By the time Dusk caught up with the men, they’d found two of the women, along with the two children. The older woman sat at the base of a tree, cradling the girl in her arms while the boy clung fearfully to her shirt. Dave, a man in his mid-twenties with his hair in a ponytail, stood over them. He was a Kiwi, Dusk knew from his accent, and aside from the ponytail, he was rather unremarkable to look at – five-foot ten, no obvious scars or tattoos.
Mario, a short, stocky man in his forties, was hauling the Asian woman out of a pocket of scrub, and he deposited her beside the first. She was breathing hard, and she discreetly wiped her eyes as she pretended to brush her hair out of her face. Dusk noticed a scar running from her left ear down her neck, and wondered how she’d got it.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, are you serious?” Dusk snarled at Mario, aghast at seeing him manhandle a woman like that, and then, when mere words weren’t enough to express her disgust, she stalked over to him and punched him squarely in the face.
He staggered back, eyes wide as he gaped at her, one hand coming up to stem the sudden flow of blood from his nose, and then he took a quick step forward -
“That’s enough!” Aidan planted himself physically between the pair of them. “We don’t have time to be- Fucking hell!” He grabbed Mario by the shoulders and shoved him sideways, just as Dusk saw the third woman, the youngest one, come charging out of the undergrowth, a machete held high. Where the hell had she got that from? She must have stolen it from one of the slavers before she left the camp. She charged at Aidan, ready to swing -
Whisper stepped neatly out from behind a tree, grabbing the handle of the machete out of the woman’s grasp and twisting her arm behind her back. Then he kicked her legs out from beneath her and she landed hard on the ground, Whisper following her down, not releasing his grip on her for one second.
But rather than expressing any anger at the woman for trying to kill them, he instead turned his cold glare on Dusk. “’Go and get the women to safety’, we said,” he told her in a disparaging tone.
“Bite me!” Dusk snarled back at him, not yet over her argument with Aidan on the subject. “Let her go!” She was dimly aware of more of the men arriving behind her, but she wasn’t willing to take her attention off Whisper.
Whisper smirked at her, and any admiration she’d felt for him after seeing him take out that sentry swiftly vanished. “If I let you go,” he addressed the woman on the ground, “are you going to play nice, or are you going to try to kill us again?”
“Let her go!” Dusk demanded. Then she said to the women, “As much as these men are being right and proper assholes at the moment, they’re actually on your side. We came to free you from the slavers. And if you can forgive the rather rude introduction, we’d like to invite you to join our tribe.”
“You run with these men?” the woman on the ground asked, ignoring Whisper, who still had a knee pressed into her back.
“For fuck’s sake, Whisper, let her go!” If he didn’t get off her in the next five seconds, she was going to kick him in the face. With a shrug, Whisper finally did so, and the woman knelt up, brushing dirt off her face and clothes. “I do,” Dusk answered the question. She opened her mouth to say she’d only been part of the tribe for a day or so, but then hesitated. If she told them that, they’d never join them. She felt an uneasy trickle of guilt run through her. If they let them just leave, even if the women managed to survive in the wilderness, the children would almost certainly die. But not mentioning how long she’d been with the tribe was a deliberate enough omission to count as a lie, and her willingness to manipulate these women, even for their own benefit, meant she was committing exactly the same sin she’d accused Aidan of not five minutes ago.
“In all honesty, I’ve only been with them for a couple of days,” she said finally. It was close enough to the truth to make a point, but not so close as to scare them off entirely. “But in that time, they’ve behaved as decent and respectable men.” It was true. Yesterday afternoon, Aidan had done exactly as he said he would, and arguably a fair bit more. “None of them have harmed me in any way, they’re honest and reliable, and they’re well-provisioned with all the basic necessities of life.”
The blonde woman looked her up and down, unconvinced. “So, you’ve freed us from the slavers, but it’s abundantly clear you’re not going to just let us go. So how is this any different?”
“You’re not our prisoners,” Aidan said firmly, stepping forward. “My name’s Aidan. I’m the leader of this tribe. And I assure you, you are absolutely free to leave. But after you’ve heard us out. We just want to talk, then you can go.”
“Is he lying?” the woman asked Dusk abruptly.
“No,” Dusk answered honestly. “They offered me the same choice when they rescued me from slavers. I chose to stay with them, but I truly believe that if I’d turned them down, they’d have let me leave.”
“What exactly are you offering us?” It was the older woman who spoke, still rubbing soothing circles on her daughter’s back, as she’d apparently tired of the standoff between the younger woman and the rest of the tribe.
“We don’t need anything from them!” the blonde woman snapped, glaring at her companion.
“Rochelle! Hear them out.”
“Don’t tell them my fucking name!”
“My name’s Linda,” the older woman said, making a clear point in the process. “And this is Mikey,” she added, nodding to the boy still clinging to her arm, “and Julia. Julia’s three and Mikey’s five.” She looked Dusk over again, noting the machete in her hand and the knife strapped to her ankle. The presence of both weapons spoke volumes about her place among these men.
“You run with this tribe,” Linda said, an unexpectedly shrewd look in her eyes, even as her voice carried a profound weariness, “but what exactly is your arrangement with them?”
Weary, she might be, but also smart. She knew how to ask the right questions.
Dusk glanced at Aidan, feeling a suddenly flush of heat over her face. “Aidan is my husband,” she said, after that brief hesitation. Husband. Such an odd word… “I made it clear I’m a one-man woman, and Aidan’s promised to knock a few heads together if the rest of the tribe ever has any doubts about that.”
“And what exactly would you be offering us?” Linda asked, looking at Aidan now.
“The same thing I offered Dusk. Join us and we’ll provide all your material needs. You’ll be considered full and active members of the tribe; you’ll be expected to do your fair share of the work, but you’ll also be free to go about the village at will, and you’ll be protected from harm, both from outsiders, and from our own men. But there is one condition you would have to abide by. We currently have fifty men and only one woman, so you would be expected to take one of our men as your husband.”
“You can burn in hell, you misogynistic asshole!” The protest, unsurprisingly, came from Rochelle.
“The arrangement would be for your own safety,” Aidan pointed out. “Even among honourable men, an unattached woman wouldn’t stay that way for long.”
Dusk longed to protest against the terms. For all that she’d already agreed to the arrangement, put so bluntly it could only be taken as a threat. Take one man as your husband, or risk being raped by more of them. But in order to protest Aidan’s terms, she would have to offer an alternative arrangement. Nothing helpful came to mind.
Rochelle spat in Aidan’s direction. “And if we don’t like your terms?”
“You’re free to go,” he said flatly. “Leave our lands and make your own way in the wilderness. Our home is to the east and a slaver camp is to the north. I’d recommend you go south or west.”
“Fine. Then we reject your offer. End of story.”
“If I stayed,” Linda spoke up, ignoring Rochelle’s declaration, “what would happen to my children?”
The contrast between the two women was not lost on Aidan. “Whatever man claims you as his wife will be expected to care for your children and raise them as his own,” he told her. And then, to his credit, he offered no further opinion, no additional attempt to convince her to stay. He just let the truth speak for itself.
Rochelle, too, seemed lost for words for the moment, and they all waited, nervous shuffles evidence of their collective unease.
“Then I will stay with you,” Linda declared finally.
Rochelle made a sound of disgust. “Are you mad? You would let a man rut upon your body for a full belly and a warm bed?”
“If they look after my children,” Linda told her, calmly but in a tone that would brook no opposition, “then they can do whatever they like to me.”
It was a bold declaration, and possibly a suicidal one. Dusk had tried to negotiate her own circumstances as well as she could, threatening anger and bloodshed should those terms be violated. But for Linda to openly declare that she didn’t care either way…
“What about you?” Rochelle asked the third woman, who was currently sitting on the ground with her knees drawn up and her arms wrapped around them.
“What’s your name?” Dusk asked, before the woman answered. Slavers were never interested in their captives’ names.
“Don’t tell them,” Rochelle snapped.
The woman hesitated, looking from Dusk, to Aidan, then back to Rochelle. “I’m Mei-Lien,” she said finally. She glanced at Rochelle again. “And I would like to stay with your tribe.”
In all honesty, Dusk was surprised at her decision. She seemed a timid sort who would more likely follow her group’s apparent leader than strike out on her own. But that still left Rochelle…
“Will you join us?” Aidan prompted her, though they’d all guessed the answer by now.
Rochelle looked him in the eye. “I would rather die than let one more man force his rank and bloated body inside mine.”
Mei-Lien looked suddenly distraught, as though she hadn’t realised that was what Rochelle was going to do, while Linda merely looked resigned. “Rochelle?” Mei-Lien asked, her voice thin and wavering.
“You’ll be fine,” Rochelle told her, her tone falling just short of snapping at her companion. “I’m sure they’ll look after you well enough.” She stood up and looked around, then returned her attention to Whisper. “Am I allowed to take a weapon with me?”
Whisper thought the idea over. Then he picked up the machete he’d taken from her earlier and tossed it a good four or five metres away. “You may,” he said, clearly giving himself the space to see an attack coming, if she attempted another one.
“Fine, then.” Rochelle drew herself up straight, looking both her former companions in the eye. “I guess this is goodbye, then.”
“Godspeed,” Aidan told her grimly.
“Wait,” Dusk said, her mind racing. No. This was all just… No. She took three steps forward, planting herself beside Rochelle, turning to face the gathered men. “If she’s going into the wilderness alone, then I’m going with her.”
From the blank looks on the faces around her – Rochelle’s included – it was clear her little announcement was taking a moment to sink in.
“You’re what?” Aidan asked, as if she’d just announced she was a wombat.
“You said I had the freedom to choose,” she told him firmly. “To stay, or to leave. I choose to leave.” That explained nothing at all, really, when right at the moment, even Dusk wasn’t sure what she was trying to achieve. When she’d been offered the same choice, she’d very nearly taken the option of dying alone in the wilderness. But she’d been alone from the start. Somehow, taking Rochelle’s companions from her and then sending her off to die seemed a thousand times worse.
Aidan glanced nervously at Whisper, who seemed to have nothing useful to add, then at the other men gathered around. “You agreed to be my wife,” he told her, more confused than angry. “You accepted me, in front of the entire tribe.”
“I don’t owe you anything,” Dusk replied flatly.
There was another moment of silence from Aidan, and it reminded her sharply of when she’d first asked him to lay out his terms for her. He’d hesitated, stumbled, mentally tried to skirt around the idea that he wanted to use her for sex… and then accepted reality and stated it as such. “On the contrary,” he said, his chin lifting an inch, his shoulders squaring. “I’ve provided you with food and clothing, as I said I would. You owe me a night of satisfaction.”
She was so damn tired of being pushed around by men, of having to prove herself, of the constant fight for the recognition of her worth. She folded her arms and glared at him.
“Or, if you insist on your freedom” he said, when she didn’t reply, “then you can return those clothes I so generously provided.”
But right then, it was not Aidan, but Whisper who caught Dusk’s attention. It was nothing more than a flicker of his eyes, a split-second glance towards Aidan, before his gaze returned to Dusk, but that telling look was enough. He was terrified of her leaving. But why? Even with her gone, they still had double the number of women they’d had just moments ago.
Suddenly, Mei-Lien jumped to her feet and came to stand beside Rochelle. “If they’re both going, then I’m going with them,” she declared.
Aidan was still glaring at her, and an unwelcome part of Dusk’s mind pointed out that he was right – he’d provided her with a generous quantity of food and a new set of clothes – which she was currently wearing – so short of spreading her legs for him right then and there, the only thing she could really do to even the score was…
She shrugged off her jacket, dropping it deliberately on the ground. She undid her belt and dropped it as well. She was just beginning to undo the button on her pants when Rochelle put a firm hand on her own, stopping her movements. “No,” she said simply.
“No?” Dusk asked her.
“I’ll have my own death on my hands, but not yours as well.” She turned to face Aidan. “I’m not opposed to living with your tribe. But I will not marry one of your men.”
Aidan, for the moment, seemed completely baffled by this rapid turn of events, a deep frown creasing his forehead, so it was Whisper who answered for him. “We can’t guarantee your safety under those circumstances.” It was an unpleasant truth, but an honest one.
But the odds were in Rochelle’s favour, and she knew it. “I’ll take responsibility for my own safety,” she said boldly. “And take on a full share of the work to see myself clothed and fed.”
Aidan sighed and shook his head, and Dusk wondered urgently what they were going to do if he refused. Linda had said nothing in the past few minutes, obviously valuing her children’s welfare above her loyalty to her companions. She had made up her mind. And for what it was worth, Dusk couldn’t blame her.
But Whisper also caught the imminent refusal on Aidan’s lips, and jumped in ahead of him. He barked out a forced laugh, slapping one hand down on Aidan’s shoulder. Was it Dusk’s imagination, or was his hand shaking as he did so?
“They’ve done it again, mate,” Whisper said, with a wry amusement that seemed slightly strangled. “Women will always gang up on us to get what they want. There’s no point fighting it,” he added, when Aidan turned to him with a cool glare. Then, before anyone else could say anything, he turned and headed back down the hill. “Come on, then. We’ve got a long walk back to the village. I hope you’re not going to whine about having to take a stroll through the forest, are you?” He winked at Rochelle, an infuriating nonchalance in his expression, and then he called a couple of the men after him. They hadn’t finished looting the dead, he reminded them, and there was work to be done before the walk back.