Chapter 45

It turned out that we needed to wait quite some time for our Wives. We soon grew tired of waiting, and I went to check on the shells to be sure that all of the guards were gone, the fires were out, and everything was taken care of. The last thing that I did was to cancel the openings in the tops of the shells as there would be no one here to start fires or breathe the air. When I returned, Wolf went to check on things also. Our Wives eventually returned, but they were very upset.

“These women are a bunch of sluts!” Clare exclaimed in an unhappy voice, as soon as they joined us.

“Even the young girls!” Saoirse added in just as disgusted a voice.

“They have no shame, and talk openly about all of the men they have taken to bed and allowed to do them. They even compare them one against another,” Clare told us in exasperation.

“They even discuss allowing more than one man at a time to use them!!” Saoirse exclaimed in disgust.

“But both of you have had sex!” Wolf said not understanding.

“Yes, but we don’t talk about it with others in public, or where we can be overheard!” Clare said in indignation.

“But you have discussed it,” I pointed out.

“Only between the two of us. We haven’t talked to your Sisters or Cousins about it,” Saoirse said defensively.

“Did you find out anything important during all of this talk about sex?” I asked trying to get back to our reason for being here.

“Not a lot, Mark,” Clare answered. “When they weren’t talking about having sex and who to have it with, they talked about not having sex, and a number of women complained that their current lovers had left today for various places outside of Philadelphia to bolster the units there in case of an attack,” Clare told us.

“That makes sense, but we didn’t hear anything about that tonight,” Wolf told the women.

“That may have come from General Pigot’s Headquarters,” I injected. “He is headquartered in Germantown, several miles northwest of the city.” We had learned that from Ken and Kell’s contact also.

“We may need to pay them a visit at some point,” I told the others. “For now though, it looks like the people here won’t know anything more until tomorrow evening and then only from New York and Baltimore. Let’s return to Hickory Hill and see what the others have learned,” I suggested.

Arriving back at Hickory Hill, we learned that a number of teams had already returned, and the others came in shortly after we had returned. The reports started after everyone was back and had warmed up. Most of the information they had gathered was similar to what we had learned. All of the distant ports had already sent out a ship, or were preparing to send a ship to Philadelphia explaining their problem and asking for assistance. None of them realized yet that what they had was a country-wide problem and not just a local one, so the real panic hadn’t set in yet, but it would in a few days. This gave us a few days to rest, other than checking on developments in our ports each day which could be done by just a part of each team.

John McIntosh and William Banister joined us after the meeting. They had gotten plenty of sleep and a couple of meals since arriving early this morning, and they looked a lot better, but would still need considerable time to recover completely. G & G and S &S hovered around them like mothers around their first born.

We spent some time explaining to them just who we were, and what we were presently engaged in. Both men expressed considerable surprise at not only what we had done at all of the ports, but also at the fact that we believed that they could learn to do Magic. We explained about their Talents and that, they were how our Sisters had located them. Both men were still rather weak and soon returned to bed at the insistence of our older Sisters. We did learn when questioning them that neither man was married -- yet. Much to our Sisters’ disappointment, they were also too weak for sex. We were sure that this didn’t keep our Sisters from sleeping with them however.

On Tuesday the 10th, we had time to check on what the Border Rangers were doing in our absence. Seamus and I both went to our operational sites to brief our subordinates about the new operations that we were engaged in, and to impress on them the fact that they would be operating without us for a while. They could understand that we were busy and asked if we required any help. We assured them that we had things under control.

Wolf took time that morning to transfer to the area outside of Philadelphia near the Schuylkill River and to then travel to Germantown to determine where General Pigot’s Headquarters was located. It was just off of Skippack Road (Germantown Road) near where Meeting House Lane intersected Skippack Road. He was only a few hours doing this and left a small marker shell near the location.

Checks of the meetings at the various ports that evening revealed that the British still weren’t aware of the extent of our operation. The gallopers sent to New York and Baltimore had returned to General Abercrombie’s Headquarters with reports of the problems in those locations, and requests for additional men and supplies, men and supplies that those in Philadelphia didn’t have. There was also the recurring question in all of the ports of who was responsible for these problems, but no one had an answer.

On Wednesday the 11th, word arrived by ship from Manchester about the shells there. Panic started to set in then both in Philadelphia and in Manchester, as the ship from Philadelphia had arrived there. On Thursday the 12th, word arrived from Savannah, Charles Town, and Boston. Panic was wide-spread by then, as they began to realize just how difficult a situation they faced. Wolf and I were again at General Abercrombie’s meeting on Thursday night, as we had been on all of the other nights. It was a very grumpy, somber, and worried General who opened the meeting.

“I presume that all of you have heard the latest bad news,” he said to start the meeting but didn’t enumerate on that before looking down the length of the table at each of those in attendance. “Our situation is dire, and we still have no idea of who is responsible for the situation that we find ourselves in. There have been a number of attacks by small rebel forces on some of our outposts, but nothing of a significant nature.

“All of this makes little sense. WHO ARE WE DEALING WITH?” he demanded in frustration. “If they are powerful enough to deny us access to ALL of our stocks of supplies, why have they not made their demands known or launched more of an offensive than these piddling attacks?” he demanded, this last in a stronger voice. Those at the table stared at him in unanswering silence.

“This morning, I issued orders to release all of those in prison on tax and escape charges, and to have them marched out of the city. They were marched to the Schuylkill in different groups and across the floating bridges before they were set free. The guards on the bridges and at the one ford have been reinforced to ensure that none of them returns to Philadelphia, but even this decision will only extend our existing supplies for a few more days.

“General Pigot is at his Headquarters preparing plans for extensive forays into the countryside to obtain more supplies of food. I have also sent messages to the other ports informing them that they are on their own for the immediate future, as we have nothing to send them since we are in the same situation that they are,” the General finished before sitting down. He appeared to be very tired. I nudged Wolf on hearing this, and we both canceled our invisibility spells to appear at the foot of the table where no one was currently seated. Our sudden appearance startled everyone.

“Who are you, and how did you get in here?” the Senior Colonel, who was apparently the Chief-of-Staff, demanded in an angry voice on seeing us.

“I am Lieutenant Colonel Mark O’Connell and this is my assistant Captain Wolfgang O’Connell. Our team is the cause of all of your trouble here in Philadelphia. We and the other members of the O’Connell Clan are the ones who have denied you access to all of the supplies in the ports on the Atlantic coast,” I informed him.

“Bloody damned Irishmen!” one English Captain at the table said in disgust on hearing who we were an instant before Wolf cast a spell filling his mouth with a strong soap and water mixture. He tried to spit it out but the spell had locked his jaws shut and his throat had also closed to prevent him from swallowing the mixture or breathing it in. In a short time he was nearly out of air and in a panic. Wolf finally turned him and his chair toward the wall with another spell before canceling the first spell. The Captain vomited out the soap solution and everything else in his stomach against the wall creating quite a mess.

“Don’t speak disrespectfully of the Irish!” Wolf told him and the others with a growl. Less than a minute had passed during this and no one had moved during this time. Now a murmuring began among those present.

“What do you want?” the General demanded in a loud voice from the head of the table so as to be heard over the murmuring, which instantly quieted. “And who do you represent?” he finished noting our American Army uniforms.

“We have been working with the American Army, and our clan members are the ones responsible for the disappearance of your expedition last June and another in November. Some of our relatives are also responsible for eliminating the leaders of some of your Indian allies causing them to make peace with the Americans. We have also been here for all of your meetings since installing the Defensive Shells around your supplies.

“BUT WE ARE NOT HERE IN THAT CAPACITY TONIGHT. INSTEAD AS REPRESENTATIVES OF CLAN O’CONNELL, WE ARE HERE TO DEMAND YOUR IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER, AND THE PROMPT REMOVAL OF ALL BRITISH FORCES AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS FROM THE ENTIRE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT!” I informed him and the rest of those present in a Magically amplified voice.

A look of incredulous amazement, disbelief, and shock appeared on the faces of all of those present at this announcement. As one, those at the table rose, brought up already drawn pistols, pointed them at us, and fired. It seems that the entire Staff had been told to come to the meeting armed with large bore horse pistols. Panic appeared to be more wide spread that we had imagined.

Since Wolf and I already had our strongest wards cast around us, their pistol balls flattened out against our wards when they hit then and then fell to the floor with a sound like marbles being dropped. A heavy cloud of gun smoke hung over the conference table from the discharge of their large pistols, as those present stared in stunned disbelief at us still standing there unharmed at the end of the table.

This was not to be the end of the matter, however, for immediately after that Airmid and Almha appeared beside Wolf and me. The four of us spontaneously became aware of a new spell and drew Magic with the aid of our Sisters-in-Law to power it. We four instantly began to glow from the accumulating Magic power as we cast the new spell. The metal barrels of every pistol in the room began to heat up, and they were soon glowing as they heated up to close to their melting point, setting the wooden stocks on fire.

The white heat from the metal barrels was so intense that all of the pistols were dropped by those holding or carrying them, and two pistols that had not been fired exploded with a thunderous ‘boom’ when the heat set off their powder charge, and the explosion sent red hot shrapnel flying about the room. Several of the British Officers attending the meeting were injured and a couple of fires were started by the red hot metal. All of this contributed to the panic and confusion that prevailed in the room for a time.

Through all of this, General Abercrombie had stood at the head of the conference table and appeared to have grown more and more angry.

“YOUR DEMANDS ARE RIDICULOUS! YOU DON’T HAVE THE FORCES NECESSARY TO DRIVE US OUT OF THE COLONIES THAT WE HAVE OWNED FOR THE LAST SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS. WE THEREFORE ABSOLUTELY REJECT YOUR OUTLANDISH DEMANDS,” he shouted at us, becoming so angry that his face turned red.

“There is no hurry. We will give you time to reconsider your response,” I told the General with a smile that seemed to infuriate him even more, before I changed the subject. “These young ladies are our Sisters-in-Law, the former Mac Sweeney Sisters. They helped quarantine New York and Boston,” I told him indicating the two strawberry blonds standing with us before we all disappeared from their sight, leaving them in considerable confusion.

We all instantly reappeared in the basement of the headquarters’s building. We could hear people running on the floor above us, as guards responded to the sounds of the pistol shots. Wolf and I had scouted the entire compound over the last two nights, and we knew where we would set up the Defensive Shells to imprison the Headquarters Staff separately from their support people, and both from their supplies.

“We weren’t expecting you or that new spell!” I said to Airmid and Almha after we reappeared in the basement.

“That was a pretty neat way to disarm them,” Wolf added with a smile.

“We weren’t expecting to be here. A few minutes before we appeared here, the Eternal Flame appeared in our room and told us that we were needed and to dress in our uniforms,” Airmid told me.

“After dressing, the next thing that we knew was appearing next to both of you. That spell for heating the gun barrels just popped into our minds when we appeared here!” Almha continued, a bit confused.

“We weren’t aware of knowing it either before we needed to use it. I don’t remember ever seeing anything quite like it in any of the books that I’ve studied,” I told them before continuing, “Since you are here, how about lending Wolf and me a hand with these Defensive Shells. We’re going to imprison the Headquarters, their support people, and their supplies separately.