The Pain of a Memory - Part XI

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

Part VIII

Part IX

Part X

***

            Anwynne looked around. Not much had happened yet. It had been almost exactly a day since Errius and Elystra had escaped. Anwynne and the guards had been left only to hope that Errius and Elystra were still safe and on their way, with not a sign to know it.

            Suddenly there was the noise of soft, agile footsteps from the tunnel. Anwynne looked up. Rogan had just come out, looking oddly cat-like and smug in his demeanor. Errius' soldiers all watched him walk in with a look of suspicion.

            Strangely enough, Rogan walked straight up to Anwynne, and looked down right at her. He smiled almost slyly. Anwynne glared up at him, confused and semi-disgusted by his sudden centering on her. Again? What on earth could he want with her? And why on earth did he keep doing this?

            Anwynne was about to say something about it, when suddenly he stopped looking at her and turned around.

            He faced one of the bandit watchmen, and gestured to him. Then he gestured towards Anwynne. "Why don't you bring the princess? I have need to speak with her Highness"

            At this, most of Anwynne's guard turned their sights to Rogan, all with suspicion and most with dislike in their eyes. Perhaps they were right to be suspicious of him. Anwynne herself was rather unsettled by the order. Why on earth did he want her? It certainly couldn't be anything pleasant... at least for her.

            Anwynne looked to see the watchman's reaction. Apparently the bandit watchman was also somewhat surprised by the order. "And where would you have me transport the princess, Captain?"

            Rogan's lips curled up at the ends in what seemed almost a mockery of a smile. "Just aid her into the back quarters"

            The bandit watchman seemed also to think this command equally odd, but did not hesitate in obeying it. "Yes, Captain"

            With this, the bandit watchman walked over to Anwynne. Anwynne drew back a little in an involuntary response. She didn't like the prospect of whatever was going on.  But, disregarding Anwynne's distaste for the arrangement, the bandit watchman picked her up and walked back into the cave, past Anwynne's guard. She watched their faces as she passed. Some had fear, and on all of them was still etched suspicion and anger. They feared for her. She was beginning to fear for herself, come to think of it.

            Soon enough, the watchman had carried her back into the tunnel at the back of the cavern, as though going straight towards... Oh no. It looked as though they were going to room at the end of the tunnel... Anwynne knew the room. And she had no wish to visit it. Please, Anwynne pleaded inside her head, Please let us be going somewhere else than there...

            But her hopes were in vain, it seemed, for soon enough they stopped in front of the dreaded door. The watchman opened the door, and entered with Anwynne. Anwynne looked around slowly. There was no one there. But, how...? What had they done with their prisoner...? Anwynne dreaded to even think of what they'd done with him... As if she had not already been convinced enough of Rogan's cruelty and inhumanity. But whatever they had done with the previous prisoner, it was now she that was prisoner here... Prisoner to whatever Rogan wished to do with her... Helpless...

            Anwynne had to stop herself from yelling for help - having to remind herself that it was useless - as the bandit watchman set her down in that room, and then departed from it. The black door shut behind him, leaving Anwynne alone to await whatever was her fate.

            Anwynne looked around the room. There was absolutely nothing in it except a simple chair, which was what she had been set upon. Otherwise, the room was almost exactly akin to the rest of the cave - stony, black, and cold. Where was Rogan? Anwynne wasn't exactly keen on finding out anytime soon.

            But then, as though in spite of her dread and wonderings, the dark door opened up once more, giving way to Rogan, the bandit captain. The bandit captain who Anwynne was completely in the power of...  

            Rogan was just as felinely swaggering when he walked in as he had been back in the main part of the cave. Seeing him walk in, and knowing that she was alone with him, Anwynne's mind couldn't help but keep flying back to the looks of fear and suspicion that had been upon her guards' faces for her. She had to stop her own face from mimicking those sentiments.

            So Anwynne merely gazed up at Rogan boldly, determined not to look either afraid or compliant. She was very tempted to flinch and look away, but instead stubbornly kept on looking up at him.

            Rogan returned the glance, but in not nearly so much of a glaring fashion. He smiled brazenly. "Hello, Highness."

            Anwynne refused to acknowledge his greeting, not even breaking her stiff gaze.

            Rogan raised a brow as though intrigued by her response, or rather, lack thereof. "What's the matter, Highness? I thought you were a queen - and I've never heard of a queen who wouldn't pay civilities..." He laughed a bit. "Even if I'm not any courtier."
            Anwynne frowned. "It is exactly that. I do not owe any civilities to an outlaw."

            Rogan shrugged. "Perhaps not." He started to pace around a bit, and then turned back to Anwynne. "But you do owe me your ear, Highness. Because I have a proposition for you."

            "And how, may I ask, do I owe anything at all to you, least of all my precious time and attention?," Anwynne asked stonily.

            "Well," Rogan smiled again. "A better question would be how else exactly would you spend that treasured time and attention were I to leave you out there, Highness."

            Anwynne only frowned in answer.

            "That was quite the reply I anticipated," Rogan said nonchalantly. "But, Princess, getting on to more important matters, I had said I have a proposition."

            "Well, as I have no choice but to listen to you, I would wager, then speak and get it said, Rogue."

            "That's Rogan, Your Highness," Rogan corrected smilingly. "And I will, since you so graciously permit it."

            Rogan started to pace around again in his very leisurely, feline manner. "Well, whether you know it or not, Princess, your guard captain and your handmaid have both escaped together. And, while usually I wouldn't bother, Highness, I don't think it's an elopement." At this, he smiled a bit.

            Anwynne grimaced at the jest. "Just speak, Vagabond."

            Rogan shrugged. "Alright. But, they have not escaped unnoticed by me. Now, my watchmen tell me that they weren't the only ones to escape." Rogan turned to Anwynne and knelt down a little in front of her. "You had escaped too, Princess. And you were caught running back towards the cave. Somehow, Highness, I find it hard to believe that you were just running back to the cave because you didn't want to leave." He smiled yet again in his roguish manner.

            Anwynne remained silent. She had a feeling she knew what he might be getting at.

            "I know you were with them," Rogan continued. "And you saw where they went. I've already sent men down the forest road to find them, and even into the mountain road. But it is possible they didn't take a road, isn't it, Princess? And you're the only one who would know, of course. So, I suppose I'll just right out ask you - where did they go?"

            Anwynne only glared. "And you think I would know? And even if I did, why on earth would I tell you?"

            Rogan shrugged again. "Well, maybe because I can offer you something. I'm sure you've figured out by now, Princess, that I've sent a ransom note for you to the Nistrian capital. Well, Princess, when the Nistrians ransom you, did it occur to you that they might not ransom your companions as well?"

            Anwynne bit her lip. Of course it had occurred to her... It had been her greatest worry for the past three days... But she had to act as though he hadn't said anything. She tried to keep her expression hard.

            "Now, I'm sure a queen like you probably doesn't care much about her lower-class guard, but it is a worry I felt obliged to mention," he went on. "And I'm sure you wouldn't want to step into queenship with such a burden upon you. And you don't know how long we would keep our prisoners here... or even if we'd keep them here..."

            Anwynne felt as though all the blood suddenly had drained out of her. He means... He meant killing them. Surely even Rogan wouldn't do that...? But then, he might... Anwynne's mind wandered back to the stranger in the room. After all, for all she knew, that could very well have been what they'd done to him... But that wouldn't happen. As queen, she wouldn't let it happen. And besides, Errius and Elystra were on their way... It wouldn't be too much longer until they reached Nistria.

            "So, I'm prepared to offer you a deal, Highness," Rogan's voice snapped Anwynne back into reality. "If you tell me where the two runaways have gone, then once the ransom for you is collected, I shall let the whole party free - every single person."

            Anwynne looked down. It was a silly idea. Errius and Elystra were already on the move, and would be back soon enough. So Anwynne looked back up at Rogan again. "I'm afraid in your deal you have overlooked one thing, Vagabond: if those two 'runaways', as you call them, are already on their journey then they may discourage the ransom from ever coming, and bring aid back to help us escape before the Nistrians even read your note."

            Rogan smiled, this time a little more deviously. "Well, Princess, there's just one problem with that. You see, the ransom message was sent out almost exactly two days ago. With two riders rather than one, a two-day lead in my own messenger's journey, and neither one of those two even owning a horse, I highly doubt that they shall arrive before the ransom note is there. In fact, by time they arrive, I shouldn't be surprised if a ransom is already on its way here. You see, the timing is rather unusual, Princess, but I've worked it out."

            Anwynne clenched her fists. The despicable creature really has thought of everything...

            "So, what do you say, Princess? I know a few things that concern you, and so I'll ask you for something I don't know." Rogan leaned back against the wall of the cave casually.

            Anwynne looked up. He wasn't the only one who could play such games... She gazed at Rogan defiantly. "I can tell you plenty of things you don't know, Captain - if you really are a captain."

            Rogan smiled. "I assure you  I  am indeed. But what, may I ask, could you possibly tell me, aside from your little friends' destination?"

            Anwynne took a deep breath. She decided to try and play her cards well. "That you're looking for someone, and haven't found them. It distresses you, doesn't it? Well, they're already gone, I'm afraid. I heard who you were speaking of, and I can tell you that my captain is in every way matched to your description. But, if you were looking for Captain Errius, then you're already too late. He's gone." She tried to make her expression look stony.

            Rogan kept his leisurely post, but paled ever-so-slightly. "Your captain, his name is Errius, then?"

            Anwynne nodded coldly. "Captain Errius Du Regina. If you wanted to find him, for whatever reason, you already lost him."

            Rogan started to pace around a bit again, and reassumed his rather cat-like careless grin. "Du Regina, hmmm? I wonder, was this name given to him from birth?"

            "No." Anwynne glanced down at her hand coldly. "He was named this for being the captain of my guard."

            "Yes, so I guessed," Rogan said softly. "Errius 'Of The Queen'... What, pray tell, if you do know, Princess, is his birth name?"

            Anwynne looked back up at Rogan, raising her brow in question. "And why would you want to know, Captain?"

            Rogan shrugged lightly. "If you think he is the person I am looking for, then I can prove you wrong. But I suppose it doesn't really matter, now does it? You've exposed your little game, and now you've told me that you know I'm looking for someone. Perhaps now you'll give me another kind of information, ah, Princess? Like where the lovebirds have escaped to?"

            Anwynne frowned. "They are not - !" She bit her lip in frustration. "They are of the same family; brother and sister for your information. Twins, in fact..."

            Rogan suddenly got an unusual sort-of glint in his eyes. "Twins...?"

            "What of it?"

            Rogan cleared his face of the odd expression. "Nothing. It's just that it is an uncommon thing..." He started up again pacing.

            Anwynne stood up defiantly. "You are interested in him, yes? You care indeed, and you think there's something to Errius? Well, I know more of him, and plenty more."

            Rogan raised both brows lazily. "Why, was he your lord master? No, I don't care who he is, Highness, but I will admit that you've caught my interest out of curiosity."

            Anwynne glared. "No, Captain he was not ever any such thing. He was my friend, though. And if you want to know anything more about him, then you'll have to bargain for that information."

            Rogan chuckled a little, in what seemed to Anwynne a very artificial way. "So you want me to sell the same terms as my previous deal, but for useless information on some Ingrecian boy-soldier?" He shook his head with a more obviously forced smile. "I'm sorry, Highness, but your only choice has been laid before you." 

            "My only choice? The choice of revealing my own companions to you and your vagabond horde, so that you can revel in a queen's ransom all the rest of your wretched life? And I suppose these are your rights?," Anwynne protested coldly, sitting down once more.

            Rogan shrugged. "These are my demands."

            "I do wonder what you would even do with that ransom once you had it... " She glared up at him. "I would forever be pained to know that I ever agreed to such a thing as this betrayal. I decline your offer on plea of avoiding such pain."

            Rogan laughed coldly, this time without even a trace of a smile this time. "Avoiding pain? Pain cannot always be avoided, Highness. It always comes..." He turned away a bit. "And a spoiled mistress like you can barely know the meaning of the word."

            Rogan began as though to walk away again in his pacing, but Anwynne spoke up, and he turned back to her. "And you know the meaning of pain?"

            Rogan's look was now stony. "Whether or not I know its meaning, I know the thing itself better than anyone else I have seen on this earth."

            "You certainly boast of it freely enough."

            "I don't boast of it. I would give anything if..." Rogan trailed off for a moment. "You speak of pain, Princess, but you do not know it in any form."

            "I suspect well enough that you've given it to many a prisoner, so I have no doubt you are familiar with it yourself."

            Rogan shook his head. "I do not speak of physical pain, Highness. For all I am aware of, you may have known it. I speak of real pain - the type you have never known. You will never know that horrible grinding upon your very being, all just coming from things that should be long forgotten - that weight of a thousand anvils on your chest, the feeling that you may never be free of that weight again, and the knowledge that you won't..." He stiffened coldly. "This, Princess, is real pain, and I know its grip well."

            Anwynne looked up at him with an equal lack of warmth. "And do you expect my sympathy for this, Captain?"

            "I don't expect sympathy from a Nistrian, whether already received or only awaited. It is because of Nistrians that I know this pain, and so many times I have come close to death for it."

            Anwynne did not flinch at his hard expression, but only glared up at him more determinedly. "And why did you not just die, Rogue? I suppose it takes too much courage for a coward like yourself..."

            Rogan's face was now harder than she had ever seen it. His eyes flashed for a moment. "You are right, Princess. It does take courage to die" He turned and began to walk away. "But sometimes it takes far more to live."

With this, Rogan opened the door to the room, and disappeared into the darkness of the cavern beyond, leaving Anwynne once more alone.