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A knock at the door pulled Ludovi's attention away from the rune stones laying on the table, but Odin was at the forefront of his mind. Danger was coming. He got up and opened the door. There he saw his friend, badly beaten and shaking in the cold drizzle.

"Droges!" Ludovi said, catching his friend in his arms as he fell forward from exhaustion.

Droges had disappeared days before.

"Malleus Maleficarum," Droges said wheezing. He saw his friend's face go pale as his starry gaze reflected the terrible fate that was coming for them.

The book had gained notoriety across the lands in the last twenty years. Those drunk on greed were the first to execute the principles laid out in the book. Property was at stake.

Ludovi wanted to grab Constantine the Great by the neck for starting all of this nonsense but he was dead. Only statues of his head were passed around like ornaments, with his ghost living inside, you'd give to your children before leaving the world, as a way to infect their minds with archaic thinking and fear of the unknown.

The man dragged Droges inside and laid him down on the bed. He went back to the door, took a look out into the slow drizzle, that dripped like icicles melting in the sun. It was dark, cold, depressing. They hadn't seen the sun in thirty days and know this madness had reached their town.

Closing the door shut, Ludovi grabbed a cup, filled it with water and took it over to Droges, who gulped it down, most of it falling to the wayside of his mouth and drenching his shirt. It was like he hadn't had a drink in days.

Taking the time to look his friend over, Ludovi saw that he had rope burns on his face, his hands were crippled as if they'd been put under the pilliwinks, his neck had a few slash marks in it, his clothes were ripped and torn like he survived an encounter with Fenrir.

"The philosophy of nature has been deemed a crime," Droges said, coughing up a spot of blood as he did so. "They began by grabbing the homeless children and teens. I narrowly escaped with my life for being in a place they deemed as a "filthy and degrading spawn cesspool for where the devil breeds."

"How did you break free?" asked Ludovi.

"I ran." Droges, wrapped in shame and guilt, avoided his friend's eyes by looking at the blanket, while his forefinger and thumb moved back and forth along the cloth.

Then, Droges grabbed Ludovi by the shoulders and jerked him toward him. "They're coming for us, Ludovi. They demand to have a purely Reformation society."

"They need a confession first."

"I heard your name as I made my escape, Ludovi. The youth are turning people in left and right." Droges fell silent and then spoke again, "They tortured me, Ludovi. I didn't sleep for days. I, also, said some names and I fear I have led them to your door."

Ludovi's heart felt heavy like he was being stepped on by the largest of wild beasts found in the forest.

Suddenly they heard a loud slamming action at the door that knocked it off its hinges. As the door crashed to the ground, five armed men quickly filtered in. Ludovi bolted toward his knife on the table, but, before he could get to it, three swords were swung in front of his face which caused him to halt in place.

"Go on. Reach for it," one of the men said antagonistically.

Ludovi resigned knowing that he would have to best them in the courts.

Another guard kicked Ludovi in the back, sending him to the ground writhing in pain.

"Thanks," said a guard turning to Droges who was frozen helplessly in the bed, "for helping us find this traitor to the crown and to God. If our dungeons don't cause horripilation, the Judge will."

All the guards laughed in unison.

"Time to go," said a guard. Then he picked up Ludovi by the hair with a smile that was as comforting as biting into a rotting corpse. Ludovi was put into shackles and lead out of the house while Droges, being too weak to run any more for the night, was grabbed by his legs by two of the guards and dragged out of the house.

Within the town hall, the townspeople had gathered to witness Ludovi's trail. A couple of friends hid among the hostile crowd that wanted blood, anyone's blood but their own. The Judge, having the power of the church behind him, stood at the head of the make-shift courtroom, with armed soldiers controlling the crowd.

"Behold," the Judge said to the jury, made up of petty-bourgeois, "the devil's power. Through this man," he said pointing his finger at Ludovi, "the Adversary has power in our world and you will see here today how Ludovi, through the practice of throwing stones with unholy engravings on them, has been able to make all of us suffer for his own personal gain."

The Judge turned his attention to Ludovi.

"Ludovi, are you a sorcerer?" the Judge asked.

"No."

The crowd booed and hissed.

"Is that so? We have a witness that speaks out about your heresy."

"They are boys and teens that you enticed with your greed."
The Judge gave Ludovi a menacing grin, but his eyes were like steel spikes that sought to penetrate his skull. "Greed? No, no, no. I only do the will of God. Preservation of Reformation truths is a must for having a just society. Confess, wizard. Make this easy on yourself."

"I'm neither a wizard nor a sorcerer."

"Why do heretics also wish to make this harder than it has to be for themselves?" The question amused the Judge. He didn't wait for an answer. "I'm told," continued the judge, "that predators have been snaking their way across the land, and it has been killing off cattle and destroying crops brought on by the art of sorcery. Is this true?"

"No."

"Are you saying that no cattle nor crops have been decimated in the last few months?"

"No, that is not what I'm saying. Yes, cattle and crops have been dying but that is because the sun hasn't shown for almost thirty days."

"Sounds like an unclean pact, if you ask me…"

The judge turned to the crowd and said, "Do you see? The sun has not risen in almost thirty days due to this man's intermingling with the Enemy, which is bringing about the destruction of our lives, our village, our peace of mind, our livestock, our precious food."

The crowd shouts out almost in unison, "Burn him!" They hissed and booed more, clacking their canes against the benches, stamping their shoes on the ground, waving their fists in the air to show their contempt for the man damned in front of them.

The Judge held up a hand to silence the crowd. "First, the confession; then, the burning." He turned his attention back to Ludovi. "We have a witness who can testify that you are the one who we know you to be."

The Judge waved to a man in the back. The double doors opened and in walked a boy around the age of ten. The boy, who was caught stealing on more than one occasion and was generally known as the bad kid by the locals, was guided to the front of the room where he was placed on a stool; so that everyone could see him.

"Boy," said the judge, "tell us all that you know."

Claus was one of the children grabbed off the street. When he was first brought in, he was dirty from head to toe and smelled so bad that the Judge covered his face with a scarf and demanded that the guards give the urchin a bath.

Claus was overjoyed to be getting all of the special attention. The new clothes made him feel like he was someone, the big room with the big bed was his to jump on, the unlimited food brought to him was almost too much for him to take in. He'd never had it so good. He'd never been treated so kindly. He never wanted to go back to where he came from.

He never wanted to go back to where he came from because of what he had heard outside his door when the guards were talking. They were saying things like how jealous they were that the kid was going to get to stay if he testified against Ludovi and the others who were on trial for being witches, how jealous they were that the kid got nice food, a nice bed, and their best wine while they were barely getting enough to sustain them standing on their own two feet. This made Claus feel superior and special - feelings he'd never felt while on the street.

What made Claus feel nervous and what made Claus question if he could ever trust anybody was what the guards talked about most - the punishment that was going to happen to the boy should he fail in delivering his testimony convincingly. They spoke of things that ignited the boy's imagination on the side of fear, images of what would happen to him should he fail to give them what they wanted flooded his mind. He once saw what happens in the dungeons. He swore to himself he never wanted to see it again.

The boy coughed.

"Here, Claus, is it?" said the Judge walking into Claus' room. "Have some of the finest wine that can be found in these parts to tame your cough. Would you like some more food?" He turned around, not waiting for an answer. "Get the boy some more of the freshest food we have available. This boy deserves our finest hospitality."

The guard brought in roasted pork hocks, braised pork roast with cabbage, wienerschnitzels, a streusel cake with cherries and wine, and set it down before the boy, who scarfed down what was in front of him like a shark chopping down on its prey, tearing huge chunks of flesh off the bones and swallowing in one bite.

When he saw the boy finally had his fill, the Judge wanted to talk. "Boy, do you know of any witches lurking around?" the Judge asked.

"What are witches?"

"They can be defined as working for the Adversary under the guise of being a devout follower of God. They often use charms, like repeated words and phrases, they learned from the Adversary in order to bring about harm and destruction to those of whom they choose."

"I've heard something like that from Ludovi. He's always going on about the ways of his people back where he came from. Some land further north; some land that sunk into the sea after his people saw black sand and nothing growing back. He speaks of many gods and recites what he says they said back then."

The Judge marked down what he heard the boy say and then asked, "How many gods is he praying too?"

"I don't know. Seven, eight, nine. I never liked paying attention. He was always mean to me."

"Surely a sign of the Adversary doing," the judge said. "What else have you seen, boy?"

"He has these green stones with strange lettering on them."

"Tell me more." The Judge said stroking his chin.

"Well …" the boy hesitated as he felt the wine beginning to course through his stomach. His conscious wanted to protest, say there was no turning back if he chose the easy road this round. A cold feeling came over him, a knot formed in his stomach, and then a warm feeling quickly took its place. He decided to let his imagination go wild.

"I," said the boy, "was walking by his house one day about a month ago when I saw him through the window throwing stones across the table. Looking at them, he slammed his first down on the table and damned the country. That day is when the night showed up and has yet to return the sun."

"What else happened?"

"Well…," the boy paused for a second. His eyes scanned the room looking for the next part of his story. When he found a story that popped in his head, he said, "On the way back, I had to take the path through the forest. There, I encountered two black dogs. They were lazy things that wouldn't move when I ushered them out of my path so I picked up a stick and proceeded to hit them with it and, upon doing this," the boy fixed his gaze on the Judge's eyes, "one turned into a witch and, with a wave of its wand, the other animal was skinned alive. It hollered and yelp so loud that the birds in the trees started to drop dead from the piercing sound. I was so scared that I ran. I ran and ran and ran until I tripped over a log and fell to the ground. When I looked back at the log, I saw a man with cow legs and feet. He demanded payment for crossing his bridge but I was able to escape with a few scrapes and bumps thanks to the witch who had to take on the cowman before coming to finish me off. I'm so lucky to be alive!"

Shifting through his memory, Claus could see their bodies, held by a tree branch and a rope around their necks, swinging back and forth, life slowly draining from them as they were strangled to death by their own weight. He began to feel a weight crushing him from that day forward and he was the only one that could feel it.

After the hanged were presumed dead, bunches of twigs and branches tied together were put around the hanged and set on fire. The hanged who had not yet died completely screamed like a million banshees that tore through Claus' eardrums. He covered his ears with his hands to block out the awful sound, but the screams were now rattling around in his brain.

That sound wouldn't let him rest for the twenty years that lead up to this point.

Claus, now a man in his early thirties, standing in front of his accusers remembered what it was like to watch all he was promised hastily leave the town with his dreams, the town's money, and deeds to the land that Ludovi owned, which was quite large for a person that wasn't from the country originally. After that, Claus, along with the rest of the "ungodly", were forced to the outskirts of town where they formed bands with each other or lived alone as much as one could.

On the outskirts of the town, he had to be a thief in order to survive, it was the only thing that he knew. He kept to himself most of the time but the people, not forgetting who he was as a child, talked of what he was and, when some stories got back to him, what he was made out to be - a witch.

His wife was rarely seen outside of the home but was known to have women from all around the country come to visit her. Word got out that she was reading the Tarot, the cards were found in a chest lifted by her husband some ten years ago. It was a business she set up to support the family in times of famine, which was almost daily.

The new Judge came to his home and rounded him up along with his wife. The charge was witchcraft and they didn't need to go far to find the evidence; the cards were laid out on the table when they busted down the door on the grounds of the rumors that they had heard.

Claus' accuser, a boy who stood in front of the room, as he had so many years ago, and telling stories filled with half-truths to the jury, reminded Claus of what it was like to be an ignorant youth. He prayed every night since the sentencing in his youth for forgiveness and for a way to right the wrong he did. His life choices never reflected what he thought but his thoughts had to amount to something, didn't they?

It didn't take much or take long to convince the jury that the man and woman that stood shackled before them, Claus and his wife, were agents of the devil. The boy's testimony sealed their fate.

Claus smiled when the rope was put around his neck. When the stool was kicked out from under him, he said "thank you" to the crowd for this final release. A weight that held him down since the day he fated his fellow man to death left his body and, even though he was being strangled to death, his body felt as light as a feather to him.

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