The Betrayal Read Online Free PDF Page B

bat!” a man shouted from the back of the room.
    The creature swooped low toward the flickering light of a torch, then flew over the prisoners’ box again, its wings beating like a frightened heart.
    Matthew Fier appeared at the front of the room. “Open the doors! Let it out!” he ordered.
    The bat swung low over the spectators, and Susannah saw several heads duck. She felt a cool ripple of air as the bat flew past her face.
    â€œHold open the doors. It will fly out,” Matthew Fier said in his high-pitched voice.
    The doors were obediently pulled open. The torches flickered and bent in the invading breeze. A moment later the bat swooped out, disappearing into the starless sky. The doors were closed.
    Matthew Fier shouted over the buzz of voices, calling for silence. He served as trial warden, keeping order during his brother’s trial proceedings.
    He did not have Benjamin’s booming deep voice. He was not as large or imposing as his brother, but he had the same fire of ambition in his dark eyes.

    The room grew silent. The shuffling of feet made the floorboards creak. Someone near the doors coughed loudly.
    Matthew turned to the prisoners, adjusting the white stock he wore over his robe. “You may summon as many evil creatures as you wish,” he told Susannah and her mother, his eyes glowing like dark coals. “You may summon bats or snakes—or the Evil One himself. But it will only serve to prove your guilt.”
    â€œWe did not summon that bat!” Susannah cried.
    â€œSilence!” Matthew ordered. “Silence! A dark creature like that would not enter our court unless summoned!”
    Loud murmurs burst forth from the rows of benches. Accusing eyes, reflecting the torchlight, glared at Susannah and her mother.
    â€œSilence! Silence!” Matthew shouted, gesturing with both hands.
    As the room grew quiet, Susannah saw a man at the end of a row rise to his feet. “Release my wife and daughter!” he demanded.
    â€œIt is Father!” Susannah cried to her mother, leaning forward to see him better.
    â€œRelease them, Matthew Fier! You know they are not witches!” Mr. Goode cried passionately.
    A tall man in dark robes strode to the front of the room and stood beside Matthew Fier. “Be seated, William Goode,” Benjamin Fier ordered. “We do not place innocent women on trial here.”
    â€œBut
they
are innocent!” William declared. “I swear it by all that is holy!”

    â€œBe seated!” Benjamin commanded in his booming voice. “Be seated, William, or I will remove you from this court.”
    Susannah saw her father open his mouth to protest. But he uttered only a helpless groan before slumping onto his seat.
    Benjamin Fier turned to face the accused. His straight black hair and dark eyes glowed almost red in the torchlight.
    â€œMartha Goode, do you wish to confess your guilt?” he asked, leaning close to the prisoners’ box.
    Susannah’s mother cleared her throat. Her voice came out in a choked whisper: “I have no guilt to confess.”
    Sneering, Benjamin turned his harsh gaze on Susannah. “Susannah Goode, do you wish to confess your guilt?”
    Susannah clasped her trembling hands tightly in her lap and lowered her head, a couple of blond ringlets falling loose from her cap, over her face. “I am not a witch,” she managed to mutter.
    Edward, where are you?
    Edward, aren’t you going to save us?
    Isn’t anyone going to save us?
    â€œConfess now,” Benjamin demanded. “There are witnesses. Witnesses in this hall tonight. Witnesses who saw you both dancing with the Evil One in the moonlit woods.”
    â€œThat is not true!” Susannah shrieked, on her feet now.
    â€œSusannah—!” She could hear her mother’s warning, feel her mother’s touch on her sleeve.

    â€œThat is not true!” Susannah repeated. “We have