Witch Child: Sorceress Part 14

He held up Duval's book.

'They say you killed a man through sorcery.'

'As I said to the priest, life here is dangerous enough. You do not need sorcery.'

'You are a witch, then? You know what we do with them?' I made no reply, so he supplied the information for me. 'We burn them. That is the fate that awaits you if you do not convert. We have saints here in the making, both French and native. Perhaps Father Gerard wants you to join their company as a prized convert, or ... '

'Or?'

'You will be his very own Jeanne d'Arc.'

'So you will give me over to him?'

I divined from his face that he would not, but took small comfort from that. It seemed I would but leap like a flounder out of the frying pan into the fire.

He sat down in the chair Gerard had just vacated.

'The Jesuits are powerful here, 'tis true, but I have other plans for you. I have a s.h.i.+p leaving soon, in a day, two at the most, and you will be on it.'

'And what do you intend for me? To take me back to Peterson?'

'I have not decided. To leave you to the sisters and the Jesuits would be a waste. I have a friend who is held captive in Boston, a privateer like myself. The authorities there would be interested in trading. That is the idea of Captain Peterson. But I might not do that.'

'What might you do instead?'

He paused, as though considering. 'I would be willing to trade the boy, once we catch him, and we will catch him soon enough. I have put a good price on him and the inhabitants of Montreal, French or native, would trade their grandmothers for gold. But I do not think I will give you to Peterson.'

'What will you do with me?'

'I have a mind to take you to France.' He smiled, his teeth white against the black of his beard. 'You are quite a beauty underneath all that native dirt, and with such an exotic history. La belle sauvage. The court craves diversions of all kinds. You would be a sensation.' His tone hardened when I did not reply. 'It is either me or the nunnery. Think on it well.'

'What if I choose neither?'

'You know what is left.' He shrugged his elegant shoulders. 'There is always the stake.'

I clutched my arms to me as though I already felt the flames licking about my feet.

He smiled. 'But it may not come to that. You are s.h.i.+vering. Here.' He rose to throw more logs on the fire and rang a bell to summon a servant. 'I will order some heated wine for us. The nights are still chill at this time of year.

'You interest me, Mary,' he said when the wine arrived. He had the air of a man who had seen much and was surprised by little. 'I have known many women in my life before, but I have never met one like you.' He stirred the bowl that had been set before him, ladling some of the steaming liquor into a silver cup. 'Drink this! It is made to my own recipe, I think you will like it.'

He handed me the cup and watched as I drank from it. The brew was warming, a mix of brandy and wine, heady with the scent of spices: nutmeg, clove and cinnamon. As I sipped, I thought I tasted an undertone of something else, something heavy and powerful. I looked at him, questioning.

'It is best drunk slowly.' He smiled again. 'It contains a strong spirit, I trade from the Dutch for it, they call it genever. Now tell me, how did you come to be with the savages? I want to know more. And do not worry. In my family we are no strangers to magic. Whatever you tell me will not pa.s.s beyond these walls.'

Whatever the drink contained, I found my tongue loosening. I found myself telling him everything. All that had befallen me. When I had finished, he leaned forward, replenis.h.i.+ng my cup.

'I knew you would not disappoint me. We make a pair, you and me.' He grinned wide, showing gold teeth on either side of his jaw. This time the smile reached his dark-blue eyes. 'They call me Loup de la Mer Wolf of the Sea. Now it is my turn to tell you about myself.'

He came from a n.o.ble family, although he did not use his t.i.tle.

'I am what you call the black sheep. My brother is a priest, like Gerard, although he prefers to stay in France; my other brother is at court, but I find life there dull and stifling. I was destined to be a soldier, but tired of killing Dutchmen in the mud of Flanders. I wanted adventure, and found it on the sea. I have interests everywhere here, and in the East, and in the West Indies.' He smiled again, this time more gently, as if at some inward scene only he could see. 'You would love it there, Mary. It is so warm, not like this cursed cold, and so green, but the green is bright and there is a different light, not like these dark, gloomy forests. The islands are full of colour. Flowers and fruit grow everywhere, both at the same time, as in Eden. Birds flit between them, blue, red, yellow, some as small as this.' He made a walnut shape in the hollow of his fist. 'They hover like bees, taking nectar through a beak as fine as a needle.'

'It sounds truly a wonderful place.'

'Oh, it is. It is. The sea is as warm as blood, a clear aquamarine with sand as white as linen. I have a place that I have built, a special place down by the sh.o.r.e where I can be alone. I love to watch the ocean.' He paused. 'I had thought to take you to France, but now I think to take you there. What do you say, Mary? Is what I have described to your taste? You can live free, as free as you have lived here. Won't you come with me?'

His thought had taken a different turn from any I had expected. I'd judged him an adventurer, ruthless and cold, his heart turned to ice by a harsh and pitiless world. Now I saw the fire within his soul and the reason for his roaming. I wanted to reply to him, but my own thoughts refused to form. I found my tongue thick in my mouth. Suddenly it was hard to move. The heat from the fire, the spiced wine had caused a creeping languor to spread through my limbs. I tried to stand and staggered.

He was there to catch me, putting his arm around me. He pushed my hair back with his other hand and touched the clan mark on my cheek.

'Belle sauvage,' he whispered, his wine-scented breath warm on my skin as he turned my face to his.

I had not felt the touch of a man in a long time. Perhaps it was the wine, or whatever drug he had put in it. Perhaps it was the strength of his kiss. But I did not resist as he held me, and when he took me to his chamber, I went freely enough.

33.

Ephraim I woke in his bed between sheets of finest linen. I was alone and I could tell by the sun that it was late. He must have left to attend to his business. I lay back against pillows of goose down and tried to make sense of what had happened, but my mind was slow and my senses dulled. The taste in my mouth told me that the heated wine had been laced with poppy.

The Huron girl came in bearing a tray, which she set down on a table near the bed. I tried to speak to her, but she did not look at me, and retired immediately. I rose and donned a silk robe that had been laid out for me. My clothes of the night before were gone, and in their place had been put much finer stuff, silk and velvet. To my mind came an old rhyme: 'three in worsted, three in rags, three in velvet fine ... '

The food laid out for me tasted like manna. Warm rolls of white bread as meltingly fine as cake, curls of rich yellow b.u.t.ter, and a bowl of some thick dark drink with a taste both rich and sweet. I had never tasted such before, but I knew this to be chocolate. The girl came again, to fill my bath and remove my tray. I spoke to her in French, then in the common tongue, but it was as if she suddenly understood neither. She hastened from the chamber, giving me a look as she left, letting her eyes speak for her.

I spent the day in deep thought. I had never known such riches before. They could be mine for ever. All I had to do was consent to his offer. I paced around the house, weighing one life against the other. If I looked for signs, one at least was clear. I had never been shown such deference, but I could not leave. The soldiers on the door would not let me pa.s.s. The snare might be silken, but it was still a trap.

Le Grand returned towards evening, announcing that we would be leaving on the morning tide. I had been alone all day and the shame brought on by the demeanour of the Huron girl had grown with each pa.s.sing hour.

I was set to defy him, but I had forgotten his charm, his handsomeness, his ability to beguile. He toasted me with golden wine as we dined, and afterward he fed me sweetmeats and talked of our life together. I was caught again in his spell, even I who knew something of the skill. By the time we retired for bed, I could well believe he came from a house of magicians.

g We were woken by a commotion coming from below. A voice called up to Le Grand. He threw on s.h.i.+rt and breeches and pulled on his boots, while I donned a robe and went to the window to see what was the matter.

Two soldiers stood at the great front door, between them they held a buckskin-clad figure. They had him gripped by the scruff like a struggling cat. They were nearly twice his size, but were having trouble holding him nonetheless. The big doors were opened wide and Ephraim was pitched on to the flags of the hall. I heard scuffling below and then the thud of feet on the stairs and Ephraim calling me. I went to the door of the chamber to find him in front of me. He stopped in mid-career.

'Mary!'

'He fights like a wild cat.' Le Grand came panting after him. 'My men are all cut and kicked and scratched about.'

'Lynx, that's what they call me,' Ephraim announced, smiling. He turned to Le Grand. 'I came of my own free will. Your men got no call to treat me that way.'

'They name you well.' Le Grand grimaced and held out his arm. The cuff of the s.h.i.+rt was torn, and his arm showed deep scores already welling up and dripping blood.

'I must see to this. I will be back.'

He left then, leaving me alone with Ephraim.

'Are you hurt?' I asked the boy.

'Not hardly.' He came into the room, unable to take his eyes off me.

'What are you staring at?'

'You look different,' he said in simple wonder. 'Like a lady. I got to tell you, Mary, you scrubbed up real good.'

'Never mind that.' I turned on him. 'Why did you come here and let yourself be captured like this?'

'It was the only way to get to you. Black Fox sent me. He has a plan.'

I guessed at what it was. Sometimes warriors would allow themselves to be deliberately captured and taken to an enemy camp. Once inside, they would work with their comrades on the outside to help prisoners break out. It was a clever idea, but full of risk.

'This is extremely foolhardy.'

'But Mary '

'Listen to me. There is reason behind Le Grand's search for you. You have walked yourself right into a trap.'

'How is that?'

'Why did you not tell me you still had kin in the colony?'

'What kin?'

'Le Grand says an uncle seeks for you.'

'What uncle? I know of no uncle.'

'Captain Peterson has been to Quebec. He says an uncle of yours from Rhode Island wishes to claim you.'

Ephraim's face clouded for a moment as memory and realisation came together.

'He became Quaker. Him and Pa came to the Colonies together. Pa didn't hold with his new belief and there was a falling-out. Pa never spoke of him.' He shrugged. 'That's all I know. It happened before ever I was born. What does he want with me?' Ephraim sat on the bed and looked up at me. 'He never wanted me before.'

'Well, he wants you now. We are to go back. Le Grand is going to trade you for some buccaneer friend of his.'

'What about you?'

'He has other plans for me.'

Ephraim looked round, at me, at the bed behind, at Le Grand's jacket draped over a chair, at my clothes lying there. He stiffened like an animal suddenly alerted to some danger he had not perceived before.

'Now I see the way of it.'

He rose to stalk the room, inspecting every corner.

'What if you do?'

He sank down to squat on the floor, resting his head on his hands.

'The Huron girl got word to us. That's why we had to act so quick and desperate. She said Le Grand wanted to take you away with him, but she didn't exactly say what as.'

He grinned at me then, his face twisting into leering contempt, an expression he'd copied from the French trappers when they spoke about women. I should have struck him for showing me such insolence, but his scorn scorched my soul. I deserved it. I felt myself flush red.

'Black Fox,' Ephraim went on, 'can't get in here. The house is too close guarded; such a thing is impossible. So he figured the time to take you was when you go down to the docks. He's going to be waiting there. He thinks they won't notice him, all Indians looking the same to them. He has all prepared and was going to look for a chance to get you away. But now? Seems hardly worth anybody's effort.' He looked up at me. 'How could you do this to him?'

'He is a warrior now. A man. He does not need me.'

But even as I spoke, I knew that was not true. I had no answer to Ephraim's question. It was as if I had been walking in a dream. He said not a word further, but his blue eyes spoke most eloquently, more eloquently than he knew. I turned away, tears of my own starting, as I remembered another parting in the upstairs room of an English inn many long years ago.

'Ain't going back to Peterson,' he said at last. 'Nor no uncle I don't know. I'd rather die. I'm going with Black Fox, or I'll be killed getting to him. I give you warning, Mary.'

How could I break such a heart? I thought of Black Fox, waiting out in the dark somewhere. They had risked all for me. How could I have countenanced such betrayal as this? I marvelled now that I'd ever thought to stay with Le Grand truly I must have been bewitched.

34.

Black Fox It was near sun rising and Le Grand had already departed for the harbour. The last and most precious cargoes were loaded last and he didn't trust the clumsy oafs and pilfering rogues from the trading house. He wanted to be there to supervise himself. We were to follow along after in time to catch the morning tide.

Ports are busy places and when a boat is about to depart there is always much confusion. At the quayside was a great mlee with pa.s.sengers and sailors mixed with traders who had come to see their goods safe on board. A scattering of natives moved among the throng, some acting as porters, some to trade, some merely curious. Canoes bobbed near the hulls of the s.h.i.+ps. Ephraim ran to the edge of the quay, as if overcome with boyish excitement at sights and sounds new to him. He came back to tell me in English that Black Fox's canoe was down there in the water.

A pair of soldiers escorted us, but they seemed to know that I was special to Le Grand, so although we were watched, it was none too closely, and they were careful to take no liberties. I looked around as if in wonder at the crowd, and soon saw Black Fox at a distance, milling with the other natives, carrying a pack of furs as if to sell. He did not need to come closer. He used the silent signalling language of the woods that hunters use when they can make no sound. Ephraim signalled back and Black Fox melted out of the crowd to reclaim his craft.

There was no sign of Le Grand. The soldiers set to mind us were slow, sluggish from a night's carousing. They stood fidgeting and yawning, talking to each other, drinking brandy to keep out the chill coming up from the river, taking hair from the dog that bit them the night before. I sidled closer, talking low as one might to gentle a pair of horses. They were already fuddled and slow from drink and the cold and the early hour. It was easy enough to lull them further until they noticed us no more.

'How did you do that?' Ephraim asked as we melted into the crowd.

'Magic.' The two soldiers sat on a barrel staring straight in front of them, as still as statues. 'Talking magic. White Eagle taught me.'

We stole away through the throng. The docks before a s.h.i.+p departs are fraught places, with each person there intent on his own business, so no one noticed our going, nor heeded the quick dip of a paddle and the slight sound of a native craft cutting through the water. Patchy mist was coming up off the river. I hoped that it would obscure our escape still further as we flitted along the line of wharves until we found a deserted mooring. There we hid among dripping piles, set as close as a forest, and waited for Black Fox to come gliding towards us.

'I won't ever speak of it again,' Ephraim said as we huddled together, 'not if you tell me one thing.'

'What thing is that?'

I knew what he was talking about.

'Why did you do it, Mary? Why did you think to stay with him over Black Fox and me?'

'It wasn't because of you, Black Fox either. I can't explain, not really. Besides ... ' I looked down at his wide-set child's eyes, his puppy-furrowed brow. 'You're too young yet. One day you'll understand.'