had reached the end of all words, and to my utmost terror a flash of comprehension dawned on me.

What most outsiders have neglected in translation, what I decided not to inform you of earlier, dear friend, is that Baba Yaga is a triad of women by the same name. She is the crone, the mother and the maiden.

Within my body, I tingled from head to toe with a cool chill, as though the breeze off the mountain sought to burrow through my veins. My sight grew dim, and I collapsed onto the earth.

Sometime later, an unknown person's hands bathed me, dressed me in a white, cotton gown and laid me to rest in a bed. I heard the striking of the match and glimpsed the faint flame of the candle, which had been lit in the window next to me. The last sensation I remembered was a gentle caress along my suddenly swollen abdomen, and the placement of this journal and pen in my folded arms.

Then the cabin rose up onto its chicken feet and strutted off into the night.

*~Woe betide any lost mortal who follows the candle's light to our cabin. The Baba Yaga sleep lightly, and we are always hungry.~*

--end of contest entry--

With gracious thanks to Madoka Mori and Caroline Jane for flanking me in the 11th hour so that this dark story could see the light of your computer screen. Attached are their entries; I highly recommend reading both stories next!