The Wise Woman
By Amy S. Farmer

Dorothea felt the full moon envelop her in its light. She took the broom as she stood on the edge of the field. Holding it upside down, she began the simple fertility ritual that had been done for centuries. Just because the cult of Dius had enthralled the villagers of Oestara did not mean she would stop doing what was right.

Then as she held the broom aloft, something seemed to change. Something in the very air was somehow wrong. She dismissed the feeling and continued to leap around the outside of the field, demonstrating to the newly sown seeds how to grow straight and tall. 

Then, from near the village, a horrific scream tore through the air. Dorothea cringed at the sound. She had never heard anything so foul. Dorothea rushed towards the sound. To get to the area where the sound was coming from, she cut through a small apple orchard. Another scream tormented her ears as she ran, and as she got closer a horrible suspicion began to fill her mind. She hoped she was wrong, but then she noticed the faintest odor of sulfur, what the followers of Dius called brimstone. That could only confirm her suspicions.

She stood on the edge of the orchard, using the trees to provide cover as she watched the nearby pasture. There, a demon had taken a sheep in his hands and as the poor beast bleated hopelessly the demon ate it.

Dorothea looked around, trying to find the sorcerer who called the demon. She saw no one. Then a voice beside her asked "Sweeping the orchard? Are the trees so dusty?"

Dorothea's heart skipped a beat at the sound. Then she recognized who the voice belonged to and was even more shocked. "Why would a priest of Dius raise a demon?" she asked.

"Are you suggesting that I, a loyal servant of Dius, would perform some evil sorcery like a witch?" Priest Corledon sounded smug.

Dorothea knew that she needed to take action. She would need to wait until everyone was attending Diusday services and hope that she had not been noticed. She knew it would draw suspicion on her that she didn't need. Unfortunately that was the only time she knew that the priest would definitely not be home.

She walked around to the back of Corledon's house. He had a simple locking mechanism on his door but she was able to get past that easily enough. Then she entered the back door.

She stood in a hallway with two doors to the left and two to the right. She entered the first door and found it to be the priest's study. That was exactly what she was hoping for. She needed to find his grimoire and destroy it before his demon could kill any people.

She quickly learned that Corledon had far more books than any simple priest should be able to afford. Many were leather-bound and most seemed like exactly what a priest of Dius should be reading. She even found Scourge of Sorceresses, the volume that the Hand of Dius used as a guide to torturing and killing the Wise Women who kept the old religion of the Goddess alive.

Most of the books were on shelves but hidden inside the priest's desk drawer she found a few slim volumes that showed a vow of celibacy didn't mean clean thoughts. She chuckled a little at the thought of Corledon reading smutty stories.

Unfortunately she found no sign of his grimoire. She reluctantly left the room. The next two rooms held no books at all. Then she came to the priest's bedroom. She saw a book on the bedside table but it turned out to be a copy of The Holy Book of Dius. Yet as she stood in the bedroom she could feel an energy even more evil than Dius. She knew, without any doubt, that the grimoire was in that room.

She held her hands in front of her and closed her eyes. The center of the evil seemed to radiate from the bed itself. She looked and saw it was a feather mattress. (Obviously Dius was very good to his priests. Dorothea had never expected to even see a feather mattress in her lifetime, let alone own one.) It sat on a frame of boards which was held off the ground by small wooden pillars. She reached between the mattress and boards. There she felt a book.

Just as she pulled the book out, she heard the front door open. Had Diusday services ended so early? Had she stayed too long? She grabbed the book and began looking for an exit. Before she found one, Corledon walked in with two men Dorothea had never seen before. They wore the uniforms of the Hand of Dius.

"See, I told you a foul sorceress was raising demons and trying to blame me," Corledon said to the other men.

Dorothea's arms had been pulled out of their sockets. She was covered in bruises and found herself beginning to wish the Goddess would hurry up and call her home. After two weeks of torture, Dorothea had stopped paying attention to the questions. As far as she was concerned, nothing she did or said anymore had any consequence. So she was surprised when one question did get through the haze of her pain.

"What?" she asked.

"Which of your followers has been raising demons these past three nights?" 

"Do you mean Corledon is still raising demons, even with me in this dungeon?"

Her question was met with a slap across the face. "Don't go repeating your filthy lies. Your attempt to frame a priest of Dius is the foulest of your deeds."

Then she was led from the torture room to the small cell where she slept. After she was chained to the wall, her captors left. She fought the despair growing within her. Finally she prayed to the Goddess, "Please, no matter what happens to me, please stop that priest before anyone else is hurt or killed."

A voice seemed to fill her mind. "I have chosen you to stop Corledon, priest of the false god Dius."

"But I am in a locked cell, chained to the wall. My arms have been pulled out of their sockets. I can barely walk."

"The injuries to your arms are what will allow you to escape your chains. As for the rest, place your trust in me." If Dorothea had any doubts that it was the Goddess who spoke to her, the healing energies that seemed to envelope her were proof positive. Her pain had nearly disappeared.

Then she began working on her bonds. She quickly determined what the Goddess meant about her arms. Within minutes she was free of the chains. Then the Goddess whispered further instructions to her. She used the walls of her cell to complete the healing of her arms. To her relief, she found that she now had full use of her arms from the shoulders to the tip of her fingers. She could also feel the healing energies continuing to work on her bruises.

The Goddess told Dorothea that the cell had been left unlocked by the overconfident soldiers. She was once again correct. Dorothea followed the Goddess's instructions completely and soon found herself in the main part of the Temple of Dius where she had been jailed. She kept to the shadows and walked towards the front door.

When she was halfway across the temple, she heard voices. Soon two Hands of Dius walked into the chapel area. Dorothea tried to stay as far in the shadows as possible. Then some dust began to tickle her nose. She tried to pinch off the sneeze, but to no avail.

As soon as she sneezed, she made a mad dash towards the front door. The Hands quickly followed. Dorothea reached the door and felt the fresh air. She had her second wind and continued to run. She knew she had been held not in Oestara but in a neighboring village. It seemed like it would be almost impossible to reach Oestara before the Hands caught her.

As she ran, they did not seem to catch up to her. She stayed the same distance ahead of them the whole way. Even so, by the time she was close enough to hear the screams of the demon her lungs were on fire and her calf muscles ached.

The Hands began to catch up to her. She kept running, ignoring the pain. Finally she reached the demon and the priest. She felt the Goddess flowing in her very soul. She opened her mouth and the voice of the Goddess came out. "Return to the Abyss, foul fiend."

The demon screamed as if in pain. 

"I said return. You have no place on the mortal plain, creature of the Abyss."

The demon seemed to melt into the ground as the Hands reached her. They saw Corledon, who had collapsed when his demon had left. As they lifted him to his feet, one of the Hands said, "If you run now, we will be unable to chase you. I still believe you a sorceress but can do nothing right now."

Dorothea began walking away from Oestara but also away from the prison she had been held in. As she walked, the Goddess seemed to say "You will spread my light throughout the world." Dorothea smiled.

THE END