Speaks The Nightbird Part 66

Perhaps he didn't need to know. Or wish to know, really. Perhaps things were best left unspoken, and the boundary between reality and fantasy left to run its straight and undisturbed course.

He cleared his throat and looked toward the pond again. "I recall you told me we'd travelled an hour after the Indians came. Do you know in which direction?"

"The sun was on our left for a while. Then at our backs."

He nodded. They must have travelled an hour's distance back toward Fount Royal. Nawpawpay moved to a fourth location, and called out, "The water spirit is a trickster! Sometimes he gives them freely, other times we must search and search to find one!" Then, with a child's grin, he returned to his work.

"It's amazing!" Rachel said, shaking her head. "Absolutely amazing!"

"What is?"

"That he should speak French, and you can understand him! I wouldn't be more surprised if he should know Latin!"

"Yes, he is a remarkable-" He stopped abruptly, as if a wall of rough stones had crashed down upon him. "My G.o.d, " he whispered. "That's it!"

"What?"

"No Latin." Matthew's face had flushed with excitement. "What Reverend Grove said to Mrs. Nettles, in Bidwell's parlor. 'No Latin. ' That's the key!"

"The key? To what?"

He looked at her, and now his grin was childlike too. "The key to proving you innocent! It's the proof I've been needing, Rachel! It was right there, as close as..." He struggled for an a.n.a.logy, and touched his grizzled chin. "Whiskers! The cunning fox can't-"

"Ah!" Nawpawpay's hand lifted, muddy to the wrist. "Here is a find!" Matthew waded into the water to meet him. The chief opened his hand and displayed a single silver pearl. It wasn't much but, coupled with the fragment of pie dish, was enough.

Matthew was curious about something, and he waded on past the chief until the water neared his waist.

And there! His suspicion was confirmed; he felt a definite current swirling around his knees. "The water moves, " he said.

"Ah, yes, " Nawpawpay agreed. "It is the breathing of the spirit. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But always, it breathes. You find interest in the water spirit?"

"Yes, very much."

"Hm." He nodded. "I didn't know your kind was religious. I shall take you to the house of the spirits, as an honored guest."

Nawpawpay led Matthew and Rachel to another hut near the pond. This one had walls daubed with blue dye, its entrance cloaked by a fantastically woven curtain of turkey and pigeon feathers, rabbit fur, fox skins with the heads still attached, and various other animal hides. "Alas, " Nawpawpay said, "your woman can't have entrance here. The spirits deign only to speak to men, and to women through men. Unless, of course, the woman was born with the spirit marks and becomes a seer."

Matthew nodded. It had occurred to him that one culture's "spirit marks" were another culture's "marks of the devil." He told Rachel that the chief's custom required her to wait while they went inside. Then he followed Nawpawpay.

The interior was very dim, only one flame burning in a small clay pot full of oil. Thankfully, though, there was no eye-searing smoke. The house of the spirits appeared empty, as far as Matthew could tell.

"We speak respectfully here, " Nawpawpay said. "My father built this, many pa.s.sings of seasons ago. I often come here, to ask his advice."

"And he answers?"

"Well... no. But then again, he does. He listens to my problem, and then his answer is always: Son, decide for yourself." Nawpawpay picked up the clay pot. "Here are the gifts the water spirit gives." He followed the flickering flame deeper into the hut, with Matthew a few paces behind.

Still, there was nothing. Except one thing. On the floor was a larger bowl full of muddy water. Nawpawpay reached into it with the same hand that held the pearl, and then his hand reappeared muddy and dripping. "We honor the water spirit in this way, " he said. As Matthew watched, Nawpawpay approached a wall. It was not pinewood, as the others were, but was thickly plastered with dried brown mud from the pond.

Nawpawpay pressed his handful of mud and the pearl into the wall and smoothed it down. "I must speak to the spirit now, " he said. And then, in a soft singsong chant, "Pa ne sa nehra cai ke panu. Ke na pe pe kairu." As he chanted, he moved the flame back and forth along the mud-caked wall.

There was a red glint, first. Then a blue one.

Then... red... gold... more gold, a dozen gold... and silver... and purple and...

... a silent explosion of colors as the light moved back and forth along the wall: emerald green, ruby crimson, sapphire blue... and gold, gold, a thousand times gold...

"Oh, " Matthew gasped, as the hairs stood up on the back of his neck.

Held in that wall was the treasure.

A pirate's fortune. Jewels by the hundreds-sky blue, deep green, pale amber, dazzling white-and the coins, gold and silver enough to make the king of Franz Europay gibber and drool. And the most stunning thing was that Matthew realized he was seeing only the outermost layer. The plastering of dried mud had to be at least four inches thick, six feet tall, and four feet wide.

Here it was. In this dirt wall, in this hut, in this village, in this wilderness. Matthew wasn't sure, but he thought he could hear G.o.d and the Devil joined together in common laughter.

He knew. What was put into the spring at Fount Royal was carried out by the current of an underground river. It might take time, of course. Everything took time. The entrance to that river, there somewhere in the depths of Bidwell's spring, might only be the diameter of Lucretia Vaughan's pie plate. If a pirate had taken a sounding of the fount before lowering bags of jewels and coins, he would have found a bottom at forty feet-but he would not have found the hole that eventually pulled everything into the subterranean flow. Perhaps the current drew more powerfully in a particular season, or was affected by the moon just as were the ocean's tides. In any case, the pirate-most probably a man who was only smart enough to loot vessels, but not to vessel his loot in a st.u.r.dy container-had chosen a vault that suffered the flaw of a funnel at its bottom.

Spellbound, Matthew approached the wall. "Se na caira pa pa kairu, " chanted Nawpawpay, as he slowly moved the flame back and forth and the small sharp glints and explosions of reflected light continued.

Matthew saw in another moment that the dried mud also held bits of pottery, gold chains, silver spoons, and so forth. Here the gold-encrusted hilt of a knife protruded, and there was the cracked face of a pocket watch.

It made sense that Lucretia Vaughan's pie dish would go to the doctor, as some sort of enchanted implement sent from the water spirit. After all, it was decorated with a pattern that they most likely had figured out was a human organ.

"Na pe huida na pe caida, " Nawpawpay said, and that seemed to finish it, as he held the flame toward Matthew.

"The courage-" Matthew's voice cracked. He tried again. "The courage suns. You say the white fish stole one?"

"Yes, and murdered the man to whom it was given."

"May I ask why it was given to this man?"

"As a reward, " Nawpawpay said, "for courage. This man saved another who was gored by a wild tusked pig, and afterward killed the pig. It's a tradition my father began. But that white fish has been luring my people with his bad ways, making them sick in the mind with strong drink, and then making them work for him like common dogs. It was time for him to go."

"I see." Matthew recalled that Shawcombe had said his tavern had been built with Indian labor. And now he really did see. He saw the whole picture, and how it fit together in an intricate pattern.

"Nawpawpay, " Matthew said, "my... uh... woman and I must leave this place. Today. We have to go back from where we came. Do you know the village near the sea?"

"Of course I do. We watch it all the time." Nawpawpay wore an expression of concern. "But Demon Slayer, you can't leave today! You're still too weak to travel that distance. You must tell me what you know of Franz Europay, and I also have a celebration planned for you tonight. Dancing and feasting. And we have the demon's head, carved out for you to wear."

"Urn... well... I-"

"In the morning you may leave, if you still desire to. Tonight we celebrate, to honor your courage and the death of that beast." He directed the light to the treasure wall again. "Here, Demon Slayer! A gift for you, as is proper. Take one thing you see that shines strong enough to guide your hand."

It was astounding, Matthew thought. Nawpawpay didn't realize-and G.o.d protect him from ever finding out-that there were those in the outside world, the civilized world, who would come through the forest to this place and raze it to the ground to obtain one square foot of dirt from that wall.

But a gift of fantastic worth had been offered, and Matthew's hand was so guided.

Forty-One.

As the sun settled and the blue shadows of evening advanced, Fount Royal slumbered in a dream of what might have been.

It was a slumbering that prefigured death. Stood the empty houses, stood the empty barns. A scarecrow drooped on its frame in a fallow field, two blackbirds perched upon its shoulders. A straw hat lay discarded on Harmony Street, and had been further destroyed by the crush of wagon wheels. The front gate was ajar, its locking timber thrown aside and left in the dirt by the last family who'd departed. Of the thirty or so persons who remained in the dying dream of Fount Royal, not one could summon the energy of spirit to put the gate in order. It seemed madness, of course, to leave the gate unlocked, for who knew what savages might burst through to scalp, maim, and pillage?

But in truth, the evil within Fount Royal seemed much worse, and to secure the gate was like locking oneself in a dark room with a beast whose breath stroked the back of the neck.

It was all clear now. All of it, very clear to the citizens.

The witch had escaped with the help of her demon-possessed lover. That boy! You know the one! That clerk had fallen in with her-had fallen into the pit of h.e.l.l, I say-and he overcame Mr. Green and got her out. Then they fled. Out into the wilderness, out where Satan has his own village. Yes, he does, and I've heard tell Solomon Stiles saw it himself. You might ask him, but he's left town for good. This is the story, though, and guard your souls at the listening: Satan's built a village in the wilderness and all the houses are made of thornwood. They have fields that seethe of h.e.l.lfire, and they grow crops of the most treacherous poison. You know the magistrate's fallen sick again, don't you? Yes, he has. Sick unto death. He's near given out. Now this is what I hear: someone in that mansion house is a witch or warlock themselves, and has fed that poor magistrate Satan's poisoned tea! So guard what you drink! Oh my... I was just thinking... what a horror to think on... mayhaps it wasn't wasn't the tea that was poisonous, but the very water. Oh my... if Satan had it in mind... to curse and poison the fount itself... we would all die writhing in our beds, wouldn't we? Oh my... oh my:... the tea that was poisonous, but the very water. Oh my... if Satan had it in mind... to curse and poison the fount itself... we would all die writhing in our beds, wouldn't we? Oh my... oh my:...

A breeze moved across Fount Royal on this warm and darkening eve. It rippled the waters of the fount, and kissed the roofs of lightless houses. It moved along Industry Street, where it had been sworn that the phantasm of Gwinett Linch had been seen, hurrying along with its rat sticker and its torn throat, warning in a ghastly cry that the witches of Fount Royal were hungry for more souls... more souls...

The breeze stirred dust from Harmony Street, and whirled that dust into the cemetery where it had been sworn a dark figure was seen walking amid the markers, counting numbers on an abacus. The breeze whispered along Truth Street, past the accursed gaol and that house-that witch's house-from which sounds of infernal merriment and the scuttling of demons' claws could be heard, if one dared approach too closely.

Yes, it all was very clear now to the citizens, who had responded to this clarity of vision by fleeing for their lives. Seth Hazelton's house lay empty, the stalls of his barn bare, his forge cold. The hearth at the abandoned Vaughan house still held the perfume of baked bread, but the only movement in that forsaken domicile was the agitation of the wasps. At the infirmary, bags and boxes had been packed in preparation for departure, the gla.s.s vials and bottles nestled in cotton and waiting for...

Just waiting.

They were almost all gone. A few stalwarts remained, either out of loyalty to Robert Bidwell, or because their wagons had to be repaired before a trip could be undertaken, or because-the rarest cases-they had nowhere else to go and continued to delude themselves that all would be well. Exodus Jerusalem remained in his camp, a fighter to the end, and though the audience at his nightly preachings had dwindled he continued to a.s.sail Satan for the appreciation of his flock. Also, he had made the acquaintance of a certain widow woman who had not the benefit of male protection, and so after his feverish sermons were done he protected her at close quarters with his mighty sword.

But lanterns still glowed in the mansion, and light sparkled off four lifted winegla.s.ses.

"To Fount Royal, " Bidwell said. "What it was, I mean. And what it might have been." The toast was drunk without comment by Winston, Johnstone, and Shields. They stood in the parlor, in preparation to go into the dining room for the light dinner to which Bidwell had invited them.

"I deeply regret it's turned out this way, Robert, " Shields said. "I know you-"

"Hush." Bidwell lifted the palm of his free hand. "We'll have no tears this evening. I have travelled my road of grief, and wish to go on to the next destination."

"What, then?" Johnstone asked. "You're going back to England?"

"Yes, I am. In a matter of weeks, after some business is finished. That's why Edward and I went to Charles Town on Tuesday, to prepare for our pa.s.sage." He drank another sip of his wine and looked about the room. "My G.o.d, how shall I ever salvage such a folly as this? I must have been mad, to have dumped so much money into this swamp!"

"I myself must throw in my cards, " Johnstone said, his face downcast. "There's no point in my staying any longer. I should say in the next week."

"You did a fine job, Alan, " Shields offered. "Fount Royal was graced by your ideas and education."

"I did what I could, and thank you for your appreciation. As for you, Ben... what are your plans?"

Shields drank down his wine and walked to the decanter to refill his gla.s.s. "I will leave... when my patient departs. Until then, I will do my d.a.m.nedest to make him comfortable, for that's the very least I can do."

"I fear at this point, doctor, it's the most you can do, " Winston said.

"Yes, you're right." Shields took down half the fresh gla.s.s at a swallow. "The magistrate... hangs on from day to day by his fingernails. I should say he hangs on from hour to hour." Shields lifted his spectacles and scratched his nose. "I've done everything I could. I thought the potion was going to work... and it did work, for a while. But his body wouldn't accept it, and it virtually collapsed. Therefore: the question is not if he will pa.s.s, but when." He sighed, his face strained and his eyes bloodshot. "But he is comfortable now, at least, and he's breathing well."

"And still he's not aware?" Winston asked.

"No. He still believes Witch Howarth burned on Monday morning, and he believes his clerk looks in on him from time to time, simply because that's what I tell him. As his mind is quite feeble, he has no recollection of the pa.s.sage of days, nor of the fact that his clerk is not in the house."

"You don't intend on telling him the truth, then?" Johnstone leaned on his cane. "Isn't that rather cruel?"

"We decided... I I decided... that it would be supremely cruel to tell him what has actually happened, " Bidwell explained. "There's no need in rubbing his face in the fact that his clerk was bewitched and threw in his lot with the Devil. To tell Isaac that the witch did not burn... well, there's just no point to it." decided... that it would be supremely cruel to tell him what has actually happened, " Bidwell explained. "There's no need in rubbing his face in the fact that his clerk was bewitched and threw in his lot with the Devil. To tell Isaac that the witch did not burn... well, there's just no point to it."

"I agree, " Winston said. "The man should be allowed to die with peace of mind."

"I can't understand how that young man could have bested Green!" Johnstone swirled the wine around his gla.s.s and then finished it. "He must have been either very lucky or very desperate."

"Or possessed supernatural strength, or had the witch curse Green to sap the man's power, " Bidwell said. "That's what I think."

"Pardon me, gentlemen." Mrs. Nettles had come. "Dinner's a'table."

"Ah, yes. Good. We'll be there directly, Mrs. Nettles." Bid-well waited for the woman to withdraw, and then he said quietly to the others, "I have a problem. Something of the utmost importance that I need to discuss with all of you."

"What is it?" Shields asked, frowning. "You sound not yourself."

"I am not myself, " Bidwell answered. "As a matter of fact... since we returned from Charles Town and I have taken stock of my impending failure, I am changed in a way I would never have thought possible. In fact, that is what I need to discuss with all of you. Come, let's go into the library where voices don't carry as freely." He picked up a lamp and led the way.

Two candles were already burning in the library, shedding plenty of light, and four chairs had been arranged in a semicircle. Winston followed Bidwell in, then the doctor entered, and lastly Johnstone limped through the doorway.

"What's this, Robert?" Johnstone asked. "You make it sound so secretive."

"Please, sit down. All of you." When his guests were seated, Bidwell put his lantern on the sill of the open window and settled himself in his chair. "Now, " he said gravely. "This problem that I grapple with... has to do with..."

"Questions and answers, " came a voice from the library's entrance. Instantly Dr. Shields and Johnstone turned their heads toward the door.

"The asking of the former, and the finding of the latter, " Matthew said, as he continued into the room. "And thank you, sir, for delivering the cue."

"My G.o.d!" Shields shot to his feet, his eyes wide behind his spectacles. "What are you doing here?"

"Actually, I've been occupying my room for the afternoon." Matthew walked to a position so that he might face all the men, his back to the wall. He wore a pair of dark blue breeches and a fresh white shirt. Mrs. Nettles had cut the left sleeve away from the clay dressing. He didn't tell them that when he'd shaved and been forced to regard his bruise-blotched face and the clay plaster on his forehead, he'd been cured of unnecessary glances in a mirror for some time to come.

"Robert?" Johnstone's voice was calm. He gripped the shaft of his cane with both hands. "What trickery is this?"

"It's not a trick, Alan. Simply a preparation in which Edward and I a.s.sisted."

"A preparation? For what, pray tell?"

"For this moment, sir, " Matthew said, his face betraying no emotion. "I arrived back here-with Rachel-around two o'clock. We entered through the swamp, and as I was... um... deficient in clothing and did not wish to be seen by anyone, I asked John Goode to make my presence known to Mr. Bidwell. He did so, with admirable discretion. Then I asked Mr. Bidwell to gather you all together this evening."

"I'm lost!" Shields said, but he sat down again. "You mean to say you brought the witch back here? Where is she?"

"The woman is currently in Mrs. Nettles's quarters, " Bidwell offered. "Probably eating her dinner."

"But... but..." Shields shook his head. "She's a witch, by G.o.d! It was proven so!"