by Stuart Daly
‘Jakob, are you coming?’ a voice calls from behind us.
I turn around to see Armand waiting in the courtyard below, dressed in a pair of loose-fitting sparring breeches and an open-necked shirt, his mortuary blade jostling by his side. Alejandro de la Cruz waits beside him, looking so similar in appearance to Armand that you would think they were brothers; the only difference being the Spaniard’s olive complexion and oily, black, shoulder-length hair.
I had been eagerly anticipating this training session, considering that this would be the first time I would train with the Spanish captain. He is a living legend amongst the Hexenjäger, being only nineteen and having risen to the rank of Captain within a year.
I look down at the witch hunters for a few seconds before calling back, ‘Not today’.
‘It’s your choice,’ Armand says before hastening with Alejandro over to the training hall.
‘Why didn’t you go?’ Sabina asks.
I shrug, as if my decision was of no consequence. Although Sabina has made me angry for questioning my abilities as a witch hunter, she is correct that I haven’t been myself since returning from Sodom. I have become so focused on my training that I have neglected other important matters in my life. Not only have I not spent much time with Sabina, but I haven’t even written to my uncle and aunt.
‘The world isn’t going to end just because I miss one training session,’ I say. ‘You’re right, Sabina. I want to be the best witch hunter I can be, but I don’t want to lose my love of life. Why don’t we go for a walk down by the river? We haven’t done that for a while. I’m also going to write a letter to my uncle and aunt tomorrow. I think it’s time I let them know that I’ve become a witch hunter, and that I’m fine.’
Sabina considers me proudly. ‘I think that’s wise. They must be terribly worried, wondering what has become of you.’ She punches me playfully on the arm.
‘What was that for?’ I ask, rubbing my shoulder in mock pain.
Sabina smiles. ‘I think the Jakob I know has finally come home.’
Fact and fiction blend together to form the world of The Witch Hunter Chronicles. I don’t want to dispel any of the magic of the series by dissecting its characters, events and locations, but I have included this section for the curious reader eager to discover more about the historical accuracy of The Army of the Undead.
Historical setting
Seventeenth-century Germany was very different to the country we know today. The country, in fact, was not even known as ‘Germany’, but comprised several hundred independent states, principalities and cities, the borders of which were constantly changing. Referred to as the ‘German states’ or the ‘German-speaking lands’, these territories were part of the larger Holy Roman Empire. With its capital set in Vienna, and ruled by the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, this was a vast and cosmopolitan empire, stretching from Hungary in the east to the Netherlands in the west, and from the North Sea to present-day Italy.
During the period in which The Witch Hunter Chronicles takes place, the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire had been established by the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648. This treaty, which effectively brought an end to the Thirty Years’ War, saw the Holy Roman Empire lose much territory and power. Of particular importance to The Witch Hunter Chronicles, this treaty saw the Netherlands gain independence from the Holy Roman Empire, resulting in the creation of the Dutch Republic. Jakob’s father was one of thousands of German soldiers who fought alongside the Spanish against the French in the Netherlands.
Locations
Meteora: The cliff-top monasteries of Meteora are located in central Greece, where the Plain of Thessaly reaches the foothills of the Pindus Mountains. They are constructed atop sandstone monoliths that rise hundreds of metres into the air. Although Varlaam exists, I have taken considerable creative liberties with the layout of the monastery.
Sodom: As told in the Old Testament Book of Genesis, Sodom was one of five sin-filled cities that incurred the wrath of God. The Bible tells us the city was destroyed by a storm of fire and brimstone. Some archaeologists, however, believe that if the city actually existed, it could have been swallowed by the Dead Sea. Sodom’s trap-riddled mausoleum and the Hall of Records are products of my imagination.
Gehenna: Also known as the Valley of Hinnom, this is an area located outside the old walls of Jerusalem. It is here that early Christians and Jews believed criminals and murderers suffered eternal torture in great fires. The Christian concept of Hell has borrowed heavily from this location.
Orders and military units
The Hexenjäger: This is the German term for witch hunters, who were operating in every state of Germany during the seventeenth century. These members of the Catholic and Protestant Churches were responsible for sending thousands of innocent people to be burned alive at the stake. You may be dismayed to learn that there was no specific unit called the ‘Hexenjäger’: this is purely fictitious. Sadly, Burg Grimmheim and the members of the Order – yes, Jakob and Armand, too – were also given birth in the misty realm of my imagination.
The Milites Christi: Latin for ‘Warriors of Christ’. This military organisation and its members, who are responsible for the internal security of the Vatican, are fictitious.
The Custodiatti: Although this is a fictitious unit of professional tomb-robbers, the Vatican Museums, founded by Pope Julius II in the early sixteenth century, contain thousands of rare manuscripts, sculptures and works of art. This impressive collection of antiquities has been acquired from archaeological sites, private collections and purchases from other museums.
The Inquisition: This was an institution created by the Roman Catholic Church to eradicate all forms of heresy. The Inquisition used torture to extract confessions from suspected witches, heretics and apostates. Tens of thousands of suspects, including Galileo and Joan of Arc, were interrogated by the Church throughout the medieval and early modern periods. Justus Blad, the Witch Bishop of Aachen, did not exist.
Louis XIV’s Royal Palace Cavalry: This, as far as I know, is fictitious. Armand, a former Captain of this prestigious unit in the story, is based on the cavalier swordsmen who sauntered into Paris searching for employment in the military organisations of the day. The most daring of these swordsmen were often from Gascony, a region of France famous for its haughty, devil-may-care swordsmen.
Weapons and duels
Swords: The primary weapon favoured by the Hexenjäger is a rapier. The use of these long-bladed duelling swords became less common by the late seventeenth century, as changes in fashion impeded their effective use.
Jakob uses two rapiers: a Pappenheimer rapier, named after Count Gottfried Heinrich, Graf von Pappenheim, one of the most daring cavalry officers fighting on the side of the Catholic League during the Thirty Years’ War; and a rapier from Solingen, a German town famous for the quality of its blades. Swords from this town were often engraved with a running wolf.
Sabres, such as those wielded by Armand, were commonly used in the seventeenth century. Heavier than rapiers, these robust, curved-blade broadswords were used by cavalry; the combined impetus of the charging horse and swinging blade delivering a devastating blow.
Friedrich Geist wields a mortuary sword. These basket-hilted broadswords were common during the English Civil War. Their hilts were engraved with the figures of human heads, believed to represent King Charles I and Queen Henrietta.
Francesca uses a talwar: a heavy, single-edged sword from India. The curved blade of this sword was usually heavily decorated with inscriptions.
Firearms: The pistols and carbines used by the Hexenjäger are equipped with a flintlock firing mechanism. This was a new invention in the 1600s, and proved much more effective than the matchlock pistols and carbines, which used a lit length of cord to ignite the powder pan, and for this reason tended to malfunction when it rained. A further advantage of
the flintlock pistol was that it could be preloaded; the firing pin, or cock, could be pulled back into a half-locked position. This allows Jakob to have his pistols tucked into his belt, ready to blast at the first witch, demon or undead minion to rear its head.
Repeating crossbows: The crossbow used by Francesca is inspired by bows used in China at the time. These had far greater power, speed and accuracy than smoothbore European firearms.
Duels: I have taken some liberties here. The Witch Hunter Chronicles depicts Europe, in particular the French capital, as besieged by duellists who draw their swords at the slightest provocation; every street corner hosting some matter of honour that could only be satisfied through drawn steel. Whilst this had certainly been the case in the early seventeenth century, edicts passed by the French monarchs had outlawed duels in France long before the 1660s. It was more than likely that duels still occurred in the French capital, but not to the extent that I present in The Witch Hunter Chronicles.
The forces of darkness
Witchcraft: The seventeenth century was a period in which people believed in the Devil and witchcraft. Tens of thousands of heretics (people who did not follow, or criticised, the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church) were condemned to death as witches. These victims of the Inquisition came from all sectors of society. In The Witch Hunter Chronicles a distinction is drawn between those who have been wrongly accused of witchcraft, and the ‘real’ witches and demons who the Hexenjäger battle.
The Watchers: The fallen angels and their leader, Shemyaza, appear in the ancient religious text, The Book of Enoch. Their physical appearance and the ability to raise the dead are figments of my imagination.
Malleus Maleficarum: Arguably the most infamous book written in history, the Malleus Maleficarum – the Hammer of the Witches – existed. Created by the Inquisitors James Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer, this text was used throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as the Inquisitor’s handbook on how to detect witches. In The Witch Hunter Chronicles, the text is riddled with cryptic passages that, when deciphered, unlock powerful spells.
Relics and artefacts
Whilst the Tablet of Breaking and the Daggers of Gabriel are fictitious, the Epistle of Alexandrus, the Writings of Lot and the Book of Nezzar are based on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Noah’s Ark was a late addition to the novel. Once Jakob and his companions had made their way down to Sodom, and the Drebbel was destroyed, I faced a terrible dilemma: how to get the survivors back to the surface. After deliberating over this for about a week, I had the most fantastic idea – why not have Noah’s Ark stored in the Hall of Records? Their subsequent escape aboard the vessel is my favourite part of the novel.
Inventions
Submarines: Although the Drebbel and the da Vinci are made up, submarines did exist in the early seventeenth century. The Dutch inventor, Cornelius van Drebbel, created a submersible vehicle that travelled up the Thames for several miles in the 1620s.
Select bibliography
Ackroyd, Peter, Venice: Pure City, Chatto and Windus, London, 2009
Childs, John, Warfare in the Seventeenth Century, Cassell & Co., London, 2001
Cohen, Richard, By the Sword: Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai Warriors, Swashbucklers and Olympians, Pan Macmillan, New York, 2002
Provatakis, Theocharis, Meteora: History of the Monasteries and Monasticism, Michalis Toumbis Editions, Athens, 1991
Withers, Harvey J.S., The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Swords and Sabres, Alto Books, London, 2008
A special thank you to the following people: the magnificent team at Random House Australia, particularly Zoe Walton, Cristina Briones, Abigail Nathan, Sarana Behan and Dorothy Tonkin; Sammy Yuen, for creating covers that jump off the bookshelves into readers’ hands; the students at International Grammar School; and my family and friends, for your support and encouragement. Until Jakob’s next adventure, adieu.
Stuart is a History teacher in a private high school in Sydney. Inspired by the works of Dumas, Pérez-Reverte and Matthew Reilly, and drawing upon his knowledge of the English Civil War and the Thirty Years’ War, he has long considered writing an action-packed adventure series set in the seventeenth century. His biggest fan – and critic – is his six-year-old daughter, who can often be found sitting on his lap in his study as he types away on the next title in The Witch Hunter Chronicles.
No reprieve. No surrender. This is the Hexenjäger.
It’s 1666, and the forces of darkness are spreading across Europe. Dreaming of wielding a blade in epic battles like the father he never knew, Jakob von Drachenfels falsifies a letter of introduction to join the Hexenjäger – an elite military order of witch hunters. He soon learns a lesson in the dangers of ambition when he finds himself selected for a team sent to recover a biblical relic from a witch-infested castle. But when the team is betrayed from within, what was already a difficult mission turns into a desperate struggle for survival.
Fire and brimstone. Hell on Earth. Flames will not stop the Hexenjäger.
It is said that the Codex Gigas contains a spell for summoning the Prince of Darkness. So when the medieval bible is stolen by demonic soldiers known as the Sons of Cain, Jakob and his companions form an uneasy alliance with an order of English witch hunters and race to London to prevent a horrific prophecy from being fulfilled.
Whether battling his way into the gaols of Rotterdam or crossing blades with the Sons of Cain during the Great Fire of London, this will be Jakob’s most perilous mission yet.
Read on for an extract from The Devil’s Fire . . .
Standing knee-deep in water in the flooded medieval dungeon, I raise my pistol to my lips, kiss its polished barrel and pray hastily that our ambush works. I lean out of the cell, take aim down the tunnel and fire at the closest of the unsuspecting Dutch soldiers, forcing him to drop his lantern. He staggers back, clutching his blasted chest.
My signal given, the six English soldiers spring out of the adjacent cells that line the tunnel, level their muskets and pistols at the Dutchmen and blast away. Before the powdered flashes from our firearms have cleared, Armand races out from one of the cells and tears into the startled Dutch soldiers; his mortuary blade and sabre moving with blinding speed. Three of the Dutchmen drop dead, clutching at wounds they never saw delivered.
Deftly dodging a swipe at his head with the butt of a musket, Armand weaves past the panicked attacks of two other soldiers, before finding himself face to face with a brutish Dutchman. This soldier’s face is a butchered mess of scars – souvenirs collected from a life of fighting. Whipping up his pistol, the Dutchman takes aim at Armand’s chest. But Armand is faster. The Frenchman grabs hold of a nearby soldier who is fumbling with his musket, and uses him as a human shield against the Dutchman’s shots. Armand tosses the now-dead soldier into the hulking figure standing before him, forcing the Dutchman to lose his balance in the water. Armand seizes the advantage and lunges forward; his sabre snaking out, punching through the side of his adversary. Collapsing to his knees, the brutish soldier lashes out desperately with the butt of his pistol, but Armand parries the attack aside and finishes him off with a savage slash across the throat.
Armand leaps to his left, shouldering into the nearest soldier, and sends him careening head-first into the tunnel wall, knocking him senseless. In the same fluid motion, Armand twists to his right, his eyes locking on an advancing Dutchman, whose sword-arm is outstretched and held high. The point of the soldier’s rapier is aimed at the Frenchman’s face.
Facing an adversary trained in the Spanish school of swordplay, Armand adjusts his fighting technique accordingly, assuming a traversing stance, and raises his sabre to counter the Dutchman’s blade. Having parried aside the first three thrusts and assessed the quality of the soldier’s fencing, Armand turns his fourth parry into a lightning-fast riposte; his sabre transformed into a hiss of death. The Du
tchman is caught off guard – and left with three hand-spans of steel protruding through his back.
Armand kicks the body free from his blade and twists to his left, narrowly avoiding a pistol-shot from one of the only two remaining soldiers. The duellist then streaks across the tunnel, crossing the distance to the remaining Dutchmen in less than a heartbeat. Feigning to his right, he lures one of them into a lunge that forces him to over-extend his attack. Armand springs forward and hammers the pommel of his mortuary blade into the man’s temple with a sickening crack. Even before the soldier slumps unconscious into the waters of the flooded corridor, Armand spins on his heel and flicks out his sabre – its point stopping a hair’s-breadth from the throat of the remaining Dutchman, pinning him against the dungeon wall.
Sheathing his mortuary blade, Armand unhooks the lantern hanging from the soldier’s belt and attaches it to his own. ‘Tell your comrades not to come down,’ he snarls, forcing the terrified soldier back down the tunnel. ‘All that awaits them here is death. Now go, before my blades decide to taste your blood!’
One of the English soldiers assigned to help us defend this section of the dungeon runs over to join Armand and shakes his head in awe. ‘My God! Well done,’ he says in stilted German, watching the Dutchman flee. ‘Never before have I seen such skill with a sword!’
‘Don’t commend me for butchery,’ Armand says disdainfully, his features looking twisted and demonic in the wan lantern-light. He bends down to wipe the blood from his sabre on the cloak of one of the fallen Dutchmen. ‘Taking the lives of innocent soldiers gives me no pleasure. I am a Hexenjäger – a witch hunter. I wage war at a higher level, with the Devil’s legions. Now let’s move back before reinforcements arrive and I’m forced to spill more Dutch blood.’