am to use my sword? My pistol?”
“To defend yourself, yes.” Mimba hunkered down, sighing. Aurélie dropped down next to her with the light, unconscious grace of a child, and waited expectantly. Mimba said, “My grandmother is a great obeah woman. But I have my doubts about that necklace, though she treasures it. Yes, I know you’ve got it, though only your mother knows I know. I think Nanny treasures it because it came from Africa with
her
grandmother. For I have to ask myself, how good is its protection when your nanny’s nanny was captured and brought here to be a slave, and saw half her family die on the ship without being able to do anything to protect them?”
Aurélie clutched the necklace through the thin fabric of her boy’s shirt.
Mimba sifted the rich soil through her callused hand, then looked up. “It could be that it only works in the spirit world, and that I know nothing about. To be fair, one could say that I was not chosen so it is not given to me to understand. Perhaps it is because I had to kill or be killed when pirates first attacked, and perhaps because I learnt to take pleasure in killing pirates. They are evil. I have no qualms.” She rose. “The only gift I can give you is the ability to defend yourself. It takes skill to disable, so you must be nimble indeed if you do not want to kill. As for your gown, you will put it on after drill and practice your etiquette.”
She gave Aurélie a friendly swat and the girl ran off to join the other children.
As time blurred past, I figured out that the people working Kittredge Plantation had been the crews and families of the privateers of which Anne and Mimba were the captains—Anne’s inheritance, like the plantation, from her brother Thomas.
The plantation had been abandoned after an especially bad hurricane, and Thomas Kittredge took to sea. But now Anne and Mimba had brought them back to reestablish the plantation. The ex-slaves among them knew the most about farming, the sailors the least.
After pistol and sword drill, Aurélie would put on her gown for the children’s tutoring in etiquette. The other kids thought Aurélie much tobe pitied for the hot confinement of the gown. But the fact that she was soon to go on a ship caused general envy, even if no one particularly wanted to go to England. I blanked out in the middle of an argument about whether or not it was true that she would freeze to death the moment she set foot on English soil.
Before supper, Aurélie stitched fresh ribbons to the bonnet she must wear as a young lady. And when everyone in the household gathered after supper, they made music and sang.
Aurélie played a regal—the bellows pumped by an enthusiastic six-year-old—as others played the lute or various percussive instruments. The regal was much battered, but here and there was evidence of elaborate baroque decoration. Aurélie showed a lot of talent; she was diligent and smart, but she showed no interest in talking to me in the mirror.
When was I supposed to begin my country-saving?
I want Alec, I want to go home
, I kept thinking, but Xanpia’s chilling words about Dobrenica kept me from trying to break whatever spell bound me to that kid.
At last, one day as the sun was setting, Anne walked wearily into the house.
Aurélie leaped up to greet her mother, who looked tired and sweaty. She smiled and kissed her daughter, as Mimba said, “I told you that you rose from your sickbed too soon.”
“It was not my wound,” Anne said, touching her forearm, which was hidden by her tight sleeve. “It was wearing this devilish gown. Sitting in Government House—trying not to swear—confined as a Bedlamite. It will take a deal of time to contrive with land agents and Government House if my version of my brother’s will is to be heeded.”
She dropped her reticule, a ribbon-tied paper, and her bonnet onto a side table, and sank into the chair next to it. “I could never go to England, Mimba, I’ve no longer
“To defend yourself, yes.” Mimba hunkered down, sighing. Aurélie dropped down next to her with the light, unconscious grace of a child, and waited expectantly. Mimba said, “My grandmother is a great obeah woman. But I have my doubts about that necklace, though she treasures it. Yes, I know you’ve got it, though only your mother knows I know. I think Nanny treasures it because it came from Africa with
her
grandmother. For I have to ask myself, how good is its protection when your nanny’s nanny was captured and brought here to be a slave, and saw half her family die on the ship without being able to do anything to protect them?”
Aurélie clutched the necklace through the thin fabric of her boy’s shirt.
Mimba sifted the rich soil through her callused hand, then looked up. “It could be that it only works in the spirit world, and that I know nothing about. To be fair, one could say that I was not chosen so it is not given to me to understand. Perhaps it is because I had to kill or be killed when pirates first attacked, and perhaps because I learnt to take pleasure in killing pirates. They are evil. I have no qualms.” She rose. “The only gift I can give you is the ability to defend yourself. It takes skill to disable, so you must be nimble indeed if you do not want to kill. As for your gown, you will put it on after drill and practice your etiquette.”
She gave Aurélie a friendly swat and the girl ran off to join the other children.
As time blurred past, I figured out that the people working Kittredge Plantation had been the crews and families of the privateers of which Anne and Mimba were the captains—Anne’s inheritance, like the plantation, from her brother Thomas.
The plantation had been abandoned after an especially bad hurricane, and Thomas Kittredge took to sea. But now Anne and Mimba had brought them back to reestablish the plantation. The ex-slaves among them knew the most about farming, the sailors the least.
After pistol and sword drill, Aurélie would put on her gown for the children’s tutoring in etiquette. The other kids thought Aurélie much tobe pitied for the hot confinement of the gown. But the fact that she was soon to go on a ship caused general envy, even if no one particularly wanted to go to England. I blanked out in the middle of an argument about whether or not it was true that she would freeze to death the moment she set foot on English soil.
Before supper, Aurélie stitched fresh ribbons to the bonnet she must wear as a young lady. And when everyone in the household gathered after supper, they made music and sang.
Aurélie played a regal—the bellows pumped by an enthusiastic six-year-old—as others played the lute or various percussive instruments. The regal was much battered, but here and there was evidence of elaborate baroque decoration. Aurélie showed a lot of talent; she was diligent and smart, but she showed no interest in talking to me in the mirror.
When was I supposed to begin my country-saving?
I want Alec, I want to go home
, I kept thinking, but Xanpia’s chilling words about Dobrenica kept me from trying to break whatever spell bound me to that kid.
At last, one day as the sun was setting, Anne walked wearily into the house.
Aurélie leaped up to greet her mother, who looked tired and sweaty. She smiled and kissed her daughter, as Mimba said, “I told you that you rose from your sickbed too soon.”
“It was not my wound,” Anne said, touching her forearm, which was hidden by her tight sleeve. “It was wearing this devilish gown. Sitting in Government House—trying not to swear—confined as a Bedlamite. It will take a deal of time to contrive with land agents and Government House if my version of my brother’s will is to be heeded.”
She dropped her reticule, a ribbon-tied paper, and her bonnet onto a side table, and sank into the chair next to it. “I could never go to England, Mimba, I’ve no longer
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