Free The Freedman and the Pharaoh's Staff by Lane Heymont Page B

to sell it for himself. So he tryin’ make it to dee Mississippi River, but him get scared. Dee slave hunters come after him. When he reached dee river, he bury dee staff on its banks. They hunters caught dee slave and kill ‘em. But he never speak of dee staff to them. Dee map says it still on dee banks, where dee river meets Baton Rouge. Just east of dee city.” La’Rita finished reading the paper.  
    Jeb eyed Crispus throughout the story. Look at ’em. He’s listening like this shit is real. Like a little boy—hope Bettina’s all right.  
    The air shattered and thunder erupted in the room. A moment passed before Jeb realized La’Rita and Crispus were on the ground covering their ears. What is that— another gunshot sent Jeb to his feet. “They’re here!” He ran to the window, his colt in hand. A throng of Klansmen trod in the mud. Their torches casted a swampy glow over them. They resembled that mass of ghost-like monsters he’d so often imagined them as. Run. Run, you fool, run!  
    In a chorus of shouts, the Klansmen overturned Rayford’s wagon to use as a barricade. On a tall black horse sat Verdiss, his white and red robe revealed nothing. Only his hands hidden by thick gloves.
    â€œShit!” Jeb couldn’t see Rayford anywhere. Gripping his pistol, he raced through battle tactics. Nothing we can do but run .  
    Then Verdiss spoke, “'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances.' Do not make this night your exit, vermin. Give me the map and no more will die for your lost cause.” Jeb swore the Grand Dragon smiled—his voice filled with fiendish glee. “Wherever you have been, you have brought a curse upon those you have encountered.”
    La’Rita climbed to her feet with Crispus’s help. “Dee line of dust will protect us from those who believe. That is dee way dee voodoo works. But dee ones who do not believe. Them can enter,” she said. The door crashed open. Rayford lay on his back, crawling inside. A trail of blood followed him  
    â€œThem no account . . . bastards . . . stuck me.” He kicked the door shut. He grabbed the tabletop and tried to pull himself up. Crispus rushed to help him stand.
    â€œWe have to do something. Get out of here somehow. They’ll kill us all.” Crispus panicked, holding the wounded constable. La’Rita set off rummaging through chests of clothes.
    â€œYou may have barred me from entering, witch, but you are a caged animal, and all I must do is set your pen ablaze.” Verdiss’s voice echoed from outside, the Goblins screaming him on.  
    â€œBurn them out!”
    They snapped and snarled at each other like a pack of wolves. Jeb couldn’t think. Keturah. Bettina. At least they’ll be safe if Verdiss kills us.  
    A score of Klansmen charged over the line of dust. Others couldn’t bring themselves to pass over, scowling in confusion. Torches crashed onto the porch, flames exploding over the home.
    He panicked. “How we getting out of here?” Jeb rushed over to clean the blood from Rayford, who had spit a glob of it on himself. Heat and smoke filled the room, stinging Jeb’s eyes. La’Rita still tossed clothes out on the floor as though looking for her Sunday best. “ MAMBO! ” He went to grab her, but the door splintered and flames jetted inward. It caught Jeb’s arm, cooking his flesh in hellfire.  
    â€œAh, here it is.” La’Rita turned and tossed a worn green cape at Jeb. “Use this, they no see you.” Before he could argue about how the hell a fucking cloak was going to save them, the windows broke out in a shower of glass, slicing through flesh. Flames consumed the floor, surging to engulf the whole hut.
    No thought, instinct seized him. Jeb pulled the cape over Rayford and himself. “Crispus, help me get him