P N Elrod - Barrett 3 - Death Masque

by Death Masque(Lit)

  'They had a difficult enough time getting her to take the ferry from New York to Brooklyn. She's no sailor and more's the pity."

  Indeed. A trip to England would do her great good, but Ann was sincerely frightened and made ill by sea travel and had firmly declined the invitation to come with me and Elizabeth.

  "What about yourself?" asked Father, referring to my own problem with water.

  "I shall be all right."

  At least I hoped so. The streams that flowed through our lands had come to be something of a barrier to me, a fact that I'd discovered the first time I'd tried crossing one on my own after my change. What had once been an easily forded rivulet had become a near impassable torrent as far as I was concerned. My feet dragged like iron weights over the streambed, and the water felt so chill as to burn me to the bone-or so it seemed to my exaggerated senses. Father and I had investigated the phenomenon at length, but could make no sense of this strange limitation I'd acquired. Like my ability to vanish, we connected it to my condition and had as yet found no cure for it.

  Yet another question for Nora.

  Thankfully, I was able to manage water crossings on horseback or in a wagon, though it was always hard going. I'd reasoned that taking a ship would entail about the same level of difficulty and was prepared to tolerate the inconvenience. It could be no worse than the bout of seasickness I'd suffered during my initial voyage to England four years ago. That had worn off as my body got used to the motion of the ship, and in this coming voyage I was counting on a similar recovery.

  Not that I was giving myself much of a choice. If I had to put up with the discomfort for the next two months or more, then so be it. To England I would go.

  "Your livestock was sent ahead this morning," said Father. "I hope to God it arrives safely."

  "I'm certain it will."

  His eyes gleamed with amusement. "You spoke to Lieutenant Nash?"

  "At length. He'll provide as safe an escort as any might hope for in these times."

  "My thought is that you've gotten a fox to guard your henhouse."

  "This fox is very well trained, sir."

  Nash, in charge of the profitable work of collecting supplies for the commissary, possessed the soul of a rapacious vulture, but early in our acquaintance I'd been able to successfully curb his greedy nature to something more moderate. On more than one occasion, I'd been able to put the fear of God into him by means of my unnatural influence, and he took care to pay attention to any little requests we might present to him as though they were written orders from the King himself. In turn, we were most careful not to abuse our advantage lest it draw unwelcome notice upon us.

  In this instance, the request was to provide a safe escort for the cattle I would be taking on the ship to England. He was to make sure that all of them were put aboard without incident. Such an undertaking was highly unusual, to say the least, but my need was great enough that I had no heavy weight on my conscience in suborning one of the King's officers to play my private agent for such a task. Only he had sufficient authority to protect them from others and see that they and their fodder for the trip were safely delivered.

  Also, with the British army and the Hessians on one side and the rebels on the other and all of them hungry as wolves for fresh beef, the idea of taking good cattle out of the country bordered on madness. But I would need to feed myself on the voyage, and for that I required a ready supply of animal blood. I hoped a dozen would be more than sufficient for my modest appetite, since I had no plans for indulging in any unnatural exertions like flying or vanishing while aboard. My only real worry was that the animals might not survive an ocean voyage. Well, if they all died, then so be it. I was not adverse to drinking human blood for food if starving necessity forced me to such an extreme.

  Father and I had devoted much thought to the framing of just how to ship the beasts and had planned things carefully. Between us, fees (and bribes) were paid, documents were issued, stamped, and made inarguably legal in ways that only an experienced lawyer could devise. In the end we'd obtained permission from His Majesty's servants in charge of hindering honest travelers to ship one dozen heifers to England ostensibly for the purpose of breeding them to superior stock owned by the Fonteyn side of the family. The logical thing to do, as was pointed out to us by the first official we'd encountered, would be to purchase a bull in England and bring it here, thus reducing our expenses on the venture. I'd "persuaded" the fellow and all the others that came after not to argue, but to simply make the arrangements as we desired, without question.

  None of it had been very easy, but there is a great satisfaction to be derived from the accomplishment of a difficult endeavor. Perhaps I would feel this particular satisfaction again once we made landfall in England, God willing.

  "Trained or not, I shan't feel easy in my heart until I see the results of his work for myself," said Father.

  His voice did not sound right to me, having in it an odd note of strain that I did not like one whit. "What is it, sir?"

  He thought long before answering, or so it seemed to me as I waited. He gave a half shrug and nearly smiled, an expression remarkably similar to Elizabeth's own subdued efforts of late. "I shall have to tell you, I see that well enough, and hope that you can forgive me for adding another worry to the others you carry."

  "Worry?"

  His raised hand held back the formation of more specific questions from me. He pushed the window wide. "Come along with me, laddie," he said, and stepped over the low sill quick as a thief.

  Too startled to comment at this unorthodox exit, I simply followed, though I did possess enough mind to finally remember to close my gaping mouth. He led the way toward the parlor window and stopped close enough that we might see those within, but yet be concealed from them by the darkness. Father signed for me to look inside, and I obeyed. It was a cozy enough scene to behold: Ann still read her book, and the others still played at their cards. All was peaceful. Familiar. Normal.

  I turned back to Father and indicated that I did not understand his reason for showing this to me. He moved back a little distance now, so there would be no chance of anyone overhearing us.

  "Is this what you thought might worry me?"

  "I'm coming to the worry, laddie." He struck off slowly over the grounds, his eyes hardly leaving the house as we gradually began to pace around it. "It concerns the French," he stated.

  Father had a manner about him when he was in a light mood and wanting to be humorous. That manner was lacking in him now, so I understood he was not trying to make some sort of an oblique jest. That was all I understood, though. "Sir?"

  "The damned French. You mark me, they'll be coming into this war like wolves to a carcass. You've heard the news, but have you worked out what it means?"

  "I've heard rumors that the French are sending ships loaded with holy water and rosaries and are determined to make us all Catholic."

  Father paused and laughed at that one, just as I had done when I'd first caught wind of it at The Oak. Presumably, all good members of the English Church would be righteously horrified at the prospect of a forced conversion to an alien faith. Those who were less than firm in their loyalty to the King might then be persuaded to a more wholehearted support of his rule. It was an utterly ridiculous threat, of course, but some of our sovereign's more excitable subjects were taking it seriously.

  "France will be sending shiploads of cargo," said Father, "but it will more likely be gunpowder, arms, and money. Some of their young rascals have already come over to lend their support to the rebel cause; it's only a matter of time before their government officially follows. We slapped them hard fourteen years ago, and they're still stinging from it. They want revenge against England."

  "But they'll risk another war."

  "Possibly. My thought is that they'll play the rebels against the Crown for as much as it's worth. Wars are expensive, but this one won't have a high price for them at all if they work it to their advantage. 'Tis a fine w
ay to weaken both sides with little effort on their part."

  "You'd think the Congress over here would see through the ploy."

  "Some of the clever ones do, of that I have no doubt, but they're so desperate for help they dare not say a word to the people they claim to represent. I've no trust for them. My

  God, barely a year before they came out with that damnable declaration against the King they were just as loudly voicing their undying loyalty to him. Bloody liars and rogues, the lot of them."

  I made a noise to indicate my agreement with that sentiment. "And fools, if they will risk trusting the French."

  "Indeed, yes."

  "But this worry you spoke of..."

  Father paused. We'd climbed a little rise and had the pleasure of viewing the house and much of its surrounding grounds. He glanced at me, then extended his arm to take in all that lay before us. "This," he said, "won't last." This was a flat and inarguable statement.

  Inarguable, but needing an explanation. I asked for one.

  "We've been safe enough here almost from the start. There have been raids and outrages and theft, but nothing like real war, Jonathan. The west end of the island saw that when General Howe's men landed. Stock was killed, crops burned to the roots, houses looted and burned, and the owners turned out to fend for themselves on what was left. 'Tis one thing to hear of it, but another to have the experience, and we were spared only by God's grace and Washington's prudence in running like a rabbit in another direction. I don't think we can count on many more such miracles."

  "But the fighting is over. Gone from here, anyway."

  "Who's to say it won't return, though? This has become a civil war with Englishman against Englishman, with each side regarding the other as the worst kind of traitor. Those are the most evil and the bitterest of conflicts, and when peace finally comes it won't matter which side you were on, for there will be reprisals for all."

  "But the King must win. What else is possible? And I can't believe that he would be so ignorant as to punish those who have remained loyal to him."

  "Stranger things have happened. Oh, don't be alarmed, I'm not speaking treason, I just want you to know that I've had some hard thought over how the world has changed for us and that it is likely to continue changing and not necessarily to our favor or liking."

  "How can it not be in our favor once the rebels are subdued?"

  "Reprisals, laddie. Not just in taxes to pay for the war, but court work and plenty of it. More than enough to keep me busy for the rest of my days... but I've no stomach for it."

  I couldn't help but stare. Father loved his vocation, or so he'd always told me.

  He was nodding at my reaction. "This won't be arguing the ownership of a stray sheep, or who's the rightful master of what parcel of land, or anything like that. This will be the trying of traitors, the confiscation of their property, jailings, floggings, hangings. Some have used the cloak of patriotism to cover their thefts and murders, and they will get all that they deserve, in this world or the next, but what of the others whose only crime may have been to read the wrong newspaper? I will not be a party to that, to punishing a man just because he thinks differently from me."

  "You won't have to do any such thing, sir."

  "Won't I? If I do not fulfill all the duties thrust upon me by the court, then might I not also be a traitor to the Crown?" He waved his hand against my protest and I fell silent, for I knew that he was right.

  "What's to be done, then?"

  He gave no answer, but sat down on the grass, still facing the house. I sat next to him, plucking up a stray bit of rock to play with. His somber mood had transferred onto me, and I wanted some distraction for my hands.

  "What's to be done," he finally said in a heavy voice, "is to move back to England."

  Had he picked up a stone himself and lobbed it square between my eyes, I could not have been more stunned.

  He continued, "And before you say aught else, remember that I've first put all that hard thought into my decision."

  In truth, I could not bring myself to say a damned thing for a considerable period. It seemed too much of an effort even to think, but think I must if I was to understand him.

  But he seemed to anticipate the questions beginning to take form in my mind. "You know why we came here all those years ago? Your mother and I?"

  "To put some distance between yourself and her father, you told us," I mumbled, too shaken yet to raise my voice. I made a fist around the little piece of rock so the edges dug hard into my palm.

  "Exactly. Old Judge Fonteyn was a monster and no mistake. He did all he could to make our lives miserable, using his influence to intimidate your mother into obedience to his will long after she was a settled matron with a home of her own. How that old sinner could howl and rage, but I thought that that would end once I'd put an ocean between us. And it worked-for a time."

  Until things had gone wrong between Father and Mother and she'd left him on Long Island to live a separate life for herself in Philadelphia.

  He grimaced. "I won't repeat what you already know. What it has come to is this-the Judge is long dead, and his threat upon my marriage fulfilled itself long ago, so my reason for staying on here has quite vanished. Combine that with the fact that you and Elizabeth are grown adults and more than capable of being on your own, an endeavor you're about to undertake, anyway. Combine it again with the fact that the conflicts taking place all around us have made this into a most hazardous place in which to live. Ergo, I've no sane reason to remain here."

  "But this is our home" I said, aware of the plaintive whine in my voice, but not caring.

  "Only for as long as no one takes it from us. The rebels have confiscated property before, you've read the accounts and heard them. If there should be an unforeseen setback and our army is forced from this island, those bastards from Connecticut will be over here with the next turn of the tide ready to pick us clean in the name of their precious Continental Congress."

  It was impossible to conceive of that ever happening, but the raids from across the Sound were real enough. We'd been watchful of our own and had been lucky, but many of our friends had not been so blessed. The story was still fresh in our minds of how two of the DeQuincey daughters had been burned out of their house and forced into the woods, barefoot, with only their nightdresses to protect them from the March cold. They'd managed to reach the safety of their uncle's home some miles away, but not without great suffering and anguish. Their attackers had even chased them for a goodly distance, hooting after them like schoolboys on a lark. The great Sons of Liberty had given up the hunt, fortunately, wanting to return to their booty-laden whaleboat before the coming of dawn.

  That could happen to us, I thought. We were not immune. No one could be so long as such men roamed free and were base enough to think that two helpless girls were such a grave threat to their miserable cause. I now understood Father's worry, but that understanding did not make his words any easier to accept.

  He plucked a blade of grass and began to shred it, still looking at the house. At our house.

  "This is different for you, laddie, I know that, for you were bred and born here. For myself, it has been a home, but never really mine. The lands, the house, all that belongs to your mother because of the agreement I'd signed before our marriage. I've done well enough in my life. I've a few pennies scraped together from my practice and that's all I really need for my comfort, but not here, not anymore. I've lived through one war and count myself blessed that Providence saw fit to spare me, but there is no desire within to go through another-nor do I want my children to have any part of what's likely to come. You've had more than your portion of grief already, as we all have." He let the remains of the grass blade slip away unheeded. "Dear Lord, but we don't need any more. Had it not been for your Miss Jones, we'd have lost you last year. For a terrible time I thought we had...."

  His voice caught and I put my hand on his shoulder. My own throat had gone tight in reaction. "It
's all right, Father."

  He sniffed and laughed a little. "Yes, by God it is, laddie. I just want to keep it so."

  "Are you saying that you're coming with us?"

  He gave a thick cough and impatiently rubbed his nose. "Not on this voyage, there's too much preparation to do first. But soon. That's the worry I was meaning and I'm sorry to thrust it upon you the night before you leave, but it wanted saying while there was still time to say it. Better now than later in a letter sent to England that will be months out of date by the time you get it."

  "You've no need to apologize, sir."

  "Well, I thought I should try to be polite about it, considering what a shock this must be."

  I smiled and eased my grasp upon the rock. How appropriate. "When will you tell Elizabeth?"

  "Tomorrow. When we take the carriage to the harbor."

  "Why did you not tell us together?"