Rising Dark (The Darkling Trilogy, Book 2) (55 page)

Those of you who
purchased, or downloaded,
Dark
Genesis
before April 2014 may have noticed
that at the end of the novel (when you get a glimpse of the events
that take place after Luna’s journal ends in 1807) there is a
reference to Luna rescuing slaves in the woods. I have since made a
small change to
Dark Genesis
so it refers to Luna rescuing Negroes instead of
slaves as slavery had ended by the time that scene occurs in the
second book. Another amendment I made to that chapter concerns
Dallas’s recollection of meeting Avery in the mall when she was
five. I have since changed the location of that meeting to the
park.

One of the biggest
challenges when it came to writing this novel was of what to do
with those lost fifty years when Avery is waiting for Luna—which I
refer to as the “wilderness” passages, as not much happens during
that time. I initially included lots of stories, brief snapshots,
of the lives of slaves in order to provide a visual depiction of
Avery’s spiritual and emotional devastation through the lives of
slaves around him. I ended up cutting out all those stories as that
section was over one hundred pages long and slowed the narrative
down. The only one I couldn’t bring myself to cut out was Helena’s
story. When I started researching
Dark
Genesis
, I came across a letter online
from the son of a slaveholder regarding his father who was teaching
his slaves to read and write and the skills needed to sustain
themselves, as he intended to free them. The tone of the letter is
that everyone saw him as an old fool because of his actions. I
remember reading it with tears in my eyes. Helena’s words at the
end of that scene with Avery in which she says she is proud of her
father, is what I felt regarding this man’s actions and what I hope
his descendants feel. I also want to add that at the time I wrote
it I don’t know if the consequences of going against slavery were
that severe, but it served the purposes of this novel. I have since
been told that at the height of slavery and persecution, and even
up to the tumultuous years after Jim Crow was shut down,
sympathisers and their families were terrorised and lynched every
bit as much as blacks were (murdering children, raping daughters,
burning their homes down, everything you can think of.) So the
consequences of going against slavery were that severe and
more.

I am considering
publishing the wilderness section separately (a little freebie) so
let me know if you are interested in reading it. Since
publishing
Rising Dark
, I have made a few revisions and removed a chapter involving
Avery and Zila as some people felt the first part of the novel was
quite slow. A lot of people mentioned Zila in reviews of
Dark Genesis
, so the
deleted chapter can be found over the next few pages in case any of
you are interested in reading it.

And before you ask... Yes, I am
working frantically on the last book in the trilogy which will be
narrated by Dallas. I hope to publish early next year, but the last
book has to be a fitting end to the trilogy. I will keep you all
posted on a release date.

I thank you for taking the time to
read this novel. If you have any questions, visit my website or
email me.

www.adkoboah.com

[email protected]

I can also be found on Facebook,
Goodreads and Twitter.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/AD-Koboah/172747466249709

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5807160.A_D_Koboah?from_search=true

www.twitter.com/adkoboah

One night, I arrived at Mama’s cabin.
Her back was to me when I entered and she spoke without
turning.

“
I am in need of your help
again this night,
Wɔfa
Avery.”

“
What has happened? Is it
the baby? Is Lina all right?”

“
Yes, of course,” she said
as she turned to me. “It is Zila, she is in trouble. Master John,
he has...”

Seeing my expression harden at the
mention of Master John, she let her words trail away.

Zila was one of John Holbert’s slaves.
She had aided Luna when she rescued me from Master John and certain
death.

“
What do you need me to
do?”

“
I need you to take her
away from the plantation, get her as far away from it as you can
until it is safe for her.”

I nodded and made to leave, but she
placed a blanket in my hand. “You will need this. And there will be
a lot of blood.”

Anger pulsed through me, marking my
face.

“
You mustn’t kill him,”
she warned.

I left her cabin without
making any promises. I got to the plantation and materialised in
the woodland. A sound that was alien to the natural night rhythms
of the woodlands reached me. Loud thrashing, a human heart racing,
a rasping wet coughing and tremulous breaths as bare feet hit the
earth. Just as the ether closed around me, there was the sound of a
clumsy tangle and then a heavy
thud
as she hit the ground.

I moved out of the ether and found
myself standing by her head. She lay in a tangle on the ground and
was completely naked. Her hair was in disarray and her golden brown
skin was covered with blood. The scent of her blood floated up to
my nostrils in waves of warmth, a deadly call to the demon within.
Thankfully, I had long learned to control the lust for blood, but I
steadied myself and was about to bend down to cover her with the
blanket Mama Akosua had given me, when I heard another human
running through the trees. It was Master John. He bellowed her
name, the rage and lust for violence I so clearly remember in
Luna’s memories of him, ringing through the woodland.

I waited.

His footsteps drew nearer and I was
about to step away to hide and see what he would do when he found
Zila, and then deliver a few punishments of my own, when I felt a
hand that was slick with blood grasp my trouser leg.

I looked down to see Zila’s
blood-streaked face, one eye swollen shut, the other staring up at
me. I inhaled sharply when I saw the hideous bruises. This was
probably the worst beating she had endured from him, and there had
been many over the years. Fear flooded her open eye when she saw me
standing over her. I was about to say something, or reach into her
mind and soothe the fear, when I realised she wasn’t afraid for
herself.

“
Don’t...don’t kill him,”
she rasped.

The hand on my trouser leg grew slack
and her head fell back onto the dirt. She was
unconscious.

“
So everyone keeps telling
me,” I mumbled as Master John came bursting through the
undergrowth.

He was slightly heavier than when I
saw him last, his face the red and puffy face of those who devote
many hours to heavy drinking. He had been so vain in the past, but
now there was only a shadow of his previous good looks left on his
sagging features. His blond hair was limp with grease and it looked
as if he hadn’t shaved in days.

He only had a moment to register my
presence, and then that all-consuming fear claimed him as I
materialised before him, my hand closing around his neck as I bared
my fangs.

“
I am so sick of you,” I
hissed.

His eyes widened in fear and he
couldn’t move, his mouth working but issuing no sound. To my
disgust, I saw he had wet himself. It would be so easy to snap his
neck and save everyone the indignity of his presence, but instead I
reached into his mind, a mind severely corrupted with women and
perversions of every kind he had the impunity to inflict on his
slaves. I made him fall asleep.

But I was still angry for I had seen
something I had not wanted to see when I entered his mind,
something he returned to repeatedly over the years. Luna had
bloomed in his thoughts, and my heart clenched at the image of her
face. I had altered his memory of Luna’s daring rescue, but for
some reason he still remembered accurately one single moment of
that afternoon.

The sun was blazing in the
memory I saw and he was on the ground staring upward. Luna was on
Julia, my lifeless body covered in a blanket slung in front of her.
She had a gun in her hand and it was levelled at Master John, fire
in her eyes as she glared at him. He raised his arm to shield his
head and closed his eyes, blocking out her image. Long moments
passed before he heard movement. He opened his eyes to see Luna
riding away.

She hadn’t killed him, he
told himself over the years. She must love him because she had not
killed him.

I stared down at his unconscious body
in utter disgust, trying to think of at least one good reason why I
should not kill him. I could not think of one. But I took him back
to Zila’s cabin, promising myself the nightmares I would inflict on
him from now on would be fitting punishment for all his crimes. But
I knew it would not be.

I returned to Zila, picked her up and
stared down at her battered face, her blood calling to me again. So
much blood. I hurried back to the mansion so I could heal her
wounds.

***

I healed her, but made sure she slept.
I had employed an old free Negro woman to look after the house at
that time. I was waiting for her when she arrived that
morning.

“
Oh, Mr Wentworth!” she
exclaimed when she entered the drawing room and saw me standing
there. Her expression grew alarmed when she took in Zila lying on
the couch.

“
Good morning, Matilda.
This is Zila. She will be staying here for...well, I’m not sure how
long she will be staying here, but I need you to sleep here for the
next few days and look after her. She doesn’t have anything with
her, so you will need to get her some clothes and shoes, anything
she needs. Just put it all on my account.”

“
What in God’s name done
happened to her?”

“
It is all right, the
blood is not hers. She will be all right.”

“
What you mean it ain’t
hers? It be in her clothes, hair—”

“
Matilda! Just take care
of her for the next few days.
Please
.”

Distrustful dark eyes met mine. She
nodded.

“
Thank you,” I said and
left.

It was a few days before I returned to
the mansion. I stayed outside in the field of flowers for a few
moments and just gazed at the mansion. I had put off seeing Zila
for the last few days. There were far too many parallels to
bringing Luna there, and I was resentful it was Zila I would be
seeing instead of Luna.

I entered through the front door.
Matilda was immediately at my side to take my coat.

“
How is she?” I
asked.

“
The same. All she does is
sit up in that room looking out the window. She won’t talk or eat.
Thin as a rake, that child, but nothing I does or says makes a
difference. She still won’t eat.”

“
Thank you,” I said and
made my way upstairs.

I knocked on the door and received
only silence. I sighed and let myself in. She was sitting in a
chair by the window covered in a shawl. I moved right over to her
and stood by the chair before she looked up. I expected fear, but
saw none. There was only a deadness in her eyes that sent a chill
through me.

“
Good evening, Zila. How
are you feeling?”

She stared at me for the longest
moment. “You’s still young.”

I nodded. Another long silence ensued.
“I never got to thank you for helping to save my life all those
years ago.”

It was as if she hadn’t heard. Then
she turned away, tears filling her eyes. She had heard my words,
but they reminded her of something unpleasant. I remained silent as
the tears brimmed and then spilled down her cheeks.

“
I was hurt bad. How did I
heal so fast?”

“
It is best if you do not
know.”

She brought her hand up to her mouth.
Two of her front teeth had been knocked out in the attack. “But my
teeth.” She sniffed miserably. “How is he ever gonna want me
now?”

Anger blazed within my chest. “It
won’t matter because he is never going to lay eyes on you
again.”

She only continued to stare out of the
window, silent tears trailing down her cheeks and splashing onto
her shawl. After a few moments, I placed a hand on her shoulder and
squeezed it before I left the room.

A few days later, she asked to see me.
She didn’t waste time with idle chit chat.

“
I wants you to make him
loves me.”

I was aghast. “No. I would never do
such a thing, even if I could.”

“
But you gots to try and
do something,” she pleaded.

Bewildered, I asked the question many
have asked a battered woman, and will continue to do so after Zila
and Master John have left the Earth.