Page 61 of A Time of Witches

Kat.

The guard with the scarred eyebrow gave an outraged howl and abruptly struck Kat across the face, the sound solid and meaty.

“For shame to strike a woman thus.” The old vicar pressed against the cage, his feeble body severely deteriorated through his incarceration. Even when holding himself upright on the bars, his head wobbled as if his neck could scarcely keep it perched atop his stick-thin body.

“Leave off, old man,” the barrel-chested jailer groused. He glared at the guard with the scar. “Let’s on with it.”

“The trollop bit me,” the scarred man complained.

“I’ve seven children at home needing their mam.” Kat lifted her head defiantly. “Ye’re lucky that was all I did. And I won’t promise not to do more.” She bared her teeth and nipped at the air over his arm.

The man jerked back, sending them all stumbling. The barrel-chested guard pulled out the key, clattering it in the lock to Sybil’s cage. Once the door swung open, the jailers threw Kat inside. She landed in a heap of green and black linen before jumping up like the ground was on fire.

“Ye’ll be hearing from my husband,” she vowed to their turned backs.

With a huff, she wiped her hair back from her face with the flat of her hand and surveyed the room. Her dress was not as filthy as the others who had been walked through the streets of Bury St. Edmunds. Perhaps her husband’s elevated status had spared her such brutality.

“Kat.” Sybil approached with Edith.

Kat caught sight of them and tsked. “Oh, ye both look awful.” She laughed at her own critical greeting, her eyes bright with tears as she pulled them in for an embrace. “And ye smell like a chamber pot.”

“If you keep up this flattery, we’re going to see you out,” Sybil offered wryly.

“Is that all there is to being free of this place?” Kat winked, and Sybil felt herself smile for the first time in days.

She had forgotten how Kat could make light of the darkest times. Likewise, she hadn’t realized how sorely she had needed that levity against the oppressive force of her predicament.

Ah, what love could do in a place filled with hate.

“What happened?” Edith asked. “How are you come to be in here?”

“My fool of a neighbor said having seven well-behaved bairns under the age of ten was unnatural.” Kat rolled her eyes. “Quite rude of her, the jealous old sow. Then they arrested me.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “And here I am in prison. How do they know I’m not with child?”

“Are you?” Sybil glanced at her friend’s flat stomach.

Kat shrugged in her unaffected way. “Probably. Ye ken I can’t hang my nightdress next to Tom’s trousers without coming away with a babe in my belly.”

Even Edith gave a little smile at the reply.

Kat lowered her voice, “My Tom will have me out of here before that Matthew Hopkins can pat himself on the back for my arrest.”

Likely Kat was correct.

Tom worked at the Guildhall Feoffees, dealing with property ownership. What weight he did not carry in wealth, he made up for with influence. Especially after taking on several roles for officials who refused to travel during the war. And a man on his own with seven children would not be able to apply himself sufficiently at his trade.

“Jacinda.” The name caught in Sybil’s throat. “Pray, tell me news of her.”

The fire cooled from Kat’s gaze. “She is well, Sybil. Yer servants have been loyal, seeing to her and ensuring the estate is secure. There have been many who circle it, the vultures. Anne and Bess have tried to see ye, to bring food and ale and fresh clothes, but they’re always turned away.”

Sybil’s tense body relaxed somewhat. Yes, the food, ale, and clothing might have been a wonderful luxury, but the disappointment at their denial was outweighed by the relief that Jacinda was safe.

“Have there been any rumors about Jacinda?” Sybil asked in an almost imperceptible whisper. “That she might be sent here next?”

Kat shook her head. “I’ve kept my ear keen to the ground for such news and there’s naught a word of it.”

Sybil put her hand over her heart where a knot of tension loosened for the first time in days. “I never told Jacinda,” she admitted, face hot with shame. “I never told her…well, anything. I should have, but I worried about the danger.”