Rage and Rebellion (Histories of Havenhearth)

7.8 Cerys

At her next check out the window, it had started to rain, and she saw a head mounted on a post. It appeared to be moving in time with the drumbeats, but in fact that was only a trick of the light in the downpour. A head on a post? Someone had been killed. Cerys did not know how to feel. It did not seem real, but it neither scared her. "Stay here, you're safe here," Floren had said. "Do not move, talk to no one, make no noise, I'll be back as soon as I can." She sat staring out the holes, recalling his words, not knowing what to do, eventually getting bored.

To kill time, she continued her letter to her sister.
Tonight, the courtyard below my room filled with a crowd, an armed mob might be a more apt description, beating on their drums, yelling out what I imagine were battle calls. The Cassioni protectorate even came in, and I thought they might remain, but they left before the mob. The courtyard is now silent, and it seems a peaceful night except for the distant drum beat. I cannot imagine what is happening.

When I awoke this morning it was also silent, and I even heard birdsong. It made me think of our little cottage on a sunny spring morning. then I recalled the poor wretches who had been marched into the dungeon in the middle of the night. Some movement could I see: a yawning and stretching guard or two, but that was it. I have started to feel extremely hungry, thirsty and that is my main concern as my friend has not yet returned.

I suppose I should prepare for something though. Know that I brought no valuables to Cassion with me, they are all with mother, and I would like you to have what you wish.  Although I now wonder if this letter will even reach you.

The mob returned, perhaps in the early hours, but this time quietly. They were silent at first, but the wretched drumming resumed again. Another head has been mounted on a signpost, which of course means that two people have died or have been killed. Finally I felt some fear, helplessness, confusion about what is happening, but I remain as safe as ever, hidden away though I know not where. I feel certain this will be over soon.

I may have been hasty with my assessment- I witnessed something harrowing. By chance really. There is this strange box of metal along one of the walls of the courtyard. I thought it might have been a storage shed of some nature, and nobody has been near it except for today, when I saw it opened. Someone cranked a large wheel, slowly but surely, and doing so seemed to roll back the front panel of the box. Out of it fell six people, whom I can only guess are prisoners, and I know not for how long they were inside, but I suppose awhile. They looked awful when they came out. And if I am not mistaken, they are Tainish combattants, land protectorate. They must be prisoners of the Golden Defenders. It is some kind of torture. This scared me again. I am truly in a siege. My nerves are becoming more taut, but some good news is to be had, for my neighbour responded - herself Tainish protectorate. She explained the whole situation so far and my observations have been mostly correct. She is young, probably not far off my own age
And above all, she has fed and watered me through a secret hole between our two rooms. It is not hot thankfully, indeed it has been raining, but I have no consistent access to food and water, so she has sssured me that she will pass in all she can as long as she remains prisoner also. I have neither been able to clean myself, and I begin to yearn for a hot bath. That and a hot meal will be my first courses of action after release. That and a walk in the outdoors, maybe along the river or across a field.

I received yet more news from my neighbour, who is called Gwinael. The situation is dangerous, more so than I had imagined after I heard of Tainish protectorate involvement. She was subjected to the box torture, and survived it, but was then sent to deliver the rebel's terms to her mother, who it turns out, is the commandaire of the land protectorate. There have more uprisings than just in Chevelles, so this is not just an isolated case, a single siege. The rebellion is spreading. I wonder now why I came here, why I was brought here at such a time in history. It seems that nobody knew it was as dire as it is. Or at least they opted to ignore the rumors when they first heard them and continued to do so until too late. but it makes me worry about staying after this is all done, or returning in either case it is not safe it seems. All of this makes me think of auntie too of course, since I know not what is happening to her now, and I imagine that she is worried to sickness about me. My friend said he would inform her that I am well, and I admit I have asked the spirits for help in ensuring she received the message. I hope to write again soon, but we shall see.The day is a dark one.

When she returned to her bed, she was surprised to see a small parcel upon it. Tearing open the silk tie, she found a golden button- one she recognized from Floren's riding tunic inside a folded parchment. She was nervous to open it, feeling anticipation, excitement, desire, all the feelings that he had made her feel before. She knew instinctively that she would not much longer be alone in this room. Her hand trembled as she unfolded the letter, delubbreatlry ignoring the words she could see as she did, so that she could read it as a whole.

Get some rest. prepare to move. Family and room only.
F

Cerys, as instructed by slept fitfully, trying to rest before whatever it was was going to happen. But it was a strange half sleep full of nearly lucid dreams -A strange parade of her past. Stories she remembered being told by her parents, her grandparents even got mixed up with the Cassioni scenery, amidst sinister drum beating in the night.  Some of them were about ships and sea travel and how the Tainish had established colonies across Havenhearth, sheep stations in the arid outback of Cirem, island villages in the tropics, even in the snow fields near Pliaria. Others were about battle and war and cries of dying protectorate,  combattants of her age amidst Tainish drums and panpipes. And a black-caped man who darted from shadow to shadow in the courtyard of the Birds of Paradise.