The Cursed Bride

by Camille Oster

  "Take two," he said, holding out two pills in his hand and a glass of water in the other, waiting patiently for her to take them. Both Wilhelmina and Elke stared at her until she took them and put them in her mouth. "And let's see that they went down well enough," he said and Aldine's mouth drew tight until she relented and opened her mouth like a child so he can see that she’d really swallowed them. Already she was being treated like a mad woman, all control being taken away from her.

  The pills had not started acting by the time he left, but soon after, a dullness descended on her, making her thoughts and her movement lethargic. It felt as though she barely had control over her fingers and almost as if she was trapped in her body. She could neither read nor paint, could only sit there and stare at the walls. It was awful.

  Elke was embroidering beside her and eventually made some mint tea for them. Even the flavor tasted strange in Aldine's mouth. Whatever this drug was, it was awful. Thoughts refused to form and for hours, she sat there, utterly unable to do anything.

  Shortly before supper, the effect started to give. "I might stretch my legs," she said and rose from her chair.

  "As you please," Wilhelmina said and Aldine walked outside into the fresh air. She felt like crying; she felt like running away, but not only was she stuck in this house, she was now imprisoned in her own body. Her mind wasn't recovered, still muddled and she wandered to the stable with some notion of saddling a horse and riding back to Manheim.

  But Wolfgang was there and she hadn't expected him to be. Foiled. Looking over, he considered her for a moment. "What's wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost."

  "The doctor came and gave me calming pills," she admitted sluggishly.

  Lifting his saddle off, he carried it to the tack room. He came back and gave the horse a portion of hay.

  "Apparently this house will be less—" she started before stopping herself. Haunted was what she was going to say.

  "Less what?"

  "Isolated," she said instead. He eyed her suspiciously. He didn't like her, but he was the only person who truthfully answered her questions. Although he seemed to have no qualms over that truth hurting. "There is a woman, Tober, she is called. Who lives in Gelling Forest. Do you know her?"

  "What would you want with someone like that?" he said, even more suspiciously.

  "Did Doctor Hagen come and give any of Heinrich's other wives pills?"

  "Not that I know of. Along with their heartfelt feelings, they didn't exactly share their health concerns with me."

  Is Heinrich trying to kill me, was what she really wanted to ask, but he would think her a complete lunatic, who probably needed calming pills that turned her into something close to an imbecile.

  Her thoughts were wandering. "Conception potions," she said. "I've learned this woman does them."

  For a moment, he considered her. God knew what went through his mind, but for some reason, she didn't want to admit the real reason she wanted to see this woman. Someone in her position, a new bride, would be concerned with conceiving. The joy of this marriage to the family would soon falter if she didn't conceive. Her esteem with Wilhelmina would plummet even further.

  "Gelling Forest is not close enough to walk to."

  "Then I must take a carriage."

  "Do you even know how to steer a carriage?"

  "Enough to manage."

  With a sigh, he turned to her. "I am going that way tomorrow. I can take you. I'm assuming Heinrich has given you his blessing for doing this?"

  Awkwardly, she nodded. Somehow, she had to get Heinrich to agree to her going to this woman's house, or in that general direction. He would be eager for her conceiving as well, but she could well imagine that he wouldn't put much stock in a woman who peddles in forest herbs.

  *

  The doctor was right in that she slept through the night. Slept might not have been the right word. There had been no dreams at all—she had simply ceased to exist for eight hours. The devil himself could have pranced around the room and she would not have noticed, which made her concerned about what had happened while she had been absent from her mind and body. Was this how one died of a fever, she wondered as she woke, feeling so sluggish and groggy, she could barely stand.

  As Heinrich was about to leave, she muttered something about going to Gelling on church services, and that Wolfgang had offered her a ride. He paused for the moment before mumbling something about it being good she did community work, but she heard the word 'fine', and that was all she needed.

  Her scalp felt completely detached from her head as Anna came to do her hair, feeling none of the tugs and pins. Anna had to physically help her dress, which was both embarrassing and distressing.

  After a quick breakfast where she couldn't bring herself to eat, she excused herself, saying she was going for a ride to see more of the countryside and wished to stop by the church to see Reverend Stubbe. Grudgingly, Wilhelmina accepted this, but was less than enthusiastic about Wolfgang's offer to take her on his errand.

  Technically, he was her brother-in-law, and could be trusted with her care and chaperoning. Wilhelmina's distrust of him obviously didn't extend to worrying about him ravaging his sister-in-law, or else the woman didn't care. Or was that her lethargic mind being ungenerous?

  Wolfgang wasn't enthusiastic about seeing her when she appeared in the stable, but he didn't go back on his word. "I didn't take you for one who put stock in snake oils and witch potions."

  "There were a lot of things I didn't put stock in before coming here," she muttered more to herself than to him, but here she was lying to everyone to go see some old woman about breaking a curse on her husband.

  They drove for a while, far off Heinrich's land. They spoke little on the way, and apparently they had reached their destination because he stopped in the middle of nowhere. "Down that path," he said, pointing to the side of the road. "I will need to travel back in half an hour. Don't make me wait."

  Or what, she wanted to challenge. Was he going to leave without her? If not Wilhelmina, Heinrich would likely have his hide. It was an empty threat, but what point was there in telling him. She needed Wolfgang on side to tell her the truth. It was a rare commodity and she needed to preserve her source, so she smiled. "I will do my best to be back right here within that time."

  Chapter 20

  THE PATH LED TO A valley where half a dozen houses were scattered around. Closest was a small cottage where the door was open and Aldine approached. "Mrs. Tober?" she called into the darkness inside.

  It was quiet for a while before a clanging noise as if something fell to the ground. "Who's there?"

  "Aldine Graven," she said. "You don't know me—"

  "The new countess?" the woman said, suddenly appearing in the doorway. Gray hair was tied back into a thin ponytail and her face was wrinkled with age and toil, and she wiped her hands on her apron that had last been clean some time ago.

  The countess title was still something she was getting used to. She wasn't one of those persons who reveled in a title. It felt too grand for her. "Yes," she replied and the woman looked her up and down without hiding it.

  "What can I do for you?"

  Aldine looked around and saw there was no one watching them. "Can I come in?"

  For a moment, the woman seemed to weigh her request. "Does your husband know you are here?"

  "Not exactly. Well, not exactly for what purpose."

  With a raised eyebrow, the woman stepped back and gave her entrance. There were herbs drying on racks above her head. Everything inside the cottage was made of wood, some areas smudged with age and dirt. Even with her more simpler upbringing, it was hard for Aldine to imagine someone living here, but this woman did.

  A cat jumped up and sat down on his haunches, appraising the new visitor.

  "Whatever it is you're taking, you should stop," the woman said while Aldine was considering the surroundings.

  "Apparently my nerves have gotten the better of me."

&n
bsp; "Is that so?" the woman said derisively. "Men and their pills."

  "I don't have much time. I wondered if you could tell me about breaking a curse."

  The Tober woman smiled. "You are a believer in such things?"

  "Recently, I have seen things that have made me question a great number of things." Turning her attention back on the woman, Aldine waited, wishing her mind wasn't so dampened.

  "Depends on the nature of the curse."

  "Frankly, I don't know the nature of the curse. I don't know anything about it other than everyone Count Graven marries seems to die suddenly and unexpected."

  Walking over to a chair, the woman sat down with what looked like painful knees. "It takes a lot of energy to sustain a curse," she finally said.

  "Do you believe such things exist?"

  "I do," she said, but she didn't say much else.

  Now, Aldine didn't know how to proceed. "Well, how do I break it?"

  "Easiest way is to ask forgiveness for whatever trespass you have done."

  "I haven't trespassed upon anyone. I'm not even from here. I am fairly sure Heinrich hasn't trespassed either." Although how could she know that for sure? Who knew what he'd done in his life to trespass upon someone? It was hard to see. He was mostly kind and considerate to everyone—except when it came to her claims.

  "I believe the curse is inherited and was originally set upon Johannes Graven," the woman said.

  The portrait of the solemn man from Heinrich's study entered her mind. This was news. Nothing of this had been said before. "Johannes Graven," she said. "So nothing to do with Heinrich."

  "Curses can persist."

  "How do I break it?"

  "It is not you that needs to ask for forgiveness."

  "But it is not Heinrich either."

  "No, but he is a proxy, a descendant of Johannes."

  "Witches," Aldine said. "There is a derelict cottage on the property that people refer to as the witches' cottage."

  The woman shifted in her chair. "They were burned," she said and Aldine's eyes widened. Her sluggish mind tried to race through the implication. Fire. They had been burned. Of course, she knew that there had been witches burned all over the country in the olden days. Her dreams were full of fire. It was the fire that had come for them, had killed them. And she felt that fire coming closer, licking her skin. It was what they had experienced.

  Her mind reeled and she her knees felt a little unstable for a moment.

  "Johannes Graven was the witch hunter," the woman continued. "It is common knowledge that they cursed him."

  "I wasn't told," Aldine said.

  "They have distanced themselves from such things, as most people have, but the past forms the present."

  Aldine needed to sit down. "They cursed the family and now Heinrich is being targeted by it. He doesn't believe in it."

  "Oh, he would know the stories from that time."

  "Those poor women," Aldine said, unable to imagine being dragged out and burned by one's neighbor. They were probably just women going about their business, but then they had enacted a curse that was still in place some three hundred years later. Maybe they really were witches. Still, being burned at the stake was horrendous. Aldine's stomach revolted, turning as she tried to imagine what that had to feel like. The sense of betrayal from her dreams made sense now. Heinrich had been there, carrying a torch with sheer hatred in his eyes. Had that been what they had experienced?

  "I don't want to die," Aldine said after a while. "This was in the past, and no one here is responsible for the suffering that was endured then."

  "Power is stored somewhere," the woman said. "In a talisman. Often buried, sometimes not. Something that persists."

  With intent, Aldine listened to every word. "A talisman. What would it be?" This was so very far from the things that were familiar in her life, she felt like a stranger in a foreign world.

  "It could be anything. It would have been something that represents the women. And it would be nearby."

  "Nearby," Aldine repeated. There were so many old things in the house it was hard to even think of them all. Something imbued with their power, with this curse. "So if I find it and destroy it, the curse will dissipate?"

  "Yes," the woman said.

  "And it was something of theirs?"

  "Not necessarily, but it would represent them."

  Well, that was helpful, she thought sarcastically. What in the world could represent witches in that house? "You also said buried."

  "It is tradition that a talisman can be buried near where they wish to act."

  "How would I ever find it?"

  "Is there anywhere that the curse seems to be particularly focused?"

  "The marriage bed," Aldine admitted. "All seem to be focused there."

  "Then it is nearby you should look. A dousing rod can be used."

  "Dousing rod," Aldine repeated, recalling what she had always throught was quackery. "How does one use a dousing rod?"

  "Hold it and let it lead you where it will."

  Blinking, Aldine stared at the woman. It still felt like this was all about a different language that she didn't understand and didn't want to, but her life was on the line. She had to break this curse, because it was trying to kill her.

  "And stop taking whatever it is you’re taking. There is a scent about you—a bad one. It is not serving you well and you will grow sick if you continue."

  That was easier said than done. They were watching her like a hawk, making her take the pills. Somehow she needed to deceive them. "Thank you," she finally said. "This has been helpful."

  "Good luck," the woman said as Aldine rose and moved to the door. Nodding, she moved through the door into the sunshine. Again, it felt as if the story of everything she knew had changed. The Gravens were the witch hunters who had burned women at the stake. That was their history, and that history was still haunting them to this day—even if they refused to admit it.

  Walking back up the valley was harder than coming down, but she did it and waited by the road for Wolfgang to return. Apparently, speaking to Mrs. Tober had only taken a few minutes, so now she had to wait for what seemed like a long time.

  Her mind was still trying to absorb what she'd learnt. It explained so much about the dreams, about what was happening, and now she had to find a talisman that was powering this curse. Something that was close to where the trouble was, which was the marriage bed.

  Wolfgang appeared, looking stern as he always did. Like Heinrich, he came from a line of witch hunters, men who had condemned women to a torturous fate. "Got what you came for?"

  "No, she said it was too early in the marriage to resort to such things. To let nature take its course first." It amazed her how easily she'd just lied. It had slipped out smoothly and he seemed to believe her. With a smack on the horse's rump, they set off home. As she drove away, she looked back down the valley where the houses couldn’t be seen from the road. That woman, Tober, was exactly the kind that would be accused by witch hunters in the days when such accusations were laid. She would burn at the stake for what she did with potions and herbs. It was a curious and uncomfortable thought.

  Chapter 21

  THE WEATHER CLEARED up the next day, producing sunshine again, but the house seemed darker than ever—at least to Aldine. A big chapter in the Graven family's long history was now written into the very wood and fabric of this house. And very little of it had been mentioned within the family. It was as if it wasn't even thought about.

  The paintings on the walls took on new meaning. They were scenes from that period. Village scenes. Aldine studied them with renewed interest and concern, but they didn't reveal anything shocking or sinister—simply scenes. People standing around and talking, the village communing. Although now she knew what they were communing about.

  After breakfast, she went into Heinrich's empty study and viewed the portrait of Johannes Graven. Long, curly hair reached his shoulders, light brown by the look of it. His eyes seemed
harsher than the other time she'd seen this portrait. This was a man who had condemned and then murdered women—his neighbors effectively. Had he grown up next to that family and then turned on them? They had been defenseless against him.

  Then again, they could have been true witches as their curse seemed to persist to this day. A shudder went through her body. Murder was so brutal, so unforgivable and unnecessary, but these women were responsible for a few deaths of their own. And they now threatened her.

  Looking around the room, she viewed the artifacts, but couldn't see anything that looked suspicious. It would help to know what she was looking for, but she didn't. Something that represented them—the witches. From the sounds of it, there was more than one, although she didn't know how many that man had condemned to burn at the stake.

  From her dreams, she had some semblance of how horrible such a fate would be. She felt their anguish and grave disappointment. It was hard to comprehend that someone could be so callous as to stand by and watch someone burn to death, but apparently that man was. It was hard for Aldine to look at him. The hate in Heinrich's face from her dreams had been his hate. He'd hated these women, and Aldine had trouble understanding it.

  She'd already been through the bedroom, which had remarkably little in it other than toiletries and the washing stand. Heinrich wasn't someone who liked his bedchamber cluttered. There was nothing really that represented them. There wasn't even really anything old in the room except for the bed itself, the frame being finely carved in dark wood that was almost black with the oils and varnish kneaded into it over who knew how long. Was that bed from the time Johannes had lived? Could it be imbued with the witches' curse?