by Tony Nalley
“The real world?” she said as she wrinkled her chin and shook her head. “Maybe. Crazy? Most definitely!” she said as she laughed and clasped her hands. “A ghost in your family’s barn?” Ms. Lillie asked as she tilted her head to the side in question. “What ghost do you mean boy? What did you see?”
“Well, it was a while back ago, when we first moved out here to the country.” I related. “Me and this other girl that I know saw it out back in our barn. It was a Confederate’s ghost, at least that’s how I remember it. I just remember him kneelin’ down at the window of the loft and I remember him lookin’ at me.”
“Well, now.” Ms Lillie said as she sat back in the swing. “Well …what do you know about that!”
“You didn’t know about the ghost?” I asked.
“No sir. I did not.” She replied.
“Would you know whose ghost it might be?” I asked.
“Well, I got my suspicions.” Ms. Lillie said solemnly. “Something I remember my daddy telling me about a long long time ago.”
“What did he tell you?” I asked.
“Well …the story goes that it was durin’ the summertime of the latter part of the Civil War, right after the Battle of Cold Harbor that was fought out there in Virginia. There were heavy losses on both sides of that battle and a bunch of our boys didn’t make it back.” she said. “But one of Obadiah’s boys did make it back!” Ms. Lillie said. “His name was Cornelius …no wait …it was a bible name that started with a ‘C’…yes! His name was Caleb!” she said once she’d remembered. “He was my daddy’s uncle as I believe he was.” Ms. Lillie related. “That would make him my great uncle.”
“There were ‘werewolves’ fightin’ in the Civil War?” I asked.
“‘Werewolves’ have fought in many a war, Mr. Toby!” Ms. Lillie said as she grinned sweetly. “Well anyways…” she continued. “Caleb was a Scout you see for the Confederate Army and he had alot of contacts with the local folks around these parts.” Ms. Lillie continued. “So when word got to him that the Stone of Blood was being transported by order of the new Bishop from Bardstown to Louisville, well …he set out to follow it …and to bring it back!”
“Did he get it from em’?” I asked.
“No! The stagecoach was robbed just before he was able to take hold of it!” She replied.
“Robbed?” I asked. “Robbed by who? Who robbed it?”
“I’ll tell you!” She stated. “And that’s somethin’ you’re gonna like to hear tell about, Mr. Toby!”
I sat there with my eyes wide open, seein’ as how Ms. Lillie was gettin’ so excited and all.
“The stagecoach was robbed by none other than Jesse James himself!” She told me.
“Jessie James stole the Stone of Blood?” I asked as I wrinkled my nose.
“Yes sir he did!” Ms. Lillie replied. “Now he didn’t know what he was stealing! Because he didn’t even know what the stagecoach was carrying when he robbed it! But you see that’s why people see his ghost up there in town at the Tavern, Mr. Toby. Because whoever touches that stone becomes a ghost when they die. Yes sir they do!” She continued. “You see, it’s because the curse is passed on to them too! Their curse is to return to the place where they laid their hands on it! And Jesse James …he’d touched that stone! It was a powerful magic that was used on that one.” she said as she shook her head and then looked down upon the ground.
“What happened after that?” I asked. “Did Caleb get the stone back?”
“Yes sir he did Mr. Toby! He got it back! But he got shot for it!” Ms. Lillie answered. “He got shot! And then he was followed by Nathanael and his horde.”
“Was he shot with a silver bullet?” I asked.
Ms. Lillie stopped the swing then and she looked at me hard …right in my eyes and said, “‘Werewolves’ can be killed just like everybody else Mr. Toby. It doesn’t have to be a silver bullet that kills em’! They can be killed with regular bullets too! A silver bullet just does it quicker is all.” she said. “You see they’re human too! Only they got a curse on em’.”
Ms. Lillie looked over her right shoulder and then pointed and waived her hand in that direction. “Obadiah had a place over the hill there yonder, right over there close to where your house is.” she said. “And that’s where it all happened.”
“Where what happened, Ms. Lillie?” I asked.
“You see my daddy was about nine years old at the time, so some of what he remembered and told me about was told through the words of a child, because that’s how he’d seen it.” she said. “But he told me that he’d seen Nathanael with his own eyes! And that he was there when he and his boys showed up at Obadiah’s place looking for Caleb! And that’s when he said that a fight broke out between Nathanael and Obadiah over the whereabouts and the ownership of that stone!”
Ms. Lillie’s face grew heavy then as she looked out into the sky.
“‘It was a terrible fight!’ my daddy told me. And he said that ‘they fought with guns …they fought with swords …and they fought as ‘werewolves’!” Ms. Lillie related.
I was fascinated by Ms. Lillie’s story and I sat there and listened as closely as I could!
“What happens to a person doesn’t make them bad, Mr. Toby.” Ms. Lillie said in the middle of her story. “This curse that came upon Obadiah and his people …it did not make them bad people. They suffered through it like all men do and still …they chose to live as God intended for them to live despite what had come upon them!” She related. “It’s what you choose to do in life that can make you be a bad person.” Ms. Lillie continued. “God loves all men, the good ones and the bad ones. Because when this here story ends…” she said pointin’ to her lap. “He wants as many of his children that will come to him to do so! You understand?”
I shook my head yes.
Ms. Lillie sat there for a moment quietly in thought.
“Did they get killed?” I urged her on.
“Terrible things happened, Mr. Toby.” Ms. Lillie said in reply. “Terrible …unnatural things! It is said that when a man becomes so evil …that even Hell itself will spat him back out!” she said. “And if it was Nathanael who touched that stone, then it is his evil that has returned.”
…Images returned to me then of the ghostly apparition within the loft. No longer a ghost of the Confederacy, it was Union garb he wore …with haunting words of forewarning and whispers that filled my spirit...
“There exists a dark prophesy.” Ms. Lillie went on to say. “It is said that …à l'aube de l'année Quin du Centenaire ...la Lune se lèvera à sang une nouvelle ère …l'âge de l'Ordre Nouveau ...l'âge du loup.” Ms. Lillie spoke in tongue and then she smiled and said again for me to understand in English. “At the dawning of the Quincentennial …the 500th year,” She explained. “…the Blood Moon shall rise upon a new age …an age of a new order …the order of the wolf!”
Ms. Lillie sat back in the swing in deep reflection. And I shuttered at the meanin’ of her words.
“So what happened to the stone Ms. Lillie?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s here…” Ms. Lillie answered. “…hidden from the world.”
She looked out into the Heaven’s then as though she were seein’ into a different time.
“Obadiah …kept it safe.” Ms. Lillie said once she’d returned from her thoughts. “He was dealt a mortal wound by Nathanael’s hand he was …but he kept it safe …he kept it secret …a secret that he passed down to my daddy, a secret that my daddy passed down to me and a secret that I will now pass down to you, Mr. Toby.”
“What secret?” I asked in whisper.
Ms. Lillie paused for a moment and then spoke in answer. “I can’t say that it makes no whole lot of sense.” Ms. Lillie said. “Because you see …when Obadiah lay there upon his death bed, he pulled my daddy close to him and he made him promise …made him promise to remember the words.”
“What words, Ms. Lillie?” I asked.
“‘Of faith and chime’.” S
he answered. “But like I said Mr. Toby, we never have figured out what that means.” She continued.
“‘Of faith and chime’?” I repeated “I’ve heard those words together like that before Ms. Lilly!”
“Where have you heard them child?” she said all excited like.
“I heard em’ when I was in the cave!” I answered. “I had a vision! I mean, it was like a riddle in my head and I followed it like a clue! It led me to that church bell at St. Joseph’s Cathedral!”
“The church bell at St. Joe’s?” She replied. “Well what do you know about that?”
I reached into my pants pocket and pulled out the wadded up piece of paper that I had used to get the rubbin’ from the bell! I knew that my mama wouldn’t have liked me wearin’ them pants so long without gettin’ em’ washed, but I sure was glad that I hadn’t washed em’! Cause I had done completely forgot about that paper bein’ in my pants pocket! I opened up the paper and I showed Ms. Lillie the words that were written just there at the bottom of the page by that library lady.
“See Ms. Lillie.” I said. “The words on the bell were written in French cause the bell was given to the church by the very same King that gave that Catholic priest the Blood Stone!” I said all excited like!
“But I had the words translated by the lady up there at the library.” I continued. “It says: ‘Jeremiah 31:10 Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off.’”
“See there!” I nearly shouted. “It even has your daddy’s name on it! Jeremiah!”
Ms. Lillie looked a little puzzled for a moment and without sayin’ a word to me whatsoever, she got up off of the swing and walked back into her house and let the screen door slam shut! About a minute or so later she come back out the door and hurried back over to the swing and sat down again beside me, with a big black leather book in her hands! And she smiled at me.
“This here was my daddy’s bible!” she said. “It’s been handed down for generations in my family.” Ms. Lillie said as she opened the book and I watched her turn the pages to Jeremiah 31:10. “You see when you were reading that verse from the bell; I realized that part of it was missing.” she said. “Look here Mr. Toby!” she said as she pointed to the verse and read it out loud! “Jeremiah 31:10 Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.”
She looked up at me then and smiled again.
“You see!” Ms. Lillie said. “There was more to it now wasn’t there?”
As she read those words out loud I realized that Obadiah had meant to use that verse as a riddle too! It was his way of hidin’ the message in such a way that only a person of faith could find it! Those who were lookin’ for it …would have to have known the verse on the bell was incomplete! And they would have had to open up the bible and read it! That was the ‘faith’ part!
I now knew where the stone was hidden!
It was perfect, and it was simple! And it all made complete sense!
I looked at Ms. Lillie then and I smiled back at her. “I know where the stone is hidden Ms. Lillie!” I said.
“Well now Mr. Toby!” she said excitedly. “Where is it child?”
“The answer is in the bible verse. It’s in the words.” I said. “It’s just like a riddle! It says ‘He will keep him as a shepherd doth his flock!’”
Ms. Lillie looked puzzled.
“Where does a shepherd keep his flock Ms. Lillie?” I said as I continued my train of thought. “A shepherd keeps his flock where he keeps his horses and his livestock!” I explained. “He keeps em’ in a stable! Obadiah hid the Stone of Blood in his barn!”
Twenty Three
Uncharted Territory
I climbed up onto the back of Cricket’s horse and I placed my hands around her waist. Cricket’s belly was as warm and as smooth to the touch as anythin’ I could have imagined, and I got that kind of dizzy feelin’ in my head again. I didn’t know what it was about bein’ around that girl that made me feel the way I did, but I knew that I wanted to be as close to her as I possibly could and yet as far away from her as I could flat out run, all at the same time!
“You hold on to that girl real tight now Mr. Toby!” Ms Lillie said to me as we were sayin’ our goodbyes. “And you remember what I done told you. There should be a map of the city and its surrounding farmlands within the document chamber near the Grand Hall. You get your hands on that map and it should provide you with the details and location of where Obadiah’s old barn used to be. And Mr. Toby...” She continued. “…you keep a sharp look out for those who mean to stop you.”
“We’ll find it Ms. Lillie.” I said. “But I don’t know who to look out for. How will I know them?”
Cricket elbowed me from the front. “That’s what you’ve got me here for, boy!” she said.
“She’ll steer you right Mr. Toby.” Ms. Lillie said nearly laughin’. “You just keep her real close to you now, you hear me?”
“I will.” I said as I held on to Cricket as she gaited her horse and we galloped off through the fields. Ms. Lillie waved goodbye to us from her front porch steps and then she watched us as we rode further out into the fields …and then she went on back inside her house.
I held on to Cricket as tight as I could without hurtin’ her. And I scooted up real close to her in the saddle so that I could feel the wind blowin’ through her hair and then brush up against my face.
Cricket’s horse was named ‘Promise’. I thought that was a good name.
“You like me don’t you Toby?” Cricket asked me as she slowed down her horse’s gait to a trot.
“Yeah, I do.” I answered and hugged her a little tighter. She couldn’t see me blushin’ so I was a little braver when I said it.
“That’s good...” she said, “…because I like you too!” And then she kicked softly at her horse’s sides again with her legs and feet and made that clickin’ sound with her mouth to make him trot a little faster.
We rode along the widest trail and the longest way around and through the meadows of grassy green, just about as far away from the open quarry as we possibly could! I really didn’t mind how long it was takin’. It just meant that I got to hold on to that girl a little while longer. And I wasn’t mindin’ that part none at all! But we had reason for it. We didn’t want those soldiers that had been over there earlier in the mornin’ marchin’ around, to see us! At least that’s what I was tellin’ myself anyways.
Once we’d reached the thickly wooded area on the other side of the meadow, we slipped down from off of the horse’s back and walked him over to the edge of the waters of that same small creek that we’d crossed earlier in the day. And he took a long cold drink from it.
“We’ll have to go the rest of the way on foot.” Cricket said as she patted her horse’s neck and stroked his coat. “It’s mostly woods from here on out.”
I watched her as she untied Promise’s saddle and let it slip down from his side. And I watched her as she carried it over to the shade of a tall tree where she hid it under the cover of a fallen log with some brush.
As her horse rose up from his drink from the creeks cool waters, she patted his long nose and his soft nibblin’ mouth and she giggled. He was wet! And then she slid his bridle off over his ears.
“Go on boy! Go on Promise!” Cricket said as she patted his back side and shooed him off. “You go on now and run in the field until we come back to get you. Go on!” she said. It was good seein’ her relate to her horse like she did.
Cricket was a good spirit …it made me like her more.
Cricket come close to me then and stood right up against me like she was darin’ me to kiss her! And then she took my hand and smiled and led me on through the woods.
I knew right then …that the next time I saw the chance I was gonna take it! I was gonna kiss that girl!
Cricket held my hand tightly and led me through the wooded brush
as I followed closely. She had been through these woods many times before, walkin’ barefoot down the paths by way of shortcuts through the trees! At least that’s what I figured, that she knew where we was goin’. Otherwise I was gonna get lost tryin’ to find my way back out of there myself!
“We’re goin’ in through my secret way.” Cricket whispered to me as she squatted down near the ground lookin’ sharply through the low branches and underbrush to a clearin’ up ahead of us.
She pulled me down beside her then and pointed through the brush. “You see those bushes over there up against those rocks? Right between those bushes is an entranceway that opens up like an old-timey lookin’ pair of cellar doors.” She continued.
“Cricket?” I whispered back. “Why are we whisperin’?”
Cricket looked up through the brush and pointed to the far side of the clearin’ ahead of us, where a large twelve point Buck deer sat in the shade of an overhangin’ tree! He was surrounded by seven young Doe’s and three small fawns that ran playin’ in the sunlight. The Buck was majestic, almost regal lookin’ in his stance. I held my breath. I didn’t wanna move! I didn’t wanna make a sound that would scare em’ away!