The pad Kennedy had sent was truly like she had said, an encyclopedia. I sat and read to the men and
we learned about the world beyond the mountains. When we Left thispound for good we would
know what dangers we faced.
It was important we all be strong. When we weren’t reading, we were in the stadium practicing with
Bane’s son and his family. My skill with the wooden staffs grew as Bane’s son and that family
graduated to a metal de on schedule three cycles of therge moon after we left the cabin.
The boys knew something was afoot, but seemed to ept Damien’s insistence they could not know
right now. They trusted their new family and just allowed us to push them to be powerful. The young
men worked as hard as Damien wanted and the fruit of theirbor was telling.
The boys were strong and fierce. We soon determined they were loyal to us as well. The stories
Damien’s family told them never left their mouths. They were as honorable as men should be.
ninjanovel
In the midst of our training the men finally decided on a group of men to free. Damien invited them to
dinner one night having decided it was time to really talk with them. The men filed in and greeted
Damien politely. Everyone was bing used to my looking around, so there were noments
about that.
We sat and had our meal as Evan asked the men what they thought about things. At first they were
quiet and kept to themselves, but Evan’s persistence got to them. The men weren’t happy, the way
they were forced with the women irritated them. These men had often thought of escape.
Evan knew that. He remembered these men saying things, wondering if the world beyond the
mountains was dominated by the women. In the past the General had harshly rebuked them for their
comints and questions.
The wicked grin Lit the faces of my family and I knew what wasing. We had found the first family to
escape this ce. Arnold and his Brothers would not be ves to the women once we were done with
them.
We wanted Arnold’s family to be ready for the world beyond the mountains. We spent the next moon
surreptitiously passing them information. I was restless and anxious the whole time we trained the men
to leave. The root became a constant in my diet. Damien even went to the trouble of having the fizzy
drink made again. I took it twice a day as I had before and it controlled the constant rolling in my
stomach.
The decision about how and when to leave would be made by Hannah’s Elder Women and the orders
left for us on the pad Kennedy had given me. Hannah would send us the messages pertinent to this
escape. I cringed the day she sent the instructions and the n.
Arnold’s family was to go on their patrol as usual. Once they were at a certain point, they should wait.
Men would approach them and say Hannah’s name. The Warriors were instructed to do as the new
men told them.
When Arnold’s family disappeared it sent the General into a rage. The men Damien chose were
powerful Warriors. It wasn’t clear what had happened to them. Thepound was on Lockdown for
five day cycles after they disappeared. Damien assumed the women were scouring the desert looking
for them.
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I worried that we would be caught, but the Brothers did not think so. My men had been cautious to only
speak to Arnold’s family in ces where it would not be obvious. When they patrolled the road, those
men met them and they talked. Very rarely did we see them at the bathhouse or in our rooms. The goal
was that the women would never realize it was Damien who had set them up to leave.
Kennedy’s pad was a constant in the house. The one I had previously used from the Keepers was left
there permanently. I never brought it home anymore. I sent messages to my daughters and every so
often received one back. They were busy and I relished the littlemunications.
We were rarely able to use the pad Like a videophone. When the girls were in the mountains, which
was normal, it would not work. They had to be at a ce this side of the mountains to contact my pad
that way. It was always marvelous when one of those times urred and I was able to talk to them.
But, I still Loved to get the little notes from my girls. It made it possible for me to survive the not seeing
them all this time.
It was a surprise as I wrote a note to Kennedy one evening that the pad shed up at me. There was a
new message from Hannah. I called excitedly to Damien as I called it up.
The message wasn’t really from Hannah, but it was under her ount. The message was written in
Paterian and it was from Arnold and his Brothers. They had escaped and were now living in a free
society beyond the mountains. Hannah had allowed them ess to the way she contacted me so they
could thank Damien.
Arnold and his Brothers were amazed at the new life. There was so much they didn’t know and so
many new things they had to do. It made the regimented life at thepound seem easy in
comparison.
There were things they had to do now they’d taken for granted in thepound. They had to help grow
their own food or assist in trapping it every day. Water was not piped in Like it had been at the
compound. They were helping to install that system. Creatures attacked the settlement if they saw an
opportunity, so everyone had to be vignt. Women patrolled and stood guard as did the men, but it
was still a dangerous existence.
“Still, we are pleased,” Arnold wrote.
“We are free men here. When we wish to be with a female we find willing partners. If we do not wish
their attention, they leave us be. It is harder work just living, but we would not trade it. We are free,
cousins, and we thank you.”
Damien and his Brothers re-read the message several times. Each of them read it themselves and they
passed the pad around looking at it. It was obvious what they felt, pride. After all this time, they had
finally saved a family from the women.