Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt

his member did shrink. God's foot, our Bess! You should have seen it."
    Full blasphemous, she teased that she'd pray to Saint Uncumba, the patroness of women who wished to be rid of their husbands, and with God's grace the saint would help me get shot of Ned Southerns one way or other. So Anne jibed and told bawdy jokes till I roiled with laughter and could no longer pity myself or even feel shame for what I'd done.
    If that wasn't true friendship, what was? A sad thing that we only saw each other of a Sunday now that we'd no more holidays or the leisure to do much besides stand for hours in the church on the Sabbath or toil for our bread the other days of the week. Her cottage, over in West Close, lay five miles from Malkin Tower, over an hour's journey by foot.
    What I wouldn't give to turn my back on those prodding eyes in the congregation, link arms with her, and set off through the meadows as we used to do. With the strange turn my life had taken, I needed her more than ever. Full of longing, I shot her another glance. Full brazen, she winked.

    After the hours of preaching were done, Anne, bless her, was first out the door with her daughters in her wake. I made to follow, hoping to catch up, but as I stumbled blinking into the sunlight, Master and Mistress Holden waylaid me. Little Matthew was stood between them. How proud and pleased the parents looked, how they beamed at me, and how glum was that little lad's face. Wager the mite half-wished he was still ill so he could spare his ears the Curate's dreary sermon. But anybody could see how Matty was thriving since I had blessed him. Whether it was by my charm or by the lungwort, only God could say. After the Holdens had thanked me again and taken their leave, I saw Anne waiting for me at the wicket gate. So I told Liza to go on without me, and Anne sent her two girls home, Betty watching over little Annie.

    Mindful of eavesdroppers, my friend and I strayed from the road, finding a narrow track that cut into the green near Pendle Water. The mossy earth cushioned our bare feet as we wove our way between birch trees and felt the dance of sun and shadow upon our faces.
    "Tongues are wagging about you, our Bess," Anne said. "Always had a surprise up your sleeve. Now I turn round and you're a charmer."
    "I know you don't hold with such things yourself," I was quick to say.
    Ever the sceptic was Anne, far too full of common sense to suffer those who claimed to work miracles.
All that chanted drivel,
I'd heard her say before.
Worse gibberish than what we had to hear from the old priests. Give me a good herbwife to lay on a poultice, but spare me the incantation.
    "It's a dangerous path you're treading," she said. "Did you not hear about the conjurer over Burnley way?"
    I shook my head. Living at Malkin Tower, I could not keep track of the gossip the way Anne could, living as she did between Burnley and Fence.
    "He used the spell of the sieve and shears to discover the whereabouts of stolen goods. The Magistrate had him arrested. He was sentenced to be pilloried not once, but four times, Bess: in Clitheroe, Whalley, Colne, and Lancaster. And he's been warned that should he ever deal in sorcery again, he's to be hanged."
    Considering how I'd barely endured the pillory that single instance, I couldn't fathom how anybody could bear to go through it four times. Perhaps hanging would be kinder. Overpowered by everything, I just wanted to hide myself away and never speak about this to anyone again. Yet I could never conceal my true face from Anne.
    "Spells and spirits," she said. "It's not what I would have wished for you, love."
    I gazed into her eyes, green as the moss beneath our feet.
    "By Our Lady, I didn't wish this on myself either."
    Struggling over my every word, I tried to describe what had come over me that day at Bull Hole Farm, how the powers I scarce understood had surged through me with a will of their own and I their mere vessel.
    Anne's mouth folded upon itself. Her