Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (59 page)

Priscilla found it was still very easy to
get away with being gone all day long or for hours after dark if
she had not been gone during the daytime. She stayed extremely
vigilant though nonetheless, but she was easily able to meet
Cosette most of the time north of Manhattan Island in the
countryside for shooting and swordsmanship lessons and had begun to
learn Kung Fu Techniques as well. James and Melissa would
participate in those sessions and the two women would often
practice Chi-Na techniques with one another.

They had found and furnished names of two
more tall men with black hair and blue eyes as supposed McCloud
candidates to make it look as if Priscilla was looking diligently
for Ian McCloud. Both had been checked out and found not to be him
of course, but Yvonne was impressed at what she thought was
Priscilla’s efforts on her behalf. She was more than ever becoming
indispensable to Yvonne’s way of thinking and both she and Grundy
now automatically backed everything she did.

Cosette had Invited James and Melissa to the
Millstone home one afternoon and James had introduced Melissa to
everyone. Laura was quite warm toward them both and had long ago
gotten over James leaving so abruptly, and it had been around five
years ago. Besides that she was now seeing Deputy Lucas Ross
regularly. He had pretty much made it obvious that he was courting
her in spite of the difference in their social standing.

Rebecca and Stuart were now quite in love
with each other and were also regularly seen together. They often
accompanied Laura and Lucas wherever they were going whether it was
to the theater or to a concert or only to shop at the waterfront
markets. Stuart had taken a job as an apprentice laborer at a tool
making company which Thelma owned and was working six days a week
there now.

James and Melissa stayed at the Waterfront
Inn and Tavern for some time and they had a turn of good luck when
Thelma heard of a cottage which was going to become available due
to the young man who had rented it with his wife being killed in an
accident. So they had gotten a place to rent in only three weeks
after arriving in New York City. James was quite leery about using
his real name yet so he used an alias surname just in case the
British High Command wanted to know why he had been gone away from
the new bank for so long. The British still occupied the Milliken
Merchants’ Bank of New York City though and Robert Milliken thought
it a good thing since no matter who won the war, neither side could
have ill will toward him and his agents.

Cosette and the others thought it a good
idea for Priscilla to tell Yvonne some story about James and
Melissa appearing at the Millhouse’s rather than hear it from one
of the other vampires. So it was that one day Priscilla mentioned
to Yvonne that she had seen a new couple coming around the
Millhouse home.

“How long has this been going on?”

“I first saw them maybe a month ago.”

“And you said nothing to me?”

“Well, I followed them home and found out
that their names are James and Melissa Burlington. They used to
know Stuart McCloud in London and maybe in Edinburg too. I didn’t
think it was anything to bother you with since I know where they
live and everything. They only come by maybe once every week or two
it seems and they’re not suspicious in any way.”

She looked thoughtful for a bit and then
said “What does this Mr. Burlington do for a living?”

“Textiles; I think he might own a share of a
textile plant in North Carolina somewhere. The war is so hot and
heavy in the Carolinas that he might move here because the British
have such a large presence here and it is so stable in New York
City. Well, you know what I mean… you know, stable by comparison to
the rest of the colonies.”

“Mmmm… good work, Priscilla” she said, as
she stepped closer and gave Priscilla a hug. “You are becoming
indispensable to me. I hope you know how much I appreciate all of
your fine work keeping things up and helping the coven so
much.”

“Oh my! Thank you, Yvonne. I want to make
things the best they can be. After all, we are a family aren’t
we?”

“And how are things working out between you
and Oliver?”

Here she lowered her voice and came very
close, laughing softly “I really like Oliver a lot! I am so glad
you got him for our coven. Thank you.”

“You are welcome Priscilla, and you are
worth it.”

“Oh my, Yvonne! I think you are so wise and
I want to learn what I can from you. I hope you don’t mind.”

Her ego now fed, Yvonne said “I will teach
you more, Priscilla. There are ways to get what one wants simply by
knowing how to manipulate men as needed.”

Priscilla smiled happily as she thought
yes, in your case by bedding other men behind your husband’s
back.

The powwow had ended. Ian had presented what
he knew of the situation regarding the captives still missing and
it turned out that eight women and two little girls had indeed been
taken with the others who had split off from the group he had
attacked. Two Shawnee Villages had been involved in the war party
and there had been near to seventy men in the thing when they had
attacked the Seneca village. The motive was thought to be to supply
the villages with more females for marrying to the eligible
braves.

The Seneca braves were impressed to a man
with Ian being able to take every captive away from the Shawnees
and for being able to feed and care for them in the wilderness.
They had agreed to divide their force of thirty two braves. Twelve
would accompany the women and children back to the land of the
Seneca. The other twenty would try to get the rest of the captives.
They assumed that they would now be traveling with Ian and Moon Owl
and were astonished to find her there with him.

He politely refused and bluntly told them
that he would mark the trail as before for those who followed.

“You and your woman think to stay ahead of
us?”

“Yes. Do any of you know where that might
be?”

They looked at each other, and the spokesman
said “We do not know where they have gone.”

Getting to his feet, Ian said “Then we go
now. We will see you when we catch them, and we will mark our
trail. If it splits, I will leave my knife on the trail we take.”
Stepping toward the spokesman he reached out and took his right
forearm saying “Goodbye” as he and Moon Owl turned and trotted into
the forest. Once out of sight they bounded away, rocketing
southward on the trail of the group Ian had attacked. The trail was
not yet that stale that he and Moon Owl could not follow it.

There had been no more rain since that
night, so the trail was maybe four days old, but it was still there
for vampire eyes to see and follow. In five hours they had found
the village some one hundred twenty miles from where they had
started that day. The two carefully circled it and saw that
although some were hunting, most were there.

Within a quarter hour they were fairly
certain that no captives were in this village. The two slipped away
some eight miles and hunted, draining and filling their flasks. Ian
decided to give the deer carcass to the village as a token of good
will so they quickly tied it up and field-dressed it, securing it
with some green elm bark some twenty feet off of the ground in a
tree.

They then went and bathed in a nearby stream
and relaxed in the cool refreshing water. Moon Owl lay back against
Ian’s chest as he held her and they talked of New York City and how
they would live among the people there and appear as humans. She
was excited about learning the manner of dress and the dances and
other things that white women did and asked a lot of questions
about that subject.

“It will be a fine life we will have. Before
we ever leave to go to Europe, I will take a leave of absence from
the bank. I want for us to spend a lot of time with your people
before we leave.”

Pulling his head down she kissed him and
then said “Why?”

“We’ll be gone a good while what with the
time it takes to get there and back by ship.” He tenderly cupped
her chin and turned her face up to give her a kiss and said “We
could even be gone a year before we get back with the traveling
time being a fair part of that. There is much over there that I
want you to see.”

“I am excited about going, and about meeting
your two families.”

“They will love you. Who would not love
you?”

“Mmmm. You are saying the right things.”

He nuzzled her neck a bit and began to kiss
her ear and to caress her softly then. Laughing she squirmed a bit
and said “We may be here a while longer it seems.”

“What is our hurry? We won’t go to that
village until after dark anyway.”

Mmmm. You have convinced me” she said as she
squirmed a bit and arched her back then she said “Oooh… you are so
very naughty.” Laughing he suddenly burst up out of the water
carrying her and leaping some thirty feet to the bank as she
shrieked “Ian!” while laughing with delight. They made love nearby
and lay talking afterward, her head pillowed on his chest and one
of his hands held to her lips.

***

Darkness had fallen and the people of the
Shawnee village were somewhat somber due to the deaths of three of
their braves and that their half of the war party had come home
with no captives. It was a medium sized village of some one hundred
thirty people, and likely a total fighting force of under forty
braves.

There were three long houses and since the
weather was nice they were cooking outside and had venison and
rabbit roasting over a fire. Ian walked into the camp with the deer
carcass across his shoulders and Moon Owl at his side. Both of them
were dressed like frontiersmen with wide brimmed black felt hats,
fringed buckskin pants and knee length boots. Both had on light
weight brown linsey-woolsey shirts and both had a large hunting
knife on their belt and a short sword slung between their shoulder
blades. Their ruck sacks were stashed safely some distance from the
village. They had made it halfway from the forest to the cooking
fire when the first one noticed them and raised a cry of alarm.
Several braves rushed to confront them with spears at the ready.
They stopped and Ian spoke in the Iroquois tongue. “Greetings
Shawnee people. I am Night Stalker and this is my woman. We are of
the Seneca people of Tall Elk. I bring venison for you” he said as
he easily slid the deer carcass off of his shoulders and tossed it
some thirty feet as if it was an apple instead of a full-grown
buck. Lowering his voice to barely above a whisper he said in
English “Moon Owl, you watch our backs now and when I say ‘eyes’
you make your eyes glow.”

“You are the demon who made war on us” said
one as he raised his spear.

Ian said “You are one of them who stole our
women and children and murdered our people. I took back what you
stole. Even though you are thieves and murderers, I treat you now
as friends.”

“We are not friends with white men, or with
the Seneca. And you are not Seneca.”

“I am the adopted son of Tall Elk. We live
among them near the great waterfall of the Niagara. I want nothing
from your village except to know where the rest of our women and
children have been taken.”

“You have made a long journey just to die,
demon.”

“Enough talk then. If you tell us where the
others have been taken, we will depart in peace. If you do not, I
will kill you first and then we will kill more of you until you
tell me where they are.”

The brave shouted and threw his spear
directly at Ian’s chest then, and Ian simply reached out and caught
it. Then he reversed it in an eye-blurring motion and threw it,
piercing the chest of that brave with such force that the spear
went clear through him and stuck in a tree trunk some sixty feet
beyond. The people all shouted at once upon seeing that, and the
brave looked astonished as his legs buckled and he fell down, blood
dribbling from his mouth as his lungs filled.

There was a great collective cry then as
many braves leaped forward, tomahawks and spears raised. Ian said
“eyes, Moon Owl” as she and he both drew their swords at vampire
speed and rocketed into their midst, decapitating six of them in
violent vision-blurring movements. They stopped then, back to back
with eyes glowing fiercely, swords poised to strike again.

There was a great cry then as the people all
fell back away from them. Ian spoke again saying “How many must die
before you believe? Are the Shawnee that stupid? The Mohawk have
learned better.”

A loud voice cried out then saying “Stop!” A
dignified but shaken man of some sixty years walked out of the
midst of them saying “Hold your wrath, Night Stalker.” As he
approached, the sound of women and children wailing in grief and
terror rose to a crescendo. Turning around he shouted “Silence!”
The sounds of grieving then lessened and he turned again to face
them.

“The village you seek is two days toward the
setting sun, near where two rivers make one.”

“Do you tell the truth or must we return
when we find no village there?”

“I speak the truth.”

“If we have to return not one brave here
will live to tell of it.”

“I speak the truth.”

Ian nodded, saying “You might have bartered
for some young women to be wives for your braves, but you killed
and stole instead. The bitter fruit of this night is your reward.
We leave you now in peace. Never make war against the Seneca again
lest we hear of it and return.”

They both sheathed their swords in a blur of
motion and the two of them rocketed out of the camp at vampire
speed, accompanied by another great cry of fear from the
people.

C
hapter 85

Cosette and Priscilla rocketed along the
road to Setauket in the darkness. Twice they detoured away from it
when they detected a British patrol. She had asked if she could tag
along and Cosette had been glad to have the company. When Townsend
had approached her at the Green Dragon Tavern, he had emphasized
the importance of the packet he later passed to her. Whatever it
was, it was important and she would get it to Abraham Woodhull this
night.