CHAINS TO FREEDOM.✔

Chapter Four

The people who had crossed the ridge earlier were now passing through the gates to Ashton House. Louis met Aiden at the courtyard entry and waited. From the distance, they guessed there were eight to ten in the group.

Pead, the Muster Master, was a tall, gaunt man. The other by his side, Louis had never seen before. His face was badly scarred as though burnt by fire. Pead usually chose these types of convicts who were willing to administer punishments to their fellow beings in order to avoid any more punishment themselves.

"Louis Copeland, my good man." Pead slid from his horse and strode toward Louis, claiming the distance between them. He was a man who took things and made them his own. "Sorry for the intrusion but you being the decent man you are surely wouldn't turn us away in weather like this."

Louis didn't greet him. A growl of irritation crept into his voice. "We've made provision in the stables for your people. George and Aiden will bring the men some broth and bread. There's sacking to wrap in." The growl wilted and pity took its place as he shifted his eyes over the group. "I see you have women?" Louis frowned. It wasn't often women were in convict lines such as this. "I suggest the women be taken to the kitchen. I'll have Mary and Alice, find dry clothes for them." Louis looked at the group once more. "How many women are there, Pead?"

Pead had heard the growl and was pleased. He liked to create a reaction in those he met. He knew Louis disliked him. What did it matter? He couldn't remember anyone having ever really liked him. Pead rubbed his hands together. "Three and beauties they are, Louis. What about you? Are you in the market for a new woman?" Pead raised his eyebrows and grinned. He watched as the luridness of his comment reached Louis's conscience then he continued.

"These have no assignments. The female factory is over-crowded. I'm sure the magistrate would be glad for me to reassign them before I reach Hobart Town."

Louis glanced at the women. They seemed a sorrowful bunch. Their pallid faces and limp hair hung like the woeful uncertainty of their futures. "Get them to the stables, Pead. I shall look at them there."

Pead's eyebrows rose. The corner of his mouth lifted, speechless. He made no comment but ordered Murchison to take them to the stables and once inside, he expressed his astonishment. "Well, Master Copeland. I must say this is a surprise!" His hand unconsciously reached for his crotch. "Do your loins need a new outlet? Those fancy ladies not satisfying enough?" Pead laughed and grabbed the first woman.

She was medium height with large hips and buttocks. Her breasts were small. She had a pretty face with large brown eyes. "I'll work hard for you, Master...in every way you want." She pushed her breasts towards him.

Louis knew what she was implying but ignored her. He opened her mouth and inspected her teeth. His movement was purposeful. Her teeth were intact. It was important she have good teeth. He could think of nothing worse than the stench and appearance of a blackened and rotting smile. After all, she would be serving him his meals.

He proceeded to inspect the rest of her body. She had an odd shape but she seemed healthy enough.

"Well? What do you think?" Pead urged, anxious to be rid of one of these women.

Louis tilted his head in question. "Why are they with you?"

"They're to be sent back to the factory. Refusing to work, drunkenness and being abusive to their masters." Pead waved his words aside. "Small misdemeanours, Louis. Nothing to concern yourself with."

Louis nodded uncertainly. "Let me look at the others."

Pead reached for the second woman.

She was thin and freckled with pitch-black hair and a toothless grin. The stench from her breath was enough to make him gag. Louis put a hand to his mouth. "This one doesn't interest me," he said to Pead and stepped towards the third.

She was a small woman, almost childlike, an inch maybe two, taller than five foot. Her long, thick ragged hair had mud and grass knotted through its strands disguising its blonde colouring. It draped across her face and down to her waist. Her bodice was ripped exposing the smooth, clear skin of her neck and shoulders. Louis reached out to move the hair from her face. As he did so, she spat at him swiping her nails across his neck. The sting of her hatred marked him and remained on his skin.

Before he could react, Pead hit her across the face with the back of his hand. She fell to the ground and would have stayed there but Pead grabbed the hair at the back of her head and pulled her to her feet.

He held her like this, saying, "I'm sorry, Louis, this one has given me trouble all the way from Carson House. I've needed to shackle her. Too much spirit and needs it beaten out of her." His face twisted with these words. Pead hated the fact he couldn't subdue her spirit. He shook her forcefully. "She was a special order for Captain Grayson but when she bit his lobe off, he refused to have her." Pead huffed. "She's a virgin, Louis. What do you say?" A lurid smile crawled over his face once more.

Louis didn't let it affect him. Since when was a convict woman ever a virgin? Something about her stirred an interest in him. He took her by the chin and lifted her head. She tried to pull away so he tightened his grip then brushed the hair from her face. She would not look directly at him and for some reason this affected Louis. From what he could see, her eyes were grey with black rims. The lashes were long, enhancing her beauty. Her face was bruised. A small scar crossed her left cheek, signs she had been beaten recently and perhaps many times before. Blood trickled from her nose, over her full, soft lips and into her mouth.

Louis's eyes roamed over her. Her clothes were wet and muddy. They clung to her, caressing the contours of her breasts, her slender hips and ample buttocks. Her stomach, he saw, was smooth and slightly curved. She did not move as he studied her but he felt her eyes upon him. Louis looked back at her face and saw revulsion stab at him before she quickly glanced away.

He focused on her mouth; found his was surprisingly dry. Blood had pooled there. Louis wiped it away with his thumb. He felt its warmth and the wetness of her saliva.

"Well?" asked Pead, his agitation evident.

"If I see you hit one of these women again, while you are on my property, it will be my whip you answer to, Pead."

"But... she..."

Louis glanced back at the woman. He parted her lips with his fingers, felt her tremble at his touch and though it was cold, warmth spread itself over Louis. Change had come. He released her and walked away. "Get these women to the kitchen."

What do you think? Is Louis going to choose Jessica?

Copyright © 2018 Donna Fieldhouse. All rights reserved.