Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (36 page)

“Mmmm! That was so very good! Now I am warm
all over” she said. They lay there then for almost an hour as he
outlined some things he wanted to do to her cabin and he found that
she was very intent on knowing why each thing was being done. She
had grown to be quite attached to her home and wanted to know as
much about it as she could in order to be able to keep it up
well.

The next day they finished installing the
windows and Moon Owl was thrilled. Many villagers came then to see
the white man’s windows, including Tall Elk. He asked Ian where the
glass came from and Ian explained that it was made by melting
silica sand which amazed the braves standing nearby.

Ian had hidden a package that he did not
want anyone to see and when Moon Owl went to the long house to find
her mother, he took it out. He had paid a furniture maker to make
two rocking chairs and to take them apart for transporting.
Included in that package was a bottle of glue and a brush and all
of the needed dowels already cut to length. Working at vampire
speed, he glued and assembled one, tying all joints tightly with
small strips of rawhide in lieu of clamps which he lacked.

When Moon Owl returned with her mother, they
both saw a rocking chair on their porch and both covered their
mouths with both hands, staring at it with wonder. About then Ian
came out with the other one and he had no sooner set it down when
Moon Owl’s mother came to him smiling and put her arms around his
waist, laying her head against his chest and thanking him.

The weeks flew by then and Ian totally
forgot about the war, becoming caught up in the simplistic life of
the Seneca people. He was invited to hunt with the braves when they
would go and he was made the goal tender of their team when they
played a neighboring tribe in an all-day game of Lacrosse. He never
allowed a goal all day even though the other team was somewhat
better. Eventually they beat the other team two to nothing which
amazed both teams

Ian had amazed all of them with some of the
split-second diving saves he made that day, and all who were there
agreed that they had never seen a better goal tender.

Gray Fox and another brave came and hoisted
Ian to their shoulders to carry him from the field. Ian took it to
be a great honor and thanked them for allowing him to play.

One day Ian and Moon Owl took a sizeable
group of the children to the swing that he had made over the
waterfall. Wearing his underwear only, he demonstrated it for them,
swinging out and plunging into the pool below. They all stood
around waiting for someone to try it. Finally a boy with a terribly
scarred leg came up and taking the rope from Ian he swung out and
dropped into the pool below. The others gave a great cheer and soon
there were around eight of the boys swinging out and dropping down,
shouting and laughing.

Ian asked Moon Owl about the scar on the boy
and she related the story of him being mauled by the mountain lion
and then she went on to show him the small scar on the inside of
her forearm.

Looking at her, he raised his eyebrows
questioningly and she explained what she had done and how bad the
infection had become. He peered intently at her then and sat
thinking awhile. He said “I never thought about your blood being
able to heal someone else.” Gathering her to him he kissed her
tenderly saying “I am so proud of you.”

One day a brave was shown into camp,
desiring to speak to Tall Elk. He was taken to the Sachem then and
they spoke privately. Tall Elk immediately called a council meeting
and everyone dropped what they were doing to attend.

Tall Elk passed around the pipe to everyone,
and then he beckoned to Ian who had just sat down near the back
with Moon Owl and her mother. Ian joined him and puffed on the pipe
when it was passed to him. The ritual finally being done, Tall Elk
stood and spoke, saying “This is Red Wolf of the Seneca, near the
great lake. He has seen a great encampment of redcoats in the
eastern part of their territory.” Beckoning to Red Wolf then, Tall
Elk sat down as the brave went on to say that if in three days’
time no others of his people came, then the redcoats had not come
west. Ian raised his hand and Tall Elk nodded to him.

“Does Red Wolf know how many redcoats there
are?”

“We could not count their fires or their
tents. Some of us thought there were twenty times one hundred of
them.”

Ian was shocked, thinking
two thousand
redcoats that far west? There must be an even larger force at
Montreal then. They could be attacking Boston, or they could be a
part of a bigger operation. I wonder if there are forces coming
upcountry from New York too? There could be easily another five
thousand or more coming from the south. They could separate New
England from the rest of the colonies and that could eventually
cause the Americans to be defeated. They may already know it, but I
should warn them.

In fact what Ian did not know was that
British General Burgoyne had decided to try to cut the colonies in
half by taking complete control of the Hudson River valley from New
York City North to the St Lawrence River. He had written to General
Howe in New York City asking for a force of several thousand
infantry to come north to the Saratoga area to meet him there and
crush the Continental Army and the New England Militia. This would
permanently stop the free flow of goods and reinforcements from the
northern colonies and southern colonies to each other. That was a
thing badly needed by Washington’s army to remain as it was in
order for them to be able to carry on the war.

He waited until the man was through and then
waited for Tall Elk to ask anyone else to speak. Ian raised his
hand then and said “I doubt that the redcoats come to make war on
the Seneca or the Erie or the Mohawk. I think this has to do with
the whites in Boston and to the north.”

“Tell us more, Night Stalker.”

“The whites drove the redcoats out of Boston
last year. The redcoats have always wanted to take Boston away from
its people again. The Iroquois should stay out of this fight.”

A young Seneca brave then spoke up saying
“If we join the redcoats, they will act favorably toward us.”

“If you join the redcoats, you will have
picked the losing side. The whites near Boston will drive the
redcoats out again. Then they will make war on the Seneca. I live
there and I know this.”

“Night Stalker’s words are wise ones. The
Seneca of Tall Elk will not war on the white man whether redcoat or
not. This council is at an end.”

Afterward Ian came to Moon Owl and said “I
leave tomorrow.”

“I knew that you would go. But tonight, you
are mine. Come let us go to our cabin” she said as she took his
hand and drew him out of the long house into the dark night.

Yvonne propped herself up on her elbow and
said “How do you like being a vampire now, Harold?”

Lying beside her, Grundy turned to her and
ran his hand down her naked side, saying “I love this part, Yvonne,
but I hate it that I am out of the British Army with a stain on my
record.

“Bah! How important will that seem when you
hold Ian McCloud’s head by its hair after you have removed it?”

“Still, I am labeled a deserter.”

“They cannot look for you forever. The ones
looking for you will be turned to dust one day and you will still
be alive.”

“There is that, and really my military
career was over thanks to that villain.”

“Oh, there may be more to that than you
think.”

He stared into her hypnotic green eyes “What
do you mean by that?”

“Well, just how do you think that payroll
ship was robbed anyway?”

He sat bolt upright then and took her by the
shoulders “What? You think that he…that he robbed….NO!”

Smiling impishly she said “Never say never.
Who could rob a payroll ship easier than one of us, or better yet,
two of us?”

“But they spoke German, Yvonne, and two were
wearing Hessian uniforms! It can’t be!”

About then she spoke a medley of other
languages, four of them to be exact, as he looked at her
slack-jawed.

“We vampires learn fast. I do not care much
for speaking other languages besides French but I quickly learned
Spanish, Dutch, and English after I
crossed over
. And do not
forget that I speak English well enough to have talked you into
this venture.”

He looked at her as if seeing her for the
first time then as she continued “All
Adept
vampires speak
several languages, so why shouldn’t Ian McCloud and his friend
speak in the German tongue? And with the powers you now have
couldn’t you steal two Hessian uniforms?” Her eyes began to take on
an unearthly green glow.

Grundy sat there as it all sank in, growing
more angry by the minute. “I am going to enjoy lifting his head” he
said with a grim look upon his face as his eyes glowed dark amber.
Yvonne laughed delightedly, saying “I am going to enjoy helping
you, Harold.”

***

Cosette had read all of the letters from her
family in Zurich and had just finished one from little Aimee that
was for Ian. She folded it carefully and put it in the envelope
with the others from Marie, Liri and Celeste. Those four were the
personal letter writers of the family these days it seemed.

She peered intently at the letter now in her
hand, going over it again as Stuart walked into the room. Knowing
it was him by the sound of his walk when he was well down the
hallway she only said “Come and read this, Stu.”

He took it from her, frowning a bit as he
read it. She was struck by how much he looked like his brother at
that moment and she felt a pang in her heart then, missing Ian so
keenly that it hurt.

“Well it seems we have two names and
descriptions of our stalkers. A pretty red headed woman with green
eyes and a man wearing a silver hook in lieu of a right hand. I
take it that you and Ian have met these two before?”

“Yes. I cut Stefan’s hand off and likely Ian
injured that woman wherever he was fighting at the time. We were in
it up to our necks that night, Stu!”

“We could be in it up to our necks again if
those two start a coven here!’

“What do you mean ‘if’?”

Stuart looked at her as a clock chimed the
half hour in the foyer, saying “Of course. They have already
started one and they do not train them well either.”

“As few of us as there are here, how good do
they have to be?”

“Cosette, I can
cross over
. You can
train me…look…we could easily move out of New York for the three
weeks and rent or lease a place somewhere suitable. Then counting
James there would be four of us….and we could have Rebecca and the
Millhouses watch for Ian to return while we were gone.”

She fastened her exquisite gray eyes on him
then and looked sympathetic and a little sad “Oh Stu! I hate that
you want to do this because of our situation. You know that you
will be sterile afterward. Can you really say that you do not want
to have children? Ian and I both longed to have children. Think
about what you would be giving up, and for what? A chance that we
might need more help?”

“But if you or Ian were killed, how could I
ever live with that? Promise me that you will think about it.”

She nodded then, thinking
and what do I
tell Ian? What do I tell Elsie? I am sorry that I made your only
remaining human son into a vampire, but it seemed like a good idea
at the time? What am I to do about preserving your libido? Hire a
prostitute?
She stood to hug him saying “You are the best
brother anyone could have, Stu.”

“Thank you, Cosette. You are not so bad
yourself, for a vampire that is.” At that they both laughed and
were relieved somewhat from the tension of the situation. As they
shared a laugh, Cosette thought
could you forgive me if I
brought your brother over Ian? Would your mother ever forgive me? I
wish I could talk to Marie. She thinks of everything.

***

Ian rocketed through the virgin forests of
western New York, following the Mohawk River eastward. In early
afternoon he overtook the British column moving east toward Fort
Stanwix. He stopped and pondered the situation, thinking that they
would be tied up for some time trying to take the fort. Moving
onward he spied a pair of hunters out in advance of the column and
who had ranged within a close proximity to Fort Stanwix itself.

He approached the two from an area affording
good cover and assessed them as scouts and hunters for the British
Column. Sitting a bit and thinking about the situation, he decided
to sling his rifle and just walk out in plain view. Hailing them,
he waved in a friendly manner and seeing that his rifle was on his
back, the pair waved back. They approached each other and Ian spoke
first “Have you seen game?”

“Who are you and why do you ask?”

“Sorry. I am Ian McCloud. I am checking on
availability of game for Benedict Arnold’s column. They are coming
to reinforce the fort and wanted to know about how good the hunting
was hereabout.”

“Arnold? How far back is he?”

“Oh, they were camped over fifty miles back
to the south. I was to scout far ahead and report back. Until I
stopped at the fort, I had not seen a soul for some ten days. Do
you live around here?”

The two looked at each other then and said
“Yes, just north of the Mohawk. We are neighbors. I am Will Strait
and this is Tom Bright. How did things…look at the fort?”

“Pleased to meet you. Uhm…at the fort they
were doing some kind of readiness exercise; practicing reloading
the cannon and some kind of fire brigade drill. Well, I am due to
return. They will not come close to feeding three thousand men on
game in these parts. Good luck to you both.” He waved as he turned
and trotted off to the southeast toward the imaginary column of
men. There was no harm in planting a rumor to scare the column who
might well fear reinforcements. Shortly he resumed his easterly
course toward Fort Stanwix.