[ 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 .

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 `` It simply is n't tenable-'' 
 
 `` Aw, cram it, ya old broad.'' Gerta turned her broomstick upside down. Using it as a walking stick, she paced up and down the walkway of the small wooden house, which both witches were eager to enter. 
 
 `` Yer lettin' good meat go ta waste. There's your `` not tenable'' nonsense, I tell ya. S'a wonder anyone in the land is scared of ya.'' 
 
 Drealis stood still. Her only movements were to speak and to track Gerta's worrying path along the dusty walk. 
 
 `` I refuse to have a broom-measuring contest with you, Gerta.'' 
 
 `` Ha! Scaredy-cat.'' 
 
 `` Gerta, see reason. A baby is no good to anyone if it is killed and eaten.'' 
 
 `` A baby's nothing but *meat*-'' 
 
 `` A *baby*,'' said Drealis, raising her voice only slightly, `` will grow up to be a child, which will grow to be an adult. And as it grows, it becomes *useful*. If you were to save even one child for yourself, you would know how practical they were for enchantments. Their blood alone-'' 
 
 `` Bah!'' Gerta stopped to sniff loudly and scratch a wart on her nose. Drealis wrinkled her own perfect nose in disgust. `` Ya want blood, y'can have it, but I want meat! And the baby was promised to me.'' 
 
 `` It was promised to both of us,'' Drealis growled, `` and I'll be hanged if I forgive those blasted parents for this mess. But I digress. For my purposes, the baby must be kept alive.'' 
 
 `` Well fat lot a' good that'll do for me! I ai n't had a fresh baby in months!'' 
 
 Drealis scoffed. `` Speaking of *fat*...'' 
 
 `` Eh? Say that again!'' 
 
 `` Heaven knows how much fat you've put on in the last century, and if you keep it up, who knows if you'll live another? You would do well to lay off baby meat for a while.'' Drealis calmly inspected her fingernails, smirking to herself and watching from the corner of her eye as Gerta went red in the face. `` If you'd like to pick through my garden sometime, you're more than welcome, you know. And goat meat is especially lovely this time of year.'' 
 
 Gerta flipped her broomstick again and pointed the handle inches from Drealis' face. Drealis instantly drew back from the muddy knob of wood. 
 
 `` I'll have you know,'' Gerta yelled, `` eating baby has life giving properties you ai n't gon na get from all your enchanted cabbage!'' 
 
 `` Oh, I'm sure.'' 
 
 `` Well, see if you get your fancy baby's blood now! That meat is *mine! *'' 
 
 `` It is not *yours* in any sense of the word. The mother promised it to you, and the father promised it to me. And I would be more than willing to share it with you, only your intent is to waste it making yourself *fat! *'' 
 
 Gerta slapped Drealis squarely across the cheek, and Drealis reacted, summoning her wand and aiming it directly at the wart on Gerta's nose. Gerta's broom was already out, but the light and sparks emanating from Drealis' wand told her she had already lost the draw. She raised her arms in surrender. 
 
 `` I give! I give!'' 
 
 Drealis said nothing. 
 
 `` I ai n't fat.'' 
 
 `` And I am not wasteful.'' 
 
 `` You take it back.'' 
 
 `` First surrender the child to me.'' 
 
 `` Never.'' 
 
 `` Do it or I'll turn you to a toad for a year.'' 
 
 Gerta whimpered. `` Fine. Y'can have the baby.'' 
 
 Drealis disengaged her wand, stowed it away, and petted Gerta on the head. `` You are n't fat, my dear. Just ugly.'' 
 
 `` You-'' 
 
 Drealis snapped her fingers, and a spell transformed the ground beneath Gerta's feet to quicksand. Gerta sank waist deep into the ground as Drealis walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. 
 
 `` Marus! I have come for your firstborn!'' There was no answer from inside the house. `` Marus! Marcie!'' 
 
 `` Get me out of this mud!'' Gerta yelled. 
 
 `` Hush.'' Drealis reached for the doorknob. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. She entered the house cautiously, and shut the door behind her. 
 
 `` I hope,'' she called out, `` you wo n't try anything silly to try to protect your child. I have had my patience tested enough for one day.'' 
 
 Still no answer. Drealis passed from room to room, growing first confused, then irritated as she found no sign of her prize. The house was entirely empty. It did n't take long for her to figure out why. 
 
 She stormed out of the house. Gerta had managed to lift herself out of the quicksand pit with her broom, and was scrambling toward dry ground when she heard Drealis slam the door. 
 
 `` You're gon na pay for that mud spell!'' 
 
 `` Shut up, you fat hag.'' Drealis scanned the woods around the house. `` They're not inside.'' 
 
 `` Whad'ya mean, not inside?'' 
 
 `` They're gone. They must have snuck out through the back while we were quarreling.'' 
 
 `` Hah! Good for you. Waste of perfectly good meat.'' 
 
 `` They ca n't have gotten far. You go west and search along the banks of the creek. I'll head east.'' 
 
 `` Who says I'm helping you?'' 
 
 `` I say,'' Drealis hissed. `` No one can know that those two escaped without giving up their child. We'll be the laughingstocks of the Witches' Guild.'' 
 
 `` Do n't care.'' 
 
 Drealis curled her fists. `` Then what *do* you care about? This is important!'' 
 
 `` Y'called me fat and ugly.'' 
 
 `` Fine! You are neither fat nor ugly! Now-'' 
 
 `` If you want my help, *I* get the baby. That or no deal.'' 
 
 Drealis roared in anger. Materializing her wand, she picked out a large oak tree standing near the house and fired a bolt of lightning at its trunk. It shattered into a million pieces and exploded outwards. Woodchips rained from the sky, shattering the house's windows and shredding the leaves off the other trees. Gerta did n't flinch. Drealis turned to her, her eyes solid red and glowing in anger. 
 
 `` *Have the child if you want it! I no longer care! *'' Her breath was ragged and hot. `` *I want the PARENTS! They'll rue the day they crossed me! *'' 
 
 Gerta cackled. `` Anger ai n't good fer your skin, old broad! You'll get warts!'' She scratched her own warts with one hand as she straddled her broom and lifted into the air. `` Heere, baby! Come to mama!'' 
 
 Gerta pointed her broom westward and darted into the forest. Drealis turned east. Every few steps, she would point her want and blast another tree into oblivion, traveling in a straight line as she burned off her rage. 
 *** 
 The baby had started crying once the tree exploded. Fortunately, the walls of the secret room were thick, and the noise outside meant the two witches would never have heard anyway. 
 
 Marcie bounced her baby girl on her lap. `` How much longer, Marus?'' 
 
 `` I'm not sure.'' He was at the trapdoor above them, lifting it and peeking into the dining room from under the carpet. `` Gerta will become disinterested in a matter of days, but Drealis became more upset than I feared. She blasted a tree, it would seem.'' 
 
 `` Mmm.'' 
 
 `` A week, perhaps.'' Marus shut the door and climbed down the ladder. `` Then we'll slip out of town and head north.'' 
 
 `` A week. Good.'' Marcie sighed happily. `` This was a good plan.'' 
 
 The baby squalled, then grew quiet. Marcie lifted her and hugged her close. 
 
 `` You're not going to be like the others, Marybeth. No witch is ever going to hurt you.'' 
 *** 
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