Winter 1813 - As If From Pandora's Treasure Chest

We heard screaming in the library. It was the wail of a man who had lost all hope, even the hope of a swift end. Uncle Billy drew his sword. Uncle Boris laughed. "Steel is not the weapon we need now," he said. "The prisoners of that box had no flesh to cut and no hearts to pierce."

Spring 1813 - The Endurance of Hate

The staircase was white marble. Once it must have been immaculate. Now each step was crusted with mud and moss and slime. 

The second floor landing was a chaos of broken furniture and torn bodies.

Summer 1812 - The Faithful Damned

Brother Innocent had a voice like a snake hissing through sand. "I see through your guises, demon," he said. "I know what thou art. I have not come for thee today but think not yourself safe. When I have fulfilled my calling I shall return for thee."

Father bowed. "Of course, good brother. I would be disappointed if you did not."

Spring 1812 - Mrs. Kindersley Has Guests for Tea

Mrs. Kindersley carefully refilled each cup upon the table. She smiled at me. "Miss Rose? Are you not tired of this place? Are you not weary of the heat and the wet and the smell? Would you not like to see better parts of this world?"

I politely sipped my tea. "I hope to visit more of the world, Ma'am, than I have as yet. I thank you for your offer but I am not ready to leave home just yet. And I am not willing to leave without my family and companions." 

Mrs. Kindersley's face hardened. "That is sad," she hissed. 

Spring 1812 - The Nanny Thing

Uncle Billy's eyebrows came together. He scratched the side of his nose. "The ship's been at anchor for more days than any of the men can remember. None of them can tell me when it arrived. No one has seen a crew. Yet, not a lad has been curious about it. They look at it like a rock or shoal to navigate around."

Summer 1811 - Tenets of an Old Religion

"It's not proper religion," said Mr. Dupre. "Their chants, their hymns - they don't sound like human voices."

Father nodded. "It's an old faith. And not a friendly one. It would be a good idea for me to call at their temple."

Winter 1811 - A Flag of Forgotten Nations

Billy gestured us to stillness.

We held our tongues and our breaths. The only sound was the gentle lapping of the sea against the dinghy. The surrounding fog hid us from the enemy but it also hid them from us.

Autumn 1810 - The Sea Gives Up Its Dead

We smelled the thing long before we saw it. It gave up a stench that burned the nose and churned the guts. How the gulls came near it I do not know. That they could eat of it suggested madness. That eating of it deranged them only confirmed it. 

Summer 1810 - A Bloody Cotillion

It was not difficult to determine from the creature had come. Her footprints were larger than Aunt Annie's and she left a clearer trail of mayhem than even a very drunk Annie would have managed. 

Summer 1810 - Hunting the Blacktongue

Uncle Billy grimaced. "Cortez said the beast had a lair beneath that oak," he said, pointing to the sunken tree. 

Father frowned. "Unless we are to wait for it to be hungry again, one of us will need to go down and poke it."

Summer 1810 - Bull Tanner Makes a Mistake

"My father did not lay your brother down," I said, "I gave him what he deserved."

The river bully sneered. "Is Red such a coward he hides behind little girls?"

I picked up my hammer. "Are you so deaf you can't understand what I tell you?"

Summer 1810 - A Favor for Honest Boris

Boris arrived, as usual, soon after sundown. Unusually, he had no smile for me. "Child, I need your father," he said. "There are worse things than me abroad this night."

Spring 1810 - A Bedtime Tale from Norse Billy

"Please, Uncle Billy? Just one story?" Magnolia pleaded. 

Norse Billy lit his pipe. "About your father? When we sailed under the black flag?"

"We won't tell Mother," I promised. 

Spring 1810 - Years Late for the Duel

"Where is Garenneir?" he rasped; his voice cracked and dry like old mud. "I will have my satisfaction. Where is the coward?"

"You're too late, dead man," said Billy, "Yellow jack took Garenneir a decade past."

Spring 1810 - Clearing a Snag

"I know you, little spider," it hissed. "Your kind does not do well on the water."

Father laughed. Annie smiled at me. "I'm glad you brought your hammer. We'll have need of it." 

Spring 1810 - Annie Loses a Pearl

Miss Annie laughed. "If Dorsey wants to add to my string I can't object. I've been looking for a fight since sunrise." 

Mother sighed. She often sighed when Annie was in town. 

Spring 1810 - A Connoisseur of Clothing and Tragedy

Cyprus shivered despite the heat. The fever held him fast. 

I recalled the previous week's customer. Father had said the creature's diet was meager and rare. He was sustained by a weeping father's tears. How well must he have been feasting. 

Spring 1810 - Mother Spider's Blessing

The old woman unfolded, as a bud reveals a rose, as a map reveals the territory, so did she expand. Her face, her body, her limbs, all split and reworked themselves into a grand new design.

Spring 1810 - The Last of Leland Dix

Dix staggered back to his feet. He held his hunting knife is his right hand and a sneer twisted his face. "You've earned yourself a pretty set of scars, little girl," he said.

I picked up the hammer. 

1808 - An Ordinary Family

My father was called "Red" by all who knew him; it mattered not if they were French, Spanish, English or Creole, slave or free man. My mother was called "Missus" by the same. Father called her Treasure.

I was born on April 18th,  in the Christian year 1800. My sister Hyacinth followed two years later, sister Magnolia two year after her. My brother, Cyprus, completed our family in 1807.