A summary of "Witch’s Yar" by Alexey Pekhov Automatic translate

This novella is a dark fantasy tale about the craft of a freelance hunter of dark entities, created in 2009. The work transports the reader to the fictional principality of Firwalden, where magic is closely intertwined with everyday life. Order is maintained here by disparate orders and the Church Inquisition. The protagonist possesses the rare gift of seeing the invisible. He uses a special dagger made of star sapphire, capable of destroying aggressive spectral manifestations.

The novel "The Guardian," which included this text, received a prestigious genre award from the authoritative Russian magazine "World of Fantasy," becoming the winner in the category of best domestic book of 2010.

This story opens the renowned "Guardian" series. The series consists of four books: "Guardian," "Auto-da-Fé," "Golden Fires," and "The Accursed Forge." This episode is considered the first in the chronology of the protagonist’s adventures, setting the tone for the entire series and introducing the audience to the basic rules of interaction between living people and the inhabitants of the otherworldly realm.

The Road to Vion

Ludwig van Normayenne is traveling through the Fyrwalden countryside. He is accompanied by the Preacher — the ghost of a murdered priest with a fractured temple, who loves to sing religious hymns set to folk tunes. Near an abandoned rye field, they spot a creepy scarecrow in a holey uniform from the time of Prince George, armed with a rusty sickle. The Guardian of Souls invites the living creature to join their company. The scarecrow says nothing, but silently follows them.

Ludwig catches a regular stagecoach to Vion. Inside the carriage, he discovers a student from the University of Savran and an elderly woman. The young man notices the guard’s dagger and becomes indignant at his companion’s occupation. Ludwig decides to teach the aggressive student a lesson. He informs him that there are four people in the carriage: next to the young man sits the invisible ghost of a mutilated artillery warrant officer, whose lower jaw was torn off. Hearing this, the frightened young man leaves the carriage in panic.

Upon arriving in Vyon, Ludwig senses the acrid scent of panic in the air. The townspeople are terrified. The Guardian stops at an inn owned by a hospitable woman. Soon, the Preacher and the Scarecrow arrive in his room. Ludwig heads to the town hall, wanting to find out the cause of the general unrest.

The Mystery of the Old Cemetery

At the city hall, Mayor Otto Mayer and his advisers brief the guards on what has happened. A macabre dance has occurred in the cemetery near St. Margaret’s Chapel: the skeletons of the dead rose from the ground and began a macabre dance. Local merchant Helmut Podolski adds an intriguing detail: all the gray rats have suddenly disappeared from the city. Veteran Hein Hoffmann reports that most of the ghosts have retreated beyond the city walls. Ludwig agrees to investigate the situation.

The next morning, a richly dressed man wearing red patent leather shoes sits down with the guard in the café. He introduces himself as Alexander and displays a silver badge from the Order of Righteousness, an organization that oversees the legality of mages’ activities. Alexander strongly advises Ludwig to leave Vion and leave the investigation to the Hounds of God. The guard ignores the threats and decides to continue his work.

Ludwig goes beyond the city gates to the old chapel. After examining the dug-up graves, he draws magical outlines with chalk and determines there are no traces of a witchcraft ritual in the churchyard itself. The dead have retreated into the nearby forest. A scarecrow draws Ludwig’s attention to the thicket, and the guard decides to follow the path trodden by the skeletons.

Forest battle

In a dense hollow among the aspen trees, Ludwig discovers hundreds of corpses. The skeletons don’t attack, frozen in grotesque poses: some are fencing with invisible blades, others are reciting poetry. Suddenly, the guardian notices the Flesh-Reducers — extremely dangerous souls with cheesy-white faces, devoid of eyes or noses. There are eight of them, which is completely unusual for such entities.

The King of the Dead, a skeleton in a dented knight’s helmet, advises Ludwig to flee. The Flesh Diminishing Ones attack. The Guardian draws magical defensive lines on the ground, uses a golden cord from the warped space, and engages in fierce hand-to-hand combat. He manages to destroy seven enemies with a dagger and magical traps, but his strength is rapidly waning. The last soul nearly takes his life.

Ludwig is saved by a girl suddenly appearing in a dazzling white robe with a scarlet pheasant feather. This is Gertrude, an officially registered witch with the Inquisition and a part-time guardian of souls. She finishes off the shrinking flesh and calms the rebellious skeletons with spells. Gertrude shares her thoughts: the dead were raised by an experienced sorcerer for a specific purpose, and the rats fled from the approaching darkness. In the morning, the witch secretly leaves for the capital.

Symbol on the roof

The streets of Vion suddenly transform: the townspeople put on clean clothes in anticipation of Bishop Urban’s arrival. It turns out that the Holy Father has decided to personally conduct a service at St. Nicholas Cathedral after hearing of the town’s woes. Ludwig sets out to find the ghostly boy he had previously seen on the bakery roof. Upon finding the child, the guard discovers a shocking truth.

The boy explains that the souls left the city because of special banishing signs. They were drawn by a man in red shoes — the same Alexander from the Order of Righteousness. Moreover, the boy saw Alexander draw a huge figure on the roof of the central cathedral. From the child’s description, Ludwig recognizes the Witch’s Hollow — a complex magical circuit for summoning thousands of evil entities. The church service is only minutes away.

The guard rushes toward the cathedral through the alleys of the Old City. Alexander and his crossbowmen block his path. The Master of the Order admits that the dance of death was merely a distraction to lure the bishop into a trap. The fatal shot is prevented by the Scarecrow: the animated creature drops from the roof onto the conspirators and, with a single blow of its sickle, decapitates Alexander, then slaughters the remaining attackers.

Skirmish in the Cathedral

Rushing out into the square, Ludwig shouts, demanding that the prayer be stopped. Two monks immediately subdue him, and the senior inquisitor paralyzes the guard’s speech. Hearing the bell ringing on its own and noticing the magical dagger, the young priest realizes the gravity of the situation. Ludwig manages to report the symbol on the roof and the dark creature within the bell.

The temple gates are rapidly becoming overgrown with brick. Ludwig climbs the rusty brackets of the outer wall to the dizzying heights of the belfry. The steady tolling of the bell deafens him, and emaciated entities emerge from the bronze. Following the guard, a young inquisitor ascends. Joining forces, they attack the bell: the priest invokes the divine grace of the crucifix, and Ludwig plunges his black blade straight into the metal.

A demonic creature, resembling a hybrid of a spider and a dog, tumbles out of the bell. While the Inquisitor finishes the creature off with his bare hands and prayers, Ludwig climbs the spiral staircase to the roof. A gray cloud of summoned souls is already seeping into the building, causing panic among the trapped parishioners. The guardian draws seahorses over the Witches’ Hollow — figures of exile. Activating his magic to the limit, Ludwig destroys the trap. The sky clears, and a refreshing rain falls upon the city.

The next day, life in Vion returns to normal. The residents attribute the miracle of salvation to the sanctity of Bishop Urban. Ludwig receives a generous reward from the city council and a gold ring with a ruby from the rescued cleric. The preacher reports that the skeletons have returned in formation to their graves in the old cemetery. Taking the suitcase, the guard, accompanied by the ghost and the Scarecrow, boards the stagecoach, leaving the saved city.