Locked In

New Home

Summer was upon the country of Norway. Blaze had finally gotten the courage to ask Marigold to marry him and with Black Hawk's consent she had agreed. Black Hawk had married Lucinda in May and they were expecting their first child. Marigold was going to school to get her high school diploma and Black Hawk worked in fish market. Their life was peaceful and they had no problems.

One evening they tallied up the money they had been saving for their journey to Ostersund. Realizing they had enough to move they packed up their things, quit their jobs and continued on their journey. They were excited about arriving at their new destination.

The flight was six hours and forty-five minutes. As the plane touched down they got up and walked into the airport. A hooded man was standing off to the side, his face concealed by a mask. Lucinda pointed out the hooded figure to Black Hawk who quickly spoke to Marigold and the rest of the group. They watched the hooded figure warily. Could this possibly be a member of the Devil's Thorn?

After some hushed talking while watching the hooded figure they quickened their pace and went to get the luggage they had brought with them. A few of the Muslims stood there keep watch, their eyes darting side-to-side. They were behaving like animals for a reason. Shortly after they had arrived in Norway they had encountered a man who had the robes of a Devil's Thorn messenger.

They got their bags and then walked quickly out of the airport. Once they were safely outside they stopped and looked back. The hooded masked figure wasn't following them.

"Who do you think that was Black Hawk," Kenya asked.

"I don't know. The man's robes didn't look like those of a messenger. And our masters would never come out into the public. We should try to be careful from now on though."

"Black Hawk the Devil's Thorn is no longer your master. Allah is your only master now."

The converts looked at each other. "It's difficult getting used to thinking about the Devil's Thorn not being our masters anymore. They have been our masters for as long as we can remember. Some of us like Candy were born a slave." Blaze said.

"In reality Allah has been your master all your lives. You just didn't know it before," Kenya said to them.

This only ended up confusing the group of converts more. They shrugged off the mysterious feelings they were having and began walking down the road. Of course they had no idea where they were going to go now that they were in Ostersund. A few of them pulled their sleeves up to reveal a brand mark of the Devil's Thorn insignia. All slaves and messengers of the Devil's Thorn were branded upon capture or birth. The insignia was a rose studded with thorns and horns in a triangle above the rose.

"What is that mark," Lucinda asked.

"It is the mark of the Devil's Thorn. We all received it on capture or birth by our mas...by the Devil's Thorn. It signifies that we belong to them," Blaze said.

"You can always burn it off," Kenya suggested.

"No. This is a mark of our lives and of our past. We won't let this mark or our lives as slaves to humans get in our way of serving our Creator," Candy said and the rest of the group nodded in unison.

They continued walking. Suddenly the hooded figure appeared in front of them. They stopped dead in their tracks. The stranger just looked at them intensely. Without warning he shot his hand out and pulled back the sleeve of Candy's arm revealing the branded insignia on her arm. The cold steel blue eyes widened in surprise and then the man vanished into the crowd.

"Candy are you okay," Marigold asked.

"I think so. Who is he?"

"No idea. But we'd better get off the streets quickly."

They began running weaving their way through the crowd. They had no idea what the hooded figure wanted with them but they sensed he was watching them. However, as he had grabbed her wrist, Candy had thought she sensed a bit of fear from the man as he gazed at her insignia and then at the rest of the group.

"I think that man was afraid of us. You all saw how he looked at us when he saw the insignia," Candy said when they had stopped running.

"He did look afraid. I saw surprise in his eyes before he ran off," Heather commented.

They were resting in a park. All of a sudden they saw something that they had never thought to see when they had escaped. A group of Muslims were praying a little distance away from them. "Muslims? How did they get here," May asked in astonishment.

This was something they had never expected. They had thought that Kenya, his siblings and Lucinda were the only free Muslims in the world. Never in a thousand years did it cross their minds that there might be other free Muslims in the world.

One of the women spotted them and came up to them. "Assalaamu Alaykum. Welcome to Ostersund."

"Walaykum Salaam. Thank you. We just arrived here," Kenya said.

The other Muslims had finished praying and were rolling up their prayer rugs. They noticed the group of converts and came over. There was silence as they looked at each other.

"Have you prayed?" One of the men finally asked.

"No. We just got off the airplane."

"There's still some time to pray for the noon prayer. There's a small creek a little distance east of us. You can do ablution there and then come back to pray. We're American Muslims by the way." He looked at them with a sad expression and then continued, "We're the only American Muslims to escape from our country."

They followed the sound of the creek and quickly did ablution. Then they went back to where they had seen the Muslims and formed two lines, men in the front and women in the back. The other Muslims went back to talking and watching the children play. After they had finished the noon prayer they set their luggage down at their feet and stood hesitantly away from the other Muslims. Not sure what to do they all looked to Kenya.

"You seem to be skittish. Where do you come from," one of the men asked.

"America. We were in Norway previously."

That statement seemed to spark a reaction amongst the Muslims. They looked at each other and then back at Kenya and the others. "Are you from the Devil's Thorn?"

Startled they nodded. "How do you know we're from the Devil's Thorn," Benjamin asked.

"Some Muslims hacked into communication systems from the other governments and we learned of your arrival in Norway and that this was your intended destination. We are from one of the camps that President Fitzgerald threw us into."

"We apologize for what our masters...the Devil's Thorn did to you and your people. We had no idea that they would do something like this until they issued the order," Black Hawk said in apology.

"It isn't your fault. Don't blame yourselves. Are you Muslims?"

"Yes. We all converted on the sail to Norway. It is something we had been studying after the Devil's Thorn issued the order to President Fitzgerald. Except for my wife Lucinda, and Kenya, Hawwa, and Kumar who are born Muslims."

"Have you eaten anything?"

They shook their heads in response. "We can get you settled and get you some food. We're having a pot luck dinner tonight in our Mosque; you're welcome to join us."

"Thanks."

The converts picked up their luggage and followed their fellow brethren to the Mosque. Hiding behind some trees the hooded figure stood watching them leave. He removed his mask but stayed in the shadows which hid his face from sight.

"So there are more free slaves of the Devil's Thorn here after all."