A Brush with Evil: On Hags
[An excerpt from 'A Brush with Evil: On Hags,' written by Elizabeth M. Soot.] It has been too long, dear reader, since we last sat together. I wish it was because I'd been travelling far and wide, working to bring you more tips and tricks on how to triumph over evil. Alas, that was not the case. For I fell prey to a Green Hag. Worry not, I am alive and well. But I have spent the last two years in her service. One day, I will share what happened in that darkened cell. But not this day. Instead I come to you with a warning. We have discussed hags before, be they of the Night, Green, or Sea variety, and how they are not to be trifled with. But even with all my research, I never truly understood what it meant to encounter one. Evil beings, hags rely on magic, deceit, illusion and even blackmail to lure their victims in. I knew this. I repeated it many times to you, dear reader. But I did not realise their charm, their allure. I did not know I would come to love her. That I would yearn to please her. She strung me along, tempting me with my wildest dreams. I thought myself clever, that I would be able to outmanoeuvre her. I once bested a glabrezu - surely I could handle a Green Hag? And she let me believe it. Until she sprung her trap. Hags delight in suffering, priding themselves on creating new and inventive ways to torment those in their 'care'. And while I have escaped, I spend every waking moment in fear that either her or one of her 'sisters' will come for me. For a hag coven does not let even the smallest of slights go unpunished. And so I rescind my previous guides to dealing with a hag, my suggestions for clever language and deceit. Instead, I offer these words should you ever encounter a hag: run. And pray she does not follow.