Chapter 3

The Gypsy

"Okay, you got point.", Rebecca said to Travis. He nodded, put the shotgun over his shoulder, and led everyone into the woods.

As they walked, Richard wondered why he wasn't having trouble breathing. "Maybe deer shit clears the sinuses? I'll have to ask the doc.", he wondered.

The narrowly spaced trees and heavy underbrush made the trek through the forest a slow one. After an hour of nothing but trees they stumbled across a clearing. The canopy of mist and branches overhead suddenly gave way to black clouds boiling far above and wet grass rustled in a biting wind that swirled about. On the far side of the clearing there were several colorful wagons parked on the banks of a pool. The mournful strains of an accordion mixed with the moaning of the wind, and several brightly clad figures surrounded a large, roaring fire, giving the camp an unearthly appearance.

"These people look like gypsies.", Ryan whispered.

"Yeah, it looks like a circus.", Rebecca added.

"You'll fit in nicely.", Richard replied.

One of the men around the fire noticed the newcomers and slowly approached. He held up a hand and said something in a foreign language.

Ryan's brow furrowed. "It sounds almost like Romanian.", he whispered.

"Ask him about Irene.", Rebecca whispered back.

Richard rolled his eyes. "We can't even say 'hello' yet, dummy!", he hissed.

The gypsy looked confused. He spoke again, trying several different languages.

Rebecca scowled at Richard. "English? Do you speak English?", she asked the gypsy.

"The odds against that are outrageously astronomical!", Richard moaned. "We're lucky we even landed on a world with human-looking people."

Finally, in a halting manner with a very thick accent the gypsy said, "Hallo, my name is Iulian. You are outlanders. You speak Mordentish?"

Richard stopped in mid-rant, with his mouth wide open.

"No, English.", Rebecca replied.

"Mord...Mordentish?", Richard stuttered.

"Not by that name.", Anthony replied to the gypsy. "I am Anthony, this is Rebecca, Richard, Travis, Ryan, and Kevin.", he said, pointing to each person in turn.

Iulian looked each of his new guests over. "Madame Eva said that new travelers would come with the night's full moon.", he said. "She is expecting you."

"You know. This reminds me of a D&D campaign I played a few years ago.", Richard began.

Ryan shook his head. "I am going to need so much therapy.", he moaned.

Richard dug out his wallet and passed Ryan a business card "This guy's good.", he told his friend. "I used to be really fucked up."

Rebecca wouldn't normally have let that go, but she was too occupied with Iulian to zing Richard. "Have you seen a young girl named Irene?", Rebecca asked the gypsy.

"Irene...Irene?", Iulian asked. "Perhaps you mean Ireena? The Burgomaster's daughter?"

"No. A woman like us.", Rebecca replied.

Iulian shook his head. "I am sorry I do not know who it is you ask for.", he said sympathetically.

"If it's been ten years for them, too, she might not look like us anymore.", Ryan said thoughtfully.

Richard wondered if there was a Dungeon master somewhere, then thought that that term might have a different meaning here.

"What is this name of this place, this country, this world?", Anthony asked.

"Barovia is this name of this kingdom as well as the village.", Iulian replied.

"As you guessed, we aren't from here.", Anthony said politely. "May we sit with you to get warm?"

"You are most welcome to share our fire, outlander.", Iulian replied. "But, if you would, please come this way first. Madame Eva would like to meet you."

"If she knew we would arrive, then she may be able to help us, so yes, please, take us to her.", Anthony said, rather confused.

"Maybe Madame Eva can get Richard a hooker.", Rebecca muttered so that Iulian couldn't hear but the others could.

Richard made a face. "Maybe she can offer you a job."

"Shut up.", Rebecca hissed.

"You started it, buttwad.", Richard replied, sticking out his tongue.

Rebecca looked at Richard's tongue and then looked concerned. "Are you feeling okay?", she asked.

Richard almost bought it. "Oh, no. I'm not falling for that one again twice.", he replied.

"Yeah, it's probably nothing.", Rebecca said and turned away.

Richard sneered at her and then felt his tongue as soon as no one was watching.

Iulian led his guests to a large, brightly colored tent. Within the tent, all was dimly illuminated in washes of red light. A low table stood across from the entryway, covered in a black velvet cloth. Glints of light seemed to flash from a crystal ball on the table as a hunched figure peered into its depths. The figure spoke. Her voice crackled like dry weeds. Her tone soared and fell like the wind outside.

"At last you have arrived!", the woman said, then a sudden cackling laughter burst like mad lightning from her weathered lips.

Rebecca was totally buying into Madame Eva's act. Her eyes were open wide. "You're the one who brought us here!", she said, gasping.

Richard was disappointed that everything wasn't really a CIA-induced hallucination. Iulian closed the flap behind the youths, leaving them alone with the Seer. The old woman raised her hand.

"Ah, Rebecca, always straight to the point. That's one of the things he always liked about you.", Madame Eva's voice lowered. "He misses you still. He thinks about calling you but can never get up the nerve."

"You still have his picture, don't you?", Madame Eva added.

Rebecca freaked. For a while she couldn't say anything. She wondered how the woman knew about her ex-boyfriend. At that moment Rebecca decided to believe everything that the woman said.

Richard was amused at Rebecca's discomfort. "It's about time someone shut her up!", he thought to himself. He started looking at Madame Eva admiringly.

Then the crone's attention shifted to Richard. "Richard, I wouldn't go back to that Doctor you saw last week. He is what I believe you call a 'quack'.", the old woman said sharply. "Really, if you want the rash to go away, just stop rubbing for a little while."

Richard just about shit himself. "I don't have a rash.", he said, fighting himself to keep his hand from going into his trousers.

"How'd she know about the rash? I thought doctors weren't allowed to talk to anyone?", Richard thought to himself. He decided that he didn't like Madame Eva after all.

Anthony perked up. "Why did you say 'at last', how long have you been expecting us?", he asked.

Madame Eva looked at Anthony, "I have always been expecting you, Anthony.", the old woman said mysteriously. "Speaking of 'expecting' please give your sister my condolences. I know how difficult it can be to lose a child even before it is born."

"Yes, thank you I will.", Anthony replied, trying to sound unimpressed, but wondering how the old woman had known about that. "So you also know I will see her again?"

Madame Eva's lips twitched with a slight grin but she didn't answer. Instead she addressed the other three men.

"Kevin, I wonder what Father Keegan would think about a potential priest having such thoughts. I don't really blame you though, that young man looked absolutely delicious.", the old crone told the young man.

Kevin's face went pale. Rebecca covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Richard took a slow step away from Kevin.

Madame Eva turned to Ryan and said, "Ryan, Professor Jensen knows that you were watching her that day. You really should have cleaned up after yourself better."

Ryan looked around nervously. He started to say something but stopped. Richard took a slow step away from Ryan, too.

"And dear sweet Travis.", Madame Eva continued. "Do you remember little Jimmy Wilkins? He remembers you. He remembers you every time he tries to take a step on that false leg of his."

Richard remembered Jimmy. He remembered how he had lost his leg in a railway accident, but he never knew that Travis was involved. Richard wished that he had the strength, and the backbone, to beat Travis senseless for whatever his role had been.

Madame Eva's eyes passed over each of her guests in turn once more. Her face lit up as though struck by a sudden idea. "Would you like your fortunes told?", she asked.

Richard barely hid a smirk. Rebecca nodded her head unthinkingly. She was hooked. Anthony shrugged, believing that it couldn't do any harm. Kevin scowled and muttered something about witchcraft. Ryan was still flustered over the Madame's revelation about him. And Travis just stared at his shoes, ashamed of the memory of the Wilkins boy.

From an ornate wooden case to her left Madame Eva produced an oversized set of tarot cards. She held the deck out towards the group. "Please touch the Tarokka, so that it may know you.", she said mysteriously.

Rebecca watched the old woman with wide open eyes. She reached out to the cards.

"Rebecca, we shouldn't be doing this.", Kevin hissed. "We should just go."

Kevin's words broke the spell. Rebecca turned to Kevin. "Why not?", she quipped.

"The Bible warns against playing with things like this, fortune telling, magic.", Kevin replied. "It's against God."

Richard rolled his eyes and decided to not mutter anything about altar boys. The old woman said nothing but her eyes showed that she was quite interested in the exchange of words.

"There's a lot more about the other world than they taught us at Notre Dame.", Rebecca replied. "And how do you know that God doesn't want us to do this?"

Travis cut off Kevin's reply. "We've got no other choice, Kev.", he said, supporting Rebecca. "Do we just wander the woods until the Virgin Mary drops in?"

Rebecca reached out and touched the cards, making a show of it as she did so. Travis and Anthony followed suit.

Ryan regained his composure and said, "Maybe she knows something." Then he tapped the cards.

Richard touched the cards just so he wouldn't stand out. Kevin glared at everybody for a long moment. He closed his eyes and muttered under his breath while crossing himself. With a sigh he slowly placed his finger on the deck. He stared Madame Eva in the eye and said, "Get on with it."

Anthony had to smirk. He pondered whether the 'magic' of Kevin crossing himself would offer protection from the 'magic' of the cards.

Madame Eva's old face broke into a wide and mocking grin as she scooped up the cards and said, "The stars say that seven is the number of this day."

"Lucky seven.", Rebecca muttered.

The old woman began to lay seven cards face up on the table in a circular pattern. Beginning to her left and ending in front of her the cards were: The Hierophant, The Magician, The Chariot, Strength, Justice, Temperance, and The Devil.

As the laid the seventh card she whispered, "Sit before the card that calls out to your heart."

Anthony figured the chariot matched him best.  Richard had no idea, many of the cards showed traits that he felt he lacked. He finally picked Justice and sat before it. Rebecca thought for a moment and then sat before the Magician. She wanted to know what magic was all about.

"Come on. It's going to be fun.", Rebecca said to her slower friends.

Ryan's eyes glanced over each of the remaining cards. He took a seat between Rebecca and the old gypsy in front of the Hierophant card. Travis went for the obvious choice and sat down before Strength, leaving Kevin the Temperance card. The priest-to-be quietly took a seat before it.

Madame Eva's voice fell into a hushed tone as she reached out and touched Ryan's card. "A keeper of arcane knowledge. This card tells of history.", the old woman said. "Knowledge of the ancient may help you understand a foe."

Madame Eva took another card from the deck and placed it inside the circle, overlapping the Hierophant. It was the Emperor. "I see a place of tranquility, a harbor for the mighty and powerful.", Madame Eva spoke softly. "It is in a place of wisdom, warmth, and despair. Great secrets are there."

The fortune teller's hand moved to Rebecca's card. "The unification of the elemental forces.", she said, speaking like a well-trained story-teller. "This card speaks of the power of the land and the instrument by which it is wielded."

Rebecca listened carefully to every word.

As before, Madame Eva placed another card on the table. The Tower. "This is the high card.", she explained. "It points to a place of dizzying heights. The road winds ever upward and evil awaits you, but also the potential for great power."

The old woman continued with Anthony, touching the Chariot. "The road and travel unimpeded.", she began. "This card tells of the closed doors and the means by which they may be opened. Be wary, however, that you do not choose the path to folly for not all doors were meant to be opened."

The next card Madame Eva placed was the Empress. "Find the mother's place, she who is named for the Raven.", she told the young man.

To Travis Madame Eva said, "Guardianship and defense of the helpless. This card tells of a powerful force for good and protection against evil."

Over the Strength card the fortune teller laid the Sun. "See the crown and not the strings of his advisors.", she told Travis. "Seek the King's throne."

Then Madame Eva turned her attention to Richard. "Truth and balance, power and strength.", she said, raising goose-pimples on the young man's skin. "This card tells of a weapon of light, a weapon of righteous vengeance."

"A light saber! Cool!", Richard thought to himself.

Over Justice Madame Eva placed Judgment. "Go to the fallen prince of old.", she said. "The brother of dark is light, and he rests in this place."

Madame Eva's eyes then stared into Kevin's and he grew quite uncomfortable. "Shelter and guidance for the weary.", the old woman began. "This card tells of a symbol of light, feared by the wicked and soothing to the innocent. I hope that you can tell the difference."

Over Temperance Madame Eva placed the High Priestess. Looking at the reluctant young man she said, "Search amid the ruins in a place of supplication, where the pure at heart commune."

Finally, Madame Eva looked down at the card in front of her. "Ah! I see darkness and evil behind this card!", she said with a gasp. "It is a powerful man whose enemy is light and whose powers are beyond mortality! His shadow falls across the shoulders of an innocent soul. He means to twist that innocence to his own ends."

Over the Devil card Madame Eva placed the Lovers. "And here is the root card.", she said with another gasp. "Out of darkness and chaos, this card finds the reason and foundation for darkness and chaos. This card shows the purpose of all things. It is the key to life and death and else beyond. It speaks of jealousy, selfishness and hatred. Only when this elder wrong is undone will mists part to reveal the way home."

With a trembling hand the old woman placed one final card in the center of the pattern. It was the World card. "Heed the words of the Vistani. For if you fail...", her words trailed off as a bright flash of light and fire consumes the center card.

Anthony jumped when the card went up in smoke.

Rebecca drew back with a start. "Wow.", she said.

Richard thought that it was good acting and almost applauded. Ryan was trying to work out how she pulled off the little magic trick. But Travis was wide eyed with awe, and Kevin said nothing, gripping his rosary tightly in one hand. Madame Eva slumped back, suddenly quite fatigued. There was a scorch mark where the World card had been. The surrounding cards were singed on the inward facing edges.

Richard felt a little doubt about the idea that it was just a trick. "If there's no magic, how did we get here?", he wondered. "Maybe her trick didn't work the way she intended. Could she be for real?"

"Madame Eva, I want to know about Irene.", Rebecca asked.

With a voice that seemed impossibly old, Eva replied, "You'll see her soon, though not as you remember."

Rebecca stood up as a big smile dawned on her face. She grabbed Kevin's hand. "See. Isn't this great?", she said hopefully. Then she turned back to the old woman. "We won't fail.", she said excitedly.

Kevin wasn't nearly as enthusiastic, and worried at what the woman's statement might mean. "Not as we remember?", he said cautiously.

"Pod person?", Richard suggested. Travis gave him a look of warning. Richard smirked back.

"She'll be older.", Rebecca replied.

Kevin took his hand back from Rebecca. "I hope that's all.", he replied.

The tent flap opened and the sound of singing and accordion music wafted in. Iulian entered along with two children, perhaps eleven or twelve years old. They went to help Madame Eva.

"As I said before, you are welcome to share our fire for the night.", Iulian said. "Please come this way."

Iulian held the flap open as the young men and woman filed out. Rebecca thanked Madame Eva on her way out. She was bubbling with excitement.

Once outside Travis asked, "Do you think Irene is really somewhere around here?"

"Yes!", Rebecca answered. "We need to find her and take her home with us."

"What if she doesn't want to go back?", Richard interjected.

"Why wouldn't she?", Rebecca asked.

"It's been ten years.", Richard explained. "She might have settled down, married, had a family...gone 'native'."

Ryan adjusted his glasses. "Assuming there really is anything to all of this, Richard may be right.", he said. Richard glowed beside him. Richard wasn't used to being right.

"Then we'll crash at her place and party it up.", Rebecca replied.

Kevin looked up at the towering mountains in the north, particularly at the menacing castle. "We'll see.", he said softly.

Rebecca joined the party, singing and dancing and totally enjoying herself. She garnered a number of admirers through the night since her red hair and pale skin tone made her quite an exotic sight to the gypsies. Richard did just the opposite, staying on the edge of the camp and wishing that he had a book to read. Kevin went to straight to sleep, somehow managing to block out all the noise. Ryan sat and watched the dark haired beauties dance and twirl around the fire, though he never got up the nerve to join in. Travis tried to dance after some coaxing from the gypsies but crushed a number of toes in the process.

Anthony talked to those sitting around the fire and learned that the kingdom was called Barovia, as was the nearby village. He learned that Count Strahd Von Zarovich ruled the land from Castle Ravenloft high atop the Balinok mountains, and that the Von Zarovich family had ruled the land for centuries. They also told him that there were other settlements nearby named Krezk, Immol, Teufeldorf, Vallaki and Zeidenburg. Any references Anthony made to places on earth were met only with confusion. After a while the young man stopped talking and began to feel small and alone as he realized that he wasn't on earth any more or anywhere near it. He wondered where, and when, he was, and if he would ever, or could ever, get back home.