There as too much risk in going back down the slope for the backstays. I could be too easily heard or seen. Moon now had his back to me. I took off my shoes, ran across the sea wall and dropped down to the marsh. Taking care to choose a direction different to that taken by the Revenue man, I made towards home.
The cottage was in darkness when I reached it. It took much knocking to bring my uncle to the door. Seeing who it was, he asked no questions, but drew me quickly inside. Already, I saw that he had escaped unharmed from the night in New Romney.
While my uncle stirred the dying fire, we were joined by my aunt Betsy. I told my tale of all that had happened since I had left my uncle two nights before.
I seemed no surprise to him that Moon had turned informer. He must dress and leave us for a short while. A message must be taken to Dymdyke to stop the landing at White Sands. Though grateful for the warning, I could see that something else troubled him.
"Moon has not yet been to this cottage," he said, "though 'tes certain he will come. Bar the door when I leave and open it to no one but myself.
My aunt could see that I needed sleep. She would await my uncle's return while I went to my bed.
I slept soundly, waking to find the sun well up. I could hear raised voices in the room below. I got up from my bed and crept to the top of the stair. I could see my uncle and another man - Geneva Moon!
Moon lifted his arm as if to strike my uncle but, before the blow had fallen, I saw my aunt come between them. Moon's blow struck her on the head and I saw her crumple to the floor. My uncle stepped back and seized a sickle which hung on the cottage wall. Moon backed towards the open doorway with my uncle advancing upon him. Moon was moving his hand to his side to draw a pistol. If I could reach the bottom of the stair, I would be behind him and might knock it from his hand.
The bottom stair creaked! Moon turned. He had seen me! I tried to run back up the stair.
While this is a much better ending than the last with our uncle and aunt being still alive and even a pretty cool cinematic killing of the villain (even if it wasn't by our hand), we still didn't learn the secret behind the silver charm, so this is still not the ideal ending.I moved too slowly, for Moon had grabbed me and held me in front of him, between himself and my uncle. One arm he held about my waist. In his other hand, he held a pistol. We stood there in the doorway, my uncle still within the cottage, his sickle in his hand and my aunt Betsy, not moving, lying on the floor behind him. It was Moon who spoke.
"I do not want to kill thee, Joseph Gallon, for then thou wilt surely tell me nought. Perhaps this child can be made to change your mind - or, maybe the child knows what thou wilt not tell me!"
"Duck!" my uncle shouted.
I bent the whole of my body forward as far as Moon's arm would let me. I heard Moon's pistol fire, close by, its heat searing my right ear. Then, something warm began to drip upon the bare skin on the back of my neck. The arm slid away from my waist. I turned. Moon lay in the doorway of the cottage, my uncle's sickle buried deep in his throat. Geneva Moon was dead.
I looked for my uncle. Moon's pistol must have fired wild, for my uncle looked unhurt and was kneeling on the floor beside my aunt. I saw that her eyes were open and heard her murmur my uncle's name.
When it was certain that my aunt was not badly hurt, my uncle have himself up to the squire for the killing of Geneva Moon. At his trial, he would neither defend himself, nor allow myself or my aunt to speak for him. Perhaps because much about Geneva Moon was known to the justices, my uncle did not hang, but was sentenced to transportation to the American colonies. he died in Virginia some ten years later.
I lived on with my aunt Betsy. Because many believed my uncle to have done a service to the marshes, there were several, including the squire himself, who made certain that we wanted for little.
When Moon's body was taken from the cottage, my silver chain and charm were found upon him and returned to me. Only once did I again ask what secret it held.
"A secret," my aunt replied, "which thine uncle would not tell, perhaps to save his life. But wear it with pride and know that all the dents are paid."
We were actually just one choice away from it, so let's just rewind and proceed to try and retrieve the backstays:
For the most part, I think there's often difficulty in determining what's the "right" options in this book, but for this ending segment, I think there was some nice foreshadowing in the text telling the reader that the PC deliberately marked the shifting sands spot in his head and thereby hinting that he might come back this way later and put the knowledge to use.I slid myself gently and silently down the slope. I had almost reached the point where I had left the backstays, when a rock beneath my foot moved and sent a few stones rattling down to the beach. The sound was only slight, but I knew it was enough to have given me away.
If I ran up the slope, it would be into the arms of Geneva Moon. I could run only one way - back along the beach, the way I had come. I did not look back, but I could hear the clatter of rocks and stones as Moon scrambled down the slope behind me. There was still some distance between is. I did not think I could outrun him. I wanted only time to turn back to the sea wall. Once over it and into the marsh, there was a chance that I might lose him.
I had forgotten the patch of shifting sands, but luckily I had marked them well in my mind. The sudden sight of a line of seaweed flashed a warning. I could not know how far they stretched on either side, but guessed that the weed night mark danger, before turning back towards the sea wall.
Moon could have known nothing of the reason for my actions. Seeing me heading for the wall, he must have thought to close the distance between us by crossing the ground which I had circled. None of this was in my mind until sudden cries - cries which carried in them both fear and anger - reached me across the sand and stopped me in my flight.
Moon was already sunk knee deep in the sand and with every struggle sinking deeper. I could see no man die in such a manner. I remembered the backstays which still lay where I had left them. As fast as I was able, I began to retrace my steps with Moon's cries and curses ringing in my ears. I ran on. I could see the wooden boards where they lay, when suddenly the beach became silent.
Where Moon had been, there was no more than a hollow in the sand. Then I saw something in it, something which glinted in the starlight. With the backstays on my feet and the aid of a long stem of seaweed, I pulled my silver charm on the edge of the shifting sand.
Some weeks had passed since my many adventures and I was sitting quietly with my uncle and aunt before the cottage fire. I was watching the flames and toying with the silver charm that I had rescued from the sand and which again hung about my neck.
The informer was dead. The smugglers had been warned and there had been no landing at White Sands the night that the soldiers lay in wait. My uncle Joseph had been seen the night we were in New Romney and shots were fired, but he had escaped, unhurt in the darkness.
"Maybe," my uncle said, suddenly, "'tes time thee did know the truth about that charm thee wears, though the story does little credit on myself."
He sucked hard upon his pipe of baccy.
"I have told thee why Geneva Moon turned informer. He did hope to be rid of those who did run the smuggling trade, that he might run the whole of the trade himself - like it were in the old days, the days when Geneva Moon were uncrowned king of Romney Marsh."
My uncle went on to confess that he had worked for Moon in the old days, as had many of the men in Dymdyke. It had been a good living for all of them, but Moon had become greedy for more money and more power. Then the killings had started - murder of anyone who got in Moon's way. Many, like my uncle, would have left Moon, even informed upon him, but none dared - save one, by name, Joseph Banks.
A few miles from Dymdyke had lived Charles Royal, the Surveyor for this part of the Romney Marsh, the man in charge of the Revenue men. When it was known that Banks was ready to inform on Moon, it was Royal who was given the job of keeping Banks safe - safe from Geneva Moon.
"Moon did know that Banks were going to inform on him for murder, but he could not find he. That were little wonder, for Royal had already taken Banks to London Town. Moon had to find Banks and were determined that Royal would tell him where Banks were.
"Moon and some of his me - of which I were one - went to Royal's house in the night and dragged he from his bed. We little knew that sleeping nearby, in that same house, there were also a child."
And that was the ideal ending. We actually went through all the endings (yes, there were only 4, although there were multiple ways one can get to the same bad endings).The child who slept nearby was myself! My mother had died at my birth and I was but five years old. Hearing the noises in the night, I had got from my bed and seen my father taken from the house. I had followed, dressed in nothing but my night clothes.
Moon had said that he wanted only to know where Banks was hidden, but that he would beat it out of my father if he had to. My father refused to tell him and the beating began. Joseph Gallon, who was to become my 'uncle Joseph' saw that the beating was going too far and struck the horse to which my father was tied, hoping that it would bolt and carry him to safety.
What happened then was just as I had so often seen in my dream. My father fell between the horse's legs. It was Moon who cut him down and threw him, still living, into the well. It was Moon who threw stones down upon him and made some of the others do the same.
My father wore a silver charm around his neck. Joseph Gallon had seen it fall by the well and told Moon that he would go back to seek it, lest it have away the body which now lay in the well. It was then that he found me, shivering, crying, clutching the charm and calling my father's name. Knowing Moon would kill me too, he hid me in his cottage.
Two days later, Moon fled the country. Joseph Gallon dared not seek my relations or my father's friends because of his part in the murder. It seemed that the shock had wiped clean my memory of who I was, and Joseph and Betsy Gallon raised me as if I were their own son.
"On the back of the charm, as thee does know, be the letters 'C.R'," said Joseph, "- not Charles Roberts, as we told thee were thy father's name, but Charles Royal, the Surveyor."
I am still known by the name Gallon which I kept in memory of the years of love and care given to me by Joseph and Betsy. All that I have of my father's memory, is also close to my heart - the charm which I wear with pride on a silver chain about my neck.
Anyway, I guess there's not much more to say about this, especially with the clear lack of interest. Thanks to everyone who played (and especially Darth who stayed and finished the playthrough).
Will be taking a week off before I start the next LP - if there's still interest, of course. I'd been thinking of starting a 2-player game similar to the Duelmaster series (2 books each featuring a different PC) - except for this series the players do not have to compete with each other, and each have their own quest, and can choose to work with each other or do their own quests separately. Anyway, I'll see if there's enough people interested when the time comes.