Hidden Voices (Tess Schafer-Medium)

by Deborah Hughes

  The girl’s screams of terror filled my ears and my soul. As her tears fell, so did mine. A man’s arm held us so hard he cut off our breathing and we had to struggle for every little bit of air we managed to draw in.

  “Where did you hide it, witch?” Sickened by his voice, we twisted in a frantic effort to free ourselves but his arm tightened more and breathing became impossible. “You will tell me.”

  We pawed at the arm imprisoning us and managed to do nothing more than choke out noise. His hold eased up and her raspy voice sounded foreign and rough, totally unrecognizable though it came from me. “There’s nothing to tell you.”

  His response was to jerk hard and we choked out a plea for mercy as he dragged us without any consideration across the ground. We dragged our heels to hinder his progress but all that managed to do was pry our shoes loose, losing one and then the other almost immediately. Sharp rocks dug into our skin and we had to stop resisting because the pain became intolerable.

  The sounds of horses, their nervous snickers and restless hoofs clopping the ground, echoed impossibly loud in our ears. Terror raged within me and I had to remind myself that I was only having a vision and could pull away from it whenever I wanted. Calmed by the reminder, the spirit with whom I was joined calmed as well. For a wondrous moment I almost believed she was aware of me. In the next instant we were hoisted roughly upon a horse, slung across the front of it like a sack of potatoes, the saddle horn digging into our stomach. A flash of fear of a different sort charged through us and when I realized what it meant, I almost threw up. Oh God! And then we lifted our head and met the terrified eyes of a young boy crouching in the thick brush a short distance away.

  Terrified as we were, we did our best to convey reassurance while at the same time urging him silently to stay where he was. The girl’s feelings for him were strong and filled with love. It made my eyes water to experience the tender connection between them and the sorrow they both felt for what was happening.

  It was all too much to deal with and for a moment I had to pull back from it to get my bearings and to remind myself that what was happening was only a vision playing out in my mind. I took just long enough to know that I was crouched on the ground, my forehead resting on one of the slate slabs, before I closed my eyes and gave myself up to the girl’s horrific drama once again.

  It took a moment to reconnect and until I did, I floated in limbo, the world dark and silent around me. There was no light, no awareness of anything. Nothing. Though it felt like the valley of the shadow of death, I did not fear any evil. I waited. And then the voices came…soft at first then louder.

  “Get up you evil daughter of Satan!”

  What? I opened my eyes and found we were surrounded by three men. One of them she knew well. It was the same man who grabbed us from behind and dragged us away. It was too dark to see their faces and I knew it was best this way. The looks in their eyes would not have offered any comfort. A feeling of betrayal surged through us and I knew that most of her suffering was coming from that bitter fact. Although I felt one with the girl, merged with her in every way, I was determined not to lose my sense of self and this helped tremendously as the next few moments played out. Part of me didn’t want to go on, didn’t want to see what was about to happen. Another part of me knew that I had to continue with it. This story needed to be told, people needed to know.

  “What did you do with it?” The man she thought she knew so well and who now betrayed her so horribly grabbed our arm and twisted it painfully behind us. We couldn’t speak from the sheer agony that ripped through our body when he did so. It honestly felt as if our arm was being torn from its socket. I had to separate from her in order to continue with the vision. The pain was just too much to bear.

  How could people do this to others? How can people inflict pain like this on another human being? Or any other living soul for that matter.

  “Tell us now or we’ll rip you to pieces and feed you to the dogs of Satan.”

  Tears fell in silent succession, one faster than the other and though I knew the outcome of this vile scene, I could do nothing to stop it. She was not going to give them what they wanted and she accepted the conditions of that decision. I could do nothing but watch it happen. Indeed, even if I had the power to change the outcome, I knew that I would not go against her wishes. But please, God, let it be quick.

  “Someone’s coming!” One of the other two men whispered loudly, urgently. “Hurry up.”

  The man holding her arm put his mouth to her ear, and though I had become an observer, I could feel his hot breath against her skin as his voice seared a path into our souls. It was vile and disgusting and I wanted this to end. “You think this will matter? We will find it, witch.”

  Her legs buckled and she sagged against him in a near faint. Giving a snarl of disgust, the man let go of her arm and she fell to the ground in sobbing relief. After dragging in a few breaths, she struggled to rise into a kneeling position and once she did she raised both her arms high, opening them wide to the sky and to the Knowing One.

  She knew what was coming. So did I. The blow when it came was mercifully quick. As soon as she slumped into darkness, I came out of the vision and gave in to my own tears. God, it was all so sad and senseless. Life just totally sucked sometimes.

  Feeling sluggish, as if waking from a nightmare, I slowly became aware of the world around me, flawed though it may be, never so welcome as now. My hands which were spread out in front of me curled around the clumps of grass that I could feel beneath them. I needed to get a grip and ground myself back into my own life. As I did this, I realized that my cheek was resting on a piece of slate and I turned my head to allow the tears streaming down my face to fall onto the warm stone. After a few quiet moments, the turmoil I’d just witnessed began to fade from my psyche and become a distant memory. I lifted my head and immediately was drawn into a firm but tender embrace.

  “Tess? Jesus…you’d think I’d get used to this but Christ…you don’t know what it does to me when you go off like that.” Kade rocked me in his arms and ran one of his hands repeatedly through my hair. “You okay?”

  Still too overwhelmed to speak, I could only nod and bury my face in his chest. The whole story, or a good part of it, was now part of my knowing. I had to process it all and make sense of it before I could tell the others about their good fortune and the tragedy that led to it.

  “I’m okay, Kade. Sorry about that.” Although I wanted to stay there in his arms until the horror of what just happened faded completely away, I reluctantly pulled out of his warm embrace. I was practically freezing to death. It was a reaction to what I just experienced but knowing that didn’t make it feel any more bearable.

  After a quiet moment of deep breathing to help calm myself, I glanced around to again get my bearings. Kade and I were kneeling near the center of all the slate slabs embedded into the dirt. Dawn and Mary stood to our left, Adam to our right. The women looked concerned, Adam fascinated. I wiped at my tears and sat up a bit straighter. “I had a vision. Hope I didn’t scare you.” I pushed to my knees and brushed the leaves and dirt from my hands and clothes. I could feel the sting of heat fill my cheeks as a surge of embarrassment flooded my face. What did I look like to others when in the throes of a vision? No doubt if I had lived a hundred years earlier, I would have been burned at the stake. Shivering in response to that thought, I combed my hands through my tangled hair and pushed it all behind me.

  “What did you see, Tess?” Mary sank down to her knees beside me.

  I looked at her and began to smile. In fact, I was smiling so wide I figured it looked unnatural and tried to rein it in. “Mary, Dawn, Adam…you guys are not going to believe this.” I looked at the slate slabs around me and closed my eyes to think. Stretching out my arms, I let my fingers land where they willed and when they came to rest on one of the pieces of slate, I opened my eyes and looked at it. Nodding with conviction, I glanced around for a stick or something sharp. We needed to ge
t that slab moved. Realizing that the others didn’t know what I was doing, I tapped the slate in front of me then looked at it more closely. No way! I began to laugh because the irony of it was just too much.

  “What’s so funny?” Kade asked.

  I pointed at the slate. “Look at it, does the shape look familiar?" As everyone leaned in to look, I said, "It’s similar to the same shape as the witch’s leg on Buck’s monument.” And it was, a little fatter perhaps, but similar. “We need to get this stone up.”

  Adam pulled a small metal lantern stake out of the ground and began to poke at the dirt around the edges of the rock. “Why?”

  “I think something is buried beneath it.”

  Within minutes we were all eagerly digging at the dirt. The slabs had been in the ground so long they were all tightly embedded. The one we were trying to pry loose was almost dead center of the others. Funny how I got nothing on it when I’d come out here…when was it? Yesterday? “Something did happen here. Something very sad.” I sat back and let the others work so I could focus on the story I was about to relay. “Rid told us this morning about two of your father’s ancestors, Kip and Isabelle. They were the children of Meadow and Pierre Rowan. We were just talking about Meadow and Pierre earlier at the B&B if you remember.”

  “What about them?” Mary’s eyes latched on to mine and I could tell she got it that what I was about to tell her was going to fundamentally change their lives.

  Giving Mary’s shoulder a quick reassuring squeeze, I looked at Dawn. “Well, it was Isabelle with whom I just connected. Rid said there wasn’t a lot known about her, that she just sort of disappeared.” I glanced from Adam to Mary, wanting to impress upon them the wealth of information Rid contained concerning their family. “He shares your father’s love for local history. You really should talk to him, he knows a lot.” I glanced at Dawn wondering how she felt about that considering their history but she merely smiled and nodded for me to continue. “There’s not much known about Isabelle because she was part of something that happened here which her family,” I glanced at Adam and Mary, “Your family, tried to keep quiet.”

  Here I had to gather my thoughts. It was all there in my head but I had to bring it out slowly and make sense of it as I went along. “I just went through Isabelle’s experience with her and what I’m about to tell you came from that vision.”

  Dawn stopped digging and stood out of the way while Kade and Adam finished the task. “But what does Isabelle have to do with digging up this rock?”

  Smiling, because I knew they were in for the shock of their lives, I shrugged my shoulders in a teasing ‘haven’t a clue manner’ and Mary laughed, swatting my arm playfully. “Stop being a tease and tell us what you know about Isabelle and why we’re digging up an old rock that's been there for ages.” Mary waved a hand toward the guys who were now the only two working hard to loosen the slab from the ground.

  “Isabelle hid something here just before she was taken away by three men. One of whom she knew quite well. In fact, she was in love with him and carrying his child.” I remembered the fear Isabelle felt when she worried how that man’s rough treatment might harm her baby, their baby, and forced the bile that rose in my throat back down. It all was so sickening. “The man Isabelle loved called her a witch. I’m going to guess he did that because she had the gift of sight just like her great-grandmother Isi.” I glanced around to ensure everyone was still with me. “You remember how we established that Isabelle’s father Pierre was Isi’s grandson?” Since Adam was busy digging, it was Mary and Dawn who nodded that they did indeed remember and waved for me to continue. “I’m thinking that’s how this Isabelle got her name. She was named after Isi who was renamed Isabelle by the people who took her.”

  “Got it!” Adam pulled the heavy slab out from its resting spot. Beneath was more dirt. The men looked at me and I waved my hand.

  “Keep digging.”

  “I’ll get a shovel.” Adam started to walk away but I touched his arm to stop him.

  “Adam, it’s not that far down. Isabelle dug the hole with her hands.” Speaking of which, I glanced at my fingers as I remembered the stinging pain we suffered while frantically digging at the dirt. They looked fine. No residual injuries thank God.

  “What are we looking for? Did you see what it was that she buried?” Mary asked.

  Smiling broadly because I couldn’t wait for them to discover what I just learned, I gave Mary a “just you wait and see” wink. “Yes, but let me tell you the whole story.” I paused again to gather my composure then continued. “While Isabelle was out here burying what you are about to find, there was an argument going on in the house. I heard a gunshot but I don’t think anyone was killed because it would surely have become public knowledge if that was the case.”

  “But how do you know that whatever Isabelle buried is still here? Wouldn’t she have come back for it later?” Dawn asked.

  I turned my head to look at Dawn and pain stabbed through my heart as I answered her. “She didn’t. After they dragged her away and couldn’t get it out of her where she’d hidden what she did, they injured her pretty badly.” Here I paused as an emotional lump lodged in my throat. It took effort to speak. “As I said earlier, she was carrying a child and the man who hurt her was its father. He didn’t kill Isabelle but she ended up dying a few months later while giving birth to her baby.”

  Mary covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh my, God.”

  “But if Isabelle lived, even for a short while, why didn’t she tell her family about what she hid?” Dawn asked.

  It was a good question and I could only make an educated guess as to the answer. “I’m not sure, to tell you the truth though I have my suspicions. I can only tell you that I know it’s still here. I feel it.”

  At that precise moment, Adam exclaimed loudly, “We found something!”

  We all leaned forward to watch as Adam and Kade dug faster, brushing dirt off what looked like a rusty piece of metal. I couldn't contain my little squeal of excitement. “It’s the lid to the box!” Seeing it again, as I had a short time earlier in my vision, was quite thrilling. I could barely contain myself as Kade sat back to allow Adam the honors of pulling the box free from its hiding spot.

  For a moment he went completely still and so did the rest of us. It was a momentous occasion. The last time this lid was opened, a frantic young girl put something in there then later lost her life because of it. In silent agreement, we bowed our heads and said a prayer for poor Isabelle. In truth however, she wasn’t such a poor thing at all. Not anymore. She was quite radiantly happy.

  “Open it, Adam,” I urged softly.

  Adam nodded. He lifted the lid. Inside was a dark lumpy mass. The remains of the leather pouch. Adam touched it and the mass disintegrated. Beneath it was what looked like grains of yellow sand mixed with small shiny chunks of the same stuff. Adam brushed the disintegrated pouch out of the way and scooped up some of the sand. It gleamed gold in the sunlight. Although I knew what it was, I gasped right along with everyone else. It was an amazing discovery. A true treasure and no mistake about it.

  “Oh…my…God!” Mary stood up. She covered her mouth with one hand and grabbed her mother with the other. “Is that…is it real?”

  Kade took one of the small chunks of gold out of Adam’s hand and held it up to the light. “Looks like gold to me. If it was hidden at the risk of death, I’d say it must be real.”

  “I don’t understand.” Dawn sank to her knees as the implication of our find began to sink in. “Why?”

  “If anyone knew where to dig for this stuff, it would have been your husband’s family, Dawn. The Indians knew the entire region. They knew the land. It was tough times here while America was at war with the British. As I mentioned, there was a lot of smuggling going on.” I thought about the cave I’d found back at Poke Harbor while staying at Sea Willow Haven. It hadn’t harbored any gold but it harbored a precious love a time or two. I pushed the thought from my min
d as I sat back and watch the Rowans look over the answer to their troubles. Life for them was about to undergo quite a drastic change. And they didn't know the half of it. Not yet.

  “How did you do this, Tess?” Dawn looked at me, her brown eyes shimmering with tears.

  “You said that Isabelle was called a witch. Is she the witch that cursed Buck’s monument?” Adam asked.

  “She wasn’t really a witch, Adam.” I sank back on my knees and gave everything some thought. I had a basic understanding of the whole story but I hadn’t put it all into logical order yet. “While I was merged with Isabelle, all her memories were part of me as well. At the time I was going through the vision, I couldn’t really focus on them because of what was happening to her.”

  I sank back on my knees and struggled to recall the memories that floated through Isabelle’s mind while I was merged with her. “Isabelle was upset because she had a pretty good idea that something must have happened to her grandfather Rad Rivers. Since the men were at the house demanding the gold Rad recently delivered to her mother and father, she knew they must have caught up to him and that they wouldn't be bothering her if he was still alive.” I took another minute to think things through because I knew it was going to get messy. Honestly, it was hard enough to recall my own memories let alone someone else's.

  “You see, Rad was worried about the smuggling activities that Pierre was engaging in and so he went hunting for gold. He, of all people, would know where to find it. Somehow or other, Isabelle’s boyfriend found out what Rad was doing. Maybe she mentioned it to him for she did love and trust him.” Confused by all the visions running through my head, I closed my eyes and tried to bring it all into clearer focus. “Once Rad delivered this gold, he left to return to his village.” I waved a hand through the air. “Or wherever it was that he lived. Anyhow, Isabelle’s boyfriend went after him. When he realized that Rad no longer possessed the gold, he came back to get it. Somehow, Isabelle knew he was coming and managed to hide the gold here in the family’s hiding spot.”