Between Two Fires
by Christopher Buehlman
Contents
Fourteen: Of the Stained Priest and the Widow’s Revenge
Overview
Père Matthieu’s backstory unfolds: his secret love for Michel Hébert, the humiliating discovery at the river, and the village’s scorn converge just as plague devastates St. Martin-le-Preux. Disorder rises under a drunken militia, a river monster appears, and the widowed alewife exacts revenge by poisoning the brotherhood with her own infected blood.
Summary
Two months before plague reaches St. Martin-le-Preux, Père Matthieu Hanicotte becomes infatuated with Michel Hébert, the reeve’s son. His sermons falter under the strain, and a public quip about devils in beer backfires. Michel flatters him after Mass, deepening Matthieu’s turmoil.
One night by the river, Michel coaxes Père Matthieu to bathe. Their tryst is discovered by drunken villagers, who spit on the priest and spread the scandal. As fear of the Great Death grows, the village’s respect for Matthieu collapses and attendance at Mass dwindles.
Plague advances; the seigneur seals the bridge and hides, while farmers form the masked “Brotherhood of St. Martin’s Arse,” bullying the town and idling in the widow Élise Planchette’s alehouse. Michel dies, then his father and most of the village. Shamed and afraid, Matthieu withdraws to his house and wine.
When a monstrous thing takes the river, desperate villagers seek Matthieu, who musters what men he can and keeps vigil, praying for deliverance. His young assistant Bourdon continues his duties without heart.
Meanwhile, the brotherhood prey on the widow. Sick with plague and abandoned by the surgeon, she bleeds herself and, after their threats, serves them beer tainted with her own blood. Unwittingly, they drink their doom. Thus Matthieu’s shame, the town’s collapse, and the widow’s lethal revenge converge under the shadow of pestilence and the river monster.
Who Appears
- Père Matthieu HanicotteVillage priest; secretly loves Michel, is exposed bathing with him, shunned as plague devastates the town; later prays for aid against a river monster.
- Michel HébertReeve’s son and object of Matthieu’s desire; seduces the priest at the river; later dies of plague.
- Élise PlanchetteWidow and alehouse keeper; ill with plague, she poisons the abusive brotherhood by serving them beer mixed with her own blood.
- Brotherhood of St. Martin’s ArseMasked, drunken militia who bully the town; discover Matthieu and Michel; later doomed by the widow’s tainted beer.
- Samuel HébertVillage reeve; father of Michel; mistrusted mediator; later dies as plague cuts down the village.
- BourdonMatthieu’s young bell ringer; continues duties joylessly as the parish collapses.
- Sylvan BertierDrover who publicly needles Matthieu during his sermon, fueling the priest’s humiliation.