Roanoke: The Price of Power

The Wagon

Ananias Dare, interim governor of Roanoke, bid his farewell to Doctor Richard and Sir Arnold Archard. Leaving the thatched shade of the former's home, he made directly for the sawhorses on the east side of the fortified township.

Drawing close to the sawyers' work, the sounds of metal teeth against wood began to mix and eclipse the other ambient noises of Roanoke: the dull ring of the solitary forge being put to work, the distant ocean, birds chirping beyond the wall and children singing their chants within.

"Cage!" he called out to one of the sawyers, a shirtless man drenched in sweat and wrapped in glistening muscle. "I need you, here!"

Anthony Cage snapped his fingers and summoned one of his fellows to take over on one end of a large saw. He then snatched his wrinkled shirt from the sawhorse and mopped his brow with it before making his way to Dare.

"Ya, sir? What brings you?" he asked after closing the distance.

"I have a few tasks for you. First, you need to go down the westward trail."

"The one leads to the Howe fields or the one to the trading shore?"

"The latter. The one where the Indians come to trade."

Cage nodded.

"Go down about halfway and you'll find a wagon stacked with bear meat."

Cage's eyes lit up and Dare raised his hands.

"No, no. You're not fetching the meat. I need you to take the wagon into the woods and dismantle it. Hide the pieces and stash the meat somewhere out of the sun. No one can stumble across it, you savvy?"

"I savvy, but why we hiding food, sir?"

"I can't get into it, but Mr. Swift (the one who's been missing, you've heard?) well, he's been put to the knife and killed. Now don't go raising any alarms! I have men looking into it. But until we find out who held the knife, I don't want the town in an uproar, understand?"

"Ya, I do."

"There's another thing. Mr. Swift's body is still out there. You'll find it next to the wagon."

Cage frowned and made a sickly face, "how long has he been out there? I don't do well 'round corpse rot."

"Get it together, man! You know he's only been missing for a day."

Cage nodded and swallowed hard.

"I need you to bury him shallow. Somewhere well off the path."

"And that's got to be me who buries him, you say?"

"Goddammit, yes! You and only you! And when you get back, we need to organize a patrol. Make sure there aren't any angry Indians stalking around the walls. The Doc says it wasn't Indians who did him in, but I'm not so sure."

"The Doctor? You brought him in? I don't know about . . ."

"Yes, I did!" Dare hissed. "Shut your gob. I don't care if he spooks you and everyone else around here but remember, he's the reason you can fill your gut with beer instead of foul water. He's a hundred-fold smarter than you and if you say one word to anyone about Swift, I'll make sure he's the one who runs you through. Follow me?"

"Ya, savvy!" Cage said, throwing up his hands. "Praise Jesus, Dare. I was just remarking on the man. No need to get so damned cross with me."

Dare sucked his teeth and looked the man up and down. He was being out of hand. It wasn't this sawyer's fault the someone got murdered on his island, so why draw him into quarters?

"I apologize, Cage, I do," said Dare. "Just get this taken care of and I'll have Eleanor fix you up a good, hot meal tonight. We have a rabbit."

Cage hesitated into a smirk.

"You struck a bargain, there, sir. I'll be on my way then."

Dare nodded and clapped the man on the shoulder.

"Remember," said he, "don't talk to anyone about this."