Tears filled Rowan’s eyes, but she strengthened her resolve. The chance of having a breeder was not high. Perhaps she would have natural children.
“And what if I am unable to birth a breeder? What if the child is natural?”
“That will be up to him,” Commander Norrin said. “More laborers to add to his village, I suppose. The colony requires breeders from you. That is all.”
“Can I say goodbye to my friends?” The other breeders were all she had. They were her only family.
“I don’t think that will be possible.”
Rowan wondered if the infection that rendered people infertile stole their humanity altogether, their emotion, their ability to love. Breeders loved. The colony was too busy using them for reproduction to care about that though.
“Guard, unchain her.”
One of the guards came forward to undo her bonds, carrying the heavy chains away with him once she was freed.
“Dress her,” Commander Norrin said to the two waiting women. “And you two, get Captain Amro to his rooms. Remain at his door, he is not to leave his apartments.”
“Yes, commander,” the guards said, each taking an arm and dragging the unconscious man out of the room.
Rowan rubbed her wrists as the women approached. The men watched while she was dressed in a simple white dress that covered her to the middle of her thighs and a pair of boots that came to mid-calf.
“She’ll need furs,” Silas said when he looked at her. “She won’t survive the nights otherwise.”
Commander Norrin nodded and turned to one of the girls. “Get her a fur.”
The girl left.
“And the medicines for my people? Where are they?” Silas asked.
“Loaded onto the wagon outside. All as agreed. These bags contain the breeder’s things.”
Silas took them from the girl just as the other one returned with a fur. She went to Rowan, meeting her eyes briefly, the look in them one of pity. She lifted the cape over her shoulders, all the while her eyes on Rowan’s. Then, as she tied the strings that would keep it closed, she touched her hand, putting something inside it and closing Rowan’s fingers over it so that no one else saw.
Rowan made no gesture of acknowledgement. Instead, she slipped the thing into the pocket sewn inside the cape.
“It is late and we have a long journey,” Silas said to Commander Norrin once she was fully dressed.
“One last thing,” Commander Norrin said, gesturing to one of the guards who stepped forward. “Tag her.”
Before anyone could move, the guard was on her, taking her arm, turning her wrist up. Rowan sucked in a breath when she saw the laser he held.
Silas grabbed the guard’s wrist. “What is that?” he asked.
“She is property of the colony first,” the commander answered.
Property. That was all she was.
“It is unnecessary. I have no desire to keep another mouth to feed. I will return her as soon as I am able to,” Silas offered.
It felt like a betrayal, that. She glanced at Silas as he said it, then dropped her head. Mercenary. He was just a mercenary.
“This is non-negotiable,” Commander Norrin said. “Your medicines are waiting, ready for you to take to your people. Everything is in place, as agreed upon. Be wise, Silas.”
Rowan looked into Silas’ eyes but he masked any emotion too well to read. He glanced at her, then exhaled, releasing the guard’s arm and nodding. The guard then placed the laser against that vulnerable, delicate skin inside her wrist and pushed the button. Rowan heard a sound, it was her own gasp. The pain was intense but momentary. When he released her, she looked down at her reddened skin where a small dark red image, complex in design, now was. It was the symbol of the colony. She knew that there beneath her skin was the locator device placed in such a way that its unsanctioned removal would result in her death.
She looked up to find Silas studying it as well.
Commander Norrin then took Silas’ arm and turned him so they had their backs to her. She wasn’t sure if she was meant to hear Commander Norrin’s next words but she did, even though they did not make sense to her. “Remember our agreement well. I am not one to give second chances.”
She looked at the side of Silas’ face. He looked at Commander Norrin, his expression hard.
“You’re free to go,” Commander Norrin said, stepping back with a grand gesture toward the door.
Silas still looked at the man and it was a moment before he turned to her and touched her back. “Go,” he said.
Rowan walked out of the small cell and followed a guard down the corridor and up the stairs into the courtyard. They all walked in silence and stopped before a loaded wagon. For a moment, she looked at it and wondered if he would make her pull it. The colony would not give an animal away, they were too valuable. And for as much technology that had survived from the developed world, this was still the most basic and most commonly used mode of transport.