Page 159 of Eldritch
“This is an abomination of God’s will,” Father challenged from behind, his voice trembling. “May The Red God strike you down where you stand!”
“Spoken like a true heretic.” Sacton Crain sailed a smug grin toward Father. “Perhaps they should stab their spears intoyounext.”
Aleysia’s laughter pierced through the growing hush of the crowd’s dwindling excitement. “You didn’t kill my father when he returned from Lyveria. Why? Why did you keep him alive? Was it because you foolishly didn’t believe those visions he saw? Or because you feared he might be right? Perhaps you had the same vision?”
Sacton Crain’s face ashened.
“Yes, someone showed you, as well,” she continued to taunt. “Who was it? Who told you of The Decimation?”
Confused, I glanced to Aleysia and back, curious if she’d seen, or heard, something I hadn’t.
A raw and unmistakable fear bloomed in Sacton Crain’s eyes, as he seemed to stare into a void of thoughts. He threw the torch onto the kindling, and my heart lodged in my throat when it caught quickly, corralling us in a diminishing circle of flame.
I frantically spun around, searching for an escape. Heat warmed my skin as the fire consumed the kindling, and outside of the flaming barrier, the villagers gathered around, forming a wall of spears pointed at us.
“Please help!” Corwin screamed from behind, darting toward a section that hadn’t yet lit. It caught quickly before he could pass through, and at the vicious jabbing of the villagers on the other side of it, he backed way.
Arms wrapped around me, and I turned to see Father huddling close. “Don’t let your dresses catch on the flame!”
An eerie song filled the tomb as the parishioners sangTheSinner’s Dirge,a song I knew well from past burnings and banishings.
The heat of the growing pyre stole my breath as it rose higher, a menacing flicker fueled by the oil.
“The floor is getting warmer.” Panic quivered in Corwin’s voice, as he shifted on his bare feet.
Aleysia and Father also stood without shoes.
“Oh, god, it’s getting hotter! I can hardly stand still!” Corwin’s shifting turned to hopping, feet dancing over the metal.
A cold hand slipped into mine, and I turned to see Aleysia staring back at me, but instead of the terror I recalled the night of her banishment, her eyes lit with a knowing smirk. “They call you a witch, Maevyth. Give breath to their worst fears.”
A surge of adrenaline chilled my blood as I stared out over the pious flock, reminded that I was no longer a cowering child and had no reason to fear my power. I lifted my arm, holding my palm outstretched toward Sacton Crain. “I will give you one opportunity to let us pass through in peace.”
As the pyre around us grew, the fear I’d seen cross his face lifted for cruel amusement. “We do not yield to powers of evil, girl. We burn it.”
I sent a blast of Aeryz that threw him backward into the parishioners behind him, the violent gust disturbing the kindling and opening a gap in the flaming circle. A collective gasp reverberated through the cavernous tomb, as the four of us scampered out of the ring of flames, off the hot metal, and the crowd filled in to block our escape, holding us just outside of it. Perilously close.
“We have to…destroy the witch!” Sacton Crain pressed a hand to his chest as he lay on the ground, fighting for breath. “She will…kill us all!”
The villagers closed in, their weapons pointed and ready, eyes dulled and hollow. Whatever speck of humanity remained was shadowed in those merciless glares.
“Witch, witch, witch!” they chanted in unison.
I closed my eyes and, in spite of my rattled nerves, summoned the bone whip to my palm. It tumbled out to the floor, clacking as it unrolled from my palm, unbothered by the flame it passed through.
The chanting broke into terrified screams as a few jumped out of the way.
“Please don’t make me do this. I do not want to hurt anyone!” One snap of the whip would explode their bodies, just as it had the Primsleys’ monstrous forms.
“Hand me that whip, Maevyth, I’m quite happy to hurt someone!” Aleysia reached down to lift it, struggling when it didn’t raise up easily. “Devil’s teeth, this thing must weigh a ton! How do you lift it yourself!”
Frowning, I drew it back with ease, and in the back snap, it cracked against one of the parishioners. Bellows of terror erupted as Mr. Morvenne’s limb flew separate from his body, landing with a hard thud on the ground.
Aleysia let out a gasp that turned to a chuckle, and frowning back at her, I noticed the way her swelling pupils had turned her eyes to an inky dark.
The crowd retreated a few steps, keeping their distance, but holding their guard.
“Do not let them escape again!” Sacton Crain urged, as he stamped his crosier against the concrete. “They are the key to ending this plague and getting out of this damned tomb!”
