Audrey sighed, but she got to her feet. If nothing else, she could explain a bit how this had happened and her role in it. She hoped none of them would hate her.
She didn't have to say "Hwaet" this time. Everyone looked at her the moment she stood up. This was so unnatural! She was never the center of attention like this, she survived by blending in!
"I thought it would be a good idea to take a round for all of us to introduce ourselves. With our proper names, if we remember them and any details you want to include. The FBI will ask in a more official capacity later and you don't have to say anything if you don't want to, but I suspect we are going to have to be together at least for a few days, maybe longer and I thought it would be nice to know what you want to be called. If you don't want to share anything, that is fine as well."
No one said anything, just looked at her. Audrey sighed again.
"I can go first. My name is actually Audrey, which is good, because that meant that when my friend Nora," she pointed to Nora, who waved with a smile. "Recognized me when I was on tour, I actually responded to my name. The sound of her voice and the fact that I understood her sign language made me snap out of the trance we have all been in, and since then I've remembered who I am. I managed to sneak out a video that Nora delivered to the FBI. That was what made them come and rescue us."
Again, no one said a word. Then one of the former churls spoke up.
"So, this is all your fault? You betrayed our Lady?" Audrey had been worried that some of them might feel that way.
"I did. Not lightly, but I did. I knew deep down that this isn't normal. The world doesn't work like this anymore. Humans aren't meant to be slaves."
"We swore an oath."
"In a language that we didn't understand and that no one speaks anymore. I swore it because the other option was to continue being in chains. Do you really feel that we should stay bound to the people that saw us as less important than the sheep? Flogging is illegal. So is keeping humans in bondage."
"Why do you get to decide for all of us? What if we liked what we had?" that was another one of the churls.
"You might like it, but most of us did not. Most of us were forced to be here, we weren't asked."
"And I wasn't asked if I wanted to leave. In fact, I would say that I was forced to leave the castle behind. I don't have anyone waiting for me on the other side. None of us do. That's why we were chosen in the first place."
"What use is the world to me, if I don't have anyone to experience it with?" another of them chimed in. That opened the floodgates.
"We didn't want to leave, why can't we just go back there?"
"Who are you to decide for all of us?"
"You betrayed all of us!"
Audrey couldn't deal with this. She turned on her heel and left the carriage. She found a corner and sat down to cry. It was only after several minutes that she realized that it was the old carriage with the chains she had sat down in. Already back to the comfortable.
How naïve she had been, to think that they all would be thrilled with this new development. She had got caught up in Nora's excitement, she hadn't seen the confusion among the others for what it was.
Nora would probably try to comfort her and say that they would be better tomorrow, when the drug had passed out of the system, but Audrey wasn't so sure. She had thought much the same herself, that their lives weren't bad when they were just at the castle. Once they had acclimated, it hadn't been such a bad way to live. Unless Morcefres had taken a specific interest in you, like with Audrey. Or you did something wrong. She sighed. It was only a good life if you managed to ignore the oppression happening all around. But she should have expected that some of them would blame her for it. Maybe she should have said something about what Morcefres had revealed just yesterday. But the churls probably wouldn't mind that plan. Many of them would probably have been delighted by it.
She heard the familiar footsteps as they came closer. She half hoped Nora wouldn't find her, but of course, she did. Audrey didn't look up as Nora opened the door.
"Audrey? Why are you sitting in here?"
She didn't reply. Didn't acknowledge Nora at all, but she couldn't stop the tears. She had held them back all day, now she couldn't stay strong any longer. Nora sat down next to her.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have pushed you into that position. I overestimated the response you would get. I mean, I saw that most of them were confused but I didn't…"
"I don't want to talk about it." Audrey said. But she still couldn't stop crying.
"Not all of them hate you, Audrey," Nora insisted. "And I suspect most of them will come around once…"
"Don't say it! You don't know that any more than I do! What if some of them die from the abstinences huh? Have you thought about that?"
"The FBI won't let that happen. We already know that it's fine for you to be without for a day, as you usually did that on the train. If we need to let you have it in smaller and smaller doses, we can deal with that too."
"You're assuming they'll let you be part of that? Don't you have a job to get back to?"
"I'm not going anywhere if you need me. I can quit my job, there's always others. Accountants are always in demand."
"You don't know if they will let you be wherever we are going. And I don't know where that is any more than you do. They followed me in here, but clearly, they didn't truly believe that we were actually leaving. I can't be in charge of any of them!"
"Then don't be! No one's asking you to. I'm sorry that my strategy backfired on you. Blame it all on me if you want to. I don't regret what I did. Sure, it's going to be rough for some of you to adjust, but can you honestly tell me you would rather be stuck in that castle being flogged until you die?"
Audrey sighed. Nora always knew what to say to get her back down when she got angry.
"No," she admitted. "But I don't know if the rest of them agree. Especially not those who managed to become churls. Their lives weren't all that bad. Who am I to decide for all of us?"
"You didn't decide for all of them. You decided for you. And for any future victims."
"They have stopped taking new victims now. The Lady is getting old, she will probably die soon."
"And you think it would be better under that other man?"
"No. Especially not if Morcefres got his way. He blatantly admitted to me that he was looking forward to when Arthur was in charge. He claimed that Arthur would lift the ban on sexual activities and start making new theows by breeding. That was what he called it."
Nora grimaced. "You should tell them that. The women especially wouldn't like that, I think."
"Some of them might. Again, who am I to decide for all of them."
"You can't think like that, Audrey. You did what you had to do. They will all realize that in the end, most of them anyway. Even Rita…"
"Kaneez has extra reason to hate me. I used her, pressed her down on her very first night, to get myself out of bondage. If she ever gets out of her stupor, I suspect she will hate me more than most. And she has every reason to. I belittled and mocked her, when she was at her most vulnerable, just to give myself an advantage. And she's not the only one. It's my fault that the man who was a thief is dead. I may not have killed him directly, but if it wasn't for me…"
"That's enough, Audrey." Nora said forcefully. Audrey stopped out of shock. She had never heard Nora sound like that.
"You can't continue to beat yourself up about this. Don't let the actions of a desperate you hold you down now that you're finally on the path to freedom! Whatever wrong you did, you've freed them all! Whether or not they agree about it right now doesn't matter. They will come around. Just wait and see. Please, don't let one person's sour mood sully your victory."
"I was just about to say the same thing," a voice said behind them. It was Leann. "I should have known that you were hiding here. Don't tell me you of all people want to go back now? You're the one who made us snap out of it!"
Audrey didn't want to have the same argument again.
"So what if I do? Everything he said was true. Who am I to decide for all of you?"
"First of all, I would have done the exact same thing, if I had that chance. Second, didn't you see who started it? I'm surprised Aldheim ever put down that spear, but I suspect he only did it when he saw that everyone else did. Not all the rest of us agree with him."
"He wasn't the only one speaking."
"It's easier to follow a crowd, especially when they're saying what's comfortable. You went straight back here when you retreated. Give us a little time to adjust. And just so you know, the moment you left most of us stood up against Aldheim and his cronies. They all went and sat down in another carriage. The agents came to collect the trash and promised that we could be separate if we wanted to."
"That's not making me feel better. We were all united and not even a full day has gone and already we're turning on each other."
"Not everyone. Just Aldheim and his three followers."
"Just three?" Audrey had thought most of the churls would agree with Aldheim.
"Just three. Most of the other churls told them to get lost, then apologized for what they had done to us."
Just as she said that the train started slowing down. They had reached the end of the line, wherever that was. Time to get back to civilization.