Forge

Set during the American Revolution, in the months prior to the Colonial Army’s disastrous winter at Valley Forge, Forge introduces us to Curzon, a young escaped slave and the narrator of the story. He awakes to find himself floating in a small boat rowed by Isabella, a fellow slave, who was instrumental the two escaping from British confinement. Isabella – her hands blistered and torn from rowing, her mind addled from the exhaustion of their escape – insists they head to Charleston, to search of her sister, Ruth. Ruth, Curzon admits to the reader, had been sold and sent to the “islands” months ago.

Nine months pass, and in that time Isabella has left with their money to find her sister, forcing Curzon to work for an unscrupulous and thieving conveyancer named Trumbull. After many months of denying Curzon payment for ferrying supplies for the Colonial rebels, Trumbull fires him. In retribution, Curzon steals some of Trumbull’s spoons and four shoe buckles, and heads south, through the wilderness, toward Albany. It’s here we find him, weaving through the American wild, surrounded by the many threats and dangers of the time – namely wolves, and both the Rebel and British armies, who are skirmishing throughout the area around Valley Forge.

Curzon comes upon a unit of British soldiers skirmishing with a unit of Rebels. The Redcoats are routed, and the Rebels give chase, and just as Curzon is about to rise from hiding and continue on his journey, a single British soldier pursued by a young, gap-toothed boy crash through the wood. The two face off, each trying to reload his musket before the other. Having served in the military in place of his former master, Curzon realizes the young Rebel boy will not reload in time. Curzon hurls a rock at the Redcoat, causing him to misfire. The boy aims his musket and fires, hitting the soldier in the stomach.

The resulting scene horrifies them both. The soldier dies slowly, in agony, clutching his mangled gut and thrashing on the ground before finally expiring. The boy retches and, shaken, thanks Curzon for his help, then hurries off to rejoin the rebels, insisting that, according to his uncle, the rebels could end the war in the upcoming battle. Curzon does not believe this at all.

Curzon loots the soldier’s belongings, taking his musket, blanket, and other goods. He halts upon a small portrait of the dead soldier’s wife, and for a moment succumbs to a flicker of guilt. Finding a shattered compass in the soldier’s back, Curzon reflects upon his past enslavement, when he watched in wonder as the needle in his master’s compass would magically spin and show direction to the holder. The soldier’s compass, however, will never work again. Realizing that its broken needle would not point him where to go, he heads off to join the Rebel troops in their battle.

Curzon describes the madness of the following fight. Men die. Men scream. Cannons roar. Musket balls thud into the earth around him. Curzon and the rebels charge into the fray and rout the British yet again. They call out a cheer. The battle is won.