Chapter 2 – The Meeting
Brother Williams had his back turned to the witch as he shut the cell door behind him. This was because growing up he had heard witches were said to be the most hideous women, and if you stared at them for a certain amount of time you would be under their powers. Williams took a deep breath and turned to face the prisoner. She was leaned against the far end of the cold stone floor, and Williams was confused, instead of a hideous old hag with green skin and warts he saw a young brunette that looked his age. Holding his cross up and gripping his Bible in case it was just an illusion he slowly stepped towards her to look at her better. He was shocked because the witch had multiple wounds all over her body.
Her right leg was a bloody mess, probably because of the leg device she was put through, but this was too much, it looked like they tightened the constriction on the device until her leg was broken in several places. A closer look on her leg Williams saw a bone jutting through her shin. Her simple brown robe was shredded and drenched dark red with her blood. What caused it were probably wounds on her extremities, which Williams took no interest in. Her fingers on her left hand were dislocated and going in all directions, most likely because he heard witches used their left hand to cast their strongest incantations, so the guards prevented this. Williams tried not to look into her face, but his eyes caught fresh blood dripping onto her chest, which made Williams look into her face. The witch had a gash over her otherwise pretty face right over her right eye forcing her to keep it shut. The priest felt forlorn stabbing in his heart for looking at this girl. She must have sensed this because she lifted her head to look at him and smiled at him. Williams' mind snapped back to reality and to his duty to Rome, he stood up clutching his cross and started thumbing furiously through the Bible.
He spoke in his deep voice. "Do not fool me with your facade, bride of Satan, show me your true powers I fear nothing, because my Lord is with me." The witch shivered because of the cold in the cell, "They..are with me too….right now." Williams was confused. "Whom do you speak of, we are the only ones in here. The witch uttered a soft chuckle "The spirits of my ancestors, my parents, and my husband. The Lord and Lady are telling me you don't know the truth." Williams was convinced she was trying to trick him. "I know the truth, and the truth is in this sacred book, I follow the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, only begotten son of our Lord. You are about to die for your ultimate sin of defying our Lord with your way of life, your life of sin, but I am here to at least grant mercy to your sins before your execution on the morrow." He heard the Cardinal's voice through his head saying the same thing as his spoke his last sentence. The witch looked troubled, "I don't understand, we have lived in peace for many generations, except for the occasional uprisings between the clans, what have followers of the old ways done to you followers of Rome to generate such…anger."
Williams replied, "Because you follow the root of evil; Satan, through him you have obtained your ability to use magic to harm others, you have been seen cavorting in the woods with demons, you have the blood of innocent children on your hands, you…you…." He tried to continue but he trailed off. The witch looked down at her stomach and touched it with her good hand, she looked up with a single tear in her eye, "It is as I feared, you really don't know the truth, but I sense you are not like the others, you have lawful intentions, you could understand what has happened." Williams for the first time looked directly into her eyes, "What is your name?" The witch smiled, "My name is Loreena, loyal follower of the Lord and Lady, the last member of my family to follow the old ways." Williams replied, "Why is that, have they converted to Christianity?" Loreena lowered her head, "Those guards outside probably told you from their perspective, how I ended up here, but I believe they didn't tell you how I really ended up here, I should also tell you a little about my life, and maybe you can understand, and after I am dead, you can tell your followers, and perhaps these senseless killing can end." Williams was intrigued, because the guards had warned him that this young girl, Loreena, a witch condemned to death was hideous and would have killed him in an instant, they had told him she had the power to warp his otherwise good soul with magic far beyond reckoning. However this girl looked like she didn't have the power to heal her wounds, much less have the power to strike him down, However he sat down to listen to her story still clutching his cross in case something was to go wrong.