A League Files from the Keeper Library: The Keeper from the Lost Colony of Roanoke

In England's quest to colonize the new world, their first settlement at Roanoke failed. Another group of settlers consisting of families were sent. Some believed the reason the first settlement failed was that the men were not invested in staying. Everyone agreed Roanoke shouldn’t be settled as the land wasn’t a good place to farm. One hundred and fifteen settlers set out for Chesapeake Bay. However, the captain of their ship either did not receive the same orders or chose to return to Roanoke. Once there he made them disembark and refused to take them anywhere else. The unwilling settlers stayed and tried to make it work. Some buildings had been left over from the failed settlement.

The colonists' lives became routine, though different from what they had imagined. Things between the natives seemed strained but they hoped with time it would be alright. When George Howe was killed by an Indian, they begged John White to go back to England and plead the colony’s case for help. Reluctantly he left. His return took three years. Once there he found no sign of any of the colonists, or any sign of a struggle or battle either. The only sign left was the word “Croatoan” carved into a post of the fence around the village and “Cro” on a tree. Everything had been dismantled as if no one left in a hurry. Appeared as though the 90 men, 17 women, and 11 children; disappeared.

The Keeper’s League knows differently, from a firsthand account of the only survivor, Ambrose Viccars, also known as Blake Woods. Herein lies his account of what happened and when he returned to the world as we know it. [Note: at the time Blake was seventeen. In the eyes of the colony, he was an adolescent or child. He could not own land or choose a wife for himself. If, however, his family arranged a marriage, he might have been married.]

---

It had been a little over a year since John White left for England to get reinforcements. We lost 10 more people over the winter due to sickness and another attack by the Indians. Some people wondering if Governor White even made it back to England. His daughter spoke out regularly, trying to encourage the people. I didn’t care either way as I enjoyed my time learning the land and the best ways to trap different animals. My mother was expecting another child which kept my parents in good spirits. Father was overjoyed as I was the only child to live past the age of five. We’d all mourned my siblings passing, mother most of all. This new world was our fresh start.

The day seemed like a nice one to go and check my traps. Still, early morning and you could still smell the crisp air, like the day after a storm. The energy made me want to get out of the house and into the forest.

"Mum, I believe I will journey out to see if any of my traps bore fruit." I tried to hide my excitement.

"I wish you would not go into the forest. What if those Indians find you?" my mother said nervously as she glanced towards the misty forest out the window.

More than a little annoyed with her and how she reacted about the forest, it was an old argument. No one bothered me, but many of the colonists were afraid of those of us who went into the woods. We might meet the Indians or worse the Devil. When I walked in them, a calm come over me, almost as if the trees whispered their secrets to me. I loved the forest and all its glory had to offer. Where others saw the darkness of the forest which crept into their nightmares. "Mum as I've said before there’s nothing to fear out there. I’ll go and check the traps."

"Ambrose, please do not speak to me like that. It is disrespectful. Since nothing I say will keep you from going, would you at least go for a wash? You are starting to remind me of the livestock." As she squeezed her nose closed while making a silly face at me.

I smiled at my mother, who had become a bit eccentric regarding bathing. In England, bathing was a luxury, but here it was much easier to just go to the lake. "Of course, Mum. Would you like me to bring you back any flowers?"

She smiled as she stirred the stew over the fire for supper. "That is kind of you. I do love my flowers."

I gave her a kiss on the cheek and walked out the front door. Father had gone to the neighbors', helping to break up the ground so we might plant more crops. Wanting to get out into the woods, I walked back behind the settlement so I wouldn’t be stopped by anyone.

I first headed for a lake deep in the woods, far enough from the colony no one else went there. It was my favorite place. I washed and swam in the cool waters, having learned swimming from the sailors on our journey here. While laying on the bank letting the sun dry me off, I enjoyed the quiet. Once dry and dressed, I went to check my traps and collected my prizes of fox and a boar. I decided to make my way back as the sun was indicating afternoon. I hadn’t brought any food with me and was getting hungry. While entering the colony, I cut behind most of the houses to get home quickly, barely noticing how quiet everything seemed. When I opened the door to our home, I found my mother face down on the table with my father next to her on the floor. Both of them were covered in blood. A scream escaped my lips as I dropped to my knees dropping my prizes on the ground.

I quickly got up and ran out of the house, searching. “Hello! Is anyone alive?”

I could barely see from the tears streaming down my face. No one answered my calls. I tripped, falling many times as I slowly made my way back to my home, despondently. There were bodies everywhere. I saw how some of them had tried to run. As far as I could tell all 104 colonists were dead. They even killed Virginia Dare, the first child born in this new, harsh world. No doubt in my mind that the Indians had killed everyone. The only question was, would they come back?

At this point in time, I did not know that I had stopped time, for it did not feel any different to me. The sun was still in the late afternoon position.

Slowly I opened our front door, picking up the boar and fox off the floor and hanging them on our meat hook. I started to clean my parents as the sight of them hurt my heart. I couldn’t tell how long it took me until they both were presentable. I first took my mother’s body out to a place where she used to collect flowers, right behind the church. Then I went back and brought my father to lay next to her. I must have been working for hours to dig a hole big enough for them, and yet the sun never moved. Once the last shovel of dirt was placed, I said the Lord's Prayer over both of them. Exhausted, I went back to the house and cleaned up what was left.

I’m unclear how much time went by. At some point, I fell asleep. When I went outside again, the sun was still in the same place as the last time I had checked. I figured I must have slept in. My next thought was, I needed to bury the rest of the colonists. I may not be a priest, but they should not be left out like this. We already started a small cemetery next to the church. Unable to dig individual graves for everyone, I dug a large mass grave. It took me several days to complete and the sun never moved.

After I placed about half of the bodies into the grave, a small boy came towards me down the main line of buildings. I thought I had found his body but here he was standing in front of me, shaking and dirty.

“Thomas?” I dropped the body I held and ran to him. “Are you okay?”

Thomas pulled away from me, not letting me touch him. “I…I…I think so.”

“Did you not hear me, before?” I asked as I searched him for any injuries.

“I did, but I didn’t know if it was safe.” He stood and rung his hands together, glancing about a little too quickly.

“Let’s go get you something to eat, clean you up a bit.”

“Food. Yes, please.” Thomas said quietly.

We walked to my home I got us both something to eat. Thomas sat and only picked at some bread and didn’t even touch the jerky on his plate.

“Thomas, are you alright?” I asked him cautiously, sensing his tension.

“I’m scared the Indians will come back.”

His words put a chill through me, as this was my fear, as well. I did not want Thomas to think of this, though. “I believe they won’t be back.”

“Did you dig the giant grave for everyone by the church all by yourself?”

“Yes,” I said.

“They’re the lucky ones.”

Startled, I watched him with more cation. “What are you talking about? They’re all dead.”

“But they don’t fear their death anymore. They’re in heaven.” He paused. “Well, most of them are.”

“You speak as if you are an old man, Thomas. Did you know of anyone’s sins?” The boy made me a little unnerved.

He looked right at me with his dead green eyes. “What of your unborn sibling?”

I sucked in a breath and the color drained from my face. “Unborn children always go to heaven. Didn’t you pay attention in church?”

Thomas shrugged his shoulders.

I couldn’t believe he would even think such a thing. I took my dish to the wash basin. “I should finish burying everyone. I could really use your help.”

“I don’t think I’ll be much help. I’m very weak, but may I stay with you?”

“Yes, of course.” I headed back over to the church still a little annoyed with him, but not wanting to be alone.

Thomas sat on a log near the church steps where he could see me. I worked and he sat silently watching. It took hours to place all the bodies in the grave. Finally, I was able to start to put the dirt on them. It did seem to go faster with the company, even if he didn’t speak. Once I had finally completed my task, I looked up to the sun to see the time. In that moment I realized the sun hadn’t moved from when I last looked at it when I had woken.

“That’s strange,” I said absently.

“What is strange?” Thomas asked.

“Well when I woke, the sun was in the exact same place.”

Thomas looked up, “Are you sure?”

“Maybe I’m tired. My sleeping habits have been as off as the sun…” I didn’t need Thomas thinking I was crazy. “Nevermind. Would you like to say a few words? I will say the Lord’s Prayer after.”

“No. I’m getting hot. Let’s go back inside and get out of the sun.”

“We need to say something,” I said as I put my hands on my hips.

“If you wish.” He got up and started walking away.

I quickly said the Lord’s Prayer, and ran after Thomas, only to find he was nowhere as if he had disappeared. He wasn’t at my house or his own. I called him for a while. There was no response I figured that he wanted to be left alone.

The next day, I woke up to find Thomas sitting at my table looking at my father’s most prized possession, his Bible.

“Can you read this?” He pointed at the book as he turned the pages.

“Of course,” I said as I rubbed my eyes and sat down next to him.

“Neither of my parents could read. Are there any pictures?”

“No pictures, sorry. Would you like me to read to you?” I offered, a little hopeful.

“What kind of book is it?” he asked, though he sounded bored.

“The Bible, of course,” I said in a shocked voice.

“Then no. I heard enough from that book on Sundays.” He slammed the book closed.

I quickly put the book back on the shelf above my parent's bed. Knowing we needed some food, I made us a simple meal of bread and water as I was not very hungry. Neither of us spoke while we ate. Thomas again picked at his food, not really eating anything. With everyone buried, I was unsure of what to do, as we had plenty of food. I didn’t need to go hunt or check my traps. We finally finished eating, and I cleaned while Thomas just sat there.

“Can we go outside for a bit?” he suddenly asked.

I nearly dropped the wooden plate I had been drying. “Yes, that is a grand idea.”

I placed the plate down and headed for the door with Thomas following. Outside, I looked up again and saw the sun was still in the same spot. A shiver went up my spine. Thomas took a quick glance at the sky but didn’t seem bothered.

“What should we do?” he asked.

“We could collect firewood from the other houses and stack it over here. Maybe see if there’s anything we can use or need.”

“Like a treasure hunt?” He asked with the first sign of excitement I'd seen from him.

“Yes.” His enthusiasm made me smile. “Only let’s not do every house today, then we have something to do for the next few days.”

Thomas nodded and ran ahead to the first house on our left.

This became our routine for the next couple of weeks. Finding new things and going over everything we found.

As the days went by and the sun still didn’t move, I felt like something was horribly wrong. Finally, one day, even Thomas made a comment.

“Does the sun ever move?” he asked while staring up.

“I’m beginning to think not,” I said as my voice came out a little shaky.

“Ambrose, what if the Indians used their magic to make the sun stop?”

“I don’t believe they can do that.” Even to myself, I didn’t sound very convincing.

Thomas was visibly scared. “You’re lying. The sun is not moving!”

Thomas ran off. I wasn’t sure what to say to him as I looked up again. We didn’t talk much for a few days. The silence was hard on me and one day I couldn’t stand the silence.

I placed a plate of food in front of Thomas as a peace offering and said, “Can we try and work this out. I don’t know why the sun isn’t moving but we’re all that we have now.”

Thomas watched me with distrust. “What if they did all of this because of you going into the forest? What if this is all your fault?”

I felt as if he had slapped me across the face. This was so close to what my mother had been so afraid of right before I had left her that last time. Tears began streaming down my face at the memory. “You’re wrong!”

“Ambrose, you know I’m right.” He actually sounded sympathetic.

There were no words for how I was feeling, part of me wanted to run away and the other wanted to beat Thomas for what he said. Neither would change anything. So I sat in silence and wept. I heard Thomas get up.

“You realize what you have to do,” he said in a quiet voice.

He dropped a length of rope in front of me. I heard him slowly retreat away from me. Stunned at his actions, I couldn’t take my eyes away from the rope. Everything I’d been taught by my parents was killing yourself was never an answer, for it meant you would go to Hell. On the other hand, if I was the cause of everything that would mean I was the key to bringing things back to normal. Being as torn as I was, I sat there for hours, going over what I should do. My choice would affect Thomas, too. Finally getting up, I stepped outside and saw the sun again in the same place. Thomas must be right. I must be the cause of this.

Thomas left the house without as much as a glance in my direction. He did not speak to me again, and I didn’t seek him out. I went out to my parents’ graves and said goodbye, placing flowers on their graves. Once back home I ate a meal of some of my mother’s special stocked meats that I had been saving.

Finally, I took up the rope and made a tight noose, through the rope over the main truss while standing on the kitchen table. I tied it off so it would hold my weight. I said the Lord’s Prayer and asked forgiveness for all the harm I had caused. Then I hung myself. The last thing I remember is hearing the snapping of my neck.

I woke up later not knowing how long I had been hanging. I ended up having to cut myself down with my hunting knife I kept in my pocket. I landed on the floor, hard. I gasped for breath and realized my neck was broken. My first priority was to fix my neck. After six tries and passing out twice from the pain, I get the job done. In that time I came to terms with the fact, I just couldn’t die.

Looking around the room I noticed Thomas was nowhere in sight. I left the house and went to look for him. After checking every place I could think of I started searching for his tracks. I could only find my own, which didn’t make any sense. Thomas and I had been all over the colony for the past few weeks. His prints should be right next to my own in most cases, only there was no trace of his anywhere. When I got back to my house I went to where Thomas slept and realized as I looked at my own bed, Thomas had never been there at all. The need of finding someone alive was so great in me, my mind created someone for me.

The only thing I could think to do was to follow the plan Governor White had told us to do, go to Croatoan Island. I collected more things from each house which I thought I might need, only I wasn’t ready to go.

I figured I would take down the homes. Once I was done I kept going and took down the fortifications. With nothing left for me to do, I realized I needed to go. On one of the fence posts, I carved the word “Croatoan.” I walked to a nearby tree and started to carve into it but suddenly I found myself in the dark for the first time since I had found everyone. I turned back around and my supplies were gone. All around me was thick forest, much thicker than I remember around the colony.

I walked back to where my house had stood and found a house looking exactly like the one I had taken down, with smoke coming out the chimney. I suddenly felt hungry. I went inside and found a warm meal waiting for me only no one was there. I ate as much as I could, which turned out to be very little since I hadn’t eaten in days. My body rejected the food quickly. Soon I could barely keep my eyes open so I went and laid down on the big bed under a window. When I woke there was another hot meal waiting for me and again I was alone. It went on like this for who knows how long. I understood that whenever I needed something it would appear in my little home.

The one thing that it didn’t seem to be able to give me was companionship. Though I still mourned my parents and friends. I wanted time to pass, but I never tried to keep track of it in any way. Then one day I felt a pull to go for a walk. I walked past a tree that I had many times and I then I was in a strange new place.

There were massive structures in front and all around me. The ground was hard and there were these great horseless carriages moving past me at the speed of a horse. As I looked about, a man came and stood next to me.

“Are you Ambrose?” he sounded different and yet I felt like something was off about him. Like he too shouldn’t have been there either.

“I am. Who might you be and where am I?” I asked him as I looked at his strange clothing trying to understand him.

“My name is Reilly Fitzgerald. The question you should be asking isn’t where but when. You don’t need to worry about all that now. Let’s get you someplace where I can answer all your questions. Maybe you can help us answer some of ours as well.” He placed his hand on my arm.

I pulled away quickly. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me where I am!”

He was taken aback and looked around a little sheepishly. Only to recover quickly and quietly said, “you’re in New York City, New York and the today’s date is November 12, 1890. You’ve been missing since March of 1589, correct?”

“1890…” was all I could say. Reilly took up my arm again and the next thing I knew I was inside a building. He led me to a small room with a table and chairs and asked to wait. Someone brought me food and water and told me I was at a Sanctuary for Keepers. A while later a beautiful woman walked into the room. She took one look at me and smiled broke widely across her face.

“I’m Mara, and I am so very happy to meet you, Blake Woods.” She took a seat across from where I sat.

“I’m sorry ma’am but you have the wrong person. My name is Ambrose Viccars.”

“Well, yes and no. Ambrose is who you were. You now and for a very long time will be Blake Woods. I’m your Watcher. It’s my job to know everything about you.”

I must have looked confused.

“No one told you?” She said as if she was more than a little irritated.

I shook my head.

“I’m going to kick Reilly. You, my good friend are a Keeper, a Time Jumper at that, which means you are immortal, you can’t die.”

“I know I can’t die!” I shouted at her, rubbing my neck absently.

Mara had a look of shock on her face but quickly recovered. “Why don’t we start again, shall we?”

She held out her hand to me. At first I was unclear what her intentions were, but I took her hand into mine and gave a halfhearted shake.

“Good morrow, I am Ambrose Viccars. How do you do?”

She smiled at me, “I am called Mara. Would you like to know what happened since you disappeared?”

“That would be nice.”

Mara began to explain everything.

So ends the account of the Roanoke colony.

(All pictures are from https://pixabay.com/)