Chapter 10: Brothers of the Sun

“I don’t like this. I don’t like this one little bit!”

“You should have just stayed at the hotel Mooney. This ain’t no country for a white man.”

“They ain’t even supposed to be here.” Mooney looked about wildly. Sweat poured from him like a saturated sponge and by now he looked about as grimy as I felt.

“One could argue that it’s your kind that should not be here. Not on their land. Not on any land belonging to the peoples.”

We were riding in Seminole country, south of Florida. Everglades. The wetlands. Our destination, Black Seminole Indian grounds.

Mahogany was distraught right after he brought his son poor Elias back to Ms. Sarah Grimke’s lodgings, but he’d since pulled himself together. It was his idea to seek out the Black Seminoles known for their shaman magic.

“Aw shut up Doc! You and your goddamned hexed bullets!” I narrowly missed the tobacco spittle Mooney shot in my direction.

“My bullets are supposed to go in the Sea Dog’s corpse you fool, not a little boy’s head!

Mooney tried to spit tobacco at me again, but his spit did nothing more than drizzle brown saliva into his already greasy beard.

I hated that Mooney was riding long beside me. We were following Mahogany’s buckboard wagon. In the back was a steel coffin, the size of it fit for an adult. Which worked out fine since Elias was big for his age of 13.

We would be forever in debt to Ms. Grimke who upon learning that Elias was being chased by a hexed bullet said nothing more than, “Y’all better get that boy indoors here quick!”

Ms. Grimke led us to her cellar, which had no windows, but several beds and a pantry area stocked to the gills with dry goods, and all of that was hidden behind a false wall. Later we learned that Ms. Grimke was a Quaker and called herself an Abolitionist. She told me she and her sister Angelina had dedicated their lives to the freedom of all colored people.

It had been a long year, and in my travels from east to west and back again, I’d met all manner of people, but I’d never met one as noble and passionate about anti-slavery as Ms. Grimke. I’d asked her why? Why would this comfortably situated, southern bred white woman have written news articles, spoken publicly, and in all ways, risked her reputation and her very life for the rights of the colored man.

“Doctor Samuels, ‘I know nothing of a man’s rights, or woman’s rights; human rights are all that I recognize.  A woman ought to have a peculiar sympathy in the colored man’s wrongs. For like him, she has been accused of mental inferiority, and denied even the most basic privilege of a liberal education.”  

It was Ms. Grimke’s idea to put Elias in a metal coffin. She’d had occasion to smuggle children out of the state and had it customized with an invisible panel that that allowed Elias to talk to his father during the long hours. It was a big coffin, and though Elias couldn’t sit up, at least he could turn over and move around inside it.

The hexed bullet had been following us down to the glades. Every once in a while, we could hear it ping against the coffin, then fly off, like it was considering a better method of attack. Mahogany had been singing to Elias all day to drown out the sound of the bullet trying to attack him,

There’s a yellow rose in Texas, that I am going to see,

No other darky knows her, no darky only me.

She cried so when I left her it like to broke my heart,

And if I ever find her, we nevermore will part.

She’s the sweetest rose of color this darky ever knew,

Her eyes are bright as diamonds, they sparkle like the dew;

You may talk about your Dearest May, and sing of Rosa Lee,

But the Yellow Rose of Texas beats the belles of Tennessee...

It was ironic that I was riding beside the most notorious bigot of my acquaintance while listening to Mahogany sang of the mulatto woman responsible for defeating Santa Anna in the Texas revolution.

Up ahead of us, Maverick and Gideon seemed to be deep in conversation. Mooney had put up a fuss about having to ride at the back of our convoy, but both Maverick and Gideon made it clear that Mooney’s white face wouldn’t be welcome in the Seminole camp, and they were going to have to do some pleading just to get him in there alive.

The Seminole Indians had been defending their land against the United States for over 15 years. They’d been chased out of North Florida and forced to adapt to the Everglades and swamp area known as the wetlands.

We took care the deeper into swamp land we went, because it wasn’t unknown for an alligator or two to cross your path. Mahogany assured us we had nothing to worry about, far as the alligators were concerned. They only attacked a man when he got too close it’s young.

Which sort of made me think of Mahogany. He’d been strangely quiet the trip down, only speaking or singing to Elias, but every once in a while, he’d turn and look at Mooney. In that stare, was a hatred unlike anything I’d ever seen. His large black eyes, as black as midnight, seemed soulless at those times. There would be a reckoning soon, and Mooney knew it.

Like the devil’s spawn he was, he never even attempted to apologize to Mahogany, but steadfastly insisted that shooting a boy with a map on his back was the sensible thing to do.

Everybody declared him a fool, even Miriam.

“Shannon Mooney, you are without a doubt the evilest man I have ever known! What on God’s great earth would ever make you think shooting a child was the right thing to do!”

“Shut up woman! Don’t you shame me in front of lesser folk. Fact, don’t you say another goddamn word!”

Miriam side-stepped Mooney as went after her, but he was prevented from going further by Ms. Grimke.

Sarah Grimke was fairly tall for a woman, nearly 5’7 in height. Not a handsome woman, but what she lacked in looks, she made up for in the quality of her being.

“Mr. Mooney, I’m afraid you have offended, in all manner, my guests. I must ask you to vacate my property immediately.”

Mooney nodded his agreement and told Miriam to pack their bags, but Miriam had little Evelyn and Christoph Bah, Mahogany's other children, by the hand and was taking them inside.

“Miriam! Miriam! Don’t you bring those pickaninnies to my room! You heard what I said! I paid for that room. That’s my room!”

“Mr. Mooney, I would be happy to have Mrs. Mooney remain as my guest. But you must leave immediately.”

“Now wait a darn minute! You can’t just keep my wife. There’s laws against that!” Mooney sputtered.

“Yes Mr. Mooney, you may indeed have the law on your side, but I have the lord on mine, and I am confident we shall prevail.”  And with a simple wave of her hand, she pointed him the way off her land.

There is power is small gestures.

Miriam, the bah children, Bobby, Yant and Judd were staying on with Ms. Grimke a day longer, than taking a steamboat to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where we had plans to hire a ship to take us to Moreen Island.  

Judd wanted to come with us, but he couldn't travel as fast as we could.   He now had to avoid the sun, and only travel at night.  Yant and Bobby staying behind with Judd made sense. As white men, they would be no more welcome than Mooney will be.

The only reason Mooney was risking his life was because he was so goddamn greedy and mistrustful. As much as he buddied up with Maverick, he still didn’t trust him not to run off and look for the Sea Dog on his own.  

We rode into camp, Maverick, Gideon and Mahogany rode in first. I stayed behind with Mooney while Maverick conversed with the tribal Chief George Diego Rendola. We couldn’t see him from where we were stationed, but I knew what the chief looked like.

Strong in his African heritage, Chief George was dark complexioned with wavy dark hair that he kept wrapped in a turban as was tradition with the black Seminoles. His wife, chief Shaman Juanita Barnes Rendola, was as dark complexioned as her husband, but where his hair was wavy hers was kinky and arranged over her head in multiple cottony balls that she tied off in colorful ribbons.

I knew it would take Maverick some convincing for the tribe to allow Mooney in. No white man had set foot on their land and left alive since the wars began. But Maverick was convinced that the tribe would honor the Sea Dog’s wishes, if not his own.

“Un kum ya he ni”  

Finally the signal came from one of their warriors, and Mooney and I rode into the camp so far before being made to dismount our horses.

Whereas Maverick had to teach me the language of the Miwok, Ikabaya, Pawnee and Sioux, I was in my native lands now, and I knew the Gullah language of the Black Seminole well. I was a Geechee. Rice eating Indian.

“Ga! Ga!”

 The warrior pushed Mooney ahead of me. He started walking towards Maverick, but didn’t get far before some warrior shoved him into the crowd. Someone else shoved him back, but he was tripped and fell hard on the ground. Several warriors began kicking and stomping him until he got up again. He stumbled forward, but didn’t get that far before a young warrior punched him dead in his face.

Mooney fell to the ground, but when he got up, he put his fist up, ready to fight back.

“Don’t do it Mooney!” I heard Gideon yell. Surprisingly Mooney listened, and put his fist down before continuing to move through the gauntlet.

Five minutes later, he looked like hell, but he finally crawled in front of the tribal chief who held up his hand to cease the beating.

I wasn’t expecting any sort of hostility from the warriors, and indeed there was none. I recognized quite a few of my tribe, and some of the warriors smiled, a few boldly stroked my arms and back as I passed.

I reached Chief George without incident, but as soon as I stood before him, I heard a banshee cry, and no less than ten women descended on me, swatting me with a bushel of reeds.

I can’t remember now why I thought it was a good idea to ride in wearing any clothing at all. It would have been a better option by far to have ridden in naked, or wearing Mavericks blankets. At least then, I would not have offended my tribe by wearing men’s clothing. That was a privilege afforded warriors only. And I was no warrior.  

They wouldn’t give me time to take off my own clothing, so my shirt and pants were torn off me. They would be given to Maverick and he would decide if they should be burned or given to others.

Completely naked now, I was thrashed until my skin stung all over. One of the women seemed particularly harsh, but she was pushed away by the others after she broke the skin on my back. There was nothing Maverick or any of the men could do. This was a woman’s domain, and they would deal with me as they saw fit.

“Se nuf!”

The women fell back. I crossed my arms across my chest and covered my nipples. You would think I’d be more fearful for my manhood, but it didn’t matter if my cock was exposed. To these people, I was berdache. I didn’t have a cock in their eyes.

A whip was handed to Maverick. It would be his choice to punish me for being defiant. It was assumed that he didn’t know I was dressed in men’s clothing.

I was crouched before Maverick, staring at his boots. I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to whip me. I was already feeling humiliated. But he took so long to say anything, that I was ready to do something crazy like stand up and asking him what the hell he was thinking.

I started trembling. Sometimes I liked Maverick to punish me. When we were being playful with each other, and I knew we would make love after. I liked that Maverick left his handprint on my ass. But this wasn’t one of those times.

“Git up.”

I stood up quickly, my arms still covering my chest. The women threw a blanket around me and I was quickly rushed away.

The Black Seminoles lived in thatched roof huts, and I was taken to one that I understood would be where Maverick and I would be staying should he choose my blankets to lie in.

After such a thrashing, you would think the women would be hostile to me, but it was just the opposite. The wars had cut them off from other tribes, and they were anxious to catch up with what was going on in the outside world.

While they washed my hair, scrubbed me from head to toe, and applied a paste that removed all my body hair, including my balls and ass crack, I updated them on what happened to tribe members who were captured and forced to walk to Oklahoma in the Trail Of Tears. Not many of our tribe survived. Of the thousand Seminole that were captured, less than a hundred of us survived the grueling 2400-mile trek to the reservation.

My skin was smooth and satiny, and my hair shone like a copper penny.

I sat on a stool in my hut waiting for my new clothes to be brought to me.

An African woman entered my hut and set several cloths of fabric on the table. She wasn’t dressed in the traditional Seminole garb, so I assumed she was a runaway slave, perhaps new to the tribe.

She laid patch work strips in front of me, and I pointed to the one that would be stitched into my clothing.

She worked in silence at first, using yarn to stitch the patches onto a gaily colored skirt of yellow and red fabric.

After a while I asked her if she knew of a Seminole woman by the name of Emily Weston.

She looked up in surprise.

“I’s Emily.”

“Oh. Well I have a letter for you. A Ms. Sarah Grimke asked that I deliver it to you.”

Emily reached for the letter.

“Should I leave you?” I asked, thinking to give her privacy while she read it.

“Nome, I’s canna read.” She held the letter out to me imploringly.

I nodded my agreement and read,

"My Dearest Emily,

I  am hopeful this letter finds you safe and in good health.  I have worried some these past months, in vexation over your safe arrival, but the lord is a powerful provider to the faithful, and I am reminded that I have put your welfare in his hands.

I take pen in hand to give an account of your two boys, Francis and Archibald. Be at ease dear Emily, for no harm has befallen them.  Though they remain on the plantation, I have received Henry’s his own promise that your boys will be treated with kindness. Henry has agreed to educate them, and has taken steps to do so.

Though it pains me, at the end of the month, I go to join my sister Angeline in Philadelphia. I will miss my home, but I go as the lord directs me, to spread the good word and fight against injustice.

Take care of yourself my dearest Emily.  Until we meet again,

Your most devoted friend,

Sarah Grimke"

Emily didn’t say anything for the longest while, and spent some time holding it to her heart and weeping silently. When she finished her cry, she looked up and smiled.

“I’s sorry. I ain’t heard anything bout my boys since I’s had to run.”

“No need to apologize to me,” I took over the stitching of my patches since Emily was still wiping her cheeks. “nu na da ul tsun yi,”

“I lost my family on the Trail Of Tears. My father was taken after the 2nd war. My mother would not leave him, so we all went with him on the March. They didn’t make it. My parents. My sister did, but her children were taken into slavery.”

“I won dere, but mah buh. He don gwan. Wan ta be wid dem wuh march. Attil’wuh, I’s hear he ded….”

Emily went on with telling of what happened when her brother escaped the plantation, but I couldn’t hear anymore. Too many memories of my parents, starving near to death, and the hundreds that died with them.

I hadn’t lied. The White Biter was what we called the killing cold. It had near killed my entire tribe.

It was in the dead of winter when we were forced to leave our lands. Most of us were not prepared. Some of us didn’t even have moccasins for our feet.

I lay down next to her, my mother who had once been so beautiful. It was freezing that night, and I lay next her for warmth. I dreamed that night, of being warm in my home, in my own bed. I hadn’t felt so warm in months. When I woke, I found my mother naked. She’d wrapped me in her clothes, then froze to death. Like so many of us, the White Biter killed her.

“I see yon man in de wahtuh,” The interruption of my memories was welcome until, “I tink he need a real woman den. I come’yuh an sleep wit him. You go. Sleep wit da dogs.”

I stood up and wrapped my skirt around me. It fell to my ankles, but with a slit to the side to show off my soft knee-high deerskin moccasins. I slipped on a large emerald green silk shirt with ruffled sleeves. It fit to perfection as it was my own shirt, and I kept it for occasions such as these. I wrapped a sash around it to keep my skirt fastened and in place.  To complete my look, I added a short poncho that had also been sewn with my patches.

Finally I took a good look at the stubby little woman who’d entered my hut, and declared she was going to sleep with my man. I nearly laughed in her face. She was a round woman, with no neck to speak of, and had protruding eyes like a bull-frog.

Now that she knew who I was, she’d shut her mouth, but looked like she was straining at the bit, wanting to say something more.

You see the patches sewn into my skirt, sash and poncho, identified me as a member of this tribe, and more importantly, a high shaman.

“I was going to tell you that if you go near my man, I’ll rip out your eyeballs and feed them to the gators, but I’m not gonna bother. My man don’t like fat and he don’t like ugly, and you got plenty of both!’

Her face puffed up like an inflating balloon. I was certain any minute now she was going to stick out her tongue and catch a fly.

“Yon man wan babies.”

“Maybe he does. But he don’t want them to look like fat bullfrogs. Now git before I fricassee your little fat frog legs for my dinner.”

She ran from the hut, but threatened me, “I’s tell yon man. He whup you gawd.”

I looked at Emily, she had her back to me. I was afraid that I’d offended her, but I could see her shoulders shaking, and it took me less than a second to realize, Emily was laughing so hard she could barely stand up.

“A ha..a..ah….” Emily was having difficulty breathing, but spit out, “We calls huh, Minnie de frawg. B’cuz of her eyes.

We laughed for several minutes, with Emily catching me up on all the gossip, while she twisted a long scarf in my hair which was then wound around my head coronet style. A length of the scarf was left unwound, and it trailed across my shoulder. My mother’s ruby brooch was pinned to my coronet, and a plume of bird feather was secured by the brooch. And finally several strands of beads were placed upon my neck.

Emily told me I looked beautiful. I’d had the occasion of trading with some of the western tribes, and my beads included bits of turquoise, yellow fire opals, and mixed colored green, black, and gold variscites. I knew I would be the envy of all the tribal women.

Soon after a young boy summoned me for the ceremony. As I moved to the camp’s large bonfire, I could see evidence of tonight’s meal being cleared away: fresh fish, okra and tomatoes stewed and poured over rice, butternut squash sweetened with sugar cane, and deep fried coontie cakes.  My stomach rumbled, but it was best that I have an empty stomach for now.

I entered the group of warrior braves. They sat on the ground in a circle, the smell of burnt hemp twigs, cannabis seeds and sage thrown on the fire to evoke our spiritual ancestors.  

As I entered the group, I smiled at some of my childhood friends. Though it was evident that I was two-spirited from an early age, I was always popular with the braves my age.

Two-spirited was what you were called when you had a preference for mating with a brave instead of a squaw. As a berdache of my own choosing, I was revered in my tribe. It was considered a gift to be in my presence.

I sat across from Jimmy Gator tooth, who smiled at me appreciatively as I adjusted my skirt to show just a slice of my smooth legs. John Beaver Paw had lost all of his baby fat, and I barely recognized the broad-shouldered, slim waisted attractive man sitting next to Jimmy. My old pal Black Hawk Bryant was grinning from ear to ear. We used to get into so much trouble together.

I remembered some of the older men at the gathering. Opchana, one of my teachers, and Falling Waters who was old and blind when I was a child. He didn’t move at all, and I wondered if he was travelling with the spirits already.  Next to him was old Jummy Gator, Jimmy’s grandfather. I nodded to him respectfully, but nearly froze in my tracks when he grabbed his crotch, and smacked his lips at me.

I shot a quick glance at my Maverick. Tecumso Maverick, grandson of the great Osceola, Spirit of the Sea Dog, the chosen. He had other names and titles, but for here and now, it was good enough. While in his presence no man could approach me without his permission. I sure hope Papo Jummy asked Mavericks permission before palming himself.

I felt bad for the Papo. I remember Mamo Jummy telling everyone her husbands cock was so big it never stood up. After 11 children she was done with him. So as far as I knew, poor Papo hadn’t had any moo moo for years.  

I took my time lowering myself to my knees. This wasn’t as easy to do as it sounds. My marriage bonds were wrapped securely around my thighs, Maverick’s lightning bolt patches visible on my exposed thighs. I adjusted my skirt for higher exposure. I hadn’t lost all of my summer tan, and my hairless thighs gleamed with the banana oil that had been rubbed into my skin.

I caught a glimpse of frog faced Mini. She shouldn’t be spying on this ceremony, it was prohibited for women to participate,  but I was glad she was watching the men admiring me. I nearly bit my tongue to keep from laughing. She was such a sour puss. She was going give “my’ man children. I snorted my amusement.

The men passed me the pipe, and I inhaled cured tobacco, hemp leaves, and powdered roots. After a few rounds of the pipe, I was given an especially prepared cup of sweetened peach juice, bitter herbs and dried mushrooms. This was for me alone to drink, and I swallowed it down swiftly. It hit the bottom of my stomach, and it was only a few seconds before it’s powerful tonic hit me.

My stomach was on fire for all of ten seconds before I felt the warmth spread throughout my body. My hairless body grew slick with a fine sheen of the oils that had been rubbed over my body. Oil dripped into my ass crack, and mixed with my own juices. I felt my cock harden and I could feel it struggling against the straps that bound it to my inner thigh.

The scent of exotic spices wafted off my body, and I didn’t have to look at the men around me to know that they were inhaling deeply.

Someone began to beat the drum, and I began to move to its steady rhythm. As a wave a warm air moved over and through me, my sensitive skin felt as if it were being massaged by unseen hands, yet no one had moved from the circle.

I began to hum with the rhythm, my voice a wind reed to the pounding of the drums. My wordless cadence becoming more and more passionate as my skin grew warmer, and I was intoxicated by the scent of my own need.

Through slatted eyes I watched Mahogany bring his son into the circle of braves, and lay him on the ground before me.

Suddenly my mind and body were traveling through space. The constellation of a billion distant stars above me, my world beneath me.

“So we meet again my sweet doctor.”

“Joaquin!”

I was beyond startled by his appearance. Once again, I felt a vibration when near him, that made my whole body hum with sexual desire.

He held out his hand and without hesitation, I took it. He put his hand against the sky and a doorway opened revealing a landscape of lush green plants, trees, and vibrant blooms. Strangely the sky was completely red. The sun was golden, but it cast such a strange glow against the reddened sky.

Though I was a bit frightened, I followed him through the doorway and then I found myself walking barefoot on the cool grass. I looked down at my feet and was surprised to find myself completely naked.

Suddenly I was lying on a blanket on the grass. A picnic basket sat beside me, and Joaquin was pouring me a glass of champagne. I sat up to take the glass from him and sipped the bubbly without hesitation.

He was following me?

He had to be.

It was real. I stared at the glass in fascination. Sipped the champagne again and tapped the glass.

I was certain I was hallucinating. The mushroom potion I drank earlier was potent enough to allow me to enter an altered state. I have travelled the spirit land before and communed with my ancestors on more than a few occasions, but I’ve never traveled to a place in my mind that was unfamiliar to me.

Joaquin laughed at my confusion, “It is all real my beauty. I’ve taken you to one of my retreats.  So difficult to find you without your protectors.”

“Do not be alarmed my good doctor,” He soothed me when I pulled back from him, “I mean you no harm. I simply meant that it is so difficult to find a way to ravish you without your pesky husband about.”

“Maverick isn’t my…”

“Please spare me your tall tales my dear. I can sniff a husband a mile away. You understand I have much experience having to flee from them. If they would but share their beauties, I could avoid such ugliness. I would share if I had a beauty such as you.”

“You would?” I didn’t really care how he answered my question. Realizing that I wasn’t hallucinating or dreaming, I was looking at my surroundings and trying to understand why the sky was red, and it why it was daylight, when it had been nightfall when the ceremony began.

“No. I tell a lie. I would not share you. I would take you away until I found a place where no creature but myself could bask in your presence.”

Suddenly I was flat on my back again with Joaquin leaning over me. He sniffed my neck and ran his tongue across it as his hands stroked my body till it was tingling all over.

He kissed his way down my chest until he reached my nipples and sucked on one as he rolled the other back and forth between his fingers. A jolt of desire shot to my balls, and I arched off the blanket, my cock straining against the strap tied to my thighs.

“Aww, my poor baby. Let’s get you out of your bindings.”

But as Joaquin reached down to remove them, a bolt of electricity shot from the bands preventing him from removing them.

Joaquin leaned back and sighed deeply, “It is as I say. Husbands can be very pesky!  Selfish fiend! Now, why wouldn’t he share? That would be the decent thing to do. If you were mine, I would share,”  He paused. “No. I tell the same lie. I would not share my treasure. But I would let other men, sample what they could not keep…..I lie again! No! I would hide you away until I exhausted myself between your legs…No. No. You have  made a liar of me. I must tell the truth. I would never become exhausted. I would stay hard inside you until you begged me to stop. I would…”

“You didn’t ask his permission.” I interrupted abruptly. Something about his voice was musical, the way the words rolled off his tongue. His accent was strange, his voice vibrated. Even without touching me, I felt like his voice was lulling me into a sexual haze.

“What?”

“You didn’t ask Maverick for his permission. I belong to him. I am bound to him.”

“How unfortunate for me that you wish to belong to him!” Joaquin poured himself a glass of champagne and swallowed it quickly.

Suddenly we were sitting on a park bench and I was fully clothed. Joaquin was slicing a very shiny red apple, and he handed me a slice before explaining himself.

“My apologies. I’m in danger of electrocuting my cock, if I don’t put some distance between us. And since I like my cock, we might as well converse with our clothes on.”

“Tell me my good doctor, exactly who is your husband?”

“Tecumoso, the Maverick.”

“Of course. But, “who” is he?”

I hesitated, and swallowed my apple slice before slowly volunteering, “He has the soul….”

“Yes, yes. The soul of the Sea Dog. This I already know.” He handed me another slice of the juiciest of apples.  “My dear doctor. You are far away from your husband. This is another world. A world between worlds. A dimension away. And yet, a simple woven fabric has nearly burned my cock, because I did not ask his permission to fuck you. What kind of crazy magic is that?”

I thought about what I should say. What could I say? I decided that truth seemed like the best option. He seemed to know when I was lying.

“Love. It isn’t just magic. We love each other. And love is the strongest magic on any world.”

Joaquin smiled slowly and shook his head, “Such a tricky little monkey. I don’t know if want to spank you or fuck you for evading my question.”

“I didn’t evade your question and you’re not going to be able to spank me either.”

He sighed, “Yes. Of course. I did not ask the pesky husband for permission.”

“No. You didn’t ask “my” permission.”

Joaquin laughed heartily, his deep chuckled sending those little thrills down my back.

“You are a firebrand! I like it!” He slapped his knee. “Now tell me what you know of Lafayette.”

“Huh?” He changed the subject so quickly, I was caught off guard.

“The Sea Dog had a lover. Lafayette. Lafayette was captive bride to Lucifer. It is why the Sea Dog became a vampire. For his Lafayette. He waits for him to return. “

Of course I knew the story, but I remained quiet til I could learn what he wanted of me.

“By chance, have you spoken to Lafayette?”

I was startled.

“No. How could I? He’s dead. Or in Hell.”

“No, he’s not in hell. I’ve already looked there. He doesn’t converse with you when you call upon your ancestors?”

“No. Why would he?”

Joaquin chuckled again. “When can I have permission to spank you?”

“Never.”

“You wound me, my naughty little doctor!” He chuckled again, then whispered something in my ear I couldn’t decipher.

Joaquin pulled back, “Please pass my message to your good friend Gideon.”

“What message?”

“When the time is right. He will retrieve it. Now off we go. I must get you back to your interfering husband.”

“You could ask his permission you know?”

“My dear doctor, why ask for permission, when stealing is so much more adventurous!”

He opened a doorway again, and suddenly we were back amongst the stars.

“One more question my dear doctor. You’ve asked who I am, but not what. Why is that?”

I stood on tip toe in my moccasins, and kissed him full on the lips before answering, “Because my dear Joaquin, I already know.”

Trouble.  That's what he was.  Suddenly I was back in camp and sitting around the fire. The drums were still being beat, and the group was swaying, singing and chanting. No one seemed surprised I was back. It was as if I’d never left. I looked to Maverick. He was staring dead at me, but didn’t seem to be alarmed.

Suddenly Joaquin appeared again, but this time he was floating above the fire.

“So silly of me. I nearly forgot why I came. First….”

Joaquin opened his cape, and suddenly the hexed bullet appeared and flew into his cape. Joaquin then reached into his cape, and withdrew incinerated bullet dust, which blew away in the air.

“Secondly. I wish to warn you about the Sea Dog. I think he asks for more than you can provide dear doctor. Remember me, should you need to escape.”

He bowed with a flourish before me and disappeared.

Mahogany picked up Elias and hugged him tightly. He looked at me with tears in his eyes.

“Thank you brother!” He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead, and then walked away with Elias still in his arms.

Maverick was next to me, and he pulled me to my feet. Reaching under my skirt, he took off my bindings and let it drop to the ground. Then he led me across the camp and into the glades to another clearing.

There was a smaller camp fire here. Just enough to give off illumination. All the men who joined in the ceremony stood around the fire. I knew what they were waiting for.

They waited for Maverick to grant permission.

Maverick led me to a tree, from which a saddle had been suspended. He hoisted me over the saddle, stomach down, and unwrapped my skirt exposing my bare ass.

Maverick massaged my cheeks before spreading them and delivering a long lick in the crack of my ass. My head shot up, and I moaned with pleasure. My ass crack, denuded of all my hair, was extra sensitive to his tongue, and in seconds my own juices were dripping from my rear.

Maverick pulled back and slapped my ass cheeks again. I knew what that meant, and wasn’t surprised to find John Beaver Paw was first in line to fuck me. He seemed particularly eager, and shoved his girth in me and started fucking right away.

John Beaver was fucking me like a possessed man. It didn’t seem like he’d had any sexual relief in a while, and I wondered why Mini frog face wasn’t servicing him.

As he drew near his release, I raised my head to look at Maverick. He was leaning up against a tree, smoking a hand rolled. He never took his eyes off of me while Beaver Paw shot off.

Next Jimmy Gator approached me. He rubbed my back and thanked me several times for my gift. He wanted to tell me about his squaws, two of them, both were pregnant. He cared for one more than the other, but he was going to raise both his sons as if they came from the squaw he loved most.

I know it might seem odd, but men often felt the need to unburden themselves just before fucking me. I guess it soothed their conscience, or reminded them of why they were seeking out a man, instead of their wives or loved ones. I could care less why, but it was best to hear them out. I could be very patient.

Maverick however, had little patience for other men. He spoke sharply to Jimmy, and told him to get going or get gone. I’m not sure if that affected Jimmy’s performance, but about five seconds later he was done.

“Was that it!”

I wasn’t asking the question. That would be my childhood friend Black Hawk. Black Hawk was a mule’s ass. I say that with affection. If I was punished harshly at any point during my childhood, it was probably because of following after Black Hawk and pulling shenanigans with him.

“Did you make water in him? Were you praying for a man’s tool?! Was that...”

“Black Hawk!” I interrupted. Which is harder to do when you are ass up over a saddle then you might think. But if I hadn’t interrupted, Black Hawk would make fun of Jimmy Gator all night long.

Black Hawk swatted my ass hard, and I yelped in surprise. When I looked back at him, he was laughing his fool head off.

“I’ve been waiting for this for years Nene! And I deserve it. I knew you were two spirited before all of them.”

He bent down and made a big show of kissing my ass cheeks, “Mwah, mwah, mwah.”

He squeezed together my ass cheeks and opened them again back and forth. With a falsetto voice, he said, “Oh Black Hawk, Black Hawk. I’ve been waiting for your big cock,” as if my ass were speaking to him.

“Black Hawk!” I snapped at him to keep from laughing. Such a jackanape!

“Alright. Hold your horses. I’m coming for you!”

“Well you won’t be if you don’t hurry up!”  I looked towards where Maverick had been standing, but he’d move. Which seemed odd, because Maverick loved nothing more than to watch me get fucked. And truth is, I got turned on by him watching me get fucked.

“Now don’t take this ass fucking personally! It’s for your own good!” Black Hawk entered his long but thin cock in me. What he lacked in girth, I had to admit he made up in skill.

Black Hawk took his time feeding me his cock. Inching it in and gyrating his hips as he went. I truly felt like he was screwing his big ole cock in me.

Like the fool he was, Black Hawk started riding me like I was a wild buck he was trying to break in, yipping and yelping at the top of his lungs.

When he came, he pulled out of me and shot all over my back. After a couple of minutes I felt him open and close my cheeks again.

“Thank you Black Hawk!” He made my ass speak again.

“Get the fuck away from me you ass!”

Black Hawk was laughing his fool head off again, but he kissed both ass cheeks before moving on.

Next Papo Gator approached me. Like his son, he took some time thanking me for this gift. Then I felt something blunt but velvety against my ass lips. At first the blunt object felt soft, and spongey, but after a while it seemed to harden just a bit, but it wasn’t hard enough to penetrate me.

Papo Gator tried again and again to get his enormous spongey cock inside me, but it was just too large, and not hard enough. Finally I felt something trickle out of my ass and down my leg. I guessed Papo Gator climaxed, since the next thing he did was lay himself over my back and thank me again.

Papo Gator lay over my back for some minutes, and I began to worry that he’d had a heart attack and died, when I heard the soft sizzling of his snores.

Suddenly Papa Gator was snatched from my back and literally tossed towards his son.  The entire saddle swing was ripped from the tree branches and thrown to the ground while I was tossed over a shoulder.

I had little doubt what was going on, and whose shoulder I was over. There was only one man with such strength that he could rip off a tree branch the size of a small pole.

The Sea Dog had awakened, and clearly he wanted me to himself.

The Sea Dog marched across the camp to mine and Maverick’s hut. I quickly pulled off my shirt and threw it to the ground. I knew how rough the Sea Dog was going to get. My shirt would have been in shreds in seconds.

As soon as we reached the hut, the Sea Dog yanked me from his shoulder and slid me on his erect cock. I would be eternally grateful to Papo Gator for lubricating me really well, because the Sea Dog entered me to the hilt all in one go!.

I yelped, and tried to ease myself off of his punishing cock, but the Sea Dog held me firmly as he brought his mouth to my throat and bit into me.

My cock began drooling cum snot as it rubbed steadily against Maverick’s defined abdominals. I was just about ready to cum when I realized we weren’t alone.

The Sea Dog never stopped fucking me, as I called out.

“Judd!”  Judd stood at the entry way of the hut. Sweat making a sheen of his wet skin.

Judd lumbered towards us and stood close to my back. I thought the Sea Dog would kill him for certain. The Sea Dog didn’t share me with anyone.  But Judd wasn’t just anyone. He had the blood of the Sea Dog, and what the soul wanted, the blood craved as well.

Judd leaned against my back and called out to me before biting me sharply, “Lafayette!”

And then I felt him. Felt him allowing the Sea Dog’s blood to take over, as he too began to push his cock into my dripping asshole.

It was the end of the night.  I'm flushed covered in the male juices of the ritual.  That's when I see him.  Gideon.  I know he never cares to see me like this.  He's too pious.  Still he smiles when he sees me as though acknowledging something that he hasn't acknowledged.

"You really do enjoy life don't you?" he asks.

"That's the thing about being human," I shrug.

He laughs, "You teach me more everyday.  But get ready tomorrow.  I found a way to Moreen Island."

"You're serious?"

He nods, "My friend Barem owes me something.  We go way back.  He's going to take us to Moreen Island."

"He knows of it?"

 He nods, "Yeah.  The first time I went his great grandfather was the one who ferried me over.  It’s the same boat.  They aren't happy with Mooney though.  So we need to leave as soon as possible."

Great grandfather?  I find it weird that Gideon knew Barem’s great grandfather, but I don’t say anything about it.

I nod and head back to sleep.

~  

I wake up the next morning.  Maverick and Gideon are already there getting ready silently.   I can barely walk as I shuffle to get up.  t was almost daytime.  I walk outside of the hut.  I still smelled like the sex from the night.  Outside I see the two brothers.  Judd and Bobby.  I have to admit they were very attractive together.  There was no sign of Yant yet,  but I figured if they were here that Yant would be as well.

 "I said I was sorry for shooting you, goddam it," Bobby tells Judd.

Judd just keeps looking out, "I told you I was over it."

"Then leave with me.  Yant told me what you guys were doing.  I saw Gideon talking to his Seminole friend about passage to a place.  Judd....I heard rumors about this place.  Don't go."

"You were my brother when you slept with Lawrence Bird’s wife, got caught and came running out.  You were my brother when you begged me to confront Bird.   You were my brother when you left me to die after that beating I took from Lawrence Bird?  Were you my brother when you took all my money and ran off?  Were you my brother when you got arrested and pretended to be me.  Were you my brother when you watched me have to become an outlaw because I was wanted?  You got me into this life Bobby.  And you’re jealous now because I’m better at it than you.”

Bobby gets quiet, “I’m your brother now.  And as your brother I’m telling you that you won’t survive going to that island.  It’s too dangerous.  I’m leaving.  Headed back west.  I hear there’s real gold out there.  We can start a new gang.  Imagine you----a vampire.  No one would be able to stop us.”

Bobby is headed to the horses.  He looks back at his brother.  He expects his brother to follow him but Judd is just standing there looking at the horizon.

“Soon the sun will rise and I won’t ever be able to see it.  But I feel this power.  I’ll llive forever. A  thousand sunrises.  A thousand sunsets.  I finally have a meaning to life.  It’s because of him, you know----The Doctor.”

“You’re still stuck on romance, goddam it.   He’s a slut.  He doesn’t love you.  He lets everyone in the gang do whatever they want to him.”

“Because he loves us.”

Judd says it like he believes it.  Bobby on the other hand is reacting oddly to this.  He doesn’t get it.  He wouldn’t.  He came into this group in the middle of it.  He didn’t see Judd before.  He didn’t see Judd struggling using his jokes to have a level of belonging in the world.  He was covering his pain.  There were no jokes anymore.  There was a seriousness to him.  He was like a boy finally grown into a man.

Only he wasn’t a man.  He was something greater.

“I’m your goddam blood.”

“He’s my sun.  He’s my brother.  They all are.  We are all brothers to the Doctor.  And we all circle him. We all rise to him. We all look to him to know where north is.”

All of a sudden I’m falling for Judd.  The same way I fell for Yant.  The same way I fell for Mahogony and Maverick.  This wasn’t just a gang.  This was a love story.

Each of us falling in love with one another.

Each of us falling in love with ourselves.

Bobby shakes his head, “You owe me.”

I’m not sure why.  A part of me wants Bobby to take him away.  Bobby isn’t making a good argument though.

“The Sun rises everyday.  It warms the earth.  It keeps us alive.  It leads us into a new day every day.  It’s not stingy with it’s rays.  It’s not stingy with it’s warmth.  It shares it with everyone.  And we love it.  The Doctor is my sun.  He’s the only reason half of us are still dealing with that asshole Mooney.”

“Goddam it Judd.”

“The Sun never has told the Earth that it “Owed” it.  I’m going to follow the sun.”

Bobby shakes his head.  He’s given up.  He was walking away now angrily, “You’re a fool Judd.  A real fool.”

With that he leaves.  

And with that I realize Judd is completely right.  This is family.

~

It’s morning when we are all gathered around.

“Judd, Yant and Bobby can join us later.  Barem will circle back for you all,” Gideon states.

“You need me as back up,” Judd explains at that moment.

Gideon wasn’t going to be with us already. That left just Mooney, Maverick and me.  Suddenly I’m not so sure of the plan.  He was talking about the fact that he was a vampire.   Perhaps we needed him right away.  He was stronger amongst the group.   Yant we may have been able to do without but I get what Judd meant that it would be better to have him.  He was strong.  He was fast.  It was like having the Sea Dog without actually having him.

We are gathered around.

“No Bobby.  He’s left town.  It’s just us.”

“How it should be,” I ask.

“Aren’t I part of the gang too?” a voice states.

I turn and am surprised when I see Mahogony.  I figured at this point that Mahogony and his son had left as well.   I’m wrong.  Mahogony comes back.  He has a gun with him.  

I haven’t been so glad to see Mahogany.  I swear I see Mooney grimace a little bit.  It was a look that tells me that he wasn’t happy with Mahogony arriving here.

“You came back?”

He nods, “Sent my son home.  But you guys rode with me to save him, so I’m going to ride with you.”

~

We head to edge of town.  It was our meeting spot by now.  When we were done with a town we gathered at the front.  Yant and Judd weren’t with us.  That was expected.  What we didn’t expect was Mooney to be missing too.

“Where the hell is he?”

“Probably strung up somewhere,”  Mahogony suggests.

Mahogony had a point.  I look over at Maverick.  He’s silent looking desperately everywhere.  Something was wrong.  Something was very wrong.  I can see it in his face.

“I don’t like it,” Maverick states, “We don’t have much time to get the first ferry to Moreen Island.”

“We can always wait for the 2nd?”

Maverick shakes his head, “I can’t wait.  The Sea Dog feels it.  He knows that we are close.  He’s getting stronger.”

I notice something I haven’t on Maverick before.  Veins stretching from underneath his shirt.  He seems tired, drained almost.  He wasn’t himself.  It was happening.  The Sea Dog was finally weakening him.  The Sea Dog was finally killing him off.  His body couldn’t handle it any longer.  He was possessed and it was overwhelming him.

“We leave Mooney,” Mahogony states.

“We need him,” Maverick states.

“Why?” I ask.

We knew where Moreen Island was.  The locals may have known of the cave that the Sea Dog was hidden in.

“He’s a part of this.  We all are…”

He had a point.

That’s when we see someone running up.  It’s Yant.  The look on Yant’s face tells us immediately that this wasn’t going to be so easy.  We wouldn’t just ferry our way over to Moreen Island.

Yant is sweating, “It’s Mooney.”

“What about him?”

“He’s been taken.  The Seminoles are going to feed him to alligators…”

 To read the next chapter in advance go to www.crushedcrown.com