Anything For You
Chapter 87

Taking hasty steps, Estella had reached back to their resting place with Egon following her silently, wondering what had gotten into that lady to act like that. She could have stopped and talked if she didn't feel right. But here she was running like, she was going to win a marathon. When the two people entered the house, the other two people were just up from a good night's sleep, and were looking at them like they had seen some kind of ghosts. Rubbing his eyes using his both palms, Valor was the first one to blurt out, "Where have you been so early in the Morning?"

"I went out to take a stroll of the village, since I wasn't able to sleep. And Egon happened to meet me besides the lake. We came back together."

Estella tried to sound as reasonable as she could. Because by now, she had sensed that Valor had developed a soft spot for her, and he treated her as a good friend. Taking large strides, she headed towards the kitchen area, where some ladies of the village had been preparing breakfast. She joined them all.

While Egon had been dumbfounded, not understanding why the girl had been acting so strange. He shrugged off his shoulders, and accompanied Akhim who was composing himself. After many days, he had been feeling relaxed and fresh. But the next moment, the thought of meeting with EVANORA crossed his mind, and his body stiffened.

Before the three men could say anything further, the tiny paper sparrow made its appearance again flapping the little paper wings in air from an orange sized hole in the nearby wall of that room. Looking at all of them, it narrowed it's already tiny, rounded and black eyes chirping,

"Master had been back now. She expects you both for the meeting after one hour. Get ready, and then follow me. I will take you to her."

After conveying the message of its master, the little creature turned into a blank sheet of paper, with no crease over it at all, taking all the men in surprise.

"I must say, this lady EVANORA had got an upper hand in doing magic. She even turned a sheet of paper into a talking bird. It was cute.... Just that a bit more talkative than it should be. Little punk..!"

Valor touched the sheet of paper lying over the nearby desk of wood, almost flicking it, as if actually the little sparrow's forehead whispering,

"You deserve this for calling me a little white fellow, little creature."

In those moments, Egon and Akhim both had been dressed up and were now ready to join in for breakfast, so that they won't be missing the meeting again. While, the duo were all set to leave, Estella had been ignoring everyone since she came back, and this didn't go unnoticed by Egon, but he thought to talk to her after coming back.

Both of them hauled up from their respective sits and came to the room. Standing besides the blank paper, they were prying over it, only for that little paper sparrow to come back to life. In no time, the magical paper again folded in several different folds and there appeared the same little paper sparrow. The creature looked at them, using its tiny wings, it acted like it was yawning after a slumber sleep saying,

"I had a good rest. Now let's go. Master must be waiting for us. And Mr. Egon, tell that little white fellow of yours that I am not a little punk."

Akhim and Egon both chuckled at those irritated expressions of this cute little sparrow, and followed it outside.

Crossing the lake side, and the residential area of village, following that little paper sparrow, they stopped when the creature stopped flapping it's wings and came to rest on Egon's shoulder. Watching them both frown their eyebrows, the creature whispered besides his ear,

"We have arrived. You can go in the house. I was supposed to carry you only to the entrance. Now rest of the path is yours to follow."

Saying those words, the little paper sparrow flew up, and then turned to ashes which got blown away by the wind to North direction, mixing the remnants with village air and soil. Akhim mumbled watching all this,

"I must say, this sparrow was really talkative. I think I will miss it."

Egon patted his shoulder, and both the men stood outside the huge wooden gate of the nearby house. The house stood alone in that area, with no neighbour, alone.... And was looking ages old, as if it was built decades ago.

Egon pushed the door slightly, and it creaked a bit, allowing only one person to enter from that narrow opening. Both of them stepped inside one after the other. The moment their feet landed inside the house, the door was shut closed tightly, scaring them a bit. There was darkness everywhere. Adding to that, some creepy sounds could be heard, which were enough to scare a common man with no determination. But Egon had travelled long only for this day, for finding his father's last wishes, his reason of death, and now only this lady EVANORA could help him. There was no going back now.

Both of them stepped ahead, and there came a sound of a lady, which Egon thought that she was definitely EVANORA's voice, who said,

"Welcome, Your Majesty, and his most trustworthy General Akhim. I, EVANORA YOUNGBLOOD welcome you both in my tiny house. Step ahead, take 5 steps to your right, and then walk further until you see a black door. Open the door and then step inside. I am waiting for you."

After giving all these instructions, the voice stopped and faded immediately like it was never heard. Both the men looked at each other, nodded in unison, and followed the words. Soon, they witnessed a huge black door. Egon touched the door, and pushed it slightly to open it. The door immediately went ajar, and they both stepped inside. After they set feet inside the room, the door immediately closed on its own, producing a loud bang, and startling them.

Looking here and there, they both spotted a lady wearing all black attire. She was carrying herself elegantly as if she was a queen and belonged to a decent kingdom. Although, her back was facing them, but still Egon didn't stop himself from praising her for her elegancy.

Akhim ran his gaze all over the room, and found so many things, which looked odd to him, as if they were being used to practice magic, and why wouldn't it be! After all, she was the most famous and oldest witch here. The lady's black gown swept the whole floor of that room, her black hair were cascading down below her knees. She turned slowly, and elegantly, with a very charming and heart-warming smile plastered over her pretty thin lips.

Her eyes appeared to be way much older than her faced revealed. To an ordinary person, she looked like a lady in her mid thirties, but only she knew how old she was. Her pointed matched with her elegant personality, and gave her an aura of a dominating and powerful lady.

Taking a few steps towards the men, she raised her left hand up in air, and gestured them both to take sits. Both the men followed her hand gesture, and then her gaze. Finding no mattress to sit, Egon's eyebrows frowned. Looking at his perplexed expressions, EVANORA smiled a little to show her upper set of shining white teeth, and moved her fingers a little.

Within a second, there appeared one king-sized chair, which looked like a throne, and another royal woodden chair besides it. Egon immediately understood the way of EVANORA giving respect to him. Although, she was the most powerful one here, still she gave him the respect of being a king, and then again gestured them both to take their sits.

Both the men sat on their respective chairs, with Egon occupying the throne chair, and Akhim sitting over the other one. EVANORA again snapped her fingers, only to unleash a bit of magic. There appeared numerous lavish dishes over a huge table in front of both of them. She slowly walked a occupied a sit opposite to Egon.

Getting no verbal response from Egon, even after showing him her some of the magic and her way of showing respect, she frowned inside her head, bit didn't let those expressions form any creased lines on her forehead. Grabbing a spoon from the cutlery arranged on that table, she passed on another elegant smile to Egon suggesting,

"I feel your majesty should eat something, and give me a chance to show a little respect. After that we can talk about why are you here exactly. After all, both the parties will be benefitted from this meeting."

Egon got the hidden meaning behind her words. Having no other option, he picked up the spoon to dig in the food, and gestured Akhim to do the same, preparing his mind to agree with whatever favor this powerful witch was going to ask from him.