As the sound of more choppers sounded overhead, Audrey found the courtyard in chaos. She needed to find a way to get everyone to look at her. She took two metal pans and banged them together.
"Hwaet!" she shouted in the moments attention her sound got. She was suddenly grateful for the lessons she had had with the scop.
"The people in the helicopters are the FBI. They are here to free us. They have guns. Those of you who still remember what that is, know that spears are absolutely no match for them. Anyone who doesn't want to be arrested alongside our captors, put down your weapons to show them that you are no threat. They will be here in less than 20 minutes."
At first, no one said a word. Then Arthur came running out of the main house.
"Close the gate. Bad people are coming to attack us!" Again, no one moved.
"Didn't you hear me! Close the gate! What is wrong with you people? Move, or we're all dead."
"How do you expect them to suddenly be warriors, Arthur," Audrey said. "When up until now, all you've demanded is blind obedience? Besides, since they've all had water today, nothing will be done quickly."
"Where's Morcefres? Don't tell me the man is out drunk again!" Arthur didn't seem to hear what she had said, or at least he hadn't fully registered it.
"Morcefres is a little tied up. Literally." Audrey said, trying not to smile. "Feel free to go and free him. In the meantime, the FBI will have breached the wall."
Arthur seemed to realize that she was talking for the first time. He gaped.
"Are you the one behind all this?"
"Not everything, I'm just the inside person. My friend did most of the work," she said. Arthur seemed torn. But then he ran towards the gate, trying to lock it himself. Audrey didn't have the chance to run over to stop him, as her legs were still chained. Unfortunately for him, Nora had also made her way to the gate, and she pointed something that looked a lot like a gun at him.
"I wouldn't touch that, if I were you," she said in a sinister tone. "I really want to punish all of you personally for what you did to my best friend, feel free to give me an excuse." Arthur backed off, going backwards until he ran into Audrey from the other direction. She had ropes ready to secure him too.
"Good thing that Morcefres explained how to tie people up with these where I could hear him," she said with a smile. Then she turned to the group of theows and churls, of which most of the latter group still had their spears out.
"Didn't you hear what I said? Unless you want to fight for the people that have kept us in chains for years, drop the spears!" She tried to make her voice fill with the same sort of commanding presence that the Lady had. To her astonishment, several of them did drop the spears. The few who did not, looked around at the others, then dropped theirs too.
"Are you all insane?" Arthur bellowed. "Is this how you repay us for all that we've done for you? You'll grhmphd" That last was cut off as Nora gagged him.
"I don't think we need to hear more words from you now. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of chances to say your side of the story later."
Just then, the FBI finally came through the gate, weapons out. After a few minutes of confusion as to who was who, Audrey and Nora were able to explain the situation. Some of the churls in Morcefres' inner circle tried to put up a fight, but they were quickly immobilized. Morcefres himself cursed up a storm as they carried him out to the train, he tried every trick in the book to get away. Audrey refused to look at him. She didn't need to see his eyes to feel the hate he threw her way. If that man ever got out of prison, she was in trouble.
One of the agents took Nora's gun, which turned out to be a stick she had spent the night whittling into something looking like a gun. She just shrugged and said she had a boring night, but she couldn't risk falling asleep.
It was all over within the hour. The Lady was taken out of bed kicking and screaming, the wizard just glumly accepted the news. With him came Kaneez, who had apparently spent the day up there. Her expression was completely blank, as it had been lately.
Last out of the train was Bryan. He looked around in astonishment, but quickly saw his wife.
"Rita!" he shouted, walking towards her. Kaneez took one look at him, screamed and tried to run. One of the agents stopped her, but Nora also prevented Bryan from going closer. He tried to fight her on it, but soon calmed down. Audrey went over to Kaneez.
"Don't worry Rita," she said, remembering her real name. "It's over now."
"No, he's dead! He has to be dead! They said so!"
"They are liars, Rita. They've lied about everything. You knew that before you even got here!"
It took some time to calm Rita down. Bryan had taken some steps back, but it was clear that he had to restrain himself to not just go over and kiss his wife. Well, he had waited for 5 long years, she admired his strength. But Rita wasn't really responding to anything, she had shut down even more than previously. Audrey went over to Edmund, the wizard.
"What have you done to her? Are you the reason she's freaking out?"
"I tried to help her!" Edmund protested. He was the least restrained of all of them, but he still had handcuffs. "She's going to be here for the rest of her life, so I thought it better to help her adjust. That's what I've been trying to do for the last few months. Trying to get her to accept reality."
"Reality? You would know about reality, as you spin tales to make people not miss us."
"I didn't have a choice. The Lady made me."
"You would be uniquely placed to do something about that, as you have access to the internet."
Edmund didn't reply to that. Audrey didn't waste breath trying to talk to any of the others. Definitely not the Lady. The scop looked bewildered but seemed resigned. Ædven truly didn't understand what happened. She would probably get the largest culture shock of them all. She had never experienced anything different than this life. If she had sympathy with any of the ones currently being led away it would be her. She hoped the FBI would realize that.
But right now, Audrey felt somewhat responsible for the cluster of theows and churls that had listened to her and not fought back. Leann seemed the most incredulous.
"Is it really over? After all these years, it's over, just like that?"
"It is. I'm sorry that I couldn't prepare you better, but I only found out yesterday."
"Is that your friend, the woman with the wooden weapon?"
"Yes. I met her again during the last tour. She has apparently been looking for me ever since I went missing. I suspect many of the rest of you might have someone that is looking for you as well, even if you have no direct family."
"After 30 years? I doubt it," Leann said. "What are we going to do now?"
"I don't know. For now, I think we need to get out here."
"Oh, and don't drink any of the water you've taken from that pitcher," Nora said as she came over. "One of the agents tested it, and just like we thought, there is some sort of substance in it. I suspect that is why none of you remembered much of the outside world except on the train. They've been drugging you for years. They're doing further testing once we're back in a lab."
"What about side-effects of abstinence?" Audrey asked. "I know we've probably gone without for a day before, but what about after?"
"That's why they will rush the result as much as possible. They suspect it is something natural, and something the… scop, I think you called her… had in her medicine cabinet. They're confiscating most of that too."