Salem, Massachusetts 1692.
“Anne Lavot” walked down the long ramp that connected the ship to the dock. The wind was crisp and clean, and Salem felt like a nice fresh start. Levi Esmund trudged down the ramp behind her.
“So this is it? The new world? Doesn’t look so special to me.”
“It’s a fresh start. We would have surely been discovered if we stayed in France, Levi.” She stroked the new necklace hiding under her high, puritanical collar, which was helping her hide her deeply French accent.
“There were plenty of other places to go in the old world, you know.”
The men unloading their baggage looked at them strangely. Especially when the woman took her equal share of the load. One of the dock workers spoke to Murder.
“You need to let your boy tote that heavy load... Miss?” He phrased miss as a question as men often did when trying to discover the name of a fresh piece of meat without properly introducing themselves first. She was less than impressed with his slumped appearance and his rudeness to her brother.
Levi was used to it and tried not to make waves. Although, he often wondered who was protecting whom. He took the bags until they were out of the boisterous men’s view.
“I’m sorry, Levi. You should never—”
“We should strive to blend until we settle in and find trustworthy people. I hate it also, and I love you for defending me, but being “your boy” is all I can expect. It could be worse. I could actually be expected to be someone’s boy in private as well.”
“You know it breaks my heart. I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge. Amazing how the world has seemed to regress. Mother really knew how to get what she wanted from the men around her. I intend to be less of a pushover here, Levi. New world, new me.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed.”
“No, I’m not. I have a fabulous Protector.”
A tall and lanky young man offered to take her bags. See, dock-man. It’s not that hard to use kindness to attract a Lady’s attention.
The young man was Johnny, the son of a local merchant. He invited the two of them to a small party happening the following night.
Levi knew his part of the invitation was merely Johnny pointing out that she would be allowed to bring him to tend to her, but Levi chose to believe otherwise.
Johnny politely carried the bags to their room at the inn and bade them good evening.
“I think he liked me,” Levi stated smugly.
“He offered to carry my bags.”
“Only because he’d be hung for carrying mine.” They giggled and fell back onto the bed exhausted…
***
The “party” was rather tame. It was beyond staid. Music was limited to hymns, no one was allowed to dance, and talking was mostly limited to holy things. Murder played sick and bowed out early. She didn’t have anything against hymns, directly.
Levi had sat at the tree line and waited. He saw her leave and caught up. “How are you feeling about the “new world” now?”
She spun on the tiny heels of her tall pointy boots. When she saw the laughter and love in his eyes, she stopped herself from telling him off. “We will leave here, fairly soon I believe. It’s too cold and these people are so very boring.”
“Did you not have all the young men all over you?”
“I really underestimated the truth behind the term Puritan.”
Levi laughed. They were both startled as they heard rustling in the bushes. Levi pointed to three teenage girls who were sneaking off into the woods.
“I wonder if that’s where the real party is?” Murder mused.
“Should we follow them?”
“Not tonight. But… if this place gets any more tiresome we will likely be joining them soon.”
“You should keep such talk more quiet.”
Murder found herself spinning on tiny heels once more. It was Johnny, he offered to walk them home. Great. Murder mused to herself. A chaperone from a snoozer.
***
The next morning the town was awash with venomous accusations and fiery arguing. Apparently, the town believed the girls slipping off into the woods the night before was the work of a witch. Thanks, mother. Murder groaned internally. I’m finally living up to your legacy, and I didn’t even do anything.
The girls pointed a finger at the preacher's slave woman, Tituba. Murder found her intriguing. She didn’t look like anyone else she’d ever seen. She had a wide nose, was slightly snaggle-toothed, and had a sepia skin tone. She was beautiful.
Levi was indignant. “Oh, of course, it’s the slave's fault! Like those girls weren’t driven to dancing naked in the woods or whatever, by seeing the positively dull choices they have in husbands.”
By midday, fingers had already been pointed in Murder’s direction as well. Johnny, after being scared by the preacher, had admitted to seeing her and Levi near the woods when the girls left. They also accused her of causing other girls to convulse in their pews in church.
Murder figured it was merely fidgeting from boredom. It certainly wasn’t her doing, they hadn’t even been in town long enough to attend church yet. That night they arrested “Anne Lavot.”
It apparently wasn’t a good idea to be a new-to-town redhead with green eyes that had secretly (because if they looked at her at all it was hidden and creepy) turned all the husband's heads at that pitifully painful party.
Levi had concealed himself in the tree line until they left the inn.
He knew they hadn’t found the staff. He’d squirreled it away under a loose floorboard. He slipped up to the cell’s barred window and gave Murder the six-inch cylinder. As she struck it against her palm it grew. It was a simple five-foot, gold staff with a red gem on the end. With it, she walked right through the bars.
They ran toward the woods to build a fire and hide out for the evening. They hoped to make plans to sneak back to release Tituba and whomever else was wrongly accused.
As they walked, they saw the smoke of a fire ahead and heard the beat of animal skin drums. Murder got excited. We might get that party after all. She had expected the people they called Indians, the indigenous people. She had not expected the three Puritan girls that were with them dancing around the fire.
“They’ll catch their death of cold. The March air is entirely too chilly for that level of undressed.” Levi said, and despite not caring anything for nude girls, still seemed entranced by the ritual.
As the dance continued, the drums stopped and it became an orgy. Murder enjoyed watching, even though she wasn’t too keen on ever sharing a partner herself. Or am I?
Her intrigue turned to horror as they selected a native boy and slit his throat. A large creature materialized as his life force drained from his body.
The beast was hooved and had horns but was mostly masculine, human-like. She watched in horror, unable to move, as he grabbed the other two native boys and they combusted into ashes. Levi grabbed her arm.
“What do we do?” She was still transfixed in shock and terror as the three girls kneeled and began to stimulate the beast orally.
She turned slowly to meet Levi’s gaze and whispered. “Run.”
She hadn’t noticed that she had dropped the staff. She was in too big a hurry, for she was fearful the beast would skip death and take her straight to hell.
They didn’t speak of that night again. It felt wrong to just do nothing but they were convinced that they were damned enough already without tempting fate by attacking Satan himself. They headed south to catch the next available ship back to, as Murder had put it, “anywhere in Europe.”
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