Chapter 38
Spring drifted into summer and as busy as they were to prepare for the coming winter, summer seemed to go by quickly. Aelianna's pregnancy had also progressed and she had become quite round in girth. Aiden had become almost giddy with anticipation of his child's imminent birth. By the cycles of the moon, she was eight months pregnant and would give birth during the following month of November. Neither knew how long a pregnancy should be, but Aelianna's instincts told her that their child was soon to arrive.
Aiden watched over her like a mother hen. But he realized that with so much work to do, he could not be there as often as he wants it and Aelianna was in no condition to make her way through the woods. Although, she did manage the routine of maintaining the hut as well as the organization of newly harvested crops and herbs, both edible and medicinal. Water was gathered on a daily basis and having spent so much time living in the woods, she knew from experience the results of drinking improperly treated water. But in the fall, groundwater was scarce and they had to rely, in part, on the collection of rainwater.
The fall also brought colder weather and while the pines continued to stand majestically throughout the English countryside, the maples that immediately surrounded their hut had lost their leaves. Their colors had grown brilliant with reds and yellows, but within the space of several days, they began to dim and die. The passing of autumn's beauty left the landscape barren and empty and with a sullen sky producing an almost constant drizzle, the countryside appeared especially bleak.
But, it was on one particular day you're the end of October that visitors made their way through the country. There were led by a Catholic priest and composed of mostly mercenaries. These were men who would fight for anyone who could pay the most in their loyalties extended only as far as the gold they received for their services. They knew not compassion nor kindness, and the only value a life possessed was in the gold they were paid to end it, usually by the sword or at the end of a rope. And in the eyes of the priest, everyone was guilty of something. He, of course, as a man of God, thought himself as beyond reproach. Even his paid associates were looked down upon by his self-righteousness and a deep need for power.
With the trees in their near barren state, the chance of being discovered was far greater than any other time of year. Aelianna continued to stay close to the hut, as per Aiden's repeated request and was busy cooking an early dinner. Wild rabbit hung over the fire and raw vegetables filled a small woven basket. A breeze drifted through the woods and past the tree line with strangers were wondering. Some were on horseback, while most walked. Suddenly, one of the men at the front of the pack was stopped by a faint odor in the air. Something familiar. He turned around toward the others and inquired if anyone else detected the smell of cooked meat. Only two could smell it, including the priest and scanning the land around them, determined the odor to be coming from somewhere in the woods. The priest ordered three of his men into the woods to investigate and the deeper they searched, the stronger the smell became. So intense had it become that the men began to feel the sensation of hunger creep up from their bellies.
Eventually, they were led to the hut where Aelianna continued to prepare their dinner. The men approached silently and throwing the door open, startled her into a deep gasp. But when she realized it was not Aiden, returning from the woods, a scream began to leave her lips. It was promptly stifled when one of the men curled up his fist and struck her across the face. As she lay on the packed dirt floor, a brief conversation ensued as to what might be done with her. As suspicions of witchcraft rose, the men decided it best to take her back to the priest, leaving him to determine her fate.
Her mind began to recover itself from the starry blackness of unconsciousness and when she opened her eyes, found herself being dragged through the woods by her arms. Her voice was weak. Her body, unable to respond to her will, in her minds slowness to recover. But as she became fully aware, Aelianna found herself hanging by her wrists from a tree at the edge of the woods. The priest, having dismounted his horse, stood in front of her, a menacing expression frozen on his face. Very little seemed to escape him and what he saw raised the suspicion every priest seems to inherit. What he saw was a beautiful woman of color living alone in the woods.
"You do not appear to be from these lands," he said.
He put a hand on her expectant abdomen, looked up at her and raised a suspicious brow.
"You are with child," he continued. "How can this be when you live in solitude?" Her wits were still dulled by the mercenary's assault, but Aelianna managed a weak response.
"I have a husband," she replied. "He is in the woods."
The priest looked at the men who had retrieved her. They shook their heads as one of them spoke.
"We saw no one else."
Having considered the information given by his men, the priest turned back to Aelianna for further questioning.
"How is it that one woman living in the woods is able to survive such an unforgiving place?" he asked.
Her senses had become clear enough for her to fight against the ropes that bound her wrists.
"I have a husband," she repeated.
The strength of her will was resurfacing and her frustration quickly turned to anger.
"Do you think me a witch priest?"
The tone of her voice was received as highly disrespectful and resulted in a firm slap from the priest. Hard enough to bring a trail of blood from her nose. "How dare you speak to me in such a manner," the priest said.
His sudden rage would make Aelianna's claim even less convincing as his dark suspicions quickly mounted. And raising a hand, he grabbed her face and continued his questions.
"What demon do you consort with?" he asked.
The priest was already convinced of her guilt. All he needed was one bit of evidence.
"You need not answer the question woman," he continued. "I will determine your guilt for myself."
He stepped back and ordered one of his men forward.
"You will inspect her for the mark."
Out of a twisted need for pleasure, the man tore off Aelianna's clothes, leaving her hanging naked in the chilly October air.
Aelianna knew what they were looking for, and worse yet, she knew they would find it. The man slipped the back of his fingers down from the side of her face, continuing down between her naked breasts and lower. It was only a few seconds, but it was enough time for Aelianna to feel both soiled and deeply terrified. His own arousal peaked as his fingers arrived at their destination. Rubbing aggressively brought her to a forced passion, confirming what the priest he already believed he knew. The priest approached her again.
"Witch!" he yelled.
Bringing up a hand, he struck her hard across the face. Hard enough to break her nose. Stepping back, he looked down at her abdomen and pointed at it accusingly. "And what of the child?" the priest demanded. "Do you carry the child of the devil?"
Aelianna repeated her claim of having a husband.
"So you have said," the priest replied. "But if this were so, would he not protect you in your every move? Would he not be here to defend you?"
The priest stood in front of her, giving her ample time to provide an answer. Falling silent only gave him more evidence with which to fuel his accusation.
The priest directed a hand full of his men to build a fire as one of them stepped forward.
"Your eminence," he began.
These words were reserved only for the Pope, but the priest possessed such audacious arrogance that he demanded they be used by anyone addressing him.
"We found the witch cowering in her hiding place. A small hut in the woods." The priest spoke without hesitation. "Burn it."
As the fire came to life only a few feet in front of her, two of the priest's men went into the woods and set the hut ablaze. Meanwhile, Aiden was hard at work, pulling down dead trees for the winter's store of firewood. He was roughly half a mile from the hut and unaware of what was playing out at the edge of the woods.
The priest had become determined to eliminate what he perceived as a great evil.
"I will dispose of the evil that infects you," he began. "And in consigning your body to the earth, I shall ready your soul for God's judgment."
Aelianna suddenly saw herself bound and writhing in the fire, her skin melting from her body as her flesh simmered in charred. Death by hanging would be a far more welcomed demise, even at the hands of a paranoid maniac.
The fire was ready and blazed with a horrific brilliance that left Aelianna on the edge of fainting. The priest, again, turned to one of his men. As mercenaries, all had been hardened by battle and the cruelty of putting steel to flesh. The only thing they knew was killing and blood money.
"Remove the child!" the priest ordered. Now, Aelianna realized why the fire had been built. It was not for execution, but that of her unborn child. The man approached her with a twisted grin and taking out a knife, pushed the point deeply into one side of her abdomen and sliced it across to the other. At once, Aelianna was filled with fiery pain as she violently twisted and threw herself about. Her screams were your piercing, leaving the priest and his men with a muted hum in their ears. And as Aelianna began to lose consciousness, she felt the man's hands reach inside her. The bleeding began as soon as the knife touched her soft brown skin. But as her child was pulled out of her still flinching body, the wound it had been forced through poured out blood. Within what seemed like moments, Aelianna's body had emptied itself down her legs and flooded the ground beneath her feet. The priest, feeling justified in his actions and satisfied with the results, stood in front of her now lifeless body, raised his right hand, extending his thumb, first and second fingers. He made the sign of the cross and spoke a Latin blessing, absolving her of the sin of what he thought of as a life of evil.
Having been forcibly removed from its mother's womb, the baby shivered in the cold autumn air. The knife had been driven enough that one of its arms had been completely severed just above the elbow. The limb, having fallen out of Aelianna's body, was also retrieved. The priest pointed to the raging fire and with two words, gave the order that would bring an end to the ad hoc trial imposed on an innocent woman and her child. "Burn it."
The mercenary clutching the child experienced a momentary flickering of conscience. Enough to cause a brief hesitation.
"Do as you are told!" the priest yelled. Against the whisperings of his heart, the man took a step toward the fire, held out his arms and let the infant tumble into the flames. He, like his associates, had seen a great deal of violence and put many to the sword, but the senseless slaughtering of babies was not something any of them were accustomed to.
The child's body seized in shock as soon as it struck the flames. The blood and fluid covering it began to evaporate immediately, leaving its skin to bubble up and fall away. The priest stepped up to the burning fire that now gave off a column of smokey stench as the small lifeless body continued to melt under the intensely growing heat. He spoke with an arrogance and self-righteousness that would enrage any true man of the cloth. Raising a hand, he shouted his condemnation.
"In the name of God, I order you to return to your master and I cast you back to the unholy depths of hell!"
For a man of such arrogance, drama seemed to be a way of acquiring the illusion of authority, transforming him into something he was clearly not.