Chapter 559
The pad Kennedy had sent was truly like she had said, an encyclopedia. I sat and read to the men and we learned about the world beyond the mountains. When we Left this compound for good we would know what dangers we faced.
It was important we all be strong. When we weren’t reading, we were in the stadium practicing with Bane’s son and his family. My skill with the wooden staffs grew as Bane’s son and that family graduated to a metal blade on schedule three cycles of the large moon after we left the cabin.
The boys knew something was afoot, but seemed to accept Damien’s insistence they could not know right now. They trusted their new family and just allowed us to push them to be powerful. The young men worked as hard as Damien wanted and the fruit of their labor was telling.
The boys were strong and fierce. We soon determined they were loyal to us as well. The stories Damien’s family told them never left their mouths. They were as honorable as men should be.
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In the midst of our training the men finally decided on a group of men to free. Damien invited them to dinner one night having decided it was time to really talk with them. The men filed in and greeted Damien politely. Everyone was becoming used to my looking around, so there were no comments about that.
We sat and had our meal as Evan asked the men what they thought about things. At first they were quiet and kept to themselves, but Evan’s persistence got to them. The men weren’t happy, the way they were forced with the women irritated them. These men had often thought of escape.
Evan knew that. He remembered these men saying things, wondering if the world beyond the mountains was dominated by the women. In the past the General had harshly rebuked them for their complaints and questions.
The wicked grin Lit the faces of my family and I knew what was coming. We had found the first family to escape this place. Arnold and his Brothers would not be slaves to the women once we were done with them.
We wanted Arnold’s family to be ready for the world beyond the mountains. We spent the next moon surreptitiously passing them information. I was restless and anxious the whole time we trained the men to leave. The root became a constant in my diet. Damien even went to the trouble of having the fizzy drink made again. I took it twice a day as I had before and it controlled the constant rolling in my stomach.
The decision about how and when to leave would be made by Hannah’s Elder Women and the orders left for us on the pad Kennedy had given me. Hannah would send us the messages pertinent to this escape. I cringed the day she sent the instructions and the plan.
Arnold’s family was to go on their patrol as usual. Once they were at a certain point, they should wait. Men would approach them and say Hannah’s name. The Warriors were instructed to do as the new men told them.
When Arnold’s family disappeared it sent the General into a rage. The men Damien chose were powerful Warriors. It wasn’t clear what had happened to them. The compound was on Lockdown for five day cycles after they disappeared. Damien assumed the women were scouring the desert looking for them.
I worried that we would be caught, but the Brothers did not think so. My men had been cautious to only speak to Arnold’s family in places where it would not be obvious. When they patrolled the road, those men met them and they talked. Very rarely did we see them at the bathhouse or in our rooms. The goal was that the women would never realize it was Damien who had set them up to leave.
Kennedy’s pad was a constant in the house. The one I had previously used from the Keepers was left there permanently. I never brought it home anymore. I sent messages to my daughters and every so often received one back. They were busy and I relished the little communications.
We were rarely able to use the pad Like a videophone. When the girls were in the mountains, which was normal, it would not work. They had to be at a place this side of the mountains to contact my pad that way. It was always marvelous when one of those times occurred and I was able to talk to them. But, I still Loved to get the little notes from my girls. It made it possible for me to survive the not seeing them all this time.
It was a surprise as I wrote a note to Kennedy one evening that the pad flashed up at me. There was a new message from Hannah. I called excitedly to Damien as I called it up.
The message wasn’t really from Hannah, but it was under her account. The message was written in Paterian and it was from Arnold and his Brothers. They had escaped and were now living in a free society beyond the mountains. Hannah had allowed them access to the way she contacted me so they could thank Damien.
Arnold and his Brothers were amazed at the new life. There was so much they didn’t know and so many new things they had to do. It made the regimented life at the compound seem easy in comparison.
There were things they had to do now they’d taken for granted in the compound. They had to help grow their own food or assist in trapping it every day. Water was not piped in Like it had been at the compound. They were helping to install that system. Creatures attacked the settlement if they saw an opportunity, so everyone had to be vigilant. Women patrolled and stood guard as did the men, but it was still a dangerous existence.
“Still, we are pleased,” Arnold wrote.
“We are free men here. When we wish to be with a female we find willing partners. If we do not wish their attention, they leave us be. It is harder work just living, but we would not trade it. We are free, cousins, and we thank you.”
Damien and his Brothers re-read the message several times. Each of them read it themselves and they passed the pad around looking at it. It was obvious what they felt, pride. After all this time, they had finally saved a family from the women.