We Will All Go Down Together
Page 49
Now, I am an only child, the product of a single-parent home, which makes family beyond me-and-my-Mom a bit of a mystery to me, especially “extended” family. When I list off the people I’m directly related to, I move quickly through a half-uncle I barely see, plus a Dad who’s lived in an entirely different country (Australia) since I was nine. My cousins I see every ten years or so on one side, every twenty on the other. Of my grandparents, two died so far away I couldn’t have gotten there in time if I’d tried; the others died respectively in Toronto, where I later viewed his empty shell—I would eventually give birth to my own son in that same hospital—and in Barrie, alone and demented. This last was my maternal grandmother, vital, toxic, Scottish, and unforgiving, parts of whose gleeful delight in drama definitely made their way into Euwphaim Glouwer, who herself rose up almost wholly out of a throwaway line in “Heart’s Hole.” (Jo casually mentions that her Nan believes she’s a temporally transplanted witch from King James’s time . . . and as it turns out, that’s true!)
But then there’s another bunch of relatives, long lost to me, though I’ve gradually begun to reconnect with them over (interestingly enough) the same period it took me to assemble this book. These are the family of my Mom’s Dad, Nana’s first husband, and my impresssion of them went further into creating the Druirs than almost anything else, aside from having watched the BBC’s 2000 adaptation of Lorna Doone, that one time (secret valley, aristocratic border-lord outlaws, Saracen vaguely looking like a young Aidan Gillen, etc.)—this idea that somewhere in Ontario there was an odd, phantom clan of people whose blood exercised a malign influence over mine: tall, fair folk, both dark and bright, innately perverse and ultimately unknowable. Obviously, this isn’t exactly true, and I apologize in advance to any Hoovers who may end up picking this up for making it seem so. But whenever I think of Mac’s untrustworthy, brilliant, morbidly fascinating “country cousins” and the bad blood they’ve deeded him—this idea of predestination via genetics, a history that never dies, tainting each successive generation in a slightly more harmful way—it’s definitely an image integral to my sense of myself, both as me and as Canadian.
Along with Euwphaim and Carra’s ancestress Jonet Devize, I needed a third witch for my mini-coven, thus giving birth to Alizoun Rusk, who owes a lot to Susan Musgrave’s poetry cycle Becky Swan’s Book. (Her motto might as well be the lines Yes, some women are like that/some women are wicked from the poem “Especially this one.”) On the Druir side of the equation, meanwhile, I came up with another bunch of aristocratic dabblers in magic-use, the Rokes, from whom I eventually spun Maccabee Roke, broken priest turned magic object pawnshop manager—that he knows Jude Hark Chiu-wai goes without saying, though not in the Biblical sense. And from my need to give Mac a background in the Church, the Ordo Sororum Perpetualam evolved, martial nuns sworn to the memory of my favourite legendary saint. It was only much later that I realized uncompromising Sister Blandina must surely be descended from Alizoun Rusk, thus bringing us around in a neat little circle.
The stories go in the order their dates suggest, which also mostly identify when they were written (except for “History’s Crust,” since 1968 is the year I was born), if you want to organize them linearly. And . . . that’s about it, I suppose. Stay out of the woods, especially at night.
LINES OF DESCENT
The Five-Family Coven:
Euwphaim Glouwer
Alizoun Rusk
Jonet Devize
Glauce Lady Druir
Callistor Laird Roke
Clan Glouwer:
Euwphaim Glouwer was raped by Jonas Clairk, produced Penance Clairk.
Aislinn Clairk (five times great-granddaughter of Jonas) married Harry Trench, produced Dolores Trench; Dolores’s body was later occupied by Euwphaim Glouwer.
Dolores Trench/Euwphaim Glouwer married Hector Protheroe, produced Eunice Glouwer. Eunice Glouwer married Joe Mullins (common-law), produced Jodice Glouwer.
Clan Rusk:
Alizoun Rusk was raped multiple times, produced Judas Rusk (father unknown), who married Eluvie Chaconne.
Carson Rusk (grandson of Judas) married Aphra Beacham, produced Captain Solomon Rusk (among others); Carson Rusk also fathered Tante Ankolee “Angelique” Rusk on Oya Femme-Qui-S’Bat.
Tante Ankolee “Angelique” Rusk married Captain Wilmot Collyer (common-law), produced Collyer Rusk.
Mesheeant Rusk (two times great-granddaughter of Collyer) married Colvin Blagrove (common-law), produced Atia “Sister Blandina” Rusk, OSP (among others).
Clan Devize:
Jonet Devize died without issue.
Gashton Devize (Jonet’s nephew) founded the family line which moved to England, then Canada.
Donall Devize (five times great-grandson of Gashton) married Lilliette Redcappie, produced Yancey Devize.
Yancey Devize married Geillis “Gala” Carraclough Devize, produced Carraclough Devize.
Clan Druir:
Glauce Lady Druir, changeling, married Enzembler Laird Druir and produced Minion Druir, Enzemblance Druir Sidderstane, Grisell Druir Roke, Miliner Druir Roke; Enzembler Laird Druir also fathered children on daughters of various gillies, beginning the line of Sidderstane with Guizer Sidderstane.
Minion Druir fathered Quire Redcappie on a thrall-girl taken from Dourvale, Scotland (called “Maire,” original name unknown); Quire left the brugh to live in Overdeere, married Jessica Coldhill, produced Una and Colm Redcappie, twins (amongst others).
Colm Redcappie fathered Liliette and Avril Redcappie, twins (amongst others).
Enzemblance Druir Sidderstane married Torrance Sidderstane, produced (unnamed daughter, deceased), Saracen Druir.
Grisell Druir Roke married Callistor Laird Roke, produced Holofernes Roke (amongst others).
Miliner Druir Roke married Armstrong “Army” Roke, produced Maccabee Roke (formerly SJ, resigned).
Clan Sidderstane:
Torrance Sidderstane married Enzemblance Druir Sidderstane, produced (unnamed daughter, deceased), Saracen Druir; Torrance also fathered Ganconer Sidderstane on Una Redcappie.
Dacre Dowersby Sidderstane (grandson of Torrance) married Avril Redcappie, produced Gaheris and Ygerna Sidderstane, twins.
Ganconer Sidderstane fathered Elver Michaels on Galit Michaels.
Clan Roke:
Callistor Laird Roke married Grisell Druir Roke, produced Holofernes Roke (among others).
Juleyan Laird Roke (grandson of Holofernes Roke) was stripped of his title for treason by Charles II, and died without issue. He is rumoured to have resurrected himself as a vampire.
Alasdair Roke (younger brother of Juleyan) married Hagar-was-Given-Favour Stott, converted to Puritanism; they both emigrated to North America.
Armstrong “Army” Roke (six times great-grandnephew of Alasdair, from the Newfoundland branch) married Miliner Druir Roke, produced Maccabee Roke (formerly SJ, resigned).
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Euwphaim (YOOfeym) Glouwer (glOWr)
Alizoun (AHLeeZOON) Rusk (RUSSk)
Jonet (JOHNett) Devize (d’VYZ)
Glauce (GLAUWzah) Lady Druir (DROOR)
Callistor (CAHLLisstor) Laird Roke (rOHk)
Geillis (GAYleess) “Gala” (GAHlah) Carraclough Devize
Carraclough (carraCLAW) Devize
Jodice (joddISS) Glouwer
Atia (AHTchah) “Sr. Blandina (blandEEnah) OSP” Rusk
Mother Eulalia (yooLAHleeYAH)
Sister Cecilia (sessSEEleeYAH)
Anchoress Kentigerna (kehnTEEgayrNAH)
Mother Appolonia (ahpollOHneeYAH)
Judeta (yooDAYtah) “Judy” Kiss (KEESH)
Joe Tulugaak (toolooGACK)
Enzembler (enZEMblur) Laird Druir
Minion (minYUN) Druir
Enzemblance (enZEMblahnz) Druir Sidderstane (SIDerSTEYN)
Saracen (SAHHRahSEN) Druir
> Grisell (GREEzell) Druir Roke
Miliner (MILLINurr) Druir Roke
Maccabee (MACKahBEE) Roke
Guizer (GUYzer) Sidderstane
Quire (KWYer) Redcappie
Maire (MAYree)
Una (OOnah) Redcappie
Torrance (TORanss) Sidderstane
Ganconer (GAHNsohNER) Sidderstane
Dacre (DAYcruh) Dowersby (duhOWurrzbee) Sidderstane
Gaheris (gahHAIRiss) Sidderstane
Ygerna (EEGEHRnah) Sidderstane
Galit (GAHleet) Michaels
Jude (JOOD) Hark (HUHk) Chiu-wai (CHEW-why)
Dr. Guilden (GILLdunn) Abbott
Sylvester (silVESTurr) Horse-Kicker
Cordellion (korDELLeeYON) Federoy (FEDerroy)
Davina (dahVEEnah) Cirocco (sirROCKkoh)
Ashreel (ASHreeEL) Maskim (MASSkeem)
Penemue (penEMway) Grigorim (greeGOReem)
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED
“The Narrow World” © 2001 (Queer Fear II, Arsenal Pulp Press, Michael Rowe ed.)
“Pen Umbra” © 2004 (Thrillers 2, Cemetery Dance Publicatons, Robert Morrish ed.)
“Heart’s Hole” © 2006 (In the Dark: Stories from the Supernatural, Tightrope Books, Myna Wallin and Halli Villegas eds.)
“Words Written Backwards” © 2007 (Burning Effigy Press, Monica S. Kuebler ed.)
“Landscape with Maps & Legends: Dead Voices on Air” © 2010 (Suspect Thoughts #17)
“Black Box” © 2012 (The Mammoth Book of Body Horror, Robinson, Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan, eds.)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is dedicated, first and foremost, to the nation of Canada, the province of Ontario and the city of Toronto, which all deserve the blanket thanks of my generation for keeping us both politely weird and weirdly polite.
Otherwise, as ever: Stephen J. Barringer, Callum Barringer, Elva Mai Hoover and Gary Files, the known and unknown branches of my extended family, plus all my friends.
I owe you everything.
And great thanks to Samantha Beiko for going above and beyond the call of duty in handling this book’s very challenging layout.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in London, England and raised in Toronto, Gemma Files has been an award-winning horror author for over twenty years, as well as a film critic, screenwriter and teacher. Her story “The Emperor’s Old Bones” won the 1999 International Horror Guild Award for Best Short Fiction. She has published two collections of short work (Kissing Carrion and The Worm in Every Heart) and two chapbooks of poetry. A Book of Tongues, her first novel, won the 2010 DarkScribe Magazine Black Quill Award for Small Press Chill, in both the Editors’ and Readers’ Choice categories. She continued the Hexslinger series with two more books, A Rope of Thorns and A Tree of Bones, published by ChiZine Publications in 2011 and 2012. All three have since been collected into a single volume, The Hexslinger Omnibus. She is currently working on her fourth novel.
You can learn more about Gemma Files at her professional blog, http://musicatmidnight-gfiles.blogspot.com, or more than you probably want to know at http://handful-ofdust.livejournal.com. She can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.
COPYRIGHT
We Will All Go Down Together © 2014 by Gemma Files
Cover artwork © 2014 by Erik Mohr
Cover and interior design by © 2014 by Samantha Beiko
All rights reserved.
Published by ChiZine Publications
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either a product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
EPub Edition OCTOBER 2014 ISBN: 978-1-77148-202-8
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Edited by Michael Matheson
Proofread by Stephanie Da Ponte and Sandra Kasturi
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada.
Published with the generous assistance of the Ontario Arts Council.
THE HEXSLINGER TRILOGY
GEMMA FILES
It’s 1867, and the Civil War is over. But the blood has just begun to flow. For Asher Rook, Chess Pargeter, and Ed Morrow, the war has left its mark in tangled lines of association and cataclysmic love, woken hexslinger magic, and the terrible attentions of a dead god. “Reverend” Asher Rook is the unwilling gateway for the Mayan goddess Ixchel to birth her pantheon back into the world of the living, and to do it she’ll force Rook to sacrifice his lover and fellow outlaw Chess Pargeter. But being dead won’t bar Chess from taking vengeance, and Pargeter will claw his way back out of Hell, teaming with undercover-Pinkerton-agent-turned-outlaw Ed Morrow to wreak it. What comes back into the world in the form of Chess Pargeter is a walking wound, Chess’s very presence tearing a crack in the world and reshaping everything around him while Ixchel establishes Hex City, a city state defying the very laws of nature—an act that will draw battle lines between a passel of dead gods and monsters, hexes galore, spiritualists, practitioners of black science, a coalition set against Ixchel led by Allan Pinkerton himself, and everyone unfortunate enough to be caught between the colliding forces.
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FEARFUL SYMMETRIES
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