From Amanda's Desk-Sneak Peek at New Book
Chapter 1
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1798
The beatings were getting worse. When Mina finally worked up the courage to look in the mirror, what she saw sickened her. There were bare, bloody patches on her blonde head. Her eye was swollen shut, and her arm was in a sling. The doctor tended to her injuries, but she received no solace. A husband had every right to reprimand his wife. And he reprimanded her regularly.
Mina sat down on the bed hot tears streaming down her face. More than anything she wanted to run home, but it was an ocean voyage away.
Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe. It was as if her lungs were closing up, and she was suffocating. She sat down, gasping for air and tried to calm herself. This was the third time it had happened this month, and she knew crying made it worse. She had to calm herself, or she might faint.
Mina sat down on the edge of a chair and stared at the fire. She must think of good things. She had a lovely home near Lancaster, a rich bounty of food, fashionable clothing, and was surrounded by natural beauty. Gradually, she relaxed. Her heart slowed, and her lungs opened. At last, she was able to take a deep breath. But then, like black ink seeping into her mind, the reality oozed back: she was Gottlieb’s property.
The first few months of their marriage had been tolerable. Gottlieb’s lust for her was quenched, and he seemed satisfied, but lately he had found her lacking. Conjugal visits now ended badly.
Mina dried her eyes and thought about home. She missed her family’s sprawling ancestral manor near Worms. She had lived happily there for sixteen years, playing along the stream, watching the waterwheel churn at the old mill, and reading by the fire on cold nights. It was a charmed life.
Much younger than her seven sisters, Mina had few playmates growing up, but she didn’t care. She had the company of her dogs, the birds, the vast sky, and Mother Earth. From the time she was a small child she knew she would marry a man of her family’s choosing, and she accepted that destiny. She trusted them and their choice.
Her home, Sommerfeldhoff was an estate dating back to 1527 located in the pastoral Palatinate Region of the Holy Roman Empire. The home was a half-timbered manor house with fourteen rooms decorated with frescos, six outbuildings, and the latest in French furnishings. The site overlooked the imposing Worms Cathedral and Rhine River.
For centuries, the Sommerfelds had relished all the comforts and power that success brought from landholding and dominating trade on the Rhine, and they were the most prosperous family in the region. But after major financial setbacks and settling dowries on seven daughters, the coffers were running low. Only a small dowry was left for Mina, and the family had to settle for a widower named Gottlieb Glas, a wealthy landholder living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Skinny, old, and rift with rheumatism, Gottlieb was a longtime acquaintance of Mina’s father, and he came back to the “old country”, not only on business, but to look for a fresh, young flower of good breeding. He was seeking a girl who could revive his manhood, and Mina instantly stirred his loins. In no time a marriage was arranged.
She thought back to the day before her wedding. Four of the Sommerfeld sisters had returned home for the ceremony and gathered in her room. On the upper jetty of the manor house, her bedchamber overlooked the Rhine. It was large and luxurious with walnut paneling, plush furnishings, and a curtained bedstead.
She could still see them lounging on cushioned chairs, the divan, or the bed. Dressed à la mode, they wore pastel-colored chemise gowns belted high under the bust with ribbons around their necks.
Mina’s sisters were married, well educated, attractive women with thick, blonde hair, fine features, and blue eyes, except for Friederike, the middle daughter. She was mousey, colorless, and mean.
“Has Mama told you about the wedding night yet?” Friederike asked.
“No, why?” Mina asked warily.
“Well, be prepared for a long night. From what I’ve heard you’ll be working hard,” she replied, suppressing a smile.
Mina drew her brows together. “What do you mean?” she asked, sitting up straight.
They all laughed, and Mina felt her cheeks flush. She knew they were having fun at her expense.
Sophie, who was sprawled across the bed, answered, “Now, Friederike, stop. Even though he’s ancient, he may get a miracle from a girl who is pretty and fresh.”
They all groaned, and Mina frowned.
“Maybe at first, but--” Friederike stated, but Caroline, Mina’s oldest sister walked into the room.
“What’s going on here?” she asked, looking at them. Petite, quick to smile, and kind, she kept her sisters in line. Seeing Mina’s red face, she demanded, “What are you saying to her?”
“Just telling her about what to expect from Herr Glas,” Sophie said, sitting up.
“If he can manage to dip his wick in her,” Katerina added in her shrill voice.
They chortled.
“Get out!” Caroline demanded.
Rolling their eyes, the sisters left the bed chamber, still giggling.
After that, Caroline explained conjugal relations to Mina but in a much gentler manner. Nevertheless, Mina now realized that her sisters had been correct. There would be problems.
She thought back to the first time Gottlieb had trouble. It was about a month after they arrived in Pennsylvania. “It’s like bedding a boy,” he grumbled in his gravelly voice, crawling off of her. “Magda never failed me.”
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. Gottlieb had told her repeatedly about his second wife’s voluptuous figure.
Stiffly, he climbed out of bed, pulled on his dressing gown, and hobbled over to the fire, picking up his Bible.
After that, the incidents continued. Sometimes he could perform. Sometimes not. But he kept trying night after night.
Mina looked outside. There was still some daylight left. Enough time to get outside, walk, and watch the sunset. Twilight was her favorite time of day, and she tried never to miss it.
She called her maid to help pin on her shawl and guide her down the stairs. Mina was still stiff from the incident, but she needed to get out and listen to the river, the birds, and the wind in the trees.
The Glas residence was a large three-story, fieldstone structure just outside the settlement of Lancaster on the Conestoga River. The façade of the house was flat and unadorned but the windows were trimmed in red, and there was a large garden with hollyhocks, lavender, and roses as well as mint, thyme, rosemary, and yarrow for medicinal and culinary purposes.
As Mina started down the hill away from the house, she relaxed. She was where she belonged, not locked up in a stuffy house. She turned and followed the creek, gingerly picking her way down the path, listening to the water tumbling over the rocks. The trail was thick with greenery giving it privacy. She had never been here at night, but she imagined it to be filled with magic.
Every time she walked this way she thought of Grandmother Annaliese. Even though she was an ocean away, she was always present in Mina’s heart, always whispering in her ear.
On their last walk together on the creek of the Sommerfeld estate, the old woman asked, “Have you been practicing your English, my little Mina?”
“Yes, but it needs work.”
“Those from your homeland in Pennsylvania will speak Deutsch, but the Englanders want you to speak the language of their colony in public.”
Mina swallowed hard and nodded. “I fear everything will be so different, Großmutter.”
“Take heart, my dearest. Some things will be different, but you will never be alone if you continue to embrace the spirits. Earth, water, fire, and air are present everywhere, and they will give you comfort. They may take different forms, in different settings, but they are still the same, and their spirits will be your constant companions.”
It was twilight, and a crescent moon was rising. Mina’s two mastiffs bounded alongside the women, darting in and out of the brush and splashing in the creek.
Mina said, “The elements may in Pennsylvania, but you won’t be, Großmutter.”
The tiny woman stopped, looked at her and said sharply, “Have I taught you nothing? My spirit will be with you wherever you go.”
Mina looked down, fighting back tears. “I know. I know.”
“Come here,” Grandmother Annaleise murmured, pulling her into her arms. “I only say this because I too am trying to convince myself that we will not be apart.”
“You have doubts too?”
“Sometimes. It’s only natural. That is where faith comes in.”
Grandmother started walking again, nimbly stepping over rocks and debris on the path. Even though she was wrinkled and gray, her advanced years had not affected her gait, and she was as limber as a maiden.
“Do you suppose there will be people who practice the old ways where I am going?” Mina asked.
“There will be few like us where you are going, except perhaps the Indians. Most of the settlers in that part of Pennsylvania are Anabaptists, and as you know, they shun our ways. You must absolutely keep your beliefs to yourself. It is as dangerous there as it is here.”
“So much of what we believe is the same as all these religions. Why can’t they see that?”
“Because no matter which faith it is, they believe their way is the only way. Just tell everyone that you were raised Lutheran and leave it at that.”
Mina stepped over a log and said, “Even Mama hates your beliefs.”
“Ja, she thinks I gave it up years ago.”
“I’ve never breathed a word to her,” Mina said. “Or to my sisters.”
“I’m glad. You are the only one who has merited my teachings. From the very beginning I could see you were different. You were linked to Mother Earth.”
Grandmother stopped in their usual spot by the stream for invocation. It was on a rock jutting out over the gently flowing water. They could easily view the moon from this point and receive its white light. They lit sage and sweeping it around them, they said, “Fire and sage to cleanse the air of demons and keep us safe.”
And then, side by side, their skirts blowing in the wind, they raised their arms and chanted, “As it is above, so it is below. The waxing and the waning, the ebb and the flow.”
Reaching into leather pouches, they scattered herbs across the water to protect Mina on her ocean voyage and sprinkled cinnamon for protection on the land.
“It will be a new moon when you leave,” Grandmother said. “This is as it should be.”
“New beginnings,” Mina murmured.
“The seeds of life always begin in darkness. But you know this. And don’t forget to make a wand out of wood native to your new land as soon as you get there. It will be stronger if it is indigenous.”
“And,” Grandmother said, reaching into her pouch. “I am giving this crystal to you.” She pressed a stone into Mina’s hand.
The girl’s jaw dropped. “Not your precious amethyst! It is all you have from your mother!”
“Take it. You have your whole life ahead of you.” Then squeezing Mina’s hand holding the amethyst, she murmured something.
“What did you say, Grandmother?”
“Nothing, my darling Mina.”
Returning to the present, Mina started back to the Glas residence. Halfway up the hill, she stopped and looked at the house with dread wondering what the night would bring, and she clutched the amethyst in her pocket.
Mina had heard what her grandmother said to the crystal that day. She had murmured, “Protect her from this fiend.”
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1798
The beatings were getting worse. When Mina finally worked up the courage to look in the mirror, what she saw sickened her. There were bare, bloody patches on her blonde head. Her eye was swollen shut, and her arm was in a sling. The doctor tended to her injuries, but she received no solace. A husband had every right to reprimand his wife. And he reprimanded her regularly.
Mina sat down on the bed hot tears streaming down her face. More than anything she wanted to run home, but it was an ocean voyage away.
Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe. It was as if her lungs were closing up, and she was suffocating. She sat down, gasping for air and tried to calm herself. This was the third time it had happened this month, and she knew crying made it worse. She had to calm herself, or she might faint.
Mina sat down on the edge of a chair and stared at the fire. She must think of good things. She had a lovely home near Lancaster, a rich bounty of food, fashionable clothing, and was surrounded by natural beauty. Gradually, she relaxed. Her heart slowed, and her lungs opened. At last, she was able to take a deep breath. But then, like black ink seeping into her mind, the reality oozed back: she was Gottlieb’s property.
The first few months of their marriage had been tolerable. Gottlieb’s lust for her was quenched, and he seemed satisfied, but lately he had found her lacking. Conjugal visits now ended badly.
Mina dried her eyes and thought about home. She missed her family’s sprawling ancestral manor near Worms. She had lived happily there for sixteen years, playing along the stream, watching the waterwheel churn at the old mill, and reading by the fire on cold nights. It was a charmed life.
Much younger than her seven sisters, Mina had few playmates growing up, but she didn’t care. She had the company of her dogs, the birds, the vast sky, and Mother Earth. From the time she was a small child she knew she would marry a man of her family’s choosing, and she accepted that destiny. She trusted them and their choice.
Her home, Sommerfeldhoff was an estate dating back to 1527 located in the pastoral Palatinate Region of the Holy Roman Empire. The home was a half-timbered manor house with fourteen rooms decorated with frescos, six outbuildings, and the latest in French furnishings. The site overlooked the imposing Worms Cathedral and Rhine River.
For centuries, the Sommerfelds had relished all the comforts and power that success brought from landholding and dominating trade on the Rhine, and they were the most prosperous family in the region. But after major financial setbacks and settling dowries on seven daughters, the coffers were running low. Only a small dowry was left for Mina, and the family had to settle for a widower named Gottlieb Glas, a wealthy landholder living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Skinny, old, and rift with rheumatism, Gottlieb was a longtime acquaintance of Mina’s father, and he came back to the “old country”, not only on business, but to look for a fresh, young flower of good breeding. He was seeking a girl who could revive his manhood, and Mina instantly stirred his loins. In no time a marriage was arranged.
She thought back to the day before her wedding. Four of the Sommerfeld sisters had returned home for the ceremony and gathered in her room. On the upper jetty of the manor house, her bedchamber overlooked the Rhine. It was large and luxurious with walnut paneling, plush furnishings, and a curtained bedstead.
She could still see them lounging on cushioned chairs, the divan, or the bed. Dressed à la mode, they wore pastel-colored chemise gowns belted high under the bust with ribbons around their necks.
Mina’s sisters were married, well educated, attractive women with thick, blonde hair, fine features, and blue eyes, except for Friederike, the middle daughter. She was mousey, colorless, and mean.
“Has Mama told you about the wedding night yet?” Friederike asked.
“No, why?” Mina asked warily.
“Well, be prepared for a long night. From what I’ve heard you’ll be working hard,” she replied, suppressing a smile.
Mina drew her brows together. “What do you mean?” she asked, sitting up straight.
They all laughed, and Mina felt her cheeks flush. She knew they were having fun at her expense.
Sophie, who was sprawled across the bed, answered, “Now, Friederike, stop. Even though he’s ancient, he may get a miracle from a girl who is pretty and fresh.”
They all groaned, and Mina frowned.
“Maybe at first, but--” Friederike stated, but Caroline, Mina’s oldest sister walked into the room.
“What’s going on here?” she asked, looking at them. Petite, quick to smile, and kind, she kept her sisters in line. Seeing Mina’s red face, she demanded, “What are you saying to her?”
“Just telling her about what to expect from Herr Glas,” Sophie said, sitting up.
“If he can manage to dip his wick in her,” Katerina added in her shrill voice.
They chortled.
“Get out!” Caroline demanded.
Rolling their eyes, the sisters left the bed chamber, still giggling.
After that, Caroline explained conjugal relations to Mina but in a much gentler manner. Nevertheless, Mina now realized that her sisters had been correct. There would be problems.
She thought back to the first time Gottlieb had trouble. It was about a month after they arrived in Pennsylvania. “It’s like bedding a boy,” he grumbled in his gravelly voice, crawling off of her. “Magda never failed me.”
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. Gottlieb had told her repeatedly about his second wife’s voluptuous figure.
Stiffly, he climbed out of bed, pulled on his dressing gown, and hobbled over to the fire, picking up his Bible.
After that, the incidents continued. Sometimes he could perform. Sometimes not. But he kept trying night after night.
Mina looked outside. There was still some daylight left. Enough time to get outside, walk, and watch the sunset. Twilight was her favorite time of day, and she tried never to miss it.
She called her maid to help pin on her shawl and guide her down the stairs. Mina was still stiff from the incident, but she needed to get out and listen to the river, the birds, and the wind in the trees.
The Glas residence was a large three-story, fieldstone structure just outside the settlement of Lancaster on the Conestoga River. The façade of the house was flat and unadorned but the windows were trimmed in red, and there was a large garden with hollyhocks, lavender, and roses as well as mint, thyme, rosemary, and yarrow for medicinal and culinary purposes.
As Mina started down the hill away from the house, she relaxed. She was where she belonged, not locked up in a stuffy house. She turned and followed the creek, gingerly picking her way down the path, listening to the water tumbling over the rocks. The trail was thick with greenery giving it privacy. She had never been here at night, but she imagined it to be filled with magic.
Every time she walked this way she thought of Grandmother Annaliese. Even though she was an ocean away, she was always present in Mina’s heart, always whispering in her ear.
On their last walk together on the creek of the Sommerfeld estate, the old woman asked, “Have you been practicing your English, my little Mina?”
“Yes, but it needs work.”
“Those from your homeland in Pennsylvania will speak Deutsch, but the Englanders want you to speak the language of their colony in public.”
Mina swallowed hard and nodded. “I fear everything will be so different, Großmutter.”
“Take heart, my dearest. Some things will be different, but you will never be alone if you continue to embrace the spirits. Earth, water, fire, and air are present everywhere, and they will give you comfort. They may take different forms, in different settings, but they are still the same, and their spirits will be your constant companions.”
It was twilight, and a crescent moon was rising. Mina’s two mastiffs bounded alongside the women, darting in and out of the brush and splashing in the creek.
Mina said, “The elements may in Pennsylvania, but you won’t be, Großmutter.”
The tiny woman stopped, looked at her and said sharply, “Have I taught you nothing? My spirit will be with you wherever you go.”
Mina looked down, fighting back tears. “I know. I know.”
“Come here,” Grandmother Annaleise murmured, pulling her into her arms. “I only say this because I too am trying to convince myself that we will not be apart.”
“You have doubts too?”
“Sometimes. It’s only natural. That is where faith comes in.”
Grandmother started walking again, nimbly stepping over rocks and debris on the path. Even though she was wrinkled and gray, her advanced years had not affected her gait, and she was as limber as a maiden.
“Do you suppose there will be people who practice the old ways where I am going?” Mina asked.
“There will be few like us where you are going, except perhaps the Indians. Most of the settlers in that part of Pennsylvania are Anabaptists, and as you know, they shun our ways. You must absolutely keep your beliefs to yourself. It is as dangerous there as it is here.”
“So much of what we believe is the same as all these religions. Why can’t they see that?”
“Because no matter which faith it is, they believe their way is the only way. Just tell everyone that you were raised Lutheran and leave it at that.”
Mina stepped over a log and said, “Even Mama hates your beliefs.”
“Ja, she thinks I gave it up years ago.”
“I’ve never breathed a word to her,” Mina said. “Or to my sisters.”
“I’m glad. You are the only one who has merited my teachings. From the very beginning I could see you were different. You were linked to Mother Earth.”
Grandmother stopped in their usual spot by the stream for invocation. It was on a rock jutting out over the gently flowing water. They could easily view the moon from this point and receive its white light. They lit sage and sweeping it around them, they said, “Fire and sage to cleanse the air of demons and keep us safe.”
And then, side by side, their skirts blowing in the wind, they raised their arms and chanted, “As it is above, so it is below. The waxing and the waning, the ebb and the flow.”
Reaching into leather pouches, they scattered herbs across the water to protect Mina on her ocean voyage and sprinkled cinnamon for protection on the land.
“It will be a new moon when you leave,” Grandmother said. “This is as it should be.”
“New beginnings,” Mina murmured.
“The seeds of life always begin in darkness. But you know this. And don’t forget to make a wand out of wood native to your new land as soon as you get there. It will be stronger if it is indigenous.”
“And,” Grandmother said, reaching into her pouch. “I am giving this crystal to you.” She pressed a stone into Mina’s hand.
The girl’s jaw dropped. “Not your precious amethyst! It is all you have from your mother!”
“Take it. You have your whole life ahead of you.” Then squeezing Mina’s hand holding the amethyst, she murmured something.
“What did you say, Grandmother?”
“Nothing, my darling Mina.”
Returning to the present, Mina started back to the Glas residence. Halfway up the hill, she stopped and looked at the house with dread wondering what the night would bring, and she clutched the amethyst in her pocket.
Mina had heard what her grandmother said to the crystal that day. She had murmured, “Protect her from this fiend.”
*For a limited time receive the free novelette by Amanda, The Shadow Patriots
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