Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (65 page)

That finally did it and the tent fell
silent. Minutes dragged by and then they heard the sound of many
voices approaching. Peeking out of the entrance flap Yvonne was
alarmed to see some one hundred or more men approaching the place
with muskets slung on their shoulders.

She pulled her saber and sliced open the
back of the tent as she said “A large group is coming. We have to
go.”

Grundy said “We’ll just kill them.”

“What? You want to rouse nine thousand men?
No. We can’t be found here. We have to go now! Come on! Hurry!

Four of them departed quickly but Grundy
quickly busied himself with a grisly chore before finally exiting
the place where the others had gone out. Rocketing to the woods he
joined the others there as the group of soldiers arrived at the two
tents and began hollering for the McClouds to join them in
welcoming in the New Year.

“Damn the luck anyway! Maybe we can just
wait and see if they go away. The tents are dark inside. Maybe
they’ll just leave and we can go back.” said Yvonne as Grundy
smiled coldly at her. “What is so funny, Harold” she said with a
puzzled look on her face.

“We can return to New York City now. I left
McCloud a message. He’ll come to us” he said as he turned and
bounded away toward the north, the others following.

At long last the Congress got to the
business of providing emergency pay for ten days to extend the tour
of duty for the Pennsylvania soldiers, hoping to stop a mass
desertion. John Adams himself gave the package to Ian saying “I
hate it that this took so long. General Washington needs this
tonight, Ian. We cannot have a rebellion starting over pay of all
things. Good to see you again, and please say hello to Monique for
me.”

“I will. Good bye sir, and goodbye to you
too” he said as he turned and shook hands with Hancock. After he
got away from the few street lamps near Independence Hall, he
rocketed away toward Valley Forge with his package.

One of Washington’s adjutants said “Come
with me, Ian. General Washington wants to see you.”

Following him Ian thought
here we go. How
do I handle this?
They drew near Washington’s tent and Ian saw
that the guard had been tripled as he was taken inside. Washington
sat with some documents spread out before him, peering intently at
a map of New York harbor, and as he looked up, he covered the map
with another document. Ian thought
likely that is a map smuggled
out by our spy ring in New York City.

Dismissing the adjutant, Washington gestured
toward a chair which Ian took and placed across the table from him.
Clearing his throat, Washington said “Mr. McCloud, an assassination
attempt was made on me recently.”

Nodding, Ian said “I know, sir.”

Peering intently at him, Washington nodded
slightly and went on “I was warned as I rode my mount past the
stable sir, and that voice sounded just like yours. I saw two
figures collide in midair beside me before I got away.”

Ian said nothing, his eyes locked with
Washington’s. So quiet was the tent that the normal background
noises of the camp filtered in then.

“Well? Have you nothing to say, Mr.
McCloud?”

Ian kept his eyes locked on Washington’s as
he said “It was me, sir.”

“I see. And I suppose you have a good reason
why you didn’t come to me before now?”

Still with his unblinking stare riveted on
Washington, Ian nodded imperceptibly.

“Well?”

“I was knocked silly and by the time I got
my bearings, he had made good his escape.”

Washington nodded slowly and then said “We
found blood in the snow at the scene, quite a lot really.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Yes. In fact some could not believe that
with that much blood on the scene that the assassin got away alive.
Later a fodder cart was found in the west end of the camp. There
was some bloodied hay in it and nothing else.”

Ian nodded, saying “Maybe there were two and
one helped the other to escape, sir.”

“What about the blood, Mr. McCloud?”

“I suppose that the assassin could have had
a knife and been severely stabbed himself when we crashed
together.”

Nodding, Washington said “The two of you
collided about level with my line of sight it seemed. That is
really extraordinary, don’t you think?”

“Well, no.. There were several frozen
sheaves of hay lying about and I jumped up on a pile of that to
block him. I think he might have done the same thing maybe… you
know… maybe to knock you out of your saddle and cut your
throat.”

“Why do you suppose they didn’t just shoot
me?”

“If I had to guess, I would say they hoped
to kill you silently and get away. They could never have hoped to
escape had they fired a gun in the camp.”

Nodding, Washington said “Why didn’t you
tell someone.”

Ian looked down for a bit, the first time he
had broken eye contact with Washington as he said “I suppose I was
embarrassed, sir. I mean here I was at the scene and all I can say
is that I got knocked silly and they got away from me. I never even
saw their faces and I figured they would never try it that way
again. I suppose I am embarrassed and I don’t want to be the butt
of soldier’s jokes from now on.”

“I see. Well Mr. McCloud, it was no joke to
me that you stopped an assassin. I owe you my life, sir.” He stood
then and offered his right hand across the table as Ian stood and
took it, nodding.

“Thank you, Ian. And don’t ever hesitate to
come to me with anything at all. I assure you that I am not one to
ridicule people, and especially people who have been as valuable to
our cause as you have been. I’ve been privy to some correspondence
from Ben Franklin and he has told me of your efforts in France on
our behalf. Our mutual friend Ben Tallmadge also told me of
something that we won’t discuss now. I know that you are more than
a game hunter, Ian. Thank you again.”

Nodding, Ian said “Good night, sir” as he
turned and put on his hat, stepping out into the night and turning
to the west, making his way toward their tent.

After he left, Washington sat mulling over
the conversation, thinking
there is more to this, Mr. McCloud. I
heard you shout at me to get away. How could you do that and be
unconscious? What is it you won’t tell me?

***

As Ian approached the edge of the camp, a
light westerly breeze carried a familiar scent to him, but at first
he took it for the game carcasses tied up on the rack. However as
he approached, he was more convinced that the scent was not just
animal blood and he rocketed the last hundred yards to their tent,
calling “Moon Owl! I am home, lass” as he quickly threw the flap
aside and entered their tent. Seeing no one and nothing looking
amiss he relaxed just a bit, but quickly went to the other tent and
ducked through the flap into the darkened interior. There the scent
of human blood was overwhelming and he peered in the darkness to a
shape on the floor, quickly stepping to it and kneeling there. His
vampire eyes needed no lamp to see the horrifying sight before
him.

Throwing both hands to the side of his face
he moaned and sagged back, beginning to weep then without ceasing.
Sleet began to fall then, hastened by the wind and making its
unique symphony of myriad tiny scratching sounds as he knelt there
weeping. The wind increased then, moaning a bit now and then as if
to accompany the sound of the sleet, throwing the tent entrance
flaps back and forth as if to provide a spasmodic rhythm to the sad
refrain. The symphony of sorrow continued, accompanied by the sound
of a man weeping.

***

Some four thousand miles to the east, a
young woman with Auburn hair and large doe eyes ran weeping to the
parlor of a large chateau near Marseille crying “Marie, Marie!”

Marie was on her feet in an instant, meeting
her in the middle of the room “Celeste, what is it? What is
it?”

She led her to the sofa and pulled her down,
putting her arms about her and pulling her close as she rocked her
gently “There, there… what is it, Celeste?”

Pulling herself away Celeste raised her
tear-stained face to Marie’s and sobbed “Moon Owl is dead, Marie!
Oh my God she is dead! She has been murdered by vampires! Ian is…
Ian is… Oh Marie, he is devastated! Oh my God Marie, there is no
one even to comfort him! This is so awful… so awful! Oh how can he
bear it? This is too cruel!” She collapsed into Marie’s arms then
as both of them began to weep for him.

Celeste became aware of two little arms
reaching around her neck then as little Celine pulled herself up to
sit on her lap, saying “Uncle Ian is hurting, mama. He is hurting
real bad.”

The two women then stopped weeping,
sniffling and looking at her with astonishment, seeing that she too
was crying. Celeste took her in her arms and kissed her, rocking
her gently as she said “How did you know that, sweetheart?”

“I was playing with Aimee and Xavier and I
saw him crying. Cosette could make him feel better, Mama.”

Kissing her, Celeste nodded “Yes, she could
Celine. She could.” She rocked Celine then as the child wept for
Ian, staring over her head with wide eyed amazement at Marie as
both of them realized that Celine now had established a bond with
Ian that previously only Celeste had. As she rocked Celine she
thought
what powers will you finally have when you are grown,
Celine? You are truly a miracle.

The merchantman
Greta
Van der
Slattenoever
finally limped into Edinburg, having taken
thirteen days to cross the North Sea. They had tacked back and
forth doggedly day after day, making agonizingly slow progress and
the captain had cursed the day he had agreed to make such a late
crossing. They would be able to sell their cargo no doubt, but he
would be laying over in Edinburg to see to some repairs.

There was also the matter of two missing
crewmen who both had disappeared while on the night watch,
presumably swept overboard although the times they both had
disappeared were not during the roughest weather of the brutal
crossing. He assumed it was a rogue wave or a case of them being
caught near the edge and being off balance or distracted and
pitched overboard by a sudden swell. He had entered it in his log
and would have to report it to the Harbormaster at Edinburg and to
the Harbormaster at Amsterdam when he returned. Then there was the
matter of notifying next of kin too.

He sighed then, thinking
I have been
sailing too long and have had a good run of luck. I may just retire
after this return voyage. I can easily get work ashore related to
ships being as I have kept my repair skills honed over the
years.

Arnaud Moreau was never so glad to see land
as when he had heard the lookout sound the call. Being as he had
never done a blood fast and had a high level of anxiety the whole
time, he had drained both goats to where they had both died by the
ninth day. He had killed and drained the two seamen at night out of
desperation, tossing them overboard afterward.

They would be in Edinburg in another day and
he vowed that he would force himself to abstain from killing a
third crewman. The relatively calm waters of the Firth of Forth
would provide no excuse for a third missing crewman. He chafed at
the seemingly slow progress they were making, at the same time
realizing that they were doing far better than they had on the open
sea. As he stood near the starboard bow, looking at the wild
looking Scottish shoreline in the distance he thought
I will
travel overland to London to see Miles Edwards. Hell will freeze
over before I will be on the open seas again!

***

“I am so sorry, Cosette. This is the first
opportunity I have had to get away.”

Cosette paced and nodded, saying “You are
certain that they left some sort of clue to bring him here
then?”

“Oh yes! Grundy was gloating about that as
if it wouldn’t fail to bring him to New York City.”

“What did he do, Prissy?”

She shook her head, saying nothing.

Cosette continued “That can only mean that
they intend to take him either at the Millhouse home or possibly at
Rebecca Davis’ home.”

“They’ll watch the bank building too, won’t
they?”

“Yes. They will, but it is unlikely they can
take him by surprise no matter the circumstance.”

What do you mean?”

Ian has a thing… he can tell when any
vampire even looks at him.”

“What! How can that be?”

“I don’t know the answer to that, but he had
it when he was human. It never fails him, ever. He can even tell
the difference if it is a stranger, someone he knows, an enemy, and
especially if it is me.”

“Why that is… it is incredible! Do vampires
have that, I mean other than Ian?”

“None that any of our family knows of and
some of us have been around for centuries.”

“What can we do? What can I do?”

Fastening her eyes on Priscilla she said
“I’m going to see James and Melissa today. These vampires have no
idea who they have baited.”

“But they have sixteen now, not counting
me.”

Shaking her head gravely, Cosette said “They
can’t imagine what Ian is capable of and they have no idea how many
of our kind he has fought and killed. You keep me apprised of their
plans and we three will keep watching for him to come.” She then
looked out of a window, thinking
what did they do to bait him?
Kill someone?

Nodding, Priscilla thought
I’ll help all
that I can, but I won’t tell you that they murdered his wife. That
is for Ian to disclose.

***

It had been a beautiful sunrise, but he
could hardly appreciate it. He had gone to Darren Roberts last
night and had given him his tent with the understanding that he
would have to take down James and Melissa’s tent and see that it
was stored at the same farmer’s place that they always had used.
His own oxen and wagon were included, with instructions that James
and Melissa’s oxen and wagon were to stay at that very farm for the
farmer to use.