Mother Lode

by E. Rose Sabin

  He didn’t know the half of it.

  Mistress Wilcom shot her a despairing look when she entered the kitchen. “I don’t know how we’re going to feed all the orphans. There just isn’t enough food here.”

  “They’re used to short rations,” Bryte said. “If we can give them a little something, they’ll be okay until we can get supplies in town later today.”

  “They’re starving as it is,” Mistress Wilcom said. “I hate to make them wait longer for a decent meal.”

  “I know, but we can’t give them what we don’t have. We’ll make it up to them. We’ll fix a feast for their dinner.”

  “Well, at least there’s coffee for the peacekeepers. Officer Schuer, I’d guess you’re ready for some now.”

  “Oh, yes, ma’am,” Torby said. “It’d be most welcome.”

  “I’ll take some too,” Bryte said. She’d acquired a taste for coffee on her travels with Lina.

  “There’s sugar, but no milk to spare. What milk there is has to go on the orphans’ porridge. And I’ve found enough bacon to give each child one piece.” She poured coffee into two large cups and gave one to Torby Schuer and one to Bryte.

  Bryte added sugar and had taken several sips when a commotion outside made her set down the cup and run to a window in alarm.

  “Be careful,” she warned Torby when the young officer rushed to the front door. “Don’t make yourself a target.”

  He threw open the door. “It’s all right,” he shouted back. “They’ve come with the orphans.”

  Bryte joined him at the door, as first the squad leader, then Bo entered, each carrying a child. The Methenys reached the door, each holding a small boy in their arms. Other children limped slowly after them, leaning on one another. Master Wilcom came up in time to lend a supporting arm to a young girl who was tottering along behind the rest, so covered with dirt and blood that at first Bryte didn’t recognize her as Oni.

  Dr. Metheny immediately began barking orders. “Put water on to boil. A big pot of it. We need blankets. We don’t have nearly enough, but get all you can. Is Teddy out of bed? If not, get him up. We can use the blankets on his bed.” He thrust the boy he was holding into Nia’s arms. “See if you can get him cleaned up a bit,” he ordered.

  All the children were filthy, and most were bleeding from fresh lashings. Bryte took the boy Mistress Metheny had carried. She recognized him as one of the ten-year-old twins. The boy the doctor had handed off to Nia was the other twin. Bryte didn’t know their names. In her brief stay as one of the Coopers’ orphans she’d learned the names of most of the girls mostly by hearing the guards shout at them, but she never heard the boys’ names.

  A couple of the children the Peacekeepers carried were unconscious, and Dr. Metheny had them carried into the children’s wing and laid on cots there so he could examine them. Many of the other children were crying. Bryte took the little boy she’d been handed into the kitchen and set him in a chair. “I’m going to get you cleaned up a bit and give you something to eat,” she said. “What’s your name?”

  “F-Fyodor,” he stammered amid sobs. “I hurt all over. They whipped me bad.”

  “I know,” Bryte said. “Dr. Metheny will do what he can to make it hurt less. But others are hurt even worse than you, and he’ll have to tend to them first.” She wet a cloth and used it to clean his face and hands, taking care not to touch the blisters on his palm that must have come from carrying heavy buckets of rocks to pour into the girls’ sieves.

  “Where’s Fedrek?” he asked, sniffling.

  Figuring that had to be his twin, Bryte looked around for Nia. She didn’t see her, so she could only say, “Nia has him. She’s taking care of him.”

  Mistress Wilcom bustled in and checked the large pot of water she’d put on to boil. “This is terrible,” she said. “So much confusion, with all the children needing care and too few of us to give it, and our supplies so low.”

  “We’ll each just have to do what we can,” Bryte told her. “We knew this wouldn’t be easy.”

  “Seeing these children—what’s been done to them—I don’t feel so bad about, you know, what I did. And about what Lina did. I mean, I can see we had no choice. We had to free these poor tykes. They wouldn’t have lasted much longer.”

  Bryte rinsed out the cloth she’d used to clean Fyodor; it would be needed again. “Now we have to keep them free,” she said. “We can’t let down our guard.”

  Lina came into the kitchen, Cara following, her doll in her arms. “That water boiling yet?”

  “Almost,” Mistress Wilcom answered.

  “I’m getting the ones that can walk into the dining room. Let’s give them what food we can rustle up,” Lina said. “Mistress Metheny is helping her husband tend to the worst off ones, but Peace Officer Kirsky says he has to go back into Marquez to report to his chief. Mistress Metheny is going to ride back with him and shop. With the amount of supplies we need, she’ll need help. Bo said his shift is up, and he’s going in town too and will help her. They’ll hire a car and driver to get everything back. We’ll need a rough list of essential supplies. Can you help with that?”

  “Yes. Just let me take Fyodor in to sit with his brother. He’ll feel better being with his twin. Won’t you, Fyodor?”

  The little boy nodded gratefully, and Bryte helped him to his feet, took him by his hand, and led him into the dining room, where seven children were already seated, four of the newly rescued plus the three children they’d brought in yesterday. She moved a chair close to Fyodor’s twin, and the boy settled in to it happily. The three from the previous day seemed better after their night’s sleep wrapped in warm blankets. That reminded Bryte to add blankets to the supply list. Also sheets and pillows and more medical supplies. Plus all the food that would be needed for so many. Would there be enough money? Lina received regular payments from her parents, but Bryte had never asked the amount. Whatever it was, it had thus far been ample to meet their needs. But their need had never been so great. They had the bag of coins the older woman and her daughter had given them, quite a generous amount, but it wouldn’t cover all their present needs. Fortunately, both the Methenys and the Wilcoms had promised to help with expenses.

  “Where’s Nia?” she asked, looking around.

  “She’s helping Doctor Metheny,” Lina said. “He told her she’d make a fine nurse. He’s offered to send her to school to train for a nursing career.”

  “I want to be a cat lady like Miss Lina,” Cara announced, bringing a smile to Lina’s lips.

  “You have to be gifted for that,” Lina told her.

  “I will be,” the little girl responded confidently, making Bryte grin, sure that Cara had no idea what being gifted meant. The child carefully seated her doll in an empty chair and proclaimed, “I will be a cat—or maybe I’ll be a bird.” Cara held out her arms and waved them up and down like wings. She even ran around the room, pretending to fly.

  Cara’s antics reminded Bryte that these children had been given no opportunity for play since coming here. She hoped that the other children would get a chance to recover as much as Cara had.

  “I’ll get busy on the list for Mistress Metheny as soon as we get some food on this table,” Bryte promised Lina.

  She returned to the kitchen to work with Mistress Wilcom, and between the two of them, they got enough food together—bread, bacon, watery porridge with enough milk for each child to have a small glassful, and a package of dates that held enough for each child to have a date in their porridge. Lina helped serve the food to the children. It seemed a scanty meal to Bryte, but judging by the pleasure that lit up the diners’ faces, it was a feast to these starving children.

  While the orphans were eating, Bryte found paper and pen and wrote the list, garnering suggestions from Mistress Wilcom and from Lina.

  Peace Officer Kirsky made known to Bryte and Lina his impatience at being delayed in his return to Marquez. Mistress Metheny scanned the list Bryte had made and added a few add
itional items before declaring herself ready to depart. She and Peace Officer Bo Puckley set off with Squad Leader Kirsky, leaving Peace Officer Beckwith Sagist and young Torby Shuer to help guard the house.

  Bryte didn’t realize that Lina still hadn’t stopped to eat until Lina came into the kitchen and looked around for anything still remaining. She found very little, which worried Bryte. Lina needed meat, but they’d used all they had in last night’s stew.

  “It’s all right,” Lina told her, grabbing a bit of bread and a cup of coffee. “I changed early this morning while I was taking my turn guarding the house and caught a rabbit, so I’ve had more to eat than you. I’ll be fine.”

  Nia came in to get the food set aside for the bedridden, Doctor Metheny having medicated and bandaged the gashes left by the whips, bound a twisted ankle, and treated one for a head injury resulting from a bad fall in the mine tunnel. “The doctor needs to take time to eat, too,” she said, placing dishes on a tray. “He’s wearing himself out.”

  Carrying the tray of food, she paused to gaze at the orphans seated at the table, hesitated, then hurried off to take the food to her patients. It was only a short time later when she returned. Bryte was still overseeing the group at the table, urging the little ones not to gulp down their food. Nia stood at one end of the table and pointed to each child in turn, naming the person to whom she pointed. “Gretta,” she said, pointing to the older girl they’d rescued yesterday. “Ander. Alida.” She indicated the younger girl and boy from yesterday. “Fedrek. Fyodor.” The ten-year-old twin boys. “Petrus.” The oldest boy. “Conlin.” The remaining boy. “Keely.” A girl the same age as the twins. “Oni and Sabah are in bed in the girls’ ward, and Len and Erle are in bed in the boys’ ward. Frowning, she gazed at the chair that held only Cara’s doll, Sara. “Is there someone in the kitchen?”

  “No. Teddy’s with Doctor Metheny, isn’t he?”

  “Yes. The doctor’s getting him to help. But where’s Melusine?”

  “I don’t know who she is,” Bryte said. “I thought we’d accounted for all the orphans.”

  Nia shook her head. “Has anyone seen Melusine?’

  As the orphans all shook their heads, looks of alarm appeared on their faces.

  “Has anyone seen her since you left the mine?”

  Again a shaking of heads.

  “The guards kept shoving us, trying to make us move faster, as we were going out of the mine,” Keely spoke up. “They hit Oni with the whip. She was walking behind me. ‘Come on, you’re holding everybody up,’ they told her. ‘You’re the tail end,’ they said. She’d stumbled and hurt her foot and was going as fast as she could. I tried to go back and help her, but they wouldn’t let me. ‘She’ll make it or she won’t. You just keep going.’ So I couldn’t help her, but she did make it somehow. She was the last one out. I’m sure of it.”

  “Then where’s Melusine?” Nia demanded.

  “Oh, gods!” Petrus exclaimed. “They must have left her in the mine.”

  Lina had come into the dining room when Nia returned. Bryte turned to her in dismay. “Lina, we’ve got to look for her. If she’s still in the mine, she must be hurt. And starving.”

  Lina frowned. She’d intended to get some rest once the orphans were fed. She hadn’t had any last night, having been guarding the house most of the night, part of it in her panther form. And while the rabbit she’d caught as a panther had provided some sustenance, it wasn’t enough to allow her to go on without rest. Her first thought was to let Bryte and Master Wilcom go. Doctor Metheny was needed here. And somebody needed to look after the orphans.

  “I’ll get flashlights and spare batteries,” Bryte said. “We better take a couple of blankets, too. The ladies will buy more in town, so we can spare a couple for now. And water. She’ll need water.” She hurried off to gather the items she’d listed.

  “These children need to rest,” Nia said. “I’ll get them to bed while you and Bryte go to the mine. But you should take Master Wilcom with you. Melusine’s tall for eleven, and she will probably need to be carried.”

  If we find her. Bryte and Nia both seemed to assume she would go, but Lina still hoped she wouldn’t be needed. She could send young Torby in her place. But he was tired, too. And inexperienced. And easily frightened. But he might be all right if he wasn’t forced into a leadership position. He wasn’t ready to handle that responsibility.

  Was Bryte?

  Possibly, but it was a lot to ask of her. And Master Wilcom was needed to help guard the house. No, Lina could see no way around it. She’d have to lead the search.

  She regarded the orphans. The oldest boy, Petrus, seemed in good shape. “Petrus, can you help Master Wilcom and Beck—Officer Sagist—guard the house while we’re gone?”

  “Oh, yes, ma’am!” Petrus stood, shoulders back, his back straight, making himself look taller. “I’m not tired. I was able to sleep in the mine last night.”

  Lina smiled at his enthusiastic response. “Fine. We’ll rely on you then. Now tell me about the girl that’s missing. What does she look like, this Melusine?”

  Petrus thought a moment. “She’s tall,” he said. “She’s just eleven, but she’s taller than any of the other girls, except maybe Nia. She’s about the same height as Nia. And she’s real thin.” He paused, then added with a wry smile, “’Course, we’re all skinny, with the little bit they feed us, but being so tall makes her look extra thin. Her hair’s long and straight and kind of a muddy color. I guess that’s because it’s so dirty. I don’t know what color it would be clean.”

  “Okay, I get the picture,” Lina said, thinking of how scrawny all the orphans looked. Her first sight of all of them together had been a shock to her, though she’d always thought of herself as being shockproof. But all the orphans, oldest to youngest, had a sameness about them, a beaten-down look. Hollow-cheeked, dull-eyed, hair matted and filthy, clothes ragged and dirty. Few wore shoes; none had socks. They’d all need new clothes, but those hadn’t been on the list of supplies; food, blankets, and medical supplies had to come first.

  All the children bore an air of hopelessness that was almost tangible. Now one was missing. What condition would she be in if they found her?

  Teddy walked into the room, cradling the stump of his arm. “What’s this about leaving someone in the mine?”

  “Melusine,” Nia answered. “She’s not here, and the peacekeepers say the miners didn’t take any orphan with them when they escaped.”

  “Bryte and Torby—Officer Shuer—and I are going to search the mine.” Lina thus committed herself to leading the search. “Bryte’s getting things we’ll need. I’m leaving you in charge of the orphans under Doctor Metheny’s direction. See that the doctor gets some sleep. And help Nia get these young ones into bed.”

  He stared open-mouthed for a moment or two, then closed his mouth and nodded. “I’ll do what I can,” he said.

  “Good. You can do plenty—even one-handed. You’re the only one of us who got a full night’s sleep last night.”

  Bryte returned, her arms full of blankets and water bottles. Torby followed, carrying handlights. “I found extra batteries, too,” he said. “They’re in my pockets.”

  “I guess we’re ready, then. Torby, I know you’re tired but I need you to come with Bryte and me.

  “What about Master Wilcom?” Bryte asked. “Shouldn’t he go with us? Peace Officer Puckley will be coming back with Mistress Wilcom and Mistress Metheny, so he’ll be here to help guard.”

  Lina considered that and slowly shook her head. “It’s possible the miners left the girl in the mine deliberately, figuring some of us would leave the house to hunt for her. That would mean fewer here to keep guard over the house. They may well be watching the house from some vantage point in the hills, planning to attack after a search party goes out. Master Wilcom does have a pistol and he does know how to shoot it, even though his aim isn’t very good. Torby, you have a weapon, don’t you?”

  “Yes, ma’am,
and I’m not a bad shot.”

  “So that’s why you’re with us, and Master Wilcom is staying here,” Lina said. “It will take a good bit of time for Mistresses Metheny and Wilcom to do the shopping. I won’t leave the house without an armed guard during that time. Now if everyone is clear on their responsibilities, let’s go.”

  She collected her share of the supplies Bryte and Torby had brought and headed for the door. Without another word Bryte and Torby followed.

  The walk to the mine was long and mostly uphill, and they walked the distance mostly in silence. They hadn’t expected to have to take this trek today, and her companions wouldn’t be any happier about it than she was. Lina hoped they’d find the missing girl before reaching the mine, she having staggered out on her own and collapsed somewhere at the side of the path. She cast her gaze about as they walked, but saw nothing but an occasional lizard basking in the sun.

  They reached the mine and stopped by silent consent to catch their breath and ready their handlights for use when they passed into the darkness inside. “Stay alert in there,” Lina cautioned. “We may be walking into a trap.”

  She led the way into the mine, proceeding cautiously. The outside light dimmed as they walked away from the cave opening. All the torches had been removed, so when they reached the water trough, they stopped to turn on their handlights. Lina shined hers into the trough. A layer of slime coated the bottom, a layer that in places bore the imprint of small fingers. Her foot hit one of the pails lined up beneath the trough. She shuddered, imagining the orphaned girls standing along the trough, bending over, hands in the dirty water, washing dirt off rocks, slicing their fingers on sharp edges in their frantic haste to spot gems and avoid the guards’ whips.

  She motioned, indicating that Bryte was to walk along the opposite side of the trough from where she and Torby walked. They checked in and beneath the trough and along the cavern walls, slowly moving toward the end of the long trough and finding nothing. Beyond the trough’s end, large buckets were lined up. Those must be what the boys filled with rocks and took to be dumped into the girls’ sieves.