Tad nudged Gareth. “She peeked out the door, saw us and ducked inside.”
Gareth directed his mind to Tad’s. “The woman following the Brothers?”
“Yes. I saw her for just a second. She acted scared.”
The answer came so naturally that if asked, Gareth believed Tad would say he had heard the words out loud.
“No, I wouldn’t,” Tad corrected. “I know the difference.”
“I think we should go to our cabin and catch some sleep.”
“I know what you’re thinking. Tomorrow you will begin to teach me how to use my powers.”
Gareth laughed out loud as he ushered the boy ahead of him.
After breakfast they walked the sunny decks for a short time, then Tad suggested they get started on the lessons. He seemed anxious to learn.
Gareth said, “I don’t even know where we start, but yes.”
Once in the room, they faced each other. By the mid-day meal, Gareth was astounded to find the boy had jumped through all the mental hoops Gareth provided with ease. His only drawback was that he could not control his thinking to direct it at a single mind, yet. His thoughts would have burst from his mind like fireworks, spreading his thoughts to all who could hear if Gareth had not dampened them, or smothered them as Tad called it.
But even dampening Tad’s thoughts didn’t mean some energy might escape beyond the ship, and Gareth tried to keep it to a point that only he and the boy could hear.
By the time the ship passed the twin statues of the famous mythical Rete, at the headlands of Reteam harbor near dusk a few days later, Tad could already partially control his thinking. When he attempted to direct it at Gareth, they touched minds and spoke as if in the same room. However, Tad had not learned to control his wild thinking, especially when angry. There were times when Gareth had to use all his skill to squelch the thoughts and keep them from spreading to all sensitives, and yet, he believed some had escaped.
The commercial area of the Reteam port held over twenty piers extending into the deep water like fingers reaching from the shore. Ships tied up to both sides. Further along were hundreds of other piers for small craft, like fishing and shrimping boats. As the City of Adelaide dipped her sails and navigated closer to one of the piers, Gareth saw a pair of Brothers watching the ship.
Keeping his reaction to a minimum, he searched the other piers and docks. On almost all he found pairs of Brothers. More of them strolled the cargo loading area. Casually, he motioned for Tad to return to their cabin. Once safely inside Gareth touched the minds of each crewman and blurred the images of the two passengers, making them both be remembered as old women, the wives of traders who frequented the vessel.
Tad sensed his frightened mood and sat on the bed, watching but not speaking. Gareth moved to the porthole and pulled the dark curtain aside. As the ship turned into the pier, the current and wind moved it closer, more Brothers arrived until there were ten spread out on the land and the pier. Lanterns on tall poles were lit in anticipation of unloading passengers and cargo. Stevedores gathered in groups, waiting for the ship to finish tying up.
“Are they bad men?” Tad asked.
“Well, not exactly bad, but not good for us, either. We’ll want to avoid them. When we get to Freeport, we need to get off this ship without people like them knowing we were there.”
“How can we do that?”
“I’m not sure, yet.”
“You could have Blackie rescue us. He could dive down at them, and they’d run like sheep from a dog.”
Gareth chuckled and tried to ease the mind of the boy. “No, we don’t want to do that. He’s far away and waiting for us in the mountains, and all we need to do is sneak past the men out there at the next port if there are any of them.”
Tad nodded and said, “There will be more.”
Gareth had been considering that. But maybe there were no more inland if they got past the ones watching the docks. However, if he could see ten, it made sense there were more he couldn’t see. He calculated and decided there might be as many as twenty Brothers, or ten pairs watching the ships and port. Reteam was a small port city, unlike Freeport, which was a major city. How many of the Brotherhood were in Reteam on a regular basis? Maybe three pairs at most? If that was true, where had the other seven pair come from? And why?
Answering his own question, he decided they must have come from the surrounded towns and villages, meaning the Brotherhood was concentrating all of their attention on arriving ships. It also meant that if he managed to get inland, there would be far less of the Brotherhood to evade because they were all at the ports.
If Reteam held this many brothers searching, how many would Freeport have waiting for arriving ships? A hundred? It didn’t matter. He felt certain they were waiting and searching for him, although he had no idea of how they knew he would arrive on a ship. He’d love to touch minds with one of them, but they were sensitives also, and would know instantly what he had done. They were probably hoping for such a mistake.
Tad eased to the porthole and watched with him, but said nothing. Gareth opened his mind enough for Tad to enter.
Gareth allowed his mind to reach out to one of the friendly young sailors they had met the first night on the ship. Gently, he touched minds. Having seen the sailor, and spoken with him, it was far easier to make mental contact because he was familiar. “There are so many of the Brotherhood out there, I wonder what’s going on?”
The sailor lifted his head from the line he was coiling and looked to the pier, only a stone’s throw away. He said, “Spike, have you ever seen so many of those green men?”
“Always a couple of them around, but never seen so many gathered at one time.”
Gareth heard the second voice in his mind as clearly as the young sailor heard it in his ears. He pulled back. One by one he touched each crewman on the ship and suggested that they felt uncomfortable discussing anything with the Brotherhood. They would defy them by lying in answers to any questions, especially about the ship, the cargo, or passengers.
As expected, every crewman instantly leaped on the idea with glee. They already distrusted the Brotherhood and misleading them felt right. Gareth allowed them to do what came naturally, even if he did encourage it a little more than they might have if the ship carried different passengers.
Now Tad and Gareth could stay out of sight until the ship sailed, but they still faced, even more, odds in Freeport. More odds meaning more Brothers watching. Gareth glanced at Tad and said, “I know you don’t like ships. Maybe we should try to escape from this one at this port instead of going on.”
“I’ll pack.”
There was no hesitation in Tad. Not only did he not like ships, but he also didn't like the Brotherhood. Gareth gathered his things too and stuffed the little he carried with him in a bag much like those sailors carried over their shoulders. He felt the gentle bump as the ship nudged the pier, and almost at once the motion of the ship changed to one of being contained.
A knock came from the cabin door. Expecting to find a steward or crewman, Gareth was surprised to find a woman. Moreover, it was the woman who had followed the Brotherhood ashore in St. Michelle. Without asking, she pushed the door further open and slipped inside. She closed the door with a firm hand. She appeared both excited and scared.
“Can I help you?” Gareth managed to say.
“The other way around. I’m here to help you, Gareth.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The woman identified herself as Ann. She stood at the door of the ship’s cabin, facing Gareth and Tad, her stance defiant and imploring at the same time. She said softly, “I am one of the Sisterhood.”