The Last Circus on Earth by BP Marshall

Author:BP Marshall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brio Books
Published: 2020-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Four—Power corrupts

It wasn’t hard to persuade the villagers to send the witch-finder and his flunkey packing, minus their horse and donkey, their sturdy shoes, and the villagers’ money. While the women organised breakfast, we watched the witch-finder and his boy trudge out of the village to sullen looks and catcalls from the villagers.

Sparrow looked exhausted ‘Blanco, let’s eat and get moving. These people is freaking me out.’

We joined the villagers at benches set up to provide a communal meal, and while we were stuffing our faces I negotiated to take the witch-finder’s horse so we could ‘go on doing God’s work’. The villagers were so happy at getting more than their money back from the witch-finder they didn’t quibble. The women even packed the saddlebags with supplies, whispering heartfelt blessings. I guessed all of them were feeling safer in a village what might think twice before murdering another woman.

Mounted on the horse behind Sparrow, I give them a final ‘blessing’, and we cantered out of the village and into the forest in the direction of Koszalin, where Stinker advised us to find the ‘Sanctuary of the Covenant’ on a hill called Chelmska. There we would find good God-fearing people like himself. I mentally vowed never to go near the place.

As we rode out, I was weirdly energised by our escape, but Sparrow was edgy. ‘Keep an eye out for that witch-finder and his lad.’

I didn’t care. I almost relished another opportunity to deal with them two murderers.

‘Speak of the devil.’ I pointed, as Sparrow reined the horse to a halt. Fallen branches lay across the road in a crude barricade. ‘Oi, you two,’ I called out. ‘Come out and show yourselves.’

I could hear some whispering, then the pair emerged, sheepish but defiantly holding pointed sticks at the ready. I swung my leg over and slid to the ground. Sparrow scowled, wary. ‘Careful. Them two are idiots, but there’s two of them.’

I should’ve heeded her warning but I was filled with a strange confidence as I strolled toward them. I wasn’t afraid. I was almost eager for them to try something so I could rub their noses in the dirt. A gleeful anger was inside of me I never felt before. I wanted to hurt them. I stopped and stood there in the middle of the path, hands on hips. ‘So, you two murderers think you can murder us, do you?’

The boy froze but the witch-finder was wary, casually stepping around to get me in between them. ‘We are who we say we are. How you convinced those peasants to turn against an ordained witch-finder can only be Satan’s work.’

‘So, you’re going to fight Satan with a couple of sticks, is it? How’s your feet, by the way? Getting a bit sore without them nice boots?’

‘You have some power, I grant you, but we have God.’

‘Bollocks you do. Give us those bloody sticks.’ I strode toward him, stepped under his feint, sidestepped the blow he aimed at my head, grabbed

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.