Evil Quill Weave pt. 3

She opened the letter from her tailor in the Imperial City immediately upon receipt from the courier.

“Dear Mistress of Evil,” the letter started. Quill-Weave was happy to see that the Khajiit had addressed the letter appropriately as she had requested. Though of course the tailor knew full well who she was, it wouldn’t do to spread that word around too liberally.

“It is with the greatest of concern that I write this to you. Two days ago I happened upon that crazy mage I told you about. You remember, the one who sold me those rubies? Well we began to talk and it appears that they were enchanted! As best I can gather - you must understand the nutjob is very hard to comprehend - they are enchanted with an invisibility enchantment. If you touch the one with the skull engraving while repeating the word "Hej” three times, it will activate the others and the invisibility will be engaged. The word “Xhu” will disable it. I apologize deeply for this and will be more than happy to replace them with regular stones. You need only stop in the shop and I will gladly swap them out for you!“

Quill-Weave looked down at the red skull ruby on her bodice and smiled an evil smile.

"I bet you will!” she thought. “Didn’t know you were selling me an enchanted outfit did you?”

She decided to wait till the next day when Faceless Mook came back from his vacation to test it out on him.

The next morning she heard him enter downstairs and called down to him, “Be down in a few minutes Mooky. Please can you put the cat out for me?”

“Sure thing Mistress!” he called back.

She heard him downstairs and said the word three times while touching the stone. Nothing happened, but she also had no idea how it was supposed to work either. She then crept downstairs as silently as she could and heard him outside. She hid behind the door until he came back in. He went to his workbench and began working on the door latch again.

She silently walked around right in front of him, but there was no reaction. She was totally invisible to him! She smiled a toothy grin and crept back up the stairs.

After saying the words to disable the enchantment she returned down the stairs as if nothing had happened.

“Oh! Working on that latch again?”

“Yes Mistress. I really can’t figure out why it’s so much of a problem. Here, look… See, it’s really a very simple mechanism. The only thing I can figure is that the little axle gets stuck somehow.”

She waved a hand dismissively. “I’m no good with such things Mooky. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Say, are the villagers still holding that festival tonight?”

Faceless Mook perked up at that. “Oh yes! It’s the talk of the village! I really wish you’d come. My wife is dying to meet you too. She forgives you for that whole salt thing.”

“Ah, well, tell them thanks. I’ve come to terms that I won’t be doing my Evil Deeds around here anyway. But really, it just wouldn’t be seemly for Evil Incarnate to show up and dance with a bunch of villagers now, would it?”

Her minion sighed. “I guess not. We’re going to have a big bonfire though! Really it would be so nice of you to join.”

“Well, I’ll think about it. Now I’m off to start planning my next Villainous Deed.”

“Okay, let me know if you need any help,” Mooky said, turning back to his work.

In fact, she was planning her next Villainous Deed. With her invisibility outfit, the idea was practically thrown into her lap. During the fall festival, Quill would activate her invisibility and create a jack-o-lantern. But this one would magically appear at the festival, floating on air! The superstitious rubes would freak out! Oh, maybe it wasn’t as Evil as some ideas, but she would definitely get a kick out of seeing them run screaming from the Magic Jack-O-Lantern. She grabbed a nice fat pumpkin from the garden out back and sequestered herself in her room with a knife and a spoon.

Three pumpkins later and she finally felt she had just the right look of menace on the pumpkin’s carved face. The fact that she’d managed to get pumpkin brains all over herself didn’t bother her since she’d wisely removed her Evil outfit beforehand. But she needed a bath.

“Hey Mooky? Could you make a bath for me?”

“Sure Mistress! I’ll start heating the water up now. But, can I leave early today after that? The wife wants me to get dressed up for the festival.”

“No problem. I’m going to go to bed early tonight anyway. Give her my regards. Just let me know when you leave.”

Some little while later, she heard her minion call up the stairs, “Okay Qu… I mean, Mistress. The bath is ready. I’ve left a towel and soap right beside it. I’m heading out now.”

“Okay, thank you Mookey! You’re the best!”

When she’d heard the door close, she went downstairs and climbed into the bath. The water was just right. She decided right then that, if she saw Faceless Mook and his wife at the festival, she’d steer clear of them. His wife really had been awfully accommodating to her, and she felt a little bad at having not met her yet.

The day turned to night and Quill was all prepared. She waited until the hour was getting late, then she crept towards the village. Keeping to the wooded area around the clearing, she could see all the townspeople gathered around a large bonfire. Most were dancing while a few were playing some crude instruments and others yet were obviously somewhat drunk and singing badly at the top of their voices. She waited until she spotted Mooky and a large woman she assumed to be his wife nearby. They were on the far side of the fire happily so she decided to focus her efforts nearby.

She touched the ruby and repeated the incantation. Then she lit the candle and placed it within the pumpkin. Raising it high overhead, she stepped out of the woods. As expected, many of the villagers pointed and shrieked. She waved the pumpkin up and down as she circled the fire. But instead of screaming and running away in terror, she noticed most of them just made a pathway for the haunted jack-o-lantern. While the children pointed, most of the adults just shushed them and made them look away.

A little frustrated, she blew out the candle and went back into the woods. While she’d obviously caused a bit of an uproar at first, it was certainly not the terrified spectacle she was expecting. She dropped the pumpkin in the woods and went back to her castle. Once again, the latch wasn’t working. She fiddled with it but finally sat down in front of the door in frustration. At least it wasn’t cold or raining, she thought.

Then a figure came out of the gloom. It was Faceless Mook, and she was glad to see him.

“MOOKY! Just the man I was looking for! This latch is stuck again.”

“Hi Mistress. Sure, give me just a second and I’ll get it open.”

True to his word, with a little help from a small tool he kept nearby he had the latch open.

Once inside, the little man sat down at the table.

“What is it Mooky? What brings you here tonight of all nights? Don’t you want to be at the festival?” she said, smiling a little.

“Well, yes, but the wife insisted I come and talk to you. I’m sorry Quill… I mean Mistress. But it’s kind of hard to talk while you’re naked.”

Quill looked at him puzzled and looked down at herself. “Naked? I’m not nak… Oh no. OH NO!!!”

Quill-Weave’s pupils went from her normal slits to fully dilated.

“Thanks for coming to the festival anyway, Mistress. But, it’s not really a fertility festival,” Mooky said.

“But… this morning! You… I…”

“It’s okay Mistress. I know you’re a little eccentric in your dressing habits. But the rest of the villagers don’t know you that well. I… well, I suggest you wear clothes pretty much all the time when you come into the village, even if you sometimes don’t around here.”

………………………

Dear Mae the Tailor,

I thank you for your letter of yesterday. However, in the future I would appreciate it if you could be a little more PRECISE in your language. I’m afraid I misunderstood a critical aspect of your missive.

I will be in next week to have suitable alterations made to the garment.

Sincerely,

Your Mistress of Evil