Kvitstein

Between the coastland of Central Norway and across the border with Sweden there are large remote areas of wide forested valleys, mountains and highlands.

These are borderlands, undefined and lawless. The people make the law themselves here. Any central authority holds little relevance here.

It is here that the Witchunter arrived in the Year of Our Lord 1601. A grim and somber man leading a pack of dirty disheveled mercenaries. No one knew why he came. What god could lead him here?

At a small farm called Kvitstein the Witchunter and his men make a stop. The farmer and his wife makes them some food. The men are quiet. The couple's young daugther is curious but afraid.

Suddenly the sky fill with dark clouds.

By Daniel Thilas (1712-1772)

Suddenly the Witchunter claims that the mark of the Underworld on the little girl. He points to his powers as a servant of God and the King. He wants to kill the girl. The parents, desperate, protest but are overpowered by the Witchunter's men. The girl, all of nine years old, tries to run but is caught.

Black smoke twirls towards the dark sky. A mother wails for her lost child. The father is unable to utter a sound. The Witchunter and his men leave.

A dark year passes.

A woman now lives alone at Kvitstein. She is the wife of a man condemned to die for attacking a servant of the Crown. A woman who lost his daugther in a witches pyre.

By Rama CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, via Wikimedia Commons

The woman works hard to keep the farm going. She tills the earth, feeds the animals and maintains the houses. She is happy, but lonely. Only the ghost of her daughter to keep her company. The ghost, the Devil and the creatures of the Underworld.

Then one day a man arrives. A grim man carrying a large sword and a haunted sad look in his eyes. He is traveling to execute a man imprisoned. He is going to kill her husband. Travelling with the executioner is his ten year-old daugther.

Inspired by the lonely places where i grew up and Hammer Horror-films.