The Pain of a Memory - Part V

I promised that Anwynne would be back soon, so here she is, folks, and I hope you can forgive me for the POV changes and such. Trust me - they will be important! :) I will be on a hiatus for the next week (or possibly two weeks), as I will be out of town, so no more posts for a little while.
Anyways, though, the first four parts of Anwynne are below:
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
I hope you enjoy this next part!

***

Anwynne looked around her in the cave. Errius was looking down at the ground, not quite so dejectedly as though he had given up, but not quite so hopefully as before. Elystra was now awake, but she was merely looking out blankly, her miniscule hands pale as any snowfall and her frame shaking as though she would collapse again in fear. Most of the soldiers were awake now as well.

It had now been roughly a day and a night since their company had been imprisoned, and the horizon was looking bleak. in all hopes, the Nistrians at the palace would realize that she should have arrived and would send out someone to see. But, they could not have noticed her absence yet, because it would have yet been days - had Anwynne remained unhindered - before she got to the palace. She would not have yet reached the palace, so it would not seem to them that anything was wrong. Where was their hope, then? The bandits would have the ransom letter sent before the Nistrians got suspicious of anything, and so Anwynne could not hope to be rescued without the ransom.

Anwynne clenched her fist in frustration. Such evil, vile beings these bandits were! Every one of them was a larcenous scum, led by a braggart and rapscallion, a roguish vagabond of the highest degree! How could human beings even sink so low?!

Speaking of Rogan, he himself was not even in the main room, though a select few of the other bandits were. He and his head-man, the tall, black-haired one, were in one of the dark chambers off of the main cavern. The black, dungeon-like room stood out, as it strangely had a black, dungeon-like door to go with it, unlike the other caves.

Suddenly, unanticipated by Anwynne to be sure, there came the sound of a muffled yell. Anwynne looked about. No one else seemed to pay attention to it. Elystra had, in the last few minutes, fallen into a worried sleep again, and Errius seemed to be conversing deeply with one of his guards who was conscious. So Anwynne listened closer, determined to discover the source herself.

The sound seemed to have had come from the dark room where Rogan and the tall man had gone. Anwynne looked around cautiously. The bandits were now almost asleep for how inattentive they were. So Anwynne carefully moved a little closer to the door and listened closely. The first sound she could make out was talking. It was muffled, and, for how far she was from it, she could not make out the words exactly, though it was not for lack of trying. One of the voices went off again, sounding angry. Then a softer voice seemed to weakly reply. A quiet laugh sounded from the room. Then the smaller voice spoke once more. The first voice shouted again, very muffled because of the door, but still distinguishable as a furious yell.

Anwynne shuddered. What was going on? She moved as close as would allow without making noise. Down the cavernous corridor, more talking came from behind the door. Then, the loudest of the shouts yet sounded, and the door opened ever-so-slightly. A pale, thin hand grasped the door for a moment with feeble, but almost desperate force. Anwynne gasped painfully at the strange sight. The hand had a long deep scar down it, and it was shaking. Then another voice spoke, and the hand drew back into the room forcefully... almost as if it was pulled back...

Anwynne was now shaking in her terror. This situation had been hard to riddle at first, but now she thought she understood. Anwynne had despised Rogan from the moment she had first laid eyes on his despicable feline figure, but this put his inhumanity into a new light. This meant that she and her company... Well, they weren't the first prisoners there... nor the only. Someone else was here.

For a moment, Anwynne didn't quite know what to think. Then the thoughts hit her one by one like arrows. How long had whoever this was been here? Why did Rogan keep him here? And was this how all captives that weren't collected ended up? Was this how she would end up if the Nistrians weren't willing to pay the ransom? And, even if she was collected, and maybe Elystra with her, surely nobody would be willing to ransom her guard. Would they have to stay here, and waste away like whatever poor soul was rotting away in there?

Surely no! But then... how could it be any other way? Would someday Errius be in that dark room, barely alive, with little to exist for? With no company but cruel, torturous thieves who only profited from kidnapping and stealing? No! That could not happen! They would somehow all get away... and somehow the being in that room would be found and helped. But how?

Errius. She had to speak to Errius. If anyone would have the wit, determination, or the fortitude that could get them out, then he would. Only Errius would ever remain so determined that escape could be accomplished and truly be able to accomplish it.

But how could Anwynne get to him? He was on the other side of the room, and the guards weren't asleep quite yet. She could not get Errius' attention without attracting theirs also. She would have to try though, if anything was to be done.

So Anwynne braced herself to try. Then the door of the dreaded room opened. The tall, black-haired bandit stepped out. Anwynne froze in her tracks. His glinting blue eyes looked strangely at her. Anwynne looked down at herself. She was now quite a good bit from where she had been, which explained his suspicion on seeing her.

Anwynne looked up at the bandit again, anxiously anticipating his reaction. At first, all he did was move closer to her. But then he abruptly stopped. Anwynne looked about for his incentive to do so. And there it is, she thought coldly. Rogan had just walked out of the door, with slightly less than his usual cat-like swagger, looking almost frustrated for a second, but then regaining himself somewhat. There was still a glint behind his brown eyes, though, that still somehow shone in an irked disarray.

"Captain, the princess...", the black-haired man said to Rogan quietly, gesturing towards Anwynne.

 

Rogan looked at her for a moment, but in a distant way, almost as though he was  not really seeing anything. His mind seemed to be elsewhere.

 "You take care of it right now, Captain", he said rather falteringly, and Anwynne fancied she saw fury in his eyes, perhaps concerning those thoughts which seemed to take all his concentration.

So the tall man simply carried her back to where she had been, and set her down without a word. He looked at Rogan, and back at the door almost pityingly.

Anwynne watched him walk back to Rogan. Rogan only looked away from the man unfeelingly. Anwynne glared at Rogan loathingly. He was a monster...

Once Rogan had  left, she continued looking, but instead with horror, at the dark door at the end of the corridor.

***

There you go. What did you think? Did you like returning to Anwynne? Or do you prefer Echo? Or Lan? Or still the yet-to-come POV? What do you think Anwynne's present situation? Chat with me! I would love to hear any thoughts - comments, critiques, or suggestions.