Devil in the Countryside

by Cory Barclay

  As their tales became old news, their audience of fickle nobles soon lost interest, leaving them to roam the streets to find a place of their own.

  Fortunately, before their banishment Sybil went into labor and was lucky enough to remain in the care of Queen Elizabeth throughout the birth, with the best nurses and physicians at her disposal. Had her timing been different, she no doubt would have died giving birth.

  The baby’s features were soft, with a hint of dark hair and the pale face of Dieter. There could be no doubt who the father was.

  When Sybil asked Dieter what they should name their boy, his reply came quickly.

  The name of the father who had finally accepted them. The protector who had rescued them.

  And together they hugged their new child, Peter Sieghart.

  Months after the events in Bedburg and far from the Cologne principality, a young girl—no more than fifteen years of age—walked from her town’s cathedral to her family farm in the country. She was fair skinned, with curly blonde hair and a plush, red face.

  It was nearing sundown. Walking alone, she’d prayed and gossiped with some of the nuns for far too long and had lost track of the time.

  A man came up alongside her, seemingly out of nowhere. The girl jumped, clutching her chest.

  “Hello, my dear,” the man said cheerily.

  “Oh my,” the girl replied, “you startled me, sir.”

  The man smiled. He was tall and thin, and had his hands clasped behind his back. “I see you’re alone, and I’m sure your father wouldn’t like you walking alone at this hour. May I escort you home?”

  The man had a charming smile, and though he was much older than the girl, he was somewhat handsome.

  The girl smiled shyly, and the man walked beside her, draping his hand over her shoulder. He wore black gloves, his spindly fingers resting on her thin collarbone.

  “That’s very kind of you, my lord,” the girl said. “But it’s my mother who told me it isn’t safe to walk alone so close to night.” The girl blushed. “I . . . lost track of time at the church.”

  The man smiled and said, “I know the feeling.” The two continued west toward the sunset. He looked to the sky. “I love when it’s bursting with orange and pink. Don’t you?”

  The girl smiled, looked up at the man’s gaunt face, and nodded.

  The man gestured toward the rolling hills and trails in the distance. “Look how beautiful it is out there in the wilderness! If you ask me, my dear, you shouldn’t be too frightened about stories your mother tells you.”

  Then the man’s hand moved to his face, and he started twirling a wispy mustache on his upper lip. With his other hand, he squeezed the girl’s shoulder tight. He looked down at her. His lips curled and his gray eyes flashed.

  “Besides, my dear, I doubt the Devil’s in the countryside.”

  Fact or Fiction?

  The Werewolf of Bedburg is based on a true story that happened in Germany, during the Catholic Counter-Reformation. The span of killings happened from around 1564 to 1588. Though the gruesome murders and the “werewolf’s” trial actually happened, not all of the characters or events in this book are based on fact—actually, most of them aren’t.

  Heinrich Franz, Georg Sieghart, and Dieter Nicolaus are completely fictional characters. So is Dorothea Gabler, Josephine Donovan, Baron Ludwig and Johannes von Bergheim, Margreth and Arnold Baumgartner, Konrad von Brühl, Pastor Hanns Richter, Lars, Cristoff, Tomas, Ulrich, Bishop Solomon, Balthasar Shreib, Claus, and Karl, Bertrude, and Martin Achterberg.

  Peter Griswold (or Peter Stubbe) was real. A Rhenish settler, he had two children (Sybil, and an unknown son), though Griswold might not have been their surname. Katharina Trompen was supposedly a distant relative of Peter, but I used creative license and made her his sister.

  Archbishop Ernst was the actual prince-elector of Cologne during this time. Lord Werner was his truly appointed Lord of Bedburg. Archbishop Gebhard von Truchsess was the Protestant archbishop and prince-elector before Ernst, and the Cologne War most definitely happened. Ferdinand of Bavaria, Count Adolf von Neuenahr, and Duke Alexander Farnese of Parma were all real as well.

  The Werewolf of Bedburg’s trial was the most popular trial of the times, attracting all the lords and ladies of the land, and this story stems from the simple question: Why was this particular werewolf trial so much more important than any others?

  Despite pretty intense research, I could never find an answer to that one. So I wrote this book instead.

  Thanks for reading it. And stay tuned for the sequel!

  About the Author

  Cory Barclay lives in San Diego, California. When he’s not writing novels (such as the sequel to this book), he’s probably playing guitar, or doing some other type of shenanigans.

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