"The Notes of a Traveling Priest: Against the Coven," by Tyrin Dean

Item · 65 gp · Weight 2

"A traveling healer should enjoy a careless day of rest now and then. That is what I was thinking, when I accepted an invitation to a wedding feast at a small Mendevian village near the Estrovian Forest. It was a hot summer, so the tables were set outdoors, in the middle of an apple orchard. I was seated between a sullen girl of about fifteen and a cheerful old lady with a few scars on her face. The simple village dishes smelled wonderful. The musicians were playing cheerful tunes and slowly getting drunk, and the groom was glowing. The bride sat staring at the table, with her blue eyes every so often wandering to her flower crown. A frightening, unsteady howl came from somewhere beyond the orchard and broke the idyll. I turned to my elder neighbor with a silent question in my eyes. 'It's Nelika's dog. The bride's. It went mad last night, and won't stop howling, so they locked it up in the barn. Jealous of her mistress no doubt!' I quickly got up, and the adolescent girl who sat beside me followed along. It wasn't difficult to find and untie the dog. It was a huge shepherd, and it jumped up to greet me, apparently sensing the power and goodness of my faith. He whimpered quietly, almost crying. Then he ran outside and led us with him. We went down to a ravine, in the shadows beneath some weeping willows. We were greeted by sad blue eyes gazing at us from a dead pale face. The body of Nelika, the bride who we'd seen at the feast just a few minutes ago, had been pinned against the trunk of a dry tree by some horrible force. The dog sat at her feet and howled again. I ran back rapidly, praying to the goddess. I know a monster that likes to kill young women to take on their appearance and destroy their family. These monsters worship powerful demon lords, the very embodiment of chaos, abomination, and evil. The powers of a humble healer would hardly be enough to stand against such an opponent, but how could I leave those people in such peril? I collected myself as I approached the doors of the bedroom, where they'd already taken the young couple. I flung open the door and exhaled the words of a prayer. An unnaturally large creature stood over the young man's body. It yelped at the blow that my prayer had dealt, and turned around immediately. Shimmering steely-gray skin, monstrous claws, ugly features — it was an annis, the most horrible of hags. The illusion that made her look like Nelika had fallen, and the bride's flower crown sat mockingly on the matted hair of her huge head. She raised her hand, preparing to cast her spell on me, but a shaggy shadow leapt from behind my back and pinned the hag to the ground, clenching its fangs around her throat. The dog had come to avenge his owner. But hags don't hunt alone. Behind my back there was another annis from the coven, who had pretended to be the old lady at the table. A terrible claw reached out to me, but halted midair. 'You!' The hag whispered, baffled, and immediately fell from a blow to the throat. The adolescent girl wiped the blood from her hand and winked at me. Her eyes were different colors, one was blue, and the other was green. 'Family matters. Well, priestess, shall we go check on the poor groom?' Alas, the happy village wedding turned into a funeral for the dead: Nelika, and her elder relative who the hags had killed to sneak into the feast. At least we were able to save the groom. I was staring at the young man's icy eyes, and the shaggy dog sitting at his feet, and I knew they wouldn't be staying much longer in the village. Soon the Mendevian crusaders would have a new recruit and his dog in their ranks — two more souls with a grudge against demons and those who follow them. Before leaving the village, I visited the girl — a foundling cared for by the village herbswoman. 'Why did you decide to go against the coven?' I asked her softly. 'I was born fifteen years ago, after a similar wedding. Hags often bear the children they conceive, after killing the bride and taking her place in the groom's bed. Such children usually follow in their mother's footsteps, but I decided I preferred to be human.' I nodded. I might have not been able to rest carelessly at a celebration, but this was worth it. The child of a monster had stepped onto the path of redemption, and spared the world from the very evil that had spawned her."