Season Of The Witch (Men of Lancaster County #3)

1. Prologue

Prologue

L ancaster County, Pennsylvania

Lightning crackled in the night sky, illuminating a large barn and three figures on the grass in front of it. Two young men knelt, heads hanging low, and a stern figure in a black hat, long gray beard, and shirtsleeves towered over them, hands lifted to the sky.

"Almighty God! I ask for your strength and wisdom to confront this great sorrow!"

Shame burned through Elijah. He fervently wished he would wake up and find this was all a spiteful trick of his sleeping brain. But it was truly happening. He glanced at Jacob. Jacob's eyes were fixed on the ground, his face a mask of guilt and anguish.

The sight stirred something in Elijah—anger, rebellion. Jacob ought not look so ashamed. They loved one another. How could that be wrong? He raised his eyes defiantly to Dawdi, his grandfather. The old man's face, in the light of the lantern he held, was ablaze with shock and fury.

"Jacob Stoltzfus! You gave vows to God before the congregation when you wed your bride. And what of the two little ones at home? You sin against them, and your Lord, when you dally in the dark with this one here. You have betrayed your family and the Word of God!"

Jacob choked back a sob and nodded.

Elijah wanted to shout, no ! But he still had enough fear of Dawdi to hold his tongue.

"I repent," Jacob sobbed. "I do repent. God forgive me. I am weak."

The fracture in Jacob's voice hurt Elijah's heart nearly as much as the words. He squeezed his eyes shut. Had he expected Jacob to fight for him? For them? To hold fast to their love? He was bending like a reed in the wind.

"Jacob, if your repentance is sincere, and if you make a solemn vow before me and before God, right now, that you will never repeat this sin, I'll not tell anyone what I witnessed here tonight. Do you so vow?"

"Ja! Ja, I vow it! I swear on the bible!"

Elijah opened his eyes to see Jacob looking up hopefully at Dawdi. It started to rain. Fat, cold drops struck Elijah like rebukes. They mingled with the tears on Jacob's handsome face.

Dawdi looked to heaven, hands raised. The lantern swung in the wind as he listened for God's judgment.

"Jacob," Elijah whispered. But Jacob refused to look at him.

Dawdi nodded and muttered a prayer. "God accepts your repentance, Jacob Stoltzfus. I will take your word. But I have eyes on you, and so does God. If you sin again, we will know it. Everyone in the congregation will know."

"Never again, I swear it!"

"Then go and never speak again to my grandson!" Dawdi waved the lantern.

Jacob leaped to his feet and ran. Elijah didn't watch him go. The pain in his chest was sharp and stabbing and so bad he wondered if his heart was dying. He was alone in this. All alone. Had Jacob ever really cared for him?

How had Dawdi found them in the barn? Why had he gone out there so late? It surely didn't matter now. Yet Elijah could not comprehend what was happening.

"Elijah."

Reluctantly, Elijah looked up at him.

Dawdi's eyes burned, the lantern reflecting in their dark depths like twin flames. He shook his head sorrowfully. "I told you, and I told you. Did I not tell you the dangers of acting on the urges of the woman-spirit inside you?"

Elijah said nothing.

"You have perverted your gift! God help your soul. And mine, for teachin' you the braucherei!"

Elijah lowered his eyes to Dawdi's waist, unable to meet his gaze anymore. The shame inside him burned brighter. But so, too, did the anger. He wanted to say, I can’t live only for braucherei. I can't! But there was no arguing with his grandfather.

"Your actions are thrice-wrong, Elijah! A threefold sin! That you lay with someone outside of marriage is sin enough, but that it was a man, and a married man at that! How could you do such a thing after all the time and care I took in trainin' you? I don't understand, Elijah. You have spat in my face. Ja! Spat in my face!"

The genuine agony in Dawdi's voice pierced Elijah's anger and caused the first tears to well up in his eyes. "I'm truly sorry I hurt you, Dawdi. But this has nothin' to do with the work. Or my trainin'."

"How can you say such a thing? How many times have I told you, Satan will try to get a foothold in your soul and turn your gifts to his will. How do you think that happens, Elijah, if not through sin? And particularly sins of the flesh."

"But, I swear, I—"

"No! No, stop makin' excuses."

The rain was steady now, and the cold and wet only added to Elijah's misery. The damp grass soaked through the knees of his pants and his bare feet ached with cold. Colder still was the creeping dread in his heart, the knowing.

For he had seen this scene before. He'd seen the dark night, the lightning, the rain. He'd seen Dawdi standing as imperial judge. He had foreseen it. And he knew what happened next. But he didn't know if he was strong enough to go through with it.

"This is what we must do," Dawdi solemnly intoned. "We will go to the woodshed. It brings me no pleasure, but you must be beaten for this. Ja, well beaten. For the good of your soul, so you will never forget. You must remember the pain and not the pleasure."

Elijah looked up, shocked. No. He was nineteen, too old for the woodshed, surely. His heart began to race with fear. He'd only got the switch once when he was ten, and he'd never gotten over it.

"Then you will stick to your room and fast and pray for a week."

"Dawdi!"

"Do not speak. You will fast and pray for seven days. You will take only water. At the end of that time, you will repent, on your knees, before me and before God, and swear to never sin like this again. Then, and only then, we will see if there is any way for you to continue to practice braucherei, or if I must send you back to your family in shame."

Lightning split the sky again, and Elijah wished for it to strike him dead. Or for it to hit the barn. Or maybe burn the entire world. Anything that would end this.

Something stirred in his chest, insistent. No.

"You will never so much as look at a man again, Elijah. You will wed, in time, to a girl of my choosing. Or, if you will not, you must stay celibate for life. But you will never again act on this urge. Never!"

Elijah clenched his jaw.

"Now come. Let's get this done." Dawdi turned, heading for the woodshed.

Slowly, Elijah stood. Strange how, now that the moment was here, it was so clear. The path before him, terrible as it was, opened up, and there was no turning back. "No. I will not."

Dawdi was taller than him, and always would be, and now he turned and raised himself even taller with indignation. "What did you say?"

"I said no. I'm a man grown. You will not beat me in the woodshed. And I will not starve for a week. Jacob was married, and that was wrong, and I am willin' to repent for that. But I… I can't believe wantin' love is wrong, that lovin' someone is a sin, even if it is a man. I don't believe that, Dawdi!"

It was the first time he'd dared say it out loud, and it caused his stomach to clench in fear. But he meant it, and he would not take it back.

Dawdi stared at him in shock. Thunder rolled in the distance.

"If you truly believe that, you are already lost," Dawdi whispered.

Elijah raised his chin. "Then I guess I am."

"You will do as I proscribe, Elijah, as God proscribes, startin’ this very night, or you will be shunned. Do you understand the precipice you stand on? Be very careful, son. Think!"

Elijah swallowed hard. "I understand."

Dawdi stared at him for a long moment, his brow perplexed. Then sorrow filled his eyes, and he shook his head. "This is truly what you choose?"

Elijah closed his eyes and searched for the inner voice inside him, for his angel, for any comfort or help. But he only heard distant thunder. Even so, he knew what he had to do. There was no other choice.

"Ja, Dawdi. I'll go and pack my things."