Meet the Characters

Alyce, a teenager orphaned from age six, is indentured to the village apothecary. Mr. Pyncher is a hard master but Alyce is suited to the work, having both a knack for medicinal herbs and a calling to heal the sick and injured. Like all good citizens of Burdock, Alyce believes that witches are evil and should be destroyed.

"You risk the breaking wheel for love."

Feathertop is the not-so-scary scarecrow guarding Mother Rigby’s garden. He can’t talk or move — after all he’s a scarecrow! But he can dream. And he dreams of dancing with the girl who wandered into his garden that morning. Perchance he'll come to life by puffing his mother's magic pipe?

"I listen to the birds!"

Mother Rigby is an ancient witch who hates thieves (especially crows) and humans (especially those from the witch-burning town of Burdock). So why spare Alyce's life after catching her stealing and aiding an injured crow? Because Rigby discovers that Alyce, too, is a witch, descended from a line of witches. (This news doesn't sit well with Alyce.)

"The plague of '43 — that was me."

The Finder is a traveling “witch” finder. He doesn’t find actual witches — he doesn’t even believe they exist. But the villagers believe, and the only way he can protect them from destroying each other is by "proving" and eliminating a select few innocents. It's a thankless job that serves the greater good.

"I'm a blessing."

Ignatius is dedicated to ridding the land of witches. He's adept at pursuading them to admit their “crimes" even though his boss, The Finder, never seems to bring him a real witch to confess. Ignatius's fatal weakness is the gormet pie that Lotti bakes.

"Ain't nothin' like a burnin."

Lotti is Alyce’s best friend and the keeper of the tavern. Her patrons, exclusively men, come for her ale and stay for her ribald songs. Lotti is widowed three times and counting.

"I can never keep a man."

Pyncher, the village apothecary, is the gentleman to see when you're ill, injured, or in need of your daily fix. He has never married, though not for lack of trying. The old romantic's latest allure? Offering to release Alyce from indenture if she'll be his wife.

"No one has license to lay a hand on her. Other than me, of course."

Mr. Kindle, the local blacksmith. With sinewy forearms and strength of character to match, he's among the few who stand up for Alyce.

Mrs. Kindle, the blacksmith's jealous wife, is dealing with "issues." She remembers to take her laudanum daily — to no avail.