Seven Came to Dinner.

Seven Came to Dinner.

         

Chapter One.

         

A Man of Integrity.

 

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 decision. 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 threaten to take a problem to him to get 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, 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 so 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, following 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?" replied Eddo.

"I am sent to you by a group of people who need your help. They require someone to make decisions for them that they are unable to make for 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 the problem is," 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." growled the figure.

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

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

Eddo led 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.

 

                   Seven Came to Dinner.

 

                           Chapter Two.

                         

                        The Dinner Party.

       

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 magic potions, 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. "I 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 knock on the door.

"That will be the others," remarked Sharon.

"They were just behind us."

Sure enough, when Eddo opened the door, there were three more black-clad women on the doorstep. 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 nervous if, as the messenger had said, they could not be poisoned.

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

There was a few minutes of 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. "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," Calizone said, laughing. 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 are probably aware, there is currently 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.

For a moment, Eddo did not know what to say. "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 to?"

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

"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 from 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 it to 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."