" Dean stood and pulled Cleo to her feet.Cleo hadn't said much at all. I couldn't tell if she was happy the paybacks were served, upset because she di...n't take part, or regretting that it had been done at all. Perhaps a bit of everything? Cleo gave a small wave and left with Dean.I was now too restless to sit. I got a sheet from a cabinet out front, surprised it was clean. I laid it over Jim's lower half, trying not to think of the duct tape. For Micheal I placed a light weight blanket over his. When he finished, he had 22 women and 13 girls that their families didn't want and had no place to go. It's amazing how stupid and cruel people can be, even to members of their own family. Oh, well, Fire Bringer realized that it was up to him to work out a way to make these women and girls happy, since no one else was going to do it, and he could not keep them in limbo indefinitely.He knew that just giving them some money and turning them loose wouldn't work, since most of them would drift back. "To what?" Vicky asked.Silence hung in the air for a few minutes. Living with Candy and her own career as an investigator had taught Vicky the value of patience. "I am waiting, ladies." Vicky said."Vicky, you have a department issue suppressed rifle as part of your TOE." Melissa said calmly."I also have an armory receipt for it showing that it has been in the armory custody since I was forced to move three months ago. " Vicky said. "And I can produce that." We know." Erica said. "Ladies, if we. " Oh," Nicole said nervously."Sit in a circle on the floor," Jamie ordered. The girls sat on the cold floor, wondering what was going to happen. Jamie took a large stone bowl covered with crude markings from the altar and set it in the middle of the group. Next, she grabbed an old book from the wall in back of the altar and brought it to the circle.It looked strange, "What's that?" Erica asked adjusting her glasses."It is the text of Velathos, the Blind." How did he write it if he was blind?".