TREACHERY OF SOULS

As usual, Star was woken by the rising sun. This morning, it shone on a beautiful meadow, illuminating the spring grass and fresh, new flowers, blooming in shades of yellow, orange, mauve, red… many other hues, with its warm, radiant light. She sighed happily. It was a marvellous sight. Apparently, it was somewhere called England, back on Old Earth, over a hundred light years away. She liked ‘English Meadow’ it was one of her favourites, along with ‘Grand Canyon’, and ‘Pacific Island’. She especially liked it when one of them came up by surprise, when she’d set her holoscreen alarm on shuffle. She couldn’t help wondering if it was truly random though, they seemed to appear more often than they should. Was Bodrum fiddling with Nanna’s programming again? She smiled; he was always doing nice things like that for her.

She watched the birds flying over the English meadow, rabbits hopped across the grass. She couldn’t wait ‘til she grew up, so she could visit Old Earth, see it with her own eyes; it looked like heaven, it was so idyllic. She just hoped Mother would allow her to go. Maybe Bodrum could escort her. Surely, Mother would let her go then, she’d be safe with Bodrum. She’d heard some of the courtiers saying the latest starcruisers could make the journey in less than two earthyears. They seemed to think that was really quick, but two earthyears was an eternity to a seven-year-old girl.

Asking Nanna to change the channel to Classic Cartoons, she watched the funny-looking cartoon man chasing the big grey rabbit with the long, straight ears. It was so funny how the stupid man never caught the clever rabbit, who always seemed to have a bright orange carrot in his hand; it made her laugh, even though she’d seen it dozens of times. Her mind started to wander. She frowned, remembering the dream she’d been having before the alarm woke her. It had been a strange dream; it had felt so real, it seemed to go on for a long time, and, even though she knew she was dreaming, she couldn’t make herself wake up, not even when the horrible bits happened.

It was all very odd. In the dream, she was a grown woman, with long, dark hair. In her thoughts, she called herself She Wolf, but she didn’t think in Commonspeak, she thought in a different language, although, somehow, she understood it. She was frightened by the dream, but she liked being She Wolf, she felt brave and strong, like no-one could stop her. It was fun being all grown up too.

It was night time in the dream, but She Wolf was awake. She was barefoot, wearing only a simple, short dress. She sneaked into a big, fancy building, full of men in red coats carrying long sticks, and crept down a corridor to a room with a large desk in the centre. When she got there, she started opening the desk drawers and looking at the papers inside. The writing on the papers was in another different language, not the one in She Wolf’s thoughts, more like Commonspeak, though not quite the same. Star could read it said things like ‘troop movements’ and ‘battle plans.’

In the dream, the door to the room suddenly flew open and a group of the red-coated men burst in, pointing their long sticks at She Wolf. She put up her hands and faced the leader of the men.

“Well, well, it looks like we have a spy,” he said.

“No, me no spy, sir,” She Wolf shook her head; “me lost, stuck in big tent, cannot find way out. Please, to help find way out, sir?”

Star found it odd She Wolf was speaking as if she hardly knew any of the man’s language when, in fact, she could speak it very well. The man soon responded, nonetheless.

“Nonsense, you are obviously a spy. Men, take her down to the cellar and put her in irons. We’ll hang her in the morning.” Two men stepped forward and grasped She Wolf’s arms. As they were dragging her away, the leader reached out and grabbed her chin, squeezing it hard, “That’s what spies get around here: the end of a rope. You will be with your ancestors before breakfast, Indian bitch.”

“Please sir, me no spy, me no understand marks on paper, them mean nothing to I,” She Wolf begged. She was acting as if she was frightened, but Star knew she wasn’t, she was calm, her attention focused on working out how to escape from the redcoats… and she was lying about the marks, she understood them very well.

Star was frightened though; it was all so real, and she didn’t want to be hanged. The redcoats took her down some steps to a big room filled with barrels, made her stand next to some iron bars cemented into a low stone wall. They put metal bracelets on her wrists, linked by a chain, fastened around one of the bars, so she wasn’t able to go anywhere. It seemed horribly cruel to Star, but it didn’t worry She Wolf; she was busy thinking about escape.

The redcoats left, taking their lamps with them, and everything went dark. Star was terrified, she wasn’t used to being in total darkness. She wanted to shout, ‘Lights on,’ get Nanna to make the room shine, but she knew it wouldn’t work in a dream. The darkness didn’t bother She Wolf though, didn’t stop her pulling against the metal bar with all her might. When it didn’t budge, she got down on her knees and tried again, lower down. That didn’t work either, so she felt the wall where the bar joined it, looking for some sort of weakness, but there was none. Next, she shinned her way up the bar, as far as she could go, but the bracelets on her wrists came up against an obstacle and she couldn’t reach the top. Dropping down again, she lay on the floor and stretched her leg behind her, feeling with her toes. Her foot came up against the wooden side of a barrel. She bent her leg at the knee then kicked against the barrel, as hard as she could. There was a thump, but the wood held. Undeterred, she did it again… and kept doing it, time and again, until there was a loud crack, and the contents of the barrel began pouring onto the stone floor.

She Wolf sniffed the fumes filling the air. She smiled as a single word went through her head: ‘firewater’.

Shuffling around, so she was on the other side of the wall, away from the barrels and the firewater, she struck the chain on her bracelets against the bar. Nothing happened, so she struck again… and again… and again… until a shower of sparks flew from the bracelet onto the firewater. The liquid turned to flame and She Wolf quickly ducked behind the stone wall, crouching low.

A moment later, there was a violent explosion and the room was filled with fire. Star was terrified, but She Wolf calmly reached up and pulled her bracelets over the bent, broken bar, then walked across to the thick, wooden door on the other side of the room. She pulled the handle, but the door didn’t move… it was bolted shut from the outside. Glancing behind her, She Wolf saw the flames advancing across the cellar towards her, yet still she remained calm. Looking up, she saw a trap door in the ceiling. Star had no idea what it could be there for, but She Wolf realised it was what they used to deliver the barrels of firewater. She found a table, pulled it beneath the trap door, stood on it, and reached up. This time, the door was bolted on the inside. She pulled the bolts and pushed the door. It was heavy, hard to open, but she pushed again, harder, and the door flew back.

Still in the bracelets, She Wolf grasped the side of the door and hauled herself up until she could get a leg over the doorframe. She pulled herself free and rolled away from the trap door, just as the flames engulfing the room below reached it. Getting to her feet, she whistled softly. A minute later, when nothing had happened, she whispered urgently, “Crisp, where are you?”

“You’ll be looking for this, I expect,” the leader of the redcoats appeared, followed by a dozen men pointing their long sticks at her, and another man leading a horse, a pistol held to the animal’s head.

“If you hurt him, I will kill you,” She Wolf hissed.

“Why would I hurt him, when we can put him to work. He’s a strong beast, he’ll be ideal for pulling a gun carriage. Pity so many of them die on the battlefield.”

“Give me half a chance and you will die on a battlefield here, White man.”

The red-coated officer looked at the burning house, then back at She Wolf. “I’m sure I would,” he smiled, “but I’m not stupid enough to give you half a chance. I’ve changed my mind, we won’t hang you in the morning, we’ll hang you now.”

Four red-coated soldiers walked over to She Wolf and grabbed her by the arms. As the others kept their long sticks trained on her, they marched her around the side of the house, across the front lawn, to a scaffold. They led her up the wooden steps and stood her on a trap door, beneath the waiting noose. At the officer’s command, they unlocked her bracelets, bent her arms behind her back, then locked them in place again. They looked to the officer.

“Carry on,” he nodded, and the men tied the noose around She Wolf’s neck. “Any last words, Indian bitch?” he taunted

“Go to hell, you bastard,” she snarled.

“As you wish,” he nodded and one of the men grasped the handle at the side of the scaffold, ready to open the door beneath She Wolf’s feet.

The sound of horses approaching filled the air. Everyone paused, waiting. A group of militia men rode into sight, led by a young officer.

“What is the meaning of this, Sanderson,” the militia officer demanded, staring at his red-coated counterpart.

“This woman is a spy, I have sentenced her to death by hanging.”

“The natives fall under my jurisdiction, you know that. You have no authority to hang this woman without my consent.”

“Then give your consent, and we will give the bitch the justice she deserves.”

“I will give no such thing, you will release the woman into my custody at once. I will give her a proper hearing, then I will decide whether she will be hanged.”

“May I remind you, sir, that I represent His Majesty in this godforsaken shithole. I need only refer the case to my commanding officer in New Warwick and he will issue a warrant for the woman’s immediate execution.”

“And may I remind you, sir, that I am as loyal to His Majesty as you are, but the difference between us is that this colony is my home. So… until you have such a warrant, I have authority in this matter, and you will surrender the woman to me.”

“Do not make an enemy of me, sir, I have friends in high places, I can easily see to it that your career is blighted by misfortune.”

“I do not wish to make a career in this filthy business. And I have real friends. Now, release the woman and we will be on our way… and, I will take her horse too.”

“You’re making a big mistake, colonel, why lose your good name over a native whore.”

The colonel smiled, “You may have a good name, Sanderson, but what use is a name when you are nothing but an empty bag of hot air that stinks of the orifice from which it came.”

*

An hour’s ride from Sanderson and his burning house, the militia colonel ordered his men to remove the manacles binding She Wolf’s hands.

“I won’t be able to do that again, you know.”

“I understand,” she nodded.

“I mean, I owed you, but…”

“I understand,” she repeated; “I never held you in my debt but, if you ever felt you were, then consider it paid in full, with my gratitude.”

“Where will you go now?”

“Home… I have not seen it in many moons and, before you arrived, I feared I would not see it again.”

The colonel nodded, looking down at the ground. Looking up again, he held her gaze, “We’re not… we’re not ignorant of the fact we owe our happiness… our very lives… to you; none of us. But I am loyal to His Majesty, I cannot turn a blind eye to your allegiance to the rebels any longer, this must be the last time.”

“Then let us hope this land is blessed with the peace it so badly needs before our paths cross again.”

“Yes,” he nodded, “I hope so too.”

She smiled as she watched him turn and ride away, into the strengthening light of the dawn. When he was out of sight, she gently nudged her mount with her heels, “Come on, Crisp, we have an appointment to keep.” She had not lied when she said she was going home. But she needed to make a slight detour first… she needed to visit Washington.