Following Shay, we leave the building and are led out into a courtyard. Dusk has settled. The temperature has dropped. Flames from tall torch-like structures sends warm light across the cobbled pathway. We’re led to an area where a fire pit glows brightly, a large animal carcass on a spit above it, roasting. Two long, rectangular tables with long benches on either side are laden with more food than I ever dreamed possible. Vegetables I haven’t eaten or seen in months have been cooked and placed on long wooden platters. Several different meats sit beside the vegetables on similar looking trays. A stew with a thick, rich broth, vegetables and meat is in an enormous pot, the contents so hot it sends aromatic waves of vapor rising from it. The scent makes my mouth water. All around us, women and men are bustling. Meat is being carved. Baskets of fruit are being carried. Plates are being placed. A flurry of activity so grand I feel as if I’m inside a great hive of bees. Through the action, I spot Todd. The flickering light of the bonfire draws shadows, deepening the hollows of his face and darkening circles under his eyes. When he smiles, he appears sinister. He makes his way over to us, to where we’ve stopped by the first table. “Welcome, everyone, welcome,” he says and splays his hands out to his sides. He gives us a once over. “Don’t you all look…different?” He nods and sighs. “Much better. Wonderful, in fact.”
“Thank you,” Ara says, and while it was the polite response and exactly what our parents taught us to do, I bristle. Something about Todd’s tone annoys me. She was just as good before cleaning up and putting on the dress as she is now. I tell myself to calm down. That Todd was just giving us a compliment. But it’s hard to believe him when he wears an almost smug expression on his face. An odd smirk that’s humorless.
“Please, sit.” Todd gestures to the table in front of us, still with that self-satisfied look plastered on his face. Ara and Pike look at me first before they take a seat on the long, smooth bench. Then Kai, Xan and Micah do, too. Aaron joins, then Jonah, then Ashlyn and the rest of the group, including Reyna and I, sit. “Normally, this is the table where the men sit, but since you’re all new to our little compound and we want to get to know all of you, you’re all getting to sit at the head table with us.”
It takes a split second to be sure whether Todd just said what I think he said. And even still, I second guess that I heard him correctly. But a quick glance at Reyna’s face confirms that I did, in fact, hear it correctly. Her frosty gaze turns glacial. “So the women and men aren’t ordinarily allowed to sit together?” she asks. Though she smiles and her tone is pleasant, I know what she’s getting at.
Todd waves a hand dismissively. “No, no. It’s not like that at all. Anyone is welcome to sit anywhere. But the women get bored listening to us planning important matters and discussing the future of our civilization. They prefer to be together and discuss things that matter to them such as sewing and cooking and things of that nature.” He smiles, pleased with his explanation. Reyna, however, is not. When I glance at Ara, I see that she is not either. Her face has dropped. Her smile had capsized. Her shoulders sag. And the twinkle in her eyes has dimmed.
Seeing my sister so disheartened by what Todd has said, I’m prompted to say, “Sewing and cooking, huh?” I nod, my face unreadable. “That’s not the case with our group.” I place a hand on Ara’s shoulder. “My sister here is a better archer than any man I’ve ever known.” I lower my hand then clip my head toward Reyna. “And I doubt there’s a man in this village who’d stand a chance against Reyna in a sword fight.” I add quickly, “Not that she would want to fight any of you of course.”
The men who’ve gathered stare at me with stony faces.
Todd, purses his lips and tips his head to one side. He allows a small frown to touch his features then nods. “I’m sure.” He draws out the words “sure” too long. His sarcasm is clear. He doesn’t believe Ara to be a better archer than any of his men and he doesn’t believe Reyna can wield a sword better than any of his men. Judging by the expression he wears, he doesn’t believe either girl is capable of doing anything beyond sewing and cooking. I watch Reyna. Her face is set in stone. Her arms are folded across her chest. Her mouth is tight and her lips are pressed together firmly. She glares at him. All hope for giving him and the others a chance has left her. Ara doesn’t appear quite as livid. But she’s disappointed to the point of dejection.
Trying to diffuse a situation that grows tenser by the minute, I decide to shift gears and make introductions. I start with Ara and Reyna, then move on to Ashlyn and Lark. I was raised to introduce females first, no matter their age. My dad taught me that it’s not a matter of weakness to do so but a matter of respect. The men in Todd’s clan, including Todd himself, can barely manage to look interested when Ara shares with them how we grew up in a walled village of humans.
“Our parents, and my brothers, Lucas, Pike and Kohl, lived in a village our ancestors built.” She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and blushes slightly when she adds, “It wasn’t as nice as this one, but it was our home and we loved it.”
“Huh, that’s nice,” Todd comments, bobbing his head. “So we’ve met Lucas.” He gestures to me. “Which one of you is Pike and which is Kohl? I’m curious to hear more about this village from you men.”
Rearing her head slightly, Ara introduces Pike. “This is Pike,” she says. “Our oldest brother, Kohl, was killed by Urthmen.”
Todd doesn’t bother looking at Ara while she speaks. He doesn’t says he’s sorry and he doesn’t ask her any further questions, even though she’s the teller of our story. “Pike, Lucas, please, I need to hear about this brother, the village and the attack.” Remorse or sorrow is missing from his tone. He sounds matter-of-fact. It angers me. But I keep it to myself. I want to react, to shout at him and acknowledge what I think he is. Instead, I wait. Listening. Observing. If I learned anything from my father, it’s that silence is the best way a person learns. I need to learn all I can about Todd and figure out exactly what’s going on here. Thus far, he seems like a jerk who thinks women aren’t as good as men. There’s more to it than that. Something more is happening here. I can feel it. The only way I’ll know what that is, is if I pay close attention. “You two can tell us all about it as soon as you have some names to go with faces.” He then sets about introducing those who sit near him. “This is Lennon, Cormac, Dexter, Silas…” He proceeds to rattle off more than a dozen names, none of which I’ll remember because they all look the same. Without distinguishing characteristics, I have trouble telling them apart. Especially since they dress the same, have similar coloring and are all roughly the same height. He doesn’t bother introducing the women. The women, all dressed in white dresses and white slipper-like shoes, just like Reyna, Ara and the other women with us, sit at a table together as soon as all of the food and water is finished being served. They talk among themselves. Todd and the others ignore them completely. Xan and Micah, on the other hand, focus the majority of their attention on them, pausing only to nod absently here and there.
Xan smiles. “You’re all so beautiful.” He raises both brows. The expression on his face is lecherous.
“I’ve never seen so many beautiful women in one place,” Micah whispers to Xan loudly. “I don’t know what’s better, the feast for our stomachs or the feast for our eyes.”
Hearing him say this, Todd’s head whips in Micah’s direction. He glares at them. I kick Micah under the table.
“Hey! What’d ya do that for?” he turns to me and says.
I smile at him, but through my teeth, I warn, “Knock it off now.”
He rolls his eyes at me and huffs. Micah looks a bit cleaner than when we arrived here. But he’s not wearing the clothes that were given to him and he hasn’t trimmed his hair or shaved his face. Neither has Xan. Todd eyes them from head to toe and frowns. Micah stares Todd dead in the eyes, as if challenging him to comment on his choice to leave his hair and face shaggy and to dress in his clothes, not the clothes of the village. Still maintaining eye contact, Micah t
akes a swig of water from a tall cylindrical cup that’s been filled for him. When he’s finished he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Todd watches him and I see the small tick. I see the subtle twitch in his eye. Todd has a tell. And I know what it is. He isn’t as calm as his veneer. He’s seething.
“So is this everyone in the village?” Kai’s deep voice rumbles and diverts Todd’s attention from Micah. Kai looks around, his dark eyes scanning all those who are present. “Where are all the elders?”
I nearly fall off the bench as I realize that Reyna and I are not the only ones who find the absence of elders odd, among other things. I look to Todd. Everyone in our group does. He pauses a moment, his molars grinding so hard I can see the small muscles around his jaw bunching. He’s thinking. “We’re all that’s left,” he finally says. The words are so hollow. He clearly doesn’t believe what he’s saying. I don’t know how he’d ever expect us to. Still he continues. “The elders have all passed on.”
All passed on? At once? At separate times? How’s that even possible? No one here looks older than any of us. Therefore their parents wouldn’t be old. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask follow-up questions but Kai beats me to it. “They’ve all passed on?” Todd nods. Kai bobs his head. “Hmm.” Kai studies Todd. Todd shifts a bit, repositioning himself. “You’re so young. Your parents couldn’t have been that old,” Kai probes, touching upon the questions burning in my brain, in his gentle, conversational manner. But Todd doesn’t bite.
Instead, he says offhandedly, “It’s a rough world.”
Kai cocks his head to one side, a small frown bending his lips. He doesn’t look particularly pleased with the answer he’s received. He looks as though he’s formulating another question but never gets to ask it. Aaron speaks.
“Where are the children?” he asks with a smile. “Will they join us for dinner?”
“No,” Todd answers with a distinct edge in his tone. He closes his eyes for a beat longer than a blink, composing himself. “They’re all young and are asleep by now.”
“That makes sense, especially since none of the children here look as if they’re more than three or four years old.” Aaron manages to add his observation, one Reyna and I didn’t discuss. But Aaron notices yet another anomaly. Kai noticed the lack of elders. Aaron noticed the lack of children over three. I’m sure they noticed all the other oddities of this place that Reyna and I have.
Todd leans back a bit. He levels a gaze at Aaron then drops his chin to his chest. All of his mannerism seem as though they’re performed exclusively for our benefit, the pause and dipping of his head for dramatic effect, and the thoughtful expression on his face when he looks up. “We forbade procreation in this village until we changed our minds and decided to reproduce after banning it for years. For a period of time, we didn’t want to bring more humans into this world where we don’t belong. For them to be hunted.” Todd gazes off into the distance, his eyes unfocused.
“I see,” Aaron says. He stares at Todd unwaveringly. Todd abandons his far-away look of longing and returns Aaron’s gaze. He eats a bit. I serve myself some of the stew, much to the delight of my growling belly. Vegetables and rabbit meat roll on my tongue in the thick, rich sauce. I refrain from making sounds, but every part of me wants to “ooh” and “ahh” at the flavor blend. Especially after choking down the vile, black, beast meat.
Everyone eats. While we do, Todd says, “So tell me about your escape. What happened?”
Aaron looks to me. “Lucas can best tell this story. It started with him. He planned and executed the majority of it.”
“Oh really?” Todd says. He leans in on his elbows and awaits the beginning of my story.
I tell him all about it. Kai, Ara, Pike, Reyna, Xan and Micah add to it at times and everyone listens intently. Even the women. When we’ve finished, Todd and the others are silent. I don’t know what exactly it is that has caused a hush to befall the group but I swear a pin could be heard dropping at this moment. I clear my throat. From the corner of my eye, I spy Xan making eyes and waving at one of the women. Unexpectedly, Xan says, “So which of these lovely ladies is your wife, Todd?” The slight hiss in his voice coupled with the touch of sarcasm in Xan’s tone makes me feel like an argument is inevitable.
“We don’t marry here. Or have a family dynamic,” Todd says.
Shocked, I immediately whip my head around and look at Reyna, who sits to my right. Brows knit and eyes filled with fire, she looks equal parts confused and annoyed. “So whose children are they? The ones we saw today? All of them?” she asks. “Who do each of them belong to?”
“No one.” Todd shrugs and cocks one eyebrow. “Everyone.”
“Huh?” Reyna asks, not masking her mounting anger.
“We don’t really know who the father is of each child. We’re all one family here. One large family.”
Reyna’s head rears as if she’s just been punched in the face. She’s graduated from looking confused and annoyed to disgusted and outraged. “That doesn’t make sense,” she says in low, controlled voice.
“To you,” Todd says, goading her.
Reyna swallows hard, biting back every acerbic comment rattling around in her head, I’m sure, then says, “No, it doesn’t make sense to me, or to anyone with us, I’d guess. We don’t operate like that just to let you know.”
“What does he mean that no one but everyone are the children’s fathers?” Seated to my left, Ara leans over and whispers in my ear.
“Never mind,” I reply. “I’ll tell you later.”
“It means he and all the other guys here share all the girls,” Xan overhears my sister’s question and answers.
“I’m going to like it here,” Micah licks his lips and comments.
Heat blazes from my neck up. I don’t know why. I don’t know if I’m angry or ashamed. Both, I guess. I don’t know who I’m angrier at, Xan for saying what he said to Ara. Micah for saying he’ll like it here for the very same reasons the rest of us look appalled, or Todd for smugly telling us that what’s happening here is essentially a free-for-all where none of the children have kin. I scan the faces of our group. Everyone looks concerned. The majority lower their heads and eat, enjoying the variety of meats, vegetables and fruits while listening to Todd and the others chat among themselves. We’re included in talk of weather and different vegetables and where they grow until the women are ordered to clear the food. Reyna stiffens, teeming with rage, as the women jump at his command and set about removing the bowls and food. Once everything has been cleared and the women have disappeared, Todd announces that it’s time for us to retire to our rooms for bed. “We have a bedtime?” Reyna mumbles under her breath so only I can hear her.
“Someone will come for you for breakfast, my new friends. We’ll talk more tomorrow,” Todd promises. All of us stand and head back to our rooms, not knowing what else to do. After all that I’ve heard today, my head spins. All I’ve done since being captured and forced to fight in the Urthmen arena is dream of finding a human camp. When Jonah led us here, it was a dream come true. But now, little by little and the more I’m learning, this dream seems to be less of a dream and more of a nightmare.
Chapter 17
“I’m coming by your room in a little while. After everyone falls asleep.” Reyna’s gaze is penetrating as she stares into my eyes and leans against the frame of her door.
Every ounce of air leaves my lungs and for a moment, I’m unsure of where I am. “Y-you are?” I stammer and feel my face redden. The rest of our group has retired to their rooms, Ara and Pike included. I hung back to spend as much time as I could with Reyna, to talk to her. Now, as we stand outside our rooms alone, I find myself at a sudden loss for words.
“I sure am,” she affirms.
“R-really?” My voice pitches up a bit too much. My face must blaze a shade of crimson unseen in nature because she arcs an eyebrow at me. I’m not sure what the look means but it seems less mocking and more conspiratorial. I sure hope s
o. Staring at her as I am and trying to process her words, my mind goes completely blank. Did I hear her correctly? She’s coming by my room after everyone falls asleep? The thought of that makes my stomach tremble. Will we kiss again? Will I get to hug her? These questions and many more like them bounce around in my brain, ricocheting off each other.
“Yep,” she says as she crosses her arms across her chest then looks both ways, eyes roving the hall in either direction. “You and I are going to have a look around this place. Try to figure out what the heck is going on around here.”
And with her words all of my questions are answered. I feel the blood drain from my face and my shoulders sag. “Oh,” I say. I hear the note of dejection in my tone and quickly try to compensate. “Sounds great!”
Reyna looks at me funny. “Okay,” she says. She opens the door to her room slightly. “Lark and Ashlyn are already lying down,” she reports once she shuts the door. “We won’t have to wait long.”
“No, probably not.” I roll my shoulders back as I think. “There may be guards. What happens if we’re spotted?”
“So what if they do see us? Aren’t we allowed to walk around? This is our new home, isn’t it?” One hands gestures animatedly while the other remains hugged tight to her body. Her brow is furrowed.
“You’re right,” I say in a soft tone. “We aren’t prisoners here.” Not that I’m aware of, I want to add but don’t. If we’re stopped for some reason and questioned, we’ll just say we’re out exploring our new home.”
“Exactly,” she agrees. “We’re not the little children of this village who have a bedtime. And we’re not being held here against our will like we were by the Urthmen. If Todd and the others have nothing to hide, neither they nor their guards will have a problem, right?” Her eyes, like freshly fallen snow at twilight, are brimming with curiosity, with energy.
The Black Forest Page 17