At sundown, Abe guided the boat toward shore.
Isaac stood up and frowned. It had been an hour since they’d seen a light from a house. For some time, the water had been little more than stagnant green slime. The air was fetid and hostile. “Let’s get out of here,” Isaac said, looking about him. “Nobody could live in this stench.”
“Exactly what I have planned. Jump down there and get that rowboat. Do it!” Abe commanded as Isaac started to speak.
Isaac was too used to obeying his older brother. He didn’t like the slimy water, and even as he watched, a long snake slithered across its surface. He jumped over one side of the sloop, felt the greenish brown mud suck at his feet up to his ankles. He waded through it, the foamy slime attaching itself to his knees, and untied the little rowboat. He hopped inside and used the oars to guide the rowboat to the side of the sloop.
Abe stood on deck holding Nicole in his arms. He handed her down to his little brother, then lowered himself into the rowboat. “Put her in the bottom and grab the oars,” he commanded. “We’ve still got a long way to go.”
Isaac did as he was told, resting Nicole against one of his legs. He didn’t like the look of fear in her eyes, and he wanted to reassure her.
Abe snorted as he looked at his brother. “Don’t get any ideas about her, boy. She knows who she belongs to.”
Isaac looked away, remembering Nicole with Clay. He had no idea his brother meant differently.
It wasn’t easy maneuvering through the thick water. Several times Isaac had to stop and free his oars from whatever piece of unseen filth held them. It was growing dark, and the overhanging trees completely blocked what little light there was. Isaac looked up, and it seemed to him that the trees were dipping toward them, trying to devour him.
“Abe, I don’t like this place. We can’t leave her here. Why don’t we take her back to the farm?”
“Because she’d be found there, that’s why. And I don’t believe I mentioned leaving her here. There! Pull into shore there.”
Isaac used his oars as poles to push the little rowboat to shore. Abe jumped out and searched beside a tree for a few moments before he found a lantern. He grunted in satisfaction that it was where he left it. He lit it quickly. “Come on, follow me,” he said as he left Isaac to pick up Nicole.
“Just a few minutes and I’ll take off the ropes,” Isaac whispered as he held Nicole in his arms.
She nodded wearily, her head against his shoulder.
Abe held the lantern high and revealed a short, stout door that looked to be set in nothing but darkness. “I found this place a long time ago,” he said proudly as he unfastened the latch.
It was a small, one-room, stone cabin. Inside it was bare except for the dirt and leaves on the floor.
Isaac put Nicole down, standing her on her unsteady feet, then took the gag off her mouth. She gasped as tears came to her eyes in gratefulness. He untied the ropes from her wrists. As he knelt to untie the bindings from her feet, Abe shouted at him.
“What the hell are you doing? I didn’t tell you to untie her!”
Isaac glared at his brother in the darkness. “What can she do? Can’t you see she’s so tired now she can hardly stand up? Is there anything to eat around here? And what about some water?”
“There’s an old well out back.”
Isaac looked around in disgust. “What is this place? Why would anyone want to build something here?”
“It’s my guess this wasn’t always swamp. The river changed course and cut this part off. There’s wild pigs around here, plenty of rabbits, and a couple of apple trees by the shore. Now stop askin’ questions a
nd get some water. I left a tin bucket here last time.”
Reluctantly, Isaac went out into the blackness.
Nicole leaned against the stone wall. Her wrists and ankles ached, and she still didn’t have enough feeling in them to move them. She was only vaguely aware when Abe came to stand beside her.
“Tired, are you?” he said quietly as his big hand caressed the side of her neck. “You’re gonna be even more tired tomorrow after I get through with you. You ain’t ever been loved like I’m gonna love you.”
“No,” she whispered, and took a step to the side, away from him. Her numb feet refused to work, and she fell forward onto her hands and knees.
“What did you do to her?” Isaac demanded from the doorway. He bent and lifted Nicole.
“My God, boy!” Abe said in a half laugh. “Somebody’d think you were in love with her, the way you act. What is she to you anyway? You heard the story. She’s little better’n a whore.”
“Are you all right?” Isaac asked, his hands on Nicole’s shoulders.