AGELESS Campaign Episode 2 - Temple of the Cat-Goddess

Chapter Eleven, “The Upper Floors” September 1st, 1882, 4:30 P.M.

Outside, Nanuet follows Alsoomse’s lead and brings the next pair of horses right behind Alsoomse. "So you had a human husband? I too spent time with a human lover although we've parted ways since. It's difficult, the whole aging thing. I never got past it I guess."

She replies, "I was fortunate, as my husband descended from a long line of Portuguese wizards and druids, who had access to a rare life enhancing magic. As a result my human husband lived to the age of one-hundred-seventy-two. My daughter, grandson and great-grandson have also used the same form of magic. My great-granddaughter has refused but she still inherits some of the benefit from her father. So my relatives of part-human blood will still be long lived compared to most."

She pauses and then says, "Do not tell the others, but James plans to offer the same magic to all of you here who are of full or part human blood. It would not work for either you or Roy, so for the two of you he will offer the option of using the magic on somebody of your choice at a time in the future. Perhaps your human lover could be the one that you select?"

Nanuet replies, "That is a generous offer, but not a decision I can make for her. It has been quite some time since I have last seen her and last I knew she has gone to California seeking her place in this world. I can't say I fully agree of the use of magic to extend one's life, mostly because I am ignorant about it. I can see how it would be tempting though, especially when it concerns one that you love dearly."

Meanwhile, Alsoomse and Nanuet guide the carriage into the barn and unhitch the horse. Alsoomse then faces the carriage and casts a spell. Naneut sees what looks like thin waves of light radiate out from her fingertips and through the air, surrounding the carriage. There is a creaking sound and the body of the coach then appears to sink an inch or two lower to the ground and thin puffs of dust quickly push out from the wheels and then dissipate.

He asks, "What exactly what that Alsoomse? Arcane magics?" She says, "Yes, I am versed in both arcane and earth magics. What I was doing just now was deactivating magical devices on each of the coach wheels. The sandy soil of this region makes vehicle travel harder, so pulling this large coach with all of the passengers and luggage would have been a burden on the animals as well as taking twice as long for the trip. These arcane items reduced the overall weight of the coach and contents by seventy-five percent." He replies, "Impressive, your knowledge in both arcane and earth magics" Nanuet says while he continues his work on the horses. "I have been learning divine magic but only have begun relatively recently."

She has him help her with the six horses, first grooming them and then bringing each to a stall where food and water await. She says that the students gave each a Timucua name, which she then used a Speak with Animal spell to explain to each horse. She says, "The gelding that is the lead horse is named Yobo, which means 'stone' as it is the cornerstone of the team. It's mare counterpart at the front is Becha which means 'tomorrow', as she is always trying to get ahead of where she should be. The middle two horses are a stallion and mare who are a mated pair, named Biro and Nia which are the Timucuan words for 'man' and 'woman'. The final mare is named Ela, which means 'sun' as she enjoys running around in the sunlight. The last is a gelding that is named Ocho which means 'behind' as it is always the straggler of the group."

Nanuet listens to Alsoomse explain the names of each of the horses and then uses each of the animals names as he tends to them. "Magnificent animals, and well cared for. Is this usually something you do or has this become your task since the students departed?" She says, "I have always loved horses, tending them is not a task it is a pleasure. We have riding horses here as well." Once the six horses are attended to, Alsoomse has Nanuet help her with a bale of hay, which they then bring outside corral with four other horses. They all hurry over and begin to eat.

She tells him “The silver quarterhorse is mine, she is named Sooleawa which translates as ‘Silver’ in my native Algonquin tongue. She is not comfortable with any rider except for myself. The dark brown thoroughbred is Mina’s horse, James had her brought here a month ago and he has been riding her around since, giving her time to get used to the trails and climate. I originally found her out not far from near where you are from, in the Arizona Territory. He had originally been raised by the Navajo and is named Nizhoni which is the Navajo word for ‘beautiful’. Mini only rides her occasionally, so doesn’t mind others using her as well.

The other two horses were purchased here in Florida for the students to ride and will be available for any of you to use.” She points to a brown and white one saying, “The painted stallion was rather spirited at first but we’ve had a number of long conversations and he now knows my expectations and rises to meet them. I have named him Ahote, which means ‘Restless One’ in the language of the Hopi centaur tribes. The appaloosa mare is named Peta, which in the language of the Blackfoot tribe means ‘Golden Eagle’.

He says, "You'll have to teach me your ways of communicating with the animals. I have a bond with Maska but have little experience with other animals, though I would certainly like to learn. It seems you also have a lot of experience dealing with other tribes, that too is something I would like to become involved with.” She says, "Learning the history and culture of the elvan people has been my lifelong project. I attended the Great Conclave of the elvan people with the Algonquin in both 1759 and 1835."

He states, “There is little of my tribe left so I feel I may be in a good spot to work as an ambassador of sorts amongst the various tribes remaining. I saw a structure that looked like it was Elven in nature on the way to the house is that yours or are there other elves living on the grounds?" She states, "That was my home here for the past summer, the students lived outside in canvas tents and I wanted to be near them. But they are gone now and I plan to move into the fine house that Luiz, James and Sol have constructed. You are welcome to live in it if you would like." "That is very kind of you and at least for now I think I will take you up on your offer."

Back in the Transportation and Logistics room Ruby says, "Hey, are we getting to see our rooms soon?" Sol states “Yes, we have now seen all of the first floor." He gestures towards the stairs and says "This is one of the other main staircases up to the second floor. From the second floor up until the roof the staircases are all along the central hallway. The four bedrooms on the second floor have been designated for corporate officers and our attorney. The remainder of you will reside in bedrooms on the two upper floors.

Each bedroom is spacious, varying from 350 to 450 square feet in size, although the angled roof on the two upper floors gives them the illusion of being smaller. Each pair of bedrooms has a shared bathroom with a sink, water closet and bathtub. There is also an adjoining door between each pair of rooms, so please give some thought as to which person you wish to be roomed beside.

All rooms are currently furnished with a bed, wardrobe closet, dresser, corner table and chair. The furniture is new and unfinished, so we can paint or stain them to your specific desires. We can also order any additional furniture that you may want.” Ruby exclaims, "Bathtubs! I love it! And really? Anyway we want to decorate it and furnish it? That's... fabulous. I feel spoiled already. It sure seems like you plan on us staying here a while. Is there a um, room for George?" "There is a room for each of you," Sol replies. Hearing Ruby speak of bathing, Fish continues to keep his sordid thoughts to himself.


Abigail says, "As I'm the only unattached lady, I guess I'll have to trust one of you gentlemen to be in the next room. Just remember whoever you are, sharing a bathroom with a woman might make you wish you'd chosen a different room," she laughed. Sol replies, "Actually no Abigail, there is one other unattached lady. Alsoomse hasn't chosen a room yet, having been living outside in her elvan lodge. With all of the items that she's collected she has already outgrown both it and her office so has been thinking of taking an upper room as well. She could room opposite the room of your choosing."

They climb up the stairs to the second floor as Sol unlocked the door at the top and opens it. They enter a room that is thirty feet on the south wall, twenty-feet north to south on the west wall, ten feet on the north and the remaining wall running diagonally from southeast chimney to the southeast corner. The room is a scientific laboratory, with a door on the north between the chimneys. It has the latest equipment used by the top Universities. One shelf has what look to be wooden and metal Timucuan artifacts. Bookcases in the room have books focused on both General Science as well as the specific subjects of Anthropology and Archeology.

Trout saunters over to the shelf, and surveys the items. He thinks to himself, "What's this little gimcrack I'm holding for Lady Wilamina really worth?" He concludes that the items here appear to be of the standard clay pottery and stone arrow tips commonly associated with ancient Native American elvan villages, while the other items he's seen are heavier stone objects with runes carved into them.

Sol leads them through the door between the two southern chimneys and into a second floor hallway, seven feet wide and running the full thirty-five feet to the other pair of chimneys where it then branches off to both the east and west to form a ‘T’ shape. Towards the opposite end of the hallway is a staircase up is along the east wall. The hallway also has a water closet.

He points to a door on the east wall near the chimney and says, “This will be your room Attorney Hardin. My room is the next one. We will be sharing a bathroom in between.” He does not open the door, instead leading the group further down the second floor hallway. The eastern end of ‘T’ top is a five-by-eight foot alcove with the base of the staircase up on the south side and doors on the east and north sides. Sol says that the eastern door is to the Parker’s room and the northern door is to Doctor Chernotz’s room. The western is a five-by-eight-foot alcove ending in a door.

Ruby noted where Nana's room was located, hoping to stay somewhat close to her when it came time to choose rooms. As they continued to walk Ruby commented to George, "Since they gave you your own room we'll have to make sure it's across from mine. You never know when there might be a midnight emergency," she laughed. "Or moving furniture around, I'm already getting ideas for decorating."

Sol opens the door to an eight-by-fifteen foot hallway with a window on the east wall and doors both north and south of the window. Sol tells them that opposite the northern door is the staircase down to the lobby. Ruby asks, "Hey Sol, what kind of stuff is there to do at night around here?"

"Reading," he states as he opens the south door up to a large room, twenty-by-twenty-seven feet in size. It is elaborately-furnished room with floor to ceiling bookcases along all of the walls except for the three windows on the west wall and one section of the south wall that has a filled liquor cabinet. Half of the bookcases are filled, and there are several stepstools to assist in getting to books on higher shelves. A dumbwaiter down to the kitchen is along the center of the northern wall. The other three corners of the room each have a plush chair. In the center of the room is a long rectangular cherry wood table. The table has fourteen chairs, two on each end and five on each longer side.

"Reading?" Ruby laughed before seeing the serious look on Sol's face. "Reading? Really? Well... I am sure THAT will be exciting." She kept the rest of those thoughts to herself.

Sol states, “This is the library and main conference room. We will be meeting here tomorrow after lunch to discuss all of the details of this project, including salaries and benefits, and determine then if you either wish to actually join our Guild or if you would prefer to remain as an occasional consultant and guest.” Lawrence rubs his hands together and says, "Excellent. Then we can get down to brass tacks." “Free food is always good, my man," Fish quips, "but count me in: no discussion is necessary!" He shifts his weight from one foot to the other excitedly.

They return to the central hallway and now take the stairs up to the third floor. It reaches a landing in the center, with the staircase then continuing to the fourth floor. Sol says that the only rooms on this floor are the six bedrooms.
Immediately east of the landing are two doors, which Sol opens. Each is a large bedroom, with a wall between the two doors running to the eastern side of the building. There is a large dormer window fifteen feet wide with a flat roof, the rest of the room with the upward slanted roof. The side walls of each room run diagonal from the chimney to ten feet before the corner where the bathroom doors are located. Each diagonal wall also has a door to another room.

This view from the southeastern room shows a distant Bay a few miles which Sol says is where James and Mina were riding their bicycles to. The view from the northeastern room looks out upon the eastern shore of the Saint John’s river leading to the peninsula and Bay. "Oh!" Ruby headed to the window, opening it wide and leaning out, straining to see if she spots her grandmother and her husband riding their bikes. "This is a beautiful view, you can see a lot from here." Sol replies "And even more from the rooms on the fourth floor."

They head out into the central hallways, which also has a hall water closet, and head to the southern door between the two south chimneys. He opens the door which reveals walls running diagonally from each chimney to the southwest corner of the building and most of the way to the southeast corner, the room thereby occupying nearly all of the south wall. From the large dormer and picture window is a spectacular view of the distant countryside as well as the horse corral beside the barn.

There are two doors on the southeastern wall, one of which is opens to the southeastern room that they had just viewed and the other to the ten-foot-square bathroom in the southeastern corner of the building that is shared by these two rooms. Ruby asks, "These are very nice, you were right. The bathrooms alone are worth a room here! Do you expect that we, or the people who join the corporation, will be here long periods of time?"

Sol says, "That's somewhat up to you. I believe that James was talking about the Exploring side of the business taking on projects that are a few weeks in duration then taking a month or so off between assignments. Not everybody would be needed for every assignment also, it would depend what the specific project and what skills were needed. Ruby replies, "I suppose we'll have to wait until tomorrow and what our jobs will be to figure that out. I don't think George can be away from work too long. And eventually we'll be getting married," she grinned.

They exit this room and go to the opposite end to a room between the two northern chimneys. This room is identical in size to the one they just saw on the southern wall, with this one sharing the corner bathroom with the northeastern room. This room has an excellent view of the river, front yard and dock with the three boats.

Sol says, "Let's look at the last two bedrooms on this floor." There are two doors on the hallway western wall, each near the northwest or southwest chimney. Sol unlocks the northwestern door, opening into the northwest bedroom. It is similar in size to the one opposite on the northwest except for the bathroom is not in the corner but rather on the central wall between this room and the southwest room. The western view from here is of the road they arrived on, with Mill Cove in the distance.

Sol leads them to this room’s bathroom, which extends out from the wall opposite the central hallway, with the adjoining door between the two rooms further west along the slanted roof. They enter room which is eight-by-twelve feet in size. Sol says, “Each of the shared bathrooms is approximately one-hundred square feet in size, but this is the only one with a mostly flat instead of slanted ceiling due to the roof. James was thinking that you therefore might prefer one of these two rooms Thomas due to your height. He also had the largest tub installed here with you in mind.”

The tub is porcelain with iron footings. There is a drain plug in the bottom. At one end of the tub mounted on a box-like platform is a hand pump. Sol says, “All of the bathrooms have pumps identical to this. A person not knowing the special tricks of these pumps would have to hand pump cold water one gallon at a time. However, let me show you the trick.”

He reaches down towards the pump mountings, which have four bolts on each side. He says, “First you need to lift the hand pump into the up position.” He raises the pump, leaving it up. He they says, “The control mechanism is built into the four bolts on the northern side. Once the pump is up just place your fingers over the front two bolts.” He demonstrates, as while his hand covers those bolts water pours from the pump on its own. When he lifts his hand the water stops. He says, “That’s the cold water.”

He then places his hand over the middle two bolts and the water resumes again, Sol saying, “This is an even mix of hot and cold water.” He then moves his hands to only cover the back two bolts and the water pouring out now has steam coming from it. Sol states, “And this is the hot water.”

They exit the door on the opposite side of the bathroom into the remaining room on the southwest side. The view from the window here also shows the distant Mill Cove, as well as a closer view of the barn and horse corral. He leads them out the door to the hallway and to the staircase up. Thomas opts to remain behind and start to unpack in his chosen room.

The fourth floor consists of four bedrooms, each running from a corner of the building to the central hallway. The angled roof is closer in on this level and Thomas has to stoop a bit inside of the rooms to keep from bumping his head when away from the flat-roofed dormer sections, which on this level are ten-feet wide rather than fifteen. The northern and eastern rooms share a bathroom and the southern and western rooms share a bathroom. The view from the windows in each of these rooms is similar to that from the third floor, although from here you can see further in each direction.

Ruby says, “George and I will take two of the first connected bedrooms we saw downstairs, if that is alright with everyone.” John says, "I am fine with any of the accommodations...they are a far sight better than my last."
A wry smile follows. " Abigail says, “I think they're just trying to lull us into a false sense of security. The accommodations when we travel won't be nearly so nice. I'd like one of these rooms up on the third or forth floor overlooking the water. A little exercise never hurt anyone and I like to be up high."

Sol says, "Okay, that works. On the third floor Abigail can take the north room facing the river, Alsoomse can take the northeastern room, Ruby can take the southeastern room and George can take the southern room. That would leave either of the western facing rooms on that floor, with the bigger bathroom, for Thomas."

"I'd like a room on the fourth floor," says Fish, still grinning. "It'll give me easier access to the roof!" Sol states, "Speaking of which, let's go take a look." From the central hallway they climb up to the roof level. It is ten feet wide and thirty-five feet long with the chimneys in all four corners and an iron gate in between that has been painted brick red. Four telescopes, similar to those used on ships, that are mounted in the center of each of the four gates. Each is on a swivel base. In the very center of the roof is a much larger telescope, similar to those that astronomers used at observatories. It is pointed skyward, with a padded chair mounted beneath for a viewer to sit almost horizontally to the roof when looking up.

Ruby's mouth dropped open at the sight of the telescopes and stayed that way for quite some time. "Stars...," she said dreamily to herself, enthralled as she moves to one of the telescopes to inspect it, trying to see if she can figure it out. Sol replies, "Oh yeah, I guess there is another thing to do around here at night. James spends a lot of time up here looking at the stars. He said that both of his grandfathers taught him about the night skies. They were both seafarers. His paternal grandfather captained a great sailing ship in the 18th century. His maternal grandfather worked on a whaling ship captained by James's father." She exclaims, "Oh, I hope James will teach me too, I have always adored the stars! It's really wonderful up here, I'm going to be here a lot I think." She whispered to him and grinned, "If you ever can't find me, look here."

Lawrence says to Sol, "I'd like a room with plenty of natural light. Something on the southern side, if there's one left. These aging eyes prefer it to lamplight." Sol says, "Okay then, why don't you room adjacent to Thomas then, him in the northwest room and you in the southwest room. That'll fill the third floor, so you'll have your choice up on the fourth Roy, either east sharing a bathroom with Fish, or you could take north or west by yourself for the time being."

Chapter Twelve, “The Delroy-Kingsley Family” September 1st, 1882, 5:30 P.M.

Looking down towards the north they see Luiz returning to the house along with two of the three men, the human and the ogre, who had been busy painting the building down by the docks. Up on the roof, Sol suggests that they head downstairs for the others to meet the men who Luiz has brought up to the house. "Oh, who are they?" Ruby asks.

Sol replies, "The Delroy-Kingsley family. They've lived on this land since shortly after the war but didn't own it. When we bought the place they assumed that we'd kick them off, but James told them they were welcome to stay. They were a big help with the construction of this house and the outbuildings so James decided to build them a new house at the same time. Jemima is also the best cook you'll find around these parts, they provide us with one big meal a day." She replies, "Excellent! Let's go meet them."

Fish intends to be the first in the party on the ground to meet the groundskeepers. He takes a running leap off the telescope perch, tucks and tumbles to grab hold of the third-floor ledge, tucks and leaps to the second floor porch railing, runs along its top edge to the side of the house facing their approach, then slides down a rainspout to land nimbly upon the ground. You'd have to have been looking closely to see him just catch his balance as he plants his feet. He throws up his arm triumphantly, "Ta da!"

Thomas, unpacking his carpetbag in his room, hears a "thump" followed by another "thump", sees a blur in the corner of his eye that may or may not have been Fish run past his window, followed by silence, and a rather loud "TA-DA!" from below. He looks up, an eyebrow raised quizzically, ponders for a second, smiles and shakes his head, and continues to unpack his things.

As Fish jumped Abby rushed to the edge of the perch to watch him nimbly tumble to the ground. From far above her can hear her applaud him and she calls down, "I'd have cracked my head open trying something like that, but it sure gets you to the ground fast!" She turned to the others still on the perch and grinned, "Who wants to bet her first learned that to sneak into places she ought not to be?"

"Indeed, Ms. Abby...I think I will rely on the stairs for my transportation down."Hardin looks down at Fish and shakes his head. "What would your mother think if she saw you do that?" Ruby laughed as Ben did his stunt off the roof, amazed at either his bravery or foolishness. Ruby took George's hand as they walked downstairs.

Seeing Mr. Trout’s landing Nanuet says to his elvan companion, "Ahh, I think we're wanted back in the house." Nanuet offers his arm to Alsoomse. "Shall we?"

Luiz introduces the human in his mid-forties as Jasper Delroy. While from a distance the other man had appeared to be an ogre in his twenties but up close he appears to also have some human blood as well, although the ogre side is clearly the more dominant aspect of his heritage. Luiz introduces him as Obadiah Kingsley, “You can call me Obie”, is says in a low gutteral voice. Luiz says, “The rest of Jasper’s family will be along in around a half-hour with supper for us all. In the meanwhile, these two have come to help carry your luggage upstairs to your rooms.”

James and Wilamina return, riding their bicyles along the stone path. Wilamina calls over to Fish, "Most impressive Benjamin, I was not aware that our ride back was also going to include entertainment." They store the bicycles in the storage building and head up to the house. Luiz says, “Dinner will be in less than an hour if you wish to freshen up first.” James says, “I don’t see any carriages so I gather that our guests haven’t arrived.” Luiz says, “Well, you did tell Sheriff Holtzburn that it was at 6:00 P.M. From what I’ve seen is always exactly on time.” Sol interjects, “Yes, but I’ve also heard that his wife Gerta is habitually early. So they could arrive at any time now.”

"Lady Wilamina?" asks Fish quietly, stepping alongside her as they head up the front steps to the porch, "I have two questions: may I leave your package in my room?" he asks, patting his duffle, and then adds somewhat sheepishly, "and what if a fella has no duds appropriate to a formal dinner?" She tells him, "You can put it in my room or yours and tonight's dinner is informal. As for the ball Monday, we can purchase you something in Jacksonville that day."

Once she was downstairs Ruby bounced over to her grandmother. "Nana, I picked out a room kinda near yours, one floor up. They're pretty big rooms and I can't wait to decorate it. How was your bike ride?" Mina replies, "It was wonderful, after all of the sitting on trains and coaches it was nice to get some exercise for a change. It was nice to have some alone time too. James says that the students have set out these stone bicycle paths throughout the entire estate, so there will lots of future opportunities for riding."

Ruby replies, "Well, I will certainly take advantage of that, I love to explore. How should we dress for dinner? Do I need an evening gown?" James laughs and says, "No, it will be informal. Save the gown for Monday night when we go into the city for the ball." Ruby clapped her hands together, "Oh I had forgotten about that already!”

"What's this about a ball? Shame I have nothing appropriate to wear." Nanuet says as he walks up the group, feigning disappointment. James replies, "The ball is being thrown by a fraternal order of Jacksonville's society and business leaders. The have been anxious to get msyelf and Doctor Chernoitz to join them. We can discuss it in more detail as we get closer to Monday."

"Ha Nanuet, think you would get out of the dance that easily? I am certain someone would have something for you to wear." Ruby leaned in closer and with a grin on her face whispered to Nanuet. "Besides, who will take that nice, pretty elven woman if you do not?" Nanuet's face turns crimson as Ruby whispers in his ear. His eyes look down before looking back at Alsoomse and then back at Ruby. "She uh... well I... I am sure... I mean I guess I can find something to wear if I have to. I bet there is a lot to do between now and then though, we shouldn't worry about that right now." "Who's worried?" Ruby laughed, and kissed her friend on the cheek. "It will be a fabulous time, I am certain."

Ruby says, Alright, I'm going to go freshen up for dinner now that our bags are upstairs.” As she walked to the stairs she stopped at Mr. Trout. "Your little acrobatics show was quite impressive Fish." She gave him a wink then headed up the stairs.

Three individuals head up the road from the house down by the river. One is a male half-ogre who is the human equivalent of early-to-mid-thirties. He is leading a mule that is pulling a small cart. Walking alongside the cart is a female half-ogre the human equivalent of around fifty. Beside her is the tall carmel-skinned statuesque beauty that they saw earlier when they arrived. Both women are wearing colorful floral-print sundresses. The man has on polished shoes, dark cotton pants, a white cotton shirt and a necktie.

When they arrive Luiz introduces the man as Enoch Kingsley, the older woman as Jemima Kingsley and the younger woman as Antoinette Delroy. The three of them remove several metal and ceramic containers with handles from the cart. "Nice to meet you all," Ruby commented, "We've heard so much about you...r cooking! I hope James wasn't exaggerating, I'm starving!"

The meal consists of the barbecue chicken, salad greens in an oil sauce, corn on the cob, honey-baked yams, and fresh wheat bread. "I'm going to grab a quick drink before dinner then." She headed to the bar.

Lawrence unpacks his suitcases into the dresser of his room. He absently whistles while he does so. Next he unlocks his satchel and places the contents on the desk. He checks through the various pens, inks and papers to make sure they survived the trip. Satisfied, he repacks the case and locks it. He dresses for dinner in a suit a couple years out of style before heading downstairs for supper.

Hardin quickly and efficiently unpacks his larger bag, taking out the crisp new suit he purchased in Tallahassee before getting on the train. He turns the suitcoat inside out and then opens the smaller valise and pulls out some soft calfskin, a small pair of shears, several large sewing needles and some sturdy thread. With practiced ease, he sets to work.

Five minutes prior to the start of dinner, he stands before the mirror in his room, new coat on and stares intently at his own reflection. His knees flex slightly and his hands blur. A split second later, both Colts are aimed at an imaginary foe's midsection. Hardin grins and holsters the brace in their newly-sewn homes. The left hammer catches a bit and he frowns."Guess that one will have to wait until after dinner..." He picks up the new matching bowler-style derby and places it with a jaunty angle before heading out the door.
Fish slides into his room and tucks the duffle under his bed, after pulling out the ascot (a gift from Lydia, his paramour from the circus). He takes a moment to rig a simple "trap" along the duffle's fastenings: if triggered, it will let him know that someone fussed with the bag.

He steps up to the washbowl on the bureau and splashes some water on his face, drags his fingers through his hair, and then inspects himself in the mirror as he ties on the ascot with a rakish flair. He frowns, to look at his road clothes: a little threadbare and far from nifty clean. Then he shrugs, thinking to himself, "I am who I am!" He gives himself a wink, fills his flask with the remainder of the fine bourbon he shared with Roy while in the coach, and heads downstairs.

Thomas dresses for dinner: a charcoal-grey double-breasted linen suit, with a crimson red cravat. Folding his spectacles into his pocket, and tucking a white silk handkerchief into the left breast pocket, he goes downstairs to the dining room, effusively greeting all who are there. Despite his reserve, he can't help but be struck by the beauty and grace of the woman introduced to him as Antoinette Delroy. He takes her hand into his, and in an unusual (for Thomas) gesture, he kisses her hand, saying "I am most pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Delroy." "As I am to meet you Doctor Crane. James and Solomon have both spoken very highly of you," she states in a well articulated Southern accent.

Since no one was manning the bar, Ruby felt right at home slipping behind the counter and making her own drink. She pondered taking some more of Alsoomse's special tea but opted for lemonade instead. She poured one for George too and returned to the dining room.

It is almost 6:00 and the Sheriff and his wife still have not arrived. James announces that he and Mina will be sharing a table with their nearly tardy guests and asks that Solomon, John and Lawrence take the three remaining seats at that table. Of the Delroy-Kingsley family, Jasper, Jemima and Obadiah sit at one table and are joined by Alsoomse, leaving three more chairs there unoccupied. Antoinette and Enoch sit at the third table and are joined by Luiz, leaving four more chairs unoccupied. Thomas sits at the table with Antoinette, Enoch, and Luiz. Fish wants to sit next to Roy.

Ruby and George took a seat with the Delroy-Kingsley family, leaving the seat next to Alsoomse open. When Nanuet entered the dining room she waved to him. "Over here Nanuet!" Nanuet responds immediately to Ruby's voice and heads in that direction without thinking before he sees what she has planned. He pauses for a moment, shaking his head slightly before finishing the trip across the room and seating himself in the remaining empty seat next to Alsoomse. He listens carefully to the conversation taking place regarding the possible deputizations.

Hardin stops at the door momentarily, eyes sweeping the room and lingering on each person he doesn't know for a heartbeat or two. He is looking for a seat with a solid wall to his back. Once he spots one, he will angle toward it...pausing only to tip his hat toward the ladies. Once at the target chair, he pulls it out a bit, puts his bowler on the cushion, smoothes back his hair and returns to the mainstream for proper introductions...

Ruby turned back to her table mates. "This food smells fabulous, I can't wait to dig in! I've been wondering, where did you two ladies get your dresses? They look so pretty and so cool for this hot and humid weather." The older half-ogre Jemima replies "Why I made them for myself and Antoionette. The Mill Cove store has bolts of this material, I would be happy to make some for you as well. Ruby responds, "That would be so generous of you, thank you. I think stuffy hot corsets won't do down here, it's too warm, so a bit of new clothing would be in order. I think George should get some lighter weight suits too. So James mentioned you've lived here a while?"

Obadiah Kingsley says, "Yes, our Grandpa was a slave sold to the Kingsley Plantation. My mother and my Aunt Jemima were both born there." Alsoomse says, "The Kingsley Plantation is the oldest one in the county, established in 1814. It occupies all of Fort George Island just north of the mouth of the Saint James River. It has a fastinating racial history, as Zaphaniah Kingsley's wife Anna was an African ogress who he had purchased in Cuba and then fell in love with and married. They treated their slaves far better than most slave owners.

Problems arose in 1821 when Florida changed hands from Spanish rule to becoming part of the United States. Spain had no laws against human and ogre marriages but the United States did. So Zephaniah and Anna sold the Plantation to his nephew and moved to Haiti, where they established a new plantation. After he died in 1843 Anna and her daughters moved back here." Jemima says, "We were always well treated so when the slaves were freed we all took on the name Kingsley as our last name. I met Jasper there." As she says that she gently pats his cheek.

He smiles and says, "In the war I was wounded and discharged at First Mannassas, lost my right leg. Limped around with just a wooden one for nearly two decades until this summer when Luiz...Doctor Chernovz built me this newfangled semi-mechanical one. Bends just like a real one and also locks in place when I need it to. Those guys are something else." Jemima says, "Dear, you're rambling." He says, "Sorry, so I was overseer at the Plantation but got discharged for being too friendly with the workers." "Resulting in cousin Antoinette," Obadiah says. "You hush Boy," Jasper exclaims.

Slightly embarrassed, Jemima says, "Jasper and I were married in an African ceremony at the Kingsley Plantation in Haiti. That satisfies us but is not recognized by the United States, so we're not in violation of the law. That's why I still use the name Kingsley instead of Delroy." He adds, "After I lost my job at the Plantation we moved a few miles up river to here. Never thought that anybody would actually buy this place."

Ruby ate her food as she listened to the story. "Why is that? That you thought no one would buy this place?" He replies, "'Cause of the plague that killed them Indians who lived here. Bad omens and such." Ruby says, "Plague? I think James mentioned that but wasn't it a while ago?" Jasper says, "Sure, almost three hundred years ago. But ghosts are ghosts, they don't care how long it's been!"

Alsoomse says, "Yes, and if you'll stick around after dinner Jasper you'll hear my theories about how there wasn't a plague at all, so there are no ghosts." He replies to Alsoomse, "I've heard what you said before Mrs. de Rosa, and you're probably right. Don't matter none, it's not what actually happened but what people think happened that will form the opinions. As long as folks think this here hill is haunted they'll stay away." Ruby says, "I'm quite interested to hear all about your ghosts Alsoomse, I enjoy a good tale."

Having left her jacket upstairs in her new room, Abigail sat down to dinner in a plain white blouse and freshened up from the long day's travel. "Quite an ecclectic group of people the Parker's have assembled here," she said. "It must have been quite a summer for you with students all over and now us here. Are you looking forward to things settling down a bit?" she asked, looking toward the three who already lived on the land.” Enoch Kingsley replies, "The kids were fun to have around."

Antoinette says, "I don't mind them being gone, some of those boys were so immature. You'd have thought that they had never seen a woman before." Luiz interjects, "Well, the Bradford Academy is a college preparation school for boys, with the exception of a rather ancient staff nurse they have no female students or faculty." She says, "Yes, but three of them had their teenage sisters along, the boys left them alone." Luiz said, "They had to, they risked expulsion otherwise, those girl's fathers sit on the Academy's Board of Directors." Antoinette says, "As does Mr. Parker." Luiz replies, "True, also keep in mind that they were just girls whereas you are a woman, there was no comparison."

Thomas thinks to himself "Oh my word, yes, yes she is indeed." He only hoped that he'd be able to keep his composure seated at the same table with Abigail, who has always created a turmoil of feelings within him, and this new vision of beauty, Antoinette. Someday, he resolved, he'd have to get to the bottom of why women ... incredibly beautiful and intelligent women ... always discomfited him and gelded his normally robust powers of speech. Smiling to himself, Thomas began to realize that he wasn't missing his gardens back in Bermuda quite as much as he thought he might.

Abigail says, "I attended an all women's college, so in some ways I can sympathize with those boys. Generally it was good not to have the distraction of all the flirting that would have been inevitable, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say. Or in our cases, perhaps they should say forbidden fruit always tastes sweeter. My friends there and I got into more trouble than was good for us in town looking for a little companionship."

Luiz said, "That happened here too, two of the boys sneaked out of their tent one night and walked all the way to Mill Cove to meet up with a pair of girls they saw there. They ran into a pair of alligators instead and high tailed it back here as fast as their feet would carry them."

Laughing Abby said, "Can't say I ever had to run from an alligator. Wells is in Aurora, New York, on the shore of Cayuga Lake. It's a small village, but there were always plenty of boys from Ledyard to be found in town. One particulary brave one once challenged me to swim in the lake with him late at night. So there I was soaking wet in my drawers in that lake. It was late spring but that water was still cold. Lucky for me he was too cold to try anything after he climbed out of that water."

Visibly distracted, Fish stammers, "I've wrestled alligators! The Everglades show was always one of our most popular." He glances at Abigail across the table, "Of course, I'd raised Bessie and Lychee since they were about this big..." holding up his thumb and forefinger. "Even so, a well-fed gator can grow mighty thick!" Ben draws his open hands apart from one another, as though he's cradling an abdomen. Abby says, "I wouldn't think you could ever raise a truly tame alligator, they are what they are. It still must have been dangerous. Carnival life probably seems quite everyday to you, but I admit I'm rather fascinated."

Enoch says, "You're not likely to see many alligators, the population in and around Jacksonville has doubled in the last two years, so most of them gators have been hunted down. There's maybe just a couple hundred of them left in the swamps north of the river. Too much river traffic during the day so they stay in the swamps. But they will venture down from the swamps at night, usually after livestock from the farms. Those boys were after a farmer's daughters, well them alligators were after that same farmer's chickens." Turning to Enoch she said, "I'm glad there shouldn't be any alligators around here, although I do feel a bit bad for the poor things. They only do what comes naturally. Can't say I feel bad for those boys."

Chapter Thirteen, “James’s Troubles” September 1st, 1882, 6:00 P.M.

At exactly a minute until six a carriage pulls up to the front of the house. Sol answers the door and lets in the couple just as the clock reaches 6:00 P.M. The blond haired, blue eyed muscular clean-shaven man is in his late thirties, dressed entirely in black, with suitcoat, shirt, pants and tie and a black hat on his head. His boots have a lot of wear but have been recently polished. The only thing not black are the pair of silver Colt Peacemakers on his belt and the metal star pinned to the lapel of his suit coat.

The woman accompanying him looks to be around the same age, with tan hair and blue eyes. She has an hourglass figure which is partially concealed by the unflattering black-and-hunter green long wool/cotton blend dress that she is wearing. A matching green cotton shawn is draped over her shoulders beneath a large straw hat with a black ribbon. Sol announces them as Duval County Sheriff Rolf Heinrich Hotzbrun and his wife Gerta Hotzbrun. Sol leads him to their appointed seats.

Luiz asks everyone to stand and says a prayer to the Greek/Roman gods. He then welcomes others to state prayers of their own faiths. Alsoomse then says a prayer to the gods of nature. Wilamina then says a prayer to the Celtic deities. Obadiah Kingsley says a prayer to the Ogre deities. Sheriff Hotzbrun then states a prayer to the Norse dieties, with emphasis on Odin, Thor and Magni.

After the prayers, Lawrence introduces himself to the Hotzbruns. "Sheriff Hotzbrun, Mrs. Hotzbrun. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm Lawrence Cantrell. James and I go way back." The Sheriff replies in a somewhat thick Germanic accent, "Yes, he has told me some of your background. That is one of the reasons that I am here tonight."

James interjects, “Yes Lawrence, you and John have seen the Conservancy signs, which say that per the Governor’s order trespassers are subject to immediate arrest and prosecution. Well, we're located so far out of town that it would not be feasible to have to go get the lawman if we needed them, tresspassers could loot all of the archeaology site by the time we returned with the Sheriff. So in order to make good on that threat both Sol and I have become Deputy Sheriffs for the County. Sheriff Hotzbrun and his wife are here tonight to meet the two of you and discuss the possibility of the both of you also becoming deputized.”

Hardin can't suppress a lopsided grin at the prospect of becoming a deputy sheriff. "Well, Mr. Parker, I have had extensive experience on several sides of the law and must admit the challenge of operating from the good sheriff's perspective is quite intriguing to me." He leans back in his seat for a moment and then straightens, turning towards Sheriff Hotzbrun. "So, Sheriff Hotzbrun, has there been or are you expecting much in the way of...trouble?"

As the table begins to pass around and dish out the food he replies, "No, and I want to keep it that way. Better to have people and not need them than need them and not have then. It's a big county, 774 square miles, one fifth of that water. The county's population is around 23,000 but 14,500 of them are in Jacksonville, which has its own police force. I try to have my deputies spread out in the event that they are needed.

I have four in the town of Baldwin, nine miles west of Jacksonville, I have another four at the coast with a pair each at the two coastal beaches, Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach. With four here midway between Jacksonville and the coast that should help keep things covered nicely, especially since you have a coach and several boats available at your disposal."

Lawrence says in surprise, "Me? I mean, I'm honored by the possibility, but I'm no gunfighter. I'm an artist." James interjects, "But you are also my friend and a resourceful man. That is what we may be in need of. One reason that I approached the Sheriff and Governor about protection is that I've run into a bit of trouble, unrelated to this project in Florida, but might follow us here." Hardin glances at James. "Anything...interesting?" His attitude is studied calm, but Lawrence notices a gleam in his eyes.

James says "Well, it started with a book I was working on earlier this year about the history of the Whig political party that was active from 1832 to 1856 and elected two presidents, Zachary Taylor and William Henry Harrison, both of whom died in office. Harrison's Vice President John Tyler was also a Whig but split with the party after assuming the Office of the Presidency.

The subject of this book came about quite accidentally over two years ago. I was attending an auction at the New York City Offices of Sotheby’s Auction House and took a slight interest in a crate full of correspondence from the estate sale of Percival Smoot, executive assistant to John Canfield Spencer. Spencer was a New York politician back in the 1830's and 40's, born in Hudson, New York. He served as an assemblyman and state senator up in Albany but didn't hit the national front until John Tyler fired his entire Whig Cabinet and sought replacements.

Spencer served two years as Secretary of War followed by two years as Secretary of the Treasury. He was the only northerner on Tyler's cabinet and resigned near the end of Tyler's term in protest to the annexation of Texas. In my travels to China I had actually been involved in the First Opium War between Great Britain and China, which ended in 1843. In fact, it was during the voyages related to that when I first became acquainted with Roy Huggins and his family.

But back to the story, I thought that with Spencer having been the United State's Secretary of War during those years there might be something of value about it in Smoot's Collection, possibly some correspondence to Spencer from Queen Victoria, so was willing to bid up to $ 100 for the crate, but thought it would go for much less.

Much to my surprise there was another bidder, a man from Virginia who was very interested. We got into a bidding war and my emotions came into play, with my final bid being $ 650. He outbid me at $ 700 at which point my common sense got the better of me and I dropped out. As the auctioneer pounded the gavel letting the other the other man know he won a wave of emotion crossed the man's face that appeared to be great relief. He then sat back down in his seat and appeared to fall asleep, although in actually, he died, probably of heart failure.

He had come alone to the auction and was not known by the Sotheby’s so since he hadn't paid yet the crate went to me as the second highest bidder. What followed was a two-year-long legal battle with the man's estate who wanted to take possession of it, the court holding it in the interim. I eventually won, getting the crate delivered to me in June. During the intervening two years I conducted further research on my auction rival, finding that he was a high official in the Whig Party, which prompted me to dig further. As I've collected all of this information I figure I might as well put my efforts to work and publish it."

Percy Smoot was very thorough, having kept records of everything during the thirty-two years that he was working for Spencer. I reviewed the matieral during the week after I received the crate but didn’t find anything specifically. But then my rivals uped the ante, offering $ 2,000 for the entire collection of documents. Of course, the more they push the more I want to hang on to them.

I still refused, and they then started to threaten harm to myself, my wife and her granddaughter unless I surrendered the materials. They threated to burn down our house in New York and implied bodily harm. So I had the crate moved and locked away in safe storage. My attorneys have made it known that the collection is now sealed and stored away in a vault outside of my immediate reach, and have been stalling the other parties

That was the same time that my friend Doctor Chernoviz wanted to get this Timucuan project going, so I shifted gears this direction. Shortly after I arrived some Pinkerton Detectives working for the other party showed up here and started to make trouble. We also had trespassers on the site, with evidence that they searched through our camp and belongings when we weren’t around. So that is why we got the Proclamation from he Governor and why Sol and I became deputized. We haven’t had any trouble since then." Lawrence pauses for a second and replies, "OK, James. You've convinced me. You know I wouldn't let you face this a man down. I'm in."

"Pinkertons, eh...you don't say..." Hardin's voice trails off and he seems to focus on something over and to the left of James for a long moment, a hard set to his jaw. He flexes the fingers on his right hand for a moment and snaps back.
"I certainly wouldn't want anything to happen and it's better to be safe than sorry," he says in his best Texas drawl. The Sheriff says, "That's good to hear. Well Mr. Hardin, your reputation preceeds you. So tell me, what in your opinion would be the advantages and disadvantage to my making you part of my law enforcement team? Hardin seems to jump a bit at the Sheriff's question...as if he was thinking about something else. He recovers quickly.

"Well, Sheriff, let me start with the disadvantages, if I may. It involves that reputation. While this isn't Abilene or Gonzales, there are plenty who might want to test their mettle by going up against a gun hand with my reputation and get a dime novel written about themselves. I have no intention of ending up like Bill Hickok...shot in the back while playing cards. If trouble comes around...and Mr. Parker has already indicated it might...I will be ready and will take any steps necessary to defend Mr. or Mrs. Parker, Miss Ruby, Miss Abigail and the others. Also, even though an extended stay in the state vacation home for reprobates and scoundrels has mellowed me some, if I am expecting trouble...I might be tempted to shoot first and ask questions later."

He pauses for a moment and looks the Sheriff dead in the eye, with no twitch or hint of his lop-sided grin. "Now, that said, I have emerged from my confinement a reformed man...admitted to the state bar and an officer of the court. I am someone who intends to walk on the right side of the law going froward. In addition, my reputation as a fast draw and a deadly shot might also come in very handy in persuading ne'er-do-wells that surrender and avoiding gun play is in their best interests.

I assure you that my incarceration cost me none of my skill with an iron. The guards were quite amused by my trick-draw antics and even arranged for me to fire at the prison range with some frequency...while under appropriate guard, of course. If trouble comes this way...I will be worth any 3 or 4 deputies you could assign and you have my word that I will cause no unnecessary violence." Hardin says the last in a very matter-of-fact voice filled with utter conviction and no hint of bragging. He glances at James and nods and then settles back in his seat to await the Sheriff's reply.

The Sheriff smiles and says, "Well, sir, that is good enough for me. And reputation works both ways, word of you on my team also should to defuse many a situation. And while somebody trying to make a name for themself might try to call you out having another two or three deputies living in the same house should help there as well. They could arrest the person for disturbing the peace, leaving both your physical body and reputation intact."

The Sheriff turns back to Lawrence and says, "And you sir, the same question, what would be the advantages and disadvantages to my hiring you." He thinks for a minute, then says, "Well, I have a keen understanding of the criminal mind. I am very good at ferreting out information and getting in and out of places most cannot. Of course, that means I've spent a large part of my life on the other side of the fence from law enforcement. So you only have my word and that of James to vouch for me." The Sheriff tells Lawrence that James standing up for him is good enough for him.

At the next table, seated over near two beautiful women, Fish feels more than a little nervous. He avoids meeting Antoinette's gaze -- having worked with half-ogre women under the Big Top, he knows firsthand that conventional wisdom about the strength of their passions isn't altogether unfounded. He absentmindedly rubs the scar just below the back of his collar -- a bite mark he's thrilled to have once received. His implacable grin crooks up at its left edge. As for Abigail, he's gathered from her genteel speech that she's well-educated. "She'd be slumming to spark with me!" he tells himself.

To keep himself distracted from impure thoughts, Ben reaches for the breadbasket and offers it around the table. "Marmalade, anyone?" he offers innocently, "or butter?" Handsome silver they may be, but Fish palms the butter knives not for keeps but to provide occasion for a little banter. "Did they forget to set the knives?" he asks quizzically. Luiz states, "It appears that they did. Excuse me, I will go and take care of that oversight." He stands up and heads over to one of the cabinets on the south wall.

Fish steps up from the table and follows Luiz, joining him at the sideboard. He speaks to him in a low voice: “Dr. Chernoviz! I beg your pardon. I have the butter knives. There's so much brain power and beauty at our table, I was looking for an excuse to make conversation." Luiz retrieves the knife anyway and softly says, "Well, then, why don't we go back to the table and I will prompt you with questions regarding your past act of bravery and selflessness."

At the first table Mina and Gerta converse about her native Austria. Gerta explains that Heinrich and his brothers were senior palace guard for the Austrian Monarchy. Following the 1866 Austria-Prussian war the German Confederation was dissolved. When the new parilament was established in 1867 they gave patronage to their own friends and all prior palace employees were dismissed. That was when they decided to relocate to the United States.

Over at the second table Alsoomse and Obadiah get into a somewhat odd and rather animated conversation about migratory ducks. Obadiah is apparently an avid duck hunter and the marshes north of the river are a favorite location for his autumn duck blinds. Alsoomse actually has no problem with his hunting, as the birds have a sufficient population for it and the Delroy-Kingsleys use all of the duck's meat and feathers, unlike other hunters who hunt only for sport.

At the third table Antoinette asks Abigail all about New Orleans, as she is named after Jasper's mother of French descent who lived there. Abigail glanced quickly at Dr. Crane, remembering his sensitivity on the subject of her home. But there was so much more to New Orleans than what he knew, so much more complex and beautiful. "My home... it's a complicated place.

When the French first established the city they had a hard time getting anyone to come there, so people of all races were welcomed as they were needed. Eventually the French and Spanish intermarried with the high elves and ogres who had fled there from the Carribean. Their decendents are now called the Creole and are the undisputed leaders in the city. I have a Creole ancestor or two, but there are so many more humans in my family tree that I can hardly claim it.

But the city itself... such music and dancing you'll never see anywhere. In the French Quarter there is club after club, each offering its own brand of music, Creole, Cajun, classical, each offered with so much joy in living. That is the real hallmark of my home, looking the world in the eye and meeting it with joy despite its hardships."

Antoinette says, "My father Jasper has said as similar things. He moved away from there at such a young age he doesn't remember much of it. My Grandmother Antoinette was born in France. She and her older brother Gaston came to the United States as young teens, to Quebec City, as indentured servants to an elderly wealthy silversmith. They had had served four of their seven years of servitude until a time when the silversmith attempted to molest her, so she and Gaston fled, eventually settling in New Orleans.

They lived there for a quarter-century, where she wed a coopershop worker named Francois Delroy, and gave birth to Jasper. But her brother Gaston got careless, and made a trip to Toronto believing the silversmith dead and his own crime of being an escaped Canadian slave long forgotten. But the man still lived and had dedicated men to locating the runaway servants. Gaston was arrested and imprisoned. He died in prison, never revealing his sister's whereabouts or new name. To further protect themselves the Delroys fled New Orleans, settling here."

Fish says to Abigail, "Miss Marsters, what's your favorite? Café Beignet has the best bourbon, but you can't beat the Tarantula on Decatur for the groove. I don't imagine you've darkened the door at One Eyed Jacks," says Fish, blushing, "the stage show is a bit risqué."

Roy opened his eyes slowly, blinking quickly. He stretched his arms over his head and made a grunting noise. "What time is it?" he thought as he reached in his pocket. When he pulled out his watch and saw the position of the hands, his eyes widened and he jumped out of bed as if he'd been shocked.

"S***! I guess my quick nap wasn't so quick." He figured by now everyone was at dinner. He made his way into the bathroom and washed up a bit, trying to get his hair to do what he wanted. He then went and laid out a nice suit and got dressed as quickly as he could. He went down the stairs quietly, trying not bring attention to himself, and followed the crowd noise into the dining room. He ducked inside, trying to stay out of sight as much as possible, and sat down at the table next to Antoinette. He leaned over and whispered, in Orcish, "So what did I miss?"

While the dinner conversations continue Jemima goes into the kitchen and gets three hot peach cobblers from the oven, one for each table. At the conclusion of the meal, the Delroy-Kingsley family takes the food and dishes out into the kitchen to clean up. James invites everybody else into the living room/lobby for an after dinner drink. Benjamin makes a special point of thanking the Delroy-Kingsleys.

Ruby thanks her table mates, "Dinner was very good, thank you so much for sharing dinner with us and I look forward to more of your wonderful cooking and even more pleasant company." She takes George by the hand, leading him to one of the couches and leaves him there. "Safe my seat," she winks at him.

"No, you're right, Miss West, I'd best wait on that tipple," replies Fish, flashing a crooked grin. "Although to judge by your dexterity behind a bar, I have no doubt you'd pour it well.

Chapter Fourteen, “The Timucuan People” September 1st, 1882, 7:00 P.M.

As people are getting their drinks and becoming comforable on the couches and chairs James Parker begins with the introduction. "We are very fortunate to have with us as a member of the Timucuan Conservancy Professor Alsoomse da Rosa. Born and raised in New England, she is a graduate of the prestigious Dartmouth College where she also has served on the faculty as well as being Co-Chairperson of the History Department. She was also intrumental in helping bring about the Supreme Court's ruling in the Dartmouth College Case of 1819, which established that private institutions of higher learning can operate free of intervention from the individual States.

For the last seven years she has served on the faculty of Princeton University, where she was invited to teach at the invitation of it's renowned President of the past fifteen years, Doctor James McCosh. Upon the completion of her Princeton contract she has accepted the postion of Secretary for the AGELESS Corporation of New York which serves as the principal benefactor of the Timucuan Conservancy. Professor de Rosa, would you please share with us what you have learned to date about the remarkable people who preceeded us upon this location?"

Alsoomse stands and says, "You flatter me James." Turning to the others she adds, "And what our humble host has neglected to mention is that without the ongoing support of James, as well as his father and grandfather, none of my life's accomplishments would have ever been possible. It is through the determination of the Parker family that the barriers to race and gender have been removed for me."

James replies, "Now who is being too humble? The Parkers may have helped but it was you who stood up for yourself." He turns to the others and adds "Her Algonquin name of 'Alsoomse' translates into English as 'Indepenedent', something she has always proven herself to be." Sol interjects with a laugh, "Well, if the mutual admiration society is now concluded can we get on with the story?" "My thoughts exactly, Mr. Solomon..." Hardin tips his hat at Alsoomse with a grin. "Ma'am." Ruby returns to George with two glasses of bourbon and gets comfortable. She listens intently to Alsoomse's talk.

Alsoomse begins "The Timucua are a fastinating people and one that very little has been known of. At their height they numbered 50,000 and occupied northeast and central Florida as well as southeastern Georgia. They are also among the few truly extinct elvan groups in North America. Whereas other tribal groups were reduced in number and relocated, the people continued their culture, language and heritage, not so with the Timucua. For all practical purposes their culture ended in the sixteenth century, just eighty-two years after their first contact with the Europeans.

One reason that the Timucuan people were different from others of the elvan race is that they isolated themselves, wanting no contact with any non-Timucuan tribes. They were also physically different than other elvan tribes, up to a foot taller in height. They wore little clothing, kept their hair up in buns atop their heads and had heavily tattooed bodies. Their language was also unlike any other elves in North America.

For at least 3,000 years the elvan peoples from throughout North America have sent representatives from every tribe to the Great Conclave, held every seventy-five years at the intersections of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. These are held when the 'Great White Bird Crosses the Night Sky', which is now known as Hailey's Comet. But the Timucuan refused to attend the conclave, nor would they even allow the tribes of southern Florida to pass through their territory to travel there.

The Timucuan were not a tribe but rather a confederation of twelve semi-autonimous tribes. Each tribe had as few as one village to as many as six, each village with its own chief. There were a total of thirty-five chiefdoms. The Timucuan also did not completely share a common language either, with only around half the words being the same throughout the Timucuan region, with nine different regional dialects accounting for the other half of the vocabulary.

The first Spaniard to land in Timucuan territory was Juan Ponce de Leon who landed at Saint Augustine, approximately thirty miles south of where we are now, in the year 1513. The next visitor to the Timucuan was Panfilo de Narvaez in 1528 along the west coast. In both cases they were welcomed with open arms as brothers and showered with gifts by the Timucuan.

The next Spaniard was Hernando de Soto in 1539, again along the western coast but further south. He came as a conquerer seeking gold, and attacked the Timucuan villages of that region, stealing all the stored food, forcing men and boys as bearers and taking women for consorts. The Timucuan were confused by this treatment and slow to act. Two battles were fought with heavy Timucuan casualties by the time de Soto moved on.

All three cases of contact had been between Spaniards and with four different tribes of the Timucuan. And while the Spanish had visited, they did not establish colonies here or elsewhere in their claimed land of Florida. That changed in 1565. Spain’s first colony was established at the site of Ponce de Leon's landing at Saint Augustine, which became the capital of their Spanish province with Pedro Menendez de Aviles as the Provincial Governor.

In 1565 Menendez ordered that the Spanish establish fortresses at strategic locations and to make sure that no natives resided anywhere near these fortresses. Six of these Florida forts were established in the lands of the Timucuan, forcing out half of the twelve established Timucuan tribes in the process. On Florida’s west coast near Crystal Bay, one-hundred-twenty miles southwest of here they established the Castillo de San Lacanto, displacing the Ocale tribe. On the west coast ninety-five miles from here, near the mount of the Suwannee River, they established the Castillo de San Carlos, displacing the Utino tribe.

Seventy-five miles to the north at the mouth of the Altamaha River in Georgia they established the Castillo de San Federica, displacing the Icafui tribe. Twenty miles north of here at the mouth of the Saint Mary’s river, which now serves as the border between Florida and Georgia, they established the Castillo de San Fernandina and displaced the Oconi tribe. Near Saint Augustine, twenty-five miles to the south they established the Castillo de San Marcos, displacing the Aquadulce tribe. And here near the beginning of the Saint Johns River they established the Castillo de San Mateo here on this very hill, temporarily displacing the Saturiwa tribe.

This proved to be a pivotal turning point in Timucuan culture, as all but one of these displaced tribes accepted relocation and abandonment of their cultural heritige. They began to assimilate into the cultures of either the Spanish or other elvan non-Timucuan tribes, including the Oconee tribes to the north and the Miccosukee and Creek tribes to the west. Those were among the tribes later merged in the 1700’s and relocated to south central Florida into what is now known as the Siminole tribe.

The one exception to this cultural abandonment was the Saturiwa tribe, who refused to leave this area at the mouth of the Saint Johns River. The Saturiwa were always considered to be the elite of the Timucuan culture and this very hill that we are on now was considered sacred to their culture, a holy place. They saw the Spanish as defilers of the land. So three years later, in 1568, the Saturiwa joined forces with a French pirate named Dominique de Gorugue, and attacked the Castillo de San Mateo. They killed all of the Spanish soldiers and burned the fortress to the ground.

The Spanish chose to not rebuild the Fort or directly engage the fanatical Saturiwa warriors. Instead they increased their naval presence along the Florida coast to deter future French incursions. Their blockade prevented the Saturiwa from using the River to reach the Atlantic. They then began a decades-long program of relocating the remaining still intact Timucuan tribes other than the Saturiwa. They moved entire tribal groups to various Spanish held Caribbean Islands, and thereby prevented the Saturiwa from being able to obtain these tribes as future allies. At their new homes these tribes abandoned what remained of their culture and adopted that of their new homes instead, assimilating into the culture.

By 1595 both disease and scarcity of supplies due to the isolation had dramatically reduced the remaining Saturiwa population. An Italian missionary of the Roman Church visited the tribe that year, and estimated there to be only between 1,000 and 1,200 remaining, with no working firearms among them and no more than 250 males of fighting age. Hearing this, the Spanish immediately assembled a military expedition to attack and destroy them.

But when the Spanish arrived here they found that only deserted villages remained. The Saturiwa had not relocated elsewhere in Spanish lands, and it had been only two months since the Italian Priest had visited. The assumption was that a quick plague had swept through and killed them all, although no bodies were ever found.”

Luiz stands and says, "And thus would end the tale of the Timucuan people. During the summer and with the help of the students from Bradford Academy we have conducted archeaological digs on this site, finding considerable evidence of both the Timumuan people, but also metal and bone fragments from the Spanish fortress that also briefly occupied this site. However, one mystery still remained."

In 1821 Florida changed from Spanish rule to become a Territory of the United States. A thorough survey was conducted of the population, including detail from the elves as to what tribe they belonged to. Five individuals in the Tampa area, 175 miles southwest of here, identified themselves as being Timucuan. This was not a huge shock, for while Tampa is further south than traditional Timucuan territory it is not that far from the western coastal lands where the Ocale and Unito tibes had been. Furthermore, in the 18th century that region was heavilty settled by the tribes calling themselves Seminole, which including lineage from several former Timucuan tribes. It was just odd that they identified themselves as Timucuan rather than Seminole."

"Now that I think about it," says Fish to himself, listening intently to Alsoomse and Luiz, "that 'coin collector' that I 'did business with' in New Orleans? He may have had the only Spanish villa in the entire French Quarter!"

Alsoomse resumes the story stating, "I took a look at those census records and came to another realization that would have been lost on others. It not only asked tribe but also principle language spoken, and these five had identified themselves as speaking Mocama. That dialect was not spoken by any of the western Timucuan tribes or any tribes who became Seminole. Only two Timucuan tribal groups spoke Mocama, the Tacatacuru tribe who lived immediately north of the Saint Johns River and the Saturiwa who resided here along the river."

Alsoomse says, "As the census was a mere sixty-one years ago, and given the long elvan lifespan, we presumed that some or all of these five Timucuan might still be alive today. So in July we made a trip down to the Tampa area in hopes of finding them. What we found was both encouraging and discouraging, the last of them having left eighteen years ago. But we were able to find a lot about them from the Seminole who had known them.

It seems that these five were not only Timucuan but of the Saturiwa tribe. They had lived in the Tampa area since 1595, having gone there directly from here. The accounts differ among the Seminole as to how many Timucan arrived then, some say as few as eight while others as many as twelve. What is consistent is that this small group of Saturiwa were members of two separate families, in order to enable them to still live in isolation but still perpetuate for another generation.

These Timucuan stated that they were the very last of their tribe. They told the elves of that region of the lush fertile and well irrigated farm lands here, as well as the abundance of fish. They said that in anticipation of the Spanish attack and destruction they had hidden away their boats and farming equipment, and would provide this information to the Tampa area elves, so that they could resettle here.

In return they asked for only three things. First, for a small section of Tampa land so that they could live quietly amongst themselves; Second, that the Spanish not be told that any Saturiwa still survived; and Third, that if any non-Spanish humans ever came looking for the Saturiwa that they were to be told where to find this handful of survivors. According to the Seminole, we are the first people to ever come asking about them.

Hundreds of the Tampa-area elves did resettle here then, finding the boats and farm equipment where it had been hidden. Some Timucuan villages had been burned by the Spanish, but others still stood. Believing in possible bad omens left behind by the Timucuan, these elves disassembled the remaining buildings where they stood and then used them to rebuilt a new elvan village on what is now the southern riverbank opposite from downtown Jacksonville. The elvan fishermen who live and work there today are among those elves and their descendents.

Of the five Tampa-area Timucuan from the 1821 census, two were the sole survivors of the group that had departed from here in 1595, the other three being two males and one female of the next generation. According to their Seminole neighbors, these tall elves aged at a much faster pace than is normal of elvan tribes, so by 1864 the elder two had died of old age.

That was near the end of the Civil War, when the Confederacy was becoming desperate for soldiers, so was conscripting Indians of fighting age. The two male Timucuan were at that time in the human equivalent of their thirties so would have been considered of soldering age. They refused to fight in this ‘White Invader’s War’ as they called it. So the trio traded all of their worldly possessions for a boat. They then set sail south across the Gulf of Mexico, although the craft was insufficient for such a journey. They told the Seminole they were going away to rejoin their fellow Saturiwa, which the Seminole interpreted to mean they planned to perish upon the sea. Nothing more was ever heard of them."

"So do YOU assume they perished at sea?" Ruby asks curiously. "Because it seems very odd that the whole tribe of people would just drift themselves off to sea to end their lives." Alsoomse replies, "We don't assume anything, that was the speculation of the Seminole. We are investigating a number of theories about what may have happened with them and hope to have some answers in the near future."

"From your talk it sounds as if you've found all you can here? Yet you have built this grand house here and invited us all here." Ruby grinned and sat back in her seat. "There must be more to this story." Alsoomse moves closer to Ruby, so that the Sheriff and his wife are behind her, and says, "That's the extent of it for now, but we hope to find more." As she says that, instead of looking directly at Ruby her eyes dart to the side, in the direction that the visitors are sitting."

"Ah, I'm so not good at mysteries and impatient to know the endings!" Ruby laughed, understanding the look she had been given. "Well, hopefully with all the new smart people here we'll be able to find a new clue to help solve your mystery Professor." James stands and says, "Thank you Alsoomse." She heads over to the bar to get a drink. Fish slyly inspects her carriage. He sips his bourbon.

George had been taking careful notes in his ever-present notebook and had a few questions of his own. He was about to catch Alsoomse's attention when he caught her conversation with Constance. He promptly closed his mouth, jotted a few more notes and closed his book. He then headed to the bar for a scotch. Fish watches the bookworm. He sips his bourbon.

Fish leans over towards Ruby and says, “Actually, I do find history rather fascinating. Why, just last week I acquired a handful of these..." He spreads several worn coins across the bar. "I did some business with a coin collector in New Orleans, and he had a bucket full of 'em. Jemima probably found the one I left her when she cleared my plate. If I didn't think you'd be insulted, I'd leave you a tip too!" He offers a grin that's not quite a leer.

Ruby quirked a smile. "That's entirely not necessary, we're all friends here after all. And yes, I know how to pour an absinthe, though it is really a more rare drink where I come from. I have come across them and do enjoy them myself. Perhaps in the future we can enjoy one together. As for your coins... I'm not certain who this Aviles person is, should I know?" As they talked she poured him a bourbon then pushed the small crystal glass towards him.

James says, "And we have one more activity to cover before calling it a night. Those of you who were at my table this evening have already heard this, but I have had some concerns about security. Towards that end our good Sheriff had deputized both myself and Mr. Star. After interviewing Misters Hardin and Cantrell he has decided to Deputize them as well." The Sheriff stands and says, "Mr. Hardin, Mr. Cantrell, please rise, raise your right hand, and repeat after me I, state your name, do hereby swear to uphold the laws of the County of Duval and State of Florida to the best of my ability and to carry out my duties in a thoughtful and respectful manner." Fish carefully observes the lawman's posture. He sips his bourbon.

"I, John Wesley Hardin, do hereby swear to uphold the laws of the County of Duval and State of Florida to the best of my abilitity and to carry out my duties in a thoughtful and respectful manner." He thinks to himself “Well that was a bit strange... “

Lawrence raises his hand and repeats, "I, Lawrence Cantrell, do hereby swear to up hold the laws of the County of Duval and State of Florida to the best of my ability and to carry out my duties in a thoughtful and respectful manner." He adds, "So help me, Zeus. Thank you sheriff, I will try not to let you down."

Following the oaths, the Sheriff pins a deputy badge upon each man and shakes their hands. The Sheriff and his wife then say goodbye to the people in the room and depart out the front door. James stands on the front porch and watches until the Sheriff's coach is out of site before coming back inside and shutting the door behind him.

Ruby offers Hardin her hand to shake. "Congratulations Deputy Sheriff! I guess you never thought this would happen, huh?" Hardin takes Ruby's hand and shakes it, grinning foolishly. The grin grows wider and wider and then he starts laughing...just a bit at first, but that cascades into howls of unrestrained mirth. After a few moments, the gun fighter's eyes are filled with tears. "Oh the sweet, sweet irony of all this..." He glances over at James and shakes his head in mock disbelief. Hardin then looks at Lawrence and tips his hat. “Deputy..." He bursts into fresh gales of laughter and mutters, “I need a stiff drink...” Lawrence nods back solemnly before breaking into a huge grin. "The sheriff doesn't know what he's getting into."

Ruby laughed along with Hardin. "I suppose a celebration is in order tonight! Drinks on the house," she teased. "Up on the roof under the stars sounds perfect!" James smiles and tells Hardin, “Well John, I believe in second chances and I trust you, so this should work out well for all of us. I also didn't want Sol to have to shoulder the responsibilities of security around here by himself, as I suspect that I personally may soon have my own badge taken away from me.

Sheriff Hotzbrun is far less bigoted than most of the ‘Good Old Boy’ lawmen in most of these parts, due to his having immigrated to the United States from Austria in the years following the war. But Duval County regulations state that only humans may serve as lawmen. When the good Sheriff discovers that I am actually one-quarter elvan that may very well be the end of my brief law career."

Ruby also congratulates Lawrence. "Have you always wanted to be a law man Mr. Cantrell?" Nanuet listened quietly and politely to Alsoomse's talk after dinner. He made no comments but admitted silently to himself that he was fascinated with the story of the Saturiwas. He offered his congratulations to the newly deputized and then waited to see if there was an answer to Lawrence's question forthcoming.

Lawrence says, "Please call me Lawrence, Miss West. Can I call you Ruby? To answer your question, I never imagined I would. I've usually worked on the shadier side of the street , if you catch my meaning. Came in handy during the war."

Leaning on the bar, George turns to Alsoomse, "So with company gone, what do you suppose happened to the Saturiwa? It would seem to me you are proposing that those survivors got into a boat, the though the other Siminole expected them to drown, the Saturiwa did not? So did the other Saturiwa sail away across the Gulf? And to where? Mesoamerica? An island? Or some antedeluvian remnant you have yet to mention?" asks George sipping his drink.

She replies, "It's still too premature to say, James and Luiz have a rather outlandish theory regarding that. They still have a few things to check that Thomas, Lawrence and Benjamin will have provided, that might prove out their theory. We'll all find out the results at the meeting tomorrow afternoon."

After the sheriff and his wife leave, Lawrence asks James, "So what's the real story? You know, the one not meant for public consumption." James says, “Several things, first of all, having several deputies here is the single best way to maintain security, and also provides legal cover in the event that we have to ever use firearms within Florida. Our jurisdiction is technically limited to only the County but the Governor’s proclamation will allow us some leeway elsewhere in the State. For that matter, even in other parts of the United States lawmen tend to be more lenient towards their colleagues, especially if we can claim that we are investigating crimes committed here.

Another story not meant for public consumption is a continuation of the one I began at dinner regarding the Whig papers. Ruby and George had an opportunity to review the documents after they left my presence, and believe that they may have uncovered evidence of a four-decades old Presidential assassination. That is the real reason the Whigs and their descendents want those documents back." Ruby exclaims, "Oh and those guys were nuts! They lied about our identities so they could follow us and go through our stuff and we're pretty sure they would have killed us given the opportunity! I hope we don't have to tussle with them again."

Ruby exclaims, "James, I am just DYING to know what's going on!! I hate waiting. I guess tomorrow will be here soon enough so no point in trying to drag it out of you." James smiles and says, "Well, I'll give you a hint. Luiz and I believe that there may be a direct connection between the Timucuan people and the ancient wizard population of the long-lost Island of Atlantis. I should have a more definitive answer by tomorrow." Thomas replies, "Most excellent -- my curiosity was definitely piqued as to the connections you might draw from the research tasks you asked me to undertake. I should be most interested to be part of the conclusion process."

Ruby exclaims, "Atlantis? Like the fairy tales? Now that would be... neat. George will be in heaven!" Ruby sipped her bourbon and pondered this new information. "Well, tomorrow will certainly be an interesting day. I think Sol mentioned going over membership to the guild with us. Will we have time to think about our decision?"

James looks to his colleagues and says, “Well, it appears obvious that our new arrivals are quite anxious to hear what this is all about. I had planned to wait until you were all rested from your long journeys here, but so be it. I guess that's what I get for surrounding myself with inquisitive people. Sol, please get the decanter. Luiz, the newspaper clipping please.”

Luiz heads into his office, soon returning with a large piece of newsprint. Sol goes behind the bar and returns with a decanter with a clear liquid which he places upon the coffee table in the center of the room. Ruby states, "Well... I didn't mean to be pushy... well, okay, I guess I did," she laughed, settling back into George's arm and getting comfortable.

Chapter Fifteen, “The Real Story” September 1st, 1882, 7:30 P.M.

Once people are settled in James says, “Welcome. By now you have all had an opportunity to become acquainted with one another. I will still need some more time to conduct further research with items and information that Lawrence, Roy and Thomas have provided, but I can tell you some of what this is about now. What I have to share with you will need to be in the strictest confidence. Upon the conclusion of this discussion now I will ask each of you if you wish to joint the AGELESS Corporation as a paid employee, just as I will ask you again tomorrow after you have even more details. You are under no obligation to agree to this.

However, should you decline the offer I will ask that you consume some of this beverage,” as he raises the decanter. “It contains an Elixir of Forgetfulness. For each ounce consumed you will have no memories of the preceding hour. I will then make you an alternative employment offer. This would be to not join our group but to instead work as an occasional consultant with the Timucuan Conservancy with emphasis on the Native American aspects of this project only. If those terms are agreeable to each of you we will continue.” Abigail heaved a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear you say that. I was already getting a bit tired of tip-toeing around one of my talents."

Ruby asks, "Being this.... paid employee... is that a full time job?" Ruby's eyes went to George, knowing he would not want to abandon his photography business completely. If that was the case, they would need to discuss whether she would join without him, or not. James replies, "Probably not, except for the five of us who are the corporate officers. We five will need to be involved in both the commercial and scholarly exploration elements of the corporation. The remainder of you will just be needed for the scholarly side, which I envision to be occasional missions that not all of you would be needed for each time."

"I can't imagine turning down anything having to do with Atlantis, but I assure you I understand the terms. And the need for secrecy. You are quite open about the use of a magical elixir among this group," Abigail finished. James says, "Each of you have no qualms about the use of wizard magics, that is part of why each of you were selected for this invitation. So, if any of you have objections to consuming the Elixir of Forgetfulness should you decline the offer now it the time to express that."

"I can't imagine passing up any opportunity for knowledge and truth," Thomas replies, "and I assure you I would not be here if I did not trust you implicitly, Parker, with both my life and my soul. You have my bona fides without reservation." Roy exclaims, "After all the shi-er-stuff we've been through together Mr. Parker, you should know I'm in whatever the mission is."

Hearing no objections from anybody, James continues. “I have always believed in ‘hiding in plain sight’, with the best way to keep something secretive is to appear to make it public. Thus, we are set up here as a historical archaeological site with a corporate sponsor as our financial benefactor and affiliated with an institution of higher learning. However, that is just our cover story, albeit a variation on the truth. In reality, we are here for a very different archaeological mission, with a different corporate sponsor and a different educational affiliation." Ruby prompts, "And that mission is...?"

Lawrence leans forward in his chair and says, "Do tell, James. A bit more of the cloak-and-dagger game? It makes sense, what with you asking me here." James continues, “Most of you know me. I am a patriotic American, as were my relatives. Captain John Parker, who led the American Militia at the first Revolutionary War battle of Lexington Green, was my cousin. My father worked with George Washington and the founding fathers to establish the Continental Navy during the American Revolution. And when I was a young man I enlisted in the United States Navy and served as an officer aboard a warship during a key battle earlier in this century.

During the American Civil War I was again called into service. I was put in charge of forming and leading a team of undercover operatives for the United States. Our primary mission was to keep wizard magic from the Confederacy. We did this by infiltrating the south and doing whatever it took to prevent wizard magic from falling into Confederate hands. Due to the fact that we ourselves used illegal wizard magic to accomplish this my tean reported to the more expendable Postmaster General Montgomery Blair. That gave Secretary of War Stanton and President Lincoln plausible deniability in the event that we were caught.

The Civil War team was a group of fourteen, comprised of ten men and four women. We were mostly successful in our efforts and twelve of us survived the war. Six of us assembled here today, myself, Lawrence, Roy, Sol, Thomas and Wilamina were participants in that endeavor. Well, I am sorry to have to say this, but the world is at war again. This one, however, has been for the most part a secret war, the key governments involved not wanting to bring it to the attention of nations not already directly involved or highlight the fact that it re-ignites the conflict between wizard and clerical magics. This war is being fought on the world stage, with the prize being the very secrets of Atlantis itself. The players to date have been England, France, Spain, Portugal and the United States.

Doctor Chernoviz and I have decided to actively engage in this conflict, and I realized that another large team would be needed. The team make-up of fourteen worked well last time, so I thought to duplicate that configuration this time. That is why you have each been asked to come here. The United States government’s role in this conflict has been defensive in nature, and they are in no way sponsoring our group’s efforts, nor do they have any actual knowledge of what we have in mind."

Abigail interjects, "There was a story in the Times Picayune, last March I think. Does this have anything to do with that island that appeared and the British ship that found it?" Feeling somewhat left out of all this yammering about magic and geopolitics, Fish offers rather quietly, "I'm pretty good at 'finding' things..." "I have every faith in your ability to find whatever it is you're looking for," Abby teased.

Luiz says, "Yes, that is this article. As James indicated, this is about the Lost Continent of Atlantis. According to two of the three volumes written by Homer, Atlantis sank into the sea as a result of a shifting of the continental plates, which changed the entire landscape of the Atlantic Ocean. By the best scholarly accounts, this occurred approximately 2,735 years ago, plus or minus twenty years." James adds, "And that was where the sunken island remained until half-a-year ago."

Luiz states, "This newspaper story was printed on Monday, March 13, 1882 in the New Orleans Times Picayune newspaper under the heading “Mystery at Sea”. It reads as follows:

The British merchant ship, the S.S. Jesmond, made an unscheduled stop in its journey on its way to our city. It had departed from Messina, Sicily with a cargo of dried fruits on February 26th. When the ship reached an area 200 miles west of Madeira and 200 miles south of the Azores they noted that the ocean had become unusually muddy and that the vessel was passing through enormous shoals of dead fish. The ship's Captain David Robson then saw smoke on the horizon, which he presumed, came from another ship.

The next day the fish shoals were even thicker and the smoke on the horizon seemed to be coming from the mountains on an island directly to the west, where, according to the charts, there was no land for thousands of miles. Captain Robson anchored offshore, worried that reefs surrounded this uncharted island. Even though the charts indicated an area depth of several thousand fathoms, the anchor hit bottom at only seven fathoms.

Robson went ashore with a landing party and found a large island with no vegetation, no trees, no sandy beaches, bare of all life. The shore they landed on was covered with volcanic debris. With no trees they could easily see a plateau beginning several miles away and smoking mountains beyond that.

They headed toward the interior in direction of the mountains but found that progress was interrupted by a series of deep chasms. To get to the interior would have taken days. They returned to their landing point and examined a broken cliff, part of which seemed to have been split into a mass of loose gravel as if it had recently been subjected to great force.

The sailors then found an arrowhead in the broken rock, and Captain Robson send for picks and shovels form the ship so that the crew could dig into the gravel. He and his crew soon uncovered crumbling remains of massive walls. They continued to dig near the walls for better part of two days, finding bronze swords, rings, mallets, carvings of head figures of birds and animals, and two vases or jars with fragments of bone, and one cranium.

Then they found what appeared to be a mummy enclosed in a stone case, encrusted with volcanic deposit so as to be scarcely distinguished form the rock itself. The rock sarcophagus aboard the Jesmond as dark clouds began to roll in off of the horizon, and Robson resumed his course. This reporter has examined the artifacts and they appear to be authentic. Robson's plans to donate the artifacts to the British Museum upon his return to England."

James says, “Not only do we believe that all or part of Atlantis rose to the surface, but the leaders of the wizard-magic nations of France and Spain both believed it as well, to the point that they were willing to risk war against both England and the United States in order to obtain those artifacts." Abigail comments, "They've taken some kind of action? It must have been incredibly circumspect." Roy says, "We're talking about France and Spain, here. Neither country is exactly known for its patience."

James says, "No, the actions were just not publicized. There were four attacks on American soil and one in American waters. Upon receiving telegrams of the newspaper story the Spanish King Alfonso XII ordered Spanish warships to New Orleans to capture the British ship S.S. Jesmond. At dawn on Thursday, March 16th, in what was clearly an act of war, two squadrons Spanish soldiers boarded the docked ship, killing its crew and several New Orleans policemen. They stole the vessel and reached the Gulf of Mexico where two other Spanish warships joined them.

On Saturday, March 18th, fifty miles south of Key West, Florida a small armada of British and United States vessels attempted to recapture the Jesmond and a battle followed. The Jesmond was sunk, as were both Spanish ships and the USS Radcliff, an American frigate. Over one hundred Spaniards drown and another sixty were taken prisoner. The combined American and British casualties were light, four dead and fifteen wounded. All three governments have kept the conflict a secret, lest the seas be filled with treasure seekers. Navy divers on the Jesmond have found no evidence of the artifacts, nor are they about the Spanish ships. The Spanish prisoners claim that there were no artifacts on board the Jesmond.

As to where the artifacts have gone, the French Government believed them to have been removed from the Jesmond the night before the Spanish attack. They believed that the artifacts were being transported westward by train, and also committed acts of war on United States soil to try to obtain them. "Ah ha!" thinks Fish to himself, "I am good at finding things!" Should anyone glance Ben's direction at that moment, they see his grin broaden into a wide, self-satisfied smile. "Now it's all beginning to make sense!" he thinks. "I have reason to believe that not all the artifacts left the port of New Orleans..." says Fish out loud.

Lawrence asks, "Fish, how do you know that?" Thomas looks up, surprised, and then smiles as he considers how Fish might know. "Oh ho, Fish! By all means, do tell!" Fish replies, "It just so happens that I'm acquainted with a coin collector in The Big Easy. He's a very curious fellow -- and by that, I mean both that I find him very curious (personally and professionally), and that he himself dabbles in many a different endeavor, collecting exotic art and rare precious stones and antique coins and obscure manuscripts. I couldn't begin to tell you how many intellectual pursuits that man chases!" Fish blushes (although you'd have to be awful perceptive to see through the false modesty!).

"I've actually worked for the fellow. I've been in his home. Last I was there, I overheard him dictating a message to a courier -- something about meeting with a 'Captain Robson.' I doubt very much that he knew I'd heard him. I had cause to stop by his manor early the next morning. I can tell you with complete confidence that he took delivery of something from this Captain Robson!"

Lawrence asks, "How big was the package? Where is this collector's home?" Fish replies, "Perhaps I should qualify my remarks, Mr. Cantrell: I don't know the whereabouts of all the swag that was sitting in the Jesmond's hold, but I can tell you that something of apparently great value to Sir Guilleault was delivered to his manor from Captain Robson shortly before his ship left port."

"The courier arrived with a satchel slung over his shoulder. His gait told me that the package had some heft, but he certainly wasn't limping from its weight. Guilleault's manor sits on St. Charles Avenue, overlooking Tulane and Loyola Universities to the north and Audubon Park to the south. There's a great little pub just around the corner called The Coraline. Why do you ask?"

James says, "What Benjamin is refering to is an exiled French Arch Mage Andre Marc Guilleault, who now resides here in the United States, in New Orleans. It is rumored that Guilleault was the one that was responsible for secretly removing the Atlantean artifacts from the S.S. Jesmond last March and placing them upon a westbound train. We believe that he no longer has any contact with those objects, although where they are now remains a mystery.

Since March, Guilleault has been investigating leads regarding the Atlantians. He was the first one to began looking into the Timucuan people as a possible link. Establishing this Conservancy should keep him from investigating that avenue any further.” Glancing in Fish’s direction James then adds, “And as of now any Timucuan-related objects that were in Guilleault’s possession have since been commandeered......and are now available again for our review.”

Now continuing with the tale. On Friday, March 17th a motorized cigar-shaped hot air balloon carrying a dozen soldiers of the French Foreign Legion crossed the Mexican border in to Texas and attacked the moving train as it neared El Paso. It was only due to the quick actions of United States Army at El Paso that the train was defended.

Then on Sunday, March 19th another battle took place on United States soil, in Hidalgo County of the New Mexico Territory. Approximately three-dozen soldiers of the French Foreign Legion fought against United States Army troops. The Army defeated them without taking any casualties, and captured both of the French officers including the commanding General. The General claimed he was after stolen French artifacts that were being transported across the desert. And finally in mid-June there was a conflict of some sort at a the border town of Naco in the Arizona Territory, where some French wizards were killed on the United States side of the border and their bodies and possessions were confiscated by the Army at Fort Hucucuca. No further details of that incident are known."

"I am shocked, completely shocked by this," Thomas says. "For France or Spain to act so brazenly, so overtly, they must truly believe that there is some incredible power to be had in the obtaining of these artifacts. For them to risk all-out war with the United States or Great Britain, I can only assume that they believe that whatever secrets of Atlantis these items hold or can lead to will alter the balance of power worldwide." Thomas pauses, looking down at the table in contemplation. "This is grim stuff, Parker, grim stuff indeed."

James says, "Oh, there's more. We haven't even gotten to Portugal's involvement yet. Shortly after this newspaper story appeared King Louis I of Portugal had dispatched his entire Navy to the location mentioned in the newspaper article. When they reached that point they found muddy water and dead fish but no evidence of an island. Depth measures were taken, indicating the ocean floor was thousands of fathoms below.

The French and Spanish navies arrived shortly thereafter, and the only reason that a great battle didn’t follow was because there was nothing physically there to fight over. The French and Spanish eventually retreated, as the closest land was the Azore Islands, which are owned by Portugal, so the Portuguese have the strongest claim to those waters. Half of the Portuguese fleet returned to Europe, with the remaining still investigating the waters where the island was reported to have appeared

And King Louis himself has now personally been overseeing the situation. This is not altogether surprising, as King Louis has always had a passion for Oceanography, with the disturbance of the waters of that area leading to the discovery of several new aquatic specimens that had not been part of his collection. King Louis is also a friend of mine and actually invited me to join him in exploring these oceans. While I have presently declined his invitation, that is an avenue potentially left open to us in the future.

So Portugal’s efforts are centered on that one section of Ocean. Spain appears to have temporarily withdrawn from this conflict. England officially has as well, although they are still seeking reparations through diplomatic channels from Spain for the Jesmond.

France’s government however continues to be a problem. France’s government has been in a state of confusion and disarray all year. Their previous Government fell in a bloodless coup last January led by the druidic high priestess Louise Michael. A committee comprised of political rivals now rules the country.

The situation among these people has been so precarious that they have created more chaos than order. Several of these politicians each hoped to get their hands upon the Atlantian artifacts in order to strengthen their own control and rise to individual leadership of the government. The most aggressive of these individuals is General Jacquet LaFlame, who controls the forces of the French Foreign Legion. And he's already proven that territorial boundries mean nothing to him."

"So are we going after these artifacts or the Island of Atlantis or both?" Ruby asks casually. Lawrence says, "My dear, I suspect we're going to rescue Atlantis's treasures from our European friends. Our talents would be wasted in claiming the island for the US. By the way James, did the English claim the island for Victoria?" James replies, “There is no record of them having done so.”

Abigail states, "This question might be before its time but I'm going to ask anyway. Mr. Parker, what is our ultimate goal here? Beside the desire to know... the connections between the Timucan and Atlantis, what happened to these artifacts... I share the desire to know. But what are we going to do with that knowledge? Much as I would love to learn and advance my skills from the knowledge of Atlantis that knowledge set loose on the world would cause chaos."

James says, "It is exactly because of the return of Atlantis and potential of Atlantian objects being around that we must act, to prevent the world from going to war.

Our real problem isn’t from the governments, but from powerful individauls who are now actively seeking the Atlantians independent of their governments. I’ve already mentioned the French wizard Guillieult. Another group searching is an English faction known as the Hellfire Club, who deal with both arcane magic and the supernatural. They are headed by Alister Crowley, an evil wizard and megalomanic who seeks to find and use the Atlantian artifacts to control those around him.

However, our greatest potential competitors and rivals are a independent team of French adventurers. I found out about this group quite by accident, as my son overheared a stray comment made by his best friend, whose nephew has apparently joined this team. Through survelience on that nephew, we have been able to learn the specific identities of three other team members. Interestingly enough, all four of them are members of a very exclusive association of French wizards."

Luiz states, “We presume that the this private wizard’s club is the sponsor of this rival team and that all of the other members of that team also belong to this wizarding group. They are informally known in mage circles as the ‘Weekly Wizards’, as they possess a powerful artifact that prolongs age and confers good health. To gain this benefit the artifact each wizard must remain in sole possession of the artifact for at least one week a year, thus this group limits itself to fifty-two members.

Luiz takes out a sheet of paper from his suit jacket pocket. He says, "I have here a current roster of all fifty-two members of the wizard society. They are a formidable group, comprising France’s top inventors, engineers, mathematicians, scientists, artists and writers. Given the abilities and resources available to them, if they have dedicated themselves to discovering the secrets of Atlantis, then is it only a matter of time until that they accomplish that.”

James states, “So that is the primary reason that why Luiz and I have founded this Adventurer’s Guild of Exemplary and Legendary Explorers, Scientists and Scholars. We are in a race, a world-wide scavenger hunt, to unearth the lost and hidden knowledge and keep the world at peace. My friends, this is a contest that I intend to win! So, my question is, will you join us?"

Chapter Sixteen, “Decisions” September 1st, 1882, 8:00 P.M.

James had explained the purpose of the organization and asked, “So, my question is, will you join us?" Thomas stands, looks at the gathered luminaries, holds his wine up in the air, and says, "You have my unequivocal and hearty yes!" Roy exclaims, "I think you already know my answer, Doc." Nanuet stands and says, "I too agree to join this worthy and noble group. Count me in." Fish looks about the room at his new associates. "Beauty, brains, brawn and good bourbon. How could I refuse, Mr. Parker? Count me in!" Thomas muses to himself as to where he falls in Fish's taxonomy... brains or brawn ... or both? ... and then quietly chuckles.

Still curious about what they would do with this knowledge and these artifacts once they'd assured that peace, Abigail chimed in, "You couldn't tear me away, sir." Hardin affects his best West Texas accent... "Gosh James, that sounds like an awfully long list of 'people who might not be very nice'...sounds like fun!" Hardin's thoughts turn inward for a moment. “Wonder if I still have it...” Lawrence touches the badge on his shirt. "James, you don't need to ask. In for a penny, in for a pound. It'll be just like the old days."

George had been taking notes as he was often doing. And he looked up at James, quite pensive and set his pen down and looked at his finance. And was silent for a long time as he stared at the ceiling. "When do you require an answer James" he said finally "I have ongoing commitments as you well know as well as important future plans" said George as he squeezed Ruby's hand. "This is a monumental commitment you are asking of us, one I cannot make lightly or on the spur of an impassioned plan." "Bookworm..." think Fish to himself, "...and brains!"

James replies, "George, I recognize that you have other commitments. We are not looking for you to remain here permanently, nor will every mission be using Jacksonville as our base. Our Corporate headquarters in actually in the New York City area, no more than a half-day's train journey from your Rochester. What I am seeking is to occasionally call on your specific area of expertise. Two members of the French wizarding sponsor group are photographic experts, so we may need somebody to help counter that. I will ask each of you again tomorrow afternoon following the follow-up discussion about the Timucuan."

Ruby nodded and smiled reassuringly at George. "We can speak about it tonight if you like darling and work it out. I know your expertise is probably greatly needed here if James is asking for your help. Let's discuss it later." She squeezed his hand." George and I will discuss it tonight but you can consider me very interested. Someone has to take care of my grandmother after all," she teased. James smiles and replies, "And I was thinking that was my job!"

Ruby says, "And I’m curious...about Atlantis rising. I have heard this story before but didn't know I would end up involved in it! So what happened to the land? Why did it rise up and where did it go, did it sink back into the water? Is it there and just invisible possibly?"

Alsoomse says, "We do not know actually why, but it appears to have both risen and sunk. My druidic leaders believe the timing now has something to do with the Atlantic Ocean Earth Spirit having moved south of the equator to watch over the South American continent." Mina interjects, "Ruby, I believe that you said that you and Nanuet know something about what transpired with the earth spirits." Ruby replies, "Umm, yeah, we do."

Ruby looked around to the group of people gathered. They all seemed very enthusiastic about joining with James's new group. Everyone except for perhaps George, who admittedly already had a lot on his plate. Plus he was never one to make a hasty decision. "I don't know what you all know about the earth spirits. Before my own little adventure with them I didn't know anything either. I suppose I could talk a little about it." Ruby swallowed the rest of her drink, recalling the dangerous times she has shared with her friends.

"All of the major lands and oceans of the world have their own spirit. They are actual physical creatures and they live a long time, like 500 years. They influence the land they watch over, some for the good, some for the evil or others chaos or neutrality. We were told that during the time of the Vikings their spirit was hospitable and allowed a lot of travel over the seas for exploration. After that spirit passed on the next spirit wasn't as nice and the oceans became untravelable. The spirit in Africa has great hatred in it's heart and allowed it's people to become slaves to the human people."

"So anyway, not too long ago," she scrunches her nose, "Um... in January, two of the spirits mated, which is what they do... the baby will take the place of one of the parents. The current North American spirit who is good natured and the South American spirit who is not so much. The North American spirit contacted our little group, which included Nanuet and I, to protect her after giving birth, because the South American spirit set in motion a plan so she would be killed and he would survive to go on, the baby replacing the mother instead. Hmmm...," she tapped her lips, "You may be curious to know the North American spirit is a huge, beautiful metallic... dragon. The baby is, was a baby anyway, a chimera, like it's father before him.

The father lured hunters to where she was protecting the baby, hoping she would die so he could live. We protected her and in the process the other spirit was killed. That baby will eventually take the place of his father in South America. But I guess for now the Atlantic Ocean spirit needed to watch over South America so the ocean has been left untended, allowing Atlantis to rise and fall?"

Hearing lots of yammering about stuff which Trout had no earthly idea... he looks into the bottom of his old-fashioned, now empty of bourbon, Fish asks himself, "Did she put something in my drink?" Fish sidles up to Luiz, swirling the last cube of ice in his empty glass. He says very quietly, "Thank you, Mr. Luiz, for keeping our little episode with the flatware on the low-go..."

Turning back to the assembled group he says, "Well, I don't have anything else planned for tonight or tomorrow morning either. Feel free to make yourselves at home. The Delroy-Kingsley family will be bringing up lunch for us at noon and after that we'll meet upstairs in the conference room to discuss my findings." Lawrence says, "That sounds good. I'm going to get another drink. Anyone else want one?"

He walks over to the bar. Pouring himself a whiskey, he asks James, "This deputy thing, do I need to get a gun? You know I only own a derringer." Hardin ambles over to the bar as well. "Sure, I'll have another. Also, see me later if you want an iron bigger than a pop-gun...I would be happy to help you out." He winks and grins broadly... "Lawrence replies, "My pleasure, Mr. Hardin. Here you go." He hands Hardin a glass of whiskey. "I'll have to take you up on that offer. If I'm going to be any sort of self-respecting lawman, I'm gonna need a proper shootin' iron." He grins. "How about that, me a 'proper lawman'?"

"It doesn't hurt to have some extra help in that department," Ruby winked at James. "I think I will head to my room to get comfortable then perhaps some stargazing is in order. I still have some unpacking to do too." She walked to the bar and reached far over it, stretching to get her hand on the bottle of bourbon she left out. In her other hand she grabbed two glasses with her fingers then nodded for George to follow her. "Good night everyone, I hope there are pleasant dreams all around. I will probably see you all... at lunch tomorrow," she grinned. There was no reason yet she had to suffer and get up early. That would be cruel punishment for everyone.

Fish joins the others at the rail. "Mr. Hardin! Do that trick where you bounce a quarter off the bar and draw your pistol before it bounces again!" he says cheerfully. "I read about it in one of those silly rags that seem so fascinated with you!" Hardin sighs a bit and looks at Fish. "Don't believe everything you read there, youngster. Besides, it has been a long-time since I tried that."Fish sees a glint in his eyes...”Still..." Hardin trails off and fishes around in his waistcoat pockets. His fingers emerge with a pair of silver coins. He glances at Fish. "Say 'when'..."

Hardin waits for the 'when' and bounces the quarters off the bar and has both Colts out of their holsters and leveled before the coins hit the apex of their bounce. "How's that?" Fish is beaming. "That was magnificent!" With sleight of hand Fish then grabs and pockets the two coins then adds the comment, "...but where'd your coins go?"

Doctor Pedro Luiz Chernoviz joins Lawrence, Fish and John at the bar and says, "Well, as the co-founder and Chairman of this new venture, I can attest to you gentlemen being exactly what we need for lawmen on this site. And the key law that will need to be enforced is no trespassing, otherwise we might have witnesses to our own breaking of this fine nation's laws. I for one have never lived within a anti-Wizard magic nation before, and have no intentions of finding myself imprisoned or executed for practicing witchcraft."

With a flip of his wrist, Fish slaps Hardin's coins on the bartop. "Misdirection is a beautiful thing, Dr. Chernoviz. A beautiful thing! If people don't see you do something, they can't get their knickers in a knot, now can they? I happen to know a thing or three about subterfuge!"



Ruby returned to her room where she spent some quality time unpacking, and imaging in her mind what other furniture she would like and how she wanted her room set up. The bourbon was delicious and she had forgotten any old feelings that came with imbibing in that particular demon. She carefully took out and arranged her bath and personal items in the bathroom between her and George's room. It was a beautiful and modern bathroom and as she ran a hot bath and the room filled with steam she sighed happily, hanging her crisp new white nightgown and pink silk bathrobe on the door. Here she thought she would be camping and instead she was spoiled with more luxury then she thought she would ever have down here in sunny Florida.

The bath was just filled to the brim with hot water and bubbles as she twisted her thick red hair above her head. She slipped into the relaxing bath to soak away any bit of strain the earlier trip has caused her. She leaned back into the large bathtub and the songbird sang herself a beautiful and happy lullaby to calm herself into contentment.

George listened to Ruby sing as he too unpacked, and as she finished he entered the bathroom, bringing a chair with him which he set by the tub, sitting down facing his fiance. "The accoustics in here don't do you justice my love." he says with a smile. "So Constance, what shall we do about your Step-Grandfather?" says George as he pours himself a bourbon. " I fear I am faced with a difficult choice as we discussed on the train. I know you answer already, though I am grateful you did not express it to James yet." says George with a sad smile.

Ruby hesitated just a moment before answering. "I cannot know my answer until we know yours baby. Yes, I am very excited to join the group and all the mysteries and adventures to be had stir my heart." She tilted her head and looked into his eyes. "But if you have some good reason why I shouldn't...And what of you? Why can't you join up? I know your photography business needs you now. However, you have so many competent people in charge, I can't see any harm in it. James even said you don't have to go on every mission or you... we... could work out of the New York office. Occasionally. Your smarts and your expertise in photography and your business sense is probably very much needed here.

So why are you sad? What is the problem?" She reached out of the tub, dripping bubbles on the floor, to retrieve her glass of bourbon. She sipped at it slowly, giving George time to think on his answer. George sighed and took off his spectacles rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Yes I do have several good people in place to run the business. But I don't know that I am ready to give that up."

"Or you" he adds looking at Ruby. "After all these years, our wedding is imminent and now you at least are rushing off into gods know what danger and will be rushing about on the ocean now instead of the desert. This was not the life I envisioned for us Constance." George sighed again and put his spectacles back on. He stood up, filled Ruby's glass to the top with bourbon and leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. He picked up the bottle of bourbon "I am going to talk a walk and think on this" he said as he left the bathroom.

"Wait!" Ruby called out after him as he walked away, "Don't go!" She jumped out of the tub and grabbed a towel, barely covering herself with it as she ran into George's room. Bubbles dripped down her arms and legs and formed into a puddle at her feet as she followed him. "Hold on baby, I want to TALK about this. Don't walk away from me please. Please tell me, what is the life you envisioned for us? I thought that as long as we were together, everything was perfect. I didn't know you were so against this."

George smiled at Ruby, "Well, I don't know that I am so against this, I need to think about it." George leads Ruby back tot he tub so she doesn't get a chill and sits down as Ruby gets back into the bath. "But yes, together life is wonderful. But Constance, have you ever stopped to wonder about life after this? Life not spent running from place to place, but staying in one place and building something. A company, a marriage, a family?"

" I did envision quiet Sunday picnics in the park with you, our children playing near us. I fear that vision may not come to pass if we spend all our time gallivanting about the globe. The others down there aren't......anchored to things they way I am. They way I want to be. While I love adventure and exploring, I am getting ready to want to settle down, establish myself, lead a life of quiet. Where I can buy tickets to the theater and expect to actually be there for the show. But I need you to finish your bath and get all clean my love. And I also need you to let me go think on this for a while."

Ruby blinked at him at few times. He was so handsome but right now all she saw was the worry on his face. "I don't understand, George. I..." She again reached for her glass and this time took a huge gulp. "I'm not ready to be a mother. I don't know if I'll EVER be ready to be a mother. You know, that is a really scary thought..." She shivered, and it wasn't from the water being cooler now than it was. "I... I'm not really sure what to say. I thought you would just be happy being with me. I told you that I can't be that girl... the one who dresses up like a doll everyday to look pretty for the few minutes that day she gets to see her husband... the girl who goes to teas and gossips and is expected to tighten her corset and sit up straight and be quiet and have absolutely nothing to do all day but eat and get fat. And raise babies."

She took another sip and looked away from those big brown eyes of his. "I can never be that girl, even if I wanted to." She rubbed her forehead as if a sudden headache had come on. "I understand a bit about the company... I am very proud of the life I made in Promise City and my Saloons there but you convinced me to be with you instead of help them grow. And I made that choice, for you. But you know, George you KNOW how badly I have wanted, no needed, to travel and see the world. I mean, we could even have babies and travel... you said you would open an European office and we could make our family while we were there off doing..."

She stopped. All this blabbering was foolish. She turned her gaze to look out the bathroom window, the white curtains blowing in the warm breeze and she was quiet for a few minutes. Finally she said, with just a tinge of flatness in her voice, "Why don't you go think on it. I'm sure you have all the information you need to decide. And then you can tell me what our decision is so we know what to tell James tomorrow." Ruby hears the door to his room slowly close as George leaves. Ruby sits in the tub, drinking large swallows of her bourbon, hoping he'll be back soon.

Downstairs, Nanuet approached Alsoomse and spoke "Now that the business of the day is over I am going to spend some time with Maska. You had shown interest in her before, perhaps you'd like to meet her now?" Nanuet heads outside and walks back up the driveway about 50 yards or so before kneeling down to pet his invisible companion. "Find yourself some dinner girl? I think it's cheating since you're invisible. Now that were here I'll have to ask Ruby to fix that, so that everyone can see how pretty you are." All the time that he is speaking he is gently stroking the invisible wolf.

Alsoomse has accompanied Nanuet. She says, "I could do that if you would like, dispelling magic is a fairly easy spell. I could teach it to you later if you would like." He replies, "But I have no arcane skills. All of the 'magic' I have ever done has been through prayers and magical artifacts." She replies, "There is a clerical version of the Dispel Magic as well, that is the one that I can teach you." Nanuet motions towards Maska "But yes, that would be a very handy trick to know. If you could lift the spell I would be grateful, if you could teach me how I would be indebted."

She approaches the wolf and speaks softly to it using words from her own native language, with a soothing tone. She removes from a belt pouch a polished stone that is approximately five inches long and an inch in diameter that is flat on one side with runes carved into it. She then softly casts a spell with a minimum of hand gestures. Maska does not immediately appear, but instead slowly materializes over the course of a minute, becoming transluscent at first and then visually solidifying. Nanuet watches Alsoomse closely, even mimicing her when he could trying to get a feel for the spell. Alsooomse tells Nanuet, "Maska is beautiful. My brother had the wolf as his spirit guide and raised several New England Gray Wolves."

He replies, "Thank you. She has been an important and loyal companion. You say your brother 'had' the wolf as his spirit guide? Was their bond broken somehow?" She says, "He, like most of the Wampanog tribe, have been gone for three centuries. Our tribe once occupied most of what is now known as the state of Massachusetts, as well as the states of Rhode Island, Connecticut and the eastern half of Long Island. At our height the tribe had a population of 12,000. We welcomed the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620, and I attended the First Thanksgiving with them. Chief Massasoit sought peace with the humans, which lasted for over a half-century.

But the humans brought diseases that we had no immunity or cures to, which depleted our numbers. Elvan enemy tribes, the Micmac to the north and Pequot to the west then attacked us for our lands, further reducing our tribe. However, our true downfall was due to our new Chief, Massasoit's son, Metacomet, who the humans called King Philip. He led an indian rebellion is 1675, uniting the New England tribes against the 35,000 humans who had settled in our lands. The history books call it 'King Philip's War', we lost with over 5,000 elvan casualties. Metacomet was executed by firing squad. At the end of the war only 400 Wampanog remained, most of us women and children. We were relocated to reservations on the Island of Martha's Vineyard. That was where I met my human husband, a Portuguese fisherman."

He replies, "That is an amazing story. You have seen so much in your life. Most of my tribe, the Yavapi, are gone also. Those that are left have mingled in with other tribes now, forced to live on reservations also." Nanuet absentmindedly strokes Maska's fur gently, hint of sadness in his voice. "It seems to be turning into a sad story, the history of our people. There are too many tales similar to the ones we share now."

She replies, "That is true, and I have made the study of the Elvan people my life's work. We each do what we can. I have read the treaty that you helped negotiate between the Army and the Apache last January. You should be very
proud of what you did for them. And while we have each known sadness, there are things to be happy about at well. My daughter and great-granddaughter live happily back in Massachusetts. My great-grandson is currently away in Africa but I have hopes to see him fairly soon. And with my grandson and his loving wife here in Florida, I am quite content to be here as well."

Nanuet says, "Thank you, it was my first experience with such things and I learned much from it. The Apache are a proud people and fierce warriors, it was not an easy peace to make, but I am sure you understand all that. You speak of places I have only read about in books as if they are around the next corner. Is not Africa the land of the Ogres and across the ocean?" Meanwhile, Thomas had stepped outside and hears Nanuet ask Alsoomse about the ‘land of Ogres.’ As he may have something relevant to add to the conversation he wanders over in that direction to join them.

She replies, "It is, and they are a greatly mistreated people as well. My Great-Grandson Jonathan is currently in the colony of Portuguese Guinea, south of Senegal and north of Guinea. He is in its port city of Bissau, establishing one of the commerical ports for the AGELESS Corporation. The goal is to have the local ogres sell their products directly to us. We in turn will maximize the profits to the workers for their rubber, palm oil and animal hides rather than having to go through intermediaries who typically pay the orges only a fraction of what the goods are worth."

Thomas says, "I would very interested to lend whatever assistance or advice I could to their ventures," Thomas says. "As you might imagine, I would be very supportive of any African ogrish commercial ventures, and have some background in sea borne commercial ventures."

Alsoomse welcomes Thomas's arrival outside and says "Two of the AGELESS Corporation ports are in Africa. My young great-grandson Jonathan first established one in the port city of Luanda, in Portuguese West Africa, also known as Angola. My late husband's nephew Alursius Ruiz da Rosa will be managing that office. For the time being Jonathan will head up the office in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea. One place that you might be able to help while you are here Thomas is with the Jacksonville Office, as Sol is still getting it organized."

Thomas replies, "I would be honored to assist Mr. Star in getting the offices here in order. Also if, perchance, there would be any need to route goods from the African ports to the Mideastern or Northeastern Seaboard, say Norfolk, New York or Boston, then I believe I could easily facilitate a port office and way station in Bermuda as well." Alsoomse replies, "I am sure that is a distinct possibility, Sol can tell you more about the ship movements. I do know that they are planning to avoid the more common trade routes, so Bermuda might not be very far out of the way at all."

Chapter Seventeen, “The Intruder” September 1st, 1882, 8:30 P.M.

Meanwhile, as Roy and Abigail are heading upstairs alongside each other from the second to third floor they hear a 'clunk' sound from further up on the fourth floor, even though no one from that floor (Roy and Fish) have gone up to their rooms yet after dinner. Abby stopped and stood stock-still, holding out her hand to interrupt the probably about to be dirty joke Roy was telling. "You don't suppose Fish is taking an alternative route upstairs?" she asked, clearly not thinking so. "Get help or check it out ourselves?" The opt on the second choice, quietly making their way upstairs and then slide open the door, startling a man who has a slight expression of surprise on his face.

Roy states, "You'll be wanting to sit down in that chair behind you, friend, right now or else." Roy very quickly pulls out his pistol and say, "I warned you." Roy thinks to himself, ‘I hope he sits down.’ The man begins to momentarily lean in the direction of the chair, but then springs backwards towards and through the center of the open window in a move very similar to how a pole vaulter clears a pole. Roy's gun is pointed as the man continues to tumble and roll across the third floor dormer roof of Abigail's room.

Roy shoots at the figure but misses. He turns to Abby, "At least that warned the rest of them. Go downstairs and tell them what we saw and where he went. And get Fish up here quick!" He moves onto the roof and try to keep an eye on the intruder. The man rolls off the dormer roof and falls to the porch roof below. The man continues to tumble across the porch roof towards the pillar on the east side of the stairs. Roy curses under breath, "I'm gonna f***in' kill myself, I just know it,” as he tries to follow.

The fired shot is heard throughout the area. Ruby and George are having their conversation in the bathroom in the southeastern corner of the third floor. Down at the bar Sol, Fish, John, Lawrence and Luiz hear the shot three stories above. In the President's office James and Mina hear the shot. Fish yelps, "Trouble!" -- and sprints toward the stairs. Lawrence freezes as Fish yells, "Trouble." He says to no one in particular, "I'm getting too old for this." The forger-turned-deputy makes his way upstairs to the third floor.

Ruby heard the shot and it sounded close. "What was that?" Ruby said out loud, not wasting any time to jump out of the tub. She grabbed a towel, ran to her room, grabbed her gun and ran into the hallway, dripping bubbles the whole time. Holding the towel precariously closed with one hand she said to no one, "What WAS that?"

Above, Abigail watches as Roy makes a perfect swan-dive leap out the window and then tumbles across the dormer roof to her room and over the side just as the man did before him. When he thinks he can, Roy decides to take another shot. Abby clenched her teeth at being relegated to nothing more important than getting help. She waited just long enough for Roy to jump out the window, then sent a magic missile down at the fleeing thief before she turned, glanced quickly around the room to make sure the man didn't have an accomplice, then ran for the door to do as Roy has suggested. The missiles strike the man as he rolls off the porch roof and onto the pillar, clearly inflicting damage but not enough to stop him.

Outside, Thomas, Alsoomse and Nanuet turn and look up in the direction of the shot. Looking at a part of the building 120 feet to their east they see a man in dark clothing fall onto the porch roof directly above the front steps on the north side of the building. The man rolls off the porch roof beside the pillar and as he is falling the 23 foot length to the ground wraps his arms and legs around the pillar to slow his descent.

Thomas, hearing the shot and seeing the man tumbling off the roof and sliding down the pillar, distractedly says "Excuse me, please" to Alsoomse and Nanuet, and then breaks out into a run towards the man, whilst tossing off his dinner jacket and rolling up his cuffs. As he does so, he believes he sees the small figure of Roy sail out the window in a perfect dive, in pursuit of the man.

The man reaches the base of the pillar and seeing the half-ogre charging across the lawn, crouches down behind the steps. Roy reaches the edge of the porch roof and manages to stop himself before he falls over. Peering over and down, he sees the man crouched down in the corner and becoming translucent. Roy fires a shot down, the bullet going through where the man is as he fades from sight. Thomas reaches the front steps in time to see Roy's bullet travel through the fading image of the man who then vanishes before his eyes.

"Sonofab***h!" Roy yells loudly. He peers down to see if anyone is standing on the porch. When he sees Thomas, he says, "Did you see what I seen, Doc?" He'll jump down into Doc's, hopefully, upstretched arms. When he's back on the ground, he'll look up at Doc. "What the f*** was that all about?!" Roy's still plenty mad about all this.

Thomas replies, "I am not entirely sure, Huggins, but assuming whoever that was is not still about under cloak of invisibility (and your shot at him would likely have struck if that was the case), then I believe some other form-altering magicks are afoot here. We should likely summon the others here immediately. Kindly call for them, Roy, whilst I examine the area."

Just after he sets Roy down, Thomas dons his spectacles, and then quickly mutters an incantation for Detect Magic, roughly focused on the spot where they last saw the man. The spell draws Thomas's attention to a couple of items lying in the dirt, which appear to have been pushed down by a hand print. He sees that they are a small vial made of dark glass and a wooden cork, each of which still have enough magical elixir residue on them for detection. The spell also has Thomas now noticing a powerful magical aura around the ornate front doors to the building and magical glass on both of the large front windows of Luiz's office.

Hardin comes dashing outside, guns drawn, but too late to do any good. "What in blazes is going on out here? Are we under attack already?" The tone in his voice indicates he wouldn't be too unhappy if they were... Roy explains the situation and excuses himself to go back to his room and look if anything is missing. Hardin nods at Roy, half-listening, and watches the beast bound away, trying to sniff out a trail. He cocks his head for a moment, thinking.

Nanuet hears the commotion and responds as quickly as possible. "Maska, come!" he says as he moves quickly towards the house following Thomas. Hearing what is going on he kneels down to Maska and says "OK girl, find him!" and sets her loose in the area where the man was last seen. Hardin quickly holsters the Colt Lightening and reaches around behind his back, under his coat-tails. His right hand emerges with a huge long-barreled Colt hand-cannon. He grins, "Just in case..." He starts walking slowly after Maska, raising the weapon to the ready.

Thomas stoops and picks up the vial and cork, fastening the stopper, and pocketing it for future examination. "Roy, we should tell the others that our mysterious interloper might still be afoot. It is probably best that we fan out and search carefully, keeping within eyesight and earshot of one another. Unless I am mistaken, I believe Nanuet and his companion might be of some assistance in this regard, perhaps tracking him from this spot where he disappeared." As he says this, Thomas sees Maska run up to the very spot, and notices that Roy has left the area.

Roy sees Ruby leaning out of the third floor window, trying to see what's going on. "Oh, Roy, hey. What's going on? I thought I heard a gunshot." She adjusts the towel, pulling it a little tighter. Lawrence reaches the third floor and hearing Ruby’s voice heads to that room. "What's going on? Is anyone hurt? Whoa." He turns his eyes from Ruby. "Sorry Ruby. I didn't realize you were not decent."

"Not decent?" She adjusts the towel again, "What are you talking about? I'm always more than decent. I should be insulted," she laughed. "Did YOU see what happened? I don't think anyone is hurt up here. Roy's at a loss for words for some reason but otherwise I don't know what is going on." Lawrence replies, "I didn't mean anything by it. Just that you're wearing just a towel and all." He looks pointedly at her face. "Ahem. All I heard was a faint gunshot and then Fish said there was trouble. Where is Fish, was it an accident?"

Ruby replies, "Yes, I suppose it's not the usual outfit you see women in," Ruby laughed. "I don't know where he is or what is going on at all. I'm not exactly in the position to go exploring and I'm not sure I am needed to go running off. So unless I hear something else I will probably go back to my bath. " Roy has arrived on the third floor and states, "Well if it makes you uncomfortable, by all means feel free to not wear it," with a wink. "I don't know what was going on, but somebody was rifling through my room but it looks like he got away. He just kind of... disappeared. Literally. Anyway, I'm going to go see if he took anything."

Although he's the first person from the lobby up the stairs (zoinks! can that boy ever move!), Fish is too late to intervene. Ruby's bare legs distract him, but he quickly gathers from what the ladies tell him what has just transpired. His brow furrows, and he immediately dashes to his own room to check the duffle under his bunk.*

Roy tells of the man vanishing in midair. Ruby interjects, "Oh, invisible huh? I can do that...." her voice trailed off as she realized she was alone. She shrugged. Lawrence and Roy and Fish had all hurried off to check their rooms and Ruby found herself standing alone, wet and chilled in the hallway. She went back to her room and looked around for a bit to see if anything was out of place. Once she was pretty sure nothing was missing she returned to the bathroom and reheated and rebubbled her bath. Someone would let her know if things were amiss and she was needed. She settled in the bath again and hoped for a quiet rest of the night.

Maska and Nanuet find no fresh tracks. They do discover another trail two porch pillars away (the northeast corner pillar of the front porch) that has the exact same scent. Nanuet guesses it to be around two hours old, which would have been when the group would have been sitting down to start dinner. The pillar was painted recently enough that scratches are visible where the man apparently climbed up.

Backtracking on the trail from this pillar it heads northeast across the dirt lawn, soon intersecting with one of the stone bicycle paths heading northeast along the river. About a half-mile east they reach a point where the smaller St. Johns Creek flows into the river.

At that spot they find evidence based upon the indentations on the shore, where a small boat appears to have been pulled up onto the shore and temporarily hidden in the reeds. Nanuet finds four sets of footprints in the damp marsh-like soil, two fresh and two a few hours older, both from the same pairs of feet. The larger pair appear to be from a male wearing either mocassins or some similar type of form-fitting shoe. The other pair of shoes appear to be from a woman's boots. The boat is now gone and they do not see it on the river.

After a quick stop downstairs to let the Parker's and anyone else still downstairs what had happened, Abby continued on outside still in her stocking feet. Nanuet will gather the group together and explain what he and Maska found. "There was no trail leading away from here, but I did find the trail leading to the house. It lead me northeast to the river where I found signs of a boat and a second set of footprints. Did anyone get a good look at the person? The tracks seem to indicate a man and a woman exited and returned to the boat."

Abby states, "I saw him, but he obviously knew what he was doing. He was all in black, including wearing soft shoes that would be exceptionally silent. It couldn't have been more than luck that Roy and I heard him before Roy reached his room.” Nanuet says, "That explains the tracks I found at the river. They were some sort of soft sided form fittings shoes. Perhaps we need to start a watch, have someone keeping a lookout at all hours of the day and night?" Luiz says that he spoke to the Delroy-Kingsleys and that Jasper, Obie and Enoch will take turns guarding at night from the front porch and around the house with their hound dogs.

Thomas says, "Indeed, that's probably a good idea, contingent upon whether we discover further intrusion into the more secure areas have occurred or not." He looks around at the assembled group, and lowers his voice: "We should also ask Mr. Parker and Dr. Chernoviz as how well any staff or associates related to the estate have been vetted. I do hate the very thought of mentioning this, but I am concerned that our intruder might have had a greater knowledge of the interiors than what might be gleaned from a cursory external perusal of the house and surrounding area. The fact that he struck whilst we were at dinner puts me at great unease." A bby nodded. "Best to look into every possibility, no matter how careful Mr. Parker may be."

Abby says, “He was fairly non-descript, although he did have a rather long nose. He was searching Roy's room, and if he was here for some time we should all check our belongings. He couldn't have taken anything large, but he had pouches on his belt, so small things could be gone." Walking up after retrieving his dinner jacket, Thomas says "Agreed, and I would add that his acrobatic departure indicates professional training or experience, similar to what one would expect from a circus performer or show gymnast. And then there is this..." Thomas removes the vial and stopper from his pocket.

"I imagine that we will find that this is some potion, likely of wizard magic devising, that enabled our unwelcome guest to dissipate his form, as opposed to merely cloaking him in invisibility. So what we have is a trained professional of some sort, with some kind of magical assistance or backing. We should ascertain whether any of the inner sanctums of the house were violated ... my guess is that he was not here to rifle through our undergarments."

"Well, maybe not yours..." Abby said with a grin. "I'm sure you're right, and if he's that professional he'd have a chance at finding some of the secret places. Mr. Parker should do that search, although someone with sharp eyes should help with that. It didn’t take long for our lives to get exciting, did it?" Thomas looks down into Abigail's eyes, and smiles, saying "Well, Miss Marsters, it is always exciting whenever you are around."

Taking just a moment too long to reply to appear unflapped by the compliment she answered, "I hope you like things exciting then. It's certainly nice to be appreciated. And when are you going to start calling me Abigail? It's perfectly alright, you know." Thomas bows slightly, "Well, old habits die hard, and I imagine I do not need to remind you that Queen Victoria's subjects throughout the world embrace decorum and etiquette above all else... Abigail."

She replies, "Indeed, and I have the finest manners in the world, when they're required. But it's nice to hear my name spoken by a friend," she said, giving him a gracious curtsey the equal of his bow, followed by lifting up her foot in just stockings. "Loses a bit of effect without shoes, doesn't it?"

Both fourth floor residents discover that they items appear to have been looked at, although nothing seems to be missing. Sol stops by to check each room and find out the status. Sol informs James that "None of the small staircase panels or trap doors appear to have been disturbed so the intruder stuck to the main staircases. He appears to have entered from the porch roof to and checked out most rooms on the third and forth floor. There is no evidence that the second floor or roof were breached."

After a half-hour Luiz returns with the vial and says, “I have analyzed the residue from the vial and cork, it is clearly an Elixir of Ethrealness. There are several variations on this type of potion. It was first invented seventy-five years ago by the renowned French alchemist Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, who is still alive and also one of the French wizards on the list of fifty-two that we mentioned after dinner. However, this specific version of the elixir is not the one by Gay-Lussic.

This one appears to being a fast-acting version that is created for and used almost exclusively by the Swiss military. Producing this version of the elixir requires some very special equipment and also a rare component, the blood of an elusive ferret-like animal that lives in the Swiss and Italian Alps. A small number of these elixirs are commercially available, sold on the black market by corrupt members of the Swiss Army’s Quartermaster Corps. The current retail cost for a single-dose vial of this type of elixir is in the $1,200 to $1,500 range.”

Sol says, “I am acquainted with two individuals in the Jacksonville area who traffic in high-priced contraband goods, including magical elixirs. It probability came from one of them. I had planned to introduce either Lawrence, Benjamin or Roy to each of these individuals within the next week. We could make inquiries about this specific type of elixir. I sincerely doubt that either would reveal the identity of their customers, but we could possibly get a message delivered to the purchaser through the seller.”

James tells the others, “The intruder’s identity remains a mystery. We have no reason to believe that the French wizards are aware of our activities yet. It is possible that the archmage in New Orleans could have discovered Benjamin’s recent activities.” Luiz interjects, “Doubtful, I am familiar with that man from my time in France. He would not have been sneaking around. His style would be with a direct confrontation in the most flamboyant manner possible.”

Chapter Eighteen, “Trapdoors and Sketches” September 1st, 1882, 9:30 P.M.

James thinks for a minute and says, "Luiz is skilled at drawing people and anatomy, having done all of his own illustrations in his medical books. Since Abigail and Roy each got a good look at the man’s face he could probably create an accurate drawing from your descriptions.” Roy relays as many details as he can remember about the man, including what a small penis he had and that he was probably so limber because he was used to be being bent over so many times. He will also start to make many disparaging remarks about the man's mother and how he was probably the result of his mother having relations with her own brother, his face getting redder the whole time.

James calls everyone together and says, “I hadn’t planned to go over this aspect with you until your confirmation to join tomorrow, but under the circumstances I guess I’d better. You’ve all seen the staircases from the second floor to the roof on the east side of the central hallway. Well, for security purposes, on the west side of that same hallway is a narrow hidden staircase that runs from the basement to the fourth floor, with secret entrances to the 1st floor dining room, 2nd floor conference room, Lawrence’s chosen room on the 3rd floor and the unoccupied west room on the 4th floor.

We also have hidden trapdoors down in each of the bedrooms, for use in emergencies. Luiz’s bedroom has a door down to his office. Mine and Mina’s bedroom has doors down to both mine and Alsoomse’s offices. Sol’s bedroom can access his office. Attorney Hardin’s room has trapdoors to both his security office and the photographic laboratory. George’s room has a door to the Scientific Laboratory. Ruby’s room has a door leading to Sol’s room. Alsoome’s room has a door down to mine and Mina’s room. Abigail and Thomas’s rooms each have corner trap door’s to the main lobby staircase landing. Lawrence’s room has a trapdoor to the upper catwalk in the Commercial and Logistics room. On the upper floor, Benjamin’s room has a trapdoor down to George’s room. Roy has a trapdoor to Abigail’s room. The eastern room has a trapdoor to Alsoomse’s room, and the western room has a trapdoor to Thomas’s room. Now that you all know that, some of you may opt to switch rooms." Fish keep his impure thoughts to himself.

Ruby says, "My room is fine, I trust Sol. And I'm sure if George was here he would be thrilled to know he has direct access to the lab." She answered the questioning looks with, "He's taking a walk." Lawrence states, "I'm fine with my room, the guy used etherealness, so he could get anywhere. Anyhow, having a back door sure comes in handy. Can the trap door be barred, though? No sense in borrowing trouble."

James says, "Yes, the trapdoors can be secured from either side. We built this entire building with security in mind. Part of the reason for the angled roof and dormers as well as the two-story pillared porch was to allow quick access and mobility, I guess I should have taken into account that it could have worked against us as well." Lawrence says, "That's OK, who knew that there'd be acrobats who wanted to get in? We'll chalk it up to a lesson learned. Do you know anyone who could set up an alarm system of some sort?" James says, "I trust that many of you could be of assistance with that task."

Roy nudges Thomas and whispers with a wink, "You wanna switch with me, Doc?" Flustered to the point of blushing, Thomas replies sotto voce while looking at Abigail:"Why, I, um ... (gulp) ... um, if you would prefer different accommodations than you... um... have now, then by all means, I am happy to ... um... accommodate your ... desires... I MEAN, wishes... er... preferences. For Jupiter's sake, Huggins, try to stay focused on the matter at hand!"

Roy whispers again, "Don't get all flustered, Doc, I'm just kidding. By the way, I think she might be a virgin." Roy is trying very hard to keep a straight face. For a half-second, Thomas ponders Roy's last statement: "Do you really th...?", and then quickly re-gathers himself, gazing down sternly at the gnome: "Honestly, Huggins, it is a wonder that any of your mental faculties other than your libido function, given their obvious atrophy from the blood flow that seems to be diverted away from your brain into your nether regions!" Roy shrugs. "Better than it just collectin' dust."

Thomas glares at the gnome a few seconds more, before breaking out into a guffaw that he quickly stifles when the others look over at them. Abby caught Dr. Crane looking toward her as he broke out in laughter. The corners of her mouth twitched and she lifted an eyebrow at him. Even after just one day's company she knew it was likely Roy had made some off-color comment, quite probably at her expense. But she didn't really mind. Better the honest lecher than the one who tries to hide it.

Luiz finishes the picture from Abigail and Roy's description. He shows it to the assembled group. The illustration includes the man's dark suit which is of a specific cut and style that went out of fashion in the 1850's. John, Lawrence and Fish each recognize the face as being nearly identical to the woman who was on the train with them and taking notes. Lawrence snaps his fingers and says, "Hey, wait a minute. I've seen her before." He turns to Hardin and Fish. "Doesn't that look like the woman in our train car when we came to Florida? She must have been following us. But was it luck or did information on us get out there?"

James says, "Are you sure? Roy was fairly certain the intruder was a man, and gender identification is one area that he has quite an eye for." Roy interjects, "Well, I did say he was dickless." Fish chimes in. "I did try to get a look up her skirt, and failed." He catches himself, realizing what he's said (and in mixed company besides!). He blushes. "That woman on the train? Maybe s/he was in drag...s/he did have quite the big ol' nose!" Roy says, "You looked for the Adam's apple, right? Right? Come on, man, you always look for the Adam's apple." Lawrence says, "I’m Pretty sure, James. The lady got scared off by Mr. Hardin before she got close to us. So I can't be 100% sure."

Abby comments, "Well, if it was a woman, she was woefully... underdeveloped. Didn't Nanuet say there were two sets of footprints, or am I remembering wrong? A man and a woman? Perhaps they are family, so look alike?" Thomas nods, "Yes, I was thinking the very thing myself -- perhaps they are twins." Roy grumbles, "Probably lovers, too." Fish squints. "Mr. Parker, would you happen to know any contacts in Jacksonville with firsthand knowledge of what gets fenced in that town, and when? And who's buying?" He then adds quietly, "I might know someone who knows someone..."

James says, "I don't but Sol does." Sol says, “Yes, I was mentioning it earlier to James and some of the others. I am acquainted with two individuals in the Jacksonville area who traffic in high-priced contraband goods, including magical elixirs. It probability came from one of them. I had planned to introduce You, Lawrence, or Roy to each of these individuals within the next week. We could make inquiries about this specific type of elixir. I sincerely doubt that either would reveal the identity of their customers, but we could possibly get a message delivered to the purchaser through the seller.”

Fish nods. "Introductions may not be necessary with me, sir, at least not with both of these fellas -- there can't be that many 'entrepreneurs' fencing high-end contraband in Jacksonville! The man I know as 'Luke Wheelwright' deals in orchidaceous bric-a-brac. I'd not stand in the same room with him without a wall at my back, mind you, but he does pay top dollar. If I had to guess, I'd wager that he is one of the men that you had in mind for us to meet, yes?" Sol smiles and says, "Yes indeed. Let's visit him together on Sunday. I'll take either Roy or Lawrence with me to visit the other."

Ruby had been uninterested in the discussions... she didn't see immediate danger and she was worried about George and what his decision was going to be. She returned to her bath again and settled in. Back downstairs, Abby states "Well, if that's all for this evening, I think Ruby had the right idea about a bath. It's been a long journey and a long day following. So I'll see you all in the morning," she looked over at Roy with a grin and said, "And not until the morning." "That's ok, sugar," Roy says with a smirk. "I don't mind keepin' the lights off."

James and Luiz excuse themselves to head up to both the laboratory and library to research the items that had been delivered to them this day. Wilamina stays in the living room and engageds Thomas in a long discussion as to what he has been doing since she saw them last. Alsoomse heads back outside with Nanuet to finish moving the last of her possessions out of the ten-by-fifteen foot wood and animal skin lodge that will be his new home. She leaves him a charcoal stove and shows him the rope cords which pull back the rooftop skin above it so that smoke will exit when the stove is being used.

Sol takes Roy, Benjamin and Lawrence on a tour of the secret back staircase, showing them the entrances on each floor on both the central hallway side and interior side. He also shows them were the trapdoors are in each of their own rooms as well as the rooms that are currently unoccupied. Lastly, he takes them up to the roof and shows them a magical latch on the central telescope that activates a Illusion that makes it appear to anybody not on the roof that it is unoccupied and that the telescopes are all stationary.

Fish retires to his room. Like any thief, he's always at least a little bit paranoid -- more so now given the events earlier today -- and so he rigs a pinch of flash powder to trip should anyone disturb either the trapdoor, window or hall door. Roy does a sweep of his room one more time to make sure everything's in its place before turning in for the night. And Jasper Delroy begins to make the nightly patrol around the building with two of his hound dogs.

Leaving the others downstairs, Abigail went to her room and enjoyed a long, hot bath. It was going to take a lot of energy not just to do her job here, whatever it was going to be, but to deal with Roy and Fish. She rather liked them, but her wit was going to have to get quicker if she was going to keep up. But that didn't matter now. After the long soak Abby dressed herself in her light nightgown and climbed into the unfamiliar bed. She was tired enough to fall asleep almost instantly, even in this new place.

Ruby sat in the tub, drinking large swallows of her bourbon. She watched as the sun went down and the stars came out and her tub water got cold, and George still had not come back. She got out of the tub, dried herself off, and put on a lovely white nightgown with French lace on the bodice. And George still had not come back. She brushed her long hair in the mirror, and tied it up in a bow for bed. And still George had not come back. Ruby crawled into the soft cotton sheets of the bed, wonderfully cool on her skin. She snuggled in, pulling the covers up to her chin. Tears roll down her cheeks as she cried herself to sleep because George still had not come back and Ruby feared what that meant.

Would he ask her to come back to New York to still live a painted bird in a cage? Or leave her here in Florida, choosing his company over her? Or would he insist on having children soon, no matter where they were? All these thought cascaded through Ruby's head along with the bourbon, as her tears fell and she finally found escape in sleep.

It was late when Ruby felt someone crawl into bed with her. Her instincts kicked in and she whirled with a derringer in her hand, ending up with it pointed at Georges face. She was so happy she threw her arms around him, and began to cry once more. George carefully removed the derringer from her and held her for a bit. Then she lay down as he laid next to her, his arms wrapped around her tightly. Ruby could smell the bourbon on him, he must have drunk the rest of the bottle, better than half of it, which worried her, George never drank that heavily. Worry and doubt crept back into her mind and her heart beat fast as George began to speak.

"Constance, I did a lot of thinking. And I thought especially a lot about what James said. About these artifacts. And about the events that have already surrounded them. About the acts of war that have already occurred. How James thinks war will come of this. And I don't know that if I have the chance to stop that, if I can refuse. And if war is coming, I must be with you, near you. I can't live without you, so even if I chose to be in New York it might leave you in the path of war. And you are right, I have some good people in place, but I will need to be there from time to time. And I thought I could ask James for a larger lab to work on a few things while I am down here so I don't have so much down time.

And, we don't have to have children right now. Though I do want them, we do have sometime, especially if you extend your life. So, what I am saying my love, is that yes, we shall join AGELESS as full members. If I wish to leave a better world to my hopeful heirs, I need to work towards peace. And lets face it no one will buy film in a war," he says as he pinches her.

Ruby grabbed his face and pulled him to her so she could kiss him. She pressed up against him as she did, the warmth of him comforting to her. She kept her palms on his face even as she slowly pulled her lips away from his. "That is good news," she said, somewhat hesitantly. "You are such a good man, you always do the right thing. We will do the right thing together and lend our services where we can. And I am certain James will give you what you need, perhaps even make you your own building here."

The then thoughts swirled in her mind and George could see she was conflicted about something. He nudged her nose to nose and asked, "What's wrong?" Ruby wasn't sure how to answer but could not speak of doing the right thing and not tell the truth. "Well... we have never spoken of babies before. I don't think I would be a very good mother. In fact, I am positive of that. And..." She tried not to get too upset speaking, which she considered silly over the fact it was something she never wanted. But George wanted it and she wanted him and wanted to make him happy... "I don't know if I can have babies anyway."

George laughed and Ruby pouted. "What? What is so funny?" she said hitting him with a pillow. "Constance, do you love me? Would you do anything for me?" Ruby replied, "Of course." "Well then you will make a fine mother, some day. You will find your capacity for love expanded beyond belief. And as for having children. I happen to know a priest of Asclepius back in New York, and I am sure he can help us." says George stealing the pillow away from her and hitting her so she fell back.

George leaned over her and kissed her. "Constance, we will worry about that in a while, but have no doubt that I will make it so if WE choose it to be. But I do hope you will think on it long and hard." She stared up at him seriously, her eyes searching his. "I will think on it long and hard, for you, I promise. I just don't want you to be disappointed is all. For a lot of reasons. You know, if I can't do it." She reached up and pushed some stray hair off his forehead. "But I am only 19 after all, too young to be thinking about babies. Now the making babies part I am all for..." Her lips slowly formed into a wicked grin and she pulled him closer to her. "I don't recall you telling me how much you love me and that you would do anything for me in the last few moments... darling..."

"Well at 25 you become a spinster so we had better get going on you," laughs George "But yes my darling Constance, you know I do love you desperately, you intoxicate me. And I would do anything, anything if you were to but ask." George bent and gave Ruby a slow, deep passionate kiss. "And forgive me for earlier, my heart's flame, but you know I need to think things through and work them out carefully. But don't tell James just yet, I want some leverage on him for a new workroom," says George winking before moving his kisses down Ruby's neck.

Ruby ran her fingers through George's hair, leaving her hands resting on his head as he showered her with kisses. "There is nothing to forgive baby, it's just you being you. It's kinda nice to know I can rely on that. And I won't tell James, I'll let you do the negotiations yourself. You are the business guy after all. I'm just the singer. Young, beautiful, sexy, desirable singer who you want to have your babies, but, just the singer. Even if I am quickly on my way to being a spinster." She cracked up laughing at that.

"So..." she tapped her fingers on his head, "You'd do anything I asked, huh? Anything? Whatever should I ask for..." She kept drumming her fingers on his head as his kisses moved lower. "What if I wanted a big huge mansion to live in? Or my own private tropical island? Or the rarest bird on the planet?" She laughed, "Oh, I know. What if I asked for a star? I do so love stars..."

George came back and kissed Ruby deeply on the lips. "The sun, the moon and the stars are yours if you ask for them my love. Name your desire and I shall make it so, for you are my desire and all I require is you," replies George putting his forehead on hers as he looks into her eyes. "Well then...," she said slowly, her naughty grin in place, "I require something that will take all your resolve and resources and energy. And that is..." she ran her finger across his cheek to his lips, "That you stay with me tonight." "I could not think of a better place to be this evening," replies George as continued to kiss her and get comfortable for a good night's... sleep.

Chapter Nineteen, “Come Saturday Morning” September 2nd, 1882, 5:00 A.M.

An hour before dawn on Saturday, September 2nd, Alsoomse very quietly makes her way downstairs and outside. She waves to Obadhiah Kingsley, who is sitting on the front porch guarding with the patriarch of their faithful family of hound dogs. As she gets within fifty feet of her former lodge she attracts the attention of Maska. Alsoomse kneels down and the wolf comes over up to her. Alsoomse gently rubs the wolf's face and motions for the animal to accompany her. The two set off together in the direction of the Delroy-Kingsley home.

Like the elvan Alsoomse, Thomas arose early before dawn to perform his morning calisthenics and exercises, exiting the house wearing a plain black silk tunic and loose pants to match, covered by a linen robe dyed earthen-brown. With his staff in one hand, and his ancient, dog-eared copy of the Company of the Masters of the Science of Defense, he padded down to the riverbank.

Stripping down to just his pants, Thomas squatted by the river, closed his eyes, and took in several deep breaths to cleanse his lungs and clear his thoughts. He opened his eyes and looked out over the river, seeing the light wisps of fog rising from the still water, hearing the songs of the birds in the trees as they began to anticipate sunrise, and smelling the rich mixture of earth, water, and plant life. He mused to himself that northern Florida was not unlike his native Florida in many ways.

After a half-hour of meditation and contemplation, Thomas rose, stretched, and began to loosen his muscles for his patterned martial exercise. To any who had met Thomas for the first time in a parlor or social gathering, they would be astounded, possibly horrified, to see the transformation of the gentle, bookish, and gregarious half-ogre into a steely-eyed and disciplined killing machine.

With staff, arms, and legs whirling and spinning about in lethal but controlled frenzy, Thomas honed and practiced his martial arts skills. He followed a tradition of patterns of parries, attacks, and ripostes centuries old, established in the rolling hills of the countryside of central England by peasants who were forced to defend themselves against foes with armor, horses, and superior weaponry with nothing but fists, feet, and farming implements. It could be, at turns, a non-lethal form for the purpose of subjugating an enemy, or the deadly form for the quick and brutally efficient dispatching of a foe -- Thomas had lost count of the number of times (and foes) for which he had had to use both forms.

Thomas continued to practice until just after the sun rose, working himself up into a slather of clean sweat and hard muscle. He then leaned his staff against the tree, looked quickly about for the purposes of courtesy and decorum before stripping his pants off, and then dived into the bracing cold water of the river for a hard and vigorous swim twixt the riverbanks.

He came out of the water, donned tunic, pants, and robe, and took up his book and staff and walked back to the house. Seeing the house begin to stir with activity, he sat on the veranda and opened his book to read for a bit, allowing his body and mind to still from the adrenaline and endorphin flush. Thomas was prepared for what the day would bring, toned, content, and balanced in body, mind, and spirit.

George arose with the sun as he always did. He gently kissed Ruby before leaving to his own room to dress. He headed downstairs for a quick bite to eat of what ever he could find along with several large cups of black coffee. He too a cup up with him and left it in Ruby's room before heading to the photographic lab to make a thorough examination of what James had stocked and noting where he could put the things he had brought with him, things that could not be bought as of yet.

Lawrence wakes up with the sun. Once he gets up, he checks the upended chair that he put under the trap door before he turned in. Finding no one with a broken leg tangled up in it, he nods to himself. Lawrence washes his face in the wash basin before dressing casually. He heads downstairs for breakfast and grabs some breakfast. While eating, he idly doodles on a scrap of paper.

Fish wakes up early, as is his habit. He slept in his clothes, as he has only two sets. He retrieves his other shirt, and attempts to snap the wrinkles out. He is looking forward to the party trip to Jacksonville and the new duds he's been promised! He descends all three flights of stairs without letting his feet touching the floor, sliding down the banisters and walking on his hands when necessary. He darts into the kitchen, smears some marmalade on a hunk of bread, then grabs a piece of fruit and dashes out the door, mouth full. He finds a flat patch of ground to practice his tumbling, and then clambers up the nearest tree to practice his leaping and his balance tricks.

Roy woke up slowly and stretched long before getting out of bed. As he put on his clothes, something light since it was gonna be a hot day, his stomach reminded him that it was breakfast time. He slipped on some shoes and headed to the kitchen, hoping to get his favorite breakfast of ham, grits, coffee, and a little red-eye gravy.

Nanuet rested longer than usual for himself being worn from the journey. When he did awaken he was surprised to not feel Maska close by. "Suppose she's gone hunting" he said to himself as he approached the house. He nodded to Thomas on the porch before heading inside looking for something to eat for his morning meal.

Morning crept into Abigail's room, waking her slowly about an hour after dawn. She was in no hurry so puttered around her room in her dressing gown, beginning her unpacking and deciding how she wanted to arrange things. When her stomach began to complain she finally considered getting dressed. Instead of a skirt, she chose one of the many pairs of pants she'd brought. The style was a bit unusual as the legs were wide and flowing, but not so much as to be what was called a split skirt. They were just loose and comfortable despite being slim at the waist. After a few moments of consideration she slid her Colt Thunderer into the pocket she'd had sewn into her pants for it. Working in dangerous places Abby had learned to arm herself early on. She paired the pants with a simple blouse, pulled back just the front of her hair and headed down looking for something to eat.

Hardin sleeps better than he has in a long time, the comfort of the bed several notches above what he is used to. He still rises fairly early and dresses for comfort...pants, leather vest with sewn-in holsters and a comfortable shirt. He slides on a pair of leather bracers to keep the shirt sleeves from catching on anything unfortunate and slides downstairs to the kitchen with his smaller valise.

He rummages through the aftermath of the previous night's dinner, gathering tin cans and bottles before heading down to the water. He passes a dripping Thomas on the way and struggles to tip his hat with all that he is carrying.
"Doc. Care for a bit of sport?" Hardin flashes his lopsided grin, but doesn't linger for a reply. A few minutes later, startled flocks of waterfowl take to the air as the flat crack of Colt Lightenings and the throatier booms of Peacemakers rip through the still morning air. The bottles and cans don't stand a chance...

Ruby, having not been told it was necessary to rise early, slept in late, which was customary for her. She lazily enjoyed a cup of coffee that had been acquired by George as she readied for the day, dressing in a flowy peach skirt and light white blouse. It was the lightest clothing she had until she got some new sundresses more suited to the weather. She pulled the top of her hair back into a large clip and left the rest of her long bouncy red locks flowing down her back. She swept down into the kitchen just before lunch time, looking for something to eat, unsure if their meeting would include food or not.

Mina makes her way downstairs mid-morning. She tells those who are around that Luiz and James are continuing to confirm their theories and hope to have answers by the 1:00 PM meeting. She also says that Jemima and Antoinette will be delivering lunch at noon for the group, so that they can all get a good meal before the meeting.

After it was revealed that lunch would still be a while, Ruby went off in search of George. She knew just where to start looking, finding him just where she knew he would be, in the photography lab. She quietly came up behind him and reached her hands around his face, covering his eyes. "Guess who?" she purred into his ear, trying not to laugh.

George gasps in mock surprise "Abby? Ruby might catch us!" he says before turning to plant a kiss on Ruby. "So you did arise today, and obviously I need a new hiding place" he teases her. "I left you some coffee, but it was probably cold by the time you got up, sorry. Did you sleep well?" he asks with a smile and another kiss. Ruby pinched him then crossed her arms. "If you'd prefer to be with that skinny Abby girl... " she said, pretending to be offended as she turned her back to him, "Go ahead. I know she can't love you like I do."

George wrapped his arms around Ruby's shoulders and kissed her neck. "No, of course she couldn't. So have you had breakfast yet or are you waiting for lunch?" asks George without letting go of Ruby. "I just had that wonderful cup of coffee someone left me," Ruby said, not giving in just yet. "I'm starting to get hungry for lunch, yes. But I was hoping to find someone to go exploring with me until lunch is ready. Outside. Of course. Now that I know you are waiting for another girl, I guess I could go ask someone else to join me. I bet Roy would do it in a minute. Or maybe Ben..."

George snorted "You know those two could never keep up with you" he said "Nor would they bring you coffee. Or bourbon in the tub" he added with another kiss on the neck. Ruby giggled, "No, you're right. They'd be too dazzled by me being naked to get anything accomplished." She turned and took George's hands in hers and started pulling him towards the door. "Now come on, you owe me for teasing me, let's go for a walk before lunch. I reaalllyyyyyy want to... plus we should check on Nanuet and see how he fared last night in such a strange place."

George pulled back, stopping Ruby. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow for a minute before smiling "Alright my dear, I can finish the inventory later." says George as he puts a few things back where they belong and tucks his inventory list into his briefcase. He takes Ruby's hand and adds "It will be nice to see the grounds though it, they seem beautiful." She says, "Yes, they do. I want to go down by the river and check that out. I wonder if it is good for swimming..."

After Mina's message about lunchtime, Abby debated whether to spend the morning practicing with her blade or enjoying the warm sunshine in a rocker with her novel. For this morning she decided to be a bit lazy and go with the relaxing. She ran upstairs and got her book, then went out to the porch where Dr. Crane was sitting. "Beautiful morning," she said simply as she took a seat.

Roy made his way out to the porch. Once there, he took out his deck of cards and started shuffling them. "Care for a game, Abby?" She looked up from her book and took off her spectacles. "Sure, as long as it's a game I know." Roy looked up and waved. "Doing good. Just about to start up a game of cards. Care to join us?"

Meanwhile, Ruby grabbed George’s hand tightly now and pulled him out of the house. Happy and smiling she bounded out the front door, off the porch and down the front steps before she saw there was people there. "Good morning Thomas and Roy and Abby! How are you this lovely day?" Thomas replies, "Marvelous, marvelous! Going for a swim, I see. I think you will find the water bracing but refreshing."

"I would LOVE to play cards," Ruby grinned then glanced sideways at George. "However, exercise for the body is just as important as exercise for the mind," she winked at Roy. "Perhaps when I return from my walk I can jump into the game with you two. Right now, we're going exploring. Of course, you are welcome to join us also, if you please." Roy turned to Abby. "What do you think, Abs? You wanna walk or you wanna play cards?" Abby replies "Either is fine, but before you decide, I can guarantee that I'm not inclined to strip down and swim this morning." Roy says, "Hmmmm. You make it hard sometimes Abby.... and you're making it difficult for me to make a decision."

Thomas grins, and says under his breath to Abigail, "Keep a firm hold on your wallet or anything else important to you if you are engaging in a round of cards with Huggins." Abby replies to Roy’s previous question, "I never bet more than I'm willing to lose. And we'll see what Roy wants more, my money or my good will," she grinned quietly. Ruby took note of Thomas's comment to Abigail; it only made her more excited to see what Roy could do. "Well, I'm not planning on swimming today, though the weather is nice for it. I suppose I would need a suit." Her grin grew. "You know, to not embarrass you all. I will purchase one on our trip to the city. But I do want to see what it's like down there by the river. Thomas, I assume you've already been?"

Roy strokes his chin. "I think we'll just sit here and game, Ruby. Feel free to join us when you're done." "Have fun!" she chirped before pulling George off down the path her grandmother and James had taken yesterday on their bike ride. Ruby kept her eyes alert looking for Nanuet but was otherwise relaxed as they wandered together. "I wonder what else we will find out at this meeting today. I am glad it's not too far off, my curiosity is killing me."

Once Ruby and George leave, Roy will turn back to Abby. "So you care to make this interesting?" Abby says, "Oh, I'm sure it's already going to be very interesting," she answered innocently. "But I'm willing to consider your proposal." Roy replies, "Weeeeellllll.... I've always liked poker, draw or stud, so I'd be willing to give it a shot. Unfortunately, I seem to have left my wallet upstairs. Luckily, though, I didn't forget my clothes, which I'd be more than willing to wager. How about you?" he says with a sly grin.

Abby says, "Wish I'd laid bets on what you were going to want to wager; I'd be richer now. Roy, I'm as good a sport as anyone but I really don't want to be down to my skivvies this morning." Roy "pouts." "I guess that's ok. How about a nice game of gin, then?" Roy deals the cards. Abby says, "If it makes you feel better, I'm not much of a card player and I'm quite likely to lose. A lot. So if you can ever convince me of that wager it'll probably be worth your time." Roy just smiles and continues to play gin.

Hardin passes George and Ruby, tipping his bowler while wiping some powder residue from his hands and face with a kerchief. "Ms. Ruby, George, how are you today? Anything of interest afoot?" Ruby gave him a little curtsy. "I'm fabulous! And you?" She looked him up and down. "You look like you've been busy already this morning, I imagine you've been practicing with those quick guns of yours? As for us, we're just taking a nice walk over to the river, nothing of interest to report yet. However, I am dying to know what we're going to find out at today's meeting. You are already set to sign up?" George says, "Doing well, thank you for asking. We are out for a stroll before lunch. Off to see the grounds and enjoy the Floridian sunshine." replies George as he shakes Hardin's hand.

At 11:30 AM Alsoomse and Antoinette come walking up the road towards the house. Both are wearing almost-matching sundresses, Alsoomse's being white with a blue floral design and Antoinette's being white with a red floral design. Both dresses highlight their hourglass figures. Antoinette is carrying two large baskets that are covered over with cloth but from the smell are clearly fresh baked rolls for lunch. Alsoomse is carrying a box, the contents of which can also be identified from the smell, as hot apple pies. They are accompanied by Nanuet's wolf Maska, whose fur looks to be freshly bathed and neatly brushed out.

Fish returns. He finds he feels a little like a hayseed. Or a dirty carnie. He's dusty from his play this morning -- and there's a new tear in his shirt over his left shoulder. Ruby steps off the porch as he arrives. She looks stunning, as always. Her paramour looked as though he needed more sun, but his tie was tied ever-so-elegantly. Thomas was dressed plainly, but the threads he wore were well-spun and cut for movement. Roy looked a little pimp (no surprise there! where'd he buy such beautiful silk?). Abigail? Ben didn't want to think too hard about what she was wearing. Hardin? He wore his bowler with style. Cantrell? Well...he for one looks as though he slept in those clothes. Alsoomse and Antoinette? Best not think too hard about what they're wearing either, in their matching thin cotton sun dresses...

Nanuet had missed most of the activity on the porch as he had been inside foraging for food. He emerges from the house, bread crumbs on his clothing and a hint of jam still stuck to the corner of his mouth. "Good morning everybody!" he says enthusiastically through a mouthful of food. He smiles at the ladies carrying the baskets and offers his assistance. "So you were off gathering food this morning girl" he says to Maska with a grin "good job girl, good job!"

The wolf communicates back to Nanuet through their telepathic link that he didn't have to hunt food, the girls fed her. Maska says that she had a very nice swim and the girls then brushed her out. Nanuet gets the impression that Maska enjoyed the personal attention. Nanuet tells her, "Yes, I can smell the food girl, that is why I said gathered rather than hunted. I think we're going to like staying here."

At around a quarter until noon the Delroy-Kingsley family are heading up the walkway with the mule cart. As they arrive Jemima hands Obie, Enoch and Jasper each a large metal container with a lid which they bring inside to the kitchen. Jemima then ties up the mule to the front rail post and heads inside carrying a ceramic crock.

George and Ruby took their time walking, strolling along the bike path and out to the river. They chatted some more about their future together, this new adventure putting a lot of their future plans into the spotlight. They basked in the sun next to the river for a while before Ruby's belly rumbled and they head back to the house for lunch. They arrived just as lunch showed up so they skipped the card game and went into the dining room to enjoy it while it was hot, the meeting soon to follow.

Chapter Twenty, “The Slaves of Atlantis” September 2nd, 1882, 5:00 A.M.

Just before noon a pair of riders head up the walkway towards the house. One is a human male who appears to be in his seventies or eighties. He is tall and thin, with long white hair tied in the back in a ponytail. He is clean shaven except for a thin white mustache and wearing a dark brown suit that falls a little loose on his frame. He has on a white cotton shirt with a brown and gold patterned bow tie. His hat is a somewhat dilapidated pre-Civil War United States Army cap. Well-worn but recently polished shoes are on his feet. Pinned to the lapel of his suit coat is a medal, which many of those assembled recognize as the Congressional Medal of Honor. His horse’s saddle has United States markings that indicate it was originally made for military use. A walking cane sits in the saddle’s rife holster. And lastly, a multi-colored parrot is perched upon his right shoulder.

His companion is a blonde-haired half-elvan female who is the human equivalent of early-to-mid twenties. She is attired in a white floral print sundress that is identical in style to those currently worn by Alsoomse and Antoinette, although the flowers on her dress are a bright yellow. While she doesn’t have same voluptuous figure or captivating beauty as the other two similarly-attired women, nobody would ever consider her to be unattractive, with a trim physique, sparkling light blue eyes and a pleasant smile.

She quickly dismounts and secures both of their horses to the front railing. She then helps the older man down from his horse and hands him his cane. They walk together towards the front porch, him using the cane in his right hand and her supporting him on the left. As the reach the lobby Alsoomse comes out to greet them, kissing the man on the right cheek. She says to the others, “Our dinner guests are all here now. Everybody, I would like to introduce you to our nearest neighbors, Sergeant Alan McKinnon and his granddaughter-in-law Autumn McKinnon. They live along the river just west of the Timucuan Conservancy. Alan’s other companion will make his own introduction.” On cue the parrot exclaims, “Walter says Hello, Walter says Hello.”

They enter the dining room, with Alsoomse removing Walter from Alan’s shoulder and places the bird atop a wooden hat rack that had been brought into the room and placed near one of the china cabinets on the south wall.
James says, “Please feel free to sit wherever you would like, there is no assigned seating with this meal.” Autumn helps Alan over to a chair at the table with James, Mina and Luiz, but doesn’t take a seat there herself, leaving the other three seats at that table open. Jasper, Obadiah and Jemima, sit at a table with Alsoomse and Sol, leaving two seats open at that table. Autumn joins the two younger members of the Delroy-Kingsley clan, Antoinette and Enoch, leaving the other four seats open at that table.

Ruby and George take a seat with Autumn, Antoinette and Enoch where she introduces herself and George to the newcomer and the others she didn't really get to speak with the night before. "It's a pleasure to meet you Autumn, do you come here often to visit?" She replies, "We visit around once a week, James and Grandfather have become close friends. They spend most of the time swapping war stories. We don't get out that much any more, Grandfather has become quite frail. But I manage to see Alsoomse every day at dawn, as she and Antoinette join me for a bath and swim in the river. Jemima used to join us too, but the new house has an indoor tub, so she says that her river days are over."

Ruby answers, "I can't say I blame her, I prefer the tub too. Though a dip in the river does sound very refreshing, perhaps I'll have to join you one day, if you don't mind.” Autumn says, "Sure, you're perfectly welcome too. Alsoomse used to bring the teenage girls who were here with her this last summer. Today your furry friend Maska joined us, she seemed to enjoy the swim a great deal. She's a beautiful animal." Ruby says, "Isn't she? Nanuet takes wonderful care of her and she has saved our butts many, many, many times, thankfully. Perhaps soon I'll join you then and bring her with me."

Ruby says, “Seems like you ladies are all very close around here. I miss my best friend, I haven't seen her in a very long time. Men are nice but it's not the same relationship as the girls have, you know?" Ruby smiled and patted George's hand. "And I DO need to get some of those dresses you all have, you look fabulous." Autumn says, "That should be easy enough to do, Jemima has a full bolt of the white cloth and the stencil pattern for the flowers. You just have to add the dye of whatever color you want."

Once people are seated Jemima and Antoinette bring out the food which is placed upon each of the tables. It consists of broiled fish with a white sauce topping that has oranges and lemons in it; two separate rice dishes, a white rice and a Cajun rice; a mixed vegetable dish comprised of black-eye peas, green beans and pearl onions in a butter sauce; and hot wheat rolls. A hot apple pie is placed in the center of each table for desert. As was done at the meal before, prayers are said by worshipers present to each deity worshiped by those at the table with Alan McKinnon saying the prayer to the Greek and Roman gods.

Nanuet, always looking for more food finds a seat at the table where Alsoomse and Sol are sitting. He introduces himself to the newcomers at the table and with a disregard for manners begins shoveling food in is face. "Wow, this is really good, I am definitely going to like it here!" he says smiling with a mouth full of food.

Lawrence takes a leisurely walk on the grounds. He enjoys the warm Florida sun on his face as he goes. He hears the lunch bell and slowly makes his way back to the house. "Smells good." Ruby called out in a louder voice, "Lunch is wonderful again, thank you Ladies!" She ate heartily as she always did, no one knew where all those calories went, but Ruby always seemed to be eating or drinking something. "I'm going to get so fat if all the food is like this everyday," she laughed. "Then how can I perform up on stage? Or fit into the lovely sundress Jemima will make me?" She finished off her pie with a flourish. "Seems worth it to me either way."

Antoinette tells Ruby, "You're welcome. You can thank Autumn too, she's the one who caught all the fish that we're eating." Autumn says, "Grandfather should get more of the credit than myself. He's the lifelong fisherman who taught me all the tricks to trade, I mearly do as I've been instructed. Plus Jemima is the one who cleaned and cooked them, that's the part of fishing I can do without." Ruby exclaims, "Ugh, well, I for one am glad you are here to do it because that just grosses me out! I'll eat it but I'm not touching it otherwise," she laughed at how silly that sounded.

She finished her last bite of lunch then stood and stretched. "Thanks again for lunch. And now, upstairs I think we're meeting?" As the meal comes to a close and the last of the apple pies are devoured the McKinnons depart. Luiz and Alsoomse both head upstairs to prepare for the meeting. Jemima, Antoinette and Enoch clear the tables and wash the dishes. Given the interruption the previous day Sol asks Obie and Jasper to stay and keep an eye on things from the lobby and front porch while the meeting is going on. James announces to the others that the meeting will start in ten minutes.

After lunch, Lawrence thanks Alsoomse and Antoinette for the delicious pies they made. He sits on the porch and smokes a cigar as he muses, "Those McKinnons are mighty interesting." After the meal and general conversation, Thomas returned to his room to change from his exercise clothing back into his regular attire.

As people enter the library and conference room they immediatley notice the room’s temperature is cooler than the rest of the house, being a very comfortable seventy degrees. There are six wooden easels set up inside the room, one a few feet back from each corner of the long table. On the table are a bowl of fresh fruit, a bowl of dried fruit, two bowls with mixed nuts, a bowl with peppermint, butterscotch and other hard candies, and two bowls with chocolate candies.

James Parker is standing at the head of the table and placed before him is the same decanter with the magical elixir that he had set on the table the previous day. Alsoomse has changed out of her colorful sundress and is now attired in into a gray skirt with matching suit jacket over a white blouse. Luiz stands over at the well-stocked bar and invites each person to get a beverage.

Thomas headed back downstairs and into the library and conference center, nodding to Parker, and takes a seat (whatever seat Parker indicates, or the closest to the head of the table. He reaches for two apples from the fresh fruit bowl, and begins to eat one as everyone else gathers.

Nanuet helped with whatever cleanup he could before he was shooed away. He headed upstairs, his belly full, eager to get more information about the mission they were about to undertake. Nanuet entered the room and took a seat near the back and quietly waited for the meeting to start.

As Ruby entered the room she began to head to the bar for an iced tea but instead veered off sharply as she spotted the chocolate. She happily grabbed a few pieces before getting her and George an iced tea then finding George who was already sitting. She was certain he chose those exact seats for some purpose, where the sun was positioned, or the angle at which he could see the front of the room but Ruby had no such concern, she just plopped down next to him. "Chocolate?" she offered him one while they waited for the meeting to begin. George reached for a peppermint, popping one in his mouth. He smiled at Ruby as she sat next to him. He pulled out his notebook, and waited for the meeting, taking Ruby's hand into his own as he waited.

"My goodness," Ruby said out loud to no one in particular, "It is so cool in here, what's making it so cold?" Alsoomse replies, "That would be me. The spell will only last for around forty-five minutes, but it should stay relatively cool thereafter with the room closed up. I figured that we might as well all be comfortable." Ruby blinked at her a few times then smiled. She should have realized that everyone here each had a very special set of skills. "Well, I for one am thankful, it's nice to have it be a little cooler, it has been so hot and humid! It's hot where I come from too but not like this. Do we think this meeting will be longer than 45 minutes anyway?"

Alsoomse replies, "It could be, I've admonished James for being far to circumspect with all of you about the details. I have always taught him to be cautious, but some things should have been told to you from the onset. For example, if Roy and Abigail had known about the secret staircase passage or trapdoors in each room that intruder might have been captured rather than escaping. I blame that on James being too secretive. And while I understand his wanting to be totally sure of his theories before sharing them he was at least ninety-five-percent confident of his conclusions before now. So he has agreed that the meeting will last until he has satisfied all of you with the answers to whatever questions that you have for him.”

The others make their way into the room and to seats around the table. Sol is the last person to enter the room. He takes out a key and locks the door behind him. Looking at James he says, “The upper floors are all now secure. Jasper and Obie will stay on guard downstairs and outside.” Luiz tells those present, “This room has a number of special magical protections, so once sealed it is impossible for anybody to eavesdrop on our conversations.”

Once everybody is seated with their beverages James stands and begins, “Yesterday I outlined some of what this is all about. Today we will in the detail and answer any and all of your questions. Please feel free to voice your thoughts as they occur, as what we have to say is rather lengthy and I wouldn’t want you to forget to ask something of potential importance.

At the conclusion of this meeting I will again ask each of you to decide whether you wish for your role here to be as a full employee or as an occasional consultant. If you decide the latter option I require you to consume a quantity of the Elixir of Forgetfulness so that the details of this meeting will remain solely with those who are fully committed to this venture.

Ruby squeezed George's hand. She was glad he got to think things though the way he needed to the night before. Now both of them would be able to move forward without any reservations in their heart. "Let's get started! You know how impatient I am and the waiting is killing me," she teased before taking another bite of chocolate. The truth was, she was loving all this, the feeling of something much bigger than any of them.

James says, “Luiz, since it was you who initiated this effort why don’t you begin?” Doctor Chernovitz says, “This all started with an mystery that has been bothering me for decades. Over twenty years ago I was reading a rare medical book that was written by a French physician in the early 1700’s. The doctor mentioned a rather effective herbal medicinal remedy passed down through his family to cure a type of severe fever while in temperate climates. As I was living in Brazil at the time and participating in exploration of the Amazon River I found this cure to be of special importance. The remedy worked well.

One curiosity thought was a footnote on that page which said that this cure was first used by the author’s great grandfather, who had served as the physician at Fort Caroline, and that the cure was learned from the ‘Slaves of Atlantis’. There were no further references in that volume to the Atlantians and so I decided to further research this Fort Caroline. What I discovered was that the French government officially denied that any French fortress named Fort Caroline ever existed. They suggested that any fort by that name must have been by another nation.

So I checked with other governments, sending letters to their various diplomatic offices and repositories of history. The replies indicated there was no evidence of there ever being a fortress by that name. However, the letter that I received from the Spanish government not only denied a fortress by that name, it strongly suggested that I abandon this line of research, with an implied threat if I continued to pursue it. They obviously didn’t know me, as their threat had the opposite effect for me, providing he impetus for me to investigate further.

Since my main clue was the French physician I returned to France, where two of my children were living at the time. I spent weeks looking through records, and I couldn’t find any birth records, marriage records or medical school transcripts for the author’s ancestor. I did uncover evidence through tax records of that doctor first appearing in France as an educated adult with a family in the late 1560’s. The official explanation was for no other records was that the man may have immigrated to France from a neighboring country and the paperwork recording that was lost. So at the time I considered that to be a possible explanation.

At the time I had no other leads, and the United States then began its Civil War with significant impacts upon both of my adopted countries of France and Brazil, some more pressing matters rose to the top of my agenda. But I never forgot about that reference to the ‘Slaves of Atlantis’. Ruby says, "The myths and stories of Atlantis... they include a lot of magic related curiosities, don't they? And that is why everyone would be interested in finding it and if they DID find it, they would want to keep that a secret?"

James states, “Most references to Atlantis are from the writings of the Greek philosopher Homer. His known works are The Iliad and The Odyssey. Regarding Atlantis itself, in The Iliad he describes the Atlantian people as a race of tall humans, averaging from six to seven feet in height, and tells of the island nation’s destruction. A third volume by Homer concerns Atlantis itself. That volume is banned in all anti-wizard magic nations as it contains a vast number of arcane spells and that book serves as the basis for the study of wizard magic. But that volume is more than just a spell book, it contains details about the people of Atlantis. And it makes several references to a term that has been commonly mistranslated into western languages as the word ‘Slaves’."

Ruby asks, "Oh, what is the word, actually, if it isn't slaves? Do we happen to have a copy of this elusive book? I'm not a great reader but I'd like love to get a little peek at one. For curiosity's sake, of course." James says, "Yes, we have a copy of the book, but unless you are versed in Ancient Greek and Ancient Atlantian I doubt that you could read it. As to the translation of that word, I’ll let our linguistic expert explain further.”

Alsoomse says, “Unlike the Iliad and The Odyssey, which were written in Ancient Greek, his volume about the Atlantians is a mix of Ancient Greek interspersed with words from the ancient language of the Atlantians themselves. Much of this language is the basis for magical writings. The reference to slaves is the Atlantian word and not the Greek. The exact translation of this word is not ‘Slave’ but the phrase is ‘Lifelong Servant’.

Western scholars deemed that close enough, since in Western cultures a slave’s period of servitude lasted for their entire life. But the few scholars who have studied remnants of other writings credited to the Atlantians, which better explain the master-slave relationship.

The arrangement was unlike slavery, as we know it; the relationship was not ownership but rather long-term employment. And the period of servitude was linked to the life of the master and not that of servant. This bond of servitude only began when an adult Altantian became married, at which time the servant’s family would then receiving the first of what would be annual payments.”

James continues stating, “In effect, these were indentured servants who came into a contractual form of employment when an Atlantian had reached adulthood and wed. The personal servant in effect being a life-long wedding present to the individual. These servants would each serve only one specific individual, not their spouse or family, and only until the Atlantian died. At that point the contract would cease, and the servant would then return to his or her own distant homeland. In return, Atlantis would annually provide the families of the servants with food and medicines for the duration of the servitude contract. Nothing specific is noted about these servants other than that they were from a very distant land. We can also assume from these writings that the servant’s life spans generally exceed that of the Atlantian."

Alsoomse says, "Yes, when a human Atlantian is married they would then get their own personal servant of the servant race." James says, "Our theory and mine is that it was the Timucuan elves that were the servants of the Atlantians. Furthermore, we believe the Timucuan weren’t elves, that their race was one of half-elves, being of both Elvan and Human Atlantian descent. This theory would account for their taller height and also their shorter life spans than other North American elvan tribes.” "Ohh," Ruby said. "That makes more sense.”

Alsoomse states, “It is also a linguistically sound theory, as the Timucuan language has no common elements with any other North American languages, but it has many similarities in sentence structure and grammar to the Atlantian language. It also bears some similarities with remote languages from other continents. We have also uncovered evidence that the Timucuan used wizard magics, something that with the exception of a few common low-level spells used by bards, no other Native American Elvan tribes historically did. .

Regarding the Saturiwa tribe that lived here in this area, membership in this tribe was not entirely hereditary, as were the other eleven tribes of the Timucuan. Many of the Saturiwa were born from the other tribes and then brought as infants to this tribe to be raised. The name of Saturiwa actually translates as the phrase ‘Master-like’.
So we believe that Saturiwa were those born to the various Timucuan groups who showed more of the human than elvan characteristics. By concentrating those genetic tendencies here, the offspring would more closely resemble the Atlantian humans, and therefore be more visually pleasing to the Atlantians who they served. That would also explain why the Timucuan people as a whole remained in self-isolation from other elvan tribes, not wanting their bloodlines to be diluted with those who clearly had no Atlantian genetics.”

Ruby asks, "Why would their looks matter to their Atlantian masters? And people from Atlantis, they are supposedly... human? And, are there still Atlantian people alive maybe? Where might they live, if there are? What does that all have to do with that rock that came up out of the ocean? I mean, sure, the sea spirit might have been keeping it down under the water but why?" Ruby blinked at the lecturers a few times then took in a deep breath of air, needed after all her question asking.

Luiz states, "We don't have answers to those questions. Finding the answers to those questions is what this is about. If we are successful I hope to walk the streets of Atlantis within the next year or two. We believe that our theory about the Timucuan is the first step to accomplishing this."