SINISTER
by Nene Adams ©2005 – all rights reserved
“No!
Ye shall not take her, not while I have life and breath!” Patience Young
cried, clutching the unconscious woman to her bosom. In the dim firelight, Patience’s
eyes seemed to glow as scarlet as the gush of blood across the other woman’s
brow. She struggled to hoist the limp body further into her lap, and glared up
at the men who had burst into her cottage. “Get thee hence, Fight-For-Thy-Faith
Makepeace! There will be no witch-taking this night!”
The silhouette
of a man loomed above her, his cloak wrapped tightly around a spare yet powerful
frame. He stepped forward, his stride long, his footsteps made heavy with arrogance
and a firmness of purpose that would not be denied by mere words. Behind him
were other men, shifting uncomfortably in the crisp autumn breeze that poured
through the open door. Some of their faces were made legible by the moonlight.
Patience knew all of these men; she had nursed them and their families through
illnesses; she had set their broken bones, and delivered their wives of children.
They depended on her wisdom and skill to heal their hurts, for their little village
could not support a more learned doctor. Normally, her authority as a healer
was enough to command respect, but not tonight. She could read the resolve on
their faces, made thin and hard by the recent famine. When hunger clemmed men’s
bellies, and their ears were filled with the din of crying children, and they
watched their women-folk suffer, then madness overruled sense. Led by Reverend
Makepeace – a recent arrival but popular, with his religious speeches and
fanatical attitude – the mob had come seeking a scapegoat.
They had come for her lover, Gracious Withycombe.
Makepeace shouted, “I accuse Gracious Withycombe, daughter of Temperance
Withycombe, of consorting with Satan! Of the wicked, malicious and felonious
practice of witchcraft, which has afflicted this village, and caused such suffering
among the God-fearing community.” He looked down his nose at her, and she
saw the superior expression on his face soften a trifle. When he continued speaking,
his tone was seductive, more beguiling. “Here, Mistress Young, we say nothing
against you, no one wishes you harm. All know you are a charitable woman who
does much good for her neighbors.”
“Then get thee hence, an’ thou lovest me and mine so much. Leave
us be.” Patience’s voice cracked. Ever since the door had crashed
open, and men had poured inside, and Grace had risen to defend but been struck
down without ceremony, she had felt nothing but terror. Her heart beat a rapid
tattoo, battering against her ribs until she could scarcely draw breath. Nevertheless,
she held Grace tightly to her, and stared at Makepeace in defiance another moment
before shifting her gaze to the men shuffling behind him.
“I see thee, Habakkuk Wilson! And thee, too, Wrestle-with-the-Devil Kane!” Patience
cried. She used the long sleeve of her nightdress to blot the blood that seeped
from Grace’s head wound. The injury was deep, the edges of the cracked
skull shifting ominously, but her hands moved with their own purpose, guided
by the experience gained by a lifetime of other nights, and other wounds. Her
searching fingers found a small jar that had fallen from a shelf when the mob
burst inside; she removed the lid and rubbed cream into Grace’s cut. “Dost
not recall when thy good-wife labored near to death to deliver thy son, Master
Cooper? Who was it saved both woman and child?”
The cooper – who was as fond of his stout wife and stout son as he was
of the ale that often filled the barrels he made – had the grace to blush.
“What of thy smashed leg, Omphrey Shattuck? Aye, thee will limp for the
rest of thy days, but when the festering ran deep, who was it stayed at thy side
night and day, to see thee through to health once more?” Patience eyed
another man, who was attempting to sidle out of the door unnoticed. “And
thee, Adam Barebone! Dost recall thy son’s fever? I see thee, too, Praise-That-I-Am-Delivered
Girnwood!” Patience paused to draw a breath; unseen, her fingers pressed
against Grace’s neck, and felt the flutter of the other woman’s pulse.
“I am certain, Mistress Young, that no man is ungrateful for your many
kindnesses. Such remembrances are not to our purposes, however. Sentiment has
no place when we must deliver ourselves from evil.” Makepeace smiled, or
rather, he stretched his lips and bared his teeth in what could never be mistaken
for an expression of happiness. His tone firmed to granite, an unshakeable resolve. “Give
us what we want. Give us the witch!”
“Nay!”
“Then we shall take her!” Makepeace swooped down to snatch at Grace,
and Patience cowered back, trying to twist her body around to shield her unconscious
lover. The men came to help the reverend, emboldened by his example. At first,
the villagers were gentle – no doubt remembering the debts they owed to
the healer – but soon, their patience unraveled when she continued to resist.
Grace was cruelly torn from her embrace, her grip loosened by blows from fist
and foot. Patience was left bruised and broken, her lips bloody, one eye already
swollen shut. As Grace was lifted and carried out of the cottage, Patience keened,
a high wild skirling cry that turned every man who heard it to ice… save
one.
Makepeace whirled about and delivered a vicious kick to Patience’s side. “Silence!” he
barked. “Silence, woman! We do God’s work. You should not have interfered!
Be grateful that we have delivered you from the witch’s wiles.”
Huddled on the floor, Patience glared at Makepeace. Pain stabbed at every inch
of her body; cold chills wracked her frame, alternating with waves of heat that
left her sweaty and gasping. “Let her go,” Patience mumbled around
broken teeth.
He sneered. It was clear that he enjoyed his triumph, now that potential witnesses
were gone. “When Gracious Withycombe is dead – after a trial, of
course - I expect you to behave with the humility most becoming a simple female.
The town fathers have voted me the power of a Witch-Finder General, and I won’t
hesitate to accuse anyone I believe may have forsaken God, and given themselves
to Satan and his minions. Do you understand, Mistress Young? Your friends, your
family...” His voice trailed off suggestively.
She hung
her head, shivering, and did not answer.
“There
are tools that are useful to the art of witch-finding,” Makepeace continued.
For all his professed Christian faith, it seemed to Patience that the man was
steeped in hidden vices, with naught but rotting evil at his core.
“The strappado, the thumbscrews, the infamous Boot that crushes the foot
bones so thoroughly,” he said, his eyes gleaming with something that was
horribly akin to delight. Spittle flew with the force of his utterance. “The
wheel, the Judas cradle, the flail and lash, the Heretic’s fork, the Scold’s
Bridle that will stop up a blasphemous mouth with iron! Yes, with these instruments
I will wring a confession from the accused, and lead them to repentance before
they are condemned to be burnt, and carried to divine judgment on a pillar of
smoke and flame.”
“You are mad,” Patience said, getting the words out past her agony.
His fist wound into her hair, forcing her head back. “No, I am the Angel
of Death,” Makepeace said. “And you will do well to remember that.
God may have mercy… but I will not.” He tightened his grip until
she winced, then let her fall back to the floor.
The other men were gone from view, having marched back to the village square
while carrying Gracious Withycombe’s unconscious body down the moonlight-drenched
path through the wood. Reverend Makepeace turned on his heel and walked out of
the door, leaving Patience alone in the unbearable silence.
For a long time, Patience lay there, gathering her strength. The darkness of
the night deepened, as did the shadows that lengthened within the cottage, now
that no one tended the fire. Her only thought was Grace – her beautiful,
kind, soft-spoken Grace who had never raised a hand in anger to a soul. For Makepeace
to accuse Gracious Withycombe of consorting with dark powers---! The very idea
was ludicrous.
Especially since it was Patience herself who was a witch, in an old, old sense
of the term that predated Jesus the Nazarene and his followers.
Each breath caught in her side. Patience spat out a mouthful of blood. Slowly,
painfully, she stood up. There was a small open jar at her feet; on the label
was written ‘Poison’ in spidery handwriting. She had done what she
could to ensure that Grace would not suffer. Even before Makepeace had boasted
of his torture implements, she had known what happened to women (and men) accused
of witchcraft. Pardons were rare; conviction meant imprisonment, hanging, strangulation
or burning – the punishment of the auto-de-fé given to heretics
who spoke out or acted against the Church of Rome. Patience could not save Grace,
therefore she had ensured that the woman she loved would not face death in agony.
Gracious Withycombe would simply fail to wake up, and her soul would slip away.
If only matters had turned out differently… but no. There was no use wasting
time on regrets and what-ifs. There was a final task left to her in this life.
Slowly, painfully, Patience limped to the woodshed.
There was only one answer to Makepeace’s insanity. Unchecked, he would
be the ruination of this small corner of the world. The man was a devourer; his
appetite for destruction, his greed and lust would not be sated until the land
itself had been sucked dry.
Patience muttered while blood – black as ink, in the pale and watery illumination
- dribbled down her chin, and dripped on the front of her nightdress. Arcane
words spilled over her lips while she slowly, painfully found what was needed..
Moonlight gleamed on the golden serpent ring that Patience wore on her left hand.
The silvery luminescence rippled on the edge of the ax held high, drawing blue
from the well-sharpened steel. Patience smiled; the jagged stumps of her teeth
were wet with blood.
“Grace,” she whispered.
The ax flashed down.
~~~ooo0ooo~~~
There
was no tavern within the boundaries of New Jericho. The godly folk would never
have permitted such a den of iniquity to be built in their very midst. However,
the village was not entirely isolated from the world; there was a need for merchants
and traders to bring things which the people could not manufacture themselves.
These strangers could not be expected to live up to high Christian standards,
therefore they were banished to the tavern once their business was concluded.
It was a satisfactory solution, especially for the merchants who despised the
dour, religious villagers of New Jericho, even as they traded with them.
“’Tis
a bad year, eh?” said Ezra Lathrop, one of the most successful merchants.
He grimaced and took another swallow of ale, wrinkling his nose further at the
bitter tang of the home brew. “Famine and hunger, aye… and curious
the other villages hereabouts bain’t had no trouble in that line at all.” He
eyed the other man, and twisted his mouth into a lopsided grin.
His table-mate
was none other then Fight-for-Thy-Faith Makepeace. The reverend wore a hooded
cloak, but he was known by the tavern-keeper as a regular customer, albeit it
a discreet one. “That’s no concern of yours, Lathrop,” he said
sourly.
“My
concern?” Lathrop said, slamming his tankard onto the table. Ale slopped
over his fingers. “B’God, this plan of your’n had better work,
for I’m out of pocket as ‘tis.”
Makepeace shook
his head and hissed, “Silence, you fool! Or do you wish to broadcast our
arrangement to the entire tavern?” Beneath the shadowing hood, his eyes
glittered with malice. “I told you, Lathrop, a plan such as this takes
time. First, a disaster to leave them helpless. That’s been accomplished
by the death of their crops in the fields. Hunger and desperation addles a man’s
wits, as well you know.”
Lathrop nodded,
tracing circles in the spilled ale on the scarred table-top.
“Next,
finding a scapegoat to blame for all the troubles. I had a ripe young maid to
accuse of witchcraft, but she died too soon. Cheated, b’God!” Makepeace
beckoned to the serving girl to bring him a tarred horn of ale. “Yet I’ll
have another witch come the morrow, so all’s not lost,” he continued. “Four
or five burnings, and the rest of the village will fall into line. They’ll
pay any price to be saved from the Devil, which they fear more than hunger!”
He and
Lathrop shared a chuckle over the folly of their fellow men.
“Once
I’ve taken what New Jericho has to give, I’ll move on to the next
village,” Makepeace said, raising his voice to be heard over several drunken
guardsmen at the next table, who were trying to sing an off-key ballad. “This
is a wondrous scheme, Lathrop, and the true beauty is that there’ll be
no mob to drive me off on account of being gulled. They’ll get good value
for their valuables, for who’d complain of free public executions?”
“Don’t
forget our agreement, eh, m’boy?” Lathrop winked. On his fat red
face, the expression was disagreeable. “The dirt-eaters are cash poor,
but land rich. I’ve always fancied myself a lord of the manor, with plenty
of tenant farmers to do the hard scratching, and me to take my share of the harvest
as I fancy.”
Makepeace’s
lip curled in disdain, but he said, “Of course, my friend. You’ll
be richly rewarded for your part. Now, did you bring that apothecary’s
powder?”
Lathrop slid
an packet made of oiled paper across the table. “What does it do?”
“Makes
cows go dry,” Makepeace said. “The ‘pothecary also made the
poison to kill the crops. I’ll need you to obtain another powder from him
before you return in the Spring – something to taint the village well,
to simulate a putrid fever.”
“Done,
though the man demands gold for his work.”
Apparently
satisfied, Makepeace drained his horn of ale. “I’m for bed, Lathrop.” He
stood, and grabbed the serving girl’s wrist, making her squeal. A few coins
tossed in the landlord’s direction closed her mouth, particularly when
one of those coins found its way down her ample bosom. Makepeace took the stairs
to the bedchambers two at a time, dragging the girl behind him. The door of his
room shut with a loud bang.
Lathrop finished
his ale, and signaled for another.
He did
not like Makepeace, but b’God, the fellow was devilishly clever, indeed.
The front
door opened, letting in a gust of air, a swirl of dead leaves, and a spill of
moonlight on the sawdust-strewn floor.
~~~ooo0ooo~~~
Ezra
Lathrop had gone to bed, only to discover that an annoying moonbeam was slipping
through a crack in the shutters, bathing his face when his head touched the pillow.
Mindful that moonlight caused lunacy, he stuffed a rag into the hole. In the
dark, he groped his way back to the bed, cursing when he barked his shin on a
nearby table. At last, Lathrop pulled the threadbare blanket to his chin, and
fell into a dreamless sleep.
He had
no idea of the time when he awakened, and lay in bed, listening. His heartbeat
quickened. With the shutters fastened, the darkness was absolute. Lathrop heard
a faint scratching, as if a cat was trying to climb up the tavern’s outside
wall. A few moments later, there came a fumbling at the shutters. Thief! His
pulse was a veritable roar in his ears. Lathrop was no coward; fat and occasionally
foolish, yes, but no merchant who faced the threat of bandits and robbers every
day during a trading journey could afford to cower in fear.
With care, moving as silently as he could, Lathrop reached for the sword in its
scabbard on the bed, where it lay next to him. His fingers closed upon the familiar
hilt, roughened and wrapped in a spiral coil of metal to aid his grip. Biting
his lower lip, he tugged the sword free, and eased himself upright, swinging
his legs over the side of the bed. The floor was cold, and made his toes ache.
The noise at the shutters grew a bit louder. He supposed the thief was having
trouble with the latch. Lathrop ran his free hand over his face; the room was
stuffy, and his skin was covered in an unpleasant layer of greasy sweat. Again,
he heard the rattle of the shutters. Had he been deeply asleep, he supposed the
noise would not have been sufficient to wake him, but Lathrop always slept lightly
on the road.
Reaching the window, he braced himself, then reached for the latch. One… two… three… Lathrop
unhooked the latch and threw the shutters wide, simultaneously lunging with his
sword to catch the thief upon its needle-sharp point.
There was no one there.
Cautiously, Lathrop went to the open window. Outside, the night sky was livened
by the first dusky streaks of the slow approaching dawn. The world slept still,
and the late moon hovered above the western horizon – a milky opal hazed
in mist, and set among a subdued glitter of stars. The wind smelled of decaying
leaves, and the chill cut him to the bone. Lathrop shivered, and leaned out over
the sill. Looking down, he saw nothing in the courtyard except a sleepy pot boy,
hastening to the well with a bucket. The windlass creaked, and was answered by
the hoot of a hunting owl.
The room next to his had the shutters thrown wide open. Lathrop wondered at this
carelessness. The temperature was too cold for comfort, and it was well known
that the night air carried strange fevers and malaises, then he bethought himself
of the noises he had heard. He scratched his head, fingernails scritching at
the dried sweat on his scalp. Lathrop considered if he ought to warn the occupant
of the next room about the thief he had heard on the wall, and decided it was
the other fellow’s problem. Why risk his skin for a stranger?
It was not until he had returned to the bed that Lathrop remembered.
Makepeace was in the next room, sleeping with his hired girl.
In an instant, the rotund merchant was across the room and at the door, moving
with a speed that belied his bulk. The corridor was empty; a single taper burned
in a sconce on the wall. Lathrop crossed to Makepeace’s room and tried
the doorknob. It was not locked. For the space of a single heartbeat, he debated
the manner of his entrance – bold, to startle the would-be thief, or with
quiet cunning, to catch him unawares. Lathrop decided that boldness would serve
best, and flung open the chamber door.
His gaze was first drawn to the window, where moonlight poured in to cast a sickly,
pallid illumination over the room. The light also fell upon the sleeping form
of Makepeace, tangled naked in the bed linens; the girl was nowhere to be seen.
Lathrop caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned
his head to regard the window once more, drawing breath to shout a threat at
the intruder.
What he saw made his tongue wither, and cleave to the roof of his mouth.
What seemed like a large white spider squatted on the sill; its flesh was waxy
and unwholesome. It left a black stain behind when it dropped off the sill and
crawled towards the bed where Makepeace slept unawares. The thing moved in a
strange clumsy manner on legs that were too thick, almost too feeble to drag
its weight along the floor. When the spider reached the bed, it climbed up the
post and hung above Makepeace, half-hidden in the shadows and the hangings, pausing
as though exhausted by its awkward journey.
A ripple of dawn broke over the horizon, pink and gold against the dusky purple.
The spider tensed.
Lathrop found his voice and shouted a warning, lurching forward with his sword
outstretched to pin the monstrous thing if he could.
Makepeace’s eyes flashed open. Black foulness from the thing pattered on
his face. He glanced up and a terrible scream broke from his lips, filled with
horror and loathing. The spider dropped, landing full upon his neck. Makepeace’s
scream was cut off in mid-utterance. The sudden silence was stunning. Even as
Lathrop stepped towards the bed, he saw that the spider had tightened its legs
around Makepeace’s throat; there were ripples flowing across the oddly
shaped abdomen that spoke eloquently of tension and inhuman effort. The man’s
face had turned magenta. Tears flowed down Makepeace’s cheeks. His heels
drummed the flock-stuffed mattress, and his fingers tore at the spider without
affecting its unnatural grip.
Mastering his revulsion, Lathrop reached out to pluck the thing off when a long,
gurgling rattle burst from Makepeace’s mouth, and his body went lax, his
head lolling against the pillow. He was clearly dead. The instant the life fled
from him, the spider fell away and lay limp among the bedclothes, its legs curled.
Lathrop prodded at the spider with the tip of his sword. It was flaccid and lifeless,
and appeared to be as dead as poor Makepeace. He spitted it, and brought the
thing out into the moonlight to have a better look at the creature that had strangled
a grown man, perishing itself in the effort. He squinted at it. There was a strange
yellow strip banding one of the legs…
He yelled and threw the thing away from him, for what had scratched at the shutters,
crept across the floor, and killed Fight-for-thy-Faith Makepeace was a human
hand!
The tavern’s landlord appeared in the doorway; his bandy legs protruding
naked from the bottom of his nightshirt. He held a flintlock hunting rifle, and
cried “What this, then?” as his terrified gaze fell upon the bed,
where the grisly spectacle of Makepeace could be seen drenched in moonbeams,
his limbs a-sprawl and his glazed eyes rolled back to show the bloodshot whites.
Then the landlord caught sight of the floor where the hand lay, and his face
went pale as milk. He reeled, and came further into the room, sinking onto a
stool.
Lathrop knelt and examined the hand, although he did not like to touch it.
It was a woman’s left hand, callused from a lifetime of labor. The hand
had been cut off at the wrist, and the wound was still fresh enough to leave
a blood trail. A curious gold ring in the shape of a coiling serpent glinted
on the third finger. The serpent’s eyes were ruby chips, and Lathrop could
have sworn there was an alien intelligence in the wine-red depths.
He shuddered, and turned away.
“P-p-please, milord…” the landlord stammered. “There
be a fire in the tap-room.” After a moment, when Lathrop did not respond,
the man repeated, “Milord?”
“Take it,” Lathrop rasped through a throat gone tight with remembered
horror. “Take it and burn the God-forsaken thing.”
The landlord stooped to remove the hand, and stopped, his eyes bulging. “Here
now! This be Mistress Young’s ring!”
“Mistress Young?”
“Aye, the healer hereabouts. Patience Young. She shared a cottage with
Gracious Withycombe… her what died this night on account of bein’ accused
of witchery and the like, or so I’ve heard it said.”
Lathrop recalled that Makepeace had said something about being cheated of his
prey. A dim picture rose unbidden in his mind – the healer’s severed
hand crawling upon its fingers like a great pallid spider, blindly groping through
the dark wood, guided by God knew what strength of will to scale the tavern wall
and fumble open the shutters. He recoiled from the rest; the vision of Makepeace’s
horrific end was too freshly seared into his waking mind.
In the wan moonlight, in the cool autumn breeze, Lathrop fancied he heard a woman’s
voice whispering, “Grace.”
But it was nothing more than a will-o’-the-wisp, and he got to his feet,
wishing desperately for a drink.
THE END