A Halloween Story; RING ROUND ROSIE

 

On a dark and stormy night, in a small medieval village. A knight stands guard along the now empty town square. As he stands, silent and still. The rain dampens his armor. He thinks about the woman he loves. The woman he has loved since he first saw her. A young peasant maiden. His status and hers being so far as to make any relationship between them forbidden, was heartbreaking to him. He imagined being with her, as tears flooded the inside of his helmet when the fantasy broke. As he stood silently crying, he saw her. It was dark but he would recognize her beauty in any light or even none at all. He called to her silently “Rosie”, he wanted to run to her, but couldn't leave his post, and what good would it do even if he could, he thought. Then he noticed her limping, her ragged clothes ripped and shredded, and her face wet with what he could tell was more than just rain. At that moment everything went out the window as he did run to her. As he quickly approached she looked up and got frightened, crying and screaming “no, no more please”. This plea stopped the knight in his tracks, as he waved his hands in front of him saying “it’s ok Ro- ma’am I mean you no harm” he then did what he was not supposed to do and lifted the front of his helmet, introducing himself “I am Sir Leland of the royal guard, do you need any help?” Rosie calmed down, yet continued to whimper, saying “oh, no, I- I’m fine, thank you” as she looked back towards the dingy cabin she was walking from. Leland looked as well and said “that’s the Yemin Brothers house, is there something you need from them?” Rosie suddenly got scared and defensive screaming “no, no, please, I just want to go home”. Leland was confused, asking “are you sure?” “YES, please don’t make me go back there” Rosie pleaded as her lip quivered and whimpered in fear. Leland said “ok, ok, how about I just help you home?” as he softly grabbed her shoulders and guided her home all the while looking back at the Yemin brothers cabin, wondering what may have happened. 

As they arrive at Rosie’s home she says “thank you sir Leland” with a slight and sad smile. He smiled at her, bowed and said “twas my pleasure ma’am” Rosie limped inside as she held her lower abdomen. It was then Leland began to realize what had happened. He hollered to her “Ma’am, are you sure you are alright?” Rosie looked back at him, as images of sadistic smiles and laughs flashed through her mind. Hearing her own past screams. She hesitantly said “I- I-” wanting to cry and not lie, but only for a moment. As more images flash through her mind. Knowing it would make no difference. She continued, “yes I’m fine, thank you” as she rushed inside and slammed the door. Leland said “very well” with another slight bow as he turned and walked back to his post. As he walked the thought of what must’ve happened was reeling in his mind, it made him sad, then mad, as his wondering eyes became filled with determination. As he approached his post he walked right past it towards the Yemin Brothers cabin saying to himself “you will not get away with this, you hurt her, now I am going to kill you” as he approached the cabin he closed the face of his helmet as he grabbed his sword, and barged right into the cabin.

    The next day, Inspectors and townsfolk were gathered around the Yemin brother's cabin. Outside townsfolk gasped and mumbled to each other. An Inspector stood in the house, scanning the room wondering what might have happened. Another Inspector came in and approached the first saying “hello, I am Inspector Roy, any idea what may have happened here?” as Roy looked over into the room.  Inside was the scene of a massacre, decapitated heads and limbs all over, so mangled and bloody  it was impossible to tell which was which or to whom they belonged. His face became disgusted. The other Inspector spoke “ah, nice to meet you Inspector Roy, I have heard great things, I am Inspector Rodger. And no unfortunately all I know at this point is what I can see”. “Jesus” Inspector Roy said. Inspector Rodger turned to him and said “forgive me sir, but I don’t think Jesus has anything to do with this” “right, well who does?” Inspector Roy asked as he straightened his shirt and cleared his throat to put on a facade of being comfortable and confident with the most brutal and disturbing massacre he had ever seen. Inspector Rodger looked at him and spoke “like I said sir we have no idea, I mean the Yemin brothers are well respected merchants, so I have no idea who could have a motive and honestly even if I did, I cannot even imagine anyone in our quaint little village having the stomach, nor strength to do this”.

Shortly after the Inspectors walk out of the house, a man approaches them and says “sirs, sirs, hello, my name is Walt and I think I have an idea of what may have happened here. Last night I came here to pick up a chair the brothers were working on for me, as I came in I heard them laughing about some um, let’s say less than wholesome acts they did with a woman they called Rosie. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now seeing this I am thinking maybe she came back later to silence them, as I’m sure she would not want what she did with the brothers to get out.”. “A woman?” Inspector Rodger wondered aloud “how could a woman have done this? The strength necessary for this kind of massacre would be impressive for a man, impossible for a woman". Walt looked down about to apologize for wasting the Inspectors time before Inspector Roy, who was silently contemplating, began speaking" unless” Walt looked up as Inspector Rodger looked at Inspector Roy with intrigue, as he continued "unless, she is a witch".

“A WITCH out for revenge, that explains everything, the motive and the means” Inspector Rodger screams. Before he quiets down and continues “but a witch in our community, we are wholly unprepared for this, we don’t have the means to execute her, what can be done?” Inspector Roy, strokes his chin before he points his index finger in the air and exclaims “ah, yes, but there is someone who can not only confirm if she is a witch, but handle it accordingly” as he turns to some Knights and yells “gather the day guard” as the Knights run off. He then turns to Walt and continues “can you show us where this, Rosie lives?” Walt nods while looking confused along with Inspector Rodger who asks “who are you speaking of?” “Why the man with the eye for evil of course” Inspector Roy says with a smile. Inspector Rodger nods, taps his forehead and says “of course Mefe” right as many more Knights return, and they head off behind Walt to capture Rosie and take her to the man with the eye for evil.

Many townsfolk follow behind the day guard as they approach Rosie’s home. Inspector Roy and Rodger approach the door and knock. Rosie answers the door. Walt sees her and yells “that’s her, that’s Rosie the witch” Inspector Rodger motioned for Walt to quiet down as Inspector Roy spoke to her “hello Rosie I am Inspector Roy, we are looking into what may have happened with the Yemin brothers do you know anything?” Rosie looked down, quiet and shy as she shook her head” “are you sure?” Inspector Roy asked. Rosie nodded. “Well see a man told us that you may have done some stuff with these boys” Rosie began to cry as she shook her head silently saying “no, I, I”- Inspector Roy interrupted her “what did you do Rosie?” At this Rosie looked up, tears streaming down her face as she screamed “I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING” whimpering as her lip quivered. At this a man in the crowd screamed “WITCH, YOU WILL NOT FOOL US WITH YOUR FALSE TEARS” as he chucked a pebble at her. Rosie lifted her hand hitting the pebble to the side as it flew into the house next door. The man screamed “MY HOUSE THE WITCH DEFLECTED THE PEBBLE INTO MY HOUSE”. At this moment the townsfolk got scared and started talking like an angry mob “GET HER” as they approached the Inspectors turned to them, put their hands up to stop them as Inspector Rodger spoke “look, we will, but we do not have the means to deal with a witch” “sure we do, we can burn her” a random man in the crowd yelled back as the mob began chanting “BURN HER! BURN HER!” Inspector Roy spoke “burning isn’t always enough for a witch, it depends how powerful they are, and if she is as powerful as she would have to be, burning will just piss her off” this quieted the mob down as Inspector Roy continued “we will take her to Mefe, he will determine how powerful she is, and how best to deal with her.” The mob began to quiet down, yet still enraged they yelled “ok just get her out of here” Inspector Roy nodded as he grabbed Rosie, who screamed, while remembering hands grabbing and groping her, “no, I’ I, PLEASE” struggling to not go, Inspector Rodger hit her. That made her stop resisting as she just cried, whimpered and quietly pleaded “no, please” as Inspector Roy and Rodger pulled her outside, down the stairs, past the mob, to the edge of the city.

They tied Rosie up this caused her to have more flashbacks of being tied up and gagged as she screamed and pleaded. The flashbacks made her struggle even more and yell even louder “NO, NO PLEASE, I’LL BE GOOD, PLEASE” Inspector Rodger then gagged her as she continued to scream and remember. They then placed her in the back of a wagon and got the horses ready for the journey. The two Inspectors got into the front of the wagon. Inspector Roy took the reins and hollered “GO” at the horses as they began to run and they were off on the journey to the man with the eye for evil. A short way out, on a smooth trail, the wagon got stuck, and the wheel on the back right, cracked. As the wagon tipped, Inspector Roy pulled back the reins saying “whoa” as the horses came to a stop. Inspector Rodger got out and went to look. He hollered from the back “the wheel, it got caught on a pebble, it is cracked”. Inspector Roy, surprised by this, got out of the wagon and went to look. He saw the pebble that Inspector Rodger was holding and the cracked wheel, stroking his chin he said with intrigue “this is one of the smoothest trails, how does our wagon get caught on a pebble on the smoothest trails? And how could a tiny pebble like that break our wheel, hmm?” Inspector Rodger examined the pebble, when he had a thought and said “hey this looks just like the pebble that man threw at our witch, remember the one she deflected into his house?” Inspector Roy looked at it saying “indeed, but now it is here, breaking our wheel? how?” “My god this witch must be more powerful than we thought” “yes, she is definitely a witch, we must get her to Mefe quickly". The Inspectors nodded at each other and quickly repaired the wheel, before continuing on their now more urgent journey.

    Back in the village. Leland slept in his bunk with a smile on his face. Not an ounce of guilt for what he did to the Yemin Brothers. Matter of fact he dreamt about it. Decapitating them as they screamed, as they had made Rosie scream prior. They got what they deserved, they got justice, he thought. When he awoke, with the rest of the night guard. They ate soup, put on their armour and went to their post. Standing at his post alone, Leland thought more about how much better the world would be without those monstrous brothers in it. His thoughts then drifted to Rosie as he wondered if she was ok. As the sun rose, a Knight of the day guard approached to give Leland leave. They nodded at each other, as Leland began to walk back to the barracks. Before he went back though he decided to stop by Rosie’s house, check in on her. He approached the deck, walked up the steps and knocked on the door. An old woman answered, as Leland bowed and said “good morning ma’am, I was wondering if Rosie is home?” The old woman screamed and said “you already got her” Leland looked up, shocked and frightened asking “what do you mean?” “Those inspectors came to take her to the man with the eye for evil, to have her executed for witchcraft, I had no idea, I tried to raise her right, but”- the woman answered, saddened and shaking her head. Leland interrupted her yelling “WHAT? NO, where is she?” The woman looked shocked, as Leland grabbed her shoulders and shook her repeating “WHERE IS SHE?” The woman, now frightened, said "I told you, the man with the eye for evil” “and where is this man with the eye for evil?” Leland yelled. The frightened woman shook her head, as Leland shook her body and yelled again “WHERE?” “I don’t know, somewhere outside of the village, but I do not know” the woman said as she began to cry in fear. This finally got Leland to stop. Feeling guilty, he let go of the woman and said “sorry ma’am, I am sorry” as he walked down the steps, almost crying himself, he did not know what to do.

Beginning to fall into a depression he came across a tavern. He went in and ordered an ale. He sat at a table in the corner, looking out a window longing for Rosie, scared for Rosie. He then heard some drunkards at a table in the middle of the tavern laughing. One said “aye that man with the eye for evil, he will handle her, he can see evil, and know immediately how to handle it” another was Walt saying “aye they gonna kill that witch, and I helped them get her. good riddance I say, killing those nice Yemin Brothers, for what? Her own reputation” Upon hearing this Leland clenched his fist, closed his helmet, and grabbed his sword. Walt continued “but that's witches for you, how long do you think she had been right under our-” His speech was cut off with his head, as Leland stood over his decapitated body, he turned to the other and said firmly “now how do I find the man with the eye for evil?” The man, still in shock, remained silent as his lip quivered. Leland put his sword into the man's throat pressing so hard, blood began to drip, as the man yelled “I, he, I can draw you a map” Leland pushed over some parchment and said “draw” as the man frantically began drawing.

    In a vacant rectangle house in the middle of nowhere. The Inspectors stopped and got out of their wagon. “Is this it?” Inspector Rodger asked as Inspector Roy looked at his map and answered “aye, this is where the man with the eye for evil resides”. The Inspectors walked to the door pulling Rosie behind them. They knocked and the door opened. Surprised and slightly frightened they looked at each other and walked inside slowly as they hollered “hello, Mefe, hello” once fully inside the door slammed behind them as they looked back, and jumped in fear. A man began laughing saying “hello Inspectors”. The Inspectors jumped again and looked at the man. He had long curly greasy hair, two black eyepatches, no shirt, with pants cut off at the ankles, and a black string tied around one, like an anklet. Standing there in his bare feet. The Inspectors were shocked and frightened as they stood there silently for a moment. Inspector Roy was the first to speak, he cleared his throat, stepped towards the man and said “are you”- the man interrupted “yes I am the man with the eye for evil, but you can call me Mefe, everyone else does” as he smiled showing yellow teeth. Now frightened and disgusted, Inspector Rodger stepped forward and said “right, well Mister Mefe we are here to ask you to take care of this witch”- “yes yes I know, bring her forward” Mefe said as Inspector Rodger pulled Rosie up to the man. Mefe took off her blindfold and gag. He then removed both his eye patches, grabbed Rosie’s cheeks, pulled her face so close to his they were touching and stared into her eyes. After a long moment he let her go, and said “ma’am, you are free to go” as he put his eye patches back over his eyes. The Inspectors looked at each other then at Mefe with surprised expressions saying, “excuse me?” Mefe looked at them and said “of course, you’re excused” with a smile. Inspector Roy said, “no I mean aren’t you gonna do something?” Mefe looked at them with curiosity and wondered “do what?” Inspector Rodger stepped forward yelling “execute the witch” Mefe sarcastically looked around saying “witch? Where?” Before beginning to laugh. He flipped his hand at the Inspectors continuing “oh we have fun, but no, in all seriousness bring me a witch and I’d be happy to, but she, she is no witch”. The Inspectors looked surprised saying “umm, that’s impossible, she is definitely a witch, you must be wrong” suddenly Mefe got serious as he yelled “WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TALKING TO?” he then quieted down and continued “I am the man with the eye for evil, I can tell if those have done evil, how much they have done, and she has done none, she has had evil done to her, evil that does not even bear speaking of” he looked at Rosie and said “so I will not speak of it my dear” then back at the Inspectors finishing his speech “but she has done none”. “Well fine if you won’t execute her we will take her to someone who will” Mefe became irritated as he began stirring a metal pole in a hot fire saying “is that so?” “Yes it is, there are other witch hunters” Mefe said calmly “very well” as he turned around to look at Rosie and said “forgive me my dear” as he pulled the pole from the fire and pressed it on Rosie’s neck, branding her with the image of an eye. Rosie screamed as she fell back. Inspector Roy grabbed her saying "what have you done? What is this?” “That is the brand of my eye, now there is not a witch hunter within a thousand miles that will touch her as that brand will tell them, that she has been pardoned by me” Mefe said firmly but with a smirk. Inspector Rodger said “what gives you the authority to”- Mefe interrupts, angrily yelling “WHAT GIVES ME THE AUTHORITY? I AM THE MAN WITH THE EYE FOR EVIL! I AM THE EPITOME OF THE AUTHORITY ON EVIL AND I TELL YOU SHE HAS NONE, I SEE MORE EVIL IN YOU THEN IN HER, SO I SUGGEST YOU TAKE THIS INNOCENT GIRL HOME BEFORE I DECIDE TO HANDLE THE EVIL IN YOU!” The Inspectors saw his face turning red as his lips formed a demonic smile. Frightened, the Inspectors ran outside pulling Rosie behind them!

Outside the Inspectors stop running and breath heavily. Inspector Rodger says “what now? We just go back?” Inspector Roy is shaking his head saying “no, no we can’t just go back the townsfolk would never accept her back” “forgive me sir but isn’t that her problem?” Inspector Rodger asked. “Oh you think it is just her they will not accept?” Inspector Roy wondered to a confused looking Inspector Rodger. He then continued “no, see we told them we would have the witch handled, if we return with her, they will lose trust in us, and as a result the whole Inspector position, no, no we cannot go back, until the wicked witch is dead” Inspector Rodger is nodding saying “yes, ok I agree, but how? We cannot kill a witch, we need a witch hunter and none within a thousand miles will touch her” Inspector Roy says “I’m sure we can find some rouge witch hunter who will, and if we really cannot, we will just have to go ten thousand miles, the fact is this woman is a witch and we cannot in good conscience return to the village with a witch. Inspector Rodger nods as he puts the blindfold and gag back on Rosie, who begins struggling again as if having flashbacks of a traumatic event.

A few days later Leland arrives at the rectangular home of Mefe. He looks at his map and heads right inside. Immediately upon entering Mefe introduces himself “hello, wow a knight, to what do I owe such an honor?” Leland immediately draws his sword and points it at Mefe saying “Rosie, where is she?” Mefe stands there as if not even noticing the sword, stroking his chin “Rosie? Hmmm?” “DON’T PLAY COY” Leland responds. Suddenly Mefe jumps and says “ah, you must mean that poor woman, to be a victim of such evil, then to be accused of such evil yourself, can you even imagine?” He shakes his head and walks over to a counter, continuing "would you like some tea?” as he pours a cup. Leland is surprised, as he puts his sword down and says “wait she is ok?” “Well I should hope so, I told those Inspectors specifically to take her home” Mefe explained. “Well I don’t think they did” Leland replied. “No matter” “NO MATTER SHE WILL BE EXECUTED” Mefe shook his head “no, she won’t, no witch hunter would execute an innocent woman” “but they will think she is a witch” “Leland said “Not when they see my eye on her neck” Mefe exclaimed. Leland stood there confused, saying “what?” “my eye, I pardoned her and no witch hunter will touch her” Mefe explains. Leland asks “how can you be so sure?” At this question Mefe finally turned around and looked at Leland saying loudly “BECAUSE I AM THE MAN WITH THE EYE FOR EVIL, I can see evil, all of it, I can see how much of it there is, and the very nature of it, and NO ONE would deny such an eye”. Leland stood there as Mefe turned around again. After a moment, Leland asks “are you sure? There are always bad people out there who will deny anything for the right price, and these Inspectors have their whole career on the line, so they will pay any price”. Mefe smiled and laughed as he turned around and said “you are right, we must make sure that doesn’t happen, let us go” as he begins walking to the door. Leland says “wait why don’t you just tell me where they might go” “What? You think you are the only one who can fight?” Mefe asks with a confident smile. Leland says "no, it’s just, you can’t see”. “I CAN’T? Well that’s news to me” Mefe says sarcastically. Leland says “well how could you with those eye patches?” Mefe laughs hysterically “you think that I can’t see through these patches, no, no, I see just as well as anyone, better in fact” Leland asks “then why wear them?” “Like I said I see evil, EVERYWHERE. Do you have any idea how much evil there is in this world? No, you don’t, but I do, I know exactly how much there is because again  I SEE IT EVERYWHERE! Not just the presence of it, but exactly how much there is, and exactly what it is, do you have any idea how overwhelming that is? I have seen things you couldn’t even imagine and wouldn’t want to if you could, and what’s more I see it EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME. These patches don’t keep me from seeing, they allow me to see clearer, it blurs the evil so I can actually see the world the way you do, more or less, but see I can!” Mefe explains to a skeptical looking Leland before continuing “you look skeptical, please test away” with a smile. Leland looks around and grabs an apple off of a side table and throws it at Mefe who catches it, saying “an apple” as he takes a bite, spits it out and says “yuk, bluh, you know I have heard stories of sweet apples, that’s why I try everyone I can get, but I have yet to taste that mythical sweet apple, oh well, good for nothing, except hard cider I suppose.” He then chucks the apple into a trash bin and says “but I don’t drink, now shall we go?” As he continues to the door.

    After a few days' travel the Inspectors arrive at a large village on a creek, with a water wheel. Inspector Roy got out of the wagon and told Inspector Rodger “you stay with the witch, we wouldn’t want her escaping”. Inspector Rodger nodded as Inspector Roy walked into the general store. Inside he got a few supplies. Stocking up on ropes, sheets, hay, food, and water. As he checked out he asked the shopkeeper “I have heard there is a witch hunter who lives here” the shopkeeper spit some dark liquid into a spittoon and said “aye”. Inspector Roy continued “well, where can I find this witch hunter?” “At the village edge” the shopkeeper answered as he spit again. Inspector Roy was becoming annoyed by the indifference of the shopkeeper, which could be heard in his voice as he asked “in what direction?” the shopkeeper's demeanor didn’t change as he answered “east” and spit yet again. Inspector Roy rolled his eyes, threw some coins on the table and said with annoyance “thank you” as he walked outside the shopkeeper just nodded, continuing to spit.

After the Inspectors ate some bread, and fed the horses some hay, they headed off to the east edge of the village. As the sky dimmed the Inspectors arrived at a cabin on the eastern edge of the village. As they approached the door, they noticed a crucifix on it as they crossed themselves, and kissed their hands, before knocking. Rosie whimpered behind them, her face covered with a cloak. Inspector Rodger said “quiet witch” as he tugged the rope and she fell. This only increased the whimpering. After a minute the door opened as a fat man in a tight clean black suit, and hat stood in the doorway saying “hello, I am Father Reener, what can I do for you?” Inspector Roy said “Hello Father, I am Inspector Roy, this is Inspector Rodger, and the girl, the girl is a witch”- “A WITCH?” Father Reener screamed “well come in, come in, quickly, before she does some witchcraft" as he steps aside the Inspectors walk in, pulling Rosie behind them. As Rosie enters, Father Reener throws some holy water on her, saying ”the power of Christ compels you” as he crosses himself. After repeating that ritual a few more times he turns to the Inspectors and says “that should keep her power down as we prepare for the execution, but first I must know, what kind of witch is she?” The Inspectors look at each other with confusion. After a moment inspector Roy turns to father Reener and says “we do not know much about witches, that is why we are here” Father Reener says “well tell me what has she done?” as he takes out some books. Inspector Roy says “well she committed a massacre of some brothers” Father Reener flipped through the pages of his books as he mumbled “yes, yes, is that all?” “well she also deflected a pebble into a man's house”. Father Reener did not look up from his books, he just mumbled “ok, ok”- Before Inspector Rodger interrupted “she then transported that same pebble onto our path to slow our journey, remember?” Inspector Roy said “aye, right, she did”. This got Father Reener to stop and look up in fear saying “she did what?” The Inspectors looked at each other as Inspector Rodger reiterated “she, ah, transported a pebble to”- “Oh no, tis worse than I thought” Father Reener interrupted as he threw another vial of holy water on to Rosie and continued “to transport physical objects, no, no, only the most powerful of witches are able to do that” as he clutched his cross and prayed. He then continued speaking to the Inspectors “quickly, we must handle her”, as he grabbed a torch, and said outside”. The Inspectors sat for a moment trying to process what they had heard. Father Reener became annoyed at their hesitation and yelled "OUTSIDE NOW, quickly before she kills us all” this got the Inspectors to stumble up as they headed outside.

In the backyard, a nearly full moon lit up the sky, as Father Reener lit the torch and said "tie her to that tree” to the Inspectors as he pointed to a tree. The Inspectors followed his instructions. They guided a struggling, and whimpering Rosie to the tall tree and tied her ropes around its thick trunk. As Father Reener threw small sticks and kindling around the base of the tree dousing it in holy water as he chanted “Oh our lord in heaven, lend us the power to control and execute this witch in accordance with your will”. After a few times reciting this chant he approached the tree. Doused Rosie with some more holy water saying “lord hold her, lord protect us. Let our flames damage the body on earth as those in hell damage the soul”. He then told the Inspectors “now remove the cloak from her face”. The Inspectors did as they were asked, pulling the cloak off over her head. Father Reener approached to ignite the kindling at the base of the tree. But before he could he saw Rosie’s neck and stumbled back saying “oh, no lord forgive me”. The Inspectors got confused and looked at each other, then at Father Reener saying “what is going on?” Father Reener put the torch in a bucket of water and ran to the tree reciting over and over again “lord forgive me, lord forgive me, I almost executed an innocent woman, oh lord forgive me” as he untied Rosie from the tree. The Inspectors tried to stop him, but he pushed them away. Inspector Roy yelled “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Father Reener yelled back “WHAT AM I DOING? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Trying to trick me into executing an innocent woman, what kind of person does that?” As he finishes untying Rosie Inspector Rodger grabs her yelling “she is a witch, a very powerful one” "not according to the man with the eye for evil” Father Reener yelled back. Inspector Rodger said “well the man with the eye for evil is wrong”. This angered Father Reener as he punched Inspector Rodger in the face yelling “BLASPHEMY! That eye is a gift from god, and you would deny such a gift, such an eye. BLASPHEMY” he yelled and punched Inspector Rodger again. As Inspector Rodger fell to the ground, he released Rosie who began to run. As Inspector Rodger attempted to grab her again, Father Reener pushed him away as Inspector Roy grabbed him and a fight ensued. As Rosie ran faster and Father Reener yelled to her “run my dear, run” he then prayed “lord protect her”!

Leland rides on a horse as Mefe relaxes on a bed of hay, chewing on a piece in a small cart. Mefe asks “so how are you so sure she is innocent?” Leland got annoyed by this question, and answered “how are you so sure?” “Because I see it,” Mefe replied with a laugh. He then continued “but you, see what I don’t understand is how everyone in your backwards village can be so sure she is a witch, that they would deny my eye, except you. Do you just have more piety than anyone else? Or is it something else?” Leland just continued to ride silently. After a moment though he said “well if you can see it, you should already know” “oh I do, I’m just giving you a chance to come clean”. Leland got nervous, scared Mefe might try something. Mefe then laughed and reassured him, “don’t worry, I know what you did, and I didn’t understand why when I first saw you, but I get it now, you love her”. Leland remained silent, trying to stay stoic as Mefe talked some more “are you going to tell her when we find her?” Leland, still trying to remain stoic, began shaking his head and tearing up. Mefe asked “why not?” This question made Leland think about the path to Knighthood he had chosen and how that path assured he will never be with her. This thought eventually completely broke his stoic facade as he began audibly crying. Mefe asked again “why? Why not? I don’t understand". After a moment Leland finally looked back at Mefe and screamed as tears flowed down his face “BECAUSE I CAN’T, AS MUCH AS I WANT TO, I WANT NOTHING MORE, BUT A KNIGHT WITH A PEASANT" he quieted down yet continued to cry “tis, tis forbidden” as he looked back in front, sniffling. After a moment he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Mefe whispering in his ear “I’m so sorry my friend”.

    As they approach a small cabin surrounded by trees, Leland says “is this it?” Mefe looks up and answers “aye, this is where Father Reener lives”. Leland pulls the reins to stop the horse as he gets off, he asks “Are you sure?”- “Yes, yes, Father Reener is a holy man, he would never deny my eye, so he did not hurt her, he probably rescued her” Mefe interrupts. “Well let’s see” Leland says as Mefe gets out of the cart and they both walk towards the door of the cabin. Before Leland can knock, Mefe says “hey, let me knock, it’ll be better if he sees me first” Leland stands back as Mefe approaches the door. About to knock, he turns to Leland saying “oh, ya, and let me do most of the talking” Leland nods as Mefe knocks. The door opens almost instantly with the now red faced Father Reener, with two black eyes standing in the doorway. Before looking he says yes, yes, what can”- When he finally looks up, he sees Mefe and his whole demeanor changes, as he falls to his knees, crosses himself and continues “The man with the eye for evil, forgive me, I didn’t know, but”- Mefe interrupts “stand up man, you’re embarrassing yourself” “of course, of course, Father Reener says as he rises from his knees” Mefe then asks “now what did you do?” “Nothing, I swear, I almost did, but when I saw your eye, I swear, I”- Mefe says “shhhh” as he moves a finger from his lips to Father Reener’s lips and raises his eye patches. He pulls Father Reener's face close and stares into his eyes. After an awkward moment of a frightened Father Reener mumbling “I swear I didn’t hurt her, I would never hurt an innocent woman”. Mefe then releases his head and pats him on the right cheek a couple of times saying “I know, I just had to be sure” as he puts his eye patches back on and continues “now where is she?” Father Reener says “I, I don’t know” Leland begins to scream “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T”- Mefe puts his hand up to silence Leland, as Leland quiets down and Mefe continues “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T KNOW?” Father Reener says “I tried to save her, but these Inspectors, they fought me, all I could do was release her and tell her to run, and she did, then the Inspectors left to follow her and I, I didn’t know what to do, forgive me”. Mefe stands there silently with a disappointed face, as father Reener bows his head. After a moment Mefe raises his hand to Father Reener's cheek and pats him a couple more times saying “you’re good” with a smile. Before continuing “so she ran into the forest I presume” father Reener nods. “Great, you know that forest better than those Inspectors, that gives us an advantage, let’s go”. Father Reener is confused and asks “What do you mean? Go where?” “Why into the forest to find her of course” Mefe answers. Before Father Reener can respond, Mefe continues “and yes you are coming” Father Reener says “but, I, I”- Mefe interrupts “YOU, YOU?” Father Reener bows his head again as he says “I’m coming, as he grabs a lantern, and they all head into the dark Eastern Forest.

As the trio rode through the forest. Mefe lay in the cart. Still chewing on a piece of hay. As Father Reener stood above him, holding a lantern looking through the trees, calling “ROSIE, ROSIE, MY DEAR I AM SO SORRY, I MEAN YOU NO HARM, WE JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE SAFE”. As Leland rode the horse in front also called “ROSIE, ROSIE”. He began to worry more and more. This worry made him tear up again as he continued to call “ROSIE, ROSIE” he silently mumbled to himself “my love, please be ok”.

On a small rock beach, in a small cave, Rosie slept. As she slept she dreamed of Sir Leland softly holding her, and guiding her home. A smile formed over her face as she hugged herself and felt safe. She awoke suddenly and was frightened again. She thought about her dream and how Leland was the only one who had ever made her feel safe. Lost and afraid, she began wishing he was with her now, to guide her home like he did that faithful night, it was the safest she had ever felt. As she hugged herself tighter for warmth and comfort. She closed her eyes and prayed “lord please help, please send Sir Leland, to guide me home, oh lord please, please”- her prayer was cut off as she heard screams. She gasped, held herself tighter and bowed her head into her arms, frightened, until she recognized the voice. It was him, it was Sir Leland she thought, as she looked up and a slight smile slowly formed over her face. After a moment she slowly and hesitantly stood up and walked out of the small cave. Almost blinded by the dim light of the lantern, she lifted her arm over her eyes, as she heard a voice say “there, I think that is her” as the sounds of hooves quickly got closer, she became scared again. She heard another voice, eccentric yet demanding, call “slow down you idiot, you’ll scare her away, stop and let Leland go first”. She stood there, still frightened, yet hearing Leland's name made her smile grow. As the hooves stopped, and a knight holding a lantern approached slowly saying “Rosie, is that you? It is I, Sir Leland, it’s ok you are safe now. As he got closer, she saw his face, and her smile became bigger and brighter as she ran into his arms, finally feeling safe. She whispered "oh, Sir Leland, please don’t leave me, please don’t ever leave me”. Leland held her in his arms whispering in return “shh, shh, it’s ok, I won’t, I promise.”

Inspector Roy and Rodger scanned the forest with a lantern as they searched for Rosie silently. Soon they saw yellow sparks from a clearing ahead of them. Inspector Roy motioned silently to Inspector Rodger to look, as they both crept towards the clearing. Aiming their crossbows towards the ground, until they arrived at the clearing and aimed them up, at the fire announcing, “don’t move”. After a moment they realized their announcement was only to the fire as no one sat around it. They looked at each other with puzzled expressions when a faint, mundane voice from behind them said “you are gonna have to do better than that if you want to catch your witch” with a spit. Inspector Roy immediately recognized this, as he turned around and said “wait, you are the shopkeeper?” the voice responded with a nod “names Tuck”. Inspector Roy and Rodger were surprised as Tuck continued “Father Reener let your witch go huh?” as he shook his head continuing “that fat, incompetent, useless, excuse for a priest. I figured he would do something to mess it up, so I followed you”. Inspector Roy was the first to respond as they were both still trying to make sense of the situation, “what do you know of killing witches?” Tuck spit and smiled “I know tis easier than the church would have us believe. Me and Father Reener argued about this all the time, when I was an altar boy at his church, until he fired me for daring to suggest we just sell the poisons, poise and herbs needed for protection and banishment of evil.” He spit again before continuing “see the church wants to maintain its exclusive control on evil, in order to maintain its exclusive control over our lives”. Inspector Roy looked more confused as he asked, “are you suggesting that anyone can kill a witch?” Tuck smiled and spit again as he answered with a nod “indeed I am, with the right tools, anyone can be a witch hunter”. Inspector Rodger spoke without thinking “Father Reener told us he wouldn’t because Mefe declared her innocent”. Inspector Roy looked at Inspector Rodger with anger, as if to say shut up you idiot with his eyes. Before Tuck laughed, spit and said “pffft Mefe, an unwitting pawn of the church”. Inspector Rodger looked at him, now even more surprised and said, “wait you don’t like Mefe?” Tuck spit again and said “I dunno, never met the guy, but I know he’s a liar who the church is more than willing to validate to maintain their own control. But enough talk, are you interested or not?” Inspector Roy and Rodger, looking even more puzzled, asked “interested in what?” Tuck laughed, spit, and began to take off his satchel, saying “why becoming witch hunters of course” as he opened his bag to show them vials of colorful liquids and pocket bags of posie.

As Leland and Rosie held each other, Mefe approached with a smile and said “ok, love birds, let’s get you home”. After another moment Rosie and Leland stopped hugging each other, still holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes. Before Leland said “ok, let’s go” as he walked Rosie to the cart. Mefe started walking towards the cart as well, before he stopped, lifted one of his eye patches, squinted his eye and said, "there's evil afoot” Father Reener looked in the same direction and got frightened as he said “ok, time to go” as he helped Rosie into the cart and Leland stood guard. Suddenly a flaming arrow flew by, just missing his head, as Father Reener, pushed Rosie down in the cart covering her body with his as he yelled “get down”. Leland drew his sword, as Inspector Rodger came into sight, holding a crossbow saying, “don’t move witches and witch lovers”. “There are no witches here” Mefe said to Inspector Rodger as Inspector Roy stepped out behind Mefe and said “that is where you are wrong”. Father Reener said, “still denying his eye, like the blasphemers you are, you are the real witches”. “Still worshiping his lying eye, like it is God himself, huh? Father Reener”. Tuck said as he slowly came out from a tree to the right of Mefe. Surrounded on three sides, held up by crossbows, and flaming arrows. They all stood silent, before Father Reener said “Oh, Tuck what have you done?” “What you or the church never would, I’m training independent witch hunters, and we are here to kill that witch”. “She is no witch, the man with the eye for evil has confirmed that she is innocent, he”- Tuck interrupted Father Reener saying “oh, shut up about this man with the eye for evil crap, you keep accepting his eye, denying god, and defending evil”. “You are the one defending evil” Mefe said as he turned to look at Tuck. “You're a liar, you may have convinced Father Reener and the corrupt church he represents, but not me” Mefe smiled, as he slowly walked towards Tuck saying, “are you sure?” Tuck got slightly frightened as he said “what are you doing? Stop” he held his cross bow up to Mefe before screaming again “STOP!” as Mefe got to him, he leaned over and whispered something in his ear. As Mefe stepped away with a smirk, Tuck just stood there, silently, with a horrified expression on his face. He dropped his cross bow on the ground, as the crotch area of his pants became wet. His lip quivered before he turned and ran. Inspectors Roy and Rodger looked towards him and hollered “where are you going? What did he say?” but cries of childish fear was all the answer they got.

The Inspectors stand in shock, still holding their cross bows. After a moment Inspector Roy says “enough of this” as he takes aim and fires a flaming arrow at Leland. Rosie sees this as she is huddled in the cart and jumps out of it yelling “NOOOOO” as she runs in front of the arrow meant for Leland. As she runs, Inspector Rodger takes aim at her and fires. Leland suddenly runs screaming “ROSIE NOOOO”. They both dive in front of the arrow meant for the other. Landing in each other's arms. Father Reener runs to them and bows down next to them. As they hold each other bleeding out Leland speaks softly “I love you Rosie, I have always loved you, since I first saw you. All I wanted to do was make you feel safe, and I have failed, I am so sorry my love”. Rosie says, “you have not failed me Sir Leland, you are the only one who ever made me feel safe, thank you, thank you so much”. For Father Reener this emotion is almost too much to handle as he begins crying as he goes against custom and asks, “would you two like to marry in your final moments?” They smile at each other, as Father Reener continues “very well, I bless your love, by the power vested in me by the holy church of the one true God, I officially pronounce you man and wife, may your love live on until forevermore”. Rosie and Leland then kiss for the first and final time as their lives fade away. Father Reener cries over them as Mefe looks over them, appearing

to be crying himself. The Inspectors are confused asking “you hardly knew them, why are you so upset?” Mefe looks up with a smile on his face, “you think I am crying?” as it becomes clear he is laughing. This confuses the Inspectors even more as Mefe continues “you made a mistake, as Father Reener said their love will live on until forevermore, these two love birds of vengeance”. Suddenly fire ignited the sky, before it began raining ashes, ashes, as the Inspectors all fell down, disappearing never to be seen again. Not so for Rosie and Leland however, as to this day, kids still swear they see them, while playing, pockets full of posie, running in a circle, like a ring, A RING, ROUND, ROSIE!!!

THE END!!!