CHAPTER 43: THE WOMAN IN WHITE’S STORY
By the timethe spirit faded, Moki had emerged from her house. She was wearing a bathrobe and a nightcap, and she hurried over to our tent.
“Why didn’t you help us?” Reggie asked, glaring at her.
“My magic doesn’t work on spirits. They’re drawn to me because of the power I possess, but I can’t defend myself from them. I’m not agile enough to attack them with silver. And trust me, I would have only been in the way.” She frowned, then added, “I am sorry about that, though. This is why I stay inside at night, when the spirits are strongest. They inhabit the marshlands during the day as well, but their power is weakened in daylight and I can usually avoid them.”
It was at that point that I noticed she was wearing numerous silver chains around her neck, most likely to ward off ghosts.
“What was that spirit?” I asked. “I know you said she was the Woman in White, but what’s her story? And did we destroy her?”
“Come inside, I’ll allow you to spend the rest of the night on my floor.” Moki turned, motioning for us to follow her back into the house.
We left the tent, but gathered the rest of our things and trudged back into the house. As we settled ourselves on the floor, Moki sat down near us.
“Once, long ago, when this marsh was smaller and less deadly, there were other people who lived out here. I knew a nearby family: a father, mother, and four children. The mother, Alecia, absolutely doted on her family, especially the children. She also took care of other families’ children when they had to go out to gather food and hunt, and they paid for her services in merchandise. It was a small trading community, and we all thrived until the sickness came.”
“Sickness?” Brynn asked.
“A mage settled into the village, but he had no one’s interests at heart except his own. He made everyone uneasy, and with good reason. What no one knew at that point was that he followed a god of pestilence, and he specialized in magic causing illnesses and disease.” Moki grimaced.
“Did you know him?” Thornhold asked.
“I did,” Moki said. “I warned some of the villagers that they might want to move him along, but they ignored me. I made them nervous, and they didn’t want to hear what I had to say. So they let him stay, and as winter came on, some of the children became sick. I offered my services as an herbalist, but I couldn’t seem to fight the diseases they were contracting. And I noticed that the children falling sick belonged to the families that the mage didn’t seem to like.”
“You mean he was deliberately hurting the children?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yes, he was taking out his anger on them. But those dolts didn’t want to see it. Once again, I tried to warn them, and one night I woke up to find my house on fire. I managed to extinguish the flames, but I knew then that if I saidanything more, I’d be the next target. So I kept my mouth shut, and I just observed.”
“Why do you think he settled here?” I asked.
“He was able to con the villagers out of a lot of their goods, as well as some services that he needed done. He promised to protect the village, but in reality he was the biggest threat to our safety.” She sighed.
“How does that tie in with the Woman in White?” Ray asked.
“I’m not sure what happened, but Alecia’s family fell out of favor with the mage. And one by one, her children began to fall ill. It ripped at her heart, and I warned her again, but she was too distressed to pay attention. Her children died, all within a month that winter. She began looking after a number of the other children in the village, but a lot of them were dying. As she frantically tried to save each child, it sucked a little more of her life away. And then she grew ill with the same illness the children had.”
“I assume she died?” Reggie asked.
Moki nodded. “I tried to treat her, but nothing I could do helped. The illness was created by magic, and it couldn’t be stopped by any herbal treatment. When Alecia died, it was as if the heart of the village had died. A lot of people had already moved away because they were so afraid of what was happening. The mage couldn’t prevent them packing up and moving out.”
“And she became a spirit?” Brynn asked.
“Shortly after Alecia died, people began seeing a Woman in White around the village. She seemed fixated on the children, but they avoided her. She never tried to hurt them, but then she began following adults as well. She would reach for them as if she thought they were her own.”
“That’s creepy,” I said.
Moki nodded. “Yes, it was. Once in a while someone would turn up dead, drained of their energy. Then, one night,everybody in the village heard the mage screaming. Nobody hurried over to make sure he was okay, but I decided to check. I walked past his house. Through the windows, I saw the Woman in White pulling him into her embrace, holding him so tight he couldn’t get free. As I watched, her ghostly fingers sank into his head and his back, and I realized she was draining him. I’ll admit, I did nothing to stop it. He had killed so many people, and now fate was delivering him into the hands of justice.”
She stopped, sighing again. “And that was pretty much the end of the village. The few families that had stayed moved away; the houses slipped into the swamp over time. I’m the last. But the Woman in White—Alecia’s ghost—still haunts the marsh, looking for the children she lost.”
I felt incredibly sad, not only because of what had happened to Alecia, but because of the lost village. “At least the mage got what was coming to him,” I said.
“True, however, that doesn’t make up for all the damage he did and all the lives lost. If I remember right, over 20 children died, and several adults as well. And he turned a woman’s love for her children into a tainted, twisted energy that prevents her from going to her rest. As long as she roams the Cryptic Marshes, people will continue to die, all because of what he did to her. I’ve tried to set her spirit free, but I’m simply not powerful enough. Not with spirit-magic.” She turned to Ray. “You’re a cleric. Can you do anything?”
Ray worried his lip. “I don’t think I’m at a high enough level to exorcise her. I wish I were, but I don’t think I can help.”
Moki stared at him for a moment, then said, “Will you make me a promise? If you do gain enough power, will you return to the marsh to set her free?”
