Dangerous Dreams: A Novel (84 page)

Emily blanched, trembled, couldn’t speak.

“Em, you look as if you’ve seen a dragon.”

“I . . . I . . . yes . . . I saw him.”

“You did!”

“Yes.”

“In the village, of course?”

Emily nodded. “Of course.” She bit her lower lip. “Actually . . . actually, Ellie, ’twas in the forest.”

Elyoner frowned. “Was someone with you?”

“No, we were . . . we were alone.” She turned away, rubbed her teary eyes, looked back at Elyoner.

Elyoner gasped, held a long silence. “Emily, did something happen?”

“No, nothing happened. Ellie, I . . . I must go.” She stood, turned away, covered her mouth with her hand, rushed outside, a muffled wail trailing behind her.

Myllet said, “Well, Sir, we’ve no disagreement on the threat posed by the Powhatans, but with only twenty-one men, counting you and us three sergeants, we lack the manpower to do as you suggest. If we have four men guarding the village at all times, how can we also have four guarding the water gatherers, clothes washers, hunters, fishermen, and woodcutters? Right there, we’re up to twenty-
four
men.”

Waters nodded. “Then we must invent a means to meet our need. For example, we could combine water and washing parties. No one washes their clothing
or
their body very often anyway, so that might help a little. I admit, the other situations are more worrisome; though when the fishermen are afloat, they probably don’t need four guards; two would likely suffice. In any event, I think ’twould be wise to train a few civilians to augment our men, mayhap as a fourth member of each detachment of three soldiers. What do you think?”

The three nodded agreement. Smith smiled. “There’s no doubt we’ll have a bevy of volunteers from the ranks of the woodcutters. They’ll see standing guard as far easier work than cutting trees, which
could
be troublesome if they don’t take the duty seriously. Of course, ’tis
our
job to see they
do
, and also that they know how to fight, if necessary.”

Waters nodded. “Well said, Thomas. And I think you’re the best man to train them.”

Myllet said, “Good idea, Sir.” He and Gibbes snickered as they jostled Smith.

Smith smirked at Myllet. “Some things never change.”

Waters smiled. “Well, you
do
have the most experience training recruits.”

He smiled. “Aye. Unfortunately, that is quite true; so I suppose I be your man, Sir.”

“Good. Then let us choose the men and begin training today.”

“Aye, sir.”

Waters looked away, pondered for a moment. “I’ve another thought on our defense. What if each group of four guards had mixed weaponry—say two matchlocks and two longbows? Then they’d have the range and killing power of the muskets combined with the long range and high firing rate of the longbows. So while the musketeers were reloading, the two longbowmen could maintain fire at the same rate as the Powhatans; but because of the greater strength of our bows, they could do so from greater range than the Powhatans, thereby overcoming, or at least reducing, our vulnerability during matchlock reloading. What do you think?”

Myllet said, “Should help, Sir, as long as we’re not vastly outnumbered.” He nodded repeatedly. “Another advantage to it is that we can make new arrows from now until Christ’s second coming, but we can only make shot until the lead runs out.”

Smith Smiled. “What ho! Prithee listen to the brilliant ideas flowing from that ancient head.”

Waters snickered. “Agreed. So let us effect this change immediately.” Waters again paused, looked intently at each man. “I have a question for you. If you were the Powhatans, and you hated us and wanted to be rid of us, what would your strategy be?”

The three grinned slyly at one another. Myllet spoke. “Well, Sir, happens that the three of us discussed that very question after Lassie’s burial, and we agreed the Powhatans have seen enough Englishmen come to know we intend to keep coming. So we think they plan to annihilate each group that comes; and we think what they did to Lassie was but the beginning— meant to scare us half to death, which it did. And we think they’ll attempt to do more of the same, which means no single person, or even small group, is safe. We must
always
do what we’re planning to do: have larger groups defended by enough firepower to deter attack. By the bye, several woodcutters and hunters have reported seeing what they thought were Savages watching
them, though they weren’t certain, saw only fleeting, ghostlike shadows in the brush. Precisely what one would expect from these Savages.”

Waters nodded. “But at some point, if they mean to annihilate us, they’ll have to attack in force; and to that point, the Chesapeakes say the Powhatans have many alliances which provide them more than enough warriors to handily do so. Therefore, a massed attack is my greatest concern; for in our current circumstances, I know not how we could withstand it.” He fashioned a painted-on smile. “Any ideas?”

Myllet said, “We’re of like mind, Sir; we discussed this as well.” He paused, took a breath. “This resembles our situation in Holland, where we faced a greatly superior Spanish force. There we relied on deception to make the enemy
believe
we had far more men than we did. And it actually worked . . . for a while. We built extra campfires at night and conducted extra drills in plain sight during the day, but they eventually realized it was a ruse and attacked. Fortunately, our reinforcements arrived the second day of the battle, and we eventually won the field. And the delay in their attack, caused by our deception, was what saved our arses. But there were many frightening, uncertain moments along the way. So to your question, we think such a deception is, for now, our only hope against the Powhatans; but that brings us back to our fundamental weakness: too few men— soldiers
and
civilians. For if we’re to create this illusion, we’ll need to show the Powhatans more woodcutters cutting wood for more fires, more hunters, fisherman, and guards out doing their jobs in plain sight far more often.” He wrinkled his brow. “And unfortunately, there’s a further weakness: methinks Powhatans are better, smarter scouts than arrogant Spaniards are and won’t be so easily deceived. Why, I’d even wager they already know our true strength, or lack of it.”

Waters nodded with a frown. “Indeed, they may, Michael. A grim picture, painfully grim.” He sighed, looked at the ground for a moment. “Still, we must hold on until Governor White returns, and that means resumption of palisades construction as soon as spring arrives. Then with more men and a fort around us, we’ll perchance be able to not only deter a large attack but also repel one and possibly, just possibly, win the fight. Let us all think on this for a few days then talk again to see where we are. Said
another way”—his eyes sparkled as he broke a sarcastic smile—“ it remains for our fertile military minds to conceive a way out of the impossibly deep hole we’re in, eh?” As he looked at each of them, he thought for a misplaced moment of his parents in England, then of Rebecca Roberts, who he prayed still waited patiently, lovingly for him. He saw her smiling at him, wondered if his eyes would ever behold her again, then wondered how quickly the Powhatans would grow bolder, attack larger groups.

Myllet pointed at Gibbes and Smith. “You two sluggards are overdue for a good idea. So get to work and save our skins.”

Waters laughed. “Well, at least
our
morale is high. Let us now—oh, on that subject, how are the men? What’s
their
morale? What do you see?” He looked at Myllet.

“A bit worse in the last ten days or so, same malcontents—Taverner, Dutton, Allen—but they seem a bit more open in their whining, mayhap finding a bit more sympathy with the others.”

“Hmm. Anything that requires immediate action?”

“Close, but not yet.” He pressed his lips together, tightened his gaze. “There
is
one thing.” He took a contemplative breath. “I’ve several times noticed Tayler, a few of his friends, and Taverner engaged in guarded conversations.” He looked at Gibbes and Smith. “Have you two seen anything?”

Smith nodded. “Aye, I have.”

“I, as well,” Gibbes said. “And they clammed up as soon as they saw me. Of course, Tayler
always
has his eyes on
me
for reasons you well know.”

Waters nodded, felt a chill creep slowly down the back of his neck like a light-footed caterpillar. “Useful information, Michael. May be something amiss. Watch them closely but subtly—Allen and Dutton, as well. If they’re hatching something, we must be onto it and gather good evidence to damn them. Understood?” His mind sprang instinctively back to the day John White had departed for England. Just before he’d stepped onto the boat, White had waded back ashore, summoned him and Roger Baylye to the shoreline; he’d huddled closely with them, told them that shortly before they’d sailed from England, he’d met with Raleigh. White had then lowered his voice to a breathy whisper, said that Raleigh suspected that his arch competitor, Sir Francis Walsingham, had secretly engaged someone
to undermine the colony and abet its failure. Raleigh had not stated why or whom he suspected; but because of Walsingham’s forceful intervention when Hugh Tayler had been stricken from the ship’s manifest, White had believed
Tayler
to be Walsingham’s agent. So, Waters reasoned, perchance White was right, and perchance ’tis time for Baylye and me to reassess this suspicion. Then there’s the other matter Raleigh had mentioned to White, also involving Tayler—a sticky one, indeed, and so serious and damning that it had to wait for White’s return, hopefully with a warrant in hand and enough evidence to hang him. Waters considered disclosing both matters— one a suspicion, the other an apparent fact—to his sergeants but decided against it for the moment.

The three spoke in unison. “Aye, sir.”

Roger Baylye and Lieutenant Waters ceased their whispering when the other Assistants, absent Thomas Colman, filed into Baylye’s cottage. After the usual pre-meeting courtesies, Baylye said, “Gentlemen, let us begin.” He took a deep breath, looked at each man with somber eyes and downturned lips. “You all either saw or heard of the discovery of James Lassie’s remains this morning. So you know that what befell him was so gruesome it would have sickened King Henry’s Master of Persuasion, who’s better known as his Captain of Torture. What you may
not
know is that the arrows in Lassie’s skull were Powhatan arrows, so we know they perpetrated this poor man’s torture and death. This discovery, however, is far more significant than one man’s demise. ’Tis significant because it further signals the intention of these Savages to destroy us. And with that introduction, I’d like Lieutenant Waters to present his plan for our survival; and gentlemen, make no mistake, nothing
less
than our survival is at stake here. Lieutenant?”

“Thank you, Governor.” Waters presented the plan he and the sergeants had contrived, with the addendum that he’d already chosen four citizen augmentees. With seemingly clear understanding of the colony’s dire circumstances, the Assistants quickly approved the proposal.

Baylye said, “Very well, gentlemen. Understand that we cannot suffer any lapse in vigilance. We suddenly find ourselves in a most desperate situation.” He paused, drifted his gaze from man to man. “Another contributor to that desperation is our food supply. Now into winter, we’re reasonably well supplied from the bay, but we remain deficient in our meat supply. We must, therefore, weather permitting, increase the number of hunting parties until we acquire adequate venison for the remainder of winter. So, Roger Prat, realizing you’ll have to draw men from other tasks, I ask you to organize additional hunting parties with reliable leaders, to bring our deer harvest closer to what we need.”

“God’s teeth, Roger, I shall try but know ’twill be a daunting task; for we remain challenged by the large distance we must now travel to find game, much of it through unfriendly, dangerous territory. And that means we should probably be accompanied by even stronger guard contingents than what the lieutenant proposes.”

Waters said, “What Master Prat says is true, but to do as he suggests will require an even greater number of civilian augmentees and will further decrease the basic labor force, though we clearly must eat before we can work. I should also say that we’ll soon face a shortage of shot and powder and must take care to preserve enough of both to fight off a large frontal attack against the colony—perhaps more than one. So I suggest that, just as we plan to do with our armed escorts, we employ more longbows in the hunt. We can retrieve arrows that miss or strike, and make new arrows, but not so for lead and powder. Bows also offer the added benefit of silence, which should remedy the problem that constantly plagues us with matchlocks: scaring twenty deer away by shooting at one.”