Evan would have continued to coat me in the cream, but Damien came in and made him stop.


    “New marks heal quickly and so do shallow marks. These are deep, Brother, and were allowed to sit.” Damien said. “They will need multiple treatments.”


    Evan didn’t like it, but he deferred to Damien.


    I was redressed in my warm blue outfit and I pulled the box out to show them. The men did grin madly over the gift of tami leaves. Damien took those to Bane, so he could use them to vor the roast we’d be having for dinner. From the main room I heard the young boys’ excitement over getting to try this treat for the first time.


    Christof took the pad and examined it. He pressed his hand to the face and it recognized him. The pad advised he could leave a message for Kennedy if he so choose.


    “Be gentle, Brother,” Damien advisedying a hand on Christof’s shoulder, “but the young one needs to understand that men cannot be sent to her Mama. Tell her we will speak with anyone that she needs to send. They need only offer her name and we will listen with patience.”


    Christof did as Damien asked. I know because I read over his shoulder as he wrote.


    His letter was sinct and polite. He greeted Kennedy and wished her well, then he instructed her. The men that came were too rough with me, although I said it was not intentional. Men could not be sent to speak with me. Any contact with the family should be made through Damien or his Brothers.


    All the Brothers agreed on the message and I fussed at them.


    “She’s so young,” I begged, “and it was so sweet to think of us. Don’t scold her.”


    Christof would have none of it. Kennedy was young, but she had to learn. It wasn’t safe to have strange men approaching me.


    Damien took the pad after Christof and left a message for Hannah. He wished she and Ra well. It was a short and pointed note telling them to contact us anytime. We would be in this cabin for six day cycles.


    “Well, she can’t really do that,” I said touching his arm. “The boys won’t understand any of this.”


    “Rx,” Damien insisted patting my arm, “we’ll send them out if we want to talk to our girls. They can be made to understand we need privacy.”


    “She said to teach them,” I whispered to Christof. “Kennedy said that if they knew the world it might be easier to rescue them. I don’t know how you exin to them who they are to you and what you know.”


    The men all chuckled and grinned.


    “They know,” Damien said pulling me past the leather drape into the main room. “That one,” he pointed to Aryn who grinned proudly, “knew there had to be a reason he had Bane’s mark on his arm. The kid’s been trying to get our attention for many moons now.”


    Bane was standing at the fire roasting the meat the way they liked. Several of the boys stood close watching him. The boys were all half dressed and damp. Two were towel drying their hair as we came out. Bane must have made them clean up after the hunt.


    “They figured we’d know why the boy had my mark on him after you reacted so strongly to seeing it. Aryn finally asked me,” Bane said. “I told him while we hunted. I am his male-breeder. The women used me to make him and I never knew. We are family now, all of us.”


    The boys looked pleased at the phrase. They were being imed as family by strong Warriors. They knew what that term meant to my men, so it was not taken lightly. It was a term for ultimate trust and protection.


    “The world is not what it seems,” one of the young men said softly. “You have been to the mountains. You talk to the Administrators and they do what you ask. Can you tell us what you know?”


    The boy was perceptive and bright. The world wasn’t what it seemed, but the men here rarely questioned things. I stared at the boy in wonder.


    “Three generations back,” Kein said grabbing the kid and pulling him closer to me. “It’s right here.”


    The boy looked ufortable so close to me, but I could clearly see his mark. Three generations back was a human ve in his line. Tyle finally voiced the young family’s question.


    “Sir, we don’t understand what you’re looking at,” he said politely. “My Brother, Varn, does not have a mark from you all.”


    My family exchanged a quick nce and I saw that they’d made a decision.


    “The world is full of secrets,” Damien said in a low voice. “If others knew that you understood, it may cause your family trouble.”


    “We keep our secrets in the family, Warrior,” Tyle answered for the family. “We knew we had some connection to you, but we have never shared this thought outside the family. The way the women treat weak men, like shopkeepers, more gently seems strange, but we have never discussed it. We know there is something…”


    The boys stared at Damien and his Brothers just waiting. They did not have enough information to figure it out on their own, but the suppositions they had made were urate.


    We ate dinner and my family spoke honestly with the boys. They said nothing to them that was overly inmmatory. The things they’d said could safely be repeated without endangering us. I realized this was a test.


    If we returned to thepound and the boys repeated what they’d been told, we’d be no worse for it. Nothing being said was all that terrible. I was certain what we told the boyster would be based on their reaction to this test.


    After a leisurely dinner the men sat and yed cards with one another. I knitted silently as the conversation continued. The boys seemed to be absorbing everything Damien’s family told them.


    There were things in the mountains the men saw infrequently. Dangerous creatures that scaled the steep cliffs and could eat a man alive. Hannah had told us about them. She had called them Racks. If this story got back to us, we’d know the boys had talked.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    As the evening progressed the lessons continued. Damien started to exin about other creatures Hannah had told us about. Most of these things existed beyond the mountains. The lessons were given slowly, because the boys had never heard of these things before.


    If we were able to save the boys it was information they would need. Should the Generale to us withints, we would know who talked. It wouldn’t get us in that much trouble, though. I had to appreciate the stealthy way Damien was ferreting out the kids’ loyalty and discretion.


    Before bed I slipped into the bedroom with Christof and Damien. We checked the pad and noted written messages from both Kennedy and Hannah. The girls must have talked because both apologized for sending men that hurt me. That had not been the intention.


    The big news was that Hannah would take Bane’s son away. She advised we trust the boys slowly and gradually begin to educate them. Once they were old enough and had enough knowledge Hannah would send us a message. She would tell us at that point how she nned to get them out.


    Kennedy wanted to know if we could do that with other Warrior families. Freeing men from thepounds wouldn’t be difficult if the men went willingly. All we had to do was find one family at a time and educate them. My girls would arrange to have them taken away after that.