The sight of him, though, visibly discomfited Harriman Tucker. “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name,” he whispered. His gaze darted from McCreary to the other men and back again, and with each twitch of his stare, his expression grew more heartsick.
“I’m sorry,” Dorcas said. Not out of pity, for she couldn’t muster pity for the man, working as he did for the McCrearys. But she knew the look he was wearing, the look of a man whose world had just burned to ash around him. For that, at least, she could feel regret.
Tucker made a strangled sound that might have been amused had it anything to do with laughter. “Are you? After what’s just happened—after this deviltry—you can say that to my face? These men are dead!”
“If you’re going to send us to join ’em,” Caleb grunted, “then get it done.”
The gun shook in Tucker’s hand; with a growl of frustration, he steadied it with his other, right in left. But to Dorcas’ surprise, he squeezed his eyes shut. His face contorted in grief. Then his hands dropped, taking the gun’s barrel off them, and he spun away without firing a shot. “I cannot,” he rasped. “Holy God forgive me. I cannot add to this night’s death.”
Relief welled in Dorcas, though she dared not give it release, not yet. She traded glances with Caleb and then carefully stood, an inch or two at a time, until she made it to her feet. “Then don’t,” she said. “End it here. Let us go.”
“He might say we killed ’em,” Caleb warned as he stood just behind her.
“But he won’t,” Dorcas answered. “Because he knows we didn’t. Don’t you, Mister Tucker?”
That too was foolish, placing their trust in a man who served their master—but they had no other choice, she thought. Tucker stood stiff as a wall of stone, and for a long moment Dorcas watched him for a sign, any sign, that her trust might not be misplaced. Finally he canted his head to the side, casting a hollow look down to the body of Josiah McCreary. “God Almighty struck down these men,” he whispered, “and I will not gainsay Him.” Then he whirled back to them. “Go. Go now, before I change my mind!”
They might have lingered, might have helped to bury the dead; Dorcas’ healer’s heart flinched at the starkness of Harriman Tucker’s eyes, and it seemed wrong to abandon the body of Elias Sutherland, lying there broken on the bank. Her sight blurred with weariness and tears, and her Power rippled too, tasting the last traces of both of the Sutherlands’ Power in the air. They weren’t gone. Jenny’s rage had faded, but the sorrow remained—and so did Elias, she saw, looking north along the water. Moonlight fell down through the shape of his ghost and that of Jenny at his side, and as Dorcas spied them, Elias pointed an ethereal hand into the trees.
That’s where he hid it, she told herself.
Aloud she murmured to Caleb, tugging at his arm, “Come. We’ve got to get that boat.”
Acknowledgements
“The Blood of the Land” was first published in the Drollerie Press anthology Defiance, masterminded by Drollerie’s editor at the time, Deena Fisher. Defiance was short as anthologies go, with only three stories: my own, Joely Sue Burkhart’s “Storms as She Walks”, and “Finder’s Keeper” by Laura Anne Gilman. All were set during the U.S. Civil War, and all featured women in paranormal situations and how they showed their strength by rising to face their challenges.
Sadly, the anthology was short-lived. When Drollerie folded in the fall of 2011, it went out of print along with the rest of the Drollerie catalog. And since it involved the work of three authors, not just one, it could not be resurrected in its full form as easily as works by single authors. (Such as my own Faerie Blood, resurrected via Kickstarter in 2012.)
I have elected to therefore release my story “The Blood of the Land” as a standalone download. But I’d like to thank Deena Fisher for approaching me to be in the Defiance anthology in the first place, since it did give me some experience writing a short piece—not something I do often. And more importantly, it gave me a chance to do things in the Warder universe that I hadn’t done before. So Deena, if you’re reading this, thank you!
Also, I’d like to thank my cover artist Dejah Leger, who is as deft with her graphic design as she is with her guitar and singing. If you know Quebecois traditional music at all, you may have seen her design work—she did the design for Genticorum’s album Enregistré Live. Moreover, Dejah’s very well known in the Pacific Northwest Quebec trad community for her crankies, which are often featured when she performs as a solo artist or with her family under the name La Famille Leger. Look for her at Folklife in Seattle, or if you’re in BC, at Festival du Bois! Or, look for her online at dejahleger.com or lafamilleleger.com.
Author’s Notes
“The Blood of the Land” is a change of pace for me in quite a few respects. First and foremost, I don’t often write short pieces. When I write, I almost always tackle a piece with the intention that it’s going to be a novel—or a novella at the very least. So writing something that clocks in at just over seven thousand words was an interesting exercise of my craft, and something I hope to try again soon.
Secondly, while it might not seem obvious at first glance, this story is set in the same universe as my novels Faerie Blood and Bone Walker. If you aren’t familiar with those novels yet, suffice to say that the Warders, a lineage of men and women gifted with protective magic, have a long history of guarding their chosen territories from supernatural threats. The price they pay for access to their power, though, is to be physically constrained to the territory they’re protecting. In the modern-day era of the novels, this usually means that a given Warder is magically restricted to a single city’s worth of territory.
In earlier historical eras, though, what a “city” means could often be different than what it means today. Given that “The Blood of the Land” is set during the Civil War, it let me explore what that territory restriction meant during one of the grimmest eras in American history. And more specifically, it let me explore the idea of how a Warder’s connection to his or her territory could become fouled by death. Warder magic is life magic, triggered by a Warder’s blood connection to the earth, and if that connection is sullied by bloodshed—like, say, during a war—that’s bad.
Third, because of that idea of the tainting of a Warder’s magic, this story is by necessity darker of tone than Faerie Blood, or even Bone Walker. Ideas I play with here, though, may well show up in further works of the Warder universe. Particularly, I should note, the existence of other sources of magic in the world than just the Warders or the Sidhe. The kitsune of Japan show up in my novels, but here, I also give a glimpse of some of the sources of power that originate from Africa.
Last but not least, I wanted to see if I could write a ghost story. Which is, in essence, what this is. Again, not something I write often—but I had fun doing it, and may well try it again.
If you’re reading this story, thank you, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the read!
About the Author
The very first thing Angela Korra’ti ever wrote, at age 8, was a short story about a girl spirited away to rule over the leprechauns for a day. She progressed rapidly to pretending to take notes in class when she was actually writing novels, and writing fanfic before she had any idea what fanfic was! Music has been a part of her life almost as long, thanks to six years playing flute and piccolo in school band and an adulthood dabbling in flute, guitar, bouzouki, and mandolin. Music is likely to make an appearance in anything she writes. Particularly music that involves Elvis, bouzouki-playing Newfoundlanders, or Quebecois trad.
Angela (Anna the Piper to her friends) lives in Kenmore, Washington, along with her wife and their housemate, two cats, and a whole heck of a lot of computers and musical instruments. Despite the fact that she is a mild-mannered former employee of a major metropolitan newspaper, rumors that she is a superhero are exaggerated. (Even if she did pull the door off a refrigerator.)
As Angela Korra’ti, she writes the Free Court of Seattle series and other wo
rks in the Warder universe. As Angela Highland, she writes the Rebels of Adalonia trilogy for Carina Press. You can find out more about all of her works under either name at angelahighland.com.
Faerie Blood
If you like your urban fantasy with music, magic, and computer geekery, then don’t miss Book 1 of The Free Court of Seattle!
Kendis Thompson of Seattle thinks she’s as normal as the next computer geek, and up till now, she’s been right. But her world is about to turn on its ear, for she is the daughter of a Seelie Court mage and her mortal husband—and her faerie blood is awakening. Suddenly the city she’s known all her life is transforming before her eyes. Trolls haunt the bike trails. Fairies and goblins run loose in the streets. An old woman who is not what she seems and a young wanderer running from his past stand ready to defend Seattle—and Kendis—from magical assault. She will need those allies, for the power rising within her is calling her fey kin to the Emerald City to find her. And kill her.
Find out more at Faerie Blood’s official page:
http://www.angelahighland.com/books/faerie-blood/
Bone Walker
Also now available: Book 2 of the Free Court of Seattle!
Two months should be long enough for a girl to learn to cope when she finds out she’s half-Sidhe, or so Kendis Thompson has convinced herself. She wants nothing more than as normal a life as possible, playing her violin and pursuing her growing relationship with Christopher, Warder Second of Seattle. But when the Unseelie bard Elessir falls through a portal out of Faerie, bringing with him a ghostly peril that puts her best friend Jude’s life and sanity in danger, Kendis must test the strength of her new magic. And when the bone walker Melorite threatens all of the Emerald City, Kendis must fight to save everyone she loves—even if it means succumbing to the dominion of the Unseelie Court.
Find out more at Bone Walker’s official page:
http://www.angelahighland.com/books/bone-walker/
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