03 - The Last Day of Magic

December 1775

The snow was reluctant to come; the expedition had stopped before it ever really began.  There was snow in the area just not where Knox needed it.  The magician struggled day in, day out, to coax the snow to fall around Fort George to no avail.  Meanwhile Charlotte had spent 10 days cooped up in the fort and she couldn't take it any longer.  Knox made arrangements to have Charlotte take to the road along with lieutenant John Andre and a small company of prisoner guard to travel south to Saratoga.  Saratoga was the next stop along the 300 mile trail that they would follow to Boston.  In exchange for releasing Charlotte, and the lieutenant, Knox wanted Charlotte to secure lodgings in Saratoga and scout the area as they traveled.

Two days after Charlotte set out the magician finally came through. The roads were covered in a fresh layer of thick snow.  Finally, 12 days after first arriving at Fort George, the expedition set out carrying 60 tons of artillery and ammunition.  Progress was slow going and it wasn't until Christmas Eve morning that the train of artillery arrived in Saratoga.

As Nicholas Fischer approached Saratoga he was overcome by large fount of magical energy situated just outside the town.  He had experienced these types of large energy pools before in Europe where they were well documented, but this was the first time he had encountered it in America.  After quickly settling into his lodgings Fisher went back out to explore the area and find the source of the energy.  It wasn't long until he found the epicenter in a nearby field.

Charlotte and Henry Knox watched from the comfort of the inn as the magician wandered about in the cold and snow.  When Fisher finally returned they asked him what he had been searching for.  Knox was intrigued by the pool of energy and insisted that Fischer use the energy to generate more snow.  He wanted Fisher to make snow and push it south towards Albany for them to use in the coming days as the expedition moved on.  Nicholas agreed to the plan but only if a performance be made of the summoning - the magician wanted to test out his some of his practical magic theories with the energy pool concerning Charlotte.

Knox put out the word to the locals that a magician was in town and that he would be performing a Christmas spectacle .  It wasn't long before the whole town was gathered in the field at the epicenter of the energy pool.  Nicholas and Charlotte put on a show that dazzled the crowd.  First thick beautiful snowflakes began to fall, then the magician dressed a lone evergreen tree with a fresh coat snow.  Before long there was snow everywhere, floating up, down, and all around as if they all were inside a huge outdoor snow globe, and at the center stood the evergreen, an exquisite white Christmas tree.

That evening everyone celebrated in good cheer and on Christmas morning they all woke up to a white Christmas with over 2 feet of fresh snow.