Witch Hunter: dark medieval paranormal romance (Witches of the Woods Book 1)

by Steffanie Holmes

  My heart sank. So that was it. He was sacrificing me to save his own skin. I stared up at Ulrich, trying to read his face. But he still refused to look at me. Angry tears welled in the corners of my eyes. Why have you betrayed me? I trusted you! I believed that you would help me!

  “Thank you, witch hunter. Your testimony has been most illuminating,” said Elder Ernust. “We will now hear from Rebekah, who has personal experience of the crimes of the accused witch.”

  As she marched past my chair, I tried to catch her eye. "Please, Rebekah." I cried. "You don't have to do this. You're my oldest and dearest friend."

  She met my gaze and smiled sweetly. "Do not speak to me, witch. You've got Ulrich under your spell. Why else would he have chosen you over me? It's my duty as a woman and a good Christian to save him from his own weakness."

  Rebekah sat in the witness chair, folded her skirts demurely across her knees, and spoke in a loud, clear voice. "I am Ada's closest friend, but even when we were children I suspected her of being in league with the devil. There were subtle clues - other children’s toys would go missing, and a few days later show up again, bent or twisted out of shape. But she is crafty. She never left any evidence of her crimes. But just the other week I went to visit her in jail. I was bringing her food, as a kind Christian should. Imagine my horror when I found her and the witch hunter fornicating within her cell." She sniffed and raised her hand to her cheek.

  The crowd gasped as the sheer horror of her statement hit home. A scharfrichter was supposed to be the appointed sword of truth, a man of god so completely above corruption. For him to have committed such a sinful act was unthinkable. Ulrich stiffened as many in the crowd glared at him with suspicion.

  But Rebekah wasn’t finished with her performance yet. "They were locked in a most unnatural embrace,” she declared, dabbing at her eyes. I had seen Rebekah cry on demand before - she often used this particular skill to get her way. I never thought I’d see her use it against me. “They were going at it like two pigs rutting in a stall. It makes me faint just recalling it."

  "I know how difficult this is for you, my child. But you must go on." Her father’s voice said kindly.

  "He had her stripped naked and tied up, and she was sucking on his member like it was … it was …" Rebekah let out a strangled sob, "It was horrible."

  I almost laughed out loud at Rebekah’s ridiculous performance. At least twenty men standing in the room had had her lips around their own cocks before. They couldn’t honestly believe her ‘poor, innocent maiden’ performance, could they?

  Apparently, they could.

  "Thank you, Rebekah." said Elder Ernust, "I know it was not easy for you to come forward with this. And you," he turned to Ulrich. "What say you to this new evidence? It is clear that you have been corrupted. This demon woman has cast a spell on you, and now you are consumed by lust for her, so much so that you would lie in a court of law, lie in God's house."

  Ulrich stared up at the magistrate with a look of disgust on his face. "Is this what we are reduced to?" He spat. "You are attempting to condemn a scharfrichter in order to gain your conviction. Such a performance is blasphemous, not to mention totally unnecessary."

  “If you have been enchanted-”

  "We cannot allow ourselves to be swayed by false accusations, especially not from a girl with a less than clean reputation herself. As I previously stated, your daughter was mistaken in what she saw. What she took for a pleasurable act, was actually part of the torture. I often use sexual humiliation to expose particularly lustful demons. Ada’s demon suffered greatly through the torture. I have spared her nothing. You can see the mark of the whip on her skin, the burns and scars of my craft. And I have already shown you the Devil’s Mark she bears. It is my testimony that the only way to purge the demon from her body and save Ada’s soul is to burn her at the stake.”

  “No!” I cried, my whole body convulsing with terror. “Please, no!”

  “Do you see? Even now she tries to save herself. The demon within Ada knows the fire will cleanse her soul.” Ulrich swaggered across the front of the room, turning his hard eyes to every face.

  At Ulrich’s damning words, the court erupted into chaos. I fell from my chair, my knees cracking as they hit the wood floor. I howled with agony. Not only would I lose my life, but I had lost Ulrich. I had been betrayed by the one person who I thought I could trust.

  I sank to my knees in despair, cupping my head in my hands to ward off the onslaught of stones and bottles the crowd heaved at me. A jagged glass bottle opened a long cut across my back, and I cried out in pain.

  Ulrich yelled at them to stop, but their bloodlust was unquenchable. They pushed in close to me, kicking and spitting at me in their fury. Waltraud stepped forward and lifted me above his head, tearing out a clump of my hair. Tears streaked my face as Waltraud lifted me, preparing to toss my body into the gnashing crowd.

  “Stop this at once!” Ulrich roared, pulling the sword from off the table and aiming the point at Waltraud’s throat. In an instant, the room fell silent, the villagers stepping back hurriedly, their eyes trained on Ulrich’s blade.

  “Please, Scharfrichter,” said Elder Ernust. “Let us not have violence.”

  “How dare you attack me?” Waltraud cried out.

  “Ada is extremely weakened,” Ulrich snapped back. “If you kill her here, you will not be able to cleanse her in the fire. And every person in this room will be guilty of murdering an unfortunate girl and preventing her from entering heaven. Now put her down, or I will gut you where you stand.”

  Waltraud looked around, but no one came to his aid. Reluctantly, he lowered me back into my seat. I clutched my stinging head, feeling my blood seep through my fingers where he had torn out my hair. Ulrich still had not even glanced at me, but he kept his sword trained at Waltraud’s throat.

  “I may just gut you, anyway.” He hissed. “I will savour it.”

  "Witch hunter, you will remove your weapon in my courtroom." Elder Ernust's voice boomed over the din.

  With a look of utter disgust, Ulrich lowered his sword. “Tell him to step away,” he growled, gesturing to Waltraud.

  “Stay where you are, Waltraud.” the Elder said. “You’ve done nothing wrong. Ulrich of Donau-Ries, when Rebekah first told me what she had seen, I could not believe it was true, but just now, when I saw you leap in front of Ada to shield her, I realise that you are under the influence of her witchcraft. You cannot be blamed for your behaviour, for she is controlling you, and you do not know your own mind. Luckily, your work has been thorough, and has enabled us to capture and convict the demon witch that has troubled our village. But now you must step aside, and let us handle the trial and execution from here.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ulrich roared, raising his blade and directing it at Ernust’s face.

  Gasps and cries rippled through the crowd as they saw Ulrich threatening the Elder, the most respected man in the village.

  “I thought that this might happen,” said Ernust. “So I have taken the liberty of writing to your father about your enchantment.”

  Although Ulrich’s face remained devoid of emotion, I saw that the hand holding his sword trembled slightly. “That is not necessary. I am perfectly in control of my faculties.”

  “You need to lower your sword, Scharfrichter.”

  With a cry, like he was battling against an invisible enemy, Ulrich threw the blade to the ground. He turned to leave the hall, but Elder Ernust gave a motion with his fingers, and several of the men closed around him. Ulrich saw them coming and bent low, his fists raised, ready to fight. Just as Waltraud lunged for him, Ulrich dived for his feet and flipped the heavy man over his shoulder. Waltraud crashed into one of the tables, sending chairs and parchment flying. While the men were struggling out from under the table, Ulrich pushed roughly through the crowd and raced outside.

  “After him!” Elder Ernust screamed. Several men dashed out into the square, pulling draggers from their
belts.

  "As for the witch," Ernust spat the word at me. "Her guilt is without question. Ada is hereby sentenced to be burned at the stake in the village square. And may God have mercy on her soul."

  I sank to the floor, sobbing with terror. I was too scared to even attempt to fight back against the rough hands that hauled me to my feet and dragged me out into the village square. A wooden cage had been erected on a platform at the edge of the hall, and they tossed me inside, slamming the door shut and locking me inside.

  The villagers pressed in against the bars, hundreds of angry faces yelling and hissing at me. I collapsed in a heap in the corner of the cage, pulling my knees to my chest and covering my face to shield it from the rotting food the villages flung through the bars. But I couldn’t shield myself from the overwhelming despair that welled up inside me. Ulrich had betrayed me, and now I was only a few hours away from a horrific, pain-filled death.

  Ulrich

  Ada, I’m so sorry.

  I raced across the square, knocking down people as I pushed through the throng who clamoured to see Ada’s trial. I could hear women crying out and men yelling as they chased after me, but it all sounded far away, like part of a dream I could only just remember. Inside my head, Ada’s terrified sobs replayed over and over again.

  She’s going to burn, and it’s all my fault.

  I’d done the best I could, but I was clearly no actor. They weren’t fooled by my coldness or my revelation of Ada’s mark. When that oaf Waltraud attacked her, I hadn’t even thought, I’d just leapt in with the sword. If I’d just held back ...

  I raced through the marketplace, toward the gates of the village. I could see them just up ahead, open wide. I could hear footsteps running behind me, voices yelling at me to stop, but that wasn’t going to happen. I cursed myself for not running around the back of the hall and jumping on Willow. Hopefully Tjard and Clarissa had already escaped into the forest with the horses, and I could find them once I’d lost this bunch of idiots-

  Where is Tjard? In all the chaos of the trial, I realised I hadn’t seen him there at all. That was odd. But I didn’t have time to contemplate it, because one of the boys had managed to overtake me, and was scaling the wall to shut the gates.

  I poured on speed, watching helplessly as the gap in the gate grew smaller and smaller. I slammed into the wood just as the heavy gates clicked shut and the boy flung across the heavy bolts, locking me inside.

  I whirled around, and drew my sword, just as the men moved to surround me. Ten men, six more than I’d ever faced at once before, but probably not outside of my skills. I shifted my grip on the sword, and raised the blade in a menacing guard.

  “It’s best if you come quietly, witch hunter.” said Elder Ernust, standing behind the younger men.

  “I don’t want to hurt any of you,” I said, “but I will. Now open the gates.”

  “Think about this, Ulrich,” said Elder Ernust. “There are ten of us, and one of you. You no doubt have some skill with that blade, and you will probably kill a few of us, but we will triumph in the end. The more blood you shed, the worse it will go for you in court. Don’t forget that your father is on his way here as we speak.”

  Rage bubbled up inside of me. This wasn’t how it was going to end. I had to refocus, rethink. I lowered the sword. “Fine,” I said, “But I expect-”

  Elder Ernust snapped his fingers, and all ten men rushed me at once, grabbing my legs and arms and pulling me off balance. I yelled as I was swung off the ground, and my sword belt was wrestled from me. Waltraud punched me in the stomach, and I spluttered at the air was driven from my lungs.

  “You can’t treat me like this!” I yelled, struggling against their grip.

  “You are not yourself, Witch Hunter. The rules do not apply.”

  “What do we do with him now?” grunted Waltraud, who was standing behind me, holding my head in a lock.

  “We can’t put him in the prison,” said Ortrund. “The witch is there. We can’t have the two of them conspiring through the walls.”

  “I know,” said Ernust. “What about the old well?”

  The old well? That didn’t sound good.

  The men lifted me and began to walk back into the village. I thrashed about, managing to kick Chlothar in the face, but there were too many of them. I couldn’t get free. They carried me right through the village, to the other side where the old wall was crumbling away in places. I was not far from the farm where I had seen Ada running from, only a few days ago. Behind a crop of trees was the crumbling stone circle of an old well. Ernust bent down and tossed a stone inside. After a few agonised moments of silence, the stone made a wet plonk as it hit the bottom.

  “Throw him down.”

  “You can’t do this!” I yelled as the men pulled me up on to the side of the circle. “My father will have you all thrashed!”

  “Your father is a pious man. When he receives my letter, he will understand that the circumstances are dire,” said Elder Ernust. At once, the men let go of me, and I dropped into the darkness.

  My head hit the side of the stone ring, and stars swam in my vision. I landed with a crunch. Pain like lightning shot up my leg. I half growled, half-groaned with rage and pain.

  The well had a few inches of cold, brackish water. The stone walls were slick with mud. I tested. I glanced up, and all I could see was the small circle of light from the well entrance, misshapen from the men’s heads leaning over to catch a glimpse of me.

  I felt something wet hit my hair. Another splashed against my cheek. I raised my hand and wiped it away. It was saliva. They were spitting on me. I roared with fury, slamming my fist into the wall of the well. Big mistake. Now my knuckles were competing with my leg for the most pain.

  “You’ll be safe down there, witch hunter.” Ernust said. “Just until after the trial. And then we’ll let you go. It’s not your fault, but you’ve been compromised. She has cast a hex on you. But don’t worry, we’ll make sure she’s brought to justice, and her soul is cleansed in the holy flames.”

  I pounded on the stones with my fists, and screamed up at them. But their faces disappeared from view. I was all alone down in this well, and Ada was facing a rigged trial and a horrible, grisly death, and there was nothing I could do to save her.

  Ada

  They left me in the village square, open to the elements. The villagers taunted and pelted me for a good hour, before the heavens opened up and heavy rain started to fall. Everyone ran indoors to escape the deluge, except me. My flimsy shift clung to my body. One of the women pushed a sodden blanket between the bars, but this did little to keep out the cold.

  My aunts were still nowhere to be seen. I prayed to the Goddess it was because they were sensibly hiding away, and not because something bad had happened to them.

  After a couple of hours, the rain cleared up. I sat, shivering, watching the scene in the square unfold. In the distance, I could hear the snap and crash of trees being felled at the edge of the forest. Women scurried back and forth through the square, stacking armloads of wood into a big cone. The men came later, erecting a wood frame secured with rivets that stuck from the tip of the pile in the shape of a cross.

  My pyre.

  No one gave me food or drink – there didn't seem any reason to waste food on someone who'd be dead in a few hours.

  I did not see or hear Ulrich again. I learned from listening to the conversations of the women that he was being kept prisoner somewhere in the village, and that the elders had closely inspected the torture chamber, and discovered the true purpose of his implements. A message had been dispatched to bring his father to the village to collect him and return him to his home in the North. The women tittered and cast lascivious looks in my directions as they discussed the uses for the machines while they worked.

  I wanted to hate him for what he had done to me, but it was impossible. I loved him still, even though I barely knew him, and even though his betrayal stung me deeply.

  Besides,
his father was coming for him. That would be punishment enough for what he’d done to me.

  “Oh, look. If it isn’t a little birdy in a cage.”

  I whirled around. Rebekah was standing in front of my cage, her arms loaded down with kindling for the pyre. She grinned at me with such an air of pious superiority, something snapped inside of me.

  I should be modest, repentant. I should beg her to remember our friendship, to intercede on my behalf. But instead I was angry. Furious.

  "You couldn't let me have him, could you?" I snapped. "All these years I've played your games with you and stepped aside so you could bed man after man. I never once asked for anything, and when I finally did find someone, you couldn't let me have him-"

  "I don’t know why you continue to insist that this is about Ulrich. I only did my duty to God and this village." Rebekah replied, flashing me her sickly-sweet smile. "You're a witch, Ada, and there's no point denying it. It's time for you to pay for your crimes, and if your death brings me some degree of satisfaction, then that’s just an added advantage.”

  "You never wanted me to be happy, did you?" I spat. "The only reason you were friends with me was because I helped you obtain whatever you want. Well, I have news for you. Even if I’m out of the picture, he'll never have you."

  "Oh," Rebekah smiled wider. "But I think he will. You see, Ulrich is going to be put on trial himself. My father is at court right now, and his word could save Ulrich's life. But why would he do this for me – unless Ulrich was his son-in-law?"

  I recoiled in horror. She didn’t mean it, surely ...

  "I can save Ulrich's life, but only if he agrees to marry me." Rebekah leaned against the bars. "And with you out of the picture, there’s no reason for him to refuse.”

  “You’re a crazy bitch. That’s reason enough.”

  "Oh, I'm sure he'll cry for you initially," she said. "But I will help him take his mind off his great loss. And, if his lovemaking is anything like what I saw in your cell, I think we were meant to be together. I’ll be sure to have some of those torture machines installed in our home. Maybe we’ll even go on the road together, bringing witches like you to justice. It will be sublime."