A Snippet from the Book

Here is the back story to the adventures of Daniel. It is the premise on which the whole story rests. I wanted to put this out there for people to read and give me feed back on how this part of the story catches your attention or if it does not. Is it a good hook?

“A little more than three hundred years ago, I don’t know exactly, your fourth great-grandfather was nineteen and living in Denmark with his young bride. One blustery winter night, he was traveling back from a banquet. He didn’t have his wife with him because she was pregnant and very sick, but he had to go so that he could give a good impression to his soon-to-be boss. He didn’t have his wife with him because she was pregnant and very sick, but he had to go so that he could give a good impression to his soon-to-be boss.

“Anyway, he was traveling back when a terrible snow storm hit his village. It attacked just as he was entering the gates. The storm got so bad that he gave up trying to travel to his home on the other side of the spacious community. His wife would be worried but surely she would understand. He stopped his horse and buggy at the top of a big hill where an old neglected house stood. The house had been empty for many years. Everyone in the village said that it was haunted, but your grandfather decided that he didn’t have many options. He unhooked his buggy and left it behind, walked his horse to an empty stable, and went to the house to find shelter. As he was making his way to the stable he saw another buggy stuck in the snow. A man was trying, unsuccessfully, to free it from a large embankment just past the bridge that led into town. Your grandfather decided that he would go suggest that this man come with him to the old house to get out of the storm. The other man was more than willing to go with your grandfather and get out of the snow. Of course, being with someone else when going to a haunted house was also comforting for your grandfather.”

“They struggled through the blizzard to the house and knocked on the door but there was no answer so they let themselves in. They called out but no one seemed to be inside. As they made their way through the house they noticed a warm breeze coming from behind a closed door, off of the main hallway. It was very inviting so your grandfather went in. The stranger didn’t want to follow him – he said he would check upstairs for some blankets. Your grandfather thought that the stranger’s reaction was very odd but he just wanted to get warm. He didn’t worry about the stranger and let him go his own way. Your grandfather made his way in, slowly checking every corner of the room. It seemed empty, so he found a log by the fireplace and tossed it onto a cozy fire. Instantly the whole fireplace was filled with fire and smoke, more than was possible from one log. A high squealing sound followed. It grew louder and louder like the shriek of a tea pot beginning to boil. In the next moment, an ugly old hag appeared from nowhere. She was a small thin lady with a sunken face and beady little ice-blue eyes that scanned the intruder wildly.”

“’What are you doing in my house?’ She cried in a voice so terrible and loud that the windows rattled and the fire, which had died down to normal strength, flickered.

“‘I know what you are doing here.’ The hag said slyly, ‘And you are not welcome! Too many people have come to gawk at a decrepit old lady.’ Her voice was suddenly soft and inwardly painful. She caught herself on the side of the stone fireplace and wallowed in self pity, but that only lasted a moment. Her voice was back to a deafening shriek in the next awful breath. ‘Well you are the last one. You have broken into my house, threatened to steal my property, and have used my last source of warmth.’

“Your grandfather tried to explain that he wasn’t there to steal but the hag was too furious to listen.”

“’Silence!” She screamed louder than seemed possible. She threw her hands toward your grandfather as she screamed. This action sent your grandfather flying through the air. He then hit the couch as if a magnetic force had pulled him there. The hag laughed wildly. She then stopped abruptly and looked at searched her intruders soul with her eyes. ‘Ah yes,’ she said, calm as a kitten, ‘a curse!’”

“Your grandfather tried to escape.”

“He was petrified.”

“This woman was obviously a witch of some kind.”

“He tried to talk.”

“She cut him off coldly. ‘It’s too late my friend you have wandered into paths that you ought not to have wandered.’ She crept closer as she spoke, ‘You should know better than to be tempted to leave the path that leads back home. Ah, but you have been tempted, haven’t you, and now it’s too late.’ She stopped right in front of his nose. ‘Yes, a curse. A lovely one, too.’ She spun around, leapt to the fireplace, took a crystal goblet from the mantel, danced to a table in the corner of the room, and stopped. She stood there for only a moment with her back to her prey, turned around with the goblet full of green liquid, and tiptoed back to the couch that held your grandfather bound.”

“’You will be cursed to be my servant.’ The hag said proudly, ‘You will have to go to many places and retrieve certain objects – for me! These objects will be collected from different time periods, dimensions and people. You will often be in the face of danger and the risk is too great for a woman of my age – but I need these itmes: desperately. You will either accept this offer or you and your family will perish in the most horrible way imaginable. You will be my slaves – for eternity!’ She said all of this as if it was common, everyday speech. ‘

“’Any questions?’”

“’I didn’t think so.’” The witch gave no time for a response. When your grandfather struggled to speak she ran to him, placed her boney finger to his lips, and said, ‘Ah yes what do I mean by slavery you ask? If you do not succeed your family will be cursed with this…little arrangement until one of your progeny completes it successfully. Ah, and one more thing, you are nineteen years old, yes? Your son, which your wife is carrying now, will have to start his quests at age eighteen, if you do not succeed. His son, of course, will take on the responsibility at age seventeen and so on until eighteen generations have failed. When the last generation fails, the curse truly begins. You and your family will be sent to a place where no human should ever have to go.’ She paused again, looked at her puzzled prisioner, swished the green liquid around in the goblet, and dipped her finger in slowly. ‘Ready?’ she asked, and then she tossed the goblet into the fire.  An explosion rocked the house and your grandfather laid limp the couch.”

Copyright 2012 Chad Mortensen