1692

Act XXI

Cake of the day: Buccellato with Honey

"Do you suppose Miss Katrina is a witch, old boy?" Alfred said, striding through the forest with his musket slung over his back. "I don't know, but she certainly has taken a turn for the more courageous," Walter replied. "I don't think she's a witch," Sebastian added, "It wouldn't make a right lot of sense, seeing as Bram only executed Blair, not Katrina."

"I suppose you're right," Alfred said.

The butlers stalked through the forest, drenched in sweet smelling drops of rain as the light of the day was beginning to fade, and night gathering at the corners of the woods. The night had taken a turn for the colder, and the thick expanse of clouds that hung low in the sky was threatening snow.. They were given the assignment of catching rabbits for dinner.

"Do you think there really are witches in Candle Cove?" Sebastian asked.

"I can't be sure..." Walter replied vaguely. "Even so, I don't see why Bram wants them all dead."

"Why's that?" Sebastian asked.

"Witchcraft is the ability to see magic in places most others do not, it is the-"

Walter's sentence was cut short as the sound of a twig's snap rang out though the forest. The butlers held their muskets at the ready, carefully creeping through the darkened forest.

All was perfectly quiet.

"It must have just been a grouse, or something the rather..." Walter said.

Suddenly, the forest around them exploded with a fury as a grotesque, deformed and hideous demon burst before them. The creature wheezed unnaturally, its body bloated and decaying.

It was starving.

It charged at Alfred, who expertly struck the demon with the stock of his musket. The creature stumbled back a few lengths, growling, before charging again. Walter ripped through the twilight, jumping and delivering a sharp kick to the monster's face. Sebastian followed suit, grabbing the bayonet from his bag and charging toward the demon, roughly embedding the knife in the creature's glowing ember of an eye.

The creature squealed hideously in pain as it darted blindly in circles. Then, it gained its composure, clumsily darting past the butlers.

"It's headed toward the town!" Sebastian called.

"Why thank you, Sebastian, I was starting to wonder!" Walter snapped dryly.

"Stop it!" Alfred commanded.

Alfred darted after the monster, fluidly using a mossy tree to propel himself, bayonet in hand, on top of the demon. Alfred drove the knife deeply into its head.

The creature finally crashed to the ground, its grotesque body disintegrating on the spot, staining the forest floor darkly.

Alfred brushed himself off, cleaning the bayonet on the side of the tree.

"What in hell was that...?" Sebastian mumbled, carefully stepping toward the stain

"That was a demon..." Alfred said, calmly placing the bayonet back on his musket. "I never thought I'd see them here, in fact, I've never seen them here..." Walter added.

Suddenly, a look of horror crossed Sebastian's face, as he raised his pale fingers to his mouth in horror.

"Oh, Dear God, I understand now..."

~

The whole of the town seemed to be painfully on edge; no one spoke to each other, tempers flared easily, it was if a dark presence had settled in with us, and no spell could pry it from eating away at men's hearts.