“Yes, Andy Purvis. He’s the leader of our crew.”
“Not much of a leader if you ask me,” Mildred said, chewing on a piece of meat from her stew.
“I don’t think he’s going to forget what happened today. Be careful tonight. He’ll be looking for you.”
“Why? What will happen tonight?”
“We’ll work the fields until a few hours before sundown when the white wags will come out to bring us back to the main house. In back of the main building we’ll be able to wash ourselves and freshen up. Then we all go to the dining hall for dinner, which will probably be soup and stew again.”
Ryan nodded, wondering if he might try the stew tonight.
“After dinner there’ll be some sort of entertainment on the dining-hall stage.”
“Entertainment?” Mildred’s eyes widened. “What kind of entertainment?”
“You know, like in a gaudy house. Someone might do a strip dance. Sometimes the baron comes out and tells a few funnies, and one time he showed us a pre-dark sex vid. That was interesting.”
“And you have these sorts of shows every night?” Mildred asked.
“Yes,” she answered, as if Mildred had just asked a silly question.
“Why?”
“It’s supposed to put everyone in the mood to rut.”
“Is that what happens after?” Ryan asked.
“Yes, after the shows everyone who wants to rut pairs up, or you can go to the big room where a lot of people get together at one time.”
“What if you don’t want to rut?” Mildred wondered.
“If it’s your time, like you said, no one will bother you. Or if you’re not feeling well, you can take a room by yourself. Some people prefer that.”
“So,” Ryan said. “Sounds like we have an interesting night in front of us.”
Mildred nodded. “Interesting is a good word for it.”
“Anyway, if Purvis is going to try anything, it will probably be in the showers or during the entertainment.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Ryan said. “But why are you telling me this?”
Her eyes darted left and right, and she moved her head ever so slightly to see if anyone was near. “I don’t like him. I don’t like him at all.”
“What’s not to like?” Mildred quipped. “A man who beats women the way he does can’t be all bad.”
“No, he’s dangerous. If he thinks you’re a threat to his position as alpha male on the crew, he’ll try and chill you any way he can.”
“What about the sec men?” Ryan turned his head in the direction of the guards, who were all sitting on folding chairs that had come off the wag. They seemed unconcerned about the crew under their charge.
“They don’t care about the men. It’s the women who are valuable to the baron. Anyone hurts a woman, especially a breeder, they’re chilled on the spot. Purvis is hard on the women in his crew, but none of us has ever stopped breeding because of it.”
“What a prince,” Mildred said.
“There’s some worse overseeing other crews, but not many,” she stated.
Just then the a sec man blew a whistle to let them know it was time to get back to picking fruit and pulling weeds.
“Just be careful, mister,” she said. “He’ll chill you if he has a chance.”
Ryan got to his feet. “Not if I chill him first.”
That put a smile on the woman’s face. “I was sort of hoping that might be the case. You look like you’ve chilled people before. I bet you have, haven’t you?”
“A few,” Ryan said.
“All right,” a sec man bellowed. “Stop yapping and get back to work.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!” Sec chief Ganley cried as he kept the two boats on pace to reach their destination by dark.
While they had often spent entire days out on the water, they had never ventured so far out into the lake before. Neither had they ever paddled so hard for so long. When they reached the southern shores of the lake, they would be exhausted and would be hard-pressed to set up camp for the night. There was also a question of food. They had brought some with them, and there was plenty more they’d brought to trade, but after such a hard day, dried fish would hardly be a fitting meal. They could do with something fresh.