Love Potion

Dr. Samuel Klaus Meriwether was not an actual doctor, but a magician. He had earned the title doctor, when he had concocted a potion for turning lizards purple that coincidentally, saved the town from a plague. Although he was the savior of the small hamlet, the people still feared him.  Supposedly he was a legendary evil magician. His careful crafting and being friends with two of the most noteworthy inhabitants in the Enchanted Woods had landed him the title of legendary. His behavior towards visitors vicious, he imagined that is the reason he was given the title ‘evil’. Though living in the middle of an enchanted wood and hoarding a small fortune tended to make humans skittish and that could have been the reason. So, he preferred to live in anonymity, rarely dealing with the people who bothered to seek him. Even if one made their way to the cottage, the likelihood that he would see them was low, and it was a more destitute likelihood that he would go seek company.

So why was there a child at his doorstep?  The snow was thick and the little child’s hands were blue. Klaus’ black eyes glared at the kid through the sliver of glass behind the curtains. A knock sounded. He leaned to the side catching a glimpse of an orange striped hat through the window.

“Doctor Meriwether!” the small voice squeaked, “Doctor Meriwether!”

Klaus sighed deeply and opened the door to the house. The child’s bright blue eyes stared up at him. A rather fair child, sweet blond ringlets, round face flushed due to the cold. Klaus imagined how he looked next to the child. A dark, looming figure, with black hair and even blacker eyes, two of the prices he paid for immortality and youth. The only similar feature a skin tone of Northern heritage, light like the snow around them. Midnight and dawn stared at each other.

“Are ya’ Doctor Meriwether?” the child’s voice squeaked.

“Yes.”

A hopeful grin cascaded across the flushed face, “Doctor Meriwether, papa is sick, and the neighbor says that ya’ can potion make something for him to get better.”

Klaus blinked a few times, wondering if the sentence made any sense. He decided it didn’t need to; he understood what she was trying to say. The child beamed at him. He glared back at the light blue eyes, “No.”

Slamming a door in the child’s face was not the most considerate thing to do; but who sent their child into a blizzard to ask the “horrible” magician for a potion? He heard the sniffle that begot tears from the other side of the door. The child was not his problem. The village was not his problem. These were things that he was not responsible for; had he not learned his lesson with the plague? He listened for a minute at the door, there was no answering sound.  He smiled regretfully as he walked back to his vials and books. Obviously the child wanted to save her father only in theory. His rueful smile continued as he made the potion that would heal all mortal afflictions of the flesh; a potion that could have cured the child’s father. It took him two hours to complete and the snow outside had progressively gotten worse. He wondered if the child had made it home. Walking toward the door, he looked outside. To his shock and dismay, there lay the child, breathing heavily on his porch covered in snow.  Swinging the door open, he scooped up the girl and brought her inside.  More dismay entered his conscience as he realized the child had not been wearing a coat. Her little boots, her cotton dress, and her tiny striped hat were all soaked.

He scrambled through the house, looking for something warm. For a brief instant he wished he was a wizard. Wizards could persuade the elements, and it would be easy to warm the girl. He realized his foolishness quickly. He pulled a terrific feather comforter off his bed and went back to the small frame. He wished he had the time to prepare spells but as the petite form shook, he knew that there was little. Justifying his actions with the thought that he did not want to see a child die, even though that was the same justification he had used to stop the plague: He still regretted that decision. He wrapped her in the tremendous feather comforter and set her on a couch by the fire. Eventually his work won, defeating the Winter Empress’ death that had been creeping up on the small frame.  He sighed, exhausted, as he fell into the chair beside the fire. Why had she not gone home? He turned to the potion that rested on the table and sighed.

He worked hard to gain a reputation dark enough to keep the town folk out of the forest, he was about to shatter it.

The child mumbled as she batted her long eyelashes open, “Papa?”

“No.”

Her eyes widened and she turned away from him. Klaus watched as she took in her surroundings, slowly growing less fearful as she saw how “normal” his dwelling was. He even saw a glimpse of a smile when her eyes landed on his pair of songbirds happily tweeting in their cage. It was their chatting that finally won the child enough courage to look him in the face. “I’m sorry Doctor Meriwether, sir. I didn’t thought you would have to go and saves me. Thank you sir, but I do need a potion for papa, he’s sick.”

“Here,” Klaus held the vial in his hand, he already was regretting it; “I will need payment.”

“I don’t haves money sir,” the little girl’s eyes began to leak.

“No, an answer to a question will suffice,” Klaus could not believe himself when he asked, “What is your name?”

“Willow,” The girl grinned, “Willow Cline. Can I have the potion now?”
“Yes.” He handed her the potion, “You father must drink it twice a day for the next week.”

 “Yes sir,” Willow nodded, “I’ll make sure sir.”

She grabbed the potion from his hand, like a dehydrated man for water. Her little fingers grasped it tightly. The two birds tweeted and whistled to the child in encouragement. Klaus slightly smiled, “Take care little one, stay on the path.”

Willow waved at him and ran through the snow. The child looked like a rabbit, he mused as she got further away, hopping instead of trudging. The fear that a child would have died on his doorstep haunted him, as he watched through the mirror to be sure she did not stray. She waved up at the sky as if she knew her watcher. Klaus shook his head, “Humans.”

He stopped attending her, the mirror went opaque, magic no longer coursing through the surface.  He let himself wonder what would become of the little girl, and decided he would never know.

He was wrong.

The Winter Empress’ breath turned into the Spring Princess’ laugh, and every day of springtime the child came with flowers in her hands to give to the magician. A small gift, given in thanks for her father’s life. Though he grumbled about it to Willow’s face, he enjoyed her presence after a hundred years of solitude. He thought after that first spring she would never come to see him again. Klaus did not regret it, to his surprise every spring afterwards she brought him flowers from her family’s flower shop.

“Why are you here again?” Klaus glared at the young woman, her long blond ringlets spinning sunshine into the room.

“I have a request,” she glittered at him. He swore that every time she entered his cottage she came into it to make it uncomfortably bright.

“What is it?” he asked darkly. Her bubbly attitude was neither infectious nor annoying, but it did drive him insane when she came during the spring.

“I am in love.” She grinned at him, her songbird voice giddy, “But there is an itty bitty problem.”

“He doesn’t love you?” Klaus guessed, knowing how human brains worked.

“Well sort of,” she sat down in Klaus’ chair, “It’s more he doesn’t know I exist.”

Klaus thought that over, any village boy would have noticed how much his little one had grown. She was an embodiment of sunshine and roses. Her eyes rang with the freedom of the sky and the depths of the sea. Golden tendrils fell past her waist in curls both soft and sweet. Her form, while not dainty, was curved into perfection. She was neither too tall nor short but the perfect average of her parents blend. Willow was as wonderful if not more beautiful than princesses in fairy stories. He made the reasonable deduction, “So he’s a noble of some sort?”

“Yes,” she spun around making her look like she was the child he had saved once again, “He is the Duke Argent that rules the territory.”

Klaus froze a memory of silver hair and a slick smile entered his thoughts, “What does the duke look like?”

 “He has chocolate curls and eyes the color of the forest in spring. He is tall and kind. Why?”

“No reason,” Klaus smiled, “Continue.”

“Well, he helped me up when I fell during his village inspection, you know the one the nobles do every year? I was so lucky. I have been in love since my eyes met his.”

Klaus almost made a snide comment but instead asked her the question she wanted, “What would you have me do?”

“A love potion,” She suddenly became very serious, her eyes dark, “And I need it before the month is out.”

“That is a short time to create a love potion,” Klaus had perfected such potions and was able to concoct them in a kitten’s hearts breath but that did not stop his impulses from wondering why she needed the potion so quickly.

“I will need an antidote as well, of course,” she continued, not bothering to satisfy the magician’s curiosity, “Just in case.”

“Hmmm,” Klaus nodded. Although, it was better for his little one to understand that the Duke, while being a handsome man might not be a handsome person. “You do realize he might be a terrible being?”

Willow grinned, “Of course, that is the reason for the antidote.”

“Alright then, I will make your potions.” Klaus sighed and stood up, “I need you to get me some ingredients.”

Her joy sung through the air, “Whatever ya need.”

“Willow bark, witch hazel, Acacia blossoms, Lavender leaves, rain flower, red rose petals, purple lilac bark, red tulip bulbs, and I think we should have some Rosemary just in case.” He listed the items knowing that each plant was a powerful symbol.

“Oh,” she said worriedly while she wrote. Her face grew increasingly shadowed.

“Yes?”

“He also has a lover,” she grimaced, “Is there anything you could do about that?”

“Such as kill her?” Klaus was disgusted he would never hurt a human. He would ignore them, but not hurt them.

“No, such as make him forget,” Willow’s eyes darkened considerably, Klaus saw no sunshine in them.

“Love potions that I make cause people to forget their previous loves anyway,” Klaus explained, “You will be fine.”

“Really?” her face brightened considerably.

His smile held reassurance, “Yes, go home now get the ingredients and we’ll start on the potion tomorrow.”
“Thank you so much Dr. Meriwether.” She kissed his cheek and laughed as she ran out the front door.

He sighed, women were such work.

The potion should have taken a mere week to complete, but as Klaus was quickly learning, with Willow there was no such thing as “should have”.

“Do I put this in now?” Willow asked holding up a vial filled with a liquid, which looked as foul as it smelled.

Klaus stared at the vial, “What’s in that?”

“The stuff that was on the table,” Willow answered grinning.

Klaus walked over to her side, picked up the vial, gritted his teeth, and proceeded to dispose of  it most efficiently.  The sound of exploding flowerbed echoed through the cottage.

“Don’t touch anything.” Klaus turned back to the table where he had been measuring out ground tulip bulbs, “Please.”

It almost seemed like Willow could not help but touch the potion ingredients and each time she did another disaster occurred. So far she had turned the entire cottage lilac, lit water on fire, and managed to gas every inch of the house with a toxic secretion that Klaus dreaded was the next weapon of modern war. Klaus degraded her from potion helper to house cleaner.

“Klaus?”

“What,” he studied the vein on a red rose petal wondering if it was new enough to be used in the potion.

“The birds are gone,” Willow whimpered.

“What happened?”

“I think I left the cage open,” Willow sounded like she was about to cry.

Klaus’ curiosity got the better of him and he exited his work place. There Willow stood birdcage in hand, two missing birds and the house was filled with flower petals. Her hair was a fluff of disaster. He reached out and smoothed a lock around her face a puzzled look on his face.

“What –“Klaus thought about it, pulled his hand away, quickly turned around, and slammed the door to the workroom. Some things were better off not knowing.

He did his best to keep her out of the workroom, and she did her best to destroy his gloomy home with strange occurrences. Cleaning meant making things look better, Klaus could not understand how “looking better” translated to “sparkly shiny”. When he left his workroom the first time he had decided not to ask, when he left it the second time he decided not to come out again.

The next week passed by in a flurry, Klaus, to his wonder, survived. Willow unknowingly, caused property damage. When he finally finished the potion and the antidote, he was mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausted.

He left both potions on the table with a note for her, the note read: “Love potion, blue. Antidote, pink. Let me sleep.”

Falling onto his bed, he stretched out. He did not hear the door open nor see Willow take the potion and smile at the bedroom door.

He woke up the next morning feeling completely refreshed. The sleep had been long, and he had not been plagued with dreams. He stretched and stood up slowly. It was enlightening how quiet his morning was. Walking into the other room he noticed the pinkish red bottle that held the antidote was sitting on his table still. A note was written back “Thanks!” There was a heart at the end. He sighed; of course the little one had forgotten the antidote. He shook his head and smiled slightly, “What a troublesome child.”

He picked up the antidote, magically summoned his clothes, and opened the door. Outside on the step was a dead songbird. Klaus did not stop to think about the portents of such a thing, he closed the door behind him, noting to pick up the bird later. He strode down the path. Everywhere there were flowers, and as he entered the hamlet, the more festival like the place appeared. An arch of white roses stood in the center of town.  “Hey sweetheart,” a woman grabbed onto his arm, obviously struggling to walk, “Do you want to be my date to the wedding?”

He glared down at the woman who smelled of cheap alcohol and even cheaper sex, “Thank you for your kind invitation but I must decline I do not associate with women who under value themselves.”

“Bastard,” the woman hissed as she walked away. He sighed; he could not understand that behavior. After a moment of overthinking, he assumed the wedding was between the duke and Willow. It did not occur to Klaus to question the speed at which the wedding was happening. He had never been to a wedding before and he did not know the customs involved. But he had to hurry to catch up to her so she would have the antidote as an insurance policy.

He spotted her laughing in a crowd of people. Gratitude filled his heart as he walked swiftly toward her, he would be able to leave these people to their festivities and return to the forest once his little one was situated.  He walked blindly into the crowd, until he was close enough to see who she was talking to. An older rich man stood next to her with his arm around her side. Klaus felt sudden heat enter his blood stream as anger filled him. Who was this to be touching his little one?
“Willow,” he called out, “You forgot this!”
His hand reached out with the antidote. She did not take it from him. Their eyes met briefly, daybreak and twilight, hesitantly searching. Her gentle voice, the songbird’s sweetness, lightly asked, “Who are you sir?”

Klaus’ black eyes widened, his hands started to shake.  A dry throat tried to find words as he stared at the stunning lady before him. His little one, his fairy princess, he reached out to her his pale hand trembling as realization hit him. His fingers had almost brushed the wayward strand of sunray from her face when the elder man beside him pushed him away, “Stay away from my fiancé.”
“You are the duke?” Klaus’ felt his heart hammer in his chest as he waited for an answer.

“I am.”

“Oh,” he felt the water begin to form in his eyes. Tears did not come easily to immortals; black drops fell down his face.  He had never felt the need to cry before. He stared at the enchanting woman, a long white dress made of satin and crystal hung on her sweet form. The dress would have cost a fortune and made her look more like a creature of the fairy realms than that of a human child. Diamonds hung around her neck, flowers woven through her hair, in her hands the bouquet that was going to be used for her wedding.

“Sorry sir.” She nodded at him and turned to chat with her husband to be.

Klaus’ emotions seemed numb as he walked out of the village in confusion. What had happened? He watched his feet on the dirt path trying to put meaning into the event he had just witnessed. He began to follow the path back to his cottage when he heard the whispers of village women on the wind.

“Poor girl, to be given to an old man in exchange for money.”

“Didn’t she say she wanted to go see the wizard to do something about it?”
“You mean the man she loves? I think so, I wonder if he didn’t care.”

“He is an evil magician after all, turning that poor family into spiders. He also ate those poor children. It’s amazing she even came back.”

Klaus stopped and took purposeful steps toward the two women. She was bought? Why would her father sell her? What did the woman say? His voice stressed when he asked, “What did you say about the girl?”

The two elderly women looked at him curiously. The one with a large brimmed hat answered, “You mean about being bought?”

“No,” Klaus heard how desperate his voice sounded, “The next part.”

The other woman was an elder of the village; old enough to remember him during the years of plague, and Klaus knew she was trying to place him in her mind. He did look the same as then. Once she did realize who he was she looked at him sadly, “She loved the magician. That’s why she always ran into the forest with flowers in her arms.”

His eyes widened, he turned.

Klaus watched as the woman who loved him, walked away with another man.