Rage and Rebellion (Histories of Havenhearth)

7.7 Gwinael

The order was given and Gwinael and her escort swung around to return to Chevelles. She was not sure how to feel: she knew her mother would ignore anything transmitted to her by Ally, if Ally even understood the words she had tried to convey with her eyes. But she was a small group, and unimportant, at least in the grand scheme of things. Abandoned by her own mother. No, she couldn't think like that, it was abandonment of her mother's protectorate. That was why her mother was commandaire. She had known all along that it would be like this, but had hoped, kept hoping for a miracle. And not just for her, actually it was mainly for the others.
She had no idea what time it was when they arrived back in the courtyard, now covered in mud. Guards were there, but seemed to have little drive for their work in the rain. Nobody was minding the box or the dungeon. That was something. Something notable, Important. Something she had to remember for later. It meant something.

They stopped, dismounted and the horses were led away immediately. She was both anxious and extremely nervous about what she was going to see when the lid was slid away. The leader approached, walking through the rain from the tower's stairs. She took her time, and Gwinael wished she would hurry. She spoke quickly to her second in command, and then to Gwinael. "So?" She finally asked her. "Your terms will be forwarded."
The leader reached into the folds of her robe and pulled out the key. "You have kept your word and now I will keep mine. Release them!" She handed Gwinael the key, "You will forgive my lack of attendance from their release, I have other affairs to take care of," then left the courtyardand. Gwinael did not waste a moment longer, going to the wall, putting in the key, and using the bar to turn the cogs which after a tremor under her feet- the mechanism engaging- slid, slowly, inch by inch the cover off of the box. She felt an awful, horrible sense of foreboding, helplessness. When it was fully open, she turned to look at her friends, who all stiffly collapsed to the ground. They did not move, other than to shiver, their faces puffy, all energy had been drained out of them. but Andri, her dear friend, gave her a slight smile. They weren't well, but they were alive. Her body instinctively relaxed.

They were given a few moments, before they were again forced to their feet and trudged back down into the dungeon, Andri, first in line, giving her a nod before he descended out of view.

Gwinael herself was then escorted back to her quarters, where a meal was waiting for her. She shed her wet clothes and picked at the food, only eating for fuel. Finishing, and realizing her exhaustion, she stood to move to her bed, but there was a scratching at the wall. She sat up straight to listen. Rats? Were there rats in the room? The scratching again and a soft, female voice. "Hello? Is anyone there?" The voice! She had nearly forgotten about it. Indeed she had thought she had been dreaming the first time.
"Please, if you can hear me, my name is Cerys. I'm Tainish. I thought I heard someone speaking Tainish in there." It was the same voice that she had heard the night before.Exhaling, Gwinael quickly ran through the risks and possible benefits of responding. "Please, I just want to know what is happening. Can you hear me? Can you understand me?"
"Yes, I can." Gwinael kept her voice quiet, nearly a whisper. "Here, look, there's a peephole, it might be behind a curtain or tapestry or something." Gwinael pulled back one of the hangings and spotted the tiny gap in the stone. "I see it."
"Do you have a chair? Move it towards the wall, and sit in it. They'll think you're just relaxing if they see you."
Gwinael followed the instructions. "Are you a captive as well?" The voice was apparently surprised by the question.
"Captive? No, I was just visiting my friend, and he left yesterday. Was it yesterday? I've lost track of time. Maybe it was two days. He told me to wait here. You're a captive?" Gwinael was not sure what information to divulge, but she figured that if she was talking to a rebel, that this person would already know what was happening.
"I'm a combattant with the Tainish protectorate. Chevelles is under siege since the Golden Defenders came in."
"Tainish protectorate?" 
"Yes, brought in to stop the supply column and prevent occupation of the town by the Golden Defenders. I've been in here..." How long had it been?
"Since yesterday," she finally said. "Yesterday very early morning, we were captured during a night assault," she recalled. Had it only been one night? That was hard to believe, it felt like she had been a prisoner for ages. "What about you, you said your name is Cerys?"
"Yes. I was staying with my friend, but he left. I suppose it was when the Birds fell under siege, you said that was yesterday?"
"The early morning hours, yes."
"Unbelievable. I thought I had been here for three days. Speaking of which, I am very short on food and water, do you have anything to share? There's a secret stone loose at the bottom here. I've had time to explore you see."
"You mean they aren't giving you food?"
"I don't think they know I am here, my friend said it was a very private room."
"I have lots of food, where's that stone?"
As she spoke, a small brick was removed from the wall, leaving a hole large enough to pass food, without plates, and a small cup through. The girl was hungry, and no talking occurred as she ate and drank all of what was left of Gwinael's meal.
"That's better. Thank you. Maybe I can think now, so, if I am clear, you are with the Tainish Protectorate, and you attacked Chevelles yesterday in the early hours. You have been taken hostage and are being held in public house quarters?"
Gwinael did not want to share everything with the stranger, like about her name, her friends and her mission. The girl seemed friendly enough, but who knew
what she was.
"Exactly,"
"Then I think I must have been here a day longer. Why is it a siege?" That has been Gwinael's mistake earlier in using that word.
"The Tainish protectorate. There is a supply column," she said.
"Oh yes, I heard talk of that, I wasn't sure what it meant, what they were saying. But that makes sense,"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, well I can hear a lot from this room, and one of the rooms I can hear into is where the leader has her meetings. My Cassioni isn't good enough, I haven't been in Cassion too long, you see, but I might know something. In two nights time something will arrive. They've been talking about it for a long time, but I can't understand what it is that will arrive. And they talk about a Tainish line that is broken. I could not for the life of me figure out what it all meant. Can you?" Something that will arrive through the broken Tainish line in two nights. The supply column of course.
"I'm not sure, leave me to think," She was worried now, because as soon as the supply column arrived, which was far further ahead of schedule than expected, they would have enough supplies and weapons to stay the rest of the year in Chevelles if they wanted, and there would be no time for the terms to be forwarded, and more soldiers would die. Did anyone else know the schedule? Was she the only one? She could well be, which meant that she absolutely had to get the word out.
How could she do this? The funeral? There was the funeral still to be scheduled. That could be an opportunity, but there were still the six others in the dungeon. Her duty would be to rejoin her group, that's what her mother would tell her. She sat for a long time, while Cerys continue nibbling on what she could pass through the hole. Maybe Cerys was the answer to this.
"Cerys, you said this is your friend's room? Where is she now?" She hesitated. Gwinael was worried that she had said something wrong.
"Well, he left, I suppose when the siege started. He told me to stay here and that he would be back to get me. That's all,"
"How is he going to get back if he knows the Defenders are here?"
"The same reason he was certain I'd be safe here. They don't know I'm here or how to get to this room. It was a strange route now that I think about it."
"When he comes back, you need to tell him the supply column is coming in two nights, and that he needs to communicate that to the Tainish protectorate surrounding Chevelles. Do you understand? Shh. Someone's coming."  Gwinael's head was aching with trying to figure all of this out, when the second in command came in, standing straight next to the door. "We have made preparations for the burial. Please come." She moved to the food and went out.
"I will join my colleagues now?"
"No Gwinael Snowberry, you will attend alone, for it is you who asked for it."
"May I take my officer? He'll want to be present,"
"I will make the request,"
Descending the steps down into the courtyard, she saw a small party near the gate, and a box atop a cart drawn by a man and a woman. Four guards were mounted behind the cart and another two in front. Six. She would have a job getting away from that.

The harnesses jingled as the order was given to move out, and the cart lurched forward, bumping heavily over the wet courtyard towards the gate. As she moved through the gate she heard a drum and a pipe, playing an old Tainish spiritualist song. It was a a beautiful gesture on behalf of the rebels.
Snowberry thought of home, of Tainish green hills, rolling green plains, the fresh wholeness of it all. that's where she should be buried, not in this remote, forsaken place at the base of rocky, harsh peaks in a crumbling town.
A tap on her shoulder brought her back to where she was.
"Andri! They let you come!"
"We have to talk," he replied quietly.