Short Story: The Witch Hunters

The brother and sister witch-hunters left a scorched trail across medieval Europe, putting hundreds of women on trial, then burning them at the stake. The two would dispose of the witch’s remains in a secret rite, stripping the bodies of the evil infested flesh, and burying the skeletons at a crossroads. Their reign of terror came to an end when they found a Burgermeister’s plump daughter guilty of sorcery. The Burgermeister watched in horror as his beloved child was consumed in the cleansing flames. So great was his grief, that he burst in on the hunters as they performed their secret rite, only to see… the twins eating his daughter’s burnt flesh. The Burgermeister had the twins executed and their heads impaled on the road to town. But do not judge the brother and sister too harshly: as children they were captured by a witch who lived in a candy house, and planning to eat them, she plied them with sweets to plump them up. After enduring months of sugar highs, crashing lows, empty gingerbread carbs, and eventually starvation, they managed to turn the tables, and shoved the horrible old woman into her oven. That was the first time they smelled the delicious, savory aroma... of roasting witch.