A Calculus of Angels by J. Gregory Keyes Page A

your history be reliable, when it was taught you by the devil?”
    “I no longer follow you,” Red Shoes admitted, trying to keep anger from sharpening his tone.
    “Scholars have long pondered your existence on these shores—”
    “And we are much gratified by that interest,” Red Shoes assured him.
    The preacher glared briefly before going on. “It seems clear that Lucifer showed you the way to these lands that he might have whole continents of damned men and women. Those same powawes I have converted admit as much, and admit as well that their dark lord is angered by the presence of Jesus in these colonies. Do you deny that your people have used their familiar spirits to sicken my people, to try and drive them away?”
    “Yes, I deny it. Though I suppose some witches might have directed their ire toward you.”
    “And yet you yourself speak of being ‘rid’ of us.”
    “Yes. With the war club and bow, not by communion with the accursed beings.”
    “But I remind you, you seem to admit to having familiars yourself.”

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    “Not as witches do.”
    The preacher banged his fist upon the table. “If you are served by spirits at all, I tell you that they are devils, though you may not know it.”
    “And these witches who infested your Massachusetts. Were they Christians?
    Why could they not tell the good spirit from the bad?”
    “An excellent question. Some sought the Black One on purpose, for their hearts were evil. Others were fooled, but that only strengthens my contention, you see? Even those who strive to keep the covenant can be fooled. How much more so your own people?”
    “I assure you, sir, that I well know the difference between an accursed being and the powers that serve me.”
    “Will you allow me to examine you? To prove this is so? Will you listen to my words about Jesus, and take the first steps toward the covenant of grace?”
    Red Shoes grinned. “You may speak as you wish, and I will listen. I promise nothing, however.”
    “I cannot allow you to accompany us on this quest if I consider that you might be a warlock. This is to be a Christian undertaking, and it is already compromised by the Popish French, who are closer to the devil in some ways than any heathen. Indeed, it has been shown that Indian sorcerers and French ones conspire against us from the wilderness.”
    “I know nothing of that,” Red Shoes said.
    “I cannot trust it. Will you accept conversion?”
    “I will not, nor will your word keep me from this expedition, I believe.
    Governor Bienville or Teach will take me on their ships.”
    “I will argue against it.”

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    “And you will fail. I do not say this to anger you. I know your concerns, and I would not keep company with someone I thought a witch. Nevertheless, you must.”
    Mather simmered over that quietly for a few moments. “I have more influence than you might mink.”
    “Do you? Since I have been in Philadelphia these past months, I have heard some talk of you, and of those witches in Massachusetts. Many now believe that you were party to the murder of many innocents.”
    Mather hesitated. “Much of that is slander,” he whispered, for the first time seeming unsure of himself. “But it may be true that some died innocent. I was not a judge, and at the time I spoke against much of the evidence presented—most especially the spectral evidence—but in vain. Yet it is clear from all indications that the devil came into Salem. Few doubt that.”
    “I think that many doubt it, to be blunt”
    “They will not doubt a man of God speaking of a savage.”
    “They will doubt you about this savage, in these times. They fear my people, and they fear our alliance with the French.”
    Mather bowed his head down to the table, and began muttering in that way that Red Shoes understood to be praying. He waited quietly, picking at what remained of his food.
    Finally Mather looked up, and Red Shoes met his gaze, in the white man’s