I am most definitely Not a Witch Ch. 02

We went around back to the kitchens. They were busy tonight, but it was still early. The kitchen stoves were just coals, until they made more food for the drinking crowd. The cook took the goat but told me that I had to see Mrs. Kipling, the Inn's proprietor.

"I was not asked to get payment sir. I would have refused had I known," I continued. Pinkee just looked about, waiting for my instructions.

"Wait here Pinkee," I told my wee friend. "I'll just be a moment," I declared hopefully and moved to the working side of the establishment to find Mrs. Kipling.

"There's the tramp I've been telling you about!" Mrs. Tucker exclaimed when I walked into the hall. She sat with a man of the cloth, but I didn't recognize him.

The two of them stood and the tall Priest motioned me over.

"Young lady, are you here with your husband?" he asked with a stern look.

"Hello father, er, no, I'm here delivering a goat to the kitchen for Mrs. Tucker," I explained, looking over at Mrs. Tucker for an easy confirmation.

"Oh, no Father, I gave her a penny and directed her to bring it after breakfast," Mrs. Tucker lied to the Priest.

The crowd murmured until...,"She's a whore!" someone shouted, but not so loud that you could tell where it came from.

"I can prove I'm telling you the truth," Mrs. Tucker proclaimed. "She put the penny in that pocket," she declared, pointing at my one pocket.

Even I took a second to realize that a penny would not prove me a liar, but arms grabbed me from both sides, while another turned my pocket out, and the penny rolled across the floor.

The room was silent until the coin finally came to rest.

"Get the Witches Measure," a few of the drunks suggested loudly, and the rest took up the chant.

The arms around me doubled up so I couldn't get away. They had a pretty young girl to entertain them, and they were not going to let me go.

Then there was a loud clamor at the back door. Pinkee threw down the pots he was banging, and he leapt to a table top, with more than the energy of a mere boy of 11.

"Unhand that woman! She is under the protection of Sir Corzian of Deville," he shouted in a voice that could not hide his youth.

A few in the crowd laughed, and he did look like a child acting out a part.

The Clergyman finally stood and raised his arms for the attention of his flock.

"If you are to measure this woman, you must call for the head nurse or a birthing maid," he commanded. People do not defy voices of command like his, but Mrs. Tucker had more punishment in mind for her revenge against me.

"She has been a New Woman for a year sir, and she isn't even betrothed yet Father! Just look at her! How could she still be pure? Mrs Tucker declared, and there were many voices that tittered in agreement.

"Well, I can check her for any signs of enchantment," the Priest suggested and Mrs. Tucker smiled her wicked smile of vengeance.

Two men grabbed Pinkee, and relieved him of his epee and pick knife, then they threw him out the back door.

I yelled as he struggled with the brigands. "Get my father!" I screamed to my unarmed friend.

They pulled my dress up and off, with a dozen arms helping. I struggled, but there was nothing I could do against so many. They quickly pulled my underdress over my head and I was held naked in front of my townsmen.

Mrs. Tucker was the only woman there, but she was certainly no friend.

They spread me on the table, for everyone to have a close look for piercings or tattoos, or evil birthmarks. The holy man even spread my womanhood to look for any marks, but finding none he stood back up.

"Over please," he announced.

I was quickly flipped onto my chest and my butt cheeks were spread for a close look.

"Back to the front please," the torment continued.

I was replaced on the table with my arms and legs spread to the maximum, while the man of god had another good look, then he stood back up, to address his flock.

"She does not appear to be a Witch, so you can proceed to the tar and feather," he announced as if he was calling them to prayer!

The crowd streamed outside, and more were coming from their homes, having heard about the harlot that was being publicly humiliated.

They carried me to a fence, and tied me to it, with my arms spread, though I could at least pull my legs together.

They already had a fire going, with a pot of light tar bubbling.

Mrs. Tucker and the Priest had a prominent position to watch the branding of another whore.

Two men slowly approached me with a horse brush and the pot of tar.

Just before they could mark me, Pinkee ran back into the open square and screamed for them to stop.

"Stop or my Master will kill any man that touches the woman that he loves!" Pinkee shouted at the top of his lungs.

He was weaponless and the men pushed him to the side, but he did stall them just enough for father to come huffing into the fray.

"Sto!", he shouted with no air making it to his overtaxed lungs.

Then he took a deep breath.

"Stop!" he demanded, and his powerful voice was impossible to ignore.

"This is my daughter, and I demand that you stop, and get the Magistrate!" Father was well known to these drinking men, but he might not have stopped them, until he remembered Pinkee.

"This young man that you are ignoring is the page for a Knight, and he demands that you hold until his Master arrives in the morrow," Father wisely found a chink in their game. They now had to think about losing their life as the price for enjoying the disfigurement of this pretty young treat. Perhaps calling Pinkee a page was more believable, or maybe someone remembered the lad from last year, but the crowd was under control now, and father pulled his shirt off and placed it over my trembling body.

Pinkee helped to undo my bindings. My wrists were bleeding where I had struggled to free myself. Mrs. Tucker stayed silent as we passed her, but my eyes never left hers. Her smile faded as she saw my resolve.

Father went to carry me, but I was worried about his heart, so I shifted his arm to my waistline, so he could simply assist me. The crowd parted and Pinkee took up a position behind us, glaring in a menacing way with his meanest 11 year old face.

Mother got home just as we did, and she was told of the near tragedy at the Boar's Head.

"Who was the woman," mother asked. I held my tongue, thinking about what mother might do.

"WHO did this to my daughter!" mother roared with a fire seldom seen in this house.

"Mrs. Fucker, I think it was," Pinkee answered for me, and though he didn't get it right, he got it right enough.

Pinkee had to be the adult in the room.

"My Master will set them straight in the morning good sir and misses," the smart lad declared, and we knew he was right.

As for me. I felt liberated. Like I had stepped through fire, and I came out of it whole.

The Knight arrived with a larger contingent than last fall, so they had to camp at the mill. Robin went ahead to get Pinkee so he could report to his Master.

He snuck right into the house and brought his groggy twin back to his horse, and they rode double back to the camp.

"The town was going to brand her a whore, but I stopped them," Pinkee proudly proclaimed. "Her father helped, but they didn't want to feel my steel! He declared, with his epee in the air.

"So she is safe," Coz needed assurances.

"Yes, Sir, she is in her mother's arms at this very moment," Pinkee insisted.

It was closer to morning than midnight, so everyone found a spot to sleep.

When the sun was just poking above the trees, Jon had his master's horse ready. The twins slept in after they played as gallant knights and squires until way too late.

Mother had to shake me to get me out of my sleep. The sun was full up in the sky. I had missed breakfast for sure. Then I remembered the events of last night and my skin crawled with the humiliation that I felt.

"Sir Corzian is here, and he is talking to Carl about you, so shush girl," mother silenced me. I only speculated for a second, about what he would ask Father, that he wouldn't ask me?

"Hey," I shouted, "I will decide who gets me!"

My father and my knight stood there with hands on hips, and they laughed at me!

"You are welcome to her, Sir Corzian. She is very willful, like her mother, but if she's half the woman in the sack that her mother is, you'll be a happy man until you die in her arms Sir," Father announced and clicked his mug to Coz's mug and they both drank deep.

I never was asked, but there was no denying my handsome Knight.

There was still the matter of Mrs. Tucker, the Fucker.

Coz and I made plans to have the wedding in his father's estate. He knew that the King would need to come, and that would be too large of an event for our little town. We walked all of the way back to the mill, hand in hand, then Coz picked me some field flowers for my hair. He told me about his plans for this evening, and I agreed with the entire venture.

The twins had used my brother's gang to find out were Mrs. Tucker had hidden herself.

Well after dinner, when the drinkers would be well into their bottles, Coz kicked in the door of her brother's house and he pulled a screaming Mrs. Tucker from her bed. All she wore was her night skirts but he dragged her to the Boar's Head where the boys were having a great time.

"I accuse this woman of being a liar and a fornicator, and I demand that she be punished accordingly," his commanding voice paralyzed everyone in the big hall. Then father called out from the back.

"Tar and Feather. Tar and Feather," he chanted and others took it up.

Men grabbed her and started ripping the night dress from six different sides of her. The expensive light material didn't last long. She was crying and screaming while they tied her to the same fence that I had been tied to just the night before.

Mother stirred a vat of bubbling tar while the crowd chanted and grew in numbers.

Jon and Herald took a similar looking vat to the writhing woman, but this one had a mixture of sheep droppings and mustard poultice.

They used a horse brush to spread the filth all over Mrs. Tucker's body, from head to toe, then two sacks of goose down were pressed onto her body.

She screamed in agony, as the mustard made her feel like she was burning.

We didn't let her suffer as most such women experience. We let her loose after only 20 minutes of screaming.

She ran straight to the horse trough and immersed herself in the cool water.

The crowd hooted at her humiliation. Jon kicked the coffin shaped container and the wood split, pouring the water out as it fell apart around the crying woman.

The feathers and poop had all washed away, leaving her naked, and stinking, but there were no long term burns on her flesh like she would have inflicted on me.

The next day I was getting the nursery ready for Becka to oversee. I would not be returning to my little village any time soon.

Mrs. Tucker's boy showed up with the same goat that started our feud.

"Father says that you should have the goat, with his thanks for putting his wife in her place," the rascal told me with a smile. "She still stinks!" he added, pinching his nose.

I was checking the little guy when Coz came in behind me and bumped against my rear with his manhood pushing his pants out.

"That had better be your scabbard my Knight," I teased, but still turned and jumped up into his powerful arms. Our tongues danced like the first time. Like it would always feel. He takes my breath away!

"The King has just decreed that the wedding will be in Norfolk, my love informed me, reading from the royal dispatch.

"Sir Corzian of DeVille, will now be known as Grand Knight Sir Corzian, Guardian of Norfolk, and Commander of the Northern Keep," he read.

"Master Gimballed Simons, is to serve as the Chief Magistrate of Norfolk district," he finished.

Gimpy as the Sheriff! Now that is going to be a funny spot for him!" Coz laughed, and I didn't stop myself from enjoying and sharing his glee.

I am so lucky to find a man that loves so hard, fights so hard, and enjoys life, whatever challenges or magic that life may bring.