The witch screeched in agony; her pain was louder in my ears than the hurricane she had produced had been.
“Thank god for the internet,” I thought to myself.
Although I couldn’t see her, I could hear Sarah writhing on the floor, she shrieked and moaned as if her entire being was under attack by an unseen force. And then there was silence. Some of my strength returned and I reached my foot out feeling for her body, but there wasn’t anything there. She was gone.
I couldn’t hold it together any longer. I curled myself into a ball and sobbed on the couch.
Chapter Thirty
Matthew
It was a very sleepless night for me. Taryn tossed and turned as well with what I could only assume, were some very bad dreams. I couldn’t blame her though. The fact that she was in very real danger was keeping my mind from resting. I couldn’t fathom a world where people would be driven to hurt her just because, what? Because they don’t know her? Because she is different? Because she arrived here in such an unusual manner? For shame. I had been the greatest perpetrator of this way of thinking. Hell, it was my job to prosecute women for being different or misunderstood. Sure, some of them are guilty, without a doubt. But how many people went to the gallows who did not deserve to be there? People. Mothers, wives, daughters, aunts, grandmothers, friends. All just people.
I watched Taryn’s chest rise and fall with her sleep. I brushed a stray hair off her face and she scrunched her nose at my touch. This made me smile. She wasn’t a witch, just a woman who was so far from home, and there seemed to be little hope of her returning. I kissed her forehead and looked at the light beginning to seep around the cloth covering the window. The sun was rising regardless of my lack of sleep. The world would turn on, even if I felt trapped.
I knew in my heart now that what I was doing was wrong on so many levels, but I didn’t know how to walk away from the job. I wasn’t skilled at anything else. I had failed as a lawyer, and I was afraid that if I did quit now, people would assume it was Taryn’s fault and it would add fuel to their fire. I didn’t need more reasons for her to be condemned.
I heard the cock crow distantly. I carefully got up from the bed and pulled the cloth open enough to see outside. The sun was very low on the horizon, shooting its fire across the sky in streaks of red, orange and deep purples fading to black. The stars had all burned out and the moon had disappeared. I saw my breath upon the window and ran my finger across the cold glass disrupting the fog.
“Matthew?” Taryn’s sleepy voice floated to my ears from the bed I had vacated. “What are you doing? Why are you up already?”
“Just a little trouble sleeping, love. Go back to sleep.”
“I keep having nightmares,” she said. I couldn’t see her. That side of the room was still shrouded in darkness that hadn’t been chased away by the daylight yet. I only knew where she was from the sound of her voice and muscle memory from having been in the room for almost a week now.
I wished I could tell her that everything was okay, but I refused to lie to her. I turned back to the window. The birds were beginning to chirp. “I’m going to die aren’t I?” she asked.
“Why ever would you say that?” I turned back to her. I could just make out her face above the blankets in the meager light beginning to filter into the room. “I would never let anything so foul befall you.”
“You can’t be with me all the time. Eventually, this is all going to catch up to me. When Sarah sent me here, she knew it would kill me.” I knew the ‘Sarah’ she referred to was the witch who cursed her here for being sympathetic to me. I also knew in my gut that she was right. I could not be with her every hour of the day. There were going to be moments when she was vulnerable. I truly was at a loss for what to do.
“We can only do our best and hope for a good outcome.” The words felt stupid and out of place rolling off my tongue. I was trying to be reassuring, but I just sounded like I was giving her generic responses that did little in the way of a true plan. It was the best I had to offer.
She rolled over onto her side and faced the far wall. I thought I heard her sniffle. “I’m going to stay in the room today. I don’t want to go to the castle.” The tension in her voice was hard for me to bear. I wished I could crawl in bed behind her and hold her body against mine. I wanted to absorb all of her pain and fear into myself and leave her happy. If witches really had power in this world, why couldn’t they do acts of kindness instead of evil? Then my job would be useless, and Taryn would be safe.
“Are you sure, love? I can’t stay here with you. I won’t be able to protect you.”
“I know. But I don’t think I can handle being there today. There is just too much pain there. Too much suffering. I’ll be ok, I just need some time by myself today.”
I picked up my trousers from where she had folded them and began dressing. “If that is what you wish. Just please don’t leave the room until I return.”
“I won’t,” she said from her nest of quilts.
“I will inform Harold you will not be joining us today so he can keep an eye on the room.”
“Ok.”
I finished dressing and kissed her on the cheek, grabbed my hat and exited as quietly as possible. Our door had a perpetual squeak that could not be beaten. The loud squeal echoed down the silent hallway against my best efforts.
I made my way downstairs. I was greeted by an unfamiliar face standing behind the bar. A woman around Harold’s age, wiped the bar top in the exact same way that he did every day without fail.
“Good morning," I called out to the woman.
“Good morning to you, Sir,” she responded amicably. “Would you like an ale before you head out for the day?”
“That would be lovely, thank you. Where is Harold today?” I asked her as she poured. She finished filling the mug and sat it in front of me.
She wiped her dainty hands on her apron and smiled at me. “My husband wasn’t feeling well this morning so he decided to take it easy. But I’m here in his place if you’ll be needing anything.” So, this lovely, cheerful, woman was Harold’s wife.
“Ah, so it’s you I have to thank for the dress Harold brought for my friend to borrow. I do hope it made its way back to you?”
Her eyes lit up when she realized who I was. “Aye, it did! I was happy to help your lady out,” she said to me. “Harold told me all about the day she arrived,” she added in a whisper, looking around to make sure we were still unnoticed.
I took a drink from the mug and delighted at the wonderful taste washing down my throat. “I trust you will keep that to yourself? We wouldn’t want Taryn to have any more problems with the locals than she already has.”
“Oh yes, Sir. You can count on my silence. I won’t utter a word about it, not even to my closest kin.”
I sat the empty mug down before me. “We greatly appreciate that. Taryn will not be joining us at the interrogations today. Would you be able to keep an eye on the stairway and make sure no one bothers her while I’m away?” I asked her.
“Oh, the dear lady is feeling poorly today too? That’s too bad. Yes, of course I’ll keep an eye that way,” she went back to cleaning. I pushed the mug to her side of the bar. “You having another, Sir?” she asked.
“No, thank you. Got to head out. I’m sorry, but what was your name?”
“Martha, Sir.”
“Thank you for everything, Martha. Your family is truly a blessing from God since we arrived here,” she smiled broadly at me.
“It is our pleasure to serve you, Sir.”
John came bounding down the stairs in that moment. His hat was in his hands and his shirt was untucked. His cloak lay over his arm carelessly. “Oh Matthew,” he said, noticing me. “You’re up rather early.”
“I scarcely slumbered at all last night,” I responded. He tossed the cloak at me haphazardly and set about tucking his shirt into his pants. He was irritable, it seemed his night had not gone much better than my own.
�
�An ale, Harold,” he announced. “Err… I mean… you’re not Harold.” I laughed in spite of myself. The look of confusion on his face was comical. Indeed, we had seen no one else tending the bar since our arrival, so it was an honest mistake. “So sorry, Madam. Who might you be?”
Martha laughed, “No worries. You are Mr. John Stearne, I presume? I am Martha Clory, Harold’s wife.”
“That I am Ma’am,” he looked the woman over, gulped the beverage and scooted the empty mug back across the bar.
She picked the mug up and began to wipe it down in her bucket of water.
“No Taryn this morning?”
“No. She wasn’t feeling up to it today.”
“A bit of morning nausea Matthew? Have you gotten her with child so soon?” He could be so irritating. “I’ll go tell Henry we are ready to depart and have him prepare the horses,” he walked off.
I sighed and followed him outside. As much as I was beginning to detest his company, I still had to work with him, for the moment at least.
Henry emerged a few moments later, yawning, and rubbing his eyes sleepily. He had the reins of Jezebel in his hand and she clopped behind him, lightly bobbing her head. John followed him with the other horse whose name I was not familiar with. The horses were all saddled and ready for the short ride.
John was attempting to make eye contact with me. I ignored him, finding great interest in a fallen leaf that had crossed landed by my boot.
I mounted my mare and kicked her around so we were beside John’s horse. He had also mounted, and Henry was stumbling back to the stalls to catch a bit more sleep before his day began.
“So, what is it then?” I asked, perplexed. “What has you in such a foul mood this morning.”
“Do you really want to know?” he asked me.
I looked at him, showing my annoyance. “Of course I do. You and I have always told each other everything. Why are you holding out on me now?”
We slowed the horses to a steady pace so we could speak more comfortably. “I’m not meaning to hold out on you. There are just things that need to be said between the two of us and you were not keen on my ideas about this particular topic the last eve, but they are no less pressing now.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“Don’t play coy, Matthew. You know she has to go. She doesn’t belong here with us. She is going to get us all killed. Everyone knows her for a witch but you. What are you going to do when they come for all of us in the night? It will be your fault if that happens.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
He pulled his reins and brought his horse to a stop to turn and face me. We were directly in front of one another. “Don’t be naïve. I only say this because I love you, friend. I could reconcile my own death for your happiness, but I could never forgive myself if you were to die because you had been ensnared in a devils trap and I did naught to save you.”
My stomach flipped over with fear. His actions of late gave me the impression that John was becoming a much harsher man than he had been before with violent tendencies, and a love of inflicting pain. I knew in my heart that if John was suggesting that we would be attacked in the night, it was because he had first-hand knowledge of the plot. If he did have this knowledge, well, then he was a part of the planning himself.
“Are you threatening me, friend?” I asked. “You say you love me, but you also speak of my death as if it is a matter of fact.”
“I’m trying to be honest with you. I do love you, Matthew. More than that girl ever could. We were always meant to be together, you and I.”
“Are you trying to tell me that you are in love with me, John Stearne? That is blasphemous. A man cannot lie with another man. That is a mortal sin. You could be hung for even suggesting such a thing to me.”
He sighed in defeat. “You could never love me back then?” he asked. “I should have known not to bring these words to your ears. Whatever was I thinking?”
It was my turn to sigh, “John, you are like a brother to me. Nothing more. I have always cared for you. But I could not, and will not, ever love you as I would a lover. I’m sorry. Because we have been friends for such a long time, I will forget this conversation took place. But do not bring it up to me again.” I looked at him pointedly and was surprised at the emotions I saw in his eyes. He looked so dejected.
“How could you be so cruel to me?” he asked.
I ignored his question, “Is this why you have been so short with Taryn, why your cruelty has increased with the soon-to-be condemned? Are you jealous of her? Taking out your unrequited feelings on the woman I love?”
He stared at me, but did not respond.
I threw my hands up with exasperation. “Perhaps it is for the best if we go our separate ways after this town? It doesn’t seem as though this is a problem that you and I will be able to rectify any time soon.”
His mouth was a straight line, his lips stretched thin. “And why not? You said yourself that you love me. You could learn to love me in another way,” he protested.
“No, John. It doesn’t work that way.”
He shook his head sadly, “Then I will always be alone. You would condemn me to loneliness for the rest of my days while you settle down with a witch, a being that we have spent our lives trying to destroy.”
“I’m not going to argue with you. I can’t decide your future for you. I can only tell you that I will not be in it. You are batty if you think I could just change who I am and what I believe in to grant you your impure desires.”
“I know, Matthew. I’m not an idiot.”
“I know you’re not an idiot, but I felt like I needed to say that to you.”
We started towards the castle again. He was sulking, like a child throwing a tantrum after being told no. I was deeply concerned, but I didn’t see a way to stop it. I could only do my best and hope for a good outcome.
He didn’t say anything to me for the rest of the trip, which was just as well, because I couldn’t think of anything to say to him that didn't sound scornful like. I truly didn’t think badly of him. He always had my best interest at heart even if he didn’t always go about things the best way.
Soon enough, the bleak gray stones became visible through the barren trees and we were crossing under the portico that led into the courtyard. The guards we were becoming familiar with greeted us first, and the stable boy led our horses away into the warm stalls waiting for them. I patted Jezebel on her rump as she passed me by.
“So, why did Taryn decide not to join us today. I thought that was going to be an ongoing thing?” John asked me.
I brushed my hands off on my trousers. “She is afraid after the events that transpired last night. It seems that people believe she is a witch, not just a traveler.”
“I told everyone I could the story you insisted on,” John said. I knew he was lying. No one had told me as such, but it suited his interests much better to have her dead. “What are you going to do if they come for her?”
“All I can do is try to protect her,” I said.
John looked at me, “Do you love her?” he asked. “I know you say you do, but do you really?”
“Yes, I do. As improbable as you may believe that to be, I do care for her very deeply.”
He nodded, “Yet you haven’t asked for her hand yet. What is holding you back? Surely she must be madly in love with you by now?”
“You give me too much credit, John,” I said. “I am in love with her, and I’ve told her as much, but she has no idea how to find her family. Who would I ask for her hand?”
He shrugged, “If she can’t contact her family, then why should you worry about asking them for her hand? Why not just apologize later if they do show up?”
“It is not something you wish to happen, so why are you advising me on it?” I asked.
“Just seeing where you stand on it, I suppose,” he shrugged.
He raised a fair point. We couldn’t wait forever if we did choose to marry. I couldn’t expla
in to John just how unreachable her relatives truly were, I couldn’t even dispatch a messenger to them.
“Shall we get on with this?” I asked him gesturing towards the tower and the stairs that would lead below.
“Oh, absolutely,” John said.
Chapter Thirty-One
John
“Who should we start with today?” I asked Matthew as we stood before the iron bars.
Matthew looked over the women with scrutiny. “We haven’t yet gained Anne White’s confession,” he said to me.
“Yes, but I feel we have more to gain with that one if she has time to watch what happens with the others,” I said.
The women could hear our banter. Anne ducked her head when we mentioned her name in hopes that we would pass her by. Joan Fern sat by herself on the opposite site of the cell, her arms wrapped around her legs, and her face on her knees. She didn’t acknowledge our presence at all. But we were done with her, so she had nothing else to fear from us. Mary, the first woman we had picked up upon our arrival stood closer to the bars than the rest. She was the only one that didn’t cower away from us, besides Miss Fern. She looked back and forth across the ceiling seeing things that we could not see and began pacing from one side to the other, mumbling to herself inaudibly.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked the guard standing behind us.
“Sir. It seems that the confinement has caused her to go mad. She talks to herself and just laughs away like a loon. She has begun to refuse meals, and when you look her in the eye, she is not looking back at you any longer.”
“I suppose we should take her today then, before she is beyond reach,” Matthew said to me. We had to get a confession from her before everyone could see that she was going insane.
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