“It won’t be easy,” Levi admits. “How would we even begin?”
“We just have to watch for an opening,” I say. “And pray.” I look over at Colm and Tobias. “I need to talk to them.”
“Can you tell us what’s happening, Wren?” Colm asks when I kneel before them. I know he is anxious to hear about Rosalyn and Stella, as Tobias is to know about Peter and Nancy. I sit down across from them on the cold earthen floor and tell them about our escape from the village when the flood came and everything that happened to us since that time.
“Are you sure they are safe?” Colm asks again.
“Colm, all I know to tell you is that if they are with Levi’s people, then they are safe. I have no way of knowing what happened to them since they weren’t where we left them. I cannot imagine where they are.”
“They could be prisoners here, like us,” Tobias says.
“If they are, then hopefully we will find out soon,” I reply. “How did you get out?”
“We had come around behind the bluecoats to shut down the lift to cut them off from reinforcements,” Tobias explains. “When the gas blew, the only place we had to go was up. It knocked the lift askew so we climbed the cable.”
“You climbed all that way?” I ask in disbelief.
“We had no choice,” Colm explains. “The water was chasing our arses. It was that or drown. When we got to the top, they were waiting to arrest us. Threw us in the cells, and we’ve been there since.”
“Without any idea of what was going on below,” Tobias adds. “We imagined the worst, of course, and we were right.”
“At least some survived,” Colm says. “If I die tonight I can go happy that Rosalyn and Stella will go on. I hope.”
I squeeze his hand. “We’re not finished yet,” I say.
“Just let us know what needs to be done,” Tobias replies. “I’m not going out without a fight.”
“They are coming.” Levi and Pace are still watching through the cracks. Colm and Tobias quickly rise to their feet while Jilly and Ellen, startled from their naps, look about in confusion. The bar on the door is raised, and Ragnor opens the door.
“Come,” he instructs. Levi and Pace help Jilly and Ellen to their feet. Levi moves to pick Jilly up and he’s stopped. “She must walk,” the rover says.
“I’ll be fine,” Jilly says haughtily, and she manages to limp after Levi as we file out of the hut. Several guards fall around us, cutting off any chance of an escape to our sides or behind us, so the only direction we can move is forward, toward the center of the settlement.
The entire population is gathered there. Men, women, and children. They part as we approach, and we are herded to the platform next to the fire, where several deer are roasting on spits. We stop far enough out that we can see what is on the platform. Men stand around it as if to protect it. The platform stands nearly as tall as me with steps leading to it. Upon it are two posts and a man is tied between them so tightly that his arms look as if they will pull out of the sockets and he has to stand on his toes. His back is bared to us. I am afraid to think of what this might mean. Three more men are on the platform. Two stand and another sits in a large and ornate chair that would be more at home in my father’s office than here in this village. The one who sits looks the same age as my father and Lyon. He wears a long coat and pants but no shirt. His chest is massive and muscular, wider than anyone I’ve ever seen. He has some of the strange markings on his face that I’ve seen on some of the other rovers. The other two flank him, standing with their arms crossed and huge knives in their belts. This has to be the leader of the rovers.
Beneath the platform are baskets full of rocks. I don’t want to know what they are for either. The crowd presses at our backs, and our male friends move instinctively behind us to protect us. Levi, on the opposite side of Jilly, is on my left, Pace on my right, with Ellen beyond him. Colm and Tobias stand behind me. Jilly leans heavily on Levi, and Ellen clings to Pace. As soon as the crowd behind us quiets and stops jostling for position, the man in the chair inclines his head to someone standing off to the side.
A man strides to the platform and climbs the steps. He is tall with large arms. He wears pants and a vest and his hair in a long braid down his back. Leather bands cover his wrists and his face also bears markings. When he gets to the platform, he uncoils a long thick rope made of braided leather. The ends are not part of the braid, and I see shiny flecks of metal tied to them.
“This is not good,” Levi says quietly. “Be strong, all of you. Try not to show any emotion or they will take it as a sign of weakness.”
I barely nod. Jilly takes a deep breath. I already know that for Ellen it will be impossible. And when the first lash hits the back of the man tied to the posts, she cries out and buries her head in Pace’s shoulder. Ragnor frowns and Janna goes to Ellen and with her hands twists Ellen’s face around so that she has to watch as the next lash falls.
I always knew death by fire was painful. Accidentally burning my hand at one point in my life gave me an idea of the agony one would experience, and seeing it firsthand for myself with Alex gave me a healthy fear of it, especially because I knew if I was captured it would be my sentence.
Having the flesh stripped from your back one agonizing stroke at a time has to be a close second.
Why are they doing this? A sentence was not pronounced. A crime was not mentioned. Why is this man being punished? And there is no doubt this is punishment. I cannot help but flinch with every strike of the lash and wince as the one holding the whip pulls his arm up and back and coils it for the next strike. How many more will fall? I remember reading in the Bible that Jesus was lashed thirty-nine times because forty would be enough to kill him. I have not kept up a count. Will they beat him until he is dead? The man’s head hangs limply, yet he still cries out with pain. He looks to be strong, or he was before this. Being strong now is nothing more than a hindrance.
Levi said it took four days to pull the wood through his skin during his sun dance ceremony. How much pain can the body take before it gives in? Alex managed to speak to me before he died, even though his pain had to be unbearable. Is the mind stronger than the body or is it the soul that drives one to act beyond the point of pain?
I want to know why they are doing this. Surely this is not just for our benefit. Is this simply a show of strength or an example of what will befall us? I wish I could see the faces of the people behind me. They are silent. Is it because this punishment could have fallen on any of them?
I know my father traded people for weapons. With us there was no trade, the rovers simply took us away. I know there are other people from the dome in this crowd, but how will I know who they are? They could be dead now, used as fodder for the perverse needs of this leader.
All these thoughts run through my mind as the lash whistles and falls. I clench my hand and realize that I am holding tightly to Pace’s fingers. I don’t even recall taking his hand, yet I cling to him now, channeling the fear that I dare not show on my face into our connection.
Finally, the lashes stop and the man in the chair stands and walks to the edge of the platform, directly in front of us. “Let ah-this be ah-lesson,” he says in their peculiar accent as he stares down at us. “Stealing will not be ah-tolerated.”
The crowd yells out behind us in agreement and they carry on for a bit, until the leader raises his hands to quiet them. “We have new ah-slaves,” he says. “We will ah-test them tonight so you ah-may decide on whether they ah-will be worth the ah-price tomorrow.”
Test us? Like the man who was whipped was tested? Panic fills me, and my stomach, as usual, threatens to rebel. This is not the time for it. They plan to sell us as slaves. For what purpose? Fear fills me. I know what that means for me and Jilly, but what about the men? What about Ellen?