The Patriot Witch by C. C. Finlay

Author:C. C. Finlay
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fantasy, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780345503909
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 2009-04-27T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

The women debated the rest of the day, trying to reach a consensus on Proctor's proposal.

“Necromancy is evil,” Magdalena insisted. “Ve should have no part of it.”

“No one is suggesting necromancy,” Deborah insisted. “No one wants to raise the dead, or ask the spirits to foretell the future. We only wish to speak to them about the past.”

Magdalena spewed sentences in German, ending with, “Totenbeschwörung, necromancy, vhatever—it is all the same. It is evil, the verk of Satan.”

“No, it isn't,” Deborah said patiently. “We are only going to ask them for information.”

“I don't understand how we can do that spell,” Cecily said. “Not that I know as much as Elizabeth or you, I'm not claiming that. But I thought, at the very least, you needed to know someone's name to summon them. We have no idea who those terrible men are.”

“One of them was named Dick,” Proctor said, recalling the name he heard during the fight. “He's the one who killed Nimrod.”

“And we have their things still,” Alexandra interjected. “Their clothes, the weapons they were carrying—that should help.”

Deborah nodded. “Those are exactly what we need. All we want to do is find out their purpose in coming to kill us. Who were they working for? Is it the British governor or one of the generals or—”

She stopped in mid-sentence. That was the part that bothered Proctor the most. Who wanted to kill these women and why? With the militiamen strangling the Redcoats in Boston, it made no sense at all for British officers to care about a few women outside Salem.

“They knew how to see past the enchantment,” he said. “So whoever sent the widow also sent them.”

That wasn't a very comforting thought, and the others glided right past it.

“Their disguises link them to the attack,” Deborah said. “That's the important thing, because that's all we wish to ask them about.”

“But Magdalena makes an excellent point too,” Cecily said, and the older woman nodded agreement. “We should consider how dangerous it may be. We all want answers. I want answers. But if we summon the spirits of the dead, especially dead men burning in hell, where they ought to be if there is any justice at all, then we draw the undesirable eye of Lucifer himself—”

“Aie, don't mention his name,” Magdalena shouted, smacking her hands on the table and making a hex sign to ward herself as she rose.

At the end of the day, Deborah and Alexandra were in favor of Proctor's plan, Magdalena was vehemently opposed, and Cecily alternately affirmed that it was a good idea then sowed caution and doubt. Lydia remained silent, whether because she had no opinion or did not feel free to speak, Proctor wasn't sure. Elizabeth also said nothing, but you could see her weighing the opinions for and against. Finally, after dark, she rose wearily. “Let us sleep on it and pray for a clearer path tomorrow.”

The debate resumed the next day. Proctor, having already made his decision about what was right, escaped to do the work of the farm.

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