No sooner had Ab Siddy left the premises of St Mary's after his confession, then the Deacon arrived.
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| Father O'Reilly |
He sat Father O'Reilly down and began to confess himself. The Deacon basically confirmed all the wild and outlandish tales of Ab.
"So, is all true?" said Father O'Reilly, aghast, his face pale with worry.
The Deacon nodded.
"So, you been consorting wit demons 'n' magic? Breakin' many mortal sins?"
"But the Good Bishop John Dee seems a very pious and good man," said the Deacon. "He has a chapel set up on board, and performs many services each day." He added: "Many many services."
"Neverth'less, my nephew," said Father O'Reilly. "You up to yer pretty necks in evil. I respect the sanctity of confession, Deacon, but think this ... evil ... must be told to the Powers-That-Be. Can I write to the Bishop of Cork. And ... and even to the good Archbishop of Armagh - the Primate himself?"
The Deacon nodded.
Ab decided that he wanted to contact the Little People (the sidhe). So, after dark, Ab and Roma went off into the wilds, around the countryside of Baltimore, looking for them. After most of the night, the only thing to show was one wolf howl [ Irish wolves extinct in 1786 ], so they returned to the town; Ab to his house, Roma to the inn.
Wed 23-Apr
As Roma and Elrick were having breakfast in the Squire's Daughter, the serving wench waiting their table mentioned: "Have yuh heard th' news?"
Blank stares.
"The mayor's son, the O'Driscoll lad, has gone missin'. And the boy of the O'Hallorans, Patrick, also run away. Folks is searchin' now. If you see them, tell the Watch."
She looked up from her tray, and their table was empty, apart from a spinning cup and plate.
Back at St Mary's, the Deacon and Father O'Reilly were having breakfast. The Father showed the Deacon his carefully-crafted letter, ready to send to the bishops. The Father summarized:
- Bishop John Dee and Edward Kelly (from London and Cork) are devil worshippers and witches and alchemists and necromancers.
- Edward performs alchemy and other sorcerous practices on the ship, sometimes even using lightning.
- Bishop Dee performs unholy rituals in reverse Latin.
- They have the dead body of Queen Elizabeth on their ship, The Golden Hind, in Baltimore harbour.
- They have resurrected the Queen using foul magics into some kind of demon creature. And it now drinks blood.
- Edward has a collection of banned and evil books.
- Todd Unctuous, Assistant Deacon, has been turned into a woman, now called Tess, by foul magic.
- Lucia, a Spanish whore, likewise.
The Father sealed his letters and left for the barracks. It would presumably be taken to Cork with the next batch of military dispatches
Roma and Elrick, with Ab, arrived at St Mary's and told the Deacon the news. He leapt to the same conclusion: the boys were harvested for their pure blood.
Art Bowman was back in the barracks. He heard through the grapevine about the missing boys. There wasn't much official interest in "a couple of Irish brats who ran away". ('The Watch' was a local militia and didn't involve the barracks soldiers.) But he did find out their ages: 11 and 12.
Lieutenant Matthews, Art's immediate commander, ordered Art to stick with the group.
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| Hand-maiden Tess |
The Deacon was getting the hang of communicating with his familiar, Tess. She was on board, the queen's hand-maiden. So he asked her to join the group on the wharf.
Tess was dressed in a costly Tudor dress when she came elegantly down the gang plank. The first thing Tess asked the Deacon, was to cure her wrist, which he did with his healing magic. She had been solely responsible for feeding the queen, and was feeling rather drained. Tess had not seen Edward feed the queen any other blood. The ship was destined to stay in Baltimore "a few more days". Also, the queen's apparent age now was 55, but her rate of un-aging was slowing.
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| Hand-maiden Lucia |
Ab then explained to Tess exactly where the blood barrel was located in the hold. Tess reboarded and went to the hold, as quietly as she could, and found the barrel. It had a cork in the side, so she dipped her finger in and sure enough: blood. But on the way out of the hold, Private Smith (one of the Golden Hind men-at-arms) spotted her. She quickly made up some cock-and-bull story, then hurriedly returned to Edward's room and the queen, before she could be questioned more.
Lucia was now staying with the queen, and she had been made into a hand-maiden too ("but not a pure one").
Ab was still wanting to contact the Little People. Last night's excursion with Roma had been fruitless, so he wanted to try another one of the uninhabited off-shore islands: Ferkin Island. He had a feeling in the back of his mind that this was a good place to look.
So, the Deacon borrowed a boat from one of the fishermen in St Mary's congregation, and the party (sans Tess) set off with Elrick at the tiller. It was a solid half-day's trip and they would arrive at Ferkin island just after dark, but Elrick wasn't too worried, since the weather was good.
But, as the afternoon dragged on, the wind switched to the West, picked up, and white caps started to form. Then it got dark. No problem: there was still star light, and the moon was almost full. However, after an hour, a large bank of clouds came from the west and blotted out the stars, the moon and the entire sky. And then the storm hit.
They all groaned "Not again!" [ This wasn't Deus ex cussedness. Significant weather had been pre-planned in advance for this night. ]
Again, Roma was at the bow, shouting directions to Elrick on the tiller. And, again, everyone bailing for their very lives, as huge waves broke over the boat.
"Breakers ahead!" screamed Roma, his voice tinged with terror.
Despite Elrick's excellent boat skills, he couldn't hold it, and the boat rolled in the mountainous seas. Luckily, they weren't too far from the Ferkin island beach, and luckily it was sandy. A few of the non-swimming wretches clung to the boat, and others to bits of flotsam. Only Ab was the unfortunate one, and he was tossed in the waves, like a piece of driftwood, and got washed up on the beach unconscious, and half-drowned.
The Deacon crawled over, using touch more than anything, and used his healing magic to cure Ab's drownedness.
They pulled the boat up the beach, right to the tree line, and used it to shelter from the storm, which was well and truly in full fight.
Far off in the stormy distance, six Irish miles away, Baltimore was behind a headland, but they knew roughly where it was. The storm was more violent there, and lightning was arcing down in the vicinity of the town, bolt after bolt. The guess was the Golden Hind's mast ball.
The Deacon concentrated and managed to make contact with Tess. She was huddled, terrified in the corner Edward's room, next to Lucia. Two large pelton wheels were spinning and arcing discharges all over the show. Large brass balls were sending bolts of lighting crashing into each other. The queen was strapped in the stout chair, with the weird helmet on, spasming and jerking, as bolts of power surged through her. Edward was rushing about, hair standing on end, flipping switches and turning cranks, and putting out fires.
Back on the beach edge, Ab put out some flasks of his home-brew whiskey. And spoke to the trees,
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| sidhe sand basket |
A whispered voice, shouting over the wind and sea noise, spoke to Ab. Ab relayed info about the Golden Hind and how it had drained two sidhe circles. The voice admitted that sidhe magic worked best at night and in a full moon, and that if the ship struck during the day, they could not do much to stop it. But it did place a small basket of sand by Ab: "Put this in their drink."
The rest of the night passed without event.
Thu 24-Apr
The Deacon woke at first light. It was still overcast, but the wind had dropped a bit, though there was still a big surf. But there was something nagging on his mind. Tess? He tried to contact her, and got a broken link, and mental white noise.
Then, faintly: "Ab. Mother. Trouble." But he couldn't get a proper link.
Elrick took one look at the surf. "We can't launch in that," he said.
It wasn't until mid afternoon, before the waves had dropped enough to risk a launch. Even so, the first attempt failed, and they were all washed back on to the beach. But the second attempt was successful, and they sailed out into the choppy sea.
The Deacon tried again and managed to contact Tess this time.
Tess's tale was not good: "The bodies of the two missing boys were found in Ab's woodshed. His mother has been arrested and Ab is now wanted. He will be hanged."
They made landfall around the coast from Baltimore, an hour before sunset, and Ab vanished into the woods. The rest of the group sailed to Baltimore and returned the boat to the Deacon's fisherman acquaintance, then went into town.
Art reported straight to the barracks. Ab's "mammy" was in the barrack's cells in chains, but before Ab could speak with her, he was summoned to Lieutenant Matthews, and immediately questioned about Ab. The party had made up a cock-and-bull story to explain Ab:
- Went on a fishing trip, with Ab Siddy, to Stakes Island (also a half-day trip).
- Ab vanished into the woods there.
- The storm arrived; sheltered for the night.
- Came home.
"I happen to know, sir," volunteered Art. "That Ab Siddy was out almost th' entire murder night, wit Roma. So, he can surely vouch for Ab."
"That filthy pikey from Riga?!" exclaimed Lieutenant Matthews. "So he's involved as well? Consider him under arrest, Private Bowman. Since you are embedded with that group, make sure you grab him, tout de suite."
Art headed out and rendezvoused with the Deacon. Ab's house was not guarded, so Art and the Deacon checked it out. Ab had also made his way there (using back-roads and his Camouflage ability). Both Art and Ab had tracking skills, but soldier boots had stomped all over the ground obliterating any sign of tracks. Though, the farmland adjacent to Ab's land was un-traipsed, so they guessed that whoever planted the bodies, used the road. The house contents and Ab's brewing kitchen were in a shambles with things tipped out and smashed; a real mess, probably a result of the soldiers. There was lots of blood in the woodshed where the boys' bodies were found, and El Gato recognized it as human.
Nice basket pic.
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