The man smiled again and nodded to me.
“Well done. I feared there wouldn’t be time enough to have all ten prepared before dawn. You and your men have done a fantastic job. God will reserve a special place in heaven for all you have done to help clear this scourge. God bless you and yours.”
“Thank you, Sir, for preserving the sanctity of our village. We would have been lost without your intervention.”
“Indeed.”
I bowed my head back to the speech laid out before me and the man pulled the door shut behind him gently. I laid the quill down, happy with the words.
“Oh Matthew, if only you could be here with me. If only she hadn’t dug her blasphemous claws into your soul.” No one could hear me of course, but I whispered the words aloud anyways. I crossed the room to the small window on the other side. Dawn was still an hour away. The sky was a lighter shade of purple, announcing that night was coming to an end.
How appropriate that the darkness engulfing the town would also come to an end. It would be extinguished with the rising of the sun. It was beautifully poetic. There was no movement outside, the wind didn’t blow, the birds had not yet woken from their slumber. I was peaceful, resigned to the task at hand.
The door opened and the man stepped back inside. “Mr. Stearne, we have sent out the crier to gather the townspeople to the site. He just departed.”
My heart thumped loudly in my ears. “Outstanding.” I placed my hands over my chest to quiet the beating that he could surely hear. “How long until we can commence?”
“Everyone should be gathered in no less than forty-five minutes. Just as the sun breaks the horizon, we will light the witches a blaze.”
“Prepare the women.”
“With pleasure.”
He disappeared the way he came.
I took my last remaining moments in the comfort of the castle to make myself presentable for the crowd. Using the water from the bowl beside the captain’s abandoned bed, I pressed my unruly hair down and soothed my wrinkled clothes out. I made sure the buttons on my coat were perfectly straight. The tiny mirror above the washbasin reflected my face and I smirked at the handsome devil looking back at me. Once Matthew came around, it would be impossible for him to resist me. Shivers ran through my body as I imagined how he would thank me for saving his life. I would show him how real magic is worked, in the bedroom.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Taryn
We laid shivering in the cell all night long with no respite. No one ever checked on us. We were not given water or food at any time. Elizabeth finally fell asleep some hours later but she whimpered for most of the night. I was too cold to sleep. I kept rearranging my body, trying to find the position that afforded me the most warmth, but every position I tried was just inhospitable. The hay did nothing for me except make me itch. The other women were moving around a lot also, they must have been having the same trouble.
A scant amount of light came as dawn approached. But the moisture in the air told me that the storm had not cleared. I attempted to stretch out my limbs but they were stiff from being held so tight to my body in my attempt not to freeze to death.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
I turned towards the sound of Elizabeth’s voice. “Yes, although I don’t think I was ever asleep to begin with,” I said.
“Me either. I couldn’t get comfortable, I’m so cold.”
I took a deep breath and gagged on the rotten air. The ammonia covering the floor from the prisoner’s urine was thick and pungent. Vomit creeped up the back of my throat and I fought to keep it down.
“We are going to die in here,” Elizabeth said, hopelessly.
The situation did look dire. Voices echoed down the stairs faintly from outside. Our only hope was that Matthew was looking for us by now.
We sat silently. None of us had anything to say to each other that would be helpful. So, we just kept all our thoughts to ourselves. Before long we heard a steady clip-clop outside. “That has to be Matthew!” Elizabeth squealed. She leapt to her feet and pressed her face between the iron bars, “He’s come to rescue us.”
I shook my head sadly. “More likely it’s John here to hang us.”
“Excuse me, Miss,” a young girl approached me. Her hair was crudely shaven, and her scalp was covered in scabs that were oozing with infection. No doubt the filth in the cage had gotten into her wounds. “She can’t be referring to Matthew Hopkins, can she? He is the Witch Hunter General, Miss, he won’t be saving any of us, except to put a rope around our necks and end all this.”
“I know who you all believe him to be. But I promise you, he is not the monster you have come to believe he is.” All the women raised their tear streaked faces to me as I spoke. “He is not the villain in this tale. I know he has committed atrocious grievous sins against women, here and around the country, but it is not his will to hurt anyone. John is the puppeteer; he pulls the strings and Matthew dances. Matthew wishes only to do good. He has a very big heart. I think he is very different than what history has made him out to be.”
The women looked perplexed, “What do you mean history?” a bent old woman asked me. I recognized her; she was the woman who I had witnessed being submerged in the lake. I was glad that she hadn’t died from their efforts. I had to choose my words more carefully. It wouldn’t do me any good to reveal my secret to these women.
“She means his personal history. As in the events that he has taken part in,” Elizabeth came to my defense. I looked at her with relief and she smiled. “What she is saying is true. Mr. Stearne raped me. Afterwards, he threatened to turn me over as a witch if I told anyone.”
Elizabeth paused and the women gasped in unison.
“He allowed the guards to rape me after Matthew departed for the day,” one of the women said. “She’s right. He is a monster. He enjoys watching us suffer and does more than he needs to do to gain confessions. I’ve heard stories from other towns that he keeps on torturing girls after they have confessed just for enjoyment. He is the devil they want to exorcise from us.”
I placed my hand over hers as she began to cry.
“Has Matthew ever been unkind to any of you?” I asked.
They looked at each other.
“He was never unkind to me,” the young one said. “He was very thorough, but he did not degrade me.”
“He truly believes he is doing a service to God and the kingdom. At least he did think that. He knows what he has been doing is wrong now. I’ll bet anything that he is looking for a way to save us all right this minute.”
“I hope you’re right Miss. I would give anything to see my husband again,” a woman I hadn't noticed put her hands to her face and sobbed.
“He had better hurry up. They hang most accused at dawn. It’s getting to be that time now. He is running out of time to stop this madness.” I didn’t blame the women for being low on faith. In their circumstances, I probably wouldn’t have any either.
Elizabeth took my hand and held it firmly. “Taryn and Matthew are in love. He won’t let her die. He will rescue all of us. You’ll see,” she smiled at me sweetly and I couldn’t help but smile back.
I held my breath when the sound of men in the stairwell became audible. My heart was hammering away in my chest and I felt dizzy. “Please be Matthew,” I begged whatever higher being was listening. “Please let us be saved.”
The heavy door slammed open and banged against the wall behind it. “I trust you all slept soundly?” spoke the man from last night who had tossed me into this prison. “Mr. Stearne has a very special surprise for all of you. You’ll be happy to hear that there will not be a hanging this morning.”
“Let us out of here!” Elizabeth screamed.
“If not hanging, then what is going to happen to us?” I asked the man.
“You’ll find out in due time.”
“So, how long until you kill us?” the man looked at me with a devilish grin. “I know all about this. I know we don’t leav
e alive. What will it be? A burning if not a hanging?”
He laughed at me, “It’s not my place to explain anything to you. Mr. Stearne will make everything known to you soon enough. Why don’t you use your witchcraft to see your future? If you know all about this then you should know how it will all end.”
“What have any of us done to you that is so terrible that you would see us dead?” I asked him.
His body listed to the right side with a slight limp as he stepped closer to me. “You are all an unholy abomination. The very air you exhale is polluted with evil. Anyone who dances with the Devil deserves nothing less than death. I will never in this life enjoy anything more than I will enjoy watching all of you sent back into the brimstone from which you crawled out of.”
“You’re insane!” Elizabeth screamed at him.
“Maybe so, Miss. But at least I’m not a filthy witch.”
Elizabeth was crying. “Matthew will save us, and he will kill you all for this,” she whispered.
“I hope he shows up in time to smell the scent of burning human flesh. It’s quite different from any other animal. It’s pungent and unforgettable,” he laughed at our discomfort as more men filed into the small antechamber outside the cell.
“So, burning it is,” I said.
“Burning is so much more intimate, don’t you think? Hanging is over far too quickly, and you’re only in pain for a moment. Traditionally, they would knock a woman out or even strangle them before they are tied to the stake, but Mr. Stearne has instructed us to leave you as you are, so you feel everything.” The woman closest to me threw up. The sounds of her gags turned my stomach.
“We are ready for the witches,” a man at the top of the stairs bellowed.
“Now, you be good girls, and let them escort you to the stakes,” the limping man said.
Each woman had a man take her by each of her arms. They were in far too weak of a state to fight back and the men had no trouble with them. Only Elizabeth and I put up a fight. We were carried out, a man at our heads and another at our feet. Elizabeth twisted and turned in their grasp, kicking and screaming but it was no use.
I managed to free one of my hands and swung it around with as much force as I could in my position. I managed to get a fistful of my raptor’s hair.
“You stupid bitch!” he screamed. He hit me on the side of the head so hard that my vision went black and flickered in and out. “You grab me again and I’ll make sure you go into the flames a bloody pulp.”
“Now, now, ladies. There is no need to put up such a fight. You’ll make it to the fires regardless of how you struggle,” John was waiting at the top of the stairs, watching every moment of our suffering, devouring our pain. He licked his lips when Elizabeth cried out in torment.
I narrowed my eyes at him, “You’re a disgusting pervert. You’re getting off on watching them hurt us, aren’t you?” I demanded. I struggled against the men restraining me. “Is that the only way you can manage to get your dick hard these days? By torturing women?”
All of the men laughed, including the man with the limp who had first come for us. “I like this woman. She is quite spirited. Almost a pity to kill her.”
“That is the witch that is holding the Witch Hunter General’s soul. Don’t let her fool you. She is the most dangerous among them,” John chastised the man.
“No one here is more dangerous than you.” I struggled to look into his eyes as I spoke.
“I’m tired of this conversation. Take them away,” he ordered. The men dragged us outside into the cold air. My ankles were then tied together, so I could not walk on my own. The ground was littered with sticks and small stones and it hurt when they dragged my feet over them. Their fingers bit into my arms, harshly, bruising the muscles beneath my flesh.
The man walking Elizabeth stumbled. When he fell he dragged her down with him into the dirt. She struck her face on a large rock jutting out of the ground and sliced her chin open deeply. Her blood flowed down her dress that was already in a ruined state from the night spent in the tower.
“Are you ok, Elizabeth?” I called out to her.
“I think so. I can’t feel it. Am I bleeding badly?” she called back.
“No, it’s just a scratch. Don’t worry about…” the men holding my arms dropped me on my face.
“Shut up. No one told you to talk to each other.” They picked me back up and continued dragging me forward. I gritted my teeth and stopped myself from giving them a piece of my mind. I did not want to be dropped again. My hands and feet were going numb from the tightness of the ropes. The men that were dragging me smelled like piss and rotten fish.
“This would be a much more pleasant walk if you both didn’t smell like fish guts on a warm day,” I said.
“Shut up! You’re about to smell like roasted swine,” the man on the right said.
The walk lasted approximately an hour before the trees started to thin out. The sun penetrated the tree line and the thin rays of sunlight felt so good on my wet, cold skin. I turned my face up to it to enjoy it while I could.
I remembered a time when I was a child. My mother and father had taken Sam and I to a state park up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We drove hours to get there. Sam and I were so excited that morning, piling into the car with all our gear tied to the roof of the SUV. It had been a dreary, nasty day, but my father had said to give it time. The sun would be out before we knew it.
It rained the whole way there. I started to give up hope. By the time we got there, we had both already decided to be miserable. We got out of the car, set up all our gear and no sooner did we break out the picnic lunch, the clouds parted and the sun began to shine down on us. We ended up having the best weekend ever.
The way the sun decided to break through the clouds now reminded me that nothing is final. Things can change in a moment. It renewed my hope. I was determined not to give up and I was going to keep believing everything would be ok. Even if it wasn’t. I wasn’t going to give those men the satisfaction of breaking me.
The clearing in the woods had been set up with ten platforms. The one in the center was far bigger than the rest and I knew that it was meant for me. John hated me the most, it made sense that he would put me on display. On top of each of these platforms was a large pole sticking straight up towards Heaven. The underside of the platforms was stuffed to the gills with logs and branches meant to be lit from beneath. There were stairs to access the platforms. My heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t believe I was looking at the place where we were meant to die. It had been so exciting to me, sitting in a library, reading every book I could find on this very topic. Visiting the sites of the burnings on my trip around Europe had been a joy. Reading the names of those who were killed had enthralled me. Now my name would be among them.
Would my friends or family ever pick up a book and read my name inside? Would they think to themselves, how ironic, I knew a Taryn Guthry. I wonder what ever happened to her. I had tears in my eyes, not because I had resigned to die, but because now I knew that I was never going home. I would never get to tell Sam all about this adventure over coffee and donuts. This was the end.
My captors dragged me up the wooden stairs. Each stair hit my bound ankles hard and I winced in pain. John slowly ascended behind us, smirking as I struggled. The men slammed my back into the pole hard enough to take my breath away. I gasped trying to fill my lungs. John picked the rope up off the deck and advanced towards me. All the other women were being secured to the stakes by guards, but John tied me up himself.
“It's too bad we didn’t get to have some fun together before this night. I should have come to the tower last night and tried you out for myself. What a waste that I didn’t get to taste that slit between your thighs,” I spit in his face. He recoiled, raised his hand and smacked me hard, knocking my head to the side. I saw stars in my vision and tasted blood in my mouth. “Don’t you dare forget who is in charge here. Look around you! It’s not you! Where’s your Witch Hunte
r General now? Why has he not saved you? I’ll tell you why, because I’m smarter than him. Even your incessant bewitching couldn’t draw him to you in your time of need!”
“Even if I die here, he will find you. And he will kill you. You are not going escape this,” I forced my words out through clenched teeth.
“Always the optimist, aren’t you? You will die here. There is no other way out of this.”
I glared at him. I had said all I was interested in saying to him.
Elizabeth was far less composed than I was. She was crying hard, barely able to breathe through her tears. She was thrashing around so much that the men were having a difficult time wrapping the rope around her body.
“Now there’s the spirit I love to see!” one of the men on her exclaimed. “That’s right love, fight for your life! Show me how much you want to live!”
“Please,” she begged. “I can’t die here! I have so many things I still have to do!”
He licked the side of her face, tasting her tears. “I can taste your fear. It is delicious.”
They finished wrapping the ropes around her and John stood back and admired their work. “Please just let me go,” she cried.
“All you had to do was keep that pretty mouth shut and stay out of my way. Just like a woman to not be able to do what she is told. God, tell me why women are so weak.”
“You’re going to go to hell for this,” She screamed.
He laughed at her fright. The other men had left the platforms and were waiting on the ground for what would happen next. John joined them taking one of the torches that was stuck into the ground, already lit.
“Fuck you!” I screamed.
“I told you before, the time for that has passed, you missed your opportunity,” he spat at me.
He turned to the men and looked each of them over. I could not see his face from the pyre, but I imagined he must look quite content with himself. The men all looked at him in awe, like a disgusting pariah who was going to guarantee their entrance to heaven.
The Witch Hunter Page 28