“Mistress, it’s the Home Guard!” the man whispered, his voice full of fear. “Everyone went to the house when the fightin' started. I didn't know what to do, so I hid here.”
“We're going back up to the house. Come with us,” Gabrielle stood, brushing the dirt from her dress and then grabbed Elizabeth’s hand.
“No ma’am. I can’t move. I’m gonna stay right here.” He said as he tried to flatten himself to the ground. His pupils were so wide that she could hardly see the brown color of his eyes and he had a small nervous tick in the corner of his mouth.
“Good luck,” was all that Gabrielle could think to say. Then she added, “stay quiet and stay safe.” She tugged at Elizabeth and the two were back off through the grain. Gabrielle could hear the man mumbling behind her but she couldn’t make out what he was saying.
As the two pushed their way through the field, the shots became deafening. There were initial shots from one side followed by a return volley. Each time a shot was fired, Elizabeth would jump and cling harder to Gabrielle’s hand.
As Gabrielle pushed through the grain she silently hoped that Sam, Morrigan, Thompson, and the others had managed to make it to the safety of the house.
A shot whirred over Gabrielle’s head, causing her to duck down and pull Elizabeth to the ground. Her heart was pounding in her ears, but she wasn't scared. Her hands didn’t shake and she was able to think clearly. If this was where Hazel died, Gabrielle knew she would be setting her soul free to pass into the Other World.
She waited a few moments, her hand pressed on Elizabeth’s back, before she began to rise, pausing every few moments in anticipation of another shot.
“We’re almost to the edge of the field, we should crawl from here.” Gabrielle said as she lowered herself back to the ground. The soft earth gave way underneath her knees and elbows as she led the way through the field. After a minute of crawling, Gabrielle could see the house beyond the grain.
Flashes of light and clouds of smoke erupting from the windows. The fight had made its way into the house. Gabrielle stopped mid crawl with one hand outstretched behind her to tell Elizabeth to stop.
She struggled to think of a way for them to get across the yard to the house. It would only be a dozen or so paces, but across that open ground they would be too vulnerable.
And what would they do if they reached the house? Walk right in and say excuse me guys, I know you’re fighting but we need to get through.
Gabrielle bit the corner of her lip and blood trickled into her mouth. Think Gabby! Think! She squinted her eyes as if that could make her think harder when Morrigan threw the kitchen door open and walked out onto the porch, shotgun in hand.
She was covered in blood and dirt and as she took a step out onto the porch she fired a round into someone that Gabrielle couldn’t see.
“Morrigan! Morrigan! We’re here! Help us!” Gabrielle shouted with all her might over the sounds of death and desperation. She prayed that Morrigan could hear her.
Morrigan ducked back inside the door as a shot flew past her. Elizabeth squeezed on her wrist, and Gabrielle’s heart sank. She turned back to face Elizabeth who had tears streaking down her cheeks, making a clean pathway through the dirt.
“We’ll figure this out,” Gabrielle said unconvincingly.
“Tell me where you are!” Morrigan’s voice shouted from the doorway. Gabrielle’s heart began to race and she spun herself back around towards the farmhouse.
“The grain!” she yelled back, and flashed her hands past the crop line.
“Stay there!” Morrigan’s voice was a welcome interruption to the symphony of gunfire that played around her. I’m not letting you save me. Gabrielle thought to herself with rejuvenated excitement. I’m just being resourceful. I can take care of myself. Gabrielle pulled Elizabeth up to her side.
“Alright, we’re going to hold on for a moment. It’s really important that you follow me. Don’t look back, no matter what.” Elizabeth was silent. “Promise,” Gabrielle added, part question and part demand. Elizabeth wiped the back of her hand across her face and nodded her head.
Shots continued to ring out and flashes burst, but no other movement was seen in the house for a while. The hair on Gabrielle’s neck stood on end as she wondered when Morrigan would come back and what their plan would be.
The two continued to watch the door, waiting for their rescue when it flew open, smacking the side of the house and then bouncing back. The door was met with more force as Morrigan came running out of the kitchen, followed by Sam and Thompson, all carrying firearms. Morrigan stopped at the edge of the porch, Sam kneeled in the center and Thompson posted in the door.
“RUN!” Morrigan yelled as the three sent a barrage of shots down towards the opposite end of the porch. With her heart in her throat, Gabrielle grabbed Elizabeth’s hand as tightly as she could and jerked them up and out of the field.
Gabrielle focused on Morrigan’s face as she ran, afraid to look back and see how close they were to death. Elizabeth’s hand was sweaty and she struggled to keep up with the older girl.
As they reached the edge of the porch, a wave of relief washed over Gabrielle and she spun around and pushed Elizabeth behind her. Relief turned to panic as she stared at the scene in front of her. A dozen men perched behind carts, fences and barrels stared back at her with pure hatred.
Gabrielle grabbed at Elizabeth and hoisted her up onto the porch, who then ran into the house. She stole one last glimpse of the fight and then climbed up onto the porch and brushed past Morrigan.
Suddenly, their shots fell silent. Gabrielle froze as if the absence of sound was the most terrifying thing in the world. She looked from Sam to Morrigan whose eyes were as large as a full moon. Morrigan’s beautiful face contorted into an ugly look of panic and fear. They were out of ammunition.
“Get inside, n—” Morrigan stopped mid-sentence and her face became the blank canvas of a long dead painter. A mist of crimson sprayed Gabrielle, droplets of glistening rubies landing on her face.
Morrigan opened her mouth and then fell to the ground. Sanguine liquid ran down her cheek and pooled under her head. The world went mute.
Gabrielle dropped to her knees as more rounds flew past her head. She knew she was screaming but the only sound she could hear was the pounding in her ears.
She cradled Morrigan’s head as salty tears dripped from her eyes and mixed with the blood on the porch where she sat. Gabrielle leaned down and rested her forehead on Morrigan. She pressed her lips to Morrigan’s lifeless cheek.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered between hiccups of sobbing. Sam's hands wrapped around her sides and lifted Gabrielle from the ground backwards toward the door. Thompson stepped over them and continued to fire his weapon.
Gabrielle rolled away from Sam and threw her back against the cabinets on the floor. At first, she heard nothing, only saw Sam’s lips moving and an expression of fear and anger covering his face.
Morrigan is— She forced the thought back down. If she didn't think it, maybe it wasn't happening.
Slowly, her senses began to return.
“—hit. You're bleeding. What were you thinking? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Sam yelled as he ripped her sleeve away. Blood ran down her arm and pooled around the edges of the bracelet. Gabrielle felt nothing.
Morrigan is—The thought forced its way back into her mind and Gabrielle had to shake her head to push it away.
She didn't respond to Sam as he wrapped her arm to try and stop the bleeding. Instead, Gabrielle stared at the blood pooling on her arm.
Faces of scared people scattered around as men were shooting from windows but Gabrielle couldn’t bring her eyes away from the blood. It pooled in the crevices of the carvings and she watched as it completely filled the i-l and made its way into the Celtic knot work.
Morrigan is—
“Dead.” The word was barely audible as it fumbled from her trembling lips. Across the room, Elizabeth was kneeling over Co
ffey’s lifeless body crying. The sound of the small cries pierced through the haze of Gabrielle’s mind and she looked up.
She didn’t know when or how Coffey had died only that another strong woman was stolen by war.
After everything she’d been through. At least she has peace now.
Bile pressed up Gabrielle’s throat and filled her mouth at the look of Coffey’s dead eyes peering up at the ceiling. Doll eyes, not the eyes of a loving mother.
The eyes transformed into the eyes of her mother as she lay broken and crooked at the bottom of the stairs and then to the eyes of Morrigan as they dulled, the life pulled from them.
The bangle on Gabrielle’s wrist began to burn as her blood boiled and she slammed her fist against the counter. Sam jumped, still in the middle of his lecture.
Gabrielle reached for the top of the counter and pulled herself to a standing position. She looked around the room, full of freed slaves looking back at her in horror.
“Give me a weapon,” she snarled through her teeth as she held out her hand.
“Gabrielle, you're shot. There's Home Guard all over. We need to get you downstairs,” Sam pleaded as he rose to stand next to her.
“Get that baby downstairs now and bring me a goddamn weapon!” Gabrielle yelled as she pointed towards Elizabeth.
“I, I don't want to leave my momma. I want to stay here,” Elizabeth begged, wiping the tears from her eyes. She was still clinging to her mother’s arm as if Coffey were only sleeping.
“You have to go and hide now. The monsters are here, and I have to send them back where they came from.” There was no expression on Gabrielle’s face. It was as if she were watching the scene from outside of her own body.
“We're going to hide you in your room. Can you stay there until we come get you?” Sam asked her, as the two walked down the stairs and out of sight. Gabrielle took a deep breath and turned to head toward the kitchen door. Thompson blocked her path, a look of sheer terror on his face.
“Thompson, I’m sorry,” she blurted, thinking about a lifeless Coffey on the floor. Thompson had his back to the doorframe and was manipulating his rifle. He looked at Gabrielle, but he didn't respond. Instead, he went back to reloading. She knew in that instant that Thompson wouldn't stop her from fighting. She could see it in his eyes. Only blood could pay the toll.
A pistol lay on the counter next to her. Gabrielle wrapped her hands around the cool steel. The weight of it felt good and she stood there holding it before she spoke. Gabrielle handed Thompson the pistol.
“Load it for me!” she said, voice steady and deep. Thompson looked back at her, a blank expression on his face.
“I need it now, Thompson!” she shook the gun as she looked past him towards Morrigan’s body. She noticed that the pool of blood had gotten bigger and this, for some reason, shocked her and brought more urgency to the situation.
Thompson pulled wads from his pocket and began loading the chambers of the old revolver. He spun the cylinder and gave the weapon back to her.
“Six shots. No more, no less. Careful,” was all as he said before turning back and taking aim at another Home Guard soldier.
Gabrielle felt the power run through her fingers with the gun in her hand. She'd never shot a gun before, but she knew with the power of the bracelet she could handle anything.
Looking around for a place to take aim, she saw a window in the living room and ran over to its already broken glass.
As she ran across the room, she saw from her peripheral several familiar faces from the fields all defending their home. The room was thick with clouds of smoke and the smell of gunpowder.
As she reached the window, she leaned with her back against the wall and peaked out. She saw nothing from that direction, so she crawled to the other side of the window and did the same.
From there, she could see men firing at the house. Her hatred for them boiled over and she let out a guttural scream. She stepped into the center of the window and raised the weapon.
The pistol was heavier than she'd expected when extended and she stopped to look down at it, as if expecting to see something else there. Gabrielle pointed the end of the barrel at the closest man and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
A looked of horror covered her face. She pulled again and again but nothing happened. The man that she'd been aiming at took notice of her and pointed his rifle. He fired.
At the moment of the flash, Gabrielle was pulled backwards. As she lay on the ground running her fingers over her body looking for a bullet would, Sam appeared in front of her.
“What. The Hell. Are you doing?” He panted. Gabrielle looked at his face, glowing red and filled with frustration. Above his head, a large hole was now burrowed into the window frame.
“I’m not going to let people fight while I sit around. Not after—” at the thought of Morrigan, Gabrielle choked on her words. “This is my fight just as much as yours. If you don't like that then go ahead and leave, and good luck leaving!” The words shot from Gabrielle like a viper and she thought for the first time in what seemed like centuries, that she truly sounded like a child.
Sam’s expression softened in surprise. He bent down and picked the revolver up from the ground. He pointed it at the ceiling and pulled the hammer back.
“Gun won’t fire unless you draw back the hammer. Every shot, pull the hammer back and hold on. This is an Army pistol, kicks like a horse.” Sam smiled at her and bent down to offer her the gun.
Gabrielle shot up and yanked the pistol from his hand. She took aim at his head and let the explosion from the pistol rock her back. Sam’s face went blank and he fell backwards to the floor.
He rolled away from Gabrielle, eyes wide and looked out the window in time to see a Home Guard soldier grip the hole in his chest and fall to the ground. Sam looked from the window to Gabrielle, panting.
She kept the weapon trained at the window. Her heart pounded but her hands were steady. The smoke stung at her eyes and the smell of the gunpowder filled her nose.
“I don't…did you just…I thought...” Sam ran his hand over his hair as if to make sure that the top of his scalp was still attached. Gabrielle brought up her thumb and pulled the hammer.
“Hammer back each time.” she said, not bothering to look down at Sam.
“That…that’ll do it,” Sam responded. He pulled out another revolver from his belt and did the same.
Gabrielle took her position back at the window as Sam made his way back to his post in the kitchen. Two other men joined Sam and the three began a barrage of alternating shots through the shattered glass of the kitchen window.
She could see another two men posted behind a cart off in the distance. They were firing at the window Sam was shooting from. Gabrielle pointed the gun, fired a shot and then prepared and fired another.
The massive shots forced her arms up into the air and she struggled to keep control of the gun. Gabrielle ducked back inside and flattened her back against the wall as a round tore another chunk of glass from the window.
A sharp pain emerged as a shard of glass drug down her cheek and shattered on the hard wooden floor. A droplet of blood dripped down onto her bracelet and flowed between the delicate curves of the design.
As if the blood had awakened the magic of the bracelet, it started to heat and vibrate. The pain disappeared from her face and she rose for another shot. With the steady hand of a surgeon, she pointed the gun at the man that had shot at her and squeezed the trigger. The man jolted backward holding his arm.
She fired a fifth shot through the window and then took cover again against the wall. She took this moment to look over at Sam and the others. They all stood strong at their posts, at least she didn’t have to worry about them like she did about Elizabeth.
She took another deep breath and rolled around the edge of the window and aimed her pistol to fire at the last remaining man in her sights. To Gabrielle’s surprise, the man was gone. No more smoke came from behind the cart and she
couldn't see signs of the man that she’d shot.
They won. The fighting was done and the sounds of the shots no longer stung her ears. She came away from the window, a smile clinging to her face for the first time in ages.
“Sam—” she said as she rounded the corner. But he was gone. In fact, all three men from that window had disappeared.
Her heart began to slow; a still shock took over as she looked around the silent room. Coffey lay on the cold wood of the kitchen floor, but Morrigan’s body was no longer on the porch.
Gabrielle ran towards the cellar to check for Elizabeth but as her hand touched the handle, she heard a voice as if it were speaking into her mind.
“Gabrielle… Oh won’t you come and play with us? We've been waiting so long for a bit of fun.”
CLICK.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Gabrielle pulled her hand away from the handle. She looked around but there was no one in the room with her.
“Where are you?” she whispered to herself. The hair on her neck and arms stood on end. She tightened her grip on the pistol and stayed statuesque as she waited for another response from the voice.
“Come to us,” another voice rasped. Her bracelet burned and somehow she felt something pulling her. It was the same feeling she had the other night, the undeniable urge to go out to the field. This had to be another one of Arawn’s tricks.
Gabrielle took one step toward the kitchen door and paused, waiting for something to happen. She scanned the room, but nothing was there so she made her way out onto the porch.
When she stepped outside, the piercing rays of the hot North Carolina sun warmed her skin and stung her eyes. There were no longer any bodies strewn across the field or hateful Home Guard soldiers trying to extinguish a fundamental right of man; to live.
In fact the day was actually sort of peaceful and for a few blissful seconds Gabrielle was able to pretend that Morrigan would come running through the fields towards her.
But no, that could never happen because Morrigan was dead. Gabrielle looked down and realized she was standing in almost the exact spot where Morrigan died. There wasn’t any blood there now, but she knew that's where it happened.
The Gabrielle Series Boxed Set Page 39