I am most definitely Not a Witch Ch. 02

"This one is lost Sir," she hastily determined and the farmer immediately took the bloody creature and twisted it's neck, snapping the life out of it, but ending the suffering. She did not blink, but instead turned to the other poor creature.

I was checking the third, and saw that the bleeding had slowed, but that was probably from losing so much of it. I bound the wound, then I saw that it's front leg was broken so I set it with a splint, wrapping it so that the circulation would not be stopped yet the bone would still have a chance to mend.

Mother had secured the wounds on her charge and gave a look to mine.

"Where did you learn to bind the leg so well," she rewarded me with her praises.

"From the Chief Livestock Healer I think," I replied while applying some salve to the belly of the stricken lamb. "She's one of the best I'm told," and we both snickered at the joke, but the farmer and his son did not understand.

"Are you not the Chief Livestock Healer, Seine?" then seeing our smiles he chuckled too.

We saved two of them, but we had to keep them in our pens for the winter. We actually got the third too, but it's carcass was given to mother as payment for her efforts. She offered half back to the farmer, and he took it with the bowed head of a beggar.

"They got into our pen and took three, so bless you for saving the two, Madam and Miss.

He was only a farmer, but it was the first time I'd ever been called Miss instead of Lass or Maid or Girl! This was my 19th winter after all!

The Farmer butchered the creature, and Mother gave him the larger portion. He had a wife and 4 children and he was supporting his sister's family of 3, since her husband had run off while she was large with the second babe.

The boy picked up the hide on his way out. He would stretch it and dry it to make a bag for a wealthy family. Nothing would be wasted.

After the excitement Mother made tea for the two of us. Sarah still took hers with milk but we had none so she kissed us both and went to bed.

"Wolves should not be this close to town," Mother quietly mused.

Then her head jerked up.

"The Witches Wall!" she cursed and jumped up.

I was slower to put it together.

"Wolves have not been this close to town in my memory," she insisted. "We have to make sure that those poor women are safe," she said and ran for her coat.

"You stay, Jenny. I have to get a guard for the Wall until we can clear these Devil's Hounds from the County," she instructed me as she bundled up for the cold.

I put my coat on too.

"I'll go with you to the stable, then you can drop me back here when you're safe on a horse Mother," I insisted.

Surprisingly my mature stand was accepted, but she still grabbed father's pike to keep us safe.

We had no problems getting to the stable, and we had a strong mare saddled in a flash. I made sure that the doors were well secured before we raced off towards home.

Mother dropped me off and heeled the horse to gallop to the Magistrates house.

Seine did not get home until well past sunrise. She went straight to bed and had Sarah walk the horse back to it's stall.

I had to tend to the two lambs, but I took them back to the Town pens where I had my own bed. A small boy waited there for me, with a goat that had swallowed a ball of twine.

His mother was hoping that I could get the twine, but it was all I could do to save the billy. It was rumbling with gas buildup and I had to force feed it a bladder of water with ginger root. Goats don't puke very easily though, and we had to wait for the gasy creature to pass the twine in the natural way.

I had to chastise the boy to get him to leave. He had secreted the goat in the house, though he had been told not to, so he did not want to go home at all. I took a broom to him, and he decided to find somewhere else to hide from his mother's wrath.

The goat continued to flagellate all afternoon, but his cries were less frantic as the ball passed through his system.

By dinner time he was starting to grunt and push, trying to pass the obstruction, but it was too big.

Then the boy's mother arrived.

"Where is my bloody goat!" she yelled after swinging the door wide without a knock or a how-do-you-do. "It was just a ball of twine! What could be taking this long?" she demanded.

"Good evening Mrs. Tucker," I started. "The obstruction is stuck in his abdomen, and I will have to go in to get it, as it can't be digested from there.

"Well I can't afford no surgery," she insisted. "I'll have it for dinner afore I pay for that!" she insisted.

"It will not be surgery," I insisted, and it is my duty, so there will be no charge," I calmed her.

She stayed to watch while I tethered the poor thing in a stall, with his body pinned between two boards. Then I wet my hands and pushed one into his little anus. It was a tight fit, but the billy's wild mewing was more from the shock of the intrusion than the pain.

"You're going to tear him apart," Mrs. Tucker screamed and tried to pull me away. I already had two fingers on a strand of twine, and as soon as it was outside of the goat I let it go.

"There it is!" The owner grunted as she tried to get past me.

"You must not pull it hard or fast," I yelled as she took hold of the gooey line.

She yanked and the goat screeched in pain.

"Now look at what you've done you imbecile!" she yelled at me in a rage.

"I told you not to yank, and now you have cut him inside," I answered back, but she was not going to release me from responsibility.

I was furious, but I still had control of myself. I left the owner and went out in the yard for a breath of air.

"Caroline, get my mother, and tell her it's urgent," I demanded of the first child that I saw. She took off running and I returned to the nursery.

"He is dying! Do something!" The stupid woman demanded.

I could not continue. The cord was either wrapped around something, or the friction of pulling too hard had cut into the intestine. In either case, it was now beyond my kin.

For my part I kept my tongue and spent my time palpitating the billy's abdomen. He might yet pass this on his own, and if it was a cut that hurt him, a proper diet could help in his healing.

Mother came rushing in and Mrs. Tucker immediately set into her about the quality of my training and my upbringing, claiming that I had insulted her and bungled my job.

"Hush please Mrs. Tucker while I assess the damage," she softly insisted.

"Oh, it runs in the family I see! Well, I will not be insulted any further. The goat is your responsibility now, and she quickly left the nursery.

I explained to my mother what happened and she joined me in massaging the creature's abdomen.

"You did well, daughter and I'm sure you kept your senses," she counseled
me.

His breathing was labored, but he fought on. Mother suggested another bladder and this time she added crushed daffodil to the mix.

The billy soon pushed again, and this time the excrement started to seep out, and the cord with it.

We heard horses in the yard and the door opened to the Magistrate and Mrs. Tucker.

"Please wait outside Mrs Tucker, while I investigate your charge," he insisted as they stepped inside.

"Blazes to that! I won't have them filling your head with lies!" she demanded.

"Well, you did have the chance to tell me your side without interruption, so I will give our Healers the same opportunity," he insisted.

"Fine, but I want to hear their excuses," she growled like a dog.

"Seine, Jenny, how is the goat?" the Magistrate finally inquired.

"He has been cut inside," Mother diagnosed her patient. "We managed to help him pass the ball of twine, but he has a tear in his intestine and it will be at least a month before he is healed of it."

"She pulled the cord! Mrs. Tucker wailed. "She tore the poor thing, not me," she insisted while pointing at me.

I stood with my jaw clenched.

"What do you say to that Jenny," the official calmly asked.

"I am trained in these matters sir, so I gently and slowly tried to remove the twine," I insisted. "Mrs. Tucker pushed me aside and pulled the cord too fast. It's as simple as that, Sir," I concluded.

"Lies!" she shrieked as if the volume of the claim would make it true.

I stood there furious but silent.

"Well, it's a good thing that he will be fine and we can put this behind us ladies," the wise Magistrate insisted, and gave us a nod as our release.

"What about her insubordination!" Mrs. Tucker was still angry.

"She is a full woman, Mrs. Tucker, if you don't think that she is professional then you can report her to the Guild, otherwise I don't really care what she calls you," he finished writing in his report book, after which he departed.

"This isn't over," the stupid woman mumbled as she followed him out.

"You did well, Jenny, don't worry about her," Mum tried to lighten my mood, but again she was smiling, so I knew there would be trouble.

Trouble came the next week, but not from Mrs. Tucker. The Head Priest took ill, and all healers helped to keep him alive while a Surgeon was summoned from the Capital.

The Esteemed Vice Bishop Corduroy arrived with two Doctors. They hurried into the old Priest's bed chamber and dismissed the Senior Nun and Mother, who were sponging his brow trying to relieve him of his fever.

Mother came home, having been at the Mews for two days.

"Our dear Leader will be gone by morning," she quietly informed me and Father.

They had shut down the Public Houses to give people a chance to pray for their Shepherd. With so many Priests and Puritans from the Capital, the children were kept quiet and out of the streets, while the women covered their bosoms and stopped putting rouge on their cheeks.

When the bell tolled, we all fell to our knees and prayed for the safe arrival of our friend, into the loving arms of his Lord.

There could be no Witches on our Wall during these prayerful times, so the Vice Bishop decided to pass judgement on all of them at once. He listened to the testimony of the Magistrate, the Healer and the Witness, and the Acting Senior Priest of the town.

Father Benjamin was of little use, but Mother and the Law man had all of the information written in their logs.

The High Priest took the journals into the Senior Priest's office for prayer and meditation.

It took him three hours to decide that they were all guilty, which we all expected, but instead of the usual hanging, he decided that burning at the stake was in order, and they were to be done in one event the next day!

These poor sods didn't even get to say a word in their own defense, nor call for a witness to their character.

The next day was not only one of mourning for the Community, but it would also be a day of screaming.

I refuse to go into detail about the barbaric practice of burning Witches, but cook them they did!

Thankfully Healers have no part to play in executions, so we were home in our kitchen when the fire was lit. Most everyone else was there to see the horrific site of a Public Execution, but all we could tolerate was the sounds, which easily traveled to our ears.

There was no joy in our hearts that week.

The body of the Senior Priest was taken to the Capital for a funeral that fit his stature. It didn't seem right that only a handful of his sheep could afford to travel that far.

It was two weeks before the Mayor, the Magistrate and the half dozen rich merchants that made the pilgrimage to the Capital, returned to our Town. They brought news that we were to get a new Senior Priest from the far Southeast of the Kingdom.

He was the rarest of Churchmen, coming from one of the wealthiest families in the Realm. He was well regarded by the King, so it was rumored that he could bring our region royal favor.

The Mayor had visions of a better shipping dock on the river, or perhaps a College! We were a prosperous and loyal town after all, he would say.

The rest of us had long ago accepted that change meant hardship. New Leadership meant stricter laws and harsher punishments.

Harsher than burning at the stake? Worse than having your blood boil and your eyeballs burst in their sockets? No, but they were Witches, so their fate belongs to the unmentionable one.

Spring came early, and with it the next New Women ceremony. Sarah was still a year off, but she was looking like a woman already. For my part, father was still not convinced that I should wed a farm hand, thinking that he might not have to put up a goat as a dowry if the right merchants son found me appealing.

Word came of a great victory in the North. The King himself had ridden with a vast force to free the land of slave traders, and he sacked Norfolk to punish the Dukes that were behind most of the disappearances of the last 10 years.

It was hoped that some of those Knights and Squires would pass through our humble village for the great ceremony that gives them liberties with many young and pure women. I even had a glimmer of hope that the knight of my dreams might return, but what were the odds?

The little boy with the twine eating billy came to the nursery on a bright March morning. There was still snow in the fields, so Sarah was not in the fields, and she was usually the reason that Steven would drop by, but not this time.

"Miss Jenny you have a visitor," he called, and I could see a horse in the yard, but it was a young one and small.

Pinkee walked into the nursery, but he was garbed as a horseman, even though he was all of 11.

"So, you've moved on from Sir Corzian I see," I greeted my young friend with the acknowledgement of his rise in status.

"No M'lady. My brother and I are now the horsemen of Sir Corzian," he responded while smiling.

I sat on a bench to be down at his level to hear the rest of the story.

He explained how Gimpy, the feathered scoundrel had won a great contest against the Grand Duke Soritan and winning the favor of the King, he was granted the title of Gentleman, Master Gimballed Simons, a King's Man and Squire!

So that wretched man was now a Noble! I would have to watch for him, as he was always leering at me in such a sinful way.

"I'm here to tell you that Sir Corzian is on his way, M'lady, and Master Gimballed is coming too," he admitted.

They were two weeks early for the festival, but they might want to find a good base for their team to bed the most ladies on their first night of passion. I remembered back to my own experiences at the hands of Sir Corzian. He is the most handsome man I have ever seen, with broad muscular shoulders framing his square jawed face with deep blue eyes. My heart fluttered as my remembering brought my minds eye down to his precious pickle.

"The Knight sent me ahead M'lady, to ask you to wait for him," Pinkee confessed.

"Wait for him? Wait for him where?" I asked the young horse boy.

"He didn't say mum, but he was very serious about it," Pinkee revealed. His limited understanding of romance didn't enable him to convey the real nature of the term 'wait'.

He would be here within two days, so I resigned myself to waiting for my answer. There was plenty of work to do, so I fed him my lunch and he settled into the loft, having ridden hard for two days, according to the spirited young fellow.

We had some dried fruits that I could substitute for a snack, so I continued with my feeding of the lambs that couldn't stay with their mothers for one reason or another.

I forgot about the King's men and their pending arrival, while I tended to my hungry wards. The two billy's always tried to take the lambs' turn on the nipple, so I had to pen them both. They jumped on Pinkee, in their exuberance, bringing him back to the world of the living.

"Come on Horseman, we can sup with my mother tonight, and then you can sleep by the fire there," I insisted, taking charge of the young lad, even if he was a Horseman to a Knight.

He watched while I fed the last of the lambs. I'm sure he would have taken his own turn on the teet, but I did not offer it.

The sun had set, but it was an easy walk from the town's small animal pens to my mother's birthing stables. She handled the delivery of cows and horses, and a few donkeys, but that was rare.

Surprisingly, my father was home. He was drinking less now, but that might be mothers doing, cause she would no longer bed him if he's drunk. Women do have their little tricks, I was learning. He was not really my father, but I knew him the best, and he is a fair man. At least he has never raised his fists towards mother or my siblings, so that put him a peg above the average townsman.

"Well, well, who do we have here," mother cooed over the young horseman," he was only 11 but he was looking at my 13 year old sister like she was the Queen! Mother sent the girls laughing to their beds, since they eat early.

"It appears that Sir Corzian is returning for our New Women ceremony," I informed my smiling mother.

"It's still two weeks off girl, are you sure he's coming for that?" mother asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"He said to tell her to wait for him," Pinkee chimed in.

Mother looked at me with her eyebrows rising.

"And what do you say to that, Jen?" mother wondered.

I didn't answer, I just went to the kitchen to find a pot of stew simmering. I ladled a hefty portion for Pinkee and called him over. Mother added a half loaf of bread and he set into it like all hungry boys do.

We sat, sipping hot tea from earthen mugs, while Pinkee fell asleep in his chair. We worked together to move him to some blankets that the kids often fall asleep on near the fire, and he did just that.

"So maybe this Knight is asking you not to give yourself to anyone else?" Mother pondered out loud.

"It's been 8 months since we saw him. Could he still be thinking about you Jenny?" she trailed off with the question unanswered.

The next day Pinkee was left to have fun with my brother and his group of young boys. Carlton was so starstruck with the idea that you could be a Horseman at the age of 11, complete with a steel epee and a short knife!

I cautioned Pinkee about how little those boys know about steel and how easily they could cut off a finger or poke out an eye. Father wasn't concerned though, saying that a few cuts and breaks was the risk of growing up in violent times, and that's how they learn.

The next afternoon, back at the nursery Mrs Tucker dropped in.

"I have sold the little bugger to the Boar's Head, so please deliver it there for me dear," she instructed me. "Here's a penny for your hard work."

She set the copper piece on the bench and turned to leave.

"Don't bring it till after supper, they are too busy a'fore that," she finished with her orders and shut the door behind her.

I was happy to have any involvement with Mrs. Tucker behind me, but going out after dark was worth a penny, so I picked it up and put it in my pocket. I'm a woman now, so I wouldn't waste a tear on that little billy goat.

Of course, all I could think about was the Knight. I stayed busy but even the play-sword fighting of my brother's gang didn't distract me enough.

"Pinkee, would you accompany me into town after dinner? I have to deliver a goat to the Boar's Head, and I had better not be alone," I asked.

"I'm sure that Coz would want me to go with you M'lady, so of course I will," Pinkee responded with pride.

The other lads wanted to go too, but I sent them home.

When the pens were in good order for the night, I put a cord on the Tucker goat and headed for the Inn, with my Horseman as protection.

It was a cold night, but the snow was almost gone. The moon was full, so we didn't need lanterns. I was a bit sad about the goat. They are so full of life at this age, it just seemed wrong to end their life with so little of it lived.