Repatriate Protocol Box Set

by Kelli Kimble

  “No. He was making plans with them. Plans to blend us together. Only, he intended to allow them to use us as nothing more than labor. To leave us ignorant and uneducated and to toil for nothing more than their ridiculous visions.”

  She sighed. “Fiona, in every relationship, there is give and take. A balance must exist.”

  “This relationship would hold no balance. Barrow would gain some respect, perhaps, as their liaison, helping to keep us down. Maybe you would even have some respect. But, nobody inside that mountain cares about us as people. We’re just things. Things that bring them what they want.”

  “And what happened when you went there? Something changed, didn’t it?”

  “Their president tried to shift the relationship to me. He asked me to marry him and lead both of our groups together.”

  “That sounds more human than the plan you say Barrow had with them. So, why are you here, looking like you’ve run away?”

  I sniffed. “Why would you think I’ve run away?”

  “Come now, Fiona. You arrived here alone at the crack of dawn, wearing a garment that is clearly not meant for travel.”

  “Fine. I left. But, I had my reasons.”

  “Enlighten me.”

  “I realized that we have to reform. That if we allow ourselves to continue on this trajectory, we will soon be nothing more than animals to them.”

  “I sense there is something else. Perhaps a broken heart?”

  I stood up and began pacing around the fire. “I can’t say he didn’t hurt me. I thought he could see me. That I was human. But, I was wrong. He attached more importance to pleasing his constituents than he did to me.”

  She nodded. “He did strike me as a people-pleaser.”

  I rounded on her. “You know him? You’ve met?”

  “Only once. Before he was president. It was enough.”

  “So, you didn’t like him.”

  “I neither liked nor disliked him. I’m only agreeing he has within him the urge to be liked. It is not so unusual. Many people have that sort of drive.”

  I sat down beside her. “I thought he loved me. But, he doesn’t.”

  In a rare display of affection, she settled her arm over my shoulders. “There, now; you have bigger things to think of than a politician’s heart.”

  I sniffled back my threatening tears. “Yes. That’s right. I do. Like freeing the servants.” I turned to her. Excitement was growing within me so fast, I thought I might burst. “How do we start? Perhaps with real meals?”

  She stood up and sighed. “It isn’t as easy as that, Fiona. Who will make sure we have all this food to serve? The servants are treated the way they are because it has proven over time to be effective.”

  “The servants live short and cruel lives, Mother. They could have more productive years if we’d only stop hurting them.”

  “Don’t think it’s lost on me that returning here—obviously, not pregnant—means you’ll be back in the fields. You’re only trying to save yourself.”

  “No. That isn’t it at all. There are other things to be done, too—”

  “Enough. You’re only a servant here. You can’t dictate the rules. You can only serve. I suggest you spend the day reacquainting yourself with the servant life, because tomorrow, you will be back in the field. Wearing something far more suitable, I might add.”

  “Mother, why are you treating me like this?”

  “Fiona, this is for the good of the village. I love you as a daughter, but I have to put the needs of the village before my own. I can’t just bend the rules. Once I do that for you, I will have to do it for everyone.”

  “But, I want you to do it for everyone. Life would be better for everyone if you did.” I ignored the harsh stab of her words. It was clear to me now why Leo’s treatment had chased me away. My own mother treated me the same.

  “We need the rules to keep our numbers up. Whenever the village shrinks in size, everyone suffers. You know all this.”

  “No, you know this. I know some misshapen lie meant to keep me in order. Well, I won’t be kept there any longer, Mother. I know we can do better. We owe it to the village to do better.”

  “Enough,” she said. She clapped twice, and a guard entered the room. “Please escort Fiona to the servant’s quarters.”

  “No!” I stomped my foot. I knew I was dangerously close to spoiled-brat territory, but I couldn’t contain myself. “Mother, you know I’m right.”

  “Right or wrong, you’ll be working in the fields tomorrow, Fiona. Good day.”

  The guard herded me toward the exit by my arm as my mother retreated to the other room. When we emerged outside, I broke away from his grip. “I know the way, thank you.” I made my way towards the servant’s quarters. It would be empty this time of day, which was good, because I needed to rest. I’d been awake more than twenty-four hours, and suddenly, I could barely push my legs forward. I glanced over my shoulder to see that the guard had stopped a ways back but was watching me. It didn’t matter. I didn’t have the energy to try and break my mother’s command.

  At least, not right then.

  Chapter 17

  After two or three weeks of being back in the field, the soreness went away. It was replaced by outright pain. My back, feet, shoulders, and even my fingers hurt in some way. Still, I was feeling more at home among the other servants than I had in the mountain. It did little to comfort me, but it was something.

  I started to teach a few of the women the alphabet. On breaks, we could be found huddled in a circle, tracing our fingers through the dirt, first to form letters, and then simple words. I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget what little I’d learned in my mountain classes. But, I also wanted to share with the others how little we had been taught in our own meager schooling.

  I didn’t see any more of Orion’s brother. He probably thought being forced out to the fields was worse than any punishment he could have inflicted on me. The work was brutal, and at the end of every day, after our gruel-and-milk supper, I slumped into my bedding, with little concern for hygiene—or anything else, really.

  I didn’t see my mother, either. I didn’t expect to. Since ascending to queen, she’d probably never ventured beyond the village-proper border. It was unbecoming to look upon the toil of the servants, and the fields themselves were nothing special to look at.

  Barrow, on the other hand, was ever present.

  I first saw him from a distance after I’d been in the field for a week. He approached one of the guards, and they talked for a few minutes. The guard pointed my way, and I pretended I hadn’t noticed I’d been singled out. But, I felt my pulse quicken. Was he going to take me back to the mountain? What could he want with me?

  But, he did nothing. He moved away from the guard and stood at the edge of the field for a short time. Then, he left. He kept coming back, though. Every day. And that was concerning.

  I lost count of the number of days he visited without doing anything. He’d come to the field’s edge and scan it. When he sighted me, he would stand perfectly still, just staring in my direction. The other workers began to notice him, and they asked me questions. But, I didn’t know how to answer them. I didn’t know any more than they did.

  Then, one day, during our mid-morning break, I was squatting in the dirt, tracing words with the usual group. A shadow fell over me, and I turned to see who had cast it. Barrow.

  “Fiona,” he said.

  I nodded. I wiped my dirty palms on my even-dirtier tunic and stood. I kept my head bowed, though I longed to slap him across his smug face.

  “We need to talk,” he said.

  “Then, talk.”

  Seeing I was not going to move from the group, he excused them. “We would like a moment, please.”

  The servants scurried away. None of them would dare to question an advisor to the queen.

  “You’ve damaged our relationship with the mountain,” he said.

  I snorted. “You got what you wanted. I’m not mar
rying him. Go back to your vicious plan without me.”

  He pressed his lips together, and I noticed his hand form into a fist, and then flex several times. It wasn’t outside of his ability to beat me, if he wanted to. “He doesn’t want to work with me. He wants to work with you.”

  “If that’s what he wanted, then he should have been trying harder to please me, instead of his silly pack of fawning women. “

  “You’re proud, like your mother. I see that. I respect that. But, I will not tolerate spoiled-brat behavior. The life of this village depends on you going back and mending your relationship. You don’t have to marry him. Just get him to cooperate.”

  “I think, now, it is you who doesn’t know him very well. You know, he would never settle for simple cooperation.”

  He turned and looked out over the fields. “You don’t know what you’re toying with.”

  “I’m not toying with anything. I won’t go back. It isn’t my fault you screwed up your plan so badly that he won’t return to it, now that I’m gone. As far as I’m concerned, I’m right where I belong. And maybe, so are you.”

  “He’ll kill us all.”

  “I don’t believe that for a second. And neither do you.”

  His eye twitched as he leaned toward my face. I forced myself not to give ground to his crowding. “You don’t know what I believe, or what he’ll do. You’ve made a mess of things.” He poked me in the chest with his index finger. “And you’d better figure out how you’re going to fix it.”

  I swatted his hand away. “There’s nothing to fix.”

  He scowled. I sensed he was clenching and releasing his hands again, though I couldn’t see them because he stood too close. Finally, he expelled a heavy—and smelly—breath in my face and walked away.

  The guard he’d been buddying up to approached him and started to say something. Barrow didn’t break his stride or even look at him. He pumped out his clenched fist, hard, and caught the guard directly in the face. Blood spurted from his nose. His face registered surprise, and then pain, as he toppled onto the ground in slow motion, cupping his hands over the gushing wound.

  Once Barrow was gone, I approached the guard. “Are you all right?”

  The guard reared up onto his knees and pushed me away, his blood smearing on my tunic. “You’ll have no more rations today, for that!” he shouted. He stumbled to his feet and stalked away, leaving me standing, alone.

  ◆◆◆

  True to his injury, at dinner, I was provided no rations. Despite the meager amount everyone was given, the women I’d been teaching each saved me a bite of their meals. As each of them delivered it to me in the hut, tears collected in my eyes.

  “What?” said the last one. Her name was Clover. Her dark hair was usually pulled back into a greasy ponytail. But today, she’d arranged it into a bun, and somehow, it looked dignified.

  “I’m touched you would save this for me—that any of you would give me food, when you’re given so little.”

  “Don’t be silly. You’d do the same for me.”

  I chewed on the chunk of bread she’d given me. “I hope I would,” I finally conceded.

  She sat on my bed pallet beside me. “Why did he come?”

  “He wants me to go back and smooth things over with the other leader. But, I don’t want to.”

  Clover patted me on the knee. “Things are darkest before the dawn,” she said.

  “I’m afraid there’ll be no dawn. That it’ll be endless fighting, until there’s nobody left to fight.”

  “That can’t be true. There is goodness in humanity. We only need to uncover it.”

  “I wish I could believe that.”

  She smiled and rose from the pallet. “Your tears tell me you already do,” she said. She left me alone, and when I finished my bread, I collapsed on the pallet and slept.

  ◆◆◆

  The next day, Clover and I were paired together to perform drink duty for everyone else. It was punishing work; worse, even, than working in the field, because the heavy water buckets were carried in an even heavier yoke over the shoulders of two people. Then, the additional strain came from moving across all the fields multiple times in sync.

  But, the day went by quickly because of Clover. “You’re the queen’s daughter. You can lead us, you know,” she said as soon as we were out of hearing range of any guards.

  “Lead us where? To do what?”

  She shrugged, which jolted the yoke and caused me to stumble. “Sorry. You could lead us anywhere. And who says we have to do anything? Can’t we just leave and be free?”

  “But how would we survive? We’d need food and supplies. And don’t forget that most of the servants are in poor health. How many would die just from the strain of escape? Not to mention, how we’d be punished if the guards caught us, or they sent the dogs—”

  She interrupted me with a clucking tongue. “Excuses. You know they wouldn’t dare kill off servants. They need us. We feed them. We sustain them. If we’re gone, what happens then?”

  We walked in silence, making several stops to disperse water. My brain whirred through the possibilities. If we were to break off and create a new group, we could be free. We could have a fair chance at living together in peace.

  Clover didn’t have the chance to mention her idea again. But, I couldn’t still my thoughts about it. By bedtime, I was nearly bursting with energy over it, but I dared not bring it up in the hut, with so many people around.

  Somehow, nearly a week went by before I was able to speak to her alone again. We were in the cornfield, planting seeds with our rods. She was only a few rows away.

  When I brought it up, she started, then smiled. “I thought you’d dismissed the idea,” she said.

  “No, I just didn’t want to speak of it until we were alone.”

  Clover shook her head. “You don’t have to wait until we’re alone. Everyone feels the same as I do. They put me up to talking to you.”

  “Everyone?”

  She pointed towards an old man across the field, who could only manage his work by using a cane. “Even him.”

  I lowered my eyes to the ground. Their faith in me was astounding, and I wasn’t sure I deserved it. So far, all I’d managed to do was jilt the president of the colony that could annihilate us at any point, and then get myself doomed to servitude.

  Clover moved to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “You’re our only hope. We don’t want to spend our lives bringing life to everyone else, while we slowly waste away.”

  I shook my head. I didn’t want to die out here, either.

  “I know you told the queen she had to set us free. Why do you hesitate to lead us? You stood up to her.”

  “How do you know that?”

  She dropped her hand. “We have allies in places you would not expect. The servants all came from the village, remember? We all have parents, siblings, nieces, nephews. Friends, even.”

  I nodded, knowing she was right. When someone was sent to servitude, the family left behind mourned them, as if they’d died.

  “I don’t know where to start,” I finally admitted.

  “Hey! You two!” a guard called across the field. “Get back to work!”

  “You aren’t alone,” she said. Then, she went back to her row. And I was left alone again with my thoughts.

  Chapter 18

  Another week went by before I felt confident enough to bring up the topic in the company of others besides Clover. I was squatting on the ground with her and several other women, scratching letters in the dirt during a break.

  I used my finger to spell out my name. Then, knowing the guard was not close enough to hear what we said, I asked softly, “You all want to escape, then?”

  Nobody answered, and at first, I thought they hadn’t heard me. One by one, they stood and left the circle. Only Clover remained.

  “I thought you said they all agreed,” I whispered. I had to whisper so that she wouldn’t hear the catch of emotion in my throat.
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  She looked pointedly at the ground. “They do,” she said. Then, she left, as well.

  I trailed my eyes to the spot where she’d been looking, and my chest nearly burst. Each woman had written their name in the dirt. And below each name, written in capital letters and underlined, was the word: YES.

  I stood up and scuffed out the writing with the toe of my worn-out boot. I was going to do what had to be done, what my mother wouldn’t do. I was going to return these people to humanity or die trying.

  After dinner, I was lying on my pallet, eyes closed, thinking about what to do. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t notice others had clustered around me, until Clover sat on the pallet by my feet.

  “Wake up,” she said, patting my foot.

  “I’m awake,” I rose on my elbows and saw that all the servants—even those housed in the other hut—were huddled around me in a circle. Waiting. “Hello?” I said.

  A soft laugh rippled through the group.

  “I think we’ve surprised her,” said Clover. “She didn’t believe everyone is looking to her.”

  “How did you all get in here?” I said. My voice sounded squeaky and annoying in my head.

  Someone near the back of the circle jerked his head towards the door. “Tonight’s guard is my brother,” he said.

  So, it was true. They did have some allies who could help us.

  “We want to know what the plan is,” said someone else.

  “I—I honestly don’t know what the plan is yet,” I said. “I think we need to gather some basic supplies. Food, water, tools, maybe even some weapons. We need to decide where to go. We need to figure out how to get everyone away from the village with the longest head start. It’s a lot to figure out.”

  “You aren’t alone,” said Clover. “We’re all here together. We’ll figure it out together.”

  Murmurs of ascent went around the room.

  “Before we can leave, we need supplies,” I said. “So, where can we hide what we’ve gathered?”

  “The tool shed would be a good place,” offered an older woman. “The guards don’t go in there, and they don’t think nothing of us going in.”