Thank you for reading this story, it's definitely a work in progress and I've not got the story worked out at all. However, I've spent the past 7 weeks pondering just how hot a black hat and coat could actually be and this is the result. It sort of follows the story with bits and pieces moved and changed and clearly Nan is a new character. I LOVE this programme and the characters and I'm really looking forward to seeing how this series ends. There are some spoilers if you've not watched all the episodes but I don't think it'll matter. Please let me know what you think you can.
Chapter 1
Remember.
Remember.
Witchcraft; the word followed her like a loyal dog…or the stink of disease depending on how she felt at any particular moment. People crossed over to avoid her until they needed her and then they knocked in the middle of night or pounded the door in the daylight or crept up to her; need made even the cowardly bold.
She kicked open the peeling wooden door and dropped the basket on the table. The stupid girl had let the fire go out again.
"Comfort! Comfort!" The place was empty but shouting made her feel better.
Unwinding her woollen scarf, her breath clouded in the darkened room and, not for the first time, did she wish she was back home. The reek of the river curled through the wooden walls and even her herbs and potions couldn't mask it. She lit the candles and set about laying the fire.
Once it was burning and the water was heating, she sat down at the table and poured out the sand. Staring at the flame, she let her finger begin tracing the random patterns that would tell her everything she needed to know.
The water had nearly boiled away when she blinked and looked down to see the clear outline of a bird in the sand. She hissed quietly between her teeth and went to make the tea.
James Keziah Delaney, current scourge of society, hated and hunted by King and Company, stalked through the streets like a living embodiment of the Devil. This moniker suited him and his desires, it kept people frightened and away from him. Walking through the door, he saw the whisper of fear cross Helga's face but she tamped it down and waited for his next decree.
"Get me the captain of the Ardent" he rasped. Helga gaped but he simply stared.
"I can't. I don't know where he is." She hissed.
"He comes here to use Mary. He likes to be beaten with a birch switch. He was last here 2 weeks ago. Get me this man." He said in a monotone.
"Yes, he comes here" Helga snapped, "but I don't know where he is when he's not here."
"Who does?"
Helga shook her head and Delaney threw a gold coin onto the counter. She watched it like a cat and finally her head won over her heart. She sighed.
"You could try the witch" she said and was startled when he stepped back as though she'd slapped his face.
"Witch?" he asked searching her face for a lie.
"Yes a witch, Kräuterhexen…a wise woman. She can treat the pox…amongst other things. He has been to her, he was desperate; she might know where Captain Carew is." Delaney turned to go but she grabbed his wrist, he growled but she refused to let go.
"Be warned. This time, be warned. She is not what she seems. If you step carelessly with her terrible things will happen…I've seen it. She is the daughter of The Erlking…" Helga trailed off into unintelligible German but he caught "krapkahe"…black crow.
"Where do I find her?" but Helga refused to answer. She still gripped his wrist so he twisted until he was holding her. He squeezed until she winced.
"She lives by the jetty leading to Oliver's Island"
He didn't wait to hear what else she said, he was gone in a swirl of black cloth.
"Where the fuck have you been?" she snapped as the door opened and Comfort slunk in.
"I wanted to see the mermaid" the girl answered sullenly.
"And did you?"
"Yes" she said and scuttled over to the fire.
"Did she say anything?"
"No" said Comfort with a laugh, "just bubbles"
Turning back to the pot, she permitted herself a small smile. The girl was simple and she appreciated simple. It didn't question, it didn't judge and it was mostly quiet even when it made a din. A gust of wind caught the latch, making it rattle. She turned.
The door burst open and a murder of crows screamed into the room. They flew around the space, filling it with darkness, feathers, noise. Someone was in the middle of them, a woman, black hair, white face, a screech of madness. She was the birds and the birds were her.
Salish. Salish. Salish.
Comfort watched her mistress fall to the floor, holding her head but then went back to the fire; she'd seen it all before.
"We're going to have a visitor" she croaked, heaving herself up from where she fell, "get the rum."
He patted the white horse and whispered in its twitching ear before making his way down the rough path towards the hut set back from the foreshore. It was built from dark wood with a coarse, shingled roof. Smoke curled from the chimney, twisted like an old man's back. A sheep's skull hung from a rotting post, turning on its string, empty eyes watching the path. A crow flapped lazily towards the river.
He knocked the door and it opened. He walked into the relative warmth of the room and had to wait for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, the only light was coming from the fire in the brick hearth on the other side of the table. The green glass of the rum bottle filtered the light to look like the sea.
"Sit" came a voice from the shadows.
"Where is Captain Carew?" he asked, searching the darkness, trying to see who was speaking.
"Sit" the voice repeated.
"Tell me where Captain Carew is"
"No"
Delaney threw a bag of coins onto the table, the solid thunk was muffled in the thick shadows.
"Captain Carew"
"Take that gold shit off my table and put it away." A patch of shadow detached itself from the rest and moved into the light. A woman of about his age, shapeless clothes, white skin, straight backed with a dark stare as piercing as his own.
"Answer my question" his tone was dangerous.
"No. Rum?" she poured two cups and sat down with her back to the fire. He waited and watched her watching him. Finally, he sat down and placed his hat on the table.
They sat in the crackling quiet.
"You are a witch" he stated and she nodded.
"And you are James Delaney, the devil who came back from the dead."
They sat in silence.
"I wish to know where Captain Carew resides when he is not at the whorehouse."
"How much did you pay Helga that she would tell you about this place I wonder." She sat back and the fire haloed her copper hair.
"What do you want for the location of Carew?" Delaney asked.
"Nothing. I don't want anything you can give me." His face set hard and his eyes bored holes into her silhouette and she remained unmoved, "but what is it you want?" She asked this to herself, "you smell like revenge…that's not all of it though...love perhaps? No, that's not it either. Greed? Power?"
Her brow creased as she tried to find the answer and he continued to stare at her. She sighed in temporary defeat and poured more rum.
"So you'll not get Carew from me, you can't buy me and you don't seem to want anything else. Why are you still sitting here?" she asked mildly.
He remained silent
"What do you see when you stare into the water?" she asked suddenly and the cup shattered in Delaney's hand.
"Perhaps that is a question for another time" she said wryly as the rum dripped off the edge of the table.
He gave her a hard stare but she remained unmoved. The man in front of her was not unknown in one respect; she'd come across men like solitary oysters throughout her life. But she could sense the force emanating from him like wind in sails, she'd never known a man who had this sort of power and very few women. There was a shape just over his shoulder, hovering and waiting to be called forth. She didn't know what it was but she knew where it came from, having skirted the edge a long time ago, and she didn't like the taste of it.
Delaney felt her eyes on him. He could tell she wasn't scared of him; he doubted anything scared her. He could've…should've made her tell him where that fucking captain was but something told him it would lead to more trouble than even he had an appetite for. How did she know about the water?
"What is your name?" he asked and she paused.
"I'm known as Nan" she replied but she could tell by the tilt of his head he knew this wasn't all.
"What is your real name?"
"For another time as well." Her mouth set in a firm line.
"Why did you ask me about the water?" he asked after another stream of silence.
"I see things, I know things, I want to know if she visits you like she visits me." Nan said.
"She does visit me." Delaney nodded almost to himself.
"She is as hungry as you are. She…drains me." Nan tossed back the rum, poured another and then pushed the mostly empty bottle towards him.
"What does she want from you?" he asked drinking straight from the bottle.
"I wish I knew, then I could give it to her and she'd leave me alone."
He grunted but said nothing.
"You want the captain of the Ardent because you think he knows the whereabouts of the shipment of, amongst other things, 25 Harpers Ferry pistols taken from a captured American frigate." She stated calmly.
He stared at her, eyes glittering in the fire.
"Unfortunately, the Crown realised Captain Ardent was a fool and moved the shipment to a safe place. He doesn't know." She sipped more rum.
"Who does?" he asked.
"You'd have to ask the King but I'm not sure he'd tell you. Now, that is all I know." And she stood up as an indication their time was over.
He stood up and took the gold off the table. Placing his hat on his head, he moved towards her and she didn't step back. Leaning into her, he searched her face.
"No, that's not all you know. We will meet again." He said quietly. She could see how the African sun had coloured his skin, she could smell the river on him, she could hear the voices trying to be heard.
"You are only human Mr Delaney, remember that." she breathed.