Page 25 of Freedom Mine
Chapter Seven
ALLI
Alarge bang and some yelling woke her. Lightning flashed outside, and she thought she’d imagined the shouting. It was still too dark out to be close to sunup.
“Blue! Get down here, fast!” Jace’s voice carried up the steps to her, and he sounded panicked.
Alli jumped out of bed and raced down the steps in time to see three men carrying a very muddy Kayo into the house. They squeezed through his bedroom door and set him on the bed. Jace was hovering over him, checking his breathing and his pupils. Blood trickled down the side of his head.
“What happened?” she asked, her insides tight at the sight of Kayo’s mud-soaked body. His breathing seemed slow and raspy.
“Help me get him cleaned up,” Jace said. “The rest of you out. Tell Ranth to get everyone up to the mine when the rain stops. I’ll join you when I can.”
Blue filled a basin with water and returned with towels. She worked in silence, cleaning the mud from Kayo’s mouth and nose, so he could breathe easier, then she cleaned his head wound.
“The gash doesn’t look deep.”
“Eyes and breathing are good. I think he’ll be fine,” Jace said as he started stripping Kayo’s muddy clothes. Mud caked every surface and crevice of Kayo’s body, as if he’d been laying in a pool of mud for hours.
“What happened?” she asked for the second time.
“Don’t know. Maybe he got hit by flying debris. It gets windy up here, especially during these early season storms. Or maybe he passed out and hit something on his way down. A few of the men were in the stables playing cards with Ranth. Diggs found him lying in the mud on his way back to the longhouse. Facedown. Luckily, he wasn’t in a puddle. So stinkin’ drunk he would’ve drowned.”
Kayo moaned and said something, more of a mumble, but Jace smirked. “I know, buddy.”
“What did he say?” she asked, not recognizing the language, which was odd because she’d only known Kayo to speak Althiran.
“He said you’re pretty.”
“Oh.”
“And that you’re trouble.”
Kayo’s head slumped to the side. “He said all that?” she asked, suspicious.
“No, that last part was me.”
“You’re the one that called me down here.”
“Slaves aren’t supposed to talk back,” Jace said, as he hoisted Kayo into a sitting position.
Alli said nothing, as she slipped Kayo’s arms out of the soaked shirt.
“And that right there,” Jace said, as he set Kayo back down. “That’s the problem.”
“I’m doing what you said. I’m undressing him so I can clean and dry him.”
“Because you want to, because he needs it, or because you think you have to?”
She hadn’t thought about it, and she didn’t want to either because the answer would scare her. Her only focus had to be on leaving here at the first opportunity, even if deep down she didn’t want to.
“You’re still acting like a slave, at least with him and me,” Jace said as he worked to untie the muddied laces on Kayo’s boots.
“But not with Ranth and the others. Drekk, Blue. You don’t even object to me calling you a slave. If you’re going to be a part of this group, then you need to stop thinking of yourself as a slave. And if you don’t want to be here, then leave.”
“You’d track me down,” she said, finally admitting to herself that she feared running as much as she feared staying. Staying had fewer unknowns, and it had Kayo, who hadn’t harmed her or forced her to do anything she didn’t want to,yet.
Outside, the rain fell in sheets whipping sideways now. As soon as the rain stopped and the miners headed up the mountain, she’d be going with them. Kayo had said so himself. She should run now, despite the storm. Another bolt of lightning lit up the sky. Leaving now was too risky.
