CHAPTER 6
Brygida threw open her door and rushed outside as the first torch sailed through the air, landing on her thatched roof.
The dry thatch caught fire and spread quickly. Jadwiga and her newborn son were still within. They were at risk from the fire inside, but they’d be at the mercy of the cultists outside.
Brygida hesitated in the doorway. One way or the other, she’d need help to keep the mother and baby safe.” Urszula!”
Outside, women cloaked in black with the white horned serpent on their chests—inquisitors—closed in around her, surrounding the cottage.
She grasped for her vial of lake water, trying to summon the wrath of the blood, but it did not come to her. Not so much as a drop to extinguish the fire.
“You, who have spit on the face of Holy Weles, shall be cleansed by h
