“You’re welcome to join us if you like.”
“No, thanks,” Ryan said. “I’ll just wait till dark.”
“We heard something might be happening tonight. Something big,” the man questioned. “Is that right?”
Ryan was glad to hear it. Krysty and Mildred had done a good job of spreading the word. “You heard right.”
“Well, you’re welcome to stay,” the man said. “The sec men have already been here twice today.”
Ryan nodded. “Thank you.”
“Maybe we should help him,” the woman said.
“After.”
“All right.”
Then the couple turned and looked at him.
“Don’t let me interrupt you,” Ryan said.
They got back to rutting.
Ryan took a look around the cabin and found that it was little more than a single room with a bed set against one wall and wash and toilet facilities against the other. He picked out a comfortable spot near the door and sat on the floor. Then he tried to rub out the cold ache the water had left in his legs, but his joints and muscles were still stiff and would need more time to recover.
Luckily, several hours remained before darkness fell, and judging by the way the couple was going at it on the bed, they would be busy for the next little while, giving him enough time to rest and recover.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Traders at the gate,” the sec man said.
The baron stood at the north window of his office watching the sec chief and his men search the orchards. “Where are they from?”
“Someplace called Reichel ville. It’s on the south shore of Erie Lake.”
“Are they armed?”
“Yes.”
“With what?”
“Remades and handmades.”
“Are there any breeders among them?”
“No.”
“What have they brought to trade?”
“Fish.”
The baron wrinkled his nose at the thought of fish, but knew that it wouldn’t hurt to supplement his slaves’ diet with an alternate source of protein. “Are the fish fresh?”
“No, baron. Preserved with salt. Some are smoked.”
“And what do they want in exchange for their fish?”
The sec man hesitated.
“Speak up, I can’t hear you.”
The sec man cleared his throat. “A breeder.”
Baron Fox laughed heartily. “A breeder, for salted fish?”
“Yes, Baron.”
“Number One,” the baron said to Norman Bauer. “Trade them some fruit and vegetables and send them on their way.”
Norman nodded and left the baron’s office.
The baron turned to the lone sec man left in the office. “Find sec chief Grundwold and tell him I want an update.”
WHEN THE COUPLE had finished rutting, the woman got up from the bed and walked naked across the room to the wash facilities, where she towel dried the sweat from her body and combed her hair. The man lay back on the bed and watched her.
“So,” she said, approaching Ryan, “what’s happening tonight?”
Ryan wondered if they could be trusted, but realized that if they were loyal to the baron they would have turned him in hours ago. “Some people will be coming to get me and my friends.”
“What people?”
“Other outlanders.”
“An escape?” the man asked from the bed.
“Yeah.”
“Can we come with you?” he said, sitting up.
“I won’t be taking anyone with me, but you’ll be free to leave if you have the chance.”
He looked up at the woman standing in front of Ryan, and it was obvious that they had something more in common than just rutting.
“What can I do to help you?” she asked.
“I need you to let my friends know where I am.”
“Sure. Where are your friends now?”
“One’s a healer working in the nursery. The other is the redhead, and she’s staying in the visitors’ quarters.”
The woman nodded. “I can get to the nursery easy.”
“What’s your name?” Ryan asked.
“Debby. He’s Maurice.”
“All right, then, Debby, here’s what you need to tell her when you get there,” Ryan said.
A BREAKER HAD CUT OFF the electricity flowing through the main gate. Norman Bauer had stepped through the open gate to negotiate the trade, and it was still open.
“We don’t trade breeders for anything but blasters,” he said, the ledger open in his hands. “From the looks of the remades you’re carrying, you don’t have anything we want. Not for a breeder, anyway.”