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contrast to such lies and abominations.
    The Elves are still with us, and though their race declines, they are yet capable of leading God's children astray with their magic and their voices, for it is rightly said that an Elf can confuse black and white merely by speaking of them, so subtle and devious is that pernicious race of forest-dwelling demons.
    Of the preaching of the Elves I can enumerate many errors. I have painstakingly collected numerous reports, gathered from the far corners of Adria, in order to present a list of their lies. Such information is difficult to come by, for there are few who will admit to hearing the Elves preach, and such information as I have comes only after intense and rigorous questioning. Although their errors are legion, there are five main heresies of which they are guilty.
    1. The Elves deny the existence of evil in the world. They cunningly attempt to disguise their service to Satan by stating that he does not exist, that he is but a fancy invented by Holy Church so as to terrify people and make them subject to her will. As to what reasons exist for death and misfortune, they are silent.
    2. The Elves deny the finitude of the material world. They preach against the belief in the Last Judgment. They deny also the omnipotence of God, saying that He is by nature limited. Thus do these demons turn the universe upside-down: the world will go on forever, but God, the Creator of that world, will not.
    3. They revere women, and treat them with respect, ascribing various noble virtues to the daughters of Eve, thus more easily to ensnare our women and make them subject to their inhuman wills. For woman is ever ready to listen to sweet lies, being by nature weaker and more susceptible to error and to the lusts of the flesh, and so do the Elves and devils corrupt even the most seemingly chaste women.
    4. They deny the sinfulness of the material world in general and of fornication in particular, holding that what is natural to the body cannot be evil.
    5. It is well-known that the Elves worship a woman, consummating their rites in obscene blasphemies. Furthermore, they claim that this woman-god of theirs is tangible, and that she can be perceived by the believer directly, before death, and that this perception can be constant and joyful.
    Such are the errors promulgated by the Elves that the greater truth of Holy Mother Church might shine more brightly. I trust that Your Holiness will approve of my most rigorous actions against these foul beliefs as did Your Holiness's predecessor, Benedict. Therefore, in Christian love and charity, and in the fraternal spirit of our Most Holy Mother the Church, I wish Your Holiness a blessed Easter and do humbly request that Bartholomew of Onella, the good cleric who bears this missive, be treated well and sent back to me as soon as Your Holiness deems it fit.
    Dated this Twenty-Eighth day of the month of February, in the Year of Our Lord 1350.
    ***
    The weather slowly turned warmer. By the beginning of Lent the clouds were dropping what was definitely rain; and, come mid-March, the sun was melting even the stubborn snow to the north of Mika's house.
    Miriam was still mending. While she insisted on her share of the housework, she spent the lengthening afternoons on the split-log bench by the west wall of the house, warming herself in the sun, watching the lower slopes of the Aleser Mountains shake off their white coats while Malvern Forest took on hues of soft green. The heat soothed her aching joints, and Mika's ointments faded the deep wounds on her legs to a network of reddened welts.
    Mika was often away, for her skill in midwifery was such that she was in great demand in the houses of both rich and poor. Miriam learned that the good midwife had been granted a monthly stipend from the local overlord, Paul delMari, but when Miriam had mentioned it, Mika laughed. “Baron Paul thinks he can buy everyone,” she said. “Furze is big enough for me, but if he wants to