The Red Caped Priest...After Some Musings By Me

OK, so I've decided I'm going to start putting out some of my favorite deleted scenes from what I hope becomes my debut novel Aaralyn's Choice. But before I immerse you guys into that world, I hope to have a quick word with you. First of all, these posts are going up as is, which means they haven't been edited. I mean I ran spell check and grammar check and all, but content and drift...well please don't be picky. Secondly I have seriously considered wrapping up all of these little gems and releasing them in a volume starring said priest in the title. Tell me what you think.

The Witch Burnings

            The man addressed simply as Priest had not dressed in his robes, nor did he wear the famously brilliantly colored red cape which made him famous throughout three kingdoms. He stood in plain clothes to witness, to grieve, and to be reminded of the words of the stranger all of those years ago. The ceremony started when the man this priest had once aspired to be climbed the stairs of the Burning Platform.

The Combined Priest, a man of some sixty years, stepped up and pronounced the judgment. And the plain clothed priest watched silently refusing to participate in this abomination.

            “We are gathered here today, in accordance with the Holy Script, to do as it commands us. We remember magic is an evil perpetrated on this land. It taints fire, air, water and earth alike. Therefore it is an abomination of the Elements. Once magic is done it cannot be undone. The taint lives on, in the blood and none who have the taint shall be free of its corrosive effects.

            “These persons standing here before have been accused of the crime of witchcraft. Whosoever shall use magic, shall not have life, but shall perish. So say the Angels.” The priest paused here for the audience response.

            “So say the Angels.” The crowd responded.

            The plain clothed priest remained silent. He had been told long ago those words did not mean what the combined priests said they should. The longer he lived, the more he believed it was true. It must also be true that some forms of magic were not traceable. How else could he explain why the seductress who had bound his name was not standing the group of the accused? The Combined Priest wound down the ceremony.

            “We do not take these lives lightly, mindful that from fire, air, water, and earth we came and to them we shall return. We do this to fulfill our Holy Mandate. These sixteen before you today have been accused, tested, and judged. We return them to the elements in accordance with the Minor Prophecies.”

            “So say the Prophets.” The crowd said.

            The Combined Priest then took a lit torch and started the fires. The made each sign of the elements in order, fire, air, water, earth. “May the Elements be merciful.”

            “May the Elements be merciful.” The crowd said.

            The priest in the back bowed his head and went through each of the mercy devotions as rapidly and silently as possible. He spread his soul thin over the crowd and touched the poor men and women, terrified, as they started to burn. They cried out in pain and fear, but the crowd seemed to rejoice. The priest touched their souls, gave them mercy, and stayed with them as their souls drifted away.

            The fire burned all night long, and the crowd stayed. The plain clothed priest had no desire to be caught leaving early, so he stayed at the back until sunrise, when he slipped into his room, changed into his fire priest robes and went to do his devotions. May the elements have mercy on his soul, tomorrow he would leave to see if he could find the true taint this time. ***