Chapter 47

Amelia continues the Narrative:

"Are you expecting anyone else?" I asked quietly, as Duncan and Connor cast wards around the room as a precaution.

"No! Let me go and see who it is," Captain Billy told us, and started for the hall that led to the rear of the house. Connor created an opening in the ward for him. After several minutes, the Captain returned with another man who appeared very reluctant to be seen here.

"Tell them what you told me," the Captain directed, without introducing him.

"We was anchored near Ossabaw Island at dawn this morning when our lookout spied a fleet of ships on the horizon. We could easily see twenty-five ships -- large warships and there may have been more that we couldn't see past the horizon. They was sailing north well off of the coast. They looked to be English, but we couldn't tell for sure," the man reluctantly told us. He was a short, broad man in dirty, wrinkled sailor's clothing.

"We upped anchor when they was out o'sight and sailed up the inland waterway instead of staying at Ossabaw Sound for the rest of the day like usual. We anchored down the river some, and I borrowed a horse from a fellow that we know to ride up here and inform Captain Billy," the man finished, but appeared to be frightened.

""I have let it be known previously that I would pay for important information," Captain Billy told us with a sigh.

"All right. How much is this information worth?" I asked. We still had British and French coins with us.

"At least a British pound," the Captain told us. "If I had it," he added with a sigh.

"Not a problem," Connor told him and produced four gold half Guinea coins and held them up for the man to see. "You have never been here or seen any of us," Connor told him insistently, as he handed him the coins.

"Aye, Captain!" the man replied, and lost no time returning the way he had come and was quickly gone.

"He seemed a bit nervous," Duncan observed.

"He's a smuggler and has a small ship that brings in things from Florida and occasionally New Orleans. He is, as you observed, rather nervous around strangers," the Captain told us.

"So it would appear that the British fleet has arrived and is sailing north. Where will they land?" I asked.

"They will need a deep water port for those first rate ships. They draw a lot of water," the Captain told us.

"They will not go too far north if they intend to engage the French fleet in the Gulf of Mexico, as we believe," Monsieur du Coudray told us.

"We need to get this information to Mark," Coleen told us looking at the five of us to see if we would object.

"Yes, this is exactly the kind of information that he and the others are looking for," Connor agreed with his future Wife.

"Would you be willing to accompany us to Lexington, Monsieur?" I asked.

"Where is this Lexington?" he asked.

"It's in Kentucky. We'll see that you get to New Orleans also," I assured him.

"How long will the journey take?" he asked.

"About a second," I told him to a look of disbelief.

"We are Sorcerers and use Magic to do things," I added, but he still didn't look like he believed me.

"Magic?" he asked in a questioning voice.

"Yes, we are the ones who created the Defensive Shells around the British supply warehouses so they couldn't use the supplies," Annan told him before taking his hand, and they both vanished to reappear a few minutes later. Monsieur du Coudray didn't look well at all, but didn't say anything, only stared at us.

"He's just a bit surprised," Annan told us with a giggle.

"I think that Captain Billy should go with us also," Duncan told us. "He was a Sea Captain and he can explain the details and the significance of all of this to Mark and the other leaders."

"Will you go with us, Captain?" I asked.

"Yes, they promised me a ship, and I aim to collect," he told us in a serious voice.

"Don't even ask me. I'm staying here. There are people that I need to contact so we will be ready for whatever happens," the herb lady told us before she turned and headed for the front door. Captain Billy went with her.

"Be careful, Evelyn," he told her, and gave her a little squeeze before she was out the door. He locked it behind her.

"We need to ward the entire house before we leave," I told the others, and Connor immediately expanded his wards from just around the front room to cover the entire house.

"Captain, if you and Monsieur du Coudray will stand with D & C, we will transfer everyone to Hickory Hill in Lexington," I told them. The Captain grabbed his heavy winter coat and Monsieur du Coudray his dark colored cloak. They stood with D & C while the rest of us joined hands, and I cast the transfer spell. We instantly appeared in front of the main house at Hickory Hill. Both Captain Billy and Monsieur du Coudray looked around them in shocked surprise.

"Welcome to Hickory Hill!" Dymphna said with a smile before we led our guests inside. Both men were impressed with the exterior of the house and even more so when we entered it and took them to the small parlor.

"You have a very fashionable residence!" Monsieur Du Coudray said on looking around him at the entrance hall and the rooms visible to him. Captain Billy hadn't said anything but was obviously impressed too.

"I'll go and see if any of the others have returned. Make yourselves comfortable," I told them before hurrying to the den to see if anyone was there. As luck would have it, no one was. I went to the kitchen after that to see if the cooks had anything for our guests to snack on while we waited.

"Return to your guests. I will bring out something for all of you in a few minutes," Mary, one of the cooks, told me before turning to get out a tray, and some plates and cups. I returned to the small parlor.

"There will be a little wait. No one else has returned yet. Some snacks will be here shortly," I told our guests. Mary soon arrived with a tray loaded with pastries, mugs of cold cider, and hot tea already in cups with sugar available. There was more than enough for everyone.

"You have servants!?" Monsieur du Coudray asked, surprised.

"We have two cooks and two women who do the laundry. This is the Headquarters of O'Connell's Border Rangers, and there are many people that live and work here in addition to many more who often visit," I informed both men. We were just finishing our drinks and snacks when Ken and his team arrived followed a few minutes later by Kell and his team.

"Who is your guest?" Ken asked looking at Monsieur du Coudray and nodding to Captain Billy. "Captain," he acknowledged.

"We think that we have found the reason that the Generals are stalling," I told him as Kell and his team entered. Everyone paused then as they all removed and disposed of their heavy coats. My team had removed ours upon our arrival.

"What's going on?" Kell asked after Almha took his coat.

"This is Monsieur du Coudray. He arrived yesterday on a French warship that had gotten lost. The British have sent a large fleet to the colonies, and they arrived off the Georgia coast early this morning," I told Ken, Kell, and their Wives.

"And Captain Billy?" Ken asked.

"Monsieur du Coudray was brought to his house last night. The Captain can explain about the fleet better than we can," I told Ken and the others.

"He is still looking for a ship, too," Coleen told her older Brother.

"Okay! The other teams should be back soon, so let's just save the explanations until they are all here, and we will only need to go through everything once," Ken suggested. Sunshine and Rose had gone to the kitchen and now returned with another tray of snacks and drinks for the two teams. The other teams drifted in over the next half hour. Eventually everyone had gotten something to eat, and we needed to move to the large parlor well before everyone was back. Mark and his team were the last to return.

After the introductions were completed, Captain Billy started the explanations with Monsieur du Coudray filling in details as needed. A number of those working here had also joined us by then to see who had arrived, and what all the excitement was about.

"Well, I think that we now know why the Generals are stalling," Mark said after hearing the explanations.

"If they knew about it!" Ken advised him.

"I would think that at least General Abercrombie would know about it. The other Generals may not have known previously, but will by now," Mark replied.

"They probably do know by now," Kell agreed.

"So how do we counter this threat?" Seamus asked.

"We meet them head on!"" Ken told him. "On the way to Limerick in the Other Reality, an English ship tried to intercept the ship I was on. I used my Magic Beams to cut away their masts. The sails acted like giant anchors and stopped their ship. We easily got away," he told us. (see Magic Ink IV chapter 4)

"They weren't firing broadsides at you though, and it was only one ship," Captain Billy pointed out.

"No, they don't have gunpowder or cannons there yet. They do have a lot of Magic and Magic users though," Ken told him.

"It will be different with the first rate ships and the others firing broadsides. The first rate ships all carry a hundred guns and a broadside would be about half of them. Some of those guns fire forty-two pound shells although a lot of them are just carrying thirty-two pound guns now, as they are quicker to load," Captain Billy informed us.

"There are ten of those first rate ships, and there will be a number of second and third rate ships, perhaps as many as fifteen or sixteen," Monsieur du Coudray added.

"How many transports will be needed to move sixteen thousand troops?" Kell asked.

"Forty to forty-five, I would think," Captain Billy answered after a little thought.

"So we are looking at seventy ships then?" I asked.

"More than that," Captain Billy advised us. "You forget that there will also be a number of frigates and other light ships for carrying messages and scouting duties plus there will be supply ships with additional food and other things. All told, I would say somewhere around eighty-five to ninety ships," Captain Billy told us. We all looked at him in stunned disbelief.

"Where are they going to be able to dock all of those ships?" Morgan O'Keefe asked in wonder.

"Philadelphia is the largest port and has many piers if the river is deep enough for those first rate ships to use it. Also the main British Headquarters for North America is there," Mark reminded us.

"If they stay in the main channel, it should be deep enough. Those first rate ships all draw twenty to twenty-five feet of water when loaded. The main channel there is deep enough, but they will have trouble if they move out of it very far," Captain Billy told us.