Read Online Shepherd's Cross by Mark White - Free Book Online

pub occupied equally favourable positions in the centre of
the village, over recent years it was fair to say that the pub had won the
battle to become the social hub of the community: a fact that Reverend Jackson
did not seem overly upset about; at least not publically. On the contrary, it
was widely observed that even the Reverend recently seemed to be spending more
time sitting at the bar these days than standing at the altar.
    The rest of the village green was
surrounded by a scattering of individual houses on three sides and a small
terraced row of eight houses on the fourth side; the houses all facing inwards,
as if to protect the green space where livestock had once grazed and, as was
becoming apparent to Charlotte and Olivia, where people had once died in the
most grotesque ways imaginable. Emily’s post office was situated at one end of
the terrace; her kitchen window looking directly out onto the green. The green
on which children played; where people walked their dogs and passed the time of
day with friends. The green across which, on many a dark and quiet evening,
people would stumble as they drunkenly made their way back home from The Fallen
Angel. For once, Charlotte and Olivia remained quiet for considerably longer
than usual, their minds imagining how different life must have been back then.
    ‘So I hope you’ll agree,’ smiled Emily, ‘that
there is more to Shepherd’s Cross than meets the eye. Mind you, burning a few
witches was commonplace back then; indeed you’d be hard pressed in the
seventeenth century to find a village in England that hadn’t encountered at
least one inquisition. But this place does stand out above all the others for
one reason.’
    ‘Which is?’ asked Olivia, returning to
her seat and finding her voice again.
    ‘Well, feel free to take this with a
pinch of salt, but there are archived records from a trial held in Newcastle in
1647, which document that on a cold January night, a coven of five witches
descended on Shepherd’s Cross from outside the area. Nobody knew who they were,
but apparently they weren’t your typical group of doddery old women. And
according to one source, they were responsible for several acts of evil far
removed from the usual harmless curses and healing powers attributed to your
average witch. Barns were torched, sheep were slaughtered, and a young girl by
the name of Kathryn Wick went missing; never to be seen again. Perhaps most
bizarrely, although there were few witnesses of sound mind who were prepared to
testify to its verity, was the claim that this unknown quintet of occultists
managed to call forth the Devil himself.’
    Charlotte laughed. ‘OK, OK. Now you’re
moving from the sublime to the downright ridiculous! Of all the exotic places
in the world, why would Satan decide to choose Shepherd’s Cross as his holiday
destination? I can think of far more appealing locations – this place is merely
a tiny dot on the map!’
    ‘I know,’ replied Emily, ‘but it’s
rather an interesting thought, don’t you think? Ladies, I must apologise - the
shop opens in ten minutes and there are a few administrative duties that I need
to attend to. Bronwyn, would you mind finishing the story?’
    ‘No problem, Emily,’ said Bronwyn. ‘You
carry on.’ Emily thanked her and opened the kitchen door that led to the shop
counter. Bronwyn turned to face the two guests, their faces clearly
disappointed that Emily had handed the baton of authority over to her. The
combination of her beauty and youth were more than adequate threats; they
certainly didn’t require the addition of intelligence to the mix. Nevertheless,
they remained seated and proceeded to listen to what she had to say.
    ‘In 1647, there lived in Shepherd’s
Cross a young woman by the name of Elizabeth Henshaw, who kept herself
gainfully employed as a seamstress, living in a small room at the back of the
shop where she worked. Her father was a labourer who lived and worked at a farm
not