Henry Tells Their Story

If Jeppeline noticed their looks of surprise, she was too polite to comment on them. She ushered them into the living room. "Please make yourselves comfortable," she said, indicating a couple of well-worn but comfortable-looking leather armchairs. "I'll just go and get dressed, and will rejoin you shortly."

She was as good as her word, and was back with them in less than ten minutes, wearing a smart, navy-blue, ankle-length dress. "So," she said, "I am Jeppeline. May I ask who you are and why you have come to see me?"

"I am Henry and this is my wife, Hannah. We live in the village down below. We have twelve children."

"Goodness!" Jeppeline said.

"It has been a struggle to raise such a large family, as you can no doubt imagine. but thanks in large measure to the kindness of our neighbours we have managed. As you can see, my wife is pregnant once more. All went normally until about the seven month stage. But since then the pregnancy has not developed any further, and I think she is now about a week past her due date. I took her to see the village witch doctor. He reassured us that Hannah and her unborn child appeared to be in good health, but told us that Hannah appeared to be subject to multiple magic spells, some of long standing, though I cannot not see how that could be possible. He said that determining the nature of the spells and removing them was beyond him, and recommended that we should come and see you. So here we are."

"I see. I can certainly detect strong traces of magic around your wife. But so far she has not said anything to me, and she must surely know something about how she came to be placed under these enchantments."

"I naturally asked her about that myself, but she was unable to tell me. I don't mean that she didn't know, but that she seemed incapable of saying anything at all about it. So I doubt that she would be able to say anything to you."

"So one of the spells that she is under would appear to be designed to inhibit her from telling anyone about her situation. Clearly that is the one that I need to remove first, so that I can learn enough from her to make removing the remaining magicks much more straightforward."

1. Jeppeline is able to remove the spell.
2. Jeppeline fails to remove the spell.

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