I tensed. “Telling them to run was what was right for them. We thought you were dead.”
“Was it worth it, though?” He questioned with a tilt of his head. “Traffickers that have a settlement near The Farm caught most of them before I could round them up. Thirteen of them were killed from overuse ’fore I got there. They wouldn’t return the others without me payin’ for them, so I made a decision. I’ve only got twenty-three of them on Terra now!”
“What … What decision did you make about the others who aren’t on Terra?”
The faces of each woman I had lived with raced through my mind.
“Killed them.” He shrugged. “Wasn’t about t’let a bunch of no-good cheapskates amuse demselves with my property. Better them dead.”
Dead. My sister slaves were dead.
“Levi? Is that you down here?”
Both Master and I turned our heads when Nuni walked down the laneway, but before Nuni could say or do anything … Master lunged forward and swung his hand. The butt of whatever he held smacked so hard against Nuni’s head that I heard a crunch upon impact. She dropped to the ground faster than I could blink. A beam of the twin moons light shone upon her body, and I saw that blood rushed from Nuni’s hairline as she lay motionless on the ground. I couldn’t even muster up the strength to scream because of shock, and my old friend fear had wrapped me in their tight welcoming embrace.
“Move it,” Master said. “I don’t ‘ave the time t’stand here all fuckin’ night.”
I couldn’t move.
“Mud,” he snarled. “If ye call for help, or contact that alien bastard, I’ll slit the baby’s throat and make Nicah watch.”
I jolted as if he struck me.
“Yes,” he grinned. “I have them both so be a good girl and come.”
When he reached out and took a firm hold of my wrist and pulled me to his side, I moved without restriction.
“I’ll do anything you say, Master.”
Master chuckled deeply. “I know ye will.”
“But my friend,” I rasped. “My Nuni. Please.”
“Leave her.” Master tugged me behind him as he began to walk us into the darkness of the night. “She’s as good as dead.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Levi
I craned my neck to see Nuni until she was out of view. I prayed that a patrolling warrior of the Guard, or any one of the people, would quickly happen upon her or smell the blood that poured from her head so they could get her to a healer and help her. My heart pounded with fear when the thought crept into my head that no one would find her in time, and she would die. Visions of my mother entered my mind, and I found it difficult to breathe.
“Stay close t’me and make no sound.”
I didn’t disobey Master. He held a vice-like grip on my arm. Up ahead, a warrior was turning a corner, disappearing out of sight. I heard some female laughter and the cry of a baby somewhere not far away.
“I’ve learned the routine of the evenin’ patrols,” Master said to me. “We have an eight-minute window until that patrol comes back around. Move it.”
I kept pace with Master’s long strides. Even when my thighs burned and my lungs protested against the rapid movements, I did not complain. I had fallen back into my submissive role, and I hated it. I wanted to call to Ezah, to see if he could mentally hear me at such a distance, but I didn’t dare. Master said he had Nicah and Asia held captive, and if I called for help … he’d kill my sister.
I couldn’t allow that to happen, and I knew Ezah would understand that.
“How did you get here?” I asked when we reached the outskirts of Royal City minutes later. “How did you escape Earth?”
“How d’ye think?” Master grumbled as we walked, heading further and further into the outer sectors where there was no one. “I ‘ave the best craft that credits can buy. Me warp isn’t as good as the aliens, but it works well enough. I reached Terra three weeks ago. Took me fuckin’ months to reach it after I got the coordinates from another slaver back on Earth. Once I knew the threat t’Earth was real, I packed up the remainin’ girls and set off. Terra is well developed. New Earth City is at least.”
New Earth City. Terra.
“As soon as I paid the toll in operation around the planet and docked, I purchased New Farm.”
“New Farm?” I choked.
“What?” Master’s laughter was deep. “I’m tryin’ t’keep with the tradition of addin’ ‘new’ to a name when buyin’ property. The king and queen didn’t ’ave a problem with it.”
“You met with the king and queen of Earth?”
“Of Terra,” Master corrected. “His majesty wanted a look at some of me girls. It seems not everythin’ is as perfect on Terra as what was let on. Slavery is forbidden under new laws … but payin’ credits under the table t’watchmen will make them turn a blind eye and allowin’ the king t’entertain himself with a submissive every now and then has me in the clear from the law completely. I dinna even ‘ave t’pay taxes.”