Enoch Village

In Enoch Village the women and children shelter indoors while the men ring a barn with farm tools. Inside, a troll feeds on Ted, who proves alive when he weakly calls to his wife Hannah among the crowd. Her thrown rock strikes the beast's snout and turns its attention on her; it charges, smashes her weapon, and begins to assault her. Her brother Horace hesitates, then drives his pitchfork through the troll's nose, and it retreats into the barn, where he glimpses dozens more waiting in the dark.

Soon after, the village gathers to bury two coffins. The funeral is broken by the arrival of Morgan, who tells the relieved villagers that trolls attacked his party in the forest as they sought the witch. In turn he learns the coffins hold Ted and Horace, and that Hannah was violated and dragged off by trolls. Morgan announces he has brought help. The villagers are unsure what to make of the mismatched group, some imposing like Guts, others mere children like Isidro, and the elves Puck and Ivalera only deepen their confusion. Assuming Farnese or Casca must be the promised witch, they are set straight when a bashful Schierke steps out from behind Guts, though few can believe so young a girl holds real power; her refusal to perform flashy magic for show does nothing to convince them.

Enoch's Holy See priest then rebukes the villagers for pinning their hopes on a legend, dismissing the party as traveling entertainers and insisting the trolls are a test of the village's faith. Farnese moves to pull rank from her former Holy See standing, but Serpico holds her back, fearing she could be seized and questioned over the events at Albion. The priest scolds Schierke over her dress, unaware she is a true witch, and just after he brands witches as apostasy and wickedness, an offended Schierke watches Casca stumble into the grave and crack open one of the coffins. Guts apologizes and lifts Casca out, but she flinches from him and flees to Farnese.

To secure a night's lodging, Guts invents a tale that Casca is a wandering pilgrim praying for her sanity to be restored, and the priest relents. As Guts moves through the crowd, the villagers marvel at the enormous sword on his back. Schierke follows close, recalling Flora's words about how deeply Guts entering her life would change her.

A troll raid kills Ted and Horace and results in Hannah's abduction. Morgan returns to Enoch Village with the party, but the villagers and the Holy See priest doubt that the shy Schierke is a real witch. The priest dismisses the group until Guts fabricates a pilgrim story about Casca to win a night's shelter, and Serpico stops Farnese from revealing her Holy See past.

This twenty-two-page Millennium Falcon chapter appeared in Young Animal issue fourteen on July 12, 2002. It grounds the troll threat in the human suffering of Enoch Village, introduces the skeptical Holy See priest, and underscores both Schierke's outsider status and Farnese's dangerous history with the Church.