Ina once again became Darin Walker. During the day she worked in the fields. At night she trained with a stick. She listened to Devin’s advice and practice swordsmanship throughout the night. She didn’t attempt to kill Devin or hi soldiers. Nothing bad happened to her while she worked because no one was allowed to talk to each other and because she always obeyed the soldiers’ orders. At night, everyone was asleep except for the night soldiers who were ordered by Devin to just watch her.
One night she went to the river that was near by her cabin. One guard kept an eye on her as she walked into the water. She removed her clothes. It was too dark for the guard to see her body. Everyone on the plantation received some soap. No one ever asked why Ina took her baths in the dead of night. She had just finished when there was a piercing cry. She recognized it at once and ran for the long house on the other side of the field. Two guards fallowed her. She opened a door to a nursery.
“Please stop crying,” a man said. He was one of Devin’s soldiers.
“What’s going on?” Ina asked.
“This baby won’t stop crying no matter what I do,” the soldier answered.
“Let me see,” Ina said. As soon as the baby was in Ina’s arms, it stopped crying. She rocked the baby back and forth. “There now, you’re ok. Everything’s fine.”
“How did you do that?” The soldier asked.
“A baby needs love and care,” Ina said. “You need to pick them up and talk to them.”
“This one won’t stop crying either,” another man said.
“Here,” Ina said. “Just rock her back and forth like I did.” She walked over to the baby boy and did the same thing.
“What’s going on?” Devin came in. “I heard a very load shriek.”
“It was the babies, My Lord,” said the first soldier. “That boy calmed them down.” He pointed at Ina.
“I see,” Devin said. “What is your name?”
“Eric Sir,” the man said.
“Well, then Eric, I hope you learned something tonight,” Devin said walking over to Ina. “It seems you are to thank for quieting them.”
“It’s not that hard,” Ina said. “You just need to care for them. Your men aren’t trained enough for this.” She put the baby back in a wooden box.
“Leave us,” Devin said furiously. Eric put the baby down and ran out the door followed by the other soldiers.
“So you think my men need more training?” Devin said. “You have a lot of guts to belittle my army.”
“Is that all you wanted to say?” Ina said. “It seems you need help in speaking.”
Slam! Devin pushed Ina to the floor. “A girl has no right to lecture me,” he said.
“But I’m a boy to everyone else,” Ina said.
“I can fix that,” Devin said. He pulled out a small knife. “I’ll just make you more of a woman.” She cut her shirt.
“Stop,” Ina yelled.
“Why should I? You are just a simple worker. Why not just be my personal slave?” He cut her wraps and undid his shirt.
“Let me go!” Ina started kicking.
“It won’t work. I’m stronger than you.” He bent down and started kissing her body. His hands moved down her legs.
“Please stop.” Ina started crying. Devin sighed then got up.
“You should just give in. You’ll never kill me.”
“I will. I’ll kill you and your stupid army.”
“Then get stronger. Build up your hate and everything. That is the only way for you to save your brother and sister. Oh by the way.” He pulled out a piece of paper. “It carries some information you might want to know. Also clean yourself up.” He walked out of the building and closed the doors behind him. Ina opened the letter. It read:
Dear Lord Devin,
Miss Karin Black has taken ill. We have her locked in a cabin. We ask you for permission to burn it down. She has a pestilence. We don’t know what it is, but we can’t have it spread to any of the other slaves. Please write back as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Soldier #89
No comments:
Post a Comment