by C. C. Finlay
“I don’t belong anywhere,” she said. “And I never will. But I want there to be a world someday where I could belong, where I could live a free life without fear. The Quaker Highway doesn’t have to lead one way, or be just for one kind of people. I’ve been thinking about using it to lead my people north to freedom.”
Her people …? Oh. Not witches. Slaves. The northern states had started banning slavery during the Revolution.
Deborah clasped Lydia’s hand. “That’s a wonderful idea. Most of the Quaker families we know are abolitionists. Proctor and I will do what ever we can to help.”
Proctor thought about it for a moment, then nodded.
Deborah turned back to Proctor. “I’m ready to go. If we leave within a day, we could make it back to The Farm in time for Maggie’s second birthday.”
Proctor hesitated. He wasn’t sure how much she’d seen or knew. “The Farm is destroyed,” he said softly.
“Smashed to splinters,” Deborah said. “There’s not a thing left standing except Maggie’s tree and our hearth. That’s all that survived. The parts that we made together.”
“If we go back, we’ll have to replant and rebuild everything else from scratch,” Proctor said.
“That’s true,” Deborah agreed. “It’s going to be very hard, especially the first year or two, and harder if Maggie has a little brother or sister.” Without warning, she handed Maggie to him—this time, Maggie did not try to get away. “Do you have any other plans?”
Proctor bounced Maggie tentatively—she laughed and grabbed his cheek with wet fingers.
“No,” he said. “Nothing this important. I’ve got no other plans at all.”
Acknowledgments
My thanks must begin with the good people at Random House and Del Rey, especially my editor Chris Schluep. This book took longer and was more difficult for me to write than we expected, but he gave me the time and the guidance I needed and told me to write the best book I could, not the fastest. I am deeply grateful.
This book, more than the other two, deserves notes on the history. New England’s “Day Without a Sun,” described in chapter 14, actually took place in May 1780. People didn’t know the cause and thought it was the end of the world. The voyages of the Sensible and the Alliance are far more interesting and colorful than I had room to explore. Captain John Barry isn’t as well known as John Paul Jones, but he fought more successful engagements against pairs of enemy ships than any other captain of the time, winning repeatedly against superior odds. When he didn’t have ships to captain, he served with the army, just to help the war effort.
Banastre Tarleton has been portrayed as one of the great villains of American history, and there is no doubt that he burned a church and was present for the massacre of prisoners at Waxhaws. It is also true that these events are at odds with the rest of his biography and his years of service to the British people. After the Gordon Riots, the mystically inclined Lord Gordon was freed from the Tower of London by the intercession of William Petty, the earl of Shelburne and one of the great patrons of the Enlightenment. Gordon later had himself circumcised, converted to Judaism, and moved to the Continent to study occult magic with Count Cagliostro. Shelburne became prime minister of Great Britain on July 4, 1782, and negotiated peace with the United States of America.
Nathan Hale is often seen as the first figure of American spying, but that honor ought to belong to Thomas At-wood Digges. Digges, the direct descendant of John Dee’s most famous student, was born in Mary land and lived on the Warburton plantation across the river from George Washington’s home. He left America under a vague cloud of scandal and traveled in South America and Europe before landing in London, where he anonymously published The Adventures of Alonso, arguably the first novel written by an American. Digges, using a variety of pseudonyms and disguises, worked tirelessly for America throughout the Revolution. He provided intelligence to both Franklin and Adams, helped hundreds of Americans escape from prisons in England, and stole advanced munitions and other desperately needed technologies from the British, which he shipped to the states through Dutch merchants and other third parties. Digges not only risked his life and safety repeatedly for the American cause, but also produced tangible results that helped the young nation stand on its own. Though cast under suspicion during the war because he could not account for how he spent all of the American funds, he eventually returned to the United States where he maintained close friendships with both Washington and Jefferson.
Only the ruins of Rosewell Plantation stand in Gloucester County, Virginia, today. At the time of the Revolution, Rosewell was considered one of the most elegant and refined homes in America, the equal of the good life in London. Today it is considered one of the most haunted of the surviving colonial plantation sites.
My own French is worse than Proctor’s. I thank Melissa Siah, her husband, Eric Blanchi, and Aliette de Bodard for helping me with translations. My employer was kind to give me some time away from work to finish the first draft. The good folks at Luck Bros’ Coffee allowed me to make their front booth my office away from home, and kept me supplied with coffee and sandwiches during the many hours and days I spent there.
Once more, my sons proved understanding of long and frequent absences while I was working on this book. Coleman, in particular, is also an astute listener and asker of questions. He was helpful on numerous occasions when I needed to talk my way through scenes. I am especially grateful to Rae, who took on extra chores to keep the house running while simultaneously making time to slash into the manuscript with her red pen. It is a better book for all their contributions, though any flaws and mistakes remain my own.
The Demon Redcoat is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Del Rey Mass Market Original
Copyright © 2009 by Charles Coleman Finlay
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-0-345-51573-5
www.delreybooks.com
v3.0
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Acknowledgments
Copyright