“You’d better sit down for a moment.” Miig gestured to the fire. “And tell us everything you can.” He was starting to feel as tired as the nurses looked. What now? What could possibly be going on now, and how much more could they take?

Rania began her tale, and by the time she was done, they were packing their bags.

✦✦✦ ✦✦✦ ✦✦✦

“We’ll stay until she shows up. You have my word.” Jean embraced his old friend after handing him a bundle of wooden matches and braided sweetgrass. “I’ll make sure.”

“And make sure she gets the instructions, yeah?” Miig was torn, but he had to do what was best for the group, what was best for Wab and her baby. There was no way they would let her take the journey by herself, but still, leaving before Rose made it back felt like admitting she was dead, especially after French.

“Of course.” The two men held each other at arm’s length for a moment, each one memorizing the details of the other’s face in case it was the last time they saw it.

“We have to come up with a new route anyway, never mind a new destination,” Clarence added. “The north is out of the question now that we know about the new builds.”

Miig shook his hand. “The hospitality and safety you’ve shown us…well, it won’t be forgotten. It’s a story that will be shared. It allowed me the return of my partner, and for that alone, I am indebted to you.”

“It was a pleasure, one of the few I have left. Truly.”

They left that night while most of the camp slept. A single scout walked them to the perimeter under the milky moon, blurred to a soft spotlight. They waited while she climbed a tree and whistled down the all clear. Then they slipped into the denser trees, Rania and Theo in the lead, and headed toward the imaginary line in the sand that might offer them a chance at safety, that might give Wab’s baby the chance to take its first breath in freedom.

They had no choice, not anymore. They had to leave now. They had to leave Rose behind.

CHAPTER 21

A LITTLE BIRD BRINGS DEATH

Rose

“LET ME GO!”

Rose’s scream echoed in the empty room and fell back on her, pinning her limbs like heavy blankets, useless weight making it harder to breathe. All the cots belonging to the Wives had been pulled out except for hers, where she lay strapped to the metal frame.

“This is Seriously Messed Up!”

She struggled against the leather restraints until her skin was rubbed raw and pinched. After she and Derrick had been caught talking, the women had grabbed Rose. One at a time, she could have taken them, but all at once? It was like fighting a giant, pale spider. At some point, the Chief had put the same rag he’d used to drug Derrick over her face, and the rest was gone. They must have carried her up here, made their renovations, and left her to wake up alone. The sky outside the window was grey. It was hard to tell how long she’d been out. Minutes? Days? She finally settled down, banging the back of her head into the thin pillow until a wave of nausea overtook her. She felt terrible.