Disclaimer: We don't own The Covenant
A/N: Okay, so this is a story co written by Skyyryder, Bookworm since birth, sentrosi4 and myself. It's very different from any of the other Covenant stores on this site. First of all, it's AU, where the Sons and other characters from the movie live in the mid to late 1600's. There are character pictures in my profile of the OC's introduced in this chapter. If you don't know what an indentured servant is, it's someone who agrees by contract to work for someone for a number of yeas in exchange for their trip to America being paid. Fo more details check Wikipedia. We're trying to make this as historically accurate, excluding the magic, as possible So there will be both sexual and physical abuse in this story. You've been warned if that's not your thing. Enjoy!
Le Novel Espoir
Prologue
In the port city of Le Havre, France, a carriage was making its way down the dusty streets. It was taking a group of girls to the ship Le Nouvel Espoir to become indentured servants in America. All the occupants were deathly quiet, some praying, some worrying, some hoping, all contemplating what their new life was soon to become.
One girl was looking out at the scenery. She had never been out of her birthplace of Orléans, France before this. When they first entered the city it looked a lot like where she lived in Orléans. The houses were rundown, the people dirty, and she could tell it was the slums.
Then as they traveled farther in, the houses became more and more grand. The girl was awestruck. The site was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. She took it as a sign that her life was finally getting better. Then they traveled back out of the lavish area and back into the slums on the other side of the city by the docks. The girl should have taken that as a sign but nevertheless she was determined that her life was changing for the better.
As it started to rain, the carriage driver coaxed more speed out of his beaten down horses, not caring how the passengers where getting bruises from the cramped space, shaking and rattling. All he thought about was getting home to his wife and a warm bed. He finally saw the docks and pulled up in front of a stern looking woman and the burly ship Capitan.
The girls in the carriage filled out one by one. The last girl out was the same girl who had been studying the scenery, hope in her heart. As she stepped out, her foot slipped and she fell into the mud. She quickly got back up but the mud had already seeped into her already wet clothes. "Idiot, attente au-dessus de leur." The stern lady told them to wait by the docks.
As the young girl waited, she listened to the stern lady and the Capitan talk. She was giving him names and ages in English which he was writing down to serve as a record of the passengers on board the ship. When the young girl heard her name she leaned forward trying to make sense of what they were saying but could not understand the foreign tongue. "This ones name is Lilliana Rousseau, thirteen-- almost fourteen years old, an orphan from Orléans."
When they were finished talking, they were directed by the Captain to board the ship. Lilliana, or Lily as she was often called, was confused. She was going to America to get a better life and like the naive 13 year old she was, she thought people would start treating her better right away. After all she was going to the land where dreams came true. Her ship was a testament to that. Le Novel Espoir; the New Hope was her ticket out.
It was uncomfortable and cramped in this ship. She managed to find a space between two of the woman passengers and stayed put for most of the duration of travel. Lily took a slow and even breath. The first thing she could determine upon this vessel was the smell. It was something awful, mild, but forever lingering within the air.
They stopped for a while at a port so that more people could come onto the ship. They were all relatively the same. Some old, but not enough to be called incompetent. Most were young, some very young. Almost children. Though you wouldn't call them such. There was no joy in these youthful eyes; the innocence had left from them long ago.
Some people were crying, some rationing out food, hiding it with caution lest their last scraps vanish before their eyes, and others were talking amongst themselves, but Lily couldn't understand the majority of them. Most looked sickly, either from some sort of illness or from lack of nutrition. Probably both. You could see it on their skin. They looked as though death was imprinted on them.
Lily rested her back against the hard wooden wall. It was cold, but the cramped space provided some warmth from the huddled people next to her. Her knees drew up and she wrapped her arms around herself, the only form of comfort she could get in this mess.
Her eyes swept through the cramped vessel. Two big brown eyes stared back at her before they flickered away nervously. A girl was slouched opposite of her, her arms hugged tightly in the thin fabric wrapped around her. Lily didn't pay particular attention to her clothing; it was her face she was drawn to. Not in the good sense. Her skin was a pasty and almost translucent white, sweat making locks of her hair stick to her face. Her youthful eyes scanned the ship and its passengers in both fear and suspicion. She looked almost out of her mind. In fact, Lily concluded so as the girl began mumbling to herself, something that she did not understand. Lily wanted to comfort the young woman, but feared that she would jump off the boat, shrieking in fear if she came anywhere near her.
They made another stop, into another port. Floods of people rushed into the ship, a lot more than Lily thought would even fit into the boat before it sank. There were so many people. Most, as she caught sight of them, looked weak and worn. She had begun to stare more openly at the young woman opposite of her, but as more people rushed in from the port, she could no longer see her, and so she stared at her hands instead.
The trip to her new life was long and arduous. Time seemed at a snail pace, but Lily was determined to shut it out from her mind and imagine what possibilities this new land would bring to her.
It was only when the ship stopped and people flooded out to their final destination that she spotted the brown-eyed girl. Her back towards Lily as she lay on her side huddled into a ball, the thin clothing wrapped around her body. As Lily went closer the mild smell became stronger. She breathed with her mouth to lessen the stench.
Lily peered over at the girl, ringlets of hair covering her face as she slept. Her hand came out tentatively to nudge the girl, wake her up and tell her that they arrived.
She rolled over toward Lily, her lips parted and big brown eyes frozen.
Lily's hands snapped over her mouth, stumbling backwards, her eyes wide with horror as tears stung at her eyes.
Dead.
Lily shut her eyes, wanting to give anything in the world not to see her as a lifeless girl. Her body was stiff, stuck in its curled up position. What was strange was the color. The blood from her skin seemed to seep, sink to the bottom, coloring one half of her face and body a strange bruised red shade and leaving the other side a pale white, almost gray.
Dead.
What scared Lily most were her eyes. Her eyes were so strange, glassed over, distant, yet focused. She could swear the girl was staring at her, slowly moving, little by little, toward her. Lily stumbled over her feet as she moved away from the body, biting her lip to prevent from screaming.
The brown-eyed girl was dead.
Her mouth looked as though it was moving, as though she were still mumbling to herself. Lily had half a mind in believing that she would jump up and attack her, like some creature of the undead.
She rushed to the outside of the ship, sucking the air in her lungs as she tried not to be sick. Lily gripped the railing, staring out at the land ahead. Bile rose to her throat, but she kept it at bay. Each time she blinked, the vision of dead eyes peered back at her, imprinted into her mind.
Lily scolded herself, her only means of keeping composed. She rationalized the situation, knowing all to well that the girl was sick, that she had no chance surviving such a long journey. Her heartbeat began to recede, but the horror of what she had seen was still lingering within her mind. She stood straight, but woozily, eyes scanning the ship with determination to get to the exit.
As she walked down the deck she had to cover her hand to prevent herself gagging from the stench of it all. There were dead people, dead bodies around the ship. Most of the survivors walked down without a second glance back. Dead was dead. But some stayed behind; those mourning until they were torn away from their deceased loved ones. Her eyes fixed on the area she was determined to be in order to avoid the pain of seeing any more dead eyes staring up at her. The sound of sobbing snapped her gaze to the left. A young boy cried as he clung to the body of what Lily assumed to be his mother. She pried her eyes away; her brow scrunched as she fought her tears and walked off the ship.
How terrible this life was, and yet, it was only the beginning.
Lily's eyes scanned through the port, assessing the survivors of the journey. Not as many as she knew there were in the beginning. At least half of what she thought should be here. The rest had not survived; she was one of the few that were lucky.
Immediately the journey's survivors were rounded up and divided into groups. Noticeably, the groups were mixed with those who looked strong, those who looked healthy, those who looked weak and those who looked nearly deceased. Lily wasn't the strongest looking of the girls in her group; she was a bit skinny, but she was one of the healthier looking and younger ones.
Men yelled to each other around her. The port was loud and bustling as she followed the group of about fifteen into the wagon of a carriage. The group all sat, squeezed together so they would all fit. It was amazing the horse drawn vehicle could even move. People gawked at the passengers as they passed though the port town of Gloucester.
Travel was long, but not nearly as long as most of the other carriages that had left the port in Gloucester, for Ipswich was the destination of this load and that was only the next town over. The trip was bumpy and one of the boys vomited, sick from the continuous motion, but in a little fewer than two days the wagon arrived at its destination.
The passengers were lined up outside of the wagon, tied together by ropes to ensure no one would run away to try and get a free trip to America. Lily stood between a tall boy with brown hair that fell into his eyes and a very thin girl with hair dark as a moonless sky. The girl was one of the ones who looked as if their time was nearly up, sickly pale and emaciated.
Lily gasped as a bad tempered looking woman grabbed her chin harshly and inspected her, muttering to herself before shaking her head, releasing Lily's face and moving on down the line. They were being displayed like objects for sale.
"A right cow that woman was," the boy next to her whispered, but Lily just looked up at him confused, not having any idea what his words meant.
The boy's hazel eyes smiled at her and he went to open his mouth again, but halted once Lily's face was again grabbed, this time by a large, glove clad hand. The glove was formal, that of a high class man and she looked up into the azure eyes of the owner.
"How old are you, girl?" the man questioned. Lily became nervous. She just stared. "Are you a mute?"
"Excuse me sir, but I don't believe she speaks English." The man's attention turned to the boy who stood next to Lily and she sighed when the man removed his hand from her face.
"Je ne comprends pas," she said, unsure how else to answer besides saying she didn't understand in the only language she knew. The man looked back at her, eyeing her curiously.
The man gestured with his hand to the supervisor, a gruff looking cockney man. He came over from where he was making a contract exchange for a tall, muscular boy to an elderly looking farmer. "What can I help ya with Governor?"
"You're a man of the seas. Tell me, do you speak French?"
"Sure do." The Governor nodded and gestured to Lily once again.
"What's this one's age?" The cockney man looked at her and spoke the first words Lily had understood in what felt like forever.
"Tu as quel âge?" Lily looked up at the bi-lingual man, delighted to finally be able to understand what someone was saying. She saw her neighboring boy chuckle.
"Quatorze, monsieur," the timid girl replied.
"She's fourteen. Governor Abbot, I'll be honest with yer. Some of these people ain't gonna last the night. This one's probably the best girl we've got 'ere in this lot." The Governor contemplated his decision before looking over at the withered girl beside Lily. He seemed to nod to himself, then turn to the boy next to Lily.
"And you boy?"
"Rhys Bowen sir. I'll be nineteen in half a year and I'm a hard worker with a strong back," the boy sold himself. The Governor raised his eyebrows and a small smirk crept onto his face.
"Very well then. I'll take the boy and the French girl. Four yeas each."
Lily had been released from the ropes that bound her to the other potential servants; the boy beside her had been let go as well. The supervisor had spit out instructions at them, though she hadn't understood a word that was spoken.
She followed the taller, older boy that had tried to speak to her earlier, her head down staring at the tattered shoes that adorned her small feet. The Governor lead the two to a large home that was fit for such a title and showed them to their quarter.
"You are to report to me at dawn for your duties," The Governor stated before slamming the door shut behind him.
Rhys stared over at the petite girl who sat down on the small cot bed that was against one of the walls in the shrinking room. She had a beautiful face, he noted, taking a seat on the cot opposite of hers.
"What's your name?" He asked her, knowing full well that she couldn't understand him. He had to grab her attention somehow.
Lily looked up at the handsome creature that sat before her. He was remarkably good looking; pools of hazel stared at her, thin pink lips pulled firmly over white teeth as he smiled at her. She wished she could understand what he was saying to her, but as an orphan, she hadn't the luxury many other French children were accustomed to.
Rhys watched carefully as she inspected him. Her bright green eyes surveyed every part of his build, from his face, to his torso, to his legs. He had done the same to her, and wondered what she was thinking.
"What. Is. Your. Name?" He decided to speak slower, sound out the words he was trying to get through to her.
Lily tried to register the unfamiliar words in her head. Did any of it sound familiar to her? Had she heard them before? Her eyebrows came together, showing her confusion, her pink lips pursed as she tried to figure it out.
"My name is Rhys…" Rhys figured that maybe introducing himself would make her understand a bit better. If this failed, he wasn't sure how he'd get her name.
Lily's ears perked up, she could make out Rhys, and she had met a boy once, while in her orphanage, named Rhys. Was that what he was trying to find out? All he wanted was her name.
"Je m'appelle Lilliana." She smiled briefly glad that she understood him.
Rhys smiled; she had understood what he was asking, thank goodness. He had tried to communicate with her again, but it was no use, the language barrier was too much for him to take in at once. He was in a foreign place, with a foreign girl, and was going to have to spend the next four years of his life working for his own freedom.
At dawn Rhys and Lily were standing outside of the Abbott home, the cockney man from the day previous was there to interpret for Lilliana and a few others who's first language wasn't English. He wasn't the only face that greeted them that morning. The man who had taken them home the day previous was standing with an older woman and three kids.
The young man standing beside her introduced himself, as the Governor introduced his family. Lilliana sat dumbstruck until the man that was standing off away from the family interpreted what he was saying.
The man that had brought them home was Governor Ewan Abbot, the woman was his wife, Lara Abbot, and the three younger people were their children. The eldest, Aaron, then Grace and finally the youngest was Rowen.
Lilliana stared at the young man who stood, dark curly brown hair that fell gracefully around a pointed nose, thin mouth and tantalizing azure eyes. She felt his eyes on her; they were taking her in, wandering over her body as he licked his lips.
Perhaps it wouldn't be terrible here after all.
The missus shooed the children off in to the house as Governor Abbott went over the contracts that the man to his right was holding. After Governor Abbot was done talking she watched as Rhys signed the contract hurriedly, then he was given his duties for the day.
Lily watched carefully as he glanced back at her and was shooed off towards the stables. Lilliana stared up at the man that was speaking to her, the Governor's interpreter; he was explaining to her what she would be doing.
She would be keeping house for the Abbot's, cooking, watching after the smaller children, and doing any of the light physical labor that was needed around the house. She looked down at the contract as a pen was shoved in to her hand.
"Quatre ans," the man told her.
Four years.
She would be attending to them for four years. Four years and she could have her freedom. She had heard horror stories from many of the orphans in France about America, about the way they abused their help, sometimes even killed or raped them.
Swallowing hard she looked up in to the hard face of the Governor; he didn't seem like a bad man. She put the point of the quill to the paper and signed her name, carefully. She handed the pen over as the interpreter told her to 'Go on now.'
Lily started towards the house, glancing back as the Governor talked to the man briefly before heading her way. She saw a glint in his eye that didn't seem pleasant; she pushed forward and saw the Abbot's sitting at the handmade table in the kitchen.
Rowen was banging his small fists on to the table, Grace was screaming at the top of her lungs, words coming out of her mouth that Lily just did not understand, and Aaron… she watched him carefully. He was sitting at the table, arms crossed over his chest as he stared at her again.
Lara Abbot was yelling in her direction, what she was saying, Lily couldn't understand. The Governor came in behind her, saying something to his wife, which shut her up. He nudged her towards the stove and pointed to it. They wanted her to cook; they were all waiting on her to make them breakfast, to do their dirty work.
It was then she realized that she had just signed away her life.