Queen of Hearts

People Of My Past

Rob's POV

After delivering my scrawled note to the house in which my happy life both started and ended, I did what I was instructed and ran back toward the forest, repeating my instructions over and over in my mind:

"Deliver the note. Run back to the forest, then journey on until we meet again. Do not let anyone see you. If you fail, if you think you can hide from us, you are a fool. You cannot escape now."

I had plans of negotiations for these spirits. They wanted either me or Florence to burn at the stake, because they felt she should have seven years ago. When she escaped the spirits of the dead witches who had suffered that very fate stirred in their urns and are now out for revenge. They showed no mercy, for they were shown no mercy at their executions. I just hoped I could spin their minds and allow us to live...with a price.

The air was cold. So cold, it pierced right through my skin to my heart. I couldn't help but think that I should appreciate this cold weather. I shook my head violently as I entered the forest, chiding myself for thinking the worst. I trekked on for what seemed like miles, dead leaves victim to the weight of my feet. I was smacked in the face with thin, sharp tree branches which seemed as if they were out to gouge my eyes out. 

"Long walk?" a snide voice came from in front of me. I stopped short and looked up.

The same group of restless spirits were gathered in front of me. The tallest, a woman with shimmering white hair down to her knees, turned her head slowly to the left and nodded. Five of them surrounded my left side. Then she turned her head slowly to the right and nodded to her right side and they did the same. The process felt as if it had taken years, precious time wasted. 

"Have you decided?" the tall women asked. Her tongue was as thin as the sharp edge of a dagger and her eyes were snakelike, boring into mine to rip my insides out.

"I have a negotiation," I said, surprised at how timid my voice sounded. These were cruel mistresses, but a bargain must be made.

The witch straightened up. She loomed over me like a church tower. "Yes?"

I swallowed. My dry tongue was sticking to the roof of my mouth and I couldn't breathe to save my life. Hah. Ironic.

"In exchange for our freedom, my wife and I will offer you our firstborn child."

Florence's POV

As soon as I set eyes on the town I used to call my own, my throat closed and my eyes threatened tears. Seeing the village felt like I had been hit in the heart with a ton of bricks. I pulled the hood of my robe over my face and darted behind abandoned houses. Salem looked exactly the same as it did seven years ago. The nagging thought at the back of my mind told me I would most likely bump into people of my past, but I couldn't bear to think about that now. All I had to do was find Rob, give whoever took him what they want, and run.

I had a feeling Rob's captors were not exactly human.

It was almost morning. I had been travelling since the evening before, hours on foot and hours on a donkey who had run away from its farmer. The sky was breathtakingly beautiful and despite the circumstances, I had to stop and admire the magenta clouds with hints of pale golden sunlight peeking through. If the village people still operated the way they did seven years ago, the maids would already be collecting in washing from the gardens where they dried overnight, market workers would be opening up their stalls and the churchpeople would be on their way to morning mass. I tucked my hair right under my hood, out of sight, and dared step toward the markets. I was famished and had to purchase an apple to keep up my energy for what would undoubtably be the longest day of my life.

The only market open was run by a girl who looked older than me. Her blonde hair was cut to her earlobes and her lined face looked pale and tired. She was oddly familiar. Warning signs flashed in my head but, being the stupid girl I am, I ignored them. I walked up to her over the cobbled stones, picked up and apple and felt in my pocket for a penny, keeping my head bent. I dared flash my eyes up for a second to analyse the girl's face while she waited impatiently. Her eyes, so blue, so cold, so sweet, so...

"Florence?"

My heart jumped to my throat. My sister Grace lifted my head with her bony hand.

"I knew you weren't dead."

I couldn't speak a word. Grace and I stared at each other, like sisters who hadn't seen each other in decades. 

We practically were.

"How...?"

"We ran away," I mumbled. "I never drowned."

Grace's eyes, so long and lost, filled with tears. "I missed you so much."

"Oh darling, I can't come home."

"Then let me come with you. Nothing's the same here. Mother and Father are divorced and although nobody will admit it, they're a shame to the village. JJ goes from one girl to another, he misses you so. Mother barely speaks. She mouths prayers in church but I don't think I've heard a hymn from her mouth since you-" she stopped short.

"And James?" I asked bitterly.

Grace adjusted her white worker's cap. "He is married to a girl ten years his junior. Word goes round that she's pregnant but she isn't showing, so we'll know when we know."

Suddenly, trumpets sounded, startling everyone out of their beds and to their windows and front doors. Acting on instinct I slid under the curtain covering Grace's market stall. I felt her adjust the curtain so I wasn't showing a hair. I lay on the gravel and watched the terrifying scene from the tiny gap between curtain and ground. 

An army of black horses and shimmering silver knights marched through the village with a carriage in their midst. They stopped in the village centre, their flags blowing in the gentle breeze. I could not see the condemned man in the carriage but I could hear the words of the Witch Hunters as clear as day.

"By order of the Salem High Court! Mister Robert Ackroyd, accused of harbouring convicted witch Miss Florence Welch seven years ago, has been found and will be sentenced to execution by hanging with no trial. He will be held in the Tower until we find the witch and I assure you, when we do, a double public execution is promised."