Laura Jo Phillips (33 page)

“I am Mary, and this is my son Chandler,” the woman said.

“It is nice to meet you Mary.  And you as well, Chandler,” Saige said, including the boy even though he was hidden from her view at the moment.  “My name is Saige.”

Mary just nodded her head, her eyes going from the prone man on the floor to the Lobos over Saige’s shoulder and back again nervously. 

“Mary, if I told you that we could take this man away, make him leave Jasan and never, ever return, what would you say to that?” she asked.

Mary’s eyes widened and again Saige saw a brief light of hope.  And again it quickly died.  “It wouldn’t matter,” she said wearily.  “He owns us.  We belong to him now because of my foolishness and nobody can change that.”

“Slavery is illegal on Jasan,” Faron said softly, and Saige knew the words were for her more than Mary.

“Did you hear that Mary?  Slavery is illegal here.  He cannot own you, or anyone on Jasan.” 

“On his world slavery is legal, and he told me that even if he was banished, his world would force Jasan to release us to him as we belong to him.”

“Mary, it is not true,” Saige said.  “The High Prince of Jasan would never, ever agree to turn a woman and a child over to be slaves to anyone for any reason.  I promise you that.”

The light of hope returned, and this time it stayed.  For a few moments.

“That may be true, but this store is now my property, the money in the accounts is my property and the house she and that git of hers live in is my property.  There is not a damn thing you can do to change that.”

Saige turned to look at the man who was now sitting up on the floor, his hands still clutching his crotch, his face still purple, but not one bit cowed.

“Shut up,” Saige said.  The man’s face reddened so fast Saige thought he might pop like a balloon.

“How dare you speak to me like that you little...,”

Before he had a chance to finish the sentence Ban was kneeling over the man, one hand transformed into a loboenca paw with its wickedly sharp claws, one of which was pressed against the man’s jugular.  “Do not finish that sentence or it will be your last,” Ban said softly.  The man opened his mouth, looked into Ban’s furious eyes, reconsidered and shut it.

“By the power vested in me by the High Prince Garen of Jasan, and as Lord Protector of the Royal family, Clan Jasani and Citizen Jasani with all of the rights, privileges and duties appertaining thereto, I hereby banish you from Jasan for the remainder of your life,” Faron intoned.  “You may take with you one square meter of personal belongings.  Your other property, as well as your monies and anything else you may own or
think
you own, becomes, by virtue of this decree, the property of this woman, Mary Petrie, to do with as she pleases.  You have 12 hours to remove yourself from Jasan or you will be sent to the mines for the remainder of your life.  Should you return to Jasan, you will die.”

“You can’t do that,” the man sputtered in spite of the claw pressed against his throat.  “That’s not legal.  I know my rights.”

“It is my understanding that you came here approximately 9 months ago,” Faron said.  “Is that so?”

“Yes, so what of it?” the man retorted.

“You are not married, have been here less than a year and therefore, you are not a citizen and have very few rights,” Faron replied.

“Banishment must have a reason,” the man argued.  “And you cannot take my property for a petty crime.”

“Banishment does not require a reason for a non-citizen,” Faron said patiently.  “And confiscation of property can be for whatever reason I wish.  However, I would point out to you that you did not commit a petty crime.”

The man’s expression became smug.

“You committed a crime which, on Jasan, is just short of murder in its seriousness,” Faron finished.

“What? Punishing a child?” the man demanded, the smug look replaced by one of fear.

“No.  Abusing a child, and abusing a woman. Jasani law is particularly severe when it comes to the types of crimes you have committed.”

The man opened his mouth to argue further but Faron held up a hand.  “I have heard enough,” he said.  “Should you continue to argue, I shall amend your banishment and sentence you to life on a hard labor penal planet.”

The man’s eyes grew round with shock, then narrowed in speculation.  Faron smiled.  “Keep in mind that I am the Lord Protector, second only to the Royal Princes in authority here on Jasan.  There is no option for you other than to leave.  Either on your own to a destination of your choice, or in chains to a penal planet of
my
choice.”

Faron turned away from the man, no longer wishing to look upon him.  “Dav, call Jackson please and ask him to send a male-set to escort this...person...off-planet as soon as possible.  Then give Billy a call and tell him we need some men to keep watch over this man until Bearen’s men arrive to take custody of him.”

“No need for that last part Mr. Lobo,” said a voice from the doorway.  Faron had known that several of the townspeople had crowded into the store to watch the scene, but he had not expected any of them to draw attention to themselves by speaking. 

Faron turned and looked at the usually kind and happy face of Jessep Rogers, the owner of the feed and grain store at the edge of town.  He looked neither kind nor happy at the moment.  “There’s enough of us here that we can keep this man in line till the guards arrive for him.”

Faron noticed several more men crowded behind Jessep, all of them with the same expression of determination on their faces. 

Jessep looked over at Mary Petrie and his gaze softened.  “If you’d a just told us what was happening Mary, we coulda helped you sooner,” he said. 

Mary flinched as though struck and Saige growled softly in response.  “Its easy enough to tell someone what they should have done or not done after the fact,” she said evenly.  “But the truth is, this woman and this child did not believe that they could be helped.  They did not believe that anyone could do anything that wouldn’t just make matters worse for them.  Mary believed this man literally owned them, owned the power of life and death over them, and she acted in the only way she could to keep herself and her child alive.  She lived within the rules and boundaries he laid out for her because she had no choice other than to do so.  That was her life as she saw it.  So before you judge her, or tell her what she should have done, try to remember that.”

Dav stepped forward and bowed to Mary.  “I apologize for my harsh words, Mrs. Petrie.  They were not deserved.”

The woman cast a frightened look at Dav, then glanced at Saige.  She swallowed hard as though she meant to say something, changed her mind and merely nodded.  Dav took that as an acceptance of his apology and stepped back. 

“It would perhaps be best if you would escort Mr. Petrie out of here,” Faron suggested to Jessep.  “He is allowed to take a small suitcase of clothing and personal belongings with him, as well as a small amount of cash.  All bank accounts here on Jasan will be frozen and turned over to Mrs. Petrie so there is no need for him to take anything other than his ident card and a few clothes.”

“This is just wrong,” Jack Petrie muttered as Ban stood up and shifted his hand back to human.  “I’m going to file a complaint about this.”

Ban chuckled.  “Go ahead, file twenty if you like.  Just do it after you leave Jasan.”

Petrie opened his mouth to argue further but the hard faced group of men who now circled him caused him to rethink the wisdom of it.  He closed his mouth and rose to his feet reluctantly, casting a look of retribution at Mary Petrie as he hobbled by her.  Saige was tempted to give him one last kick, but restrained herself at the last moment. 

She was therefore shocked to see a small blur rush by her as the boy, Chandler, ran up to Petrie, turned sideways in a good imitation of Saige and swung out with one leg, landing a good solid blow against the man’s knee.

The child could not have weighed more than 80 or 90 pounds, and the man a good 300, but to hear the man roar the boy had all but broken his leg. 

“Are you going to let him just attack me like that?” he demanded angrily.  Jessep smacked the man upside the head.  “Shut up,” he said.  “I think the boy owes you a few more than that, and if you don’t want us to help him catch up, then you best close your yap.”

Saige watched as the townsmen escorted the man out of the storeroom, and out of Mary and Chandler’s lives.  She then grinned at the child, noticing that he had a slight limp as he turned and walked back to his mother.  She wondered if that was why the man had called him such horrible names, and was disgusted by the thought.

A moment later several women entered the storeroom and immediately began to fuss over Mary and Chandler.  Caitlyn hung back and approached Saige, Faron, Dav and Ban.

“We’ve all known something was going on,” she said.  “We just couldn’t figure out what, and we couldn’t get a minute to talk to either Mary or the boy without Jack hovering over them.  I’m not sure what it was that sent you running over here Miss Taylor, but whatever it was, I thank you for it, as do the rest of the townsfolk.”

“I was glad to help,” Saige said, uncertain what to say.  She was better with action than words.  She watched the women with Mary for a moment, turning away only when she was certain that they understood the woman better than their men seemed to. 

Caitlyn gave her a knowing smile.  “We understand that sometimes when you are in a tough spot, you can’t see past it.  Don’t you worry none.  Now we can get to her, we’ll take care of her and Chandler.  I just wish that there had been some way for us to step in sooner.”

“Do you have anything in mind?” Faron asked seriously.  “We, too, have been aware of a problem, but we did not know what it was, and without a request for help, or clear evidence of wrongdoing, we could not act.  If you have any ideas as to how that could be changed, we are more than happy to hear them.”

Caitlyn frowned thoughtfully.  “I don’t have any ideas off the top of my head,” she said.  “But I will ask the other townspeople and we’ll give it some thought, and then we will let you know.  Will that be all right?”

“Yes,” Faron replied.  “We are very concerned that the people here in town are taken care of, and not taken advantage of,” Faron said.  “We are open to any suggestions you have and are happy to consider your requests.”

“That’s very good to know, Mr. Lobo,” Caitlyn said sincerely.  “I will admit that some folks have thought the Clan Jasani had no concern for the Citizen Jasani.  But events over the past year have changed a lot of minds on that.  I think that’s a good thing.”  

“As do we,”  Faron replied.  “The Citizen Jasani are very important to Clan Jasani, and the Princes.”

Just then someone called Caitlyn and she excused herself.  The foursome spent another few moments watching before turning to leave the hardware store.  Saige was almost through the door when she felt a small tug on the hem of her shirt.  She looked down into Chandler’s big brown eyes.

“Thank you, Miss,” he said, his voice soft and sweet as only a child’s can be.

“You are very welcome, young man,” Saige said.  “Chandler, I want you to do me a favor, if you don’t mind?”

“Yes, Miss,” the boy said.

“Promise me that you will call me or come to me, or send someone for me if you ever need help again.  My name is Saige.”

Chandler smiled.  “Okay, Miss Saige, I promise,” he said. 

As they stepped back outside, Saige felt suddenly tired.  The incident had dredged up old memories for her.

“Do you wish to do more shopping, Saige?” Faron asked, noting her tired and sad expression.  “Or would you prefer to go home now?”

“I think I would prefer to go home now,” Saige replied.  “If you guys still have errands to tend to, I can wait in the ground-car.”

 “There is nothing left for us to do here of any importance,” Faron said.  “We will go home now.”

Saige nodded and allowed herself to lean against Faron when he tucked her close to him before guiding them back to the ground-car.  A few minutes later they were in the ground-car and out of town, on their way back to the ranch.  Faron watched as Saige gazed blankly out the window at the passing scenery, her thoughts distant.  He was trying to decide whether or not to ask her what she was thinking of when she leaned back in the seat, laid her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.  Moments later she was sound asleep.

When they reached home, Faron carefully lifted her into his arms, trying not to wake her.  But the moment he stepped out of the car with her, the cool fresh air woke her up.  She gazed up at him sleepily and he knew she was struggling to get her bearings.  After a few seconds, the sadness on her face told him she had remembered.

He carried her into the house, Dav opening the door for them as Ban stopped to carry a load of firewood inside.  The air was chilly and Saige had mentioned she would enjoy the fireplace.  Now seemed a good time for one.

Faron set her down on the sofa and went to help Ban, while Dav went into the bedroom for a blanket for Saige.  Once the fire was going in the fireplace and they all had hot drinks and were settled in the living room, Faron turned to Saige.

“You are very sad,
amada
,” he said.  “What you did today was a good thing, so we are concerned at your sadness.  We would ask that you share with us what is bothering you.”