Cauldron of Fear Read Online Free Page A

starting to enjoy this as much as I am.'
     
     

Chapter
2
     
    The two men
were the same who'd brought Matilda to the cellar dungeon
originally, how long ago now she could only guess, though it seemed
like a lifetime since she last breathed fresh air.
    Neither of
them was local and she guessed they must travel about with the
Crawley creature, for he would need his own men to assist in the
execution of his dreadful duties. Not that Matilda knew anything of
the man personally, but she had heard of his kind; feared figures
who travelled the land, searching out witches, terrifying entire
areas with their awful retribution. There had been one name that
instilled terror throughout half the realm, but Matthew Hopkins was
reputably dead, ten years ago at least, maybe more, and with him
had gone the worst of the fear that his name and those of his ilk
had represented.
    Witch finding,
James had assured her, lost all credibility since the death of the
old king. This was a new world now; a world where superstition
would have no place, swept aside by a tide of knowledge and
education. Yes, there were still a few backwaters where the
successors of Matthew Hopkins could still ply their deadly trade,
but they were few and far between, isolated pockets of ignorance in
an otherwise much better informed society.
    Matilda had
never considered Leddingham to be a backwater, however. Standing
alongside one of the main highways to London, it was only a small
rural village, admittedly, but the newssheets from the capital
arrived only one day late and the talk in the inn was as informed
as any she had heard, save when in James's company, of course, and
during those days when she had lived in London herself.
    So why here?
And why her? Why had Jacob Crawley come to the village and just who
had made such ridiculous allegations about her? And where was
James? If only James were here, surely he would put an end to this
nightmare? Surely someone from the village would tell him what was
happening?
    For the
moment, however, it seemed obvious that James remained in ignorance
of her situation and the whys and wherefores were unimportant. For
the moment she was here, naked, her head shaved, her wrists chained
and facing two men whose dull eyes offered little comfort.
    'Don't know
why he always insists on cutting off their hair,' the taller one
said, shaking his head. 'This one had such pretty curls. Seems a
dreadful waste if'n you ask me, Jed.'
    His companion
looked darkly at him. 'Hush your mouth, Silas Grout,' he hissed.
'If his eminence hears you I'd not want to be in your shoes. Ours
ain't to question the likes of him and well you should know that by
now. His moods are bad enough o' late, so don't give him any reason
to act worse.'
    'Just saying,
that's all,' Silas muttered. 'Besides, I should worry what his high
and mightiness thinks. I'm startin' to get a bit fed up with all
this travellin' about. We've hardly bin three days in the one place
this past twelve months. I reckon this witch huntin' business is
near on finished. Don' reckon half the ones we catches is really
witches anyway.'
    Watching the
two men through slitted eyes, Matilda saw what she thought was a
glimmer of hope. 'That's right, sir,' she gasped, astonished at how
cracked and dry her voice sounded. The two of them stopped, looking
at each other and then back at her. Swallowing and trying to
moisten her lips with her tongue, Matilda pressed on. 'You're
right,' she croaked. 'I'm no witch and there will be plenty of
people in the village who'll bear me witness. If one of you would
just go and fetch Mr Calthorpe the miller, or his son, James.
They'll tell your master the truth.
    'Or my own
grandmother,' she added hastily. 'Her name is Hannah Pennywise and
she lives in the third cottage along from the mill. She's lived in
this village all her life. Everyone knows her.'
    'Probably
knows her for a witch herself,' Jed, the shorter man growled.
'Witchin' runs through entire families, everyone knows