Temptation

By Zach Neal

The Petun nation has been destroyed by the Iroquois and the Huron and their Algonquian allies are nervous. Etienne, Sieur de Berignac, and his young cousin and protégé Pierre, have tools, kettles and blankets to trade, but it is the guns that are the most sought-after. A little brandy and some diplomacy will take them a long ways, but as Pierre discovers, the language barrier is a killer. A short story of Canada’s colourful and romantic past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zach Neal
• Release date: Feb 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9781927957097

Zach Neal

Zach Neal has been writing ever since he can remember. A forestry management professional, he prefers the outdoors to the office. He lives in the Halton Hills overlooking the Greater Toronto Area. He studied at the University of Toronto. Zach’s a single father of two healthy and energetic children. Zach’s boys, Aaron and Jason, mean everything to him.

Book preview

Temptation

Zach Neal

This Smashwords edition copyright 2014 Zach Neal and Long Cool One Books

Cover design: J. Thornton

ISBN 978-1-927957-09-7

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The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person living or deceased, or to any places or events, is purely coincidental. Names, places, settings, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. The author’s moral right has been asserted.

Table of Contents

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

About the Author

Temptation

Zach Neal

Act One

There were children strung out along the beach and a growing clump of people at the top of the bluff. Etienne discharged his pistol and the paddles were raised vertically. The men were singing at the time and then it went quiet on the shot.

Pierre waited until the prow of the big trading canoe touched the sand and then leapt out. The craft rose as his weight diminished. There was a splash beside him as Alsoomse, the independent one, disembarked on the right side. The Abnaki waded ashore with his gun held high. The prow lifted higher, bobbing in the swell. Throwing himself in front of the boat, Pierre grunted and stopped her paper-thin hull from grounding under its own impetus.

Alors! Soft at the edge, where the pea-sized stones gave way to yellow sand, it was much firmer. C’est arrive.

There were more heavy splashes now, and cheerful shouts.

Pierre grabbed the gunwale on the port side and gently kept her off the bottom as the Seigneur crept across the bales in the centre of the boat on hands and knees, steadied by paddlers standing in the waist-deep and very chill water. He regained his footing and stood in the clear space near the bow for a moment. Grinning from ear to ear, Etienne waved at the people up above. He called out one or two names, Pierre wasn’t quite certain who he addressed.

Looking down at Pierre with a quick nod, he took Pierre’s hand, and then lifted a foot and lightly stepped onto the pale strand before the village.

Ease her up, boys. Pierre and the men heaved and hauled the merchandise out of the boat as native children ran up and people of all ages came down out of the habitations, sauntering in their turn to the top of the high bank.

The thrill of nerves went through Pierre, having heard about the various peoples, but never having been up-country before. This was a big opportunity for him. The situation was also fraught with danger, risk, and laden with cultural pitfalls. Of Alsoomse, he had already disappeared into the crowd, but Pierre knew his ways by