Chapter 38

Ken Takes the Narrative for the trips to the East Coast:

We packed our things on Monday night and following breakfast on Tuesday morning were ready to leave for the East Coast, specifically for Charleston, South Carolina. The we included Kell, his Wives Airmid and Alma, Thomas Young, my Wives, Sunshine and Rose, and me, Ken. We all had our horses plus a pack horse in addition to extra clothes and food.

Thomas Young had been very nervous when we mentioned that we were going to Charleston, itself.

“There are a lot of British soldiers and patrols all around Charles Town,” he cautioned us.

“I’m sure that there are, Thomas, but please remember that in our time in our Reality all of the major and even minor cities on the east coast have expanded tremendously from what they are in this time and Reality,” I reminded him.

“So we won’t be in the Charles Town here?” he asked.

“No, we’ll be well outside of the present city here,” Kell assured him, much to his relief.

Out at the stable, Molony and O’Rouke had our horses ready for us. We filled our saddlebags with clothes and other things. Molony and O’Rouke had already loaded the food and other supplies on the pack horses, which to our surprise now numbered two.

“There is extra grain on the second pack horse,” Molony told us, and we thanked him before leading the horses out to the front of the main house. Our Wives calmed the horses while Kell and I got everyone spread out to cover all of the horses. Thomas looked at us questioningly during this not understanding what we were doing. We were soon ready and placed Thomas between the horses. Kell and I cast the transfer spell drawing part of the Magic required from our Wives. We vanished from in front of the main house at Hickory Hill and reappeared where the bookstore that we had serviced in our Reality was in North Charleston on Dorchester Road. In this Reality, we were in a marshy area of grass and trees much to Thomas’s surprise.

“Where are we?” Thomas asked, as our Wives calmed the horses again.

“We’re about six miles north of the present town of Charleston,” I told him. “The Ashley River is about a mile or so south of us, and the Cooper River is well to the east of us.”

“So we are north of the Charles Town neck. The city is called Charles Town here and not Charleston as you pronounced it,” Thomas corrected us with a smile and seemed more sure of himself.

“There are two things that I believe you need to do. The first is to get a look at the harbor from a distance, and the second is to go into Charles Town to look at the actual warehouses that the British are using,” he told us.

“Where do we find this view of the harbor?” Kell asked.

“It will require some traveling and crossing several of the local rivers, and that could be a major problem. We’ll need to find someone to take us and our horses across the rivers as they are quite wide and deep. We’ll need to find a ferryman who won’t give us away,” Thomas informed us.

“Let’s see these rivers, and then we’ll see about crossing them,” I told him. Thomas led us in a easterly direction for about two miles before we came to a broad river.

“This is the Cooper River,” he told us. “We’ll need to find someone reliable to ferry us across it.”

“How far would you say it is to the other shore?” I asked Kell.

“I would say somewhere around 1200 yards, Ken,” Kell answered.

“It certainly isn’t as far as it was across Lough Arrow,” Airmid added. Thomas stared at us in confusion on hearing our conversation.

“What are you talking about?” he wanted to know.

“We’ve crossed rivers and other bodies of water before,” I told him. “This one won’t be a problem.”

“We still need to find a ferry,” Thomas insisted.

“Not really,” Almha told him. “We can cross here easily, but will need to take the horses also.”

“But how?” Thomas asked in surprise.

“It’s called a line-of-sight transfer,” I told him, as Airmid and Almha joined hands, faced the land across the river from us, and vanished. They soon reappeared with a smile on their faces.

“The ground there is a bit more solid,” Almha told us. “Let’s calm the horses, and then we can all transfer there.” We all calmed the horses, put Thomas in front of them, and joined hands before Airmid and Almha started the transfer spell. We reappeared on the land across the river. Thomas looked around himself in amazement for several seconds.

“This is Daniel Island!” he said in shocked surprise, apparently recognizing the area that we were in.

“What direction do we need to proceed in?” I asked him.

“We need to go south and east from here toward the lower part of the island. There is a creek to cross on the way. At the southern end of the island there is the Wando River to cross,” he told us. We remounted our horses and set out.

It required a bit more than an hour to cover the four miles or so to the south end of the island. The Wando River, where we crossed it, wasn’t as wide as the Cooper had been, and we had no trouble crossing it. The ground on the other side was also a bit firmer than that on the south end of Daniel Island had been.

“Where to now?” I asked Thomas.

“A bit further south. There are people who watch the harbor and keep us informed of what the British are doing. They are based out of Mount Edgecomb here on Hogg Island. Don’t ask any of their names though. We do that for security. If you don’t know their names, you can’t give them away. These people don’t know you and will be suspicious,” he warned us.

We continued in a more or less southerly direction. Shortly after crossing another creek, we were met by several men who pointed muskets at us. Their guns didn’t bother us, as we had our strongest wards set already.

“Who are these people with you, Commander?” the one in charge demanded.

“They are some friends who are here to find out where the British are storing their supplies. They intend to keep those supplies from being used,” Thomas told the man.

“A fine intention,” their leader said, “but how will they accomplish it?”

“You will have to trust me on that, my friend. I’ve seen them do some amazing things, and I’m sure that they can do this,” Thomas assured him.

“What about reprisals? The British will be upset when they destroy their supplies. Plus there are all of the other ports along the coast. What good will stopping supplies at one be?” the local leader demanded.

“We need to discuss this in private,” Thomas told the other man, looking around at those with him in distaste.

“All right,” the local leader agreed. “You other men keep a sharp lookout in case they were followed,” he ordered his men who melted away into the vegetation, and we could soon tell that they were a considerable distance away. Thomas brought the local leader over closer to us after we dismounted.

“They intend to strike all of the major ports along the coast, but this information is to remain secret. They have sufficient people to do this, but they need to visit each port and determine where the supplies are stored,” Thomas told the local leader in a whisper.

“That’s very ambitious. Will they do this in all of the ports at the same time?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s the plan. I brought them here to get a look at the harbor. Are there any supply ships there now?” Thomas asked.

“Yes. Usually two or three ships arrive each week. They’re usually three hundred fifty to five hundred tons burden each, and they’ve been arriving steadily since early November,” the local leader told Thomas.

“Then we’re talking about eight hundred to a thousand tons or more of cargo arriving here each week!” Kell said.

“Yes, something like that,” the local leader agreed.

“We still need to see the harbor,” Thomas insisted.

“I’ll take you to our observation outpost. It’s on Shute’s Folly,” the leader told us.

“Shute’s Folly?” we all asked.

“It’s a marshy island. It faces the harbor at Charles Town,” he told us. The local leader had a horse hidden in the trees, and we followed him further south on Hogg Island. It was around a mile to the south point of the island, and the ground became progressively marshier the further south that we moved. We eventually came to a channel that separated Hogg Island from what we were told was Shute’s Folly. We left our horses in some trees near the south end of the island.

The local leader had a small boat there for us to cross the channel which was maybe a hundred yards wide at this point. We simply surrounded the two leaders and transferred all of us to Shute’s Folly which was an even marshier island.

“What? ... How?” the local leader shouted on seeing where he was. Thomas already had his hand on the man’s shoulder.

“These people are very powerful and can do amazing things,” he quietly told the startled man.

“How did they do this?” he in turn demanded in a quieter voice.

“They use Magic. I never believed in Magic, but since meeting them and their relatives, I’ve had to change my mind,” Thomas told the man.

“Yes, I would guess so,” he replied in a noncommittal voice before leading us some six hundred yards or so to the western edge of the island which became progressively marshier as we moved. We eventually came to a small observation site built of logs that was currently above water level and dry. There was tall marsh grass and shrubs in front of the platform, and two men were there watching the piers and ships in Charles Town harbor. The local leader had alerted them to our presence before we appeared, but they were still pointing guns at us as we came into view.

“Is there anything new?” their leader asked after introducing the men as observer # 1 and observer # 2.

“Yes,” Observer # 1 said. “Two ships with additional soldiers have arrived.”

“Are those in addition to the usual three supply ships?” their leader asked.

“Yes, and they were all over 350 tons this time. The British are building up an awful lot of supplies this year,” Observer # 2 stated.

“They’ve moved to new piers also. That probably means that they’ve taken over additional warehouses to store the new supplies in,” Observer # 1 added.

“Give these people a look through your spyglass. They’re going to try to do something about those supplies,” their leader told the observers. We all had a chance to look through their small telescope or spyglass. Charles Town had a large number of piers and many warehouses along its waterfront. We could easily see the ships presently unloading supplies about midway up the line of piers. There were also a number of British Navy ships at anchor in the harbor but not at the piers.

“Are there many British Navy ships assigned here?” Kell asked.

“There are about eight assigned here permanently. The largest is a thirty-eight gun frigate. The rest are smaller,” we were told.

“We need to get a look at those warehouses and determine which ones they’re storing supplies in,” I reminded Thomas.

“Let’s return to Mount Edgecomb if you have seen enough from here,” Thomas suggested.

“Yes, let’s move back,” Kell agreed as Almha returned the spyglass to Observer # 2. We moved back into the surrounding vegetation a short distance until we were out of sight of the observation post.

“This is far enough,” I said, as we surrounded Thomas and the local leader. I cast the transfer spell, and we instantly appeared where we had left our horses.