The Rugged Edge

Chapter 37: When Victory is Sweet

Pain yesterday, and pain tomorrow:

always a life so very hollow.

But we have finally cleared the grey.

"The victory is sweet!" we say,

and though tomorrow may still bring pain,

we slowly wash it away with rain.

With rain made of tears from yesterday,

we're able to wash the pain away.

And maybe tomorrow there won't be fear!

No rain, at least, of tear.

. . . . .

Quinnie was at my side, crying quietly. "Oh, Ise! That was horrible," she said. She gently touched my arm and pulled the knife out.

It hurt. A lot. A whimper of pain escaped my lips, but then it was gone.

As Quinnie wrapped my arm in a piece of cloth, Geraint tied Rufus up.

"We're going to take him to the castle and lock him up," he said, glancing at me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I said softly. "Thanks. How did you know to come? What happened in the dungeon?"

"I went down with Cadence after he came to fetch me," said Geraint. "Collum was there, in the questioning room, and so was Roland. But Collum had learned everything he needed to know. Roland revealed enough.

"He'd found out you were a spy and about the infiltration, but he didn't know anything about me or Bessy. Roland didn't tell him everything. But Collum told me to guard the prisoner while he dealt with something upstairs, and then he left. I didn't know what he'd learned until Roland told me. He was in a fit state," Geraint continued. "And he was sorry. But he hadn't had a choice. Collum would have killed him." He paused. "I knew Collum must have gone after you, and I tried to get to you but the other guards wouldn't let me. I don't know if they understood what was going on or not. They just said, 'The king told us to keep you here.' I don't know if Collum suspected me or if he only thought I'd protect you over his wishes if I was with you. But I know he sent me down to get me out of the way. I'm sorry." Geraint winced as if the thought of leaving me alone with Collum were painful.

"It's alright," I said. "He didn't hurt me. He locked me up in the left center tower and said he'd deal with me later, but I was able to break the door and get out."

"When I saw you running through the castle, I was so relieved to see you alive," said Geraint. "But what on earth were you doing? I thought you were running from Collum."

"No," I said. "I found out that he didn't kill my mother, and for some reason I thought it was Rufus, so I ran after him. I guess it was crazy to go running through the castle and then to camp looking for him, but I thought he'd done it, even though I didn't have a bit of a reason. It turned out it was him, and I made his job easier by coming out here so he could kill me." I glanced at Rufus, who was tied up on the ground. He was silent, sneering at the lot of us.

"I had to fight my way through," said Geraint. "And I followed you, but I was far behind. And then I met Quinnie outside the castle."

"I was supposed to be in Runa, riling everybody up to help our cause," said Quinnie. "But Ma and I were coming back with a group when I saw Geraint, so I stole off and went to see what he was doing."

"So we ran into the forest and found you," finished Geraint.

We were silent for a moment before Quinnie spoke up.

"Don't you think we should go back?" she asked. "And lock him up?" She nodded towards Rufus with a look of disgust.

"Yeah," said Geraint. He pulled Rufus to his feet and we set off.

. . .

As we walked back, I told Geraint and Quinnie everything that Rufus had told me. We reached the castle in about twenty minutes to find the servants' entrance wide open. The castle was in even more turmoil than before.

The rebels that had been sent to rouse the people in Runa had done their job. There were dozens of people everywhere, fighting ferociously. Many of them were guards, but most of them were villagers.

We'd gotten to the kitchen door when Bessy came running out, brandishing her wooden spoon like a mace.

"Ise!" she said, pausing in her fight. "What were you doing when you ran off like that? And what's with Rufus?"

"We'll explain once we've got him locked up," said Geraint.

"Alright," said Bessy. "Go on. I'm going to put up a white flag somewhere so that the villagers stop killing the guards. Most of them want Collum out as much as we do. We don't need to fight them."

Then Geraint, Quinnie, and I set off down one of the defense tower's staircases that led into the dungeon.

"I will be king yet!" spat Rufus as the lock clicked.

"That seems doubtful, considering," said Geraint. He turned and smiled at us.

"Well, that was easy!" he said.

We went back up to the kitchen level to find that Bessy's white flag (which actually turned out to be a dishrag) had worked. The castle had surrendered and the news had spread so that all of the fighting stopped.

We'd only stood among the people for a few minutes before Broderick came through the opposite defense tower entrance. He was pushing Collum before him with the tip of his sword.

"I've got him!" he shouted.

Everyone cheered and applauded.

And then Collum saw me. "You!" he shouted. "You started this! You turned the people against me!" And though anger flashed in his whole being, he couldn't do anything under Broderick's control.

"No," I said. "They did it on their own before I was old enough to know why. And I'm glad they did, or else Rokenmeine might have been grey forever."

Collum shouted angrily as Broderick led him to the dungeon.

And then everyone was cheering again, and the castle was a storm of joy for what seemed an hour.

And then, once everything quieted, Bessy spoke.

"Eloise? What now?" she asked.

She looked directly at me.

"Me?" I asked.

"I believe you're the queen, Ise, dear," she said placidly. "So it would be natural for you to tell us what to do."

Only then did it hit me.