I never got Fulk's words directly regarding what happened in those days, but I was able to interview Levanna, before she was taken off to the stake.

Levanna's home was only a day's ride from Isselhan and hidden away in the woods. Charms hung in the trees, the spells upon which would fill any unwelcome guest with dread if they started to draw too near to Levanna's hut.

The day started out like so many others. Levanna awoke to the sun shining in upon her face. She cast aside her fur blankets and rose from her bed to don a loose-fitting dress. From her pantry she took dried meat for her breakfast, tearing way the strips of venison with her teeth.

As usual, when she headed to the front door, she saw that one of her cats had left a decapitated rat in the entryway. Levanna assumed the same cat who left her this delightfully morbid little present was the one rubbing against her bare calf. She reached down and petted her little feline friend. "Good boy."

The rats remains she soon gathered up and shoved into a jar, one filled with a fluid which would preserve it's body until she had a use for it.

Once outside, Levanna took in the sounds of the crows' cawing all around her. The black birds were believed by many to be an ill-omen, which comforted her in the certainty that no one would go deep enough into this forest to find her.

She walked amidst a garden of herbs, spices, and mushrooms to her well. With several turns of the crank, she brought up a bucket full of water and poured it into a trough running along her house's walls. The water ran through the trough, then leaked through holes in the bottom to soak the soil in which she'd planted her herbs.

Crouching down, the witch saw that some of the nettles were almost fully grown, but the lavender was struggling.

I'm in for a few sleepless nights this fall, she thought.

The fluttering of the crows' wings as they fled the trees let her know that an intruder drew near. Someone had braved the dread charms and all the other terrors of the forest to get this far. In times long past, she might have gone for her dagger, but she'd long since learned that if something actually came this far into the forest a knife was of little use to her.

A snapped twig, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching. A bipedal creature. One wearing boots. Human or a headless man? No, not a headless man. This individual walked on his own. Levanna sniffed the air, and caught a strong, masculine scent.

"Dashiel," she said as she turned to face the intruder.

His plague doctor mask was long gone, and his face was now covered in bandages. This man with a heart as black as hers drew near, fierce determination in his eyes as he seized Levanna's throat and pushed her back against the outer wall of her house.

Though he had her trachea in his fingers, he did not squeeze.

Levanna grinned at the intruder and gently caressed his forearm. "As strong as ever, I see."

"I told you," said he, "that if you ever said that name again I'd kill you."

"Is that why you've come all this way, Fulk?" said Levanna. "To kill me? I can't imagine seeing me dead is worth all that."

Fulk released her and sneered. "No. I need to ask you something, and you're going to be helpful this time, you know why?"

Levanna barely suppressed a giggle. "No, why?"

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Because no one's here to stop me from flaying you if you don't help me," said Fulk.

"I do like a man who knows what he wants and how to get it," said Levanna. She could tell that for as fierce as Fulk tried to act, her smile was unnerving him. But, more than that, something much deeper had this man spooked. "Why don't you come in and we'll talk?" Levanna turned to the door and walked back in the house, with three cats scattering out of her way.

Fulk entered as he was bid, ducking in the doorway as he came in.

Levanna took a seat on a stool and crossed her legs, giving Fulk a brief view up her skirts. A view he pretended not to have noticed. "Sit down. Tell me what troubles you."

Fulk hesitated for a moment, but eventually sat down on a stool opposite from the witch. He rolled back his sleeve. "Ever see something like this?" When he exposed his forearm to her, Levanna saw that the skin had turned pale and the veins showed black on his arms and seemed to squirm just a little under his skin.

"You poor man," she said, giving the first sincere hint of sympathy since she'd met Fulk. "Looks to me like the beginnings of a possession. What sorts of spirits have you been trafficking with?"

"God," Fulk said, flatly. "Or, at least, that's what everyone else seems to believe."

Fulk recounted to her a tale about a vengeful spirit and a young man, barely more than a boy, whose body burst into flames without burning. Fulk said he spoke with a choir of horrible voices and healed his wrists, but put something evil inside him.

When he was done, Levanna said, "Have you considered the possibility that Giradin really is a saint?"

"If he's really a saint, why did this happen to me?" Fulk pointed to his wrist and raised a skeptical eyebrow. "This is clearly the power of Devil at work!"

Levanna laughed. "Oh, you Christians and your--"

"I am no Christian," Fulk interrupted.

"Yes you are," said Levanna. "You speak of God, the Devil, saints, Heaven, Hell... you may not be a very good Christian, but you are a Christian nonetheless."

Fulk opened his mouth to argue again, but this time it was Levanna who interrupted.

"You have a simplistic view of the spirit realm. One that's black and white. You divide spirits up into such categories as gods, angels, demons, ghosts, fairies... in truth, the nature of spirits is a lot harder to determine."

Levanna leaned forward and pointed the claw-like nail on the end of her index finger at Fulk's chest. "But I have studied them all my life, and let me tell you, a spirit is a spirit. They may have certain titles we give them, and they may even demand to be called by certain titles, but they are all just spirits, and they all want something. You have often heard of the fires of Hell, have you not?"

"Of course I have," Fulk grunted.

"Did you know that the passageway to Heaven is also full of fire?"

"Who says?"

Levanna smiled. "The Bible." She laughed again at Fulk's confused look. "See, this is why the priests don't want commoners learning how to read, they do as I do and start asking too many questions. Why does the Christian God say we cannot have other gods if the other gods don't exist? What is the difference between being filled with the Holy Spirit and being possessed?"

"So... you're saying I'm possessed... by the Holy Spirit?" asked Fulk.

"More or less," said Levanna. "At least, that's what it sounds like. Spirits are all about how we perceive them. If a spirit you fear appears to you, then it will appear fearsome. If, however, it is a spirit you worship and adore then it will appear beautiful. Therefore, whatever spirit possessed Giradin that night was one that he and the rest of Elekvaz love, but you fear and hate."

Fulk looked down at his arm, a hint of concern on his face. "I see... so what happens now?"

"The spirit within you will continue to spread," said Levanna. "Eventually, it will start to fill your mind with certain... impulses. If you ignore those impulses it will make you suffer, but if you give in then it will reward you with bliss and take stronger control over your mind and body. If you give in for long enough, you will no longer be you, but merely a vessel for the spirit. If you continue to refuse it for too long, then eventually it will kill you."

"But... you know an exorcism, right?" Fulk asked, a hint of desperation in his voice. "You must! You can't just let me die!"

"Why can't I?" Levanna asked.

Fulk started up from the stool, kicking it aside as he did so. "Because if you don't help me I'll kill you!"

Levanna rose to her feet as well, her hungry eyes meeting his sunken, wrathful gaze. "That's the Fulk I like to see. The man who isn't afraid to be strong and take what he wants. I do know an exorcism that we might try, but if it doesn't work then the only way to save you will be to kill the first vessel."

"First vessel?" Fulk repeated. "You mean Giradin?"

Levanna nodded. "If I fail to exorcise the spirit within you, the only way to be free is for Giradin to die before the spirit can either kill you or take full control over you."