Back To Our Beginning (35 page)

In the light of day, the children looked far worse. They had bloody running scabs and horrible bruises everywhere. Their clothes were tattered and almost non-existent. Aidan could tell the girl would soon be reaching puberty, or had only just. They were painfully thin. The boy was missing his front two teeth, top and bottom; his lips appeared swollen and cut and were blood encrusted. This Rourke hadn’t looked after them very well, Aidan thought furiously.

Aidan reached to take the girl’s hand but she shrank to her knees terrified at his approach, her hands splayed before her in a pleading gesture. Her head bowed, she whimpered pitifully, her brother crouched close beside, a frail thin arm wrapped around his sister’s slight bony shoulders.

“She’s been beat up, or worse,” Cord said while gazing down at her crumpled form, a soft frown to his face.

“How do you know? Is that a reaction some women have shown in deference to you?” Aidan snarled, his thoughts getting the better of him as overwhelming sympathy for the girl engulfed him. His understanding at her reactions below ground now became apparent. Most likely she had been struck if she made too much noise or disobeyed.

Cord looked at him stone faced; he moved forward and retrieved the boy and stalked off with him, knowing the girl would need no encouragement to follow. She didn’t, just the idea of being separated from her little brother had her shooting to her feet and walking beside Cord docilely.

Clint followed as well, falling in behind Cord after he had once more attached a marker close to the shelter for later use if necessary. Aidan’s anger remained with him as he followed Clint. The idea of anyone abusing someone so helpless was repulsive. Aidan’s anger stayed and magnified as they made their way into the mine.

* * * *

“What’s your name?” Tansy asked the girl.

When the men and two children arrived at the mine, everyone was happy to see they finally returned home. They had waited anxiously throughout the long night and morning and were relieved to learn of the dragon’s demise. Mike flung herself into Clint’s waiting arms. She then noticed the young boy who was meekly carried by Cord; his tousled head resting on Cord’s large shoulder, his arms hanging limp at his sides, small filthy shoeless feet dangling. A young girl trailed not far behind.

“Mommy, look what Clint brought me.”

The young girl had burst into grateful tears as she noticed the other women, which set her brother off. Soon both children were sobbing while Tansy and Emmy comforted them. Cord left after grabbing some food, looking harried.

“What’s wrong with him?” Ethan asked Aidan with a puzzled expression.

“Maybe he’s feeling a bit guilty,” Aidan growled as his gaze followed Cord out of the mine.

“Now jist wait,” Clint said distressed. “Ole Cord, now he’s mean and all, but he ain’t never done nothin’ like that to a little girl.”

“But it’s okay if it’s a woman?” Aidan snapped; fists balled, his gaze then flashed angrily to Clint as he confronted him, his fury almost overwhelming.

“Cord ain’t never hurt no woman like that,” Clint said vehemently, and he stormed out after his friend.

Tansy sat the children down to see to their wounds after first feeding them. The boy was soon enamored with Lucky while Michaela forced cars at him hoping to entice the child to play, wondering why he didn’t answer any of her numerous questions. Ricky called to them both hoping for some kind of recognition as he was forced to remain in bed.

“Please tell me your name, honey,” Tansy asked the girl again. She stroked the child’s wan cheek wanting the young girl to give her even a meager amount of trust.

“My name is Rose,” she finally said, eyes downcast.

“That’s a pretty name,” Tansy said.

“My brother is Max, he’s deaf,” Rose told her hesitantly. She looked up at Tansy with huge blue eyes moist from unshed tears. “Will they hurt us?”

“Who?”

“Them,” Rose said, lifting her small shaking hand in Aidan and Ethan’s direction. Aidan still looked angry, which frightened the girl. Ethan was doing his best to calm his outraged friend, stopping his wild pacing with a firm hand to his shoulder and offered practical comforting words of understanding.

Tansy took the girl’s chin in her hand so she could look into her eyes. “No one will ever hurt you here; you are safe, I promise.”

Truth and honest sincerity radiated with conviction from Tansy’s deep brown eyes. The young girl crept into Tansy’s embrace where she rocked her. Tansy wrapped her slim arms around the frightened tiny child compassionately. Soon her brother joined them and they stayed that way for a long while.

I can’t believe that boy is almost six-years-old, he’s almost as small as Mike and she’s close to four from what Tansy says,” Aidan said with dismay. Rose, they’d been informed, was twelve.

The women had shooed all the men outside in order to give the children a bath and a better inspection of their wounds. Both Max and Rose were fearful of the men, cowering when any came close and the men, though willing to leave, felt certain saddened despair at the obvious refusal of acceptance toward any of them.

Clint and Cord had returned to the mine a short time after leaving the first time, their curiosity about the children too compelling to stay away. Seeing the children’s distress, and at Tansy’s urging, Clint grabbed up Mike intent on taking her to the stream but was dismayed by the look Rose had given him. She looked appalled, paled horrifically and, if he didn’t know better he would have sworn she was about to vomit.

Tansy came to his aid and whispered in the young girl’s ear. Clint sensed she must have said something comforting to the girl, because Rose nodded and hung her head with obvious relief.

Ethan picked up Ricky and they all headed to the little stream that thankfully hadn’t dried up, leaving Tansy, Emmy and Shanie behind with the new children. The water was cold and clear. Though not deep, it was still above Michaela’s head and Clint kept a watchful eye on the child. He held both her hands in his and splashed her up and down in the water until she screamed with peals of laughter.

“I wish I could go in.” Ricky’s look was of such intense longing Ethan felt a tug at his heartstrings; he placed an arm around his son’s slumped shoulders and squeezed.

“Soon, sweetheart.” He bumped his forehead against the boy’s in an easy familiar gesture.

Ethan and Ricky laughed when Clint tossed Michaela to Cord and she screeched as he caught her. Cord then tossed the child back to Clint who also grabbed at her, allowing her to splash at him.

Lucky yipped and playfully bounded between the two of them, splashing everyone in his exuberance. It had taken the pup only a short time to recover from his malnutrition and dehydration. He thrived, romping, playing and eating, growing increasingly larger without any indication he was finished.

“Why don’t you give Mike swimming lessons instead of flying lessons?” Aidan advised.

“Well damn, that’s a fine idea,” Clint said.

Before long the three men were submerged in the water up to their chests while on their knees. Michaela picked up on the dog paddle with helpful and encouraging words from Ethan who stayed on the bank with Ricky. Even more help came from Lucky who Clint declared was a pro. Soon Michaela was paddling behind Lucky while grasping his tail under Clint’s watchful amused eye.

Ethan looked up as Emmy, followed by an equally miserable looking Shanie, appeared. Shanie headed straight for the water, but Emmy sat beside Ethan on the bank. Both he and Ricky were sitting under a jutting rock that sloped a small way underground, protected from the sun’s glare. It was considered one of their ‘safe’ areas, a known refuge from a storm if one struck while they were out and unable to return to the mine. All were grateful for the deep overhang, knowing these precious moments of play wouldn’t be occurring without the safety it offered against sudden, unpredictable storms.

Emmy’s look told Ethan she was distressed about something. “Is your mother staying behind?” he asked her.

“Yes.”

“Did she get the children washed?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to talk?”

“No.”

Emmy leaned over to place her head on his shoulder. Ethan put an easy arm around the young woman, pulling her close and just sat holding her.

Aidan watched them from the water. He knew Emmy was upset about something. Aidan knew Emmy sought out Ethan when she was troubled if Tansy was busy. Ethan was much better than he was with comforting words, parenting came naturally to him. Besides, Aidan didn’t want Emmy to look at him like a parental figure. Although he would have liked her to come to him when she was distressed, he realized communication with women just wasn’t one of his areas of expertise. Although, his rapport with Shanie was simpler. He thought of her as the little sister he wasn’t sure he wanted, but was stuck with.

Surprisingly after that thought, Aidan found himself knocked over into the water. He came up spluttering and surprised to see Shanie standing over him. After their last encounter, he hadn’t expected Shanie to ever try taking him unaware again. Although, she must have realized she was in little danger from him, his knife was on a rock by the riverbank.

Looking up at her, he expected her to be laughing down at him. But her look wasn’t amused. She looked distressed and her bottom lip was quivering.

“Shanie, are you all right?” he asked her.

“Will you teach me to fight?” Shanie demanded. “Fight men.”

Aidan rose from the water, the water droplets glistened as they rolled down his chest. Shanie’s shoulders were rising and falling rapidly as her chest heaved with unshed sobs.

“Why?”

“Because no one is allowed to hurt me.”

“No, they’re not,” he agreed and continued to approach cautiously.

Shanie moved back away from Aidan as he advanced; he knew she was about to take flight and he grabbed her by the arms. It wasn’t safe for anyone to be out in the woods alone. If she was distressed, she wouldn’t be watching for danger. She might flee into an area they deemed off limits as there were no safe havens to use as refuge in those certain areas, and it was too far from the mine. Though Aidan had been discussing with the others various manmade shelters for those specific areas, they had yet to come up with a viable plan and the idea remained for the most part unexplored.

“Let go,” Shanie cried and tried to yank her arms free, but Aidan held fast. Instead, he pulled her closer against his chest, enveloping her into his embrace. While she struggled violently at first, her struggles gradually ceased and her sobs grew. Soon she clung to him, her pitiful sobbing muffled by his wet chest. Aidan was at a loss. He looked to Ethan who was consoling a now tearful Emmy. Both girls wept brokenly, seeking solace in a safe embrace.

“I told you it was gonna be a long summer,” Clint said as he passed by Aidan.

* * * *

Tansy sat sipping brandy from a wooden cup Aidan crafted. It had been a long day. She was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Tansy had wanted to go to her daughters knowing they were distressed by Rose’s heart-wrenching story, the agony she had suffered through. Only then had the real impact of the terrible danger they could have faced with Cord and Randy sunk in.

Shanie admitted she never thought she would be harmed in such a cruel manner. She was appalled a man had attacked someone younger than her.

Rose and Max were bruised. Tansy treated their injuries as best as she could, but she couldn’t heal their inside pain. As she suspected, Rose had been raped and brutalized. Rourke kept her brother alive only because he knew he could use him to make Rose obey. When Max had come to his sister’s aid Rourke boxed the child’s ears so badly and often, he could no longer hear. Once while Rose was being attacked, Max bit Rourke and the man knocked his teeth out. Both children were malnourished and weak.

Rose told Tansy one day after Rourke left to go hunting he didn’t return. She confided though relieved, she was also terrified. Rose hung her head in dismay and shame telling Tansy though she hated Rourke, he was all they had. Rourke fed them, if poorly; Rourke had been an adult in their terrifying child’s world. Rose told Tansy they’d gone looking for him only to discover his body half eaten by something. By what, Rose couldn’t fathom. She hadn’t stuck around long enough to find out.

Terrified, they set out for a different area. Putting distance between themselves and Rourke’s body. When they had seen the red cloth flying in the breeze near the shelter, they approached with both fearful apprehension and hopefulness. They had been hiding in the shelter for over a week before the storm came, followed by the men.

Tansy consoled the child, telling her that sometimes people came to depend on others, even mean others. Rose’s feelings of dependency were only natural. Rose had done nothing wrong. Rourke was completely to blame for everything. She was a child, he was an adult.

“Would you mind if I joined you?” Ethan asked, breaking Tansy’s reverie.

“No, pull up a cup.”

Ethan produced a tin cup and poured a good shot of brandy into it, then sat companionably beside Tansy. He sensed her distress and her need to talk; he waited for her to begin. They were outside, sitting under a dark sky full of starlight.

“If the world has been under so much distress how come we can see stars?” Tansy asked.

“Hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis and earthquakes are natural disasters, even volcanic eruptions. Although, I doubt anywhere that has had an eruption will see any stars with all the ash in the sky. We’re lucky there aren’t any volcanoes around here. I’m not sure if they affect the ozone layer, but right now that’s the least of our worries. If you remember when the storms first started, it was always dark. I worried for the longest time we would never see the sun again, we can only hope it doesn’t get like that once more, all plant life would cease to exist, then animals and humans alike.”

“So many people are dead,” Tansy said.

“Yes, a lot have died. But we must believe some have survived elsewhere. We humans are resilient creatures; it stands to reason if we’ve survived others must have, either in different areas or other countries. We’ve been known to adapt to any weather. Life will continue.”