[ WP ] Two people promise their first born child to two different witches in return for a favour . These two people end up getting married and have a child together .

When they arrived, most of the villagers had retired for the night. A few of the more daring peasant children, though, had crept out of their hovels to see what they could under the light of a full moon's witching hour. There were a few small groups who made a custom of these outings. Occasionally they caught sight of a spirit or wisp -- or, more often, one of them *claimed* that she had. But this night they would be rewarded with a sight none of them had seen before. 
 
 They hid in places around the entrance of the village, waiting and hoping but not expecting much. When the first shadow passed them, they were not sure what it was. When the second did, they knew. Two of the boys looked at one another and whispered, in tones of mixed terror and delight, two simple words: `` Old Ladies.'' The local euphemism for practitioners of the malign arts. 
 
 
 The Old Ladies stopped within seconds of each other in front of the same hovel. Inside two peasants crouched, hoping they would be spared this visit for another day -- their daughter had been born just minutes before the witching hour, after all. But these once-women, these Old Ladies, were both wise and well-practiced in the craft. They knew the very second of the babe's arrival months in advance. 
 
 The two witches eyed one another, but, true to the recalcitrant ways of their kind, each avoided acknowledging the other's presence. Instead, they entered the hovel imperiously, one after another, as if hoping that their separate errands in this cramped space might be accomplished without the other's interference. 
 
 The door burst open and the two robed shadows entered. Lightning cracked from a clear sky. The babe wailed in its bed, and its mother joined it in the corner. The father, pale and shaking, stood. He had seen the first witch, Glemore, whom he had sought the favor of so many years ago. 
 
 `` I have come for the child,'' said Glemore in the Common Tongue as she swept into the room. Just then, the other witch followed her in. 
 
 `` The child is mine. This woman owes me a debt,'' declared the other witch, a hag whose name can not be rendered in most alphabets and was incomprehensible to human ears. She too, spoke in the Common Tongue, and her words sent the man stumbling back a bit in shock. 
 
 `` Please, ye Old Ones, spare our childe. We two made our foolish promises long ago,'' said the man, `` and each of us knew not of the other's.'' 
 
 `` Silence, mortal,'' said Glemore in a tone that would not allow for any other course of action on the man's part. Then she turned to the hag, speaking in the Eld Tongue. 
 
 `` The fuck you doing, bitch?'' 
 
 `` Da fuq I'm doing?'' the hag shot back, `` da fuq you doing?'' 
 
 `` I'm here to get *paid*, motherfucker, and I do n't have time for your shit --'' 
 
 `` Yeah, you got one thing right,'' interjected the hag, gesturing around the room, `` This right here is my shit, girlfriend, so you better step!'' 
 
 The peasant couple stared on, uncomprehending but terrified. Magic filled the room, crackling as the two witches prepared their attacks. 
 
 `` Come on, then, bitch!'' shrieked Glemore. 
 
 The two witches shot great jets of flame toward their counterparts, each warding off the other's attacks. They used all their words of power, employed their most refined spiritcraft, called down complex curses on one another in short breaths. Before long, however, it became clear that they were evenly matched. They slumped into opposite corners of the hovel, defeated. 
 
 `` Fuck -- you even -- need this baby for?'' Glemore spat out. 
 
 `` *Dinner! Da fuq YOU need it for? *'' the enraged hag replied weakly, beyond reason. 
 
 `` Wait, you were just going to *eat* it?'' 
 
 `` I'm a hag, bitch. I eat kids. It's what we do. You're going to get all high and mighty on me after you tried to summon the Demon Lord Thoth five minutes ago?'' 
 
 `` No, I'm planning to kill the kid, too, it's just... You just want a kid to eat? That's all?'' 
 
 `` I'm starving.'' 
 
 `` Well, listen. I need a newborn infant for this potion I've been working on. But there's a bunch of eight-year-olds back by the entrance to the village. If you let me take the infant, I'll help you snatch up a few of them and we can have some dinner? I'd love to talk shop.'' 
 
 `` Hmph. Eight year olds. Not as tender,'' huffed the hag. Then she brightened up a bit. `` Should be plenty left over, though. I can make jerky.'' 
 
 `` There you go!'' replied Glemore. She sprung up from her corner, removed the babe from its cradle, and walked over to help the hag up as well. They shook hands ( or hand and talon, to be more accurate ) and walked out the door. 
 
 `` Pleasure doing business with ya,'' Glemore called out in the Common Tongue to the two very bewildered parents. The witching hour was long over and the sun was peaking over the horizon as they walked out. 
 
 `` The baker should be open soon,'' said Glemore, `` maybe we can grab a baguette for our picnic.'' 
 
 The hag, who ate only meat, just smiled. It had been a long time since she interacted with anything she was n't trying to kill. Glemore returned the smile, and together they walked toward the village entrance, where a few peasant children still waited in hopes of seeing the two witches depart. The horizon grew brighter as they walked together, the dawn of a new day and a new friendship.
