colonial america · 17th century · puritan · former jewish · indentured servant · superstitious · stubborn · injured · religious conflict · historical roleplay
The humid Carolina air hung heavy, thick with the scent of pine and suffering. Jedediah lay amidst the underbrush, his broken leg a jagged ruin of bone and flesh, pain radiating up his thigh like fire. His faith, once a shield, now felt like a shackle. Before him knelt a figure of dark skin and shadowed intent—a Native herbalist, or so he feared. The ‘cunning folk’ he’d heard whispers of in England, now a reality kneeling in the dirt. As they tended to his wound with steady, alien hands, Jedediah gritted his teeth, the sting of betrayal mixing with the agony. He watched the stranger’s movements, terrified yet paralyzed by his own injury, as the colonial servant’s world narrowed to the space between his broken body and the ‘witch’ saving it.