Title: Maledictus
Originally written for @palimpsestzine Labors of November, a Pentiment anniversary zine. Free to download here.
Fandom: Pentiment
Rating: T
Word count: 1,500
Summary: Sister Amalie is the only survivor when her abbey in Lower Bavaria is burned down by a mob led by a leader who convinced the town that the nuns were practicing witchcraft. Devastated and left without a home, she is relieved when a local priest, Father Thomas, takes her to a new home.
Read on ao3.
On All Hallows’ Eve—the eve of the Feast of All Saints—Heaven knocks.
Though Compline is long past, Amalie works in the scriptorium by candlelight. The dream she had earlier refuses to release her: a lamb led to the pyre, a sacrifice walking willingly toward its own end. The image persists, sharp and unyielding. She does not understand its meaning, only that she must record every vision entrusted to her.
Her hands shake over the parchment on her desk. Purple ink drips from the tip of the quill she holds, shivering with every dark droplet that splashes onto the surface.
Suddenly, screams shatter the night.
Continue on ao3.
