DEREK
"Where were you?" Peter whispered worriedly when I entered the Stockade. Like me, he was a father, only his lover was still alive.
"I killed the master and his family. I only spared the daughters", I said quietly. Peter was taken aback.
"Are you crazy? Now you've condemned all of us to die. The Royal Militia will hunt us down and kill us all as rebel slaves", he whispered at me furiously.
"It's already done", was all I answered.
"Since they killed mom, then sooner or later they were going to kill all of us anyway", Roan, my older son, interjected.
"I wish you took me with you", Ash, my younger son said. He sniffed the air. "Is that why you brought the girls? So that we can also get our revenge?" I shook my head.
"The girls are innocent. They were never a part of the horrible things the master and his sons were doing. That's why I let them live".
"Fine then. What's done is done, but what are you going to do with them?" Peter asked. "Actually, what's your plan now, anyway? You must have thought of something beyond just revenge, right?"
I nodded.
"We pack up whatever useful things we can carry and go south to find some place where we can hide in the mountains, far away from humans. If we're careful enough then the Royal Militia won't have a trail to follow"
"And the girls?" Peter demanded.
"I don't know. I didn't plan to let them live. For now we lock them up here while we get ready to leave", I answered.
Everyone gathered their meager belongings and moved out of the stockade. I had Clair and Pamela enter and barred the door behind them. There were plenty of beds and blankets for them to choose from to make themselves comfortable, even if they weren't up to the standard they were used to.
While everyone packed I thought about what to do about Clair. Finally, when we were ready to leave I came to a decision.
"You go on ahead", I said. "Go to Silver Lake and wait for me there until tomorrow evening. If I'm not there then go on without me". Silver Lake was a small, isolated lake far to the south. It got its name for how it looked when viewed from certain angles during daytime. It was some distance away from the nearest farmstead, and people of any race only rarely visited it.
"Why? What are you going to do?" Roan asked me.
"I want to see if I can free more slaves before anyone notices what happened here", I replied.
"Then we'll come with you", Roan said.
"Yeah!" Ash agreed enthusiastically. I shook my head.
"The more of us go, the harder it will be to avoid being noticed, and you're too young. Besides, there's another issue".
"What is it?" Roan asked. I shook my head again.
"I'll let you know later. For now, please just go wait for me at Silver Lake".
Peter dragged my two boys away, promising to look after them. I waited until enough time had passed for them to cross at least 2 streams of water along the way, to help confuse the tracks, then I went back to the stockade. By then it was already dawn.
I opened the door and found Clair lying awake, with Pamela sleeping while cuddled up against her.
"Come", I said.
Clair carefully shifted Pamela aside. The little girl sleepily grabbed her dress in her little fists. Clair shushed at her to try to get her to relax back into sleep while gently pulling her dress free. She then got up and followed me outside.
"Thank you again for sparing our lives", she said with her head bowed and her hands clasped before her in a posture that so resembled that of a slave. It made me uncomfortable to be in a position similar to a master. It was dirty, somehow.
"Touch my collar", I said. For some inexplicable reason I felt that I needed to know if I could trust her. Clair's head shot up. Her eyes were wide open in shock.
"Why? You're free now", she asked. "Even if I control your collar, that won't save you from being killed for what you did".
"Just do it", I said.
She hesitantly raised her hand and touched my collar. As soon as her fingers made contact the collar bonded with her, recognizing her as the owner and giving her control over it. She could now torture or kill me with a mere thought. It was an awful lot of power to give someone over you, but it was the only way.
"Now you have the power, you control me. What will you do with it?" I asked.
Clair closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again a moment later, the bond was gone. She relinquished control of the collar, giving me back my freedom. I spared her life. Now she has spared mine.
"Don't you want revenge? I killed your family", I said. Clair lowered her eyes.
"I love them, but what they did was wrong. I can't blame you for what you did", she said.
She raised her eyes to look at me again and straightened her posture. "So what now?" she asked.
"That's up to you. Would you like to come with us or stay here?" She shook her head at the second alternative.
"You might not know this, but the way father treated you wasn't uncommon around here. In fact, most of the masters around here treat their slaves even worse. There are some who like to play all kinds of sick games of torture and death with their slaves, or simply use them as punching bags until they die, or all kinds of other horrible things. It's like once they got their hands on the control collars they became drunk with power. I don't want to live with people like that, and I don't want Pamela growing up in a village like this", she answered at length.
"That's what your father and brothers did to Lucy yesterday", I pointed out.
"Yes, and I'm sorry about that", she said. She seemed sincere. "Although I don't think mother deserved to die", she added in a whisper.
"She was still a part of it", I said. Clair didn't seem to disagree.
"Then do you really want to come with us? To live in the wilderness without any of the comforts of civilization that you're used to?" I asked to be sure. She nodded.
"I think that's far better", she said.