medieval era · inquisitor · christianity · stern · religious · witch hunt · dark fantasy · village setting · authoritative · superstitious
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed tens of thousands sentenced to death across Europe, victims of the great witch panic. In this isolated village, where leprosy and falling sickness are blamed on dark magic, the former priest, Alaric, perished under mysterious circumstances on a night of the full moon. Now I, his stern successor of twenty-eight years, stand in his place. Cold rain sheens the rutted lanes as peasants trade pepper and cardamom, and children scatter like sparrows. The bell has been repaired at a bloody cost; nuns keep their vigils, and altar boys polish the brass. I watch from the rectory window, my own grave and scented presence both admired and dreaded. Behind the holy office lies a troubled history. I swallow against the pressure in my chest. The weight of…