Upon hearing the above, I jumped in surprise and at the same time, scared. Would these people be capable of murdering a supposed witch? I couldn't believe the tremendous savagery of this world and its vile notion of justice. Especially that all of this was orchestrated by my wife.
"How do you know she's a witch?" I asked for.
"It was discovered in the cemetery," the bishop said. "A resident of Sorenberg found her prostrate in one of the graves making a circle on the ground and invoking the dead. The resident, frightened, ran towards the royal authorities and we quickly responded to the call and his immediate arrest. "We have had her since yesterday in the dungeon."
"Take me to her," I exclaimed in a strong, clear voice, because deep down I was angry that they would do that to a person.
"Your majesty, are you planning to release her?" asked the dismayed bishop.
"Of course, we cannot give such inhuman treatment to a person whom we are not even sure is guilty of the king's death. "We must give him a fair trial."
"Impossible, we cannot allow that. She is a witch, we cannot treat her the same as we do," said Queen Bartolomea.
At that, I began to reflect in my mind, How could I free the witch and find out if she is the murderer? I started walking in circles until an idea came to mind.
"I know!" I exclaimed. "You say she is capable of summoning the dead, right? Well, how about we make him invoke the spirit of King Alaric, so that he can tell us the true identity of the murderer."
"And if the murderer turns out to be the witch or any of the witches, Melissa will be punished at the stake. "Does this deal seem fair to you, Prince Ferdinand?" said Queen Bartholomea.
"That seems fair," I replied bitterly. "Let's go to the dungeon."
Leaving the castle hall, we began to follow Bishop Sigmund. He headed towards an armor-shaped statue. He grabbed her arm and pulled her down. Suddenly a secret passage began to open in the floor. We went down some stone stairs and finally entered the dungeon.
It was a gloomy and dirty place. It was only illuminated by some very damaged torches and with reddish lighting. There were rats running from cell to cell, mold on the walls, cells with rusty bars. But something caught my attention more than anything. There was no one imprisoned in the dungeon, so I asked the king.
"Your majesty, I see that the dungeon is completely empty, where are all the prisoners?" I asked for.
"The new law proclaims that criminals be executed at the stake or by hanging, so the dungeon has remained empty for decades, we only have the witch there because it is a special case for us. "It's a fairer deal than locking them up in this dirty place, don't you think, prince?"
"I guess," I said, until we got to one cell in particular, it was the witch's cell. This one had a cleaner look than the others. The bars were not rusty but a little damaged, they looked bent, some had burn marks, the first thing I imagined was that the witch might have tried to escape with a spell.
Looking into the cell, the witch was sitting on a rather rustic wooden seat. I was surprised that she was not chained since she was supposed to be a very dangerous prisoner, so I asked the king.
"Your majesty, the witch has no chains on her arms or legs. You don't think you can escape? Or don't you think it could be dangerous since it could attack us with a spell?"
"Don't worry, prince," Bishop Sigmund told me, "the witch can only perform magic with the help of a magic stone like a kind of crystal. Fortunately, when she was captured, that stone was taken from one of her hands, although it is not necessary for her to carry the stone to perform magic, just by having it in her pocket she can cast spells."
Having said that, I approached the cell with greater confidence, taking the bars with both hands I told the witch.
"Witch, you're Melissa, right? Well, we have made a deal to free you as long as you pass a test. It is not hard to do. But this evidence could give you away or could mark you as innocent of having killed King Alaric."
"What is it about? Are they really accusing me of killing the king? I have already told you that I did not kill the king. There is no evidence against me. I am completely innocent. I order you to release me, otherwise…"
"Otherwise, what…?" said.
"Otherwise," Melissa continued, making a subtle mischievous smile. "The other witches will come to my rescue and destroy this dirty Christian town. Surely they are already planning the entire attack from their hiding place, it will be a rain of fire, I assure you. "I'm already imagining all of you running in fear when you see us flying through the skies."
"Melissa," I said, "please don't do it, you'll only sink deeper. Accept the deal and you will be released, you will be able to return to your community and your loved ones. There will be no regrets."
"What is the deal?" Melissa said.
"The deal is, you invoke the spirit of Queen Alaric," the bishop said, approaching the cell, frowning. "We want to contact you to ask you some questions."
"One moment. The witch could create an illusion instead of summoning Alaric's true spirit. How then can we trust you? "How do we know you will tell the truth, witch?" Bartolomea said.
"Calm down," I said. "Melissa, we can trust you, right?"
"Of course, an illusion like the one you propose is something that we witches cannot do. Don't believe in nonsense. What I can do is invoke the spirit of the queen so that he himself can tell you the truth about who murdered him."
"Okay, deal," I said. "Now let's get her out of this dirty place."