The Piper

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"Oh, oh Markus!" Anna cried, clutching the letter in her hands, holding it up to the candlelight. "Markus, come please!" She called, her hands shaking so badly she almost dropped the letter to the floor, where it would be useless, covered and chewed by the dozen or so rats squirming around disgustingly.

"What is it?" Markus asked, coming down the wooden staircase, a candle in his own hand.

"It's your sister, she's dead! Killed slowly from a disease, I'm so sorry Markus!" She said, a hand pressed to her mouth, tears leaking from her eyes.

"That is it. I am not going to live with this. I am not allowing this any longer, Anna, get your coat, we're leaving town." He said, throwing a chair over, where the rats squealed and swarmed aside, desperate not to be crushed by the falling chair.

"We can't leave! Where is there to go? We can't, Markus, and you know it, we cannot afford to sell the house, no one would buy it, and we would have no money to buy another in a cleaner town! We have no more living relatives to stay with, we are stuck." She said, rocking the baby's crib slowly, absent mindedly.

"Think of Josef! I don't care if we have to live on the streets, we can't stay here, not like this!" He said, throwing water over the rats nestled in the corner.

"Well, there is something else we could do..." Anna trailed off, and bit her lip nervously. "No, I changed my mind, we can't go there." She said, and turned her face away.

"Anna." He said softly, a finger on her chin, breathing softly on her, eyes holding hers.

She nodded, terrified, and sat down on the nearest chair, grateful there were no rats sat upon it. She closed her eyes, and began to whisper. She started almost silently, hands folded in her lap, the crackling firelight the only illumination. But then the foreign, magical chanting got harsher, rocking her in her seat, her face crumpling in pain, sweat dewing her brow, her breathing ragged and rough.

"Anna, Anna don't hurt yourself." Markus panicked, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, "Anna, please!"

The door banged open, and she fainted. The rain battered down outside, lightning crackling, a rain-soaked figure in the doorway, a shining silver lute in his hand.

"You called."

.................

"Aleksandra, Aleksandra!"

"You bellowed?" the queen replied, utter disdain plain on her face, a kind of regal loathing showed in the set of her lips, dignity oozing from her every pore.

"Aleksandra, we have... guests."

"Don't speak of your subjects with such disgust, Jurgen, you are no better than them. I see no difference, but that they seem better mannered than you." Queen Aleksandra said swiftly, turning her back on her now irate husband. "What may I do for you?" She asked kindly of the young couple ahead of her, a small child held in the woman's arms. They looked terrified.

"We... we bring with us a solution to... the rats." Anna gulped, and clutched her baby tighter to her.

"I see. And what is this solution?" She said politely. Anna looked to Markus, and nodded almost imperceptibly.

"We have brought with us... an enchanter." Markus said, his voice stiff. He knew as well as anyone, Enchanters were hard people to deal with. They were fickle and often demanded prices one could not afford, always trying to trick the dealer, but they always stood by their word. Always.

"Ah... and who is he?" Aleksandra said slowly, uncertainly.

"He calls himself the Pied Piper of Hammeln, your highness." Markus said, and at the mention of his name, the piper appeared, cloaked in darkness surrounding his coloured, harlequin's clothing.

The queen nodded to him in respect, and Anna curtseyed, while Markus gave him a stiff bow. The king, on the other hand, laughed horribly.

"Aleksandra, do you not see? Do you not see this jester in children's clothing? Why, he looks as though he is clothed in a circus tent! What magic could this buffoon possess? I have more magic in my little finger!"

The piper craned his neck at the king, and his eyes glowed an eerie yellow.

"Please sir, if you would hold your respect. I am here to offer you a deal..."  

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