Chapter 11: May 15th, 1841

One day had passed as the morning light began to hit the household when there was a knock at the front entrance. Linah responded as she came up to the door to see who was there. She opened it up to see that it was Albert. He had a look of agitation in his eyes.

“Albert, good morning. How can I help you out?” she asked with a smile.

“I need to talk to Frederick right now. Can you get him?” he said with some distress.

“I will get him right now.”

Linah turned around as she walked up the stairs to find Frederick. Aida opened up the door to her room to look at the front door. She could see it was the man that initially sat with Frederick when he bided for her a while back. Albert Smith had turned around from the door as he sat and waited for him to come out. She stepped out of her room as she watched Frederick walk down the stairs.

She did not get a good view of him as he proceeded out of the living room and stepped outside to talk to them. She decided to walk near the open door to listen to their conversation.

Albert and Frederick both sat down on a chair as they spoke to one another.

“One of my slaves escaped. Do you happen to have seen a little black girl around the age of thirteen around here?” Smith asked him.

Frederick was shocked as he looked at him. “What? No, I have never seen her around here. When did this happen?”

“She disappeared supposedly at around late afternoon last night.”

“Well, there was a set of men that were sent to go find her. I can’t keep affording to lose slaves. It will start to force me into the red. My wife is not happy about this.”

“I don’t know what to do about it, Albert. I am sorry to hear about it.”

Smith gave an angry look as he looked away. He shook his head in disbelief. He then looked at the barn. “How are you doing with the barn? I heard about the fire that broke out.”

“Ugh ... not good. The good news is that I can leave the damage untouched. Most of the damage is pretty superficial. The catch was that I lost over half my tools from the fire.”

“I am sorry to hear about it. I can try to lend some of my tools to help you out.”

Frederick shook his head. “No, I am good here. With the loss of most of the workforce, the extra tools don’t have that much impact because they were not being used anyway. The problem is that it will make it hard to expand back to what I was before...”

“Before you freed your slaves...,” Smith remarked with a sly look.

“I swear I don’t know what to do about things anymore. I am thinking of selling the farm and moving out.”

“Hmm ... I know somebody that might be interested in buying your place. You already got some cotton planted. You have most of the buildings intact that make it perfect for him to move in. He wants to expand his business venture. I can go contact this man if you want to...”

“I will keep it in mind,” Frederick shrugged. There was a hint of interruption in his voice.

“I am sure if you add your slaves in the purchase, he will definitely take it.”

“No...”

Aida smiled when she heard Frederick say that.

“Oh yeah, that negro you bought. Did you ... have fun with her yet?”

“No.”

Albert had a questioning look on his face. “I can’t help but notice what you did to your face. I swore I never would have imagined you would do what you did.”

“Things change, Albert. The fire in the barn, despite what happened ... was an act of God that put it out. I think it was god’s way that I need to get my act together and make changes for the better. I was going to lose that barn without divine intervention. I just keep getting these weird events that keep happening in my life since I was a child.”

“What do you mean?” Albert asked him.

“Remember the two coins I found by your home when we were kids?”

“Yeah, I do. You gave me one, and you kept the other for yourself. The coins were made out of silver, but we could never find out how they got there in the first place.”

“What did you do with your coin?” Frederick asked him.

“I sold it, got me enough money for me to buy a horse. What about you?”

“I keep it if things go rock bottom here for the farm. I keep them buried with things that I either love or hate along with anything else that I might think are valuable.”

Aida’s eyes lit up as her face turned to listen to what Frederick just said just now. She thought to herself quietly as she walked away from the door. The words were precisely what Aida needed to hear. She kept careful note of it.

Albert stood up from his chair as he went and shook Frederick’s hand. “If you find Trisha, report it to the authorities and notify me. I don’t care if you have to have her tied up. I will deal with her,” Smith said with anger in his face.

“I will do what I can. Take care.”

“You too.”

Aida watched from a window as Smith stepped off the porch and walked away from the house to the dirt road.

Frederick shook his head as his friend walked away. He got up from the chair as he walked back into the home. Aida watched as he stepped back into the living room. She was shocked at what she saw on him. He no longer had his sideburns.

“He ... shaved his face,” she quietly said to herself. “He actually went that far because I suggested it?”

Aida’s heart began to flutter. She smiled at the thought that he went out of his way to do what she suggested to him.

“Aida!” Linah called her out from the kitchen. “I need your help. We have a busy schedule to keep today, and I need you to help me out.”

“I am coming!” she yelled as she turned her head to the kitchen.

As she headed to the kitchen, she thought quietly to herself again. “I will have to check this out at night once everyone is asleep. Patience is a virtue when it comes to this.”

It was late night when Aida woke up in her bed. She heard a voice appear in her head.

<Ayida-Weedo, It’s your partner. I need your help. Can you come and see me as soon as you can?>

Aida lifted her back off her bed as she acknowledged what she just heard. The familiar French accent gave it away immediately to whom it was.

“Ugh ... I need to check out to see if Frederick truly has it or not. Hopefully, Reynard will remember to activate his tracking crystal since we are separated,” she said to herself. “Those...”

Her thoughts stopped as her senses flared up. She felt the energy far in the distance calling her. She lifted her hand to concentrate on where it was coming from before she lowered it.

“That’s him, alright. Reynard, hopefully, this is quick. I can’t keep getting pulled away from this assignment.”

She stepped out of her bed in her night clothes. She looked at the door as she held her hand up in the air. She focused on the distant energy of the tracking crystal that her partner had in place. Her mind pictured where the energy was calling from. It was miles away from her location. She closed her eyes as the light began to emerge from her hand. She then lifted her hand high in the air and said, “Teleport.” She dematerialized from the room instantly to her new destination.

There was a flash of light as Aida appeared in a grassy field by a pair of oak trees. She looked around and tried to note her surroundings. She was located in a forest isolated from the farms and homes at least less than a mile from the dirt road. The darkness, except for the full moon, made it hard for her to see.

Standing in front of her was a short ginger-haired man around her size and what looked like a little African American girl. It was the same ginger-haired man that brought her to the auction block when Frederick purchased her. He was holding the little girl’s hand. Below her feet was a glowing crystal that was the tracking crystal that her partner put on the ground.

“Why did you summon me, Reynard?” Aida asked.

“Ah ... there she is...” The ginger-haired man responded in a French accent. There was a strong sense of joviality in his voice. “It was important that I summoned you. Aida, I want you to meet Trisha beside me. Trisha, this is Ayida-Weedo. Say hello to her.”

Ayida-Weedo gave a surprised look at the little girl. “I heard of her ... the escaped slave from Frederick’s friend from this morning. Most interesting...”

The little girl was a little scared as she lifted her hand to wave to her.

“Hello, Trisha,” Ayida-Weedo replied as she turned to look at Reynard. “What is going on? You summoned me for a good reason, I hope.”

Reynard walked away from the little girl a few feet from her as Aida got close to hear what he had to say.

“Ayida-Weedo, I have been probing and gathering the information from the other people here, and I found something special about this little girl. She is human but has the ability to use magic.”

Aida looked at the man in surprise. “Only a few humans have the ability to use magic, and those that can have to have something special about them in the first place to even make it happen.”

“There is more to this. I think she might be a distant relative of one of the African Deities. I need you to take a look at her.”

“Is that all?” Aida said with a smile. “You poor fairy tale characters and your lack of magical senses...”

Reynard put his hands to his head and heart while turning his head away. “I resent that statement. I wouldn’t have had to summon you here in the first place otherwise if it wasn’t important.”

She patted him on the shoulder as she turned her gaze towards the little girl. She then walked up to the little girl, and she took a knee to be at her height.

“Trisha, can you show me your hands?” she asked her.

Trisha looked at her hands and lifted them up for her to see.

“Alright, let’s take a look here. I need to hold your hand, and I need to smell it. Is that alright with you?”

The girl looked at her. She was a little bit scarred, but her appearance and the calm reaction allowed her to quickly gain her trust. She extended her hand for Aida to hold.

Aida took the girl’s hand, and she began to close her eyes. A small amount of light started to emit from their hands. Aida herself displayed a smile on her face. She nodded as she opened her eyes as the light faded. She then took the girl’s hand and brought it to her nose. With a big whiff, she took in the little girl’s scent. Afterward, she peacefully released her hand.

She still sat on her knee as she turned her head towards Reynard.

“Do you sense anything?” Reynard asked.

Aida nodded. “I certainly do. I do not sense any spirits within her. It is just her in that body. However, she is giving off magical energy in her aura. It is very well possible she is one of the descendants of one of the African Deities. Descendants don’t always display magical capabilities as the blood line gets deluded with human genes over a long period of time, but it can and does happen sometimes. Can you tell me the full story of what happened and how you found her?”

Reynard put his hand to his chin. “Before you were sold off to that human with the sideburns, I was with the other slaves in the previous auction. This was just about the time you decided to get yourself captured and traveled by ship to get here. In order to make the mission work, I had to establish myself as one of the people who worked at the slave auctions to make sure that the right human purchased you.”

“And?...”

“This slave girl was sold to the friend of the person that bought you several weeks ago. Before this girl was brought out the door, a large amount of static came from her hand. There was not much that I could do at the time because of our mission. However, I wanted to go and find out more about this little girl.”

Aida had a look of surprise. “Why didn’t you tell me this before I was sold off?”

He happily shrugged. “Ah ... she gets to the point. You see ... I had to undertake this myself. I could not let the little lady suffer.”

“You should have contacted me sooner.”

“But you are on a mission, yes? I saw Trisha and knew that she needed help. I will not abandon my friends and future family of the Coalition.”

“Still...” Aida sighed. “We could have contacted other members of the Coalition to help in getting her out.”

Reynard waved his hand at her before he put it to his heart. “Spoken with such rule and authority. A woman after my own heart ... sorry, Ayida Weddo, but I must do this myself. As a fairy tale character, I have a history of heroism and virtue. The gallant hero that comes to save the day ... alas ... I am kept away from it in these bold but pointless missions. Trisha is under my care. As a demi-goddess ... I must save her.”

Aida sighed. “Continue with your story.”

“Well,” Reynard explained as he got to the point. “I managed to get lead on where this Albert lived and spoke to the slaves that lived there. I managed to get a chance to talk to the little girl, and she didn’t know what happened to her that day. She was able to create the same spark when I asked her, though. I knew then and there for sure that she had the ability to use magic. If she was brought to the Coalition of Deities, she could join our ranks. I decided that it was time I did something instead of being so dependent on you deities. She may be human, but I could get her out of there. I went and told the slaves that I was going to get her to safety up North away from the slavers before they use her for some ill gain or worse to her.”

Aida went and scratched the back of her head. “You think you can do this by yourself getting her up North? I could simply teleport both of you up North and make it all easy for you.”

Reynard pointed his finger at her. “And have you take the glory for all this? No ... I invoke the ‘Rule of Ranger.’ It was a rule that...”

“I know what that rule is. It is the rule that Fairy Tale characters can undertake their own mission in another mission as long as it does not violate the sacred rules established in the Coalition.”

Reynard bowed gracefully to her. “You know who established that rule when the Union of Non-Deities was created? I did, along with the other ten rules. Sometimes we have to do a thing you gods can’t normally do, and that is what makes us so special to you guys.”

“I still have to inform the Coalition about what has happened here after I find what I am looking for. I do wish you luck on your mission. Make sure that she makes it.”

Reynard smiled. “Don’t worry, I found out Br’er Rabbit is a couple miles from us. He is part of the Underground Railroad here in South Carolina. Trisha and I will head to his home and see where we can go from there.”

Aida laughed. “I still can’t believe he has taken the shape of a rabbit now. Everyone knows what he really is. At least he is following the rules and not letting everyone know what he truly is. Well then, I guess I will wish you luck then.” Aida then turned her head to the little girl “Trisha, I believe you are one of us. Reynard will be taking care of your...”

There was a sound in the distance as they could hear men on horses and bloodhound dogs in the distance. They were quickly closing on their location.

“Damn,” Reynard said as he stomped his shoe to the ground. “The fiends ... I knew they would close in on us. Hmmm...”

Aida looked at Reynard. “Bounty Hunters?”

“Yes ... they are trying to get this girl back to her owner. I will not let that happen.”

The sound got louder and louder. In the distance, they can see the tiny dots of lit torches closing in on them. In half a minute, they would be on them.

“Looks like we are still working on this together, partner,” Aida said with a smile. “We have the right to protect her from harm now that we know that she is part god.”

“Rightly said, rainbow serpent,” Reynard said as smoke and vapor started to appear on his hand. The smoke dissipated as he held a Collier Flintlock Revolver. At a time when Percussion Cap guns were still in use. These multi-barreled pistols were dangerous as each barrel had the explosive charge loaded with a bullet ready to fire compared to a typical Percussion cap rifle. Five rounds could be fired before they needed to be reloaded if the shooter spent the time to load each barrel.

“You know it looks like I get to finally use my gun,” Reynard commented. “Us non-deities have to keep up with the times compared to you that still throw ... whatever it is you throw.”

“It’s called a Kpinga.”

Reynard looked at the closing torchlight. “Think we should take our normal forms?”

Aida looked at the approaching men on horseback. “If we do, then no man must be alive after we get done. Something tells me that in the end, we will have to kill them all if you are to get Trisha to safety anyway.”

“Right. Let me talk to them. Let me see if I can talk some sense in them.”

Aida gave the go-ahead sign to Reynard as she backed away to let the red-haired man discourage the men from their pursuit.

Reynard stepped forward with his pistol as the men finally reached their location. The bloodhounds barked as they led straight to the run-away girl. Aida walked up to Trisha and held her behind her to shield her. The men on horseback were led by one bearded man with four other men. All were armed with various flintlock pistols, ropes, or any type of weapons that they could get ahold of.

Bounty Hunters were common in the time period. Their goal was to capture runaway slaves and bring them back to their owners. They typically had bloodhounds that had the best smell and tracking abilities than any other dogs. It was getting so bad at the time period with runaway slaves that by another nine years, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 would force the North to use Federal Marshals to return fugitive slaves that escaped up North to get away from their enslavers. That law would also be colloquially known as the Bloodhound Law, and it would further divide North and South in their views on slavery.

The lead man on the horse spoke up as soon as he saw Reynard, Aida, and ultimately Trisha poking her head behind Aida. The lit torches of the men revealed the scene before them. There was no evading the bloodhounds. They pointed straight at Trisha.

“Well, well ... what do we have here?” said the lead man. “Looks like we found our nigger and oh ... two of them! Escaped slaves...,” He said with a smile. “Looks like we are getting paid well tonight, men!”

“Ah ... but wait!” yelled Reynard as he waved his hand in the air. “I found these escaped slaves. I will be returning them to their proper owners.”

Trisha was scared as she stood behind Aida. She could feel her shaking behind her.

“Don’t worry, Trisha,” Aida told her. “They will not take you, I promise you.”

The lead man spoke to Reynard, “What’s your name, bounty hunter?”

“Reginhard Grimus!” Reynard responded.

There was skepticism in the man’s eyes as he looked at the five-foot man. “Reginhard? ... I hear a French accent in that voice,” his eyes narrowed at him. “I don’t recognize you.”

“I swear to you that these slaves are with me. I claim the bounty.”

The bearded man laughed. “Bounty Hunter! Bullshit! I would have seen you before at our guild. All bounty hunters are registered through our guild and work through me.”

“Last chance! I claim these two for the prize.” Reynard responded back. He lifted his revolver and aimed it at the lead man.

All the other men on horseback with their flintlock pistols aimed straight at Reynard.

“You can’t win this Frenchman! Five against one. Give us the slaves,” one of the men yelled back.

“You have the balls of a bull, Reginhard,” The bearded man responded. “I will give you that. However, I think you are just a member of the Underground Railroad, a traitor to the men of the South. I think I will take you all into custody.”

Reynard shrugged. “Alas ... I tried.” Reynard pulled the trigger of his revolver as a lead ball flew from his gun and into the bearded man’s heart. He fell from his horse as he dropped over dead. The other men, shocked at the scene, returned fire. Smoke pillared from their pistols as they fired their rounds into Reynard. All the shots hit him and bounced off of him, doing no damage to him.

There was a flash of blinding light as the surrounding area lit up the originated from the Reynard. Reynard’s form changed as he was no longer a human being but his true form. The bright light forced the men to look away as the horses themselves were spooked. He waved his hand, fanning the smoke away bellowed from his revolver. What was revealed was a four-foot-tall anthro bipedal fox, Reynard’s proper form. His red fur coat, the bushy tail of a fox, pointed ears, four-fingered paws that held his revolver, black pointy nose, a light-colored cowboy hat with a large quill standing on its side, a mystical dagger on his belt, a light-colored jerkin with the seal of the fox emblem in the center, and short breeches that covered the lower part of his body all showed what he was to the men as they stood in shock.

“What can I say?” Reynard the Fox spoke with a light shrug at the men. “I like a good appearance.”

He aimed his revolver at the next man and opened fire with his revolver. The shot hit the man square in the head as he fell off his horse and to the ground dead.

The men were in a panic at the sight of an anthropomorphic walking fox as one of the horses reeled back, causing the man to fall off of his horse.

“Retreat!” One of the other men responded back.

Before the other men could react, Aida ran forward at the men. Their pistols only had one shot, so their guns were useless now. The dogs were in confusion as some yelped at the chaos of the scene and others ran away. One dog charged at Reynard as he used his backhand to swat the dog away. The dog yelped as it backed off. Another horse knocked the man off him as he tumbled to the ground. One man was left on his horse as Reynard took aim at the man and fired. This time the round struck the man in the shoulder as he fell to the ground.

Trisha stood in shock, seeing the man that was trying to help her escape was actually none other than Reynard the Fox, a known Fairy Tale character and member of the Coalition of Deities determined to protect her to his end.

And it didn’t end there...

A blinding flash of light emitted from Aida’s form as her true form was revealed to Trisha and the remaining three men. The men cowered in fear at the blinding light to see something that shouldn’t exist. One of the men screamed. Aida, whose true name was Ayida-Weedo, stood from her tail as an eight-foot-tall anthropomorphic serpent woman that wore an African dress similar to the Dahomey women of Western Africa. Her jewel, fanged necklace that covered most of her chest, blue bead covered top that ran down to a lower blue dress that covered her lower body, a long tail that flowed outward that helped hold her up, scales with a dazzling multicolor display of colors, serpentine eyes, all displayed to the others that she was the rainbow serpent.

Reynard took aim at the next man and pulled the trigger, but the revolver failed to go off.

“Sacre bleu!” he yelled as he stopped to check out his revolver.

“Don’t worry, Reynard,” Ayida-Weedo told him. “I have this!”

With one hand, a ball of fire began to form in the rainbow serpent’s hands. She then pulled her hand back and shoved it forward in the direction of one of the men. A massive ball of flame surged forward as it went into the next man. In a couple of seconds of screaming, a burning husk of a human dropped to the ground.

The men were in full retreat now. The horses ran away and the few dogs left began to run away as well. Ayida-Weedo was not done yet as she conjured a fireball in her hand and tossed it at one of the men. The man ignited in flames as he fell to the ground screaming in pain, soon to be incinerated. With her other hand, a pillar of smoke began to form. It quickly dissipated as her Kpinga, an African throwing knife known for its three blades, materialized in her hand. She pulled her arm back and threw it at the running man. The spinning blade flew through the air and straight into the last man as it impaled him through his back and chest. She held her hand out as the Kpinga disappeared in a puff of smoke and rematerialized in her hand.

“Phew, what a mess. Looks like I had a chance to use my throwing knife again,” Ayida-Weedo commented at the scene. Trisha stood there with her hands to her mouth at the scene that unfolded to her. All five men lie dead on the grassy floor.

Reynard took a look at his revolver. “Ah, I see what the problem is with my gun. I will have to fix it later,” He said as he holstered his revolver. He then turned to look at the little girl “Trisha, are you alright?”

Trisha nodded her head. She began to calm down the longer she saw both Ayida-Weedo and Reynard. Both of them saved her from being sent back to her enslavers.

“I recommend that we burn the bodies,” Reynard commented. “They will be left with a mystery, but they will think at the most that anti-slavers or abolitionists did it, but they will have no leads to go with.”

“I agree,” Ayida-Weedo, replied. She held one of her hands up in the air as she closed her eyes. She then opened her eyes as she snapped her finger, and the dead bodies ignited in flames.

“It’s time that we leave before more people arrive to investigate the scene,” Reynard commented.

“Are you sure you got it from here?” Ayida-Weedo asked the fox.

“Yes, go take care of your mission. I will escort the girl to safety.”

“Alright, I am teleporting back. Call me if you need me, alright?”

Trisha broke their conversation as she looked at the rainbow serpent. “Thank you, Ayida, for helping us out. Thank you, fox.” She ran up to the serpent as she tried to wrap her arms around her. Ayida-Weedo smiled as she patted the little girl’s head. She then broke the hug to give the serpent her room.

“And I too thank you, Ayida-Weedo,” Reynard the Fox told her. He took his hat off and bowed his head to her with a smile that only a fox could give.

“Good luck, my fox friend,” she said with a smile. She then closed her eyes as she pictured her room in her mind. She held out her hand as light and energy formed in her hand. She then lifted it to the sky as she then lowered it to the ground. She yelled, “Teleport!” as she gave a light flash. Her form dematerialized in front of both of them.

Reynard the Fox then put his hat back on his head as he looked at Trisha. He walked up to the energy crystal to help summon Ayida-Weedo, picked it up, and smacked it to deactivate it. He held out his hand to Trisha. “Ready to keep running, little one? We got a ways to go.”

Trisha went and took the fox’s hand as they both darted deeper into the forest.

All was silent for the next few hours as Aida resumed her human form again.

The main door of Frederick’s home quietly opened as she stepped out. The night air and the sound of crickets lit the scene. The full moon was still out. The light of the moon provided the only light for her adjusting eyes to see the lawn. She looked near the two steps on the porch. Not far from the edge of the corner of the porch was a small orange dirt patch where the grass was quickly taking over.

“That has to be it,” she quietly commented to herself. “I remember him digging a hole for those shackles not far from the window. I will start there and check it out.”

Aida quietly closed the door. The wood creaked as she stepped down from the stairs and into the soft soil.

Not far from her, she could see a group of more men on horseback as they rode forward past the house. She could see the lit torchlight that they held from a far distance. They disappeared from the night as they continued up north.

“They must be going to check out on the men that were killed or trying to find Trisha and Reynard,” She quietly commented. “They will fail in finding Reynard. He could outfox anyone.”

Aida took a look at the soft patch of dirt as she walked up to it. Her curiosity outweighed anything. She got on her knees as she took her hands and started to dig into the soft soil. Her fingers dug into the dirt as she pulled them back to create a hole. Her hands were practically shovels as she worked tirelessly to get deeper and deeper into the ground. The growing grass and dirt were being unearthed once again.

“It has to be here,” she quietly said to herself. “Everything is happening as I was told would happen.”

She spent the next ten minutes digging through the soil till one of her hands struck something. Her finger hit something metal. Her face smiled as she knew she was close.

She pulled out the dirty metal shackles that were used to secure her. She kept her digging. It would not be far from her if he had buried it next to it. Her fingers continued to push through the soil. A wall of dirt and torn-up grass lay on the walls of the dirt hole she created. Finally, after another fifteen minutes of digging, her fingers struck something else near the shackles.

Her hand rested on something metal. It was large and flat. She quickly kept pushing the soil out of its way as she started to notice it was a metal box. It was small enough, however, that she could ply her fingers and rip it out from the hardened dirt where it came from. Like pulling out a treasure chest, her immense strength yanked the grayish-brown box from the dirt hole.