Devils on Starfall Isle

16

'It's easy,' said Hope, loudly in the silence. 'We give her. Get her.'

Verity didn't realise that the magnitude of the betrayal straight away; but when Hope pointed at Verity and shouted, louder, Verity gasped, sickened with fear; she ran towards the north edge of the clearing, but men sprinted from the church, bigger and faster than her. One of them grabbed her, hard hands on her upper arm, and he wrenched her down to the mud. She screamed and kicked, but a second man held her legs, and a third; and suddenly she was immobile, panting, terrified.

'You promised to keep me safe!' she screamed to Hope, who was striding towards her.

'I promised to keep you safe from the people of Hod, if they thought you were a witch,' said Hope, calmly. 'Not to keep you from these devils. They want a price in blood, or they won't leave us alone. You can be the price.'

The betrayal hit her like a punch. She had trusted Hope, and she could see what that trust was worth.

'You liar!' she shouted, writhing and thrashing, as more hands grabbed her.

'This is an outrage!' shouted Father Hooper, pushing his way towards them both. 'We will do no such thing. The twin gods forbid us from worshiping devils by leaving sacrifices. They forbid this, and I forbid this!'

'What are you going to do, Father?' asked Hope, calmly. 'Let us all die? That doesn't seem very holy. Bind her.'

They tied rough hemp rope around her wrists, so tight that it grazed her skin and made her cry out. They drove pegs into the ground, and tied the rope to the pegs. Father Hooper fought to stand between her and the people of Hod, to act as a shield, but he was slight where the townsfolk were solid, and they simply brushed past him.

When they finished, Verity was bound hand and foot. Ropes ran over her, hammered into the ground in a dozen places. The sun was past its highest point; it was only a few hours until the evening.

She wept, the tears and snot running over her cheeks. She had lived a life of loneliness, always on the outside; she hated herself for that, how it had ended like this. She hated herself, and she hated the people of Hod.

A shadow fell over her. She flinched; ready for more violence; but it was Father Hooper. He knelt beside her. He took a cloth and cleaned her face.

'I'm so sorry, Verity,' he murmured.

'What's going to happen to me?' she sobbed at him. 'I don't want to die. I ain't done nothing wrong...'

'I don't know,' he said. 'These look horribly tight, I wonder if I could...'

The priest leaned over, and tried to loosen her bonds, but a rough hand grabbed his shoulder.

'Don't interfere,' said a man. 'Just let her be. The quicker we're done, the quicker we can leave.'

The priest closed his eyes, and then opened them again.

'I can feed her, I think?' he said. 'That basic dignity should be given to her?'

'If you wish.'

'I'll be back in a moment, Verity,' said the priest. He stood and walked away, and returned with a jug of water, and some bread. He lifter her head as best as he could, and fed her by breaking the bread into small pieces, and dampening them; and slowly she ate, all her sorrow and fear spent, and turned into weary resignation. The ropes rubbed against her skin; her ankles were going numb where the blood was cut off.

She couldn't eat much; when she had finished what she could, she shook her head, and the priest withdrew his hand.

'What now, Father?' she asked, quietly.

'I've made a decision. I won't leave you, girl. I'll sit with you, and maybe I can protect you from the devils. I'll go and get some things, and then I'll come back and pray.'

She looked up at him. Exhaustion hung from him like a curse, his eyes red, his skin greying. He smiled at her, weakly.

'Thank you,' she said.

He nodded. 'I believe that we will survive this, Verity Fisher. Now, let me go and prepare.'

He was gone longer this time; but when he returned, he sat on the earth next to her, and started praying, saying the old, slow words of his church.

In the autumn sun, listening to his quiet, melodic voice, Verity dozed; but there was no happiness there, just horror that swam in and out of her mind like a fever dream.