Chapter 4 Lady Marconda Is Alarmed

It was absolutely a very dark night. Even a single star couldn't be seen in the sky. It looked as if the sky had lost all the stars or the stars had been deprived of their gleaming power. The cries of wild animals, particularly of the wolves, could easily be heard after every three or four seconds; breaking the mid-night silence. Lots of owls were flying around the old fort which was the residing place of Lady Marconda, the cunning witch. She was, perhaps. the most wicked and cunning of all the witches there had been. The fort was in complete darkness.

It was even impossible for anyone to see anyone's hand. Suddenly all the owls hooted in one voice with all their might. At the same time the hall in the midst of the fort, that was actually used as a court by the witch or one may say for practising magical powers and meeting place of the evil spirits, got illuminated. There were firelights on every corner splitting deem light of the fire. Many bats were hung to ceiling upside down. A huge statue of the devil was situated against one of the two walls that formed the width of the room, in such a way that it occupied the centre. And next to it, there was the throne of the cruel witch; that was made of pure silver; shining brilliantly. Lady Marconda, the wicked witch, was sitting on the throne with gloves in her hands. Her eyes were big and dark, that revealed the cunningness of the witch. Moreover, the reflection of fire in her eyes looked as if her eyes were splitting fire. The scene was almost horrifying.

"Gamora!" the witch cried at the top of her voice. All the owls at once stopped hooting. The witch was dressed in a long black robe of velvet with sleeves adorned with silver laces. She had a string of bones and tiny skulls around her neck. Her hair was untied. There was a nice silver crown with sparkling gems on her head that looked more brilliant in the light of fire

"Ha Ha... Ha Ha !" the witch laughed cunningly. All the bats at once made a loud noise and then one by one got away from the ceiling screaming and flying here and there.

It had started raining outside. The night became more frightening. There was thundering and lightening. The birds in the forest were frightened. Some birds had to leave their nests and take refuge under the shade of the fort window and the ventilators for they were completely wet. They were, sometimes, chirping and making noises. Their new ones had also joined them as if they were asking for help; or, perhaps, asking rain to stop.

"Gamora!" the witch again cried and started reciting some charm words.

As soon as the witch said the charm words, all the evil spirits that were in the form of owls and bats, started coming in their original forms. All were looking humans now, at least seven feet high. Some were men and some women. But they were not real humans. Those belonging to the bats' group were completely black in colour. Their faces were so black that one could get easily frightened to have a first glance on them. Their lips were deep red and their teeth were bright white; only the canine teeth were a little longer. Their eyes were pure white, emitting a kind of white light. Although they were looking humans, yet they had wings as bats have. They wore only leathers of wild animals around their secret parts just as the people in some tribes wear. All the rest parts of their bodies were uncovered.

The members of the owls' group also looked like humans. Their noses were shaped like that of owls' beaks. Their eyes were not different from that of owls. They had owls' wings. They had feathers around their bodies to cover their private parts. All of them bowed before the witch to salute her and then sang together:

"Lady Marconda!" said Paul, the leader of the owls, "We've appeared now. Please tell why you have called us."

"Yes." added Rufus, the leader of the bats, "We are eager to listen to you and obey your order."

Lady Marconda stood up and went close to the devil's statue; stared at the statue for a moment with firm faith and then turned to the evil spirits. Just then a whitish brown owl came screaming and flying from outside; circled Lady Marconda two or three times and then sat on her right hand.

"What message have you brought, Zomaro?" the witch asked with eagerness.

"Lady Marconda," the owl said, "Tom and Katie have killed the queen but..." the owl stopped at once.

"But? ... But what, Zomaro? Go on..." the witch ordered.

"But the baby snake was snatched away just then by an eagle which, within a moment, flew away and vanished from the eyesight. Tom and Katie couldn't chase the bird since they have limited magical powers. They cannot transform themselves into birds. They're afraid of you that you'll punish them. That's why they haven't come to you."

"Hmmm... This is the matter." The witch mumbled and put the owl on the handle of the chair. She then read the charm words raising her hands up, giving some magical performance, to call Tom and Katie. Just after the witch had finished saying the charm words, two black cats appeared before her and started mewing. They were much afraid and shrunk with each 'miaow' sound.

"Stop you both and come into your real forms." the witch ordered them gently, hiding her anger. The cats at once changed into two human beings – one in a woman's form while the other in a man's form. Though they had bodies like humans, their faces were not humans' faces. They looked like cats. Their eyes, their ears, and the hair on their faces just around their mouths forming whiskers, of course, were that of cats. They had tails, too.

"Long live Lady Marconda!" they said in unison, a bit shyly, and looked at each other transferring some message in their eyes. "We are sorry Lady Marconda that we couldn't keep our promise. But it was by an accident, otherwise we'd have brought the baby-snake before you, your majesty." said Tom. "We killed the snake-queen and were about to bring the baby here, Lady Marconda." Katie added.