"Philip!"

He snapped his eyes open, hearing the distress in his brother's voice and the shaking of his shoulder.  Philip sat up with a start.  The room was dark, indicating it was late or still very early, but an orange light was bouncing around on the walls.  It took him a moment to register the shouting outside.

"What on earth?" Philip hissed.

"They're trying the witch from the swamps," Caleb said.  "Pa and Ma's outside."

"Let's go!" Philip stuffed his feet in his shoes and grabbed his coat.

Caleb shook his head.  "Ma said we need to stay inside."

"Then why would you wake me up?" He gave his older brother a disapproving frown and pushed past him, climbing down the ladder to the main cabin.  "She's not here to stop us."

"Philip!" Caleb climbed down and managed to run and block his younger brother from the door by throwing his body on it as a barricade.  His back pressed on the door and his hands on the wall.  "It's dangerous out there anyways.  Ma and Pa would kill us if they found out we were out there."

"Dear brother," Philip began, clearing his throat and straighten his back.  "You do realize that you are sixteen and I am fourteen."

"Well, technically, you haven't turned fourteen yet," Philip corrected.

"My point is, brother, that we are men.  Adults. After all, Peter will never let you love it down if you aren't there and he will tell everything to Sarah-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get the point.  I regret telling you I like her," Caleb muttered, letting out an exasperated sigh. "I hate you."

Philip smiled innocently.  "I know. But now that we have both come to a mutual agreement..."

"You're going to be the death of me..." Caleb groaned as he grabbed his cloak and hat before opening the door.

Immediately, the brothers were met with a large mob gathering in the center of the town.  The people formed a circle around a platform holding torches and pitch forks, shouting and talking over each other. Philip and Caleb stood at the back of the crowd, but since both had yet to hit their growth spurts, it was difficult to see past them.

"Screw this!" Philip ducked under the mob, dodging his way through until he found a place that he could see.

"Philip!" Caleb had hissed and reached out to grab him, but his younger brother was far more quick to get away. Stomping his foot in frustration, Caleb craned his neck and got on his tip toes to see if he could spot his brother.  His eyes caught sight of the village leader and the forty year old woman standing on the platform with her hands tied behind her. He froze, his heart pounding as the words of the leader could finally be heard above the crowd of angry men and women.

"We have all come to the conclusion that Lucinda Clawthorn is guilty of partaking in witchcraft!"

The crowd erupted in a roar of anger.  A sea of people agreeing.  It didn't take Caleb a genius to know that one of those voices was Philip's, but he couldn't speak.  He should be cheering with the others, but his stomach twisted in a knot and the wish to vomit only grew stronger.

It was no wonder his mother never wanted her sons a part of the witch trials.  Philip was reckless and often hot trampled or into some sort of trouble.  Him?  He was barely strong enough to keep his last meal in his stomach.  His father told him that he needed to man up, and Caleb tried.  He truly did, but nothing could shake the terrible feeling in his gut.

"Burn her at the stake!" A woman shouted.  The rest of the mob yelled in unison, all adding their agreements.

Caleb only tightened his grip on his cloak.  He needed to get Philip out of there and go back to the cabin.  Curse him and his weak determination! Why was he always such a push over? He was supposed to be keeping his younger brother safe, not let him run into danger.  Now he couldn't find him and he was certain their mom was going to be furious, which would make their father mad and then they'll be in deep trouble. He was such an idiot!

"Philip?" Caleb hissed, hoping to gain his brother's attention without bringing too much attention to himself.  He ducked under arms and around people, squeezing through gaps he didn't know his body could fit in.

He ran straight into a man's elbow.  The air was shoved out of his lungs and he doubled over.  Hugging his stomach, he took a moment to take his breath back.

"Hey! Watch it!" The man snapped. Caleb instantly recognized him as Ivan.  The man that many wished to be, because he was the most feared man this half of the country.  All for a good reason.

"Sorry, I was just looking for my brother..."

"No excuse.  This is serious!" The man retorted angrily.

"Sorry..." Caleb repeated meekly.

Ivan's attention was quickly drawn away and back to the witch burning.  Some men had jumped on the platform, holding Lucinda down and tying her to the stake.  Some women were dragging over a few bales of hay to help the fire get moving.  Ivan pushed through the crowd, people automatically moving out of his way, not wanting to cross him.  Caleb took the opportunity to walk closely behind him to get deeper in the crowd.  Finally, he spotted Philip and pushed into the crowd.  He grabbed his younger brother's arm.

"We need to go back, now-"

Philip pulled his arm off. "Hey, just because you're a scardy cat doesn't mean you have to drag me away."

"But Ma-"

"Really, Caleb?  You're sixteen and you're still playing by what Mama says? You should already have your own house and a wife.  You need to grow a back bone!"

Caleb clamped his mouth shut.  That's what their father had told him only a few days prior.  Only much harsher, more words and without the mother part.  He would be lying if it didn't hurt, but he didn't want to be alone.  Maybe he was a coward, and maybe that's why no girl, not even Sarah, seemed to have any interest in him being a suitor.

Of course, his brother was just trying to make him be a little more brave.  It was all in good intentions.  He let out a sigh.  "Fine."

"Burn her!" The crowd screamed.

Lucinda kicked one of the bales away, so they tied down her legs and gagged her in case she spoke a spell to save herself. Ivan stepped up, holding the torch.  The town village spoke above the mob.  "As the town, we condemn this witch to burn her vile flesh to cleanse the earth from her breaths!"

The crowd cheered along with Philip.  Caleb winced.  The sound hurt his ears and made his stomach roll, but he refused to throw up.  He needed to prove that he could handle himself.  That he was a man and that his father was wrong. But then he looked at Lucinda, their eyes locked for a moment.  A second ago, her eyes were full of fire and hatred.  Now they were full of grief and even pleading.  As if she was begging to directly him for her life to be spared.

He said nothing.  He did nothing.  He just stood there as Ivan threw the first torch to start the flames.  Others threw in theirs and the hay burned in a large inferno.  Her muffled screams of pure agony reached his ears above the mob's shouting and the roaring flames.  He could only watch in pure terror as the fire reached her, the flames crawling up the stake, burning her alive. Caleb heaved, throwing up without his body giving him any warning.

"Caleb!" Philip grabbed him to keep from falling, concern in his voice.

"Did the witch curse him with a plague?" A woman cried in terror.

In an instant, the mob dispersed around them.  Philip was the only one to not move, not willing to let his brother stand there alone in his condition.

"Sorry," Caleb wheezed.

"Oh, it's Wittebane's son," they said.

"Can we go home?" Caleb pleaded in a whispered.

Philip sighed, but nodded.  He let Caleb lean on him as he led his older brother back to the cabin.  The shouts of the mob continues as the burning of the witch.  The flames were only growing larger and its smoke ascended to the skies.