"What did he lie about Mandy?"
She tried to move her face away again, but stopped to meet my eyes as I spoke, "He's not your grandfather is he?"
"He never had a son." She confirmed softly.
I judged her to be about eighteen years old. Some sins have a way of working on an individual as well as being hard to admit to.
"Has your father the Governor ever made mention of his plans to you before?"
"No, he hasn't."
"Is it common knowledge that he's your father?" I asked.
"No."
I held the keys up to her that the Governor had given me and her eyes got big.
I was going on instinct here, "I want you to hold onto these for me Mandy. Don't use them unless you have to. Have you ever seen a firework go off Mandy?"
She nodded.
"When you see something like a firework go off head for the west side of the island with all the other slaves, until you reach the beach."
Her eyes grew wide in alarm, "But we would have to go through the forest where the Salria live!"
"I know. It'll be unexpected of you and we need the unexpected if there's to be a chance in getting away."
"But what about the ships in the eastern harbor? How will we make it without them?" Mandy asked puzzled.
"The ships are a death trap. They'll expect you to go for them and many of you would be killed. I don't think your father is as mindful to the fate of the other slaves as he is for your livelihood."
She nodded affirming my character read of her father.
I bent down and pulled my boot pistol out. Her eyes got big again and I reached out to pull one of her hands open and place the small pistol into it.
"I've seen some guys caring around old pistols. This is a pistol too only much more modern. It works the same way though. All you have to do is pull the trigger right here. See this little lever here? You need to flip this back until the red dot is showing or it won't fire. The gun will fire nine times. All you have to do is disengage the safety and press the trigger. Okay?"
She nodded even as tears ran down her face. She slipped the small pistol into a pocket in her dress under her apron and then she surprised me by hugging me hard for a long moment.
Awkwardly I returned the hug, until she stepped back from me and said as she wiped at her tears, "Thank you! Even if we don't succeed and we all die or something worse happens to us I thank you for the hope that you've given me!"