The Familiar

by Blevins, Joe L.

• ISBN13: 9781426967733
• ISBN10: 142696773X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-05-17
• Publisher: Trafford on Demand Pub

Summary

A larger coven of witches comes to Salem for the first full lunar eclipse of the winter solstice in over three hundred seventy four years. They drug the man to make him their slave. When he is found drunk in possession stolen jewelry from a grave, he is sentenced to be hung. The witches give him a strange potion that mimics death. The authorities bury him thinking he is already dead. The rare lunar eclipse during the winter solstice passes. He emerges from the grave a changed: now he is in the form of a large cat that changes into the form of a man during the full moon. His powers allow him to be charming and gamble to control others with a "second-sight" ability he lacked before. He can change to many forms of beast when his life is threatened. He can see what scares someone the most to use that against them. He takes the name Winston Rupert Wallace. Winston uses his new powers to build great wealth to become an entrepreneur who controls a big part of New Amsterdam. Willia and her brother Stephen join Winston to buy some ships to move goods up and down the Eastern Seaboard. They use their powers and influence to build New Amsterdam into a thriving city to live.Willia conjures up a member of the Roanoke expedition named Sir Christopher Warren. He is a warlock who comes to take control of all their lives. He seeks the ancient Book of Spells that Willia has hidden during the Salem witch trials when many innocents were persecuted and some real witches hid from the community and some paranoid officials. Follow the adventures of Winston, Willia and Stephen as they use their magical powers to make themselves filthy rich and powerful. They fight the evil influence of Warren to make a decent life in New Amsterdam, the future New York City.

Excerpts

February 1, 1636. Abraham and I have worked for over a year and three months with our crew to help build a thick wall with the many terraces by the new fort. Now the ramparts are being ready to be secured. Some of the men from the yellow crew escaped; but we stayed in place to spite the escaped men. We kept the guards from being overwhelmed. We helped push away the rebellious men and untied the guards to help those that were hurt by the other prisoners. The prisoners that escaped were hunted down and killed within a week's time. One guard named Maurice almost died because of his right arm being broken so badly. I managed to get two wooden planks and some cloth strips to set the man's arm like I saw a ship's doctor do one time on the earlier trip here. We took a medicine plant that one of the men knew of. Maurice chewed it a bit. It gave him much relief from pain. We held him down and pulled his right arm bones back into place. His collarbone was also broken so we carefully put that back into place and put his arm in a sling. Stress from the bad event left him in a few hours, so he was now easier to manage. We assured him that he was not to fear us because we felt he has suffered enough. It kept him from moving about where he would do more harm to himself. He feared his death for the escaped prisoners. He will die before he gets two miles out, even if he could get about. The night passed and the guards improved in their health. Our allies hunted down the troublemakers and captured those that could be taken alive. Reinforcements came and the guards praised us for our efforts to help them resolve the rebellion. Those ruffians that caused trouble were quickly executed by the new reinforcements. A quick trial and a quicker fate followed them.The month slowly passed. A detail of mercenary soldiers finally came to take us in front of a magistrate. He asked us to report what we knew about the recent uprising. I showed him my log book of the details as they are documented well. He smiles and he gives word of some good news to us. Since we helped the injured guards then we are given a reprieve from serving our full term of this sentence! We have some "good behavior" listed on our criminal record for trying to make what is a bad situation much better. A small reward of silver coins is given us to start over and have a chance to make amends for the past. The magistrate called it "expunged" as a way to say our past criminal record has been rendered moot. A few other men are given some good consideration on their prison sentence because we spoke on their behalf. A long boat arrived to take us to the far shore. We have dreamed of this day for a long time. Abraham and I parted company. Saving his life from drowning has saved mine many times over in the long run. He headed for the Carolinas where he has a wife that is a young Cherokee maiden. Abraham was glad to get away from this island to find some peace for a change. He was a good friend that was like a brother. I thanked him for his help to me. This was some real mutual respect, which is something I have seldom enjoyed before this day. He will never be forgotten. We parted on good terms knowing we would probably never see each other again. A friend has been hard to find as seldom do you find one as close as a brother. I hugged him. He took his pack and walked away. He smiled as he began whistling as he headed off into the deep woods.March 1. I headed for the town of Beverwyck to make a new life and a chance to start over. I am now quite afraid to leave the security of the isolated island. I fear more the unknown reality of dealing with the outside world. The unknown always scares me more than what I do seem to know. Here in prison I belonged to a crew, but to the outside world I am alone and easily found in some deep trouble. My weakness is often lost in the fact that I am now finding most of my courage is in the bottom of a whiskey bottle. Drinking is not my good friend. I never seem to know when to stop, or when "enough" is quite enough. I fear the future and the fact that I am sorely lacking some better discretion in my decision making.The Coming Lunar EclipseMarch 18, 1636. My days of hard labor are at an end! A jug of rum and the card tables have become my new friends. A fight broke out over a man who was a sore loser when my luck finally changed. He was injured to the point that a doctor was called to fix his thick head that was bumped too hard with a brass candlestick. Some new times in the stocks has me become the scorn of the locals who taunt me on a daily basis. Young and old come often to the town square to chastise me because I am a drunk, a liar, and a cheat in their eyes. They are much too modest! My time as a prisoner still haunts me as I try to find any real and gainful employment. My lot is to be "Guilty before proven innocent." A barrister named Robert Moulton walked by to speak to me. His interest in me is: "I was being unfairly punished for what was a simple bar fight." He pledged to tell my side of the story and explain my past that still haunts me. Some here still fault me for helping a fellow human being who was a drowning slave. Now he is a freeman. They fear their slaves will now revolt to leave them to do the actual labor. I tried to make some points to express my good accomplishments. Helping an ailing prison guard did not help me much, or that I nearly drowned myself by trying to save a drowning slave! The price of the good barrister's help is to give him the remaining one hundred-fifty Spanish silver-coin reales that are left from the reward and any recent monies that I've won gambling. This pays my fines and keeps me out of prison for the time being. Nothing that I do is right because my bad reputation overshadows everything. I have now lived at Salem just as poor as I arrived to this country! My personal effects are given back to me. This did not account for much. A letter was given me saying that my bond was officially posted, so freedom was mine until my hearing next month. Since this magistrate travels about to different townships so things have to be done as soon as he can return. A month's time only gives trouble more advantage to find me! I am easy prey because the tall amber bottle gives me courage to do what I normally would not consider doing. My will is often too weak to do what should be done.April 2, 1636. People slammed their doors in my face as I tried to work to feed myself. My bad reputation follows me like a long shadow. I slept out in the elements to keep the sore neck and back I have kept since I was in the stocks for a while. I slept well in a cemetery for over one full week. The elder man that ran it offered me a job digging graves. This was not much pay but it was still a job that had a future until something better came along. It is now the rainy season so many have the fever. It has been miserable to be outside so much. Prison had some days better than this! The great many that die here brings misfortune to some large families. Their death means my regular employment. They give me pennies to put over their eyes. I have dug two graves a day, often placing two or three bodies in a single grave. A few shovels of lime keep down the spread of their terrible disease. This made me sad to think of their loss because it could easily be me in one of these graves! Fate has been so terrible for some in New England this year! It is tough here but some have it much worse. Some now do not have any worries that this life gives. My own fate is not too far behind them.April 12, 1636. My case gets heard in court. The magistrate has me doing hard labor as my punishment. The man that I quarreled with has now recovered for the better. He was not well liked so few would speak in his favor as some have wished to do as I have done. The magistrate felt that my job as a grave digger was a j