Witch

Chapter 4

Then one day I learned that the enemy army was marching towards out city. They had taken away my home and the people that I cared about. Now it looked like it could happen all over again. The last time I had run away. This time I decided that I was going to do whatever I could to stop them.

*          *          *

            I spoke to Pastor Mordecai one day when he had taken some of the other sisters and myself out to distribute bread to the poor. I kept holding back every time I was about to tell him until we were on our way home.

            "I want to go with the army," I said.

            He continued walking with a thoughtful look on his face. "I'm not surprised. You have a strong heart." We stopped while he handed a loaf of bread to a mother and her children standing outside a hovel. "It will be hard and dangerous, you know."

            "I know. but so will be living here in Worcestershire when its being destroyed. Betty told me that its important to take a stand for whatever you believe in. I want to do that."

            The Pastor gave his last loaf away. "I understand. If that is something you really want to do, then go with my blessing. Let's head back. Its getting late."

            We walked back to the church through the fading light of day.

*          *          *

            The army camp was a chaotic place. Tents of various sizes, sleeping pallets, racks of guns, barrels, crates, horses, cooking fires, and more were scattered about a cleared field in a seemingly random fashion. The soldiers wore no standard uniform. Instead, they were dressed in a wide variety of colors and styles that matched the various standards flapping in the breeze around the camp.

            The man in charge, General Perry, was not what I had expected. He was dressed in a bright red doublet with slashed sleeves and puffed out breeches with yellow silk linings showing through. His fingers were all adorned with rings set with various stones. I handed him the letter of introduction the pastor had written for me.

            "So, Jewel," the general said after perusing the letter, "You have come to serve as a healer in my camp, Yes? I must say, you certainly do not look the part. But we shall see. Come along."

            He led me through the camp to where some injured soldiers were being treated. One man was having his arm sawed off at the elbow. The sound of steel grinding on bone mixed with the man's screams frayed my nerves. The arm finally fell off, leaving a stump spurting blood. I bent over and retched into the dirt.

            The captain sighed. "It is as I feared. You are a delicate flower when what I need are weeds."

            I wanted to back to the church far away from these horrors. But I had made a promise to myself that I was going to see this through no matter what. Plus I knew that Pastor Mordecai believed in me. I didn't want to let him down. I made myself stand tall. "No, I can handle it," I said. I went to the wounded man. I tied off the arm to stop the immediate bleeding, sewed the stump together as best as I could, applied a salve, and then wrapped a bandage around it.

            "Hmm. Not bad." said the general. "Perhaps we can make something of you yet."

*          *          *

            Late in the day I came across a man with a gunshot wound. I put a salve on the wound to seal it and relieve some of the pain before applying a clean bandage. Then I gave the man a blessing to heal him a little more, but I guess I overdid it a little bit. The man he looked at me with wide eyes. "Witch. What have you done to me?"