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Comes The Dark	By : IcarusComplex Category: G through L > Ginger Snaps Views: 2074 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own or reap any financial profit from GINGER SNAPS or any characters from the movies. Hannah/Louise and all new characters and situations are mine.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
Winter: Ghosts Of A Future Lost – Kronos Quartet

Chapter 6: The Edge of Darkness

      Dark was spiralling up from the horizon when Finn came for her. They had eaten in silence until the heavy gong of the tower bell sounded the hour before her watch, when Preachly appeared in the doorway to summon her downstairs. A party would ride out after the thieves at first light, he said. He broke off midway to hawk and spit a glob of phlegm into the brazier. Hank was to help put packs together for the morning. To Black Bear, he merely cast a dismissive glance and a brisk, “Don’t ya have somewhere else t’ be, Injun?”
     Hannah shared an ominous look with Black Bear and followed her master down from the loft. Black Bear strode past a minute later, his perpetual scowl back in place.
     She was gathering her coat and rifle for her watch when another knock pulled her head around. Finn shifted his weight to the other foot.
     He cleared his throat. “You’re to report to Captain Rowlands office immediately… Mr Collins.” The title was hurriedly tacked onto the end when Finn remembered this was supposed to be a formal muster.
     Every hair on Hannah’s body stood up. She pulled her coat on with movements like an automan from one of Jonah’s books. It was no consolation that Finn looked as unhappy to be delivering the summons as Hannah was to receive it. He scuffed his feet on the floorboards as she passed and trailed after her to the main house like a kicked dog. At the bottom of the stairs he drew up short, mumbling something about chores. Hannah entered alone.
     The door directly beside the foyer was ajar. For a brief moment, Hannah locked eyes with Para through the narrow gap, the elder woman seated close to the hearth with a heavy red-bound book open on her lap and Jeffery playing at her feet. The Lieutenant’s wife offered Hannah a strange, sad smile. A familiar disquiet rumbled in Hannah’s guts; she stole away from the door. She could never shake the feeling that Beva knew exactly what she was. She’d never said anything, but women of the People were perceptive. But what unsettled Hannah was more than that: if Beva did know, why always that particular melancholic smile? As if she knew something grim was coming…
     Hannah had to restrain the impulse to spit to chase the bad spirits away. Omens and portents were Black Bear’s territory. Hannah could best serve herself by keeping her head down and one hand free by her knife-belt.
     Rowlands’ voice was muffled by his office door, but enough words were clear to make out the gist. Hannah ducked out of sight down a side corridor. Not a moment too soon: a second voice grunted in acknowledgement and the door swung open. Woolsey sloped out of the office with a scowl like the wrath of God. If she’d heard correctly, he’d just been stripped of easy duties for autumn and assigned to the supply party.
     Hannah reined her whoop of joy before it could be heard. If Woolsey was gone for two months, he couldn’t harass her (maybe this time remembering what he didn’t feel). For additional cause for celebration, the scuffle had convinced Rowlands the men needed some city leave sooner then he’d thought. The supply party left tomorrow morning before the trackers.
     She took a moment to school her face to blandness and then knocked on Lieutenant Rowlands’ door.
     The officer curled his fingers in her direction without looking up from his ledger. “Close the door, lad.”
     Hannah did so, and then approached to a few feet respectful feet from the desk, linking her hands in the small of her back and preparing to speak from the bottom of her throat.
     Rowlands laid his pen crossways above the ledger. Paper rustled as he folded his hands together on the blotter. “Master Henry Collins,” he said slowly, as if tasting the syllables. “Well. I’ve had six months without trouble from you. That’s more than I can say for some. But I was hoping it would be at least a year.”
     “I’m sorry, sir.”
     “What for, exactly?”
     “…I don’t know, sir. Causing trouble, sir.”
     Rowlands grunted noncommittally. “Fours years with the Northern Legion Trading Company—six months of that here… Your record’s rather clean, Collins. A wiser man than me might say a little too clean.” He sat forward hard-eyed. “Like to keep out of trouble, do you, lad?”
     “I find it best to steer clear of undue attention, sir,” Hannah admitted unwillingly.
     Rowlands grunted again and sat back in his chair. “I should think so, with your looks. D’you know, it was a risk taking you on, all the way out here. The only reason I did was Captain Flanagan spoke highly of your resilience and loyalty. And I need good, hard-working men out here, Collins,” he said with feeling. “If the company is to tame this land, we need a strong base of support.
     “There’s too much distance between here and the nearest outpost. Too long for something to go wrong.” Rowlands lapsed into brooding silence.
     Unsure of what to say – or if she was supposed to say anything – Hannah kept quiet.
     “But you’re continental Indian, am I right?” the lieutenant said briskly, shaking himself. “On your father’s side? That’s what you’ve noted on your enlistment form.”
     Hannah breathed a silent sigh of relief. “That’s correct, sir.”
     “From Calcutta,” said Rowlands. “Always wanted to go there myself. Intended to drop out of the Company once I’d saved enough for a commission, and join the British Forces. But then of course I met Rebecca…” His eyes skipped past Hannah to the portrait of his family that hung by the door.
     “I wouldn’t know, sir,” Hannah said, treading carefully. Her lie was on delicate ground here. “I was born in Toronto. My father’s the one as did the travelling.”
     “Mmhmm. Now about this incident. I’ve heard the tale from Mister Horne,” Rowlands informed Hannah.
     And he’d likely got it from Doc, Yannick and Woolsey, Hannah thought privately.
     “—and I’m aware of your part in it. As a point of interest, why didn’t you resist, lad?”
     Mutely, she pointed to a purplish bruise half-hidden by her hairline. She declined to point out that Woolsey was half her weight again – a good deal of it muscle – and he was drunker than a sailor on shore-leave.
     The lieutenant eyed the swelling with something like displeasure, but said, “I suppose you think there was little you could do, don’t you, Collins? I should tell you, I won’t stand for that kind of behaviour in my camp. I’ve already given your fellow Legionary a severe dressing down about the whole debacle. He’ll be accompanying the supply train as a porter in the morning.”
     She’d also heard him tell Woolsey that if it happened again, it’d be a hundred strokes of the lash, and half-rations for a fortnight for disturbing the peace. She kept her face blank.
     “A man should be able to defend himself, though,” Rowlands was saying. “That’s what my father used to say to me.”
     “Begging your pardon, sir, but I was reaching for my boot-knife when Yannick intervened…”
     Rowlands stopped mid-reminisce, and stared at her. Then he chuckled. “Boot-knife? Good Lord, man, why didn’t you throw a punch? A good frontiersman should be able to line up at least one good jab when set upon. But you’re a fastidious lad, aren’t you Collins,” he mused, seeing Hannah’s discomfort. “I knew some like you in my University days…” His eyes trailed over the line of Hannah’s jaw. “Always conscientious. Never a scrap of stubble on them either.”
     “My father was a God-fearing man, sir.” That, at least, was true. “To his mind, failing to uphold proper presentation was an offence against God.”
     “We’re all God-fearing men here, Master Collins,” Rowlands reminded her sardonically. His brows drew together. “Unfortunately not like these thieves.”
     Belatedly Hannah remembered she wasn’t supposed to know about that. “Sir?”
     “Horsethieves, lad. In the dead of last night, a troop of them raided the local Indian village. Made a mess of the place and stole a good half-dozen of their best horses.”
     “Is a detachment going after them? Sir,” she added hurriedly at the stern arch of his eyebrow.
     “Yes. As a matter of fact, you’ll be accompanying them.”
     Hannah lost grip on all her pretences in shock. Going with—
     “Don’t think I’ve forgotten your part in the incident with Mister Woolsey,” the lieutenant said sharply. “I wasn’t making light of a man’s responsibility to defend his own person. In addition, you failed to report the incident, and breached Company protocol. Together, the pair of you caused a scene, disrupted the watches, and marred the fort record.”
      There hadn’t been so much as a brawl in Fort Bailey since the previous year and it was a testament to Rowlands’ control of his command and the respect of his subordinates that it was true. It was also a point of great pride for him; this incident offended him on a personal level.
     “As penance for your role in disturbing the peace of this fort, you’ll be leading the packhorses for the trackers. Do you disagree that this is a job befitting an Assistant Quartermaster, Master Collins?” Rowlands inquired sternly, seeing the protest warring with understanding on her face.
     Hannah shook her head stiffly. “No sir, I don’t disagree.”
     His stern expression softened but he didn’t relent. “Excellent. Then I’ll be seeing you bright and early tomorrow morning with the tracking party. You’ll report to Mister Horne first thing. He, O’Malley and Lawson are going to ride out along the trail as soon as there’s enough light to see it. They will retrieve the village livestock or ride those curst thieves into the ground trying. Dismissed.”
     He made no mention of Black Bear; she didn’t dare ask. Bobbing her head, she mumbled a cursory ‘Sir’, and withdrew. On the way back to the storehouse, she pondered these new turns of events. She knew Patrick and Thomas, and the lieutenant was a good man, ranked or not.
     Halfway to the Quartermaster’s Black Bear strode by her in the direction of the gate. Hannah couldn’t stop and talk to him openly, but she hissed Rowlands’ orders in brief as he passed. If he heard, he made no reply.
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Comes The Dark

Chapter 6: The Edge of Darkness