Mistress Ellis felt the chains tight around her wrists, behind the post. Her natural blonde hair had been roughly shaved, her head now a stubble of her former glory.

She looked out at the gathering crowd, looking for at least one friendly face, but could see none.

The logs piled beneath her would soon bring relief, excruciating relief. It would all be over, but she knew that the intense pain would be much more than she could handle. She so wanted the knife wound that would stop her feeling the pain, but she knew it was never going to come. Mistress Ellis would not be allowed that small gift.

Her charge had been one of Enchantment. Apparently, she had used her charms to guile younger men to have carnal knowledge of her. it had always been untrue, but she had still been found guilty. Her pain racked body would take no more, and she had eventually confessed, simply to stop the pain. And now, she stood on the high platform. Watching the wicker and logs being piled under her, in readiness for the last moments.

It had begun a week ago. Was it only that short time?

Mistress Ellis had been about her normal tasks when they had entered her house. Three heavily armed men had arrested her, and told her of her charges. Apparently, she had seduced three men of the village into performing carnal acts with her, unknown to her Man. She had used her witchcraft to entice them, and force them to have sex with her.

She protested her innocence, but the three men were not listening to her. she had charges to answer, and she would answer them. They were oblivious to screams of innocence.

Her hands had been dragged roughly behind her and bound by two of the men, as the third read her charges out to her.

One of her victims was so upset by what had happened, that he had informed the authorities of her witchcraft. It was her undoing, though she would plead innocent of the charge, they would never accept such a plea,

Mistress Ellis had been taken to the main office, where another man had written her name on the sheet before him. Her pleas of innocence were being ignored, and even then she knew her fate was sealed. All she could do was try to prove her innocence. The alternative was far too painful to be anything but innocent.

As a widow, with no children of her own, Mistress Ellis was expected to help raise the children of the village. She would stay true to the memory of her husband, and take no other man to her bed chamber.

But Mistress Ellis was still young, only twenty three  when Samuel Ellis had died in an accident. They had been married but six months, and in that time Samuel had awoken the woman inside her. his death meant she should allow it to die again, and had she been in her later years, she many well have done so. but at such a tender age, with the knowledge still new in her, this was no easy matter.

She had taken three men into her bed since Samuel had died, in the hope that one of them would choose her as his wife, and end her time alone. But none had, and when Jackson Williams had sampled her delights, and then married another village maiden, she knew he would denounce her. she was right.

Jackson, instead of telling that he had almost forced himself on her, suggested that she had enchanted him using witchcraft, brought him to her bed and seduced her with her womanly charms.

The other men who had also enjoyed her charms also spoke out to say that they too had been enchanted by her golden hair, her eyes, and had felt compelled to have carnal knowledge of her, against their will.

Arrested, Mistress Ellis knew that few, if any, ever were able to prove their innocence, but it was her only hope. No matter how thin that hope was, it was all she had to cling to. Justice.

Taken to the village castle, and placed deep in its dungeons, she was tied to large rings in the wall, her hands high above her head, her legs splayed  Mistress Ellis waited for the inquisitors. She would simply explain that she had been looking for a new husband, and they would release her.

Until she saw the inquisitors, that was how she expected t6hings to happen. The man who entered her dungeon wore a heavy metal mask that hid his features from view. She would never know who he was, having come from another village to question her.

Witch finders moved from village to village, town to town, exposing and putting to death any witch they found. They had no real home, and though they were respected everywhere they went, they were also feared. Even innocent villagers hid when a witch finder came to town. To catch the eye of them, could prove fatal.

The witch finder stood before Mistress Ellis saying nothing, looking at the eyes of the victim.

Two men entered, carrying a large, heavy chest, placing it against one wall. And leaving as quickly as they could, trying not to catch the eye of the inquisitor. Once more Mistress Ellis was alone with the inquisitor, and a shiver ran through her whole being as she looked at the chest.

Stories abounded of the things inquisitors did to get confessions, but none based on actual fact. But stories become folklore, and become frightening fact, despite any truth in them. Mistress Ellis, like so many others, had heard the stories. Hence the shiver.

When he eventually spoke, the inquisitor’s voice was soft, gentle.

“Mistress Ellis. There have been charges laid at your door, and it is our task to discover the truth, and to prove your innocence if we can. We must do our bests, Mistress, as failure would bring a future of unmentionable pain and suffering, and we would wish to avoid that were it possible”

The tone of the inquisitor took Mistress Ellis by surprise. She had expected him to bark out her guilt, waiting for her to announce her innocence, and then beat her. his gentle tone, and the announcement that they should prove her innocence threw her mind into turmoil.

She began to explain that she was, in fact, simply looking for a new husband to take the place of Samuel, after his untimely death, and had not used any charms or devil worship to enchant anyone to her bed chamber. Each had come willingly.

The inquisitor held up a hand to stop her.

“Already, Mistress Ellis, you are condemning yourself, and I pray you stop before you go too far. In a single statement you have already noted that you have, indeed, had several men into your5 inner chamber, and have fornicated with them. Our laws state that a single wench can have no carnal knowledge outside of wedlock, and yet, you have affirmed you have had such with several men. Your reasoning’s are understood, you wish to replace your provider, your husband, who died so tragically. But by doing so, you place yourself outside our laws. Please, think carefully before you speak Mistress. Or I cannot save you.

The inquisitor’s voice had changed subtly, from gentle to stern, admonishing her for her transgressions.

Mistress Ellis knew, at that point, that she had, in fact, sealed her own fate. At some time he was going to ask how she had managed to embrace so many men to her bosom, unless she had enchanted them. Even so, she still hoped and believed that she would be found innocent. As the inquisitor had said, any other decision, and the suffering would be unmentionable.

“Tell me of your husband. I believe you had known each other for some time before wedlock”

Mistress Ellis spoke again.

“I had met Samuel on the farm, when we were gathering hay. I was tired, and he brought me a cup of water. I smiled and thanked him, and the next day he also brought me water, and continued to do so. our parents knew each other from church, though not in the community, as we lived in separate areas of the village”

“did you smile at Samuel every time he brought you water?”

“I an not sure, Sire. I may have done. It was hot weather and the water brought me comfort. So it is possible I did so.”

The general questioning went on for over two hours, the inquisitor never raising his voice. Then, almost as an aside, the inquisitor asked the one question Mistress Ellis feared most.

“So you were virginal on your wedding night? When Samuel first took you to the matrimonial bed?”

Mistress Ellis hesitated. If she lied, her faith would be shattered, she had never told a lie in her life. If she told the truth, she was adding to her list of sins.

“No, Sire. I was not” she eventually whispered.

“But did not Samuel’s father, and your own father, see you deflowered on the wedding night?”

“Yes Sire, but it was an illusion. We had been collecting hay one day when Samuel and I were teasing each other. The teasing went a little further than usual, and Samuel was unable to stop himself. It hurt, and I bled, but he still could not stop himself. When I told him that out fathers would expect to see the blood he had already shed, he suggested a small bag of chicken blood, inserted into me, before the fathers arrived, would pierce as he took me, giving the illusion my virginity was intact”.

“Was this the only time Samuel and you shared a bed, or in this case, the hay before you wed?”

Again Mistress Ellis paused.

“No Sire, we did not marry for several months, and we shared  a number of moments. As Samuel said, why be hung for a chicken when we would be hung for a hen. There were several such moments.”

Even then, if not earlier, Mistress Ellis was sealing her fate, and knew it. To prove her innocence she would find it no easy matter.

“I need to go away and thing” the inquisitor said, as he walked to the door. He stopped and walked back in front of her.

“One other thing, I need to check your body for blemishes. If your body is still blemish free there is still a chance.”

With that the inquisitor drew a knife from his tunic and placed it at the neck of Mistress Ellis’s frock, slowly dragging the blade down, and cutting through the simple sack cloth. Beneath it, Mistress Ellis wore nothing, so as the frock opened, her nudity became apparent. Single wenches could wear underwear, but married women were expected to be available to their husbands at all times, and were hence denied underwear. Even though she was a widow, she had chosen to keep to the married edict.

The inquisitor looked over her naked body, checking for blemishes, but making no comments. Only then did he leave the dungeon, leaving Mistress Ellis still chained to the wall, but now without her frock. She would either win her freedom, and another frock, or would wear no frock until the end. How many men would see her nakedness was not to be guessed at, but it was humiliating that they would do so.

The light was beginning to fade through the small window in her dungeon. As Mistress Ellis heard the door open, and the two men who had earlier brought the large chest into the room, came to collect it again, breathing heavily as they did so. a few minutes later, one of the men returned and collected the shredded remnants of her frock, leaving her alone, chained, and naked. She knew the real inquisition had not yet started. Fear shook her body, and she felt herself unable to control her body as she began to urinate, even before the man had left the dungeon.

More ashamed than ever, Mistress Ellis closed her eyes, and began to weep.

When the morning came, Mistress Ellis expected some form of sustenance, but it never appeared. She was left alone with her thoughts for the whole day, her hunger growing, and her thirst. She had formed a number of puddles between her legs, and she had also been forced by nature to empty her bowels. The smell slowly filling her dungeon.

The inquisitor had not re-appeared, nor had the men who had taken the heavy chest, and her frock. In fact, no-one came into her dungeon at all. Her arms ached, hr legs, being tied wide open also hurt, and she had long since began to slump into her restraints. The worst thing was the silence. Pure silence. Not a ingle sound had invaded her dungeon since the chest had been removed the night before, and night was already starting to draw in. Mistress Ellis knew that this was a part of the process, to weaken her before the real inquisition began. But she had no idea when that would be. She had expected it to have started already. Little did she know, it had. Starving her for three days would make her less able to handle what came later.

The inquisitor wanted a result, and he had, so far, never failed. He had no intention of failing this time. she had already given enough information to condemn herself, but he needed her to confess to witchcraft. And she would.

He stood in the dungeon next door looking over his equipment. Making sure it was all ready when the time came. No=one had died during questioning, but no-one had yet been found innocent. It was in the soft approach he had adopted on first arrival. If he could get the witch to talk freely before hand, he could always use4this against her when the time came. And Mistress Ellis had given him enough ammunition to bring about her own demise. All he had to do now, was ensure that it was witchcraft. And he would.

It was three whole days before Mistress Ellis was collected. She had little strength left, and needed to be carried to the dungeon next door, where the inquisitor was waiting for her.

The two men who had moved the box twice, now carried her into the dungeon where the inquisition would take place, and laid her on a wooden frame, tying her arms and legs to wheels at each corner. As the two men began to slowly turn the wheels, her arms and legs were stretched wide and to the side. She could feel the pressure on her knees and ankles, as the wheels continued to turn.

“Mistress Ellis. You already stand convicted of seducing four men, all of them outside wedlock. Your husband, and three others. You are charged that you have done so through your witches ability to enchant people. How do you plead?”

she knew, as she had always known, that her own evidence was being used against her. she had admitted carnal knowledge with them, and knew that she would suffer for it. But she could not agree to being a witch.

“I plead innocence Sire. I have never used any form of witchcraft to entice anyone to my bed chambers. I was simply looking for a new husband”

“Lets look at the evidence so far, shall we?” the inquisitor began. “You enticed a man your parents did not know to have carnal knowledge with you several times prior to marriage. You then invite him to fool your own and his father to believe on the wedding night, that you are a virgin, by the use of a chicken’s blood. Then, using witchcraft, you engineered an accident that took his life, and allowed you to charm others into your bed chamber. You are charged with enchantment, and as I see it so far, you are guilty. Have you anything to say?”.

Mistress Ellis knew she could not defend herself., these were all things she had told him so long ago. But she did deny the witchcraft element. She also denied implicitly in his untimely death.

At that moment her hands were released from the rack, but even before she could do anything, the inquisitor placed her hands in a wooden vice, trapping her fingers.  as he tightened the screws, the vice drove deep into her fingers, crushing the knuckles.. she screamed in pain as the vice tightened even more, her knuckles crushing as the screw tightened even more..

Within minutes it became apparent her fingers would be of no more use to her. and still the screw turned. If she survived this, she would never use her hands again. Her fingers were now twisted and crushed.

“Do you confess to being a witch?” asked the inquisitor.

Mistress Ellis shook her head, the pain was excruciating, but she could not admit to a lie. She could not admit to being a witch.

Her fingers were released, and her hands once again tied to the top corners of the rack upon which she was held.

The inquisitor looked in his chest and pulled an item from it. It looked like appear, made of metal.

“You have admitted to carnal knowledge with four men?”

Mistress Ellis knew that to deny this would be futile. She had, counting Samuel. Had carnal knowledge of four men. Suddenly, it sounded like an army of men

The inquisitor moved the metal pear between Mistress Ellis’s open legs.

“After this, you will never feel a man between your legs. this will tear your sex apart. The apparatus has several spikes, and once inserted and screwed open. The spikes will drive into your womanhood, and prevent the device ever being removed. This will prevent you enticing other men to your bed chamber”.

With that, the inquisitor began to slowly press the head of the pear ay her vagina. It was not an easy fit, but he forced it between her lips, and deep into her pussy. Only when he was satisfied that it was fully inserted did he begin to twist the screw.

At first it simply filled Mistress Ellis’s pussy, but as the inquisitor began to twist the screw, she could feel it opening wide inside her, filling her even more, and then the spikes, as they began to dig into her flesh, embedding themselves, declaring their  presence. She knew it was tearing her inner pussy apart. Forcing it wide, but unusable.

No-one would ever gain entrance to her again.

Her screams filled the air, as the pear began to open, but she was unable to fight the pressure it was creating.,

She had never felt pain like this before, and it simply would not stop coming. The inquisitor had seemed so gentle when he was talking to her upon his first arrival, but now, now he was like the devil’s own son, as he opened the pear inside her.

Mistress Ellis wanted to die, to stop the pain, but the pain continued, as the inquisitor pulled a whip from his chest. Without warning, he brought the whip down across her breasts, it many leather tynes ripping deep into the soft flesh of her breasts. Her screams were like those of a banshee, as the inquisitor began to whip them harder, moving from her breasts, and towards her stomach, then back again. There seemed to be no area safe from the man, as the whip continued to lash at her weakened body.

Unconsciousness claimed her when the pain became unbearable, but even that was no release from the tortures the inquisitor bestowed upon her. she may not feel the pain as the tortures were applied,  but she would feel them when she regained consciousness.

The two assistants removed the limp body of the woman from the rack, and placed her in a high backed wooden chair,, securing her arms behind the chair with ropes, pulling her body back into the chair.

The inquisitor pulled a large wooden block from his chest, and slowly began to open it. Once fully opened it was placed at the foot of the chair, and enclosed her left foot. The inside of the block hid a sharp metal spike, that pressed hard against Mistress Ellis’s foot. As the inquisitor began to slowly screw the wooden box closed, the spike was driven deep into her foot. As the box closed and began to crush her foot, the spike drove itself through her foot. Never again would she be able to walk of her own free will. If she survived the inquisition, she would always need help.

Taking one last piece of equipment from his box, the inquisitor stood before the unconscious woman. In his hand he held two pieces of curved metal, held together by screws. In the middle of the top section were two metal spikes. Opening Mistress Ellis’s mouth, the inquisitor dragged her tongue out, and placed it between the two pieces of metal, before starting to turn the screws. As he did so, the two pieced began to close on each other, forcing the twin spikes through the woman’s tongue.

The spikes would prevent her from drawing her tongue back into her mouth, and the pressure of her tongue would hold the curved metal to her face. The inquisitor had named this piece of equipment “the witch’s gag”, with good reason.

Satisfied that his work for the day was done. The inquisitor and his assistants left the dungeon, leaving the helpless woman still fastened to the chair.

During the night Mistress Ellis lapsed from consciousness to unconsciousness several times, feeling the agony of her body as she did so. her mouth was dry, and she could not understand why she could not swallow as she should be able to do. It took her some time to realise her tongue had been extended and secured. Her ankle caused pain she had never felt before, and her broken hands had swollen badly.

It was the start of dawn when the dungeon door opened, and the inquisitor entered again.

He stood before the pain racked woman, his face still covered by the mask he had worn throughout her ordeal.

“Mistress Ellis. You have been found guilty of the charge of enchantment. You first used this on Samuel Ellis, to such an extent that you seduced him and forced him into a marriage he was not ready for. You then used witchcraft to fool his and your own father into believing that Samuel was taking a virgin to the wedding bed.. using further witchcraft you engineered an accident where Samuel Ellis was killed, leaving you free to enchant other unsuspecting men, and bring them to your bed chamber.”

Mistress Ellis tried to shout her innocence, but the metal gag that held her tongue prevented any sound coming from her, as the inquisitor continued.

“In a few hours you will be taken to the village square, where your platform of purification had already been assembled. Here, on this platform you will taste the flames of purification. Had you admitted these charges yourself, one of my assistants would have plunged a knife into you as the flames rose, but your failure to admit these charges, prevents that from happening. You will be forced to taste the flames until death takes you. In a few minutes your hair will be cut from your head, and you will be taken to your purification.”

With that, the inquisitor walked out of her vision. He would be able to manufacture a new boot within a few days, and the remainder of his equipment would be rescued from the ashes by one of his assistants.

He had already received word of another witch several days away, and had sent word he would be with them soon. He would not see Mistress Ellis burn, but his assistants would bring word of her to him.

Mistress Ellis felt the chains tight around her wrists, behind the post. Her natural blonde hair had been roughly shaved, her head now a stubble of her former glory.

She looked out at the gathering crowd, looking for at least one friendly face, but could see none.

The logs piled beneath her would soon bring relief, excruciating relief. It would all be over, but she knew that the intense pain would be much more than she could handle. She so wanted the knife wound that would stop her feeling the pain, but she knew it was never going to come. Mistress Ellis would not be allowed that small gift.

Her whole body was wracked with pain, as one of the village elders set fire to several torches. These were distributed evenly around the pile of wood that now surrounded the condemned woman.

Upon his word, the torches were placed into the woodpile, as Mistress Ellis began to pray silently for help from Gad. Even now, her faith in God had not wavered. She knew he was waiting for her.

Her screams were loud moans as the fires began to burn beneath her, the gag preventing her from screaming properly.

She felt the heat grow s the flames began to flicker around her feet, her still naked and exposed body coated in an oil to make it burn.

The villagers screamed out that the witch should die, as the children turned their faces away, unable to watch as the flames grew slowly higher, beginning to encompass the witch.

What happened next has became legend, though no-one knows exactly what happened. From the back of the baying crowd came a small explosion, and a lead ball headed directly for the forehead of Mistress Ellis. Imbedding itself in her brain, and killing her before the flames could do so.

Someone screamed, as her limp body began to be consumed by the flames, but still none attempted to douse them. She had been condemned to burn, and burn she would.

Days later, the rumour started, and soon became fact. Samuel Ellis had risen from his grave and placed the shot in his wife’s head before she could be consumed by the flames.

No-one could explain how this could have happened, until it was decided that Mistress Ellis had used her last act of witchcraft to save herself from the flames, dragging her dead husband from his grave to save her.

Did she?