Legion's Arc

Chapter 14 of 22

Back in the 1800’s. A man filled the pulpit. He had long dirty hair and round black glasses. His suit hung on his bony frame. He was the preacher who had built this town's fear, the one whose sermons Margaret still carried in her bones. He slammed a fist on the wood. "Ezekiel Blackwood speaks the truth of God!" he roared. "Evil walks the woods outside these walls!" The pews were packed with pale, frightened faces. Ezekiel leaned forward, eyes wide behind the glass. "There are witches among us. They twist God's creatures. They turn men into beasts. Women into servants of evil." His voice cracked like a whip. "We must catch them," Ezekiel said. "The witches and their families. Every one. Lock them away where the devil cannot reach them." He pointed a shaking finger at the crowd. "If we let one go free, the devil takes this town. I will not allow it. Will you?" The congregation stood as one. They shouted back. "No! Catch them! Lock them away!" Their voices shook the rafters. Ezekiel smiled. The entire town spends the next few weeks going throughout the woods and all the neighboring villages gathering women, men, and children and bringing them to the barn in the woods. Ezekiel sat in front of the captured people and decided whether each person was a witch or not. Every person brought in front of him, he declared a witch and they were thrown into the barn cellar. At the end of the week, there were hundreds of people in the cellar crying out for help. Men, women, and children, all locked in the cellar. On the night of the ceremony, Ezekiel along with the entire congregation are gathered at the barn in the woods. Ezekiel stands before them and begins to speak. “You all have found favor in the eyes of the Lord for the work you’ve done for him over the last few weeks. And now, here we are before Him to consecrate this land and make it holy to honor him.” The crowd roars and praises God’s name. Ezekiel then opens the bark covered book and begins to read in a language no one understood. As the crowd draws closer to the opening of the cellar door, the people beneath beg to be freed. Ezekiel finishes reading, walks to the door, throws the book inside, and locks the people inside.