Chapter 10

Rod slept poorly that night. Between Trelo's and Kalo's nightmares and the pain from his ankle, he only caught short cat naps. Rod had made a mistake by sleeping inside. The girls hadn't been outside since arriving in the Elder's village. If the weather cooperated, they'd sleep outside tonight. He'd reached a decision in the night - he wouldn't put his wives, children, and grandchildren at risk. They wouldn't depend on the vagaries of others. These people weren't ready to rule themselves.

One of the Southern men helped Rod the village latrine and village women brought food and water for breakfast. Rod, Otatl, Trelo, Kalo, and Teplo ate breakfast around the fire. Rod was pissed and he grew more and more angry whenever he looked at the abuse the women had taken. He needed to calm down because he was scaring the women.

"Trelo," he said light heartedly. "Now that you have tasted the food of all three of the peoples, do you think the Southern men will ever be happy with their food again?"

"What Southern men?" she asked.

"Laval, Alaval, and the other three men that Chief Atatl sent to help free you."

"Atatl sent Laval and Alaval to help us?" she asked.

"Of course," Rod said. "And Chief Dartl sent more than 25 men and he came himself. Once we got here, Chief Bratla was able to convince the villagers to help us."

By now tears were pouring from the women's eyes. "We thought no one cared about us," Trelo said. "The Elders said you wouldn't come to get us, that we were just women and you would find more women."

"The Elders were wrong," Rod said. "I came as fast as I could. If I had waited, the Lake people would have come for you. You and Kalo and Teplo are of the People, three of the first of the People. You are the women who will make a new nation. How could we not come for you?" Fucking great, now I have to explain what a nation is.

Rod's ankle was either severely sprained or broken, without an X-ray there was no way to tell which it was. He talked Trelo and Kalo through splinting the damned thing. They felt better after having something useful to do. When Dartl and Bratla approached, the three women - Rod's wives and Teplo - started to leave but were stopped by Rod. Decisions were going to be made this morning and the women's minds would heal faster if they had a hand in the decisions.

The two chiefs danced around the issues for a time, asking of the women's health, Rod's ankle, and apologizing for how long the rescue took. Finally Bratla broached the topic.

"What will we do with the Elders and their guards?" he asked.

"Can we ask Laval from Atatl's village and Atlala to join us?" Rod asked. "Laval is a considered a wise man in his Southern village and Atlala is one of my traveling companions."

"Of course," Bratla said. He yelled orders at a youth standing a discrete distance away.

Once Laval and Atlala had joined the others around the small breakfast fire, Rod spoke. "I want the Elders banished from the Peoples' lands and when I say Peoples, I mean all three tribes. To me there is only one nation and one people. Some of us live in one place and some live in another but we're the same people. If a person who lives in the South wants to go live by the lake, he can. If a person who lives by the rivers wants to go to the South, she can. We are one nation and one people. The Elders from this village have sinned. They are no longer members of our nation. I want them to be punished for their sins. Banish them. If they aren't gone from our lands within a month, anyone can kill them and it won't be murder. I value your opinions. Do you think this is just punishment?"

"No!" Trelo said. "I want to fucking kill them. I want to beat them, have men rape them, and then kill them!"

"I won't let them be beaten or raped," Rod said. "It was a sin when they did that to you and it would be a sin if we did that to them. You are still alive. How can we justify murdering them if you are alive? No matter how much I want to kill all of them, murdering even one of them would be a sin. If they come back to our lands or refuse to leave our lands, then we can kill them. That wouldn't be murder. They will have been told that to come back means death."

"Can I follow them outside of our lands and kill them?" Trelo asked.

"Trelo," Rod said. "You, Teplo, and Kalo must be careful. You can be consumed by your hatred. Instead of hunting down 7 old men who will soon die, you should be raising your children. Look to the future and happiness not to the past and bitterness."

"He's right," Kalo said. "You will soon have a child. That is more important than the dead men, they won't even live through the first winter. Starving to death and freezing sounds like good punishment to me. If they come back, I'll help you kill them."

"Who do you want to send to capture the last Elder?" Bratl asked. "We only have six of them here."

"Did one escape last night?" Rod asked.

"No," Bratl said. "He left when the Elders sent their guards to get your wives. He went home to his village."

"Maybe one of the Elders wasn't as dumb as the others," Dartl quipped.

"Bratl," Rod said. "When you feed the prisoners this morning, make sure that they are too far apart to talk to each other while their gags are out of their mouths. We'll want to question them one at a time. We'll find out how many were in on the decision and how many weren't, how many beat our wives and how many raped them. Maybe we won't banish all of them. We'll find out when we get more information. Would you send one of your senior men with Laval to talk to the Elder who left? Listen to what he has to say. Be polite but find out who-said-what while the decision was being made and find out if the guards were involved in the decision making process."

Rod thought for a moment and said, "Bratl, have Laval and your man wear a patch on their right arm that looks like this." Rod drew three peaked stripes on the ground, a simplified Marine Corps Corporal insignia, an E4.

"Do you want to do the questioning of the guards and Elders?" Bratl asked.

"I need to question the women," Rod said. "I want Bratl's wife and um, his advisor, Aram's wife, to be witnesses to the questioning. No others will be present unless Otatl wants to be with Teplo when she is questioned."

Rod addressed the women, "Until you are questioned, you shouldn't talk to each other about what happened to them."

"Why can't we talk to each other?" Trelo asked.

"You have different memories of the events," Rod said. "Once you talk to each other your memories will change. It's just the way our brains work. I want to hear what you each remember, not what the three of you remember together."

"Trelo? Kalo?" Rod asked. "Do either of you think that you could tell me your story today? If you can't, we will wait a day or two, but we need to hear your story before we question the Elders or their guards."

"If it helps punish those fucking maggots I'll tell you everything right now," Trelo said. "I won't stop talking until dark."

"It's good to see that you're back to normal," Rod said with a smile. "But let's wait until after lunch. We'll sit in the sun and you can tell me the story."

Over the next two days, Trelo, Kalo, and Teplo told their memories of the events. Trelo and Rod convinced Otatl that it would be better if he let Teplo tell him an abridged version later. Otatl didn't need the details, suffice to say Teplo had been brutalized by the guards and some of the Elders. She needed love and a gentle touch, she'd talk to Otatl when she was ready.

After Trelo's tale, Rod no longer thought of the elders with a capital E. All three women agreed that none of the elders had lifted a hand to help them. One elder had only beaten them - he was impotent and one had left them alone - he was killed during the rescue.

The women's stories agreed on most of the major points, but there was one important difference. Kalo and Teplo remembered a guard named Othal trying to help the three women and never taking part in the beatings or rapes. Trelo remembered differently, she remembered a night when the guard Othal beat and raped her.

Rod spent a day preparing a villager named Patlo to interview the guards. Rod wasn't an expert on interrogation but this wasn't a war either. Patlo was much more likely to get the truth from the guards than Rod, 'Then I beat your wife and raped her', they weren't likely to say it to Rod's face.

Patlo was good at getting a confession. He was a friend, making no judgment, just collecting the facts, but he could intimidate. No judgment and a lot of bullshit.

"I'm just here to get your story," Patlo said. "Personally I understand what you did. Who does Williams think he is? He isn't even a member of our tribe and he threatens our Elders. He's an asshole and Bratl's always sucking-up to him, it makes me sick. I already know the whole story so save us time and just tell me what you saw. I know you raped and beat the women, that's ok, everyone was. What I want to know is did all the guards rape the women?"

"Yes, all except me."

"WHY ARE YOU LYING TO ME? That isn't the truth. I already know that you did. How can I help you if you won't tell me the truth? Now try again. Did all the guards rape the women?"

"Yes."

Patlo slapped the prisoner. "You're beginning to piss me off," he said. "If all the guards raped the women, why did you make fun of Othal?"

"I forgot, I didn't mean to lie to you."