Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (43 page)

“Yes. I am happy to help.”

“He thought it best to give the King’s
letter to his oldest daughter, Esmeralda.”

“I will do that. She had her niece taken to
Barcelona House when she had wasting disease and the child was
healed while she was there.”

The three raised their eyebrows then,
nodding as they realized how strong an ally that Ian had in the
royal family itself. Mustafa then said “We have two more here, one
for Alandra’s uncle at the King’s court and one that we’ll deliver
to her father in Barcelona, unless he is here.”

“He is here in Madrid. I saw him yesterday
and he is staying with his brother, so I will deliver those letters
myself.”

Mustafa stood then, smiling broadly as did
Li and Sophia. Roberto invited all to attend supper at his home in
Madrid that evening which was accepted. Before they departed he
said “I have one thing to ask.”

The three turned back to him smiling as he
said “I have observed how… reformed Chavez is since that time, and
the painting must have disappeared from the throne room on the
night that Ian somehow convinced Chavez to let me and my wife out
of prison. After that night security was doubled at the palace. How
did Ian get that painting, and how did he convince Chavez to let me
out of prison?”

Mustafa looked at Sophia and Li, saying
“Have either of you heard this story?” The two shook their heads in
unison.

Roberto continued then “Oh that is not all
of it. Chavez let many people out of prison after that night and
the man has been a different person ever since. You might actually
like him now. Oh, I almost forgot but he has the tip of one finger
missing too. It is said that happened around the same time and that
Chavez has never said a word about how that happened either.”

Laughing now, the three all shook their
heads as they looked at each other in surprise. Sophia kept on
laughing then as she said “Oh, I love it! It sounds so much like
Ian.” Looking at each other Mustafa and Li grinned and nodded as
Sophia said “I am definitely going to make him tell me what
happened when we see him again.”

***

Ian and Moon Owl made their way south toward
Valley Forge. They brought their belongings in a wagon pulled by a
yoke of oxen and made their way as a light snowfall blanketed the
area. As they traveled southward, Ian told her what to expect and
that she was Monique McCloud if anyone asked. He had bought her a
golden ring in Boston that she was to wear at all times. She was
dressed just as he was, complete with a broad brimmed hat and she
even had sun glasses for bright snowy days. She looked like a white
woman dressed as a frontiersman. Her hair was always pulled back in
a ponytail or on cloudy days when she did not need her hat, it was
done up in a tight bun with pearled hair pins. Ian always wanted
her to appear to be a white woman who accompanied her husband, and
not a squaw he had brought along. It was important that all of the
soldiers respected her, even though she easily could kill a platoon
with her bare hands.

Ian had hired a Boston sail maker to make up
his tent covering. The tent frame was a simple affair of some
twelve poles the same length that fastened to a single iron ring at
the top of the tent. Twelve small horse shoes were welded to the
outside of the ring at equal intervals, each to receive one of the
twelve poles. The tent was a cone shape and would shed rain easily,
and being so steep it would not allow snow to build up. The top
ring had a fitting around its inside perimeter for the stove pipe
to go through, and the pipe itself had a wide circular collar
flashing immediately above where it went through the top ring and a
rain cap on the top end. That acted to turn rainfall and snow and
prevent them from entering the tent. Ian had had that part custom
made along with the iron ring, stovepipe, and the stove itself, a
small upright affair. He had set up the frame at the sail maker’s
loft for him to be able to cut and fit the canvas to it. Strong
canvas ties were sewn all around the base perimeter of the cover to
anchor it to stakes and to the poles themselves.

It was tall inside, around fourteen feet,
and was around that size diameter too at its base. The canvas was
treated with hot wax to repel water, and fitted over a covering of
deer hides that were stitched together by Ian and Moon Owl, made in
long triangular shapes to lace together over the frame. This acted
to insulate the tent somewhat, and thereby lessened the consumption
of firewood. It made for a snug winter dwelling and when they
arrived at the first pickets some distance from the camp, Ian spoke
with them briefly identifying himself. He showed them where he
would put his tent for the winter, and introduced two of them to
his wife. Leaving Moon Owl there with their wagon, he made his way
to the center of the camp and sought out Darren Roberts.

Roberts was out hunting so Ian left word
with General Washington’s adjutant that he was camped on the north
side of the encampment outside of it and that he would be hunting
game again for the army that winter, and would be available for
courier duty too. He saw no reason to say that he had brought his
wife with him and decided that if they did not like it, he and Moon
Owl would just pack up and leave anyway.

After returning to the site, soon the two
were setting up their tent, and before dusk they had it up and a
cozy fire burning inside. Moon Owl had been gathering cedar
branches since Ian had left so they had a really thick layer of
them for carpeting the floor of the tent. It smelled really good
and was warm inside very soon. Fearing a fire, Ian kept the cedar
away from the stove, which sat in the center of the tent. He
resolved to stack flat creek rocks around it some six inches high,
sometime soon.

Under cover of darkness the two departed to
hunt. Moon Owl now had four copper flasks and her own copper bowl
for her own ruck sack. Ian had had all of that made up by Paul
Revere at his shop before they had departed.

Some twelve miles away they came upon a
small herd of deer and quickly killed three, catching them and
breaking their necks. After filling their flasks, Ian shot each in
the head with a pistol.

“Why did you do that?” asked Moon Owl.

“We have to make it look like I shot these
animals or questions will soon be asked as to how we killed them.
So always shoot them in the head or maybe in the chest after we
kill and drain them.”

“What about rabbits and squirrels?”

“We will say we caught them in snares and
just broke their necks.”

“I see what you mean about living among
humans. We always have to be so careful what we do.”

“We can never relax our guard. That is one
of the most important things about being a successful
Adept
vampire.”

She nodded her understanding as he continued
“You will not ever say that you killed any of our deer. You will
say that you always empty the snares. That will keep any idle
gossip from starting up. Oh, another thing we want to do is to
always save a good cut of meat or a rabbit for the sentries near
us. I do not want any of them to get upset because I have my wife
with me here. If we are always feeding them, they will never say
anything bad about our situation. It would be good to have a bit of
meat on a spit roasting over a fire outside of the tent a lot of
the time too. We can just give it to the sentries or whoever comes
along. That is another thing that will stop gossip. We can use one
of the two kettles we brought to make stew now and then too.”

After they got the deer carcasses to their
camp, Ian set about building a rack of saplings for hanging the
carcasses. He had one done in less than fifteen minutes working in
the dark at vampire speed and soon the two of them had all three
carcasses gutted and tied into place.

“I will get busy building a bed frame
tomorrow after I take these three deer into camp. I cannot show up
with game tonight.”

“Mmm; I like that idea about the bed. I will
help” she said with a laugh.

Stepping over to her then he put his arms
around her and kissed her tenderly “You have helped me already so
much just by being here with me.”

Slipping her hands inside his shirt then she
began to rub his stomach and chest, saying in a very low voice
“This winter will not be dreary at all, love.”

Chuckling then he pulled her tightly against
him saying “Oh I believe that! I think we should go see how warm
the tent is now, don’t you?”

***

Sitting in the chalet’s cavernous parlor in
Zurich, Celeste and Marie gazed out of the large bay window at the
falling snow. “So Ian has married this girl, Moon Owl?”

“Yes. They were married by the chief of her
tribe at a ceremony with her people. They are still going to wait
until after the war to be married in a ceremony like we do.”

“And she finished her imprinting and all of
that in the early fall, like you said.”

Celeste sighed “Yes. They are now at a place
called Valley Forge, not too far from Philadelphia. They are
wintering in a tent and are providing game for the Army there.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“Oh, Marie, I hated to be the bearer of bad
news. I am sorry.” Looking at her then, Celeste smiled and held out
her hand to Marie and as she took it she said “I won’t omit telling
you anything else from now on.”

“Good. You need to share this with someone
anyway. We won’t tell the others. Who knows what may yet happen and
what good would it do anyway? What about that vampire that Cosette
killed? Has there been anything to develop from that yet? I can’t
help but think that they will come looking for him.”

“She has made a friend of that uhm… Anna,
what is her name?”

“Anna Strong?”

“That is it. They are now friends and
Cosette thinks Anna may ask her to help smuggle messages out of New
York at some point. I told you that she knows Cosette is a
vampire.”

“Yes. The woman saw the whole thing up
close, so what else could Cosette do anyway? Oh, I did send James
Barrows’ address to her. She can go to Boston and at least get
James to help her get word to Ian that she is alive and in New York
waiting for him.”

Celeste shook her head, staring out the
window as Marie continued “It is best that we are all wintering
here together. Let Moreau and Edwards do what they will in France.
We will handle them on our timetable at a place of our choosing”
she said as her eyes took on a violet-blue glow.

Louis had entered the room with Celine in
his arms, followed by all of the others. They all took chairs from
the three tables and brought them to the big window, seating
themselves all around the two. Celine reached out toward Marie who
smiled and took her, making faces at her as she bounced her on her
knees. Liri sat next to Marie opposite Celeste with little Xavier
who also wanted to play on Marie’s lap. Aimee came and took Xavier
to sit with her.

Henri said “We just got a dispatch with a
report from our man in the Gendarmes, Rousseau. It looks like our
two vampire friends are building a coven, and I think that they are
building two of them in fact.”

Eyes all around the room began to glow as he
continued “We may plan an attack on both for early summertime. I am
going to the
Council
on this one and ask for some extra
fighters.”

Marie said “Please do not travel alone,
Henri.”

“I will take Li and Sophia when I go.”
Turning to Li he said “It is time that you met the Council, Li.”
Turning then to the others he said “I will also introduce Mustafa
and Louis later this year as well. I do not want to take too many
men away from the family at one time though until this thing is
behind us. When we strike, we want to get all of them and their
hirelings.”

All heads were nodding agreement as their
eyes blazed.

Ian had ranged some twenty five miles north
of the camp that night before finding game. The wind was very light
compared to what it had been, but the scent of deer wafted to him
occasionally. Following it was second nature to him and he had his
hearing adjusted to its most sensitive. Hearing only the hissing of
the light snowfall as it hit dried leaves still clinging to the
wintertime skeletons of trees, he stealthily made his way to a
river that had carved out a groove to descend from a small plateau.
The closer he got, the louder the noise of the small waterfall
became.

He judged that the deer were still beyond
the river some distance seeing as their scent had changed little.
Likely they too were moving northward, into the wind at the same
speed as he was. He had resolved to increase his speed when he
heard something that did not blend with the sound of the waterfall.
Freezing in place he strained his senses and stood stock still, his
keen vampire eyes peering into the darkened woodland, seeking this
new sound again.

Again the sound came, very faintly, off to
his right. He glided noiselessly that direction for a full two
minutes, stopping twice to listen. Coming to a well-worn pathway,
he heard a groan and ran quickly to the source, seemingly a pile of
snow, but in fact a man lying huddled alongside of the path,
covered with snow. Kneeling at his side, Ian gently turned him
face-up and held the man to his chest, brushing the snow from him.
He could see that the man was an officer in the Continental
Army.

“Hello sir. Hello. Can you speak? Are you
injured?”

The man moaned a bit and opened his eyes,
saying something incomprehensible ending with “General Washington”
lapsing into unconsciousness. Gently picking him up as if he was a
rag doll, Ian bounded away southward, rocketing toward Valley
Forge.

The man would occasionally regain
consciousness only to hear the wind roaring in his ears and what
little he could see in the night was the skeletons of trees
blurring past at a mind-numbing speed. After the second time that
happened, the man thought he was hallucinating and about to die
because the alternative was that he was being carried at an
unbelievable speed by someone or something. At times he could swear
that they became airborne for several seconds at a time, and then
the unbelievable but unmistakable rhythm of two-legged running
would resume.