Dark Tarot (Dark Carpathians)

Adalasia sounded sincere because she was. She believed Aria had a special gift. Her work with the quilts was not only beautiful, but she wove something of herself into each of them. She wanted her children to be happy and at peace when they slept. She wanted those who stayed at her bed-and-breakfast to be the same. She also wanted them to be safe. There were protections in the quilts. Adalasia felt them each time she touched them. Aria wasn’t aware she wove them in, but she had the ability, and she put them there each time she made a quilt.

Aria beamed at her. “I’ve never had anyone say such nice things to me.”

“I assure you, they are very true.” Adalasia sat down in one of the comfortable chairs and gave Aria her radiant smile. “Do you ever play around with tarot cards, just for fun? I indulge in reading the cards sometimes and would do so if it would amuse you.”

Aria glanced out the window. The sun had already set, and a gray veil covered the landscape, so the trees in the distance looked as if they were cast in a silvery mist, and the valley in between the mountains and farm was a ghostly graveyard of rocks and blades of swaying grasses. She shivered and crossed herself.

“I’ve never thought, like some of my friends, that tarot cards were the devil’s tongue.”

Adalasia gasped. “Your friends think that? My family would be horrified. These cards were drawn by my great-grandmother or great-great-grandmother for her daughter to play with and kept in the family. They’re an heirloom. We’re taught practically from birth to recognize evil in the world and fight against it. I didn’t mean to offend you, Aria. I love your home and the quilts so much. I wanted to give you something in return.”

“You didn’t offend me at all, Adalasia. I would love to get a reading,” Aria said firmly and seated herself across from Adalasia.

Adalasia removed the cards deftly from where they were hidden and shook them out into her hands. “What questions would you like answered, if any?”

Sandu doubted if Adalasia realized she had sent a little push toward the woman to answer the question as honestly as possible. He had added a subtle weave in as well, needing more specific information from Aria than he was getting.

“There have been strange things taking place on the farm lately, things we can’t explain,” Aria answered without hesitation. “Amato, my husband, is watchful over our animals. They’re our livelihood.”

While Aria was preoccupied with her conversation with Adalasia, Sandu and the guardians once more probed her memories, going deeper, looking for more details of events that had taken place on the farm.

The noxious odor had returned a few weeks later after the cow had been mutilated, and this time, her husband had gone outside with his shotgun and dog to keep watch over his livestock. Aria had been terrified for him. She had lit candles and prayed, but Amato had forbidden her to leave the house. They had put strings of garlic at the doorways on the windows, although neither truly believed in the undead. They just weren’t certain what they were dealing with.

Two nights later, the dog went crazy, growling and snarling, then charged out of the circle of light toward the barn where the farmer had taken his prize cows. The barn had been illuminated with lights, but then was suddenly plunged into darkness. The dog screamed horribly as Amato chased bravely after it. Aria had rushed to get a second shotgun, her heart pounding, tears running down her face, when she heard the shotgun discharged outside, not once but, after a brief silence, a second time.

When she flung the front door open, prepared to run out to aid him, Amato was there with the dog in his arms. The animal was covered in blood and panting in pain. There were long lacerations on his sides and belly. Amato had wrapped his shirt tightly around the animal in order to save him.

“Hurry, Aria, or we will lose him. He saved the animals tonight. You have to sew him up. There is no time to get him to the village.”

When she saw the horrendous wounds, Aria didn’t believe there was a chance to save the dog’s life, but in the end, the animal had lived. The vet had arrived forty minutes into her meticulous stitching, bringing a blood supply and plenty of antibiotics. He didn’t recognize what creature had done the damage to their heroic dog but, like the couple, was determined to save him.

Adalasia wove her spell through the room with her easy smile and contagious laughter. She had Aria shuffle the cards and divide them into three stacks. Aria chose a stack from the three and chose six cards to lay out in the manner Adalasia asked her to, turning the cards over carefully.