Ruled By Fear (9 page)

     Aaron leapt from the bed, where he’d been lying so peacefully a moment before.

    
“Keith, where are you?”  he called frantically.

    
His eyes scanned the room, and when he didn’t find his brother, he dove for the door.  Running across the hall, he burst into Tom’s room, and ignoring the exclamations of surprise, rushed to his brother’s bed.  Keith was there.  Aaron grabbed for the bedpost, holding on until the world stopped spinning.  Finally, letting out a slow breath, he looked down at his sleeping brother.  It was hard to see, but Aaron thought he looked a little better, laying a hand against his forehead; he was relieved to see his fever had gone down some.

    
“Aaron,” Keith said, slowly waking up, “what are you doing in here?”

    
“What am I doing in here?” he said, throwing his hands in the air.  “What are you doing in here?  Do you realize you nearly scared me to death?”

    
Aaron became aware of Tom and Philip staring at him and, lowering himself to the edge of the bed, softened his voice.

    
“If you’re trying to get rid of me, there are nicer ways of doing it than giving me a heart attack you know?”  He couldn’t resist giving Keith a light smack to the side of his head.

    
“Sorry,” Keith replied.  “I woke up a while ago and you were slumped over about ready to hit the floor.  I figured there was no reason I couldn’t sleep in my own bed.  You must have been pretty tired, because you didn’t even flinch when I laid you down.”

    
“We’re headed downstairs,” Tom said, pushing Philip out the door.  “You two coming?”

    
Aaron turned back to Keith.

    
“Are you feeling up to it?” he asked.

    
Keith sat up slowly and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

    
“Well, I’m not staying here,” he answered.

    
His careful movements and ragged breathing were enough to let Aaron know he still wasn’t well.  But, he was better than last night, and for that Aaron was grateful.

    
“Let’s go,” Keith said, tapping Aaron’s arm.  “I could use a little something to eat.”

    
Aaron forced himself to relax but, inside, his heart was still trying to catch up from his early morning scare.  Something had to be done and soon.  He could feel the hold of this place becoming stronger the longer they stayed.  He wished again that he’d taken Keith with him on that first night, when he had just walked outside the gate.  But, then maybe whoever it was that watched them had known he wouldn’t really leave his brother, and that’s why they hadn’t stopped him.  He wondered if he would have even gotten as far as the gate if Keith had actually been with him.

    
Something his father had told him once was niggling at the back of his mind, and he tried to remember the saying as they descended the stairs.

    
As a young boy, he had come across his Pa late one night, after he’d stealthily made his way down to the kitchen to steal a snack.  He had just finished stuffing a few cookies into the pocket of his robe when he noticed a light glowing from his father’s partially open door.  For some reason, he was drawn by that light, and a few moments later he was at his father’s side, listening to him explain a book he was reading on war.

    
“Know your enemy”, that’s what he had told him that night.  But how could you get to know an enemy that was invisible?

    
“No, not invisible,” he told himself.  After all, he had the cuts and bruises to prove his enemy was tangible.  “Just hard to see.”

    
He thought again of the book tucked safely inside his makeshift belt.  He and Keith had stopped at his room long enough for him to get it tied back around his waist, and for Keith to swallow a little more of the medicine.  He had matches, and even candles, but what he needed now was a time and place to be able to read the book.  Maybe that night, if no other catastrophes occurred before then, he might have a chance.

    
By the time they reached the dining hall, he had formulated a plan.  Tom still wasn’t willing for Philip to be near Keith, and Aaron decided now would be a good time to ask Emily a few questions.

    
“Emily,” he began cautiously, “how did your father try to escape?”

    
Emily stiffened and her spoon stopped mid-air.  Aaron thought for a moment that she was going to get up and leave but finally, she allowed her spoon to finish its course.  Keeping her voice low she answered.

    
“He . . . started a fire,” she began, “in the shack where you washed the clothes.  He was trying to create a distraction.  I was supposed to run . . .”

    
Aaron could hear the pain in her voice, and regretted asking her the question.  Tenderly, he laid a hand on her shoulder.

    
“I’m sorry,” he said.  “You don’t have to tell me”

    
“No,” she interrupted, shrugging off his hand, “I’ll tell you.  I was too afraid.  I was afraid, that they would come after me, and I . . . I let my father die for nothing.”

    
The girl jumped up from the table then and ran from the room.  Aaron called out to her, and started to follow, but was stopped as Grant stood to block his way.

    
“Leave her alone,” he said.  “I think you’ve done enough.”

    
Aaron was becoming tired of Grant always getting in his way, always telling him what to do, and it took every bit of restraint he could muster not to throw a punch.  Instead, he held Grant’s gaze for a long moment, and then returned to Keith.

    
He could hear his brother’s raspy breathing as he drew near, and he dreaded the thought of bringing him out in the weather and into the stuffy mine again.  He was in the middle of trying to work out a plan when an unexpected voice startled him.

     
“He stays here today,” the Gardener said, coming up beside him and motioning to Keith.

    
“Not without me he doesn’t,” Aaron said, fastening his dark eyes on the old man.

    
“He stays or you both go,” he answered, not seeming the least intimidated.  “He should be in bed, but you decide.”

    
The man turned then and went back to his constant position of leaning against the far wall.  Aaron was more curious than angry at this man giving orders.  He knew he wasn’t just a regular prisoner like the rest of them, but he didn’t think he was necessarily in control either.

    
“Aaron, I’ll go with you,” Keith said, breaking into his thoughts.  “I don’t like the idea of being here by myself.”

    
Aaron considered him for a moment.  Keith still had a fever, even if it was lighter, and going out was risking it going up again.  As much as he hated to do it, he felt the safer option would be to leave Keith behind.  Now, the only trick would be getting Keith to behave the way a rational adult would and agree to stay.

     Two hours later, Aaron slowly straightened from his hunched over position.  It had been ages since he had “picked rocks”, and his body was letting him know it didn’t appreciate the constant squatting and bending.  The chilly grey skies and drizzling rain helped some in his argument with himself over having left Keith.  He had come close to using just about every tool in his arsenal to convince his belligerent little brother to stay.

    
“You say you’re just looking out for me,” Keith had argued.  “Well, fine, it works both ways then.  I won’t be able to rest at all knowing you’re out there alone.”

    
In the end, it was Emily that had managed to initiate a truce between the two stubborn brothers.  She had volunteered to act as messenger for them, whenever her time allowed.  Both brothers had conceded that as long as they had word throughout the day that the other was still safe, they could handle being separated.

    
As Aaron watched Keith walk stiffly up the stairs, he steadfastly ignored the niggling in the back of his mind.

    
You’ll see him again.

    
Keith had stopped just before he was out of sight and turned.  The look on his face reminded Aaron of the little boy that had stood outside a stagecoach, waving goodbye to his big brother that was leaving for college.  It had broken his heart to leave him behind, knowing how much of Keith’s life he was going to miss.  Aaron, never one to put his emotions on display, had given his little brother a casual salute and a wink, and that’s what he did now.

    
Keith grinned and then slowly headed back to his room.  Aaron checked the board and was surprised to see that Keith’s number had not been listed.  He turned to question the Gardener about it, but the little man was gone.  A small voice inside of him was telling him that something wasn’t right, but he had gotten so used to hearing its warnings lately, that he pushed his uneasy feelings aside and followed the other prisoners into the yard.  The ground was freezing on his bare feet, and for the first few minutes, he hopped from one foot to the other.  Finally, his feet grew numb from the cold, and he stood wondering what he was supposed to do.  He was startled when he heard a voice behind him.

    
“Hey, there,” a man said.  “Guess you’re Aaron.  You can call me Meri.”

    
Aaron noted the slight English accent, and was about to comment when he was cut off.

    
“That pretty young girl over there is my sister,” Meri said, pointing in her direction.  “You can call her Annie.”

    
Aaron found himself sizing up the young man with deep brown eyes that twinkled as he spoke, and curly black hair that bobbed up and down in rhythm with his exuberant gestures.  He had seen him and his sister only briefly when they ate their meals or in passing as they went to work, but as yet he’d never had a chance to talk with either of them.

    
“You’ll be working with us today,” Meri continued.  “Time to get the garden going.  They’ll have the section roped off where they want us to start.”

    
As Aaron followed, he turned his attention to Annie, who seemed to have very little of her brother’s enthusiasm, and other than the fact that her auburn hair was curly, the brother and sister shared very little physical resemblance.  He didn’t know why that surprised him, as he and Keith looked almost nothing alike.  Annie kept her eyes riveted to the ground as they walked, and seemed to self-consciously keep pulling at her clothes, and pushing her hair back away from her face.  Aaron felt for the young woman who, under different circumstances, would have been very beautiful.

    
“Just what I figured,” Meri said, interrupting Aaron’s thoughts as they stopped at the first roped off section they came to.  There were four other large areas sectioned off as well.

    
“They picked the nastiest part of the whole yard to work with,” Meri said, shaking his head sadly.  “Well, best get to it.”

    
Annie walked past the two and hopped over the rope then, without a word, she began picking up rocks and putting them in a pile.

    
“I take it we’re supposed to clear this field,” Aaron asked, his tired body already starting a silent rebellion against his more rational mind.

    
“That’s right,” Meri answered, and giving Aaron a friendly pat on the back, joined his sister.

    
After working for several hours, Aaron discovered that Meri enjoyed talking, which would have been fine had he been providing any useful information, but Aaron quickly found out that the young man shied away from answering most of his questions.

    
“How long have you been here?” Aaron asked, after one particularly long explanation of what types of vegetables they would be planting.

    
“Two years,” Meri answered with a shrug.

    
Two years!  Aaron’s mind started reeling.  Could it be possible that these people had actually been there that long?  The thought was staggering, and it took him a few minutes to get himself under control again.

    
He was about to ask if they had ever tried to escape when he heard Emily shouting for him.  He wheeled around and caught the young girl as she tumbled into his arms.

    
“Aaron,” she panted, “its Keith!”

    
Without waiting for any more explanation, Aaron ran for the house, heedless of the rocks cutting into his already bruised soles, and ignoring Emily’s calls for him to wait.  He rushed into the house, and took the stairs three at a time.  As he rounded the top corner he crashed into someone, and if he hadn’t managed to catch the top railing, he would have gone flying back down the steps.

    
“Keith?” he questioned, pulling himself up.  “What . . . I thought . . . What are you doing out here?”

    
Keith cringed at his brother’s raised voice and looked up at him from the floor.