This morning I went to the baker after Dauy went out fishing. Cait Rede looked up as I opened the door and said "Have you heard?

“Heard what?”

“Yesterday the Vicar went up into the hills to exorcise the Standing Stones. It didn’t work. Apparently he came back last night terrified out of his mind.” Cait said with a bit of a sneer on her face.

I wasn’t surprised that Cait is not a fan of the Vicar. She had no qualms about confronting his supposed witness Laetitia Forgell in front of him last Sunday about the claim that young Sussana Beckworth was practicing witchcraft.

“So there is a spirit at the Stones?” I asked. Obviously I knew, but I didn’t know whether Cait knew. She could have known. She and her husband Brice and the hunters Hume and Lucy Valcar had wandered the hills when they were young, just as Dauy and I had but our paths had never really crossed. Still, Clarice and Oswyn had noted that they had never beaten their daughter Fiona, just like Dauy and I had never beaten them. That made both our families unusual in the village.

“Apparently. He’s not hurt, just very scared.” Cait bit her lip, looking like she wanted to add something, then deciding not to.

I decided to approach the subject sideways. Scared vicars are dangerous vicars.

“I want to compliment you on defending Sussana Beckworth last Sunday. The Vicar should have know better than to take Laetitia’s word for anything. And to accuse Sussana? As far as I know, she was a dutiful healer’s apprentice. We may some day need her skills even if Old Mother Burgess died before finishing her training.”

Cait smiled “The Vicar is an ass and we both know it.”

“Yes. By the way, I’ve heard some gossip that a few families think you and I are spoiling our children with not enough discipline.”

Cait looked at the open door, walked over and glanced outside, then shut the door. “You and Dauy used to walk the hills until you got married and Dauy turned to fishing.”

“That’s right.”

“So did Brice and I. I think there is something calming and peaceful about the hills that stayed with us. How about you two?”

I simply smiled and nodded. Cait nodded back, then, as the door opened, she said “The rye is good today. Will you have some?”

Dauy came back from the boat in the evening. As usual his shoulders were tired from hauling nets and traps, but he brought back a load that we would need to gut and salt within the next couple of hours.

“The village gossip is that the Vicar tried to exorcise Anthracyda yesterday.”

“Oh? Tried?” His eyebrows rose as he looked at me, then turned back to his next fish.

“Yes. Tried. Obviously failed. I haven’t talked to Clarice or Oswyn about it yet. I thought we should decide what we want to tell them, if anything yet. Hannah and Duncane have kept their mouths closed as well. I’m also pretty sure that Cait and Brice Rede know about Anthracyda, but they are keeping their mouths closed as well.”

Dauy shrugged his shoulders a few times trying to get kinks out, then looked to me and said “Then I guess the safest thing is to keep quiet until or unless Oswyn or Clarice have their own encounter.”

I responded “I’m not exactly happy to keep secrets from our children, but I agree that it is the safest thing to do right now.”

Next - The Vicar Returns (July 10-27, 1643)

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