Mother Lode Read online

  For the first time Bryte questioned the wisdom of coming with these men. She could be wandering like a misguided fly into a web from which she’d be unable to extricate herself. But it was too late to have second thoughts. They’d almost reached the front door.

  Cooper pounded on the door. Moments later the sound of approaching footsteps reached Bryte’s ears, a latch turned, and the door creaked open. In the doorway stood a large woman, beefy arms crossed over her ample bosom, and a grimace contorting already fearsome features.

  “About time you got yoursel’s back here,” the woman croaked in a voice that went well with her froglike features. “The boy you was chasing just come back on his own already.”

  “Teddy came back?” Rale’s incredulous exclamation drew a glare that should have turned him to stone.

  “Ain’t that what I said? I don’t repeat m’self, ya know.” The woman’s glare fell on Bryte. “Who’s this?” she asked. “You brung me another mouth to feed?”

  “Name’s Bryte, though it doesn’t fit her,” Cooper said. “Bryte, this is my dear mother.” He leaned forward and bestowed a light kiss on his mother’s cheek. The act in no way softened the angry grimace.

  “She’ll have to be able to earn her keep,” she said, still filling the doorway. Her gaze raked Bryte with a head-to-toe appraisal. “Looks healthy enough for hard work,” she conceded grudgingly. “You shoulda fetched more groceries along with her. Well, bring her on in.” She could have been referring to an unwanted stray dog. Her voice held only disgust and not a bit of welcome. She stepped back and let Cooper and Rale push past her with Bryte in tow. The door slammed behind them. The sound of a lock clicking into place sent a cold chill down Bryte’s spine.

  Lina returned to the hotel feeling pleased with herself. She’d had a good run and looked forward to a relaxing bath and maybe even napping a while before supper. When Bryte failed to answer her knock, she let herself into the room, mildly annoyed at Bryte’s absence. Her annoyance faded with the thought that she could enjoy her bath in peace with the girl gone off somewhere. Bryte was quite capable of taking care of herself and would surely return in time for supper.

  She chuckled at the thought of Bryte possibly reverting to her larcenous ways while out on her own. The valuable gem-studded bracelet she’d carried from her father’s house before she joined Lina on her travels was not her only “accidental acquisition.” It could prove interesting to see what booty she might display on her return. Lina doubted that her traveling companion could refrain from gathering more souvenirs in an unconventional manner.

  This hotel lacked many of the amenities to which Lina was accustomed, but she hunted down a maid, requested water to fill the tub for bathing, and was pleasantly surprised at the woman’s alacrity in fulfilling her request. After pouring three large buckets of water into the metal tub and placing sweet-smelling bars of soap and two large, fluffy towels beside it, the maid left the room with a generous tip and a smiling face.

  Lina quickly stripped off her journey clothes and lowered herself into the cool water with a sigh of pleasure. She could enjoy a refreshing bath much more without Bryte’s chatty presence. She did not regret having invited the girl to accompany her, but throughout their long and tiring journey from Tirbat Bryte had rarely ventured far from Lina’s side. Lina had had little time to spend alone, and she meant to make the most of this unexpected reprieve from Bryte’s cheery but sometimes tiring prattle.

  She lathered her body generously, smoothing suds over her water-slick skin, enjoying the sensuous pleasure of running her soapy hands over her breasts, down her abdomen, and over her legs, then scooping water up in her hands and splashing it over her body to rinse it. Her body pleased her. She kept it fit and trim, but not too thin, so that she had curves in all the right places.

  Her thoughts turned to Oryon. She missed him. She had a firm reason for traveling to Marquez. She had heard that this desert town was the place where she was most likely to find the power net she had used to such good purpose in Tirbat, only to have to relinquish it to its rightful owner, who had loaned it to her in a time of need. She intended to investigate all the many shops here that sold mystical and magical items, hoping to find that tool she so coveted.

  But it had most definitely not escaped her notice that a direct route led from Marquez through Pescatil to Hillcross, site of the shrine to Lady Kyla, who, with her friend Marta, had spread the message of the Power-Giver through the land and bestowed his gifts of power on those predisposed to receive them. While Lina felt no particular need to pay homage to the Lady by visiting her shrine, Oryon had headed there to do penance for an evil deed that weighed heavily on his conscience. Lina was not troubled with a conscience, but she did feel an affinity for Oryon that she had never felt for another person—man or woman. She refused to call that feeling love. That term was foreign to her. What she felt was merely an attraction, she told herself, based on the many times the two had exchanged power, thus increasing their abilities, but at the same time opening them to each other in a way as intimate and arousing as any sexual encounter could be. And, yes, they had been lovers as well, but more than that physical intimacy, she missed the sharing of power and the closeness it had brought. Never had she bared her soul to another person as she had to Oryon. She refused to believe that he had quitted her life forever.

  It had been all she could do when their bus had passed through Pescatil, not to get off and head to Hillcross instead of continuing on to Marquez. Only her desperate desire for a power net of her own kept her in her seat and brought her here to Marquez. Tomorrow she would start her search, combing every store, every shop, making inquiries of everyone she met, until she found what she sought. She would find it if it was here to be found. When she did she would board the next bus to Pescatil, with or without Bryte, and from there secure transportation to Hillcross.

  Thinking of Bryte made her realize with a splashy start that she’d been lounging in the tub for quite a long while, long enough to pucker her skin. And Bryte had not returned.

  Where could the girl be and what could she be doing all this time?

  CHAPTER THREE

  KITCHEN DUTY

  Unlocking doors as she went, always pausing to lock them behind her, Mother Cooper led Bryte through a few interconnected rooms, separated by locked doors, the last of which opened into a long room with no windows, a single narrow, high unscreened window at the far end, and lined along both sides with rows of narrow cots, four on each side, all made up with sheets pulled tight in military fashion. This had to be the inside of one of the two ramschackle extensions.

  “This here’s the girls’ ward,” Mother Cooper informed Bryte brusquely. “Huh! I’ll have to get Vee to bring in another cot. This’ll be where you’ll sleep. In the morning, when the call comes, you’ll make the bed so it looks like these.” Her hand swept toward the cots. “You’ll dress quick and go to breakfast along with the other girls in the ward. You’ll soon learn not to dawdle over your food, ’cause the only time you’ll have for relieving yourself afore you head to work’s right after breakfast. You better be in line with the others when the men come to march you off to the mine. We don’t tolerate slackers.”

  “Excuse me,” Bryte said. “Did you say we go to a mine?”

  “You heard me, didn’t ya? I suppose my fool of a son didn’t tell you. You’ll be mining gems to earn your keep. Food ain’t free, y’know. I run a strict household. Ever’body pays their room and board. Now, you don’t look like you got any riches stowed on you, so I don’t reckon you can pay in coin. That means you pay in work. It’s hard work, but in return you get two meals a day and a bed to sleep in.”

  She continued, not giving Bryte time to fully digest the import of what she heard. “Since you got here too late for working in the mine today, I’ll take you to the kitchen. You can peel taters for dinner, so’s to earn the right to eat this evening.”

  So this was the wonderful home Rale and Cooper had promised the suppose
d “orphan.” What would they do if they knew that not only was she no orphan, but her father was one of the country’s wealthiest men? Not that she’d touch any of his money. She had her own, earned by hard work and petty thievery. Moreover, she had a very valuable gem-studded bracelet to sell when that money ran out. She had informed Lina of that hidden reserve, guessing correctly that Lina would not care how she’d acquired it. Lina had merely told her to keep the bracelet in a safe place and tell no one else about it.

  Now she had a puzzle to solve. These people were using children as slave labor. But how did they get the children? This house, while situated a ways from the city, wasn’t hidden. Why hadn’t they been caught? She had to learn more. Reluctantly, she trailed along with Mother Cooper to the kitchen to peel potatoes, not a chore she looked forward to but, she reflected, probably easier than working in a gem mine.

  Teddy was mopping the boys’ ward when Rale cornered him. “So,” Rale said with a sneer, “Come back on your own, did ya? What’s your game? Thinkin’ to steal some gems?”

  “Now how could I do that, when we’re strip searched every day before leaving the mine?” He had to suppress a shudder, just thinking about that process, in which not only were the boys forced to strip naked but their mouths and nostrils were probed by dirty fingers and tubular probes were employed to be certain no gems were hidden in their anus, a procedure both humiliating and painful, and one the guards found highly amusing.

  He would not endure that again, not even to rescue the girl he’d come back to save. He was having second thoughts about the wisdom of that impulsive act. As yet he’d found no opportunity to locate her, and if he didn’t find her before nightfall, there would be little chance of rescuing her in the morning. They’d both wind up in the mine.

  “I dunno, but I know you’re up to somethin’,” Rale answered Teddy’s question. “I dunno how you got away in the first place, but I aim to find out.” He pulled a knife from a sheath strapped beneath his shirt.

  With a bravado he was far from feeling, Teddy said, “You touch me with that knife and I’ll scream for Mother Cooper. She won’t like it if you keep me from doing my work.” Teddy had observed that Rale and even Vee Cooper, her son, seemed to fear the ogress.

  Rale flipped his knife into the air and caught it by the handle. “You think that’ll stop me?” Grinning, he jabbed the knife at Teddy, but Teddy dodged easily, as Rale must have anticipated.

  Rale lunged toward Teddy, again making it easy for Teddy to skip out of his way. When Teddy opened his mouth to yell, Rale backed off. “I’ll let you go this time,” he said. “Just remember, Mamie here is hungry for a drink of your blood, and she’ll get it the second you get out of line. Mother Cooper won’t save you.”

  Teddy knew better to make a smart remark. A man who named his knife shouldn’t be messed with. He merely nodded and went back to his mopping.

  To his great relief, Rale returned “Mamie” to her sheath. “Me and Cooper gotta get back to the mine and help herd the crew back here,” he said and left the room, locking the door behind him.

  So Rale had keys. Teddy hadn’t known that. He’d thought only Mother Cooper had keys. He was certain she had the only key to the front and back doors, the only doors opening to the outside. But if Rale had keys to the inside locks, Vee Cooper probably did too, and it might be possible to get hold of them. Not from Rale. He wouldn’t try that. Cooper, though, was careless and easily distracted.

  He’d gotten away this morning by taking advantage of the morning visit to the latrine behind the house that the children were forced to use, while Mother Cooper, Vee, and Rale enjoyed the use of an indoor bathroom in the main part of the house. The boys were herded out to the latrine under guard of Rale and Cooper. There two burly miners, Webb Warvine and Stoke Pranze, joined them to accompany the boys to the mine. Warvine was a short, stocky bull of a man, who was quick to anger and punish any perceived infraction with a hard blow of his fist. Pranze was less likely to explode in anger, but he carried a pistol in a holster on his hip.

  From the latrine the boys were taken directly to the mine, ahead of the girls. Teddy had taken advantage of a distraction when a younger boy had slipped in the mud around the spigot where they could wash their hands, though most didn’t bother, knowing how dirty they’d soon get in the mine. The youngster had grease on his hands from breakfast and had already learned that greasy hands would slow his digging. When he’d slipped, all eyes turned toward him, though not one of his companions offered a helping hand. They waited for the guards to yank him to his feet and exact punishment.

  Because the foul odor of the latrine offended his acute sense of smell, Teddy always tried to keep to the rear of the group. While everyone’s attention was fixed forward, Teddy had stepped backward and assumed his alternate form, darting away from the group as fast as his four paws could carry him. Someone shouted, “Look, a coyote,” but there had been no pursuit. Teddy figured that it wasn’t until they were en route to the mine that he’d been missed. Then only when their charges were safely entombed in the tunnels and put to work had Cooper and Rale set out to find him.

  “I can’t count on being lucky again,” he muttered, speaking to his other self, the coyote. “I don’t dare let anyone see you again running from the area and make a connection between you and the missing boy.” Talking aloud but very softly to his coyote self was a habit he’d had as long as he’d been able to change shape.

  “I was foolish to come back here without a definite plan for rescuing the girl and getting away again,” he continued, still puzzling over the sudden compulsion he’d had to rescue her.

  After giving the matter thought while he wrung out his mop and resumed swabbing, he hit upon the plan of slipping the girl a note at dinner. “But can the stupid thing read? I’ll just have to hope she can, because I can’t come up with a better idea. I need to warn her about working in the mine and tell her I’ll try to help her escape. Oh, but wait.” His plan had one large flaw. “Where can I get paper or a pencil? There’s none in these rooms.” Discouraged, he could come up with no other plan.

  He finished his mopping just before Mother Cooper unlocked the door and ordered him to the dining room. He entered as the children returned from the mine and filed in under the watchful eyes of Rale and Cooper to take their places at the long table. It hurt to see them straggle in, some with eyes red with crying or with rubbing to get stone dust out of them, others with bruises, all with hands cracked and often bleeding from handling sharp-edged stones. Some could barely walk, and one poor little fellow was so tired he fell asleep, his head dropping onto his plate.

  Teddy was about to take his usual seat when Mother Cooper barked, “You, Ted, you haven’t yet earned your meal. Get into the kitchen and help serve the food.”

  Knowing better than to argue, he went to the kitchen. What good fortune! The girl had been put to work in the kitchen, and didn’t look happy about it.

  Mother Cooper had followed him in. “Grab that tray,” she ordered, pointing to a large metal serving tray. “Fill it with those bowls of boiled potatoes and take them in. You, Bryte, go with him and lift the bowls onto the table, four to a side, and see you don’t put ’em too close together. Space ’em so there’s one bowl for every four young’uns.”

  Apparently the potatoes constituted the entire evening meal. Teddy saw no other food ready for serving. They were never given meat, but sometimes there would be a second vegetable.

  As he lifted his tray of bowls and carried it past the large stove, he smelled meat cooking in the oven. The scent made his mouth water. Of course the children would taste none of that meat. It would be for the Coopers—Mother Cooper, her son and daughter-in-law, Emmy Cooper, one of the girls’ guards—and Rale, who also lived in the house. The other guards lived elsewhere, though Berta Leed, one of the girls’ guards, stayed long enough to watch over the children while they ate.

  The girl whom Mother Cooper had called Bryte walked in front of him, flexing her fi
ngers, which must be stiff and cramped from peeling all the potatoes. “Serves her right,” he mumbled to his coyote. “Don’t know why I had to come back to try to rescue her, ’cept I felt sorry for her ’cause she didn’t know what she was getting into.”

  He was used to getting strange looks when people saw him muttering to himself, but he’d never had the sort of reaction he got from Bryte. She whirled around, looked him in the eye, and said, “Are you talking about me?”

  How had she possibly heard him? He’d whispered under his breath, or thought he had.

  “I can take care of myself,” she said softly, taking a bowl off his tray and setting it on the table. When she turned to pick up the next bowl, she added, “I hope I can.”

  She placed that bowl on the table, turned to get the next, and asked, “What’s your name?”

  “Teddy.”

  He wanted to say more, but Mother Cooper came in from the kitchen, scowling, and said, “Don’t be so slow. Get those bowls set down.”

  No more time for talk. He moved faster, and so did Bryte, nearly running to get the bowls in place before Mother Cooper spoke again. “Now the two of you get back to the kitchen and start cleaning up. You’ll get leftovers if there are any.”

  With that, Mother Cooper took her seat at the head of the table. Her son was already seated at the other end. Neither ate; they, like the other guards, were there merely to keep the children in line. They would eat a generous meal after the children were sent to bed.