Chapter 2.
Alistar helped Hecuba and Tabitha step down from the carriage. They followed Master Crane to the steps of the large house and Tabitha took a look around for the first time. She saw workers constructing a very large garden, a maze across the park.
The Crane lands boasted the largest dwelling in Harmony. Maizee Russell had told Tabitha that the Cranes spared no expense in ordering the finest materials and furnishings from England to give opulent splendor to the place.
Clearly, Tabitha thought, it was immensely impressive to a country girl, like herself. Marble columns and Venetian statues ornately carved from the Italian masters in Carrara Italy, oriental rugs from Turkey, the most delicate egg shell porcelain and silks from China, and Crystal from the Carpathian mountains of Bavaria. Cherry wood highboys and china cabinets inlaid with walnut veneer and brass fittings. Silver mined from the Indian slaves in Mexico to create candle trees and silverware....
Tabitha knew that the other inhabitants of Harmony lived in no better than plain wooden houses, simply furnished with objects they had bartered for or hewn by their own hands.
Hecuba kept a watchful eye on the golden haired lass as they walked through the foyer to the sitting room.
"Are you not pleased, Mistress Lennox?" Alistar's hand waved around the room proudly.
"Aye, it makes me wonder how a miller would come into to such wealth?" Tabitha said.
"I'm a good businessman." He sat in a plush chair, spreading out his long legs. "I have other investments besides the saw mill. I own a fleet of East India men that travel as far as Canton China, and shipping interests in Mexican gold." Alistar said.
Hecuba smiled. "The opium trade made him a rich man."
"Be still!" Alistar gave Hecuba a steely glance. "I will send my sons to Yale College, and they will study law."
"You have no sons, Alistar." Hecuba said snippishly.
"Oh, but I will." He said with confidence, staring at Tabitha.
After the servant brought the claret, Tabitha grew increasingly more uncomfortable, feeling his icy stare boring into her soul. "Well, thank you for the refreshment, but I've work at home to attend to."
Alistar nodded. "You know my dear, if you were to come work for me, you wouldn't have to toil so hard. All alone on that tiny little plot of land, with no one to help you. A woman alone in the world is vulnerable to all types of vermin."
"Work for you?" The room seemed to spin, and Tabitha's stomach churned.
"I've been watching you, Mistress Lennox, and I think you and I have much in common. We could conduct profitable business together here in Harmony."
Tabitha felt uneasy, perhaps it was the claret that made her head spin. "Business? You do all right on your own. What need would you have of my skills?"
Alistar nodded to Hecuba, who stood up and exited the room. He couldn't help wearing a laschivious grin. "Yes, with your innate natural gifts for...shall we say...getting along with the residents of this town, and with an ally of the powers of darkness, there would be nothing stopping you and I from achieving greatness."
"You're talking about Witchcraft." She said emphatically.
Alistar threw his head back and smiled. "That's what I like about you, Tabitha, your candor. Witchcraft is inextricably mixed with politics, which I'm good at. It plays in the affairs of Kingdoms, and all classes are affected, from Popes to peasant, from Queens to cottage girls."
Tabitha put her glass on the table. "I've no need for such art. My herb gardens serve me well enough."
"Oh, but I think you have other skills that would profit you more." Alistar's eyes scanned the room for any trace of Hecuba. She seemed to have gone. "You'd show much more wisdom and tact than Hecuba, who is quite arrogant. The works you would be able to do...lets just say, would be called miraculous, as they would exceed human knowledge...from its very nature, for it is not done naturally."
"Sir, I've no need of the magic arts, I've told you so." Tabitha explained.
"Magicians make miracles, my dear...like good Christians make miracles."
"Christians work miracles by Divine justice in the universe, just as there is a public law in the land." Tabitha tried to reason with him.
"Law...hmmm. But the Magician, since he works through a pact entered into with the devil, works independently by private contract; and it would be viewed as a miracle, of sorts." Alistar said.
"It is only God and nature who can work miracles. Anything outside of that, is wickedness." Tabitha swept up her basket of herbs, feeling the intense heat from the hearth making her feel feverish.
"Everyone is, by direct understanding the cause of his own wickedness. You just don't seem to be aware of your own yet. Oh, yes there is the influence of the stars, and the impulse is received as a natural inclination to human virtue or vice." Alistar struck a flame to his pipe and puffed. "But the works of witches is outside the common order of nature."
"I'm sorry, Master Crane, but I'm not interested in your contract." Tabitha stood up.
"No? Be that as it may, you've no sweetheart in Harmony do you? Not enough eligible or worthy men around." Alistar's eyes fell over her handsome figure. He put his pipe down and approached the young woman.
"Tis none of your business, thou wretch." Tabitha edged back. The room had grown very warm. And why was there a fire in the hearth on this warm day?
"How wildly you talk! Who but Tabitha Lennox, is wont to go about Harmony, adorned most extravagantly in her person? Your gait, posture and habit, in which resides a vanity of vanities. I am not blind. In fact, I see everything that goes on in this town." Alistar brought his hand out, plucked the rose bloom slowly from her bodice, brought it to his nose, smiled and then he tossed it away. "And now, you have bewitched me, ever so sweetly."
"Why do you persecute me? Stay away from me, Master Crane, or I'll..." Tabitha felt the wall against her back, hot from the heat of the fireplace.
"You'll do what?"
"I'll...tell the magistrate...the Minister! Keep thy distance."
"By my soul...such a little witch with your words! And who would believe you?" Her grief, her tears I employ the Magistrate, I pay his wages...and as for the Minister..." He laughed. "I can easily obtain copies of the London court assizes to prove you have been tried and convicted of witchcraft."
"How could you do such a thing? I will deny it. I've never hurt a soul!" Tabitha felt his arms encircle her waist in an iron cold grip. His body had no warmth.
"Oh, but you've no remorse in hurting me, denying my affections. They'd burn you at the stake, my sweet. Do'st thou prefer the flames?" He kissed her cheek, where a single tear had rolled down the side of her face. His tongue lapped it up in one stroke. Her grief, her tears moved him.
"You're a vile man, my soul is above you." She said with a scornful air.
"Soul?" He laughed.
"I beg of you, release me at once, and I'll never tell anyone!"
"You misinterpret everything I do." He said.
"I'll cry for help!"
"My servants are paid well, they attend me only when bidden to do so."
"Unhand me! I will do as I please, and go whither I please!" She tried kicking him through her skirts, but his wirey legs entwined hers in a tight lock. "You will be sorry if you don't let me go!"
"Will I? I think not. And what will thee do, Tabitha Lennox? Invoke the stars in their courses? Consult the Telluric Winds? You compell me. I should not hinder you in anything..."
Tabitha couldn't help but consider all the means that existed in the known universe to wreak vengeance upon this wicked man who had trapped her in his snare. She was the hunted rabbit, caught in his perilous gin.
"Your face is like the burning wind" He said like the hissing of serpents. "You can save me from perdition, for I am the greatest villain on earth. You've bewitched me, that is what I will say if you oppose me." He nibbled on her ear, and then he moved his lips down her neck.
"God, forgive me! For I am stabbed to the heart by your cruelty, thou are the vilest of creatures." Her back pressed to the floor. No one came to Tabitha's cries for help.
"Why, Tabitha Lennox, those tears, are they for me? ....You're very, very sweet. Why, I believe I am the first man to ravish you!"
The CRAFT. Tabitha thought of the CRAFT. It sprung up in her thoughts so clearly, though she had never before been so inclined to consider it's potential use. She would learn the CRAFT, by all that was Holy and UnHoly. She would destroy this wicked man. Witchcraft ... she never understood before how one might come to an inordinate love of hatred that spanned far beyond all time and space.
.
Alistar helped Hecuba and Tabitha step down from the carriage. They followed Master Crane to the steps of the large house and Tabitha took a look around for the first time. She saw workers constructing a very large garden, a maze across the park.
The Crane lands boasted the largest dwelling in Harmony. Maizee Russell had told Tabitha that the Cranes spared no expense in ordering the finest materials and furnishings from England to give opulent splendor to the place.
Clearly, Tabitha thought, it was immensely impressive to a country girl, like herself. Marble columns and Venetian statues ornately carved from the Italian masters in Carrara Italy, oriental rugs from Turkey, the most delicate egg shell porcelain and silks from China, and Crystal from the Carpathian mountains of Bavaria. Cherry wood highboys and china cabinets inlaid with walnut veneer and brass fittings. Silver mined from the Indian slaves in Mexico to create candle trees and silverware....
Tabitha knew that the other inhabitants of Harmony lived in no better than plain wooden houses, simply furnished with objects they had bartered for or hewn by their own hands.
Hecuba kept a watchful eye on the golden haired lass as they walked through the foyer to the sitting room.
"Are you not pleased, Mistress Lennox?" Alistar's hand waved around the room proudly.
"Aye, it makes me wonder how a miller would come into to such wealth?" Tabitha said.
"I'm a good businessman." He sat in a plush chair, spreading out his long legs. "I have other investments besides the saw mill. I own a fleet of East India men that travel as far as Canton China, and shipping interests in Mexican gold." Alistar said.
Hecuba smiled. "The opium trade made him a rich man."
"Be still!" Alistar gave Hecuba a steely glance. "I will send my sons to Yale College, and they will study law."
"You have no sons, Alistar." Hecuba said snippishly.
"Oh, but I will." He said with confidence, staring at Tabitha.
After the servant brought the claret, Tabitha grew increasingly more uncomfortable, feeling his icy stare boring into her soul. "Well, thank you for the refreshment, but I've work at home to attend to."
Alistar nodded. "You know my dear, if you were to come work for me, you wouldn't have to toil so hard. All alone on that tiny little plot of land, with no one to help you. A woman alone in the world is vulnerable to all types of vermin."
"Work for you?" The room seemed to spin, and Tabitha's stomach churned.
"I've been watching you, Mistress Lennox, and I think you and I have much in common. We could conduct profitable business together here in Harmony."
Tabitha felt uneasy, perhaps it was the claret that made her head spin. "Business? You do all right on your own. What need would you have of my skills?"
Alistar nodded to Hecuba, who stood up and exited the room. He couldn't help wearing a laschivious grin. "Yes, with your innate natural gifts for...shall we say...getting along with the residents of this town, and with an ally of the powers of darkness, there would be nothing stopping you and I from achieving greatness."
"You're talking about Witchcraft." She said emphatically.
Alistar threw his head back and smiled. "That's what I like about you, Tabitha, your candor. Witchcraft is inextricably mixed with politics, which I'm good at. It plays in the affairs of Kingdoms, and all classes are affected, from Popes to peasant, from Queens to cottage girls."
Tabitha put her glass on the table. "I've no need for such art. My herb gardens serve me well enough."
"Oh, but I think you have other skills that would profit you more." Alistar's eyes scanned the room for any trace of Hecuba. She seemed to have gone. "You'd show much more wisdom and tact than Hecuba, who is quite arrogant. The works you would be able to do...lets just say, would be called miraculous, as they would exceed human knowledge...from its very nature, for it is not done naturally."
"Sir, I've no need of the magic arts, I've told you so." Tabitha explained.
"Magicians make miracles, my dear...like good Christians make miracles."
"Christians work miracles by Divine justice in the universe, just as there is a public law in the land." Tabitha tried to reason with him.
"Law...hmmm. But the Magician, since he works through a pact entered into with the devil, works independently by private contract; and it would be viewed as a miracle, of sorts." Alistar said.
"It is only God and nature who can work miracles. Anything outside of that, is wickedness." Tabitha swept up her basket of herbs, feeling the intense heat from the hearth making her feel feverish.
"Everyone is, by direct understanding the cause of his own wickedness. You just don't seem to be aware of your own yet. Oh, yes there is the influence of the stars, and the impulse is received as a natural inclination to human virtue or vice." Alistar struck a flame to his pipe and puffed. "But the works of witches is outside the common order of nature."
"I'm sorry, Master Crane, but I'm not interested in your contract." Tabitha stood up.
"No? Be that as it may, you've no sweetheart in Harmony do you? Not enough eligible or worthy men around." Alistar's eyes fell over her handsome figure. He put his pipe down and approached the young woman.
"Tis none of your business, thou wretch." Tabitha edged back. The room had grown very warm. And why was there a fire in the hearth on this warm day?
"How wildly you talk! Who but Tabitha Lennox, is wont to go about Harmony, adorned most extravagantly in her person? Your gait, posture and habit, in which resides a vanity of vanities. I am not blind. In fact, I see everything that goes on in this town." Alistar brought his hand out, plucked the rose bloom slowly from her bodice, brought it to his nose, smiled and then he tossed it away. "And now, you have bewitched me, ever so sweetly."
"Why do you persecute me? Stay away from me, Master Crane, or I'll..." Tabitha felt the wall against her back, hot from the heat of the fireplace.
"You'll do what?"
"I'll...tell the magistrate...the Minister! Keep thy distance."
"By my soul...such a little witch with your words! And who would believe you?" Her grief, her tears I employ the Magistrate, I pay his wages...and as for the Minister..." He laughed. "I can easily obtain copies of the London court assizes to prove you have been tried and convicted of witchcraft."
"How could you do such a thing? I will deny it. I've never hurt a soul!" Tabitha felt his arms encircle her waist in an iron cold grip. His body had no warmth.
"Oh, but you've no remorse in hurting me, denying my affections. They'd burn you at the stake, my sweet. Do'st thou prefer the flames?" He kissed her cheek, where a single tear had rolled down the side of her face. His tongue lapped it up in one stroke. Her grief, her tears moved him.
"You're a vile man, my soul is above you." She said with a scornful air.
"Soul?" He laughed.
"I beg of you, release me at once, and I'll never tell anyone!"
"You misinterpret everything I do." He said.
"I'll cry for help!"
"My servants are paid well, they attend me only when bidden to do so."
"Unhand me! I will do as I please, and go whither I please!" She tried kicking him through her skirts, but his wirey legs entwined hers in a tight lock. "You will be sorry if you don't let me go!"
"Will I? I think not. And what will thee do, Tabitha Lennox? Invoke the stars in their courses? Consult the Telluric Winds? You compell me. I should not hinder you in anything..."
Tabitha couldn't help but consider all the means that existed in the known universe to wreak vengeance upon this wicked man who had trapped her in his snare. She was the hunted rabbit, caught in his perilous gin.
"Your face is like the burning wind" He said like the hissing of serpents. "You can save me from perdition, for I am the greatest villain on earth. You've bewitched me, that is what I will say if you oppose me." He nibbled on her ear, and then he moved his lips down her neck.
"God, forgive me! For I am stabbed to the heart by your cruelty, thou are the vilest of creatures." Her back pressed to the floor. No one came to Tabitha's cries for help.
"Why, Tabitha Lennox, those tears, are they for me? ....You're very, very sweet. Why, I believe I am the first man to ravish you!"
The CRAFT. Tabitha thought of the CRAFT. It sprung up in her thoughts so clearly, though she had never before been so inclined to consider it's potential use. She would learn the CRAFT, by all that was Holy and UnHoly. She would destroy this wicked man. Witchcraft ... she never understood before how one might come to an inordinate love of hatred that spanned far beyond all time and space.
.