night’s meal. Debra felt grimy and her body ached from the long hours in the saddle. Her thigh had a bruise from where the devil had slapped her with the reins the first night, and the thin purple line reminded her to try to behave.
“Mom’s got to have the police looking for me by now,” one of the girls whispered.
“Stop it,” Debra hissed. “Our parents are the ones who arranged all this.”
“I don’t believe that.” The girl quivered and her eyes filled with tears again. Suzy still would not accept it, even after she saw Lonnie Tilson’s mother stand on the porch when she was taken away.
Lonnie was the only girl that lived on the farm full time. She had been raised on her parents’ land and she had the unfortunate benefit of knowing a little bit about what was going on. The other girls were so busy complaining and making up stupid stories of big rescue parties that the shy girl had remained quiet. She finally whispered, “No one is going to come for us. The tithes are due.”
“The tithes?” Debra whispered.
“It’s the due owed to the clans in exchange for the farms,” Lonnie replied. “They have to give some of their crops to carry the clans through the winter, too. The men from the camps come down for them in the fall.” Lonnie had been raised in the system, and did not realize it was unusual until she was older. She knew that she would be sent up as payment, but if she ever protested they would only send her up early. Even eighteen years on the flatlands was preferable to a lifetime in the hills as a servant.
“This is barbaric,” Debra said.
“This is our heritage,” Lonnie corrected. “I don’t know exactly what happens when we get up there, but mom told me it was best to behave.” She glanced at the cowboys sitting around the fire. “That’s exactly what I’m going to try to do, and if you’re smart, you better forget about your stupid talk of boyfriends and clothes. You’re not going back to them.”
“The Tilson girl is speaking to them again,” Joseph said.
“Don’t matter. Hallie wouldn’t have told her much, other than enough to get her to come quietly,” Samuel replied.
The girls’ ankles were tied and the gags replaced, and they tried to smooth places in the pine needles to sleep while the men leaned back against their saddles. In the morning they continued their journey, and it was afternoon when Debra saw the first trail of smoke wafting up through the thick trees. They emerged into a large valley where shirtless men in cuffs like hers were busily chopping wood and doing other chores. Guards dressed like her abductors watched over them, and Debra began crying at the size of a settlement that would afford her no escape.
A man walked up to the devil. Elijah , Debra reminded herself. Thinking of him as the devil was making her nervous. The man studied the column of women, and his eyes snapped back to Debra. He looked up at Eli. “Mara?”
“Her or the Tilson girl,” Elijah answered. “I’ll let Gabrielle decide.”
“Abram led the enforcers down for Tom last night.”
Debra’s head swiveled and she tried to shake off some of her exhaustion. Dad’s coming up here? Maybe he worked out a deal to get her back from these men.
“We’re putting him over at the mill,” the man chuckled.
Elijah looked over to where groups of six men were strapped to the heavy stone wheels, walking in endless circles and turning the stone to crush the grain. It was brutal work that lasted from dawn until dark. Camp workers who were too old to be productive tried to keep pace with the tethered men and offered them water and food. There were no breaks when a man worked the wheel. It helped build up muscles and stamina for other chores they might graduate to, and it was used as reinforcement and punishment.
“You’ll probably have that lazy bastard on it until spring. Watch that he doesn’t lift his feet,” Elijah warned. A few men had tried to avoid the work that