Mand watched the barn for several more moments, her mind reeling with the possibilities. Part of her wanted to head right over to the structure and get to work right away, but there were two issues with this. Firstly, she was still exhausted from the escape. Secondly, it was broad daylight.
No, she would have to wait for dark before she made her move. While it appeared that the farmers may have headed into town on horseback, she had no way of knowing if the man and woman constituted the entire household. Even if it was just the two of them, they had left the barn door open, suggesting that they would return at some point.
She crouched back down to the dirt floor and placed her back against a wall. Closing her eyes, she listened to some birds chirping in the distance. Occasionally, the wind would gust up, creating a soft howling noise. The shed was a nice temperature, not too hot and not too cool. Her eyelids felt heavy, she began to drift off.
The sound of a horse approaching caused her to jerk awake. Darkness had crept inside the shed as she had slept, the afternoon had turned into early evening. The sun still had a few hours before it passed into twilight, but the majority of the day had surely burned away. Slowly, she made her way back over to the small, grimy window and lifted herself just enough to peak outside again.
Turning onto the property from the curved road that followed the periphery of the city, was a large brown horse. Mand could make out a figure walking along side the horse, guiding it along by its reins. Sitting on the saddle was another smaller figure.
Staying low, she watched as the horse and the figures drew closer and closer. Eventually she could make out enough detail to see that it was an older man, perhaps in his late 50s, who was guiding the horse. Sitting on the saddle was a woman who looked to be about 20 years younger than the man.
The man brought the horse to a stop a few feet before the barn door. The woman dismounted from the animal and the man passed her the reins. As the man turned and started to make his way back towards the direction of the farmhouse, the woman guided the horse back into the barn. As the man approached in her direction, Mand ducked back down, concealing herself in the ever growing darkness.
Mand could hear the man continue to approach closer and closer, gravel crunching beneath his feet. Suddenly, the crunching stopped. She could hear a sound of what she imagined to be the man pivoting to turn around. All Mand could hear for a moment was her heart beating rapidly in her chest like some sort of mechanical monster.
"Brenda," Mand heard the gruff male voice say. "Didn't Nesan say something about the guard looking for some runaways?"
"Four teenagers jumped ship apparently," Mand could hear the woman's voice say. "3 girls and a boy. Apparently their family are terribly worried."
"Hmm," said the man.
"What is it?" the woman questioned.
"Oh, nothing. I doubt any of them would have come this way, but I'm just going to check around just in case."
"That sounds like a good idea," said the woman. "But try not to take too long, I want to get supper started."
Mand could hear footsteps again, this time approaching closer and closer to the shed. Mand curled herself into the smallest ball she could and ducked away from the window.
Any light that had been coming in through the window was suddenly obscured. Suddenly, Mand could hear a slight "swirk" sound as the man attempted to wipe away some of the dirt and grime from his side of the window. She heard him curse.
"Damn, can't see a blasted thing," he mumbled to himself.
The shed brightened a little when the man moved away from the window. Step by step, he approached the door.
Mand's eyes went to the wedge she had placed underneath the gap under the door. Her strong confidence that her little device would work was now quickly fading away.
The latch turned and she could see the wood of the door shudder as the man attempted to open it from outside.
"What the?" the Man questioned.
The latch turned again, this time followed by a loud thump against the door. Dirt and dust cascaded down from the shed's shelves and ceiling.
"Damn it!" the man said.
"Don't hurt yourself!" Mand heard the woman call out. "Your shoulder is already giving you trouble, don't make it worse."
"It won't open!" he called back.
"When's the last time you were even inside of that thing Dad?"
"It's been a couple of years..." the man trailed off.
"You had that thing stuffed with all sorts of junk. Something probably fell down inside and is now jamming the door."
The door received one more *thunk* before Mand heard the man back away.
"You're probably right. I'll have to take the door off by its hinges."
"You can do that tomorrow, its starting to get dark."
The man grunted an affirmative and then began moving away from the shed, back towards the farmhouse.
Mand's heart continued to beat rapidly, even as the footsteps started to fade away. There was silence outside now. She waited for some sort of audible sign that the woman, Brenda was it? Had finished putting the horse back into the barn. Part of her wanted to peak outside again, just to see if she had somehow missed the woman returning to the farmhouse. Clenching her fists until her nails dug into her palms, she decided this was probably a bad idea and forced herself to wait it out.
She heard a loud creak as the barn door closed. Footsteps again, as well as a soft humming as the woman moved away from the barn and towards the farmhouse. Something about the humming struck Mand as familiar. She then realized that she recognized the tune! It was a lullaby that her mother used to sing to both her and Val when they were small children! The last time that Mand had heard it was before the fire that took her mother's life. In the years since, the half-remembered tune had been drifting in her mind, driving her mad trying to remember the lyrics. Mand wanted to jump up and ask the woman about it, but she didn't want to give herself away.
In her excitement over the lullaby, Mand hadn't noticed that the footsteps had been getting closer to the shed. She was shocked back into reality when she heard a soft knocking on the door.
"I know you're in there." the woman's voice whispered.
Mand's heart started pounding again.
"Don't worry," she continued. "I won't tell my father."
"How..how did you know?" Mand choked out.
"I cleaned that shed out last summer," the woman said. "Nothing could possibly be blocking the door."
"I'm sorry, can I just rest here for a few more hours? I'll be gone by morning."
"Any reason why I shouldn't turn you in?"
"We were kidnapped and forced onto that ship."
"Well," the voice paused. "That is a good reason. Are you hungry?"
Mand's stomach growled. The bread she ate earlier felt like it had long gone "Yes..."
"I'll bring you some leftovers once it gets dark and my father has gone to bed. Just sit tight OK?"
"Thank you."
"What's your name?"
"Mand."
"Hello Mand, I'm Brenda. Don't worry, we'll figure this out."
With that, Mand could hear Brenda start to make her way towards the farmhouse.
Mand thought about the prize inside the barn. If the farmers knew that she was here and were willing to help her, there was no way she could just abscond with it.
What to do now?
Mand just hoped that she could trust Brenda.