Room 3, Old Seaside Tavern, Louisiana, New World....(1762)
Sir Alfred Remington did not know where to begin in his quest to retrieve his younger son. He had spent the better part of three days believing the worst had happened to his boy only to be assured via the local street urchin population that Alain had indeed been alive and in the clutches of women referred to as "witches" who seemed to occupy an old crumbling estate and an enormous foreboding manor on the far side of the seedy parts of the city surrounded via a swamp filled with snakes and alligators that acted as security and defense. He had not bothered to mention his folly in keeping the boy safe to his wife back in England lest she be on the next boat to rip him asunder. Still, he tried his best to keep up his spirits and possibly not assume the worst. If Alain had been in the company of these ladies, there was a chance they had only meant to provide him assistance as he'd been lost.
There was no telling what condition he'd been in when they found him and they quite possibly could have been the ones to nurse the lad back to health. He had no way of knowing until he ventured back toward the strange property and rolled out of bed readying himself as best he could in light of the situation. He left the room and ordered a pint of a strong drink and coffee for the road. He had a long walk ahead of him and he knew he had to reach the place before dusk before visibility became an obstacle for him once more.
Alfred was focused this morning and more than determined to find his son. He had hoped the children had been right in the fact that he had been located in that strange old manor but he had not wanted to think about any alternatives as they would mean he had failed at something for the first time in his long life.
The bitter black beverage had not gone down smoothly but Alfred didn't seem to mind it as he finished what he could and headed out the front door amid the curious whispers of the patrons about him and the fact that he'd been brave enough to venture toward the house where everyone had been well aware that apparent "witches" lived.
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The Swamp, Louisiana, New World....(1762)
It didn't take long for the old soldier to find himself in something of a sticky situation as he had to use his blade more than once to chase off animals who had gotten too curious as to his arrival. One such animal had been an alligator of course and it only added to the dangerous effort he had in navigating the swamp to get to the old manor in the first place. As he cut through grass and staved off the water-dwelling beasts, Alfred Remington could only think of his son and how he had needed him.
The memories of the tiny boy of three rushing up to greet him when he first met the little lad and Alana's newest addition to the family had melted his heart and made him all the more determined to see the boy home in one piece no matter the cost be it coin or his very life.
Before Alain, Alfred had not been of the mind to be a father to anyone. His career kept him busy enough and the thought of settling down never truly occurred to him until he met Lady Alana DuChene.
She'd been the widow of Sebastien DuChene and mother to two boys at the time, Young Casimir who had been aged six going on seven, and little Alain DuChene who was expecting his fourth birthday.
From the moment they met, Alain seemed to take to him and he grew quite fond of the boy. As the years passed, Alain knew no other man as father aside from him and often called him father despite the utter confusion on the part of his dear mother.
She attempted to explain to him that Alfred was merely an acquaintance and dear friend at best but the boy wouldn't hear it. He had decided then and there that he was to be Alfred's son whether his mother approved or not. The determination gave Alfred the strength to see his way to making it official, adopting Casimir under his wing as well, and finally proposing to Alana herself and getting her to become his wife.
She kept her original name, of course, a sentiment he understood due to the loss of her first husband, and Casimir would remain his greatest heir. Alain had chosen because his mother had kept her married name to change his last name to Remington.
He had been a true Remington ever since.
Alfred had not noticed it as he strolled along the swamp down the path of memory lane, but he'd reached the house at near dusk. He stumbled onto the grounds and continued to move about pleased to be out of the swamp and determined to get the women to assist him. Alain had to have been in their manor, there was no other place he could have been. Even if he had turned up in a ditch or the swamp he would have no doubt been found or at least some trace of him to report back to his mother.
The old man recalled his son wearing the blue coat his mother had given him before their voyage and the intricate detail of the design. No lad in the whole territory of Louisiana had a coat like that and it would make for a starting point when he asked about his son to the women assuming they'd been home.
Alfred made up his mind not to leave until he had some answers and ones that pointed to where his son would have gone if he had not been inside the manor. He reached the large white steps that lead to the front door and stood before the large oak wood painted with thick white paint much like the rest of the manor aside from the chipping due to the weather and the stench from the swamp it was seemingly well managed. Not quite as dilapidated as the townsfolk seemed to think it was when up close.
With anticipation making his heart beat wildly in his chest, Alfred reached up and knocked on the door noting how heavy seemed to be due to the design. There seemed to be no answer so he decided to give it another go. He knocked a second time and there was no answer still before his weary eyes fell upon the large doorbell also painted in white, but it appeared to have been working as he pushed it listening to the sound of large bells echo throughout the eerie manor as he stood on the porch alone with dusk on his heels.
After a few moments, he heard the clicking of heavy locks and the rattling of the iron knob as it opened to reveal a woman dark in complexion with green eyes that seemed intently focused and a bit rattled when she saw him.
"Good day, Madam," said Alfred in English. "I'm sorry to bother you given the hour but I'm afraid I must insist upon your cooperation, you see I am a traveler and I have come to this place with my young son who has gone missing...I've been pointed in this direction as to his last known whereabouts and I intend to find him."
The green-eyed woman seemed sympathetic enough as she opened the door and ushered him inside.
"Do come in good S,r," she said revealing that she had spoken a bit of English as well. "It is such a shame to hear about your missing child...my sisters and I have been quite busy as of late and rarely go out as we pay people to do our errands...I'm afraid we haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary if that is how you say it."
Alfred got the distinctive feeling she was putting him on but he followed her as she seemed to escort him into her sitting room while ordering another woman who appeared to have been slightly younger than her with lighter skin and brown eyes to obtain tea for them.
The show of hospitality was a welcome change as he'd gotten used to the gunge work back at the construction site and the hot porridge seemingly on demand ever since they got to this place. They chatted a bit about the house and the goingsons of the city as the light-skinned woman brought them their ordered tea and they causally sipped and chatted some more.
Before Alfred knew it, he'd been feeling quite exhausted and even yawned a bit apologizing for the rudeness it caused. He thought to ask once more about his missing son, but he couldn't seem to recall his reason for arriving at this place. He eventually grew so tired that he could no longer keep his eyes open and he fell an involuntary slumber of sorts as the rest of the world seemed to fade away.
As his consciousness faded his mind screamed at him what he'd been slowly forgetting.
He had come for his son.
He had....a son?
The world around him faded to darkness and he had not seen the women standing over him plotting in their wickedness what to do next as his rather harmless questions had seemed to rattle them both to some degree.