The Toils (Book One)

X. The Cave

Four pyres sat flaming, bobbing with the waves, a couple of hundred meters off the coast.
Although it was midmorning, the light still sprayed Thatcher and Drew standing on the sand.
"You feeling alright?", Thatcher turned to Drew, icy seaspray hit her face.
"Not really".
"Fair enough", Thatcher turned her face away as another wave crashed on the beach. 
Drew looked to her, scowling - "How are you so casual about all of this?".
"They'd've killed me if they had the chance", Thatcher shrugged, "I'm sorry they had to die, but how sad do you want me to be?".
"It's not about them!", Drew retorted hysterically, "We sold out our own country so we could do... what, exactly?!".
"It's a long game-".
"No, it isn't!", Drew sputtered, "You're only so okay with this because you hope it'll spark a revolution - which it won't, by the way, because Randall made sure to spook off the protestors with trebuchets!".
"Look!", Thatcher rose her voice up a notch, "We're here, we're safe, we can fight another day!".
"That", Drew gestured vaguely to the beach around them, "wasn't a fight; it was a slaughter".
"Of who!?".
"Gossfordshire!", Drew hissed back, "Us!?".
"Drew! For fuck sake", Thatcher sighed, rubbing her temples with her fingers in frustration, "We aren't them", she pointed to the pyres in the harbor, "and this isn't Gossfordshire versus Motueka. It's reasonable people versus Randall".
Drew conceded, slumping his posture a little - "Maybe you're right".
"Drew..", Thatcher held out her hand for him to take, reluctantly he took it, "...I've seen things. I've been places. I've learned more in the last week than I learned in the forty-five years preceding it. I never thought Gossfordshire was perfect, but being here; wow".
"What's your point?", Drew asked glumly. 
"My point, is that, I got shown more. A new way, a different way. A way where people come first. A way where we can all be one unit. A way that doesn't turn leaders into gods. A way where we don't run out of food. A harder way, but a better way", Thatcher's tone was gently urging. 
Drew looked at her, holding his hand close to her chest, he could feel her heart beating. 
"Thatcher...", he broke the silence, "... I can't even begin to think about this right now".
Drew dropped tugged his hand back from Thatcher and left her standing on the beach, making his way back to the pathway to Pa.


"I WANT YOU ALL TO LOOK HERE", Randall thundered over the crowd of fifty guards standing in front of the guillotine outside the house. From one end of the platform to the next, the eight guards that made it back from the battle at Motueka. 
In front of them, on their knees, gagged and bound like hogs, were James and Lauren. At the front of the platform; Randall and Sean. 
"TRAITORS!", Randall spat on the two bound people behind him.
"TODAY IS A NEW DAY FOR GOSSFORDSHIRE, A FAIRER DAY. NO LONGER WILL WE BE OBSTRUCTED BY A COUNCIL SEEKING TO STOP THE FLOW OF GOODS BETWEEN NATIONS. WE WILL NOT BE LOLLYGAGGED BY PEOPLE WHO WOULD RATHER ARGUE OVER BLANKETS THAN GO AND GET THEM. PEOPLE WHO SEEK TO SABOTAGE THE GUARDS AND LEAD THEM TO THEIR DEATHS WILL NO LONGER BE TOLERATED. WE WILL NOT HAVE TRECHEROUS LECHES OVER STEPPING THEIR BOUNDARIES AND GETTING US KILLED. WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER. IT WILL NO LONGER BE KING AND COUNCIL. IT IS, AND SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE BEEN, THE KING AND HIS GUARDSMEN!", Randall boomed to applause.
"THE EIGHT MEN YOU SEE BEHIND ME WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO MAKE IT HOME FROM THEIR DOOMED MISSION", the crowd cheered once more, Randall gave a second for the whooping to die down before continuing, "THEY ARE TRUE HEROES. THESE MEN SHOULD BE THE MEN YOU LOOK UP TO, THE MEN YOU WORSHIP, AND PRAISE".
Randall crossed the platform to the man furthermost to the left. One by one he shook their hands. 
"Wolesley...", he shook the first man's hand, "...Trehan... Ry... Wilson... Charles... Eltham... Haugher... Grayson", Randall finished shaking the last man's hand. 
Randall turned his head over his shoulder and nodded to Sean. 
Without removing either the gags or blinds, Sean lifted Lauren into place on the stocks beneath the guillotine. With a tug, he pulled the pin holding the blade in place. 
SHLICK!
With a slick swoop, the blade fell and removed Lauren's head. It thudded to the ground, her body fell backward in a heap. 
Blood pooled at the end of the gaping wound in her neck. Sean kicked her twitching body out the way, lifting James into place; still bound, blinded and gagged. 
Sean latched the stocks over James' neck, stood to the side and pulled the pin. 
SCHWICK!