Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (83 page)

Ian stood just behind Cosette on a large
rock overlooking the great falls of the Niagara. He had his arms
around her and the two stood silently taking in the breathtaking
scene. “I would have never imagined such a thing, Ian. There can be
nothing like this anywhere else on earth. What river is this?”

Gently pulling her hair back he kissed her
on her cheek and said “It is called Niagagarega, or the land of the
Niagara, but it is one giant lake draining into another.”

“What a wonder This rock is shaking!”

“There are other really big lakes beyond
these two toward the west. I think they may all be connected.”

“Moon Owl showed you this?”

“Yes. She brought James and me here when we
brought her home to her people.” he said as he stepped away from
her. Reaching into his rucksack he drew out a jar of ashes and
poured them out near where they stood. “Other than her village,
this was her favorite place.”

“Weren’t there two jars?”

“Yes. Her mother poured one out in front of
the cabin.”

Turning to him then, she said “I know this
is hard for you” as she put her arms around his waist and laid her
head on his shoulder. He sighed and put both of his arms around
her. “It is not so sad for me now with you here. It is almost as if
I am getting another chance at life… what with you saving me from
that coven and being with me now.”

“There is no place I’d rather be.” she said
as she drew his head down to kiss him.

They explored the area completely then,
bounding from rock to rock, crossing to the other side to get a
completely different view. Staying on the far side then, they
watched the spectacle of the crescent moon rising over the falls.
She sat between his knees, a blanket wrapped about both of them as
they talked about the family and things they would do together now
that the war was over. Much later they made love slowly and
tenderly beneath the spectacular star-filled sky as the falls
voiced their eternal thunder.

***

Four days later the two had just returned to
the village when it was announced that they would travel to the
next village to play a Lacrosse match. This would determine who
would have the disputed hunting lands between the two villages for
the following year, beginning the day of the game. It took them
until late afternoon to reach the next village and there was a
welcome supper hosted by that village. Ian sat among the elders of
the two villages and smoked the ceremonial pipe, Cosette and Snow
Fawn sitting behind him. The talk that evening was of the Shawnee
and how they now were not even so much as seen in areas where they
used to hunt regularly.

The following morning, Ian was asked to
guard the goal and he guarded it well enough that his village won
the match by a score of 8-0. The game was played continually until
nearly sundown before the other team conceded defeat, but in any
case it would have ended at nightfall. Several of the opposing
team’s braves soon discovered that just as it was the last time he
had played, they could not hope to sling the ball past Ian. As in
past matches the opposing team adopted a strategy of bowling into
him, hoping to all crash together into the goal and score that way.
As in other games, every one that tried it came away bloodied and
often dazed. Three who tried it were carried from the field
unconscious.

Afterward before the celebration feast, Ian
and Cosette slipped away to bathe. She sat behind him in a creek,
washing his hair and commenting on the game. He laughed and said “I
feared that it would be a bore for you, being as these things last
all day long.”

“No. Not at all. It was exciting, and maybe
more so since it was so violent. But I confess that I like what I
am doing right now a lot better” she said as she drew him back upon
her breast to kiss him.

“Mmmm. I see what you mean. I think we might
be late for the celebration.”

“I think you are right, Mr. McCloud” she
said as he turned, scooped her up and leapt from the stream,
bounding away into an area of tall grass where they dried each
other with their blankets and then made love.

***

“Mrs. Stedman. How kind of you to see me
again.” said Moreau as he bowed and kissed her hand.

“Hello again, Mr. Moore.”

“Have you heard from Yvonne yet?”

“No, and I surely know that George
Washington is alive and well, much to my dismay. Have you any news
of her and that Bartholomew fellow?”

“I fear not Madame. I think it is safe to
assume that they failed and now with this latest turn of events, I
wonder if she would even come back to New York City, assuming that
they survived at all.”

“So the place I leased for them is empty
then?”

“Yes. I found nothing that would tell me
where any of them had gone or even if they had ever returned. What
do you think that means?”

She sat a bit and sipped her tea, looking
out the window. “I think it means that they tried and failed at the
very least. In that case they abandoned that place for fear that
one was taken alive and made to talk. At worst they were all
killed.”

“My thoughts exactly, Mrs. Stedman. If you
do not mind my saying so, you are quite astute as well as quite
lovely.”

June smiled pleasantly at him while nodding
once, thinking
spoken as a gigolo, or more in earnest? Do I want
to be involved with this one? More to the point, might it now be in
my own best interest to involve myself with him?

She replied “Thank you, Mr. Moore. What do
you think of my future prospects given the disastrous turn the war
took?”

“I should think that would be obvious to a
woman of your intelligence. I would begin to liquidate my holdings
as soon as possible. Regardless of what agreements are reached and
what is specified in a future peace treaty between England and
America, you will always be reviled and hated on these shores for
being a Tory.”

“So what then? Sell our holdings for what I
can get and return to England?”

“If you were human, yes. However being an
Adept
vampire there are other options open.”

“Do tell.”

Laughing, he set his tea cup and saucer on
the table and said “June, if I may call you that; you can easily
assume another name and I can easily forge documents for you. You
can live anywhere in America in comfort forever as long as you
don’t start out where you are known.”

“So I could relocate under an alias and
remain here? Whatever for?”

“If you go to the right place under a new
identity, you could easily buy a former Tory estate for a very low
price soon enough. Surely you know of places besides New York City
where there are a lot of Tories living.

“Oh my yes. The southern colonies are full
of Tories, more so by far than in the northern colonies, except for
New York City. I am sure that is why General Clinton concentrated
the war effort down there, hoping for an early victory with
loyalist support. Too bad it did not work.”

“June, I suspect that estate prices will
fall faster down there than in New York City what with the British
high command being here and housing being in short supply. They
will leave eventually though and you will want to have liquidated
your holdings and be gone before that. You will be easily able to
buy a suitable estate in the south for a good deal less than you
will get for your place here. Surely that is a more attractive
future than selling low here and buying at a high price in
England.”

She sat looking at him for several seconds
as she thought
so to stay here, I will need to join myself to
this one for a while. He is attractive enough, but I will surely
keep control of my estate by not marrying him. Scandal be damned, I
will not risk my estate by marrying this one!

Smiling warmly then she said “When you put
it that way, it is indeed. Of course I would need an agent who was
not known by anyone in America. He would be one who could purchase
the property for me in my new name where I would be less likely to
be recognized. Do you know anyone like that, Arnold?”

Laughing he said “Oh, indeed I do, June.
Indeed I do.”

Ian and Cosette had returned to the village
of Tall Elk and stayed a while longer. Late one evening after
saying their goodbyes to the Chief and all of the people at the
council fire, Cosette and Ian sat with Snow Fawn in the cabin
talking. She reminisced about when Moon Owl had been a little girl.
Snow Fawn, half-white herself, had married a French trapper and had
given birth to Moon Owl Later she had returned a widow with Moon
Owl to the village of Tall Elk, and had married a Seneca brave.

A French trapper came there and he had been
staying in the village and had become enamored with Moon Owl and
had offered an unheard of price to have her for a wife. Snow Fawn
had not wanted her husband to accept it, but he had. That was how
she had come to be married to the trapper who was eventually
murdered when she was abducted. At nearly age nineteen at the time,
she was considered to be old for a bride. By all accounts he had
been a kindly man and had treated her well.

Ian had made a small fire in the hearth
while Snow Fawn was telling the story to Cosette. He had swung the
cooking pot over the fire and had chopped up some roots and
vegetables and a bit of rabbit meat to make a very small portion of
soup. Pouring it into a wooden bowl, Ian brought it to the table
where the two were sitting and set it before Snow Fawn.

“Is this for me, Ian?”

“Yes. Let it cool while I tell you about
it.”

He then explained about how he had made soup
and added a bit of his blood to cure Moon Owl of the White Man’s
Disease. She nodded her understanding as he reminded her about Moon
Owl saving the leg of the boy who had been mauled by a cougar. “I
was here when she saved that boy.”

“So if you take this you will never again be
ill or get weak eyesight or have trouble hearing or walking about
as you age. But you will also be able to help heal those of your
people who become really sick or have really bad wounds.”

“I have to drink this then and then I can do
the same for others who need it?”

“Yes. I have saved the lives of several
children by doing this in the land where I once lived. It is your
decision to make though.”

“I saw how the boy got well again when Moon
Owl did that. He was dying and his leg was going to rot. I will do
this.”

He took his knife and opened a cut and
forced some two spoonsful of his blood into the soup bowl and
pushed it to Cosette who stirred it. Meanwhile he offered his
forearm to Snow Fawn to see as the wound closed itself even while
she looked on. Her eyes widened as she looked at him
questioningly.

“We heal very quickly and that is one reason
we are so hard to kill.”

“Will I be like that?”

“No. You’ll never be sick again, but you
will die one day. You may outlive even some of the children of this
village.”

After she had consumed it, she admitted that
she could not taste it, but that her belly felt warm. Ian spoke
then saying “You will become known as a great medicine woman Snow
Fawn. Use this for good all of the days of your life. Other nations
such as Mohawk and even Shawnee might bring a sick one to you one
day. It may be even that a white man might need your help. On that
day, be gracious and help them as if they were your own people.
This is pleasing to God, that we love one another.”

She stood and reached her arms to him then
and he stood and embraced her, kissing her forehead and saying “You
are as a mother to me, Snow Fawn. Your daughter had all of the love
that you bear in her own heart. I am blessed to have known and
loved her.”

“You and Cosette are as a son and daughter
to me, Ian. It is strange, but it is good.”

“We are leaving now to go to the land of the
Manahatta which we call Manhattan. We would like for you to visit
us there one day. If you would do us the honor, we would come and
get you and bring you back when your stay is done. You will see
many sights that none of your people have ever seen. We will even
go out onto the sea in one of the ships with wings of cloth that
catch the wind. You do not have to decide now, but you can decide
when we return next summer.”

“I will go with you then, my son.” she said
as she tearfully embraced him. Cosette came then, embracing and
kissing her too. Ian took her face between his hands then and
kissed both of her cheeks and her forehead before saying “Goodbye,
Mother.”

***

“Philadelphia is bigger than New York City
after all.” said Jonathon Siebert as he and Yvonne strolled arm in
arm through the waterfront area along the Delaware River.

“Yes, and it hasn’t been burnt badly either,
and the Tories are selling out as fast as they can; or at least the
smart ones are. We should be able to find a modest place, perhaps
one with a business downstairs and an apartment up above.”

“A business? Yvonne I don’t know anything
but soldiering.”

“Now Johnny; surely you can learn a trade.
After all, vampires learn things far faster than humans do. Besides
that, we’ll run out of money at some point and then what?”

“How much do we have? You buried it
somewhere and I wasn’t around at the time.”

“Now Johnny, a lady can’t be too cautious in
this world.”

He thought
you might be many things
Yvonne, but a lady is not one of them. But I’m hopelessly addicted
to you all the same.
He said “Can’t we just find a wealthy
couple and force them to cross over? That is what you said you did
to the Stedmans.”

“We have to be careful doing something like
that. If we found a couple and one of them was dying, we might do
that and earn their gratitude, but until we find an opportunity
like that, we have to appear to have a livelihood to avoid any
suspicion. I shouldn’t have taken the chance that I took in New
York City. Not only that, but we have to change our name. I don’t
want that damned McCloud to come calling some night with a sword
and pistols, and neither do you!”