The Tithe That Binds Read Online Free Page B

way. They had the soles of their feet whipped with a cane and had to walk the wheel on the blistered skin. They rarely tried it twice.
    The conversation sank in and Debra understood her father was not going to be a willing guest of these people. He was being kidnapped, too. It was then that she realized her mom and grandparents must have been a part of her abduction. She had suspected it with what she had seen and heard from Lonnie, but now she was certain of it. They would not be organizing any sort of rescue for her. Her thoughts flew to Jill. What would she do when she showed up at the farm, and Debra was not there? What would her mother tell her?
    “I heard Sarah’s moving back to the farm.”
    “Yeah, the enforcers are supposed to get McEnroe to sign off on the bank account and house. It will be good for her to be back with her folks.” Elijah smiled. Sarah would be a big help to Henry and Clara, and he knew that Mason Elliott had already set his sights on going down to court her. Sarah deserved a good man after putting up with Tom.
    “Well, you better get the girls over to the quarters.” The man stepped back from the horses and waved them on.
    The horses walked across the grasses of the valley, and Debra’s pleading eyes were met with amusement. Several people questioned Elijah as they passed. “Mara?” Eli always answered with mention of Lonnie. Debra did not understand what it meant, but it made her nervous.
    The horses climbed a small hill and walked down to another valley. This one had sprawling ranch houses and log cabins, and only a few chained men working… mostly pulling carts of supplies. It was when the women walked out onto porches that Debra felt Samuel’s arm tighten around her. It took Debra only a moment to figure out why, and her eyes widened and her muffled scream joined the others behind the gags. She began thrashing in terror and the man holding her chuckled. He whispered, “I always look forward to this.”
    Debra watched the women in their long dresses, raising their hands to their foreheads to shield their eyes against the setting sun. Their other hand gripped a leash that had a tethered young girl at the end, naked and kneeling by her side.
    A few women came out alone, and they walked up to the men on the horses. They greeted their husbands and welcomed them home, or walked down the line of bound girls, studying them. One woman looked at Debra and spat on the ground. “Shit, Eli.” Lucy moved down the line. She was still trying to figure out a way to get the elders to let her dump her tithe and replace her with one that could be bred to her sons.
    A tall woman with a long black braid walked up to Elijah. She put her hand on his knee and glanced over towards Debra. “Sarah’s girl?” Gabrielle recognized the crystal blue eyes. The men never discussed who was on the acquisition list before they left.
    “Got the Tilson girl too, Gabrielle,” Eli teased. There was no way his wife was going to settle for the plain girl… not for the slave she had waited two decades to acquire. Elijah had been certain Gabrielle would be posted this year and he had been planning the surprise of Sarah’s daughter for her since spring. He was picking up Liz Clayton’s girl in August in case none of these were satisfactory. Unfortunately, in the picture the grandparents had shown him, the Clayton girl was barely more passable than the Tilson girl.
    “Get her to the quarters and tell them not to mark her,” Gabrielle whispered. She turned to make sure Lucy was watching. She was there, all right; standing on the porch with an expression of envy, with Linda kneeling beside her.
    The riders stopped in front of a series of small cabins at the end of the street. Women were taking laundry down and did not even bother to look up at them. Debra’s long legs scraped through the dirt as she tried to stall progress into the cabin. Samuel had a hand gripped through her bound wrists and the back of her collar,