The rooster crowed, but Morcefres didn't wake. Would anyone miss her? Would they think she had run away? Finally, she heard steps coming down the corridor. It was Ædven.
"Thegn, we have a missing… oh." She took in the scene in front of her as Morcefres grunted awake.
"What?" he asked surly.
"I was just going to report that I was missing a theow, but it seems it was a false alarm. I'll leave you to it."
Morcefres grumbled something, then he got to his feet. He seemed to have forgotten Audrey. When he finally looked in her direction, he smiled.
"Well, hello there. Have you stayed there all night?"
Did she have another option? It wasn't like she was able to get out of this on her own! She decided not to reply, but groaned slightly when she tried to move. She needed to get to the toilet soon. Luckily, it seemed Morcefres didn't intend to leave her here any longer. He started to untie her, but he still had that massive grin on his face.
"I hope you need to get punished another time as well," he said. "I found last night quite enjoyable. Maybe I can find some other theows that are as meek as you."
Audrey doubted he would, but she didn't say anything. She barely managed to stay upright, but she really needed to get to the toilet. As she finally managed to stagger into one of the stalls, all she hoped was that she would never have to do anything like that again.
Unfortunately, she didn't get her wish. The Lady had apparently decided that Audrey was to be the test subject for the entire course of the churl training. So, Audrey had to play the part of an escapee they had to capture, a new victim that resisted and numerous other scenarios that usually ended up with her hogtied on the ground or in the jougs. And each time, Audrey could see the beginnings of an arousal in Morcefres. He didn't say anything, and didn't take her to his room again, but it was there. Seeing her in bondage aroused him. And Audrey was afraid of what would happen when he couldn't hold himself back anymore.
After a week it was finally over. But Audrey had drawn attention to herself as a klutz that needed to watch where she was going. As a result, she was now in leg irons until the Lady said otherwise. It wasn't like Audrey hadn't walked in those before, but they did severely limit her gait and she worried that if she had to walk like this for long, she would get a permanent limp. She especially dreaded the walk out to the sheep pen every day. Eadgifu tried to suggest that she could do that instead, while Audrey was in fetters, but Ædven had denied it. Her reasoning was that Audrey knew more about the sheep and how to care for them, but they all knew that the real reason was that Audrey would have to walk further with chained legs.
One day, as Audrey was limping along doing her chores as well as she could, Morcefres came out to "supervise". He had never done that before. Did he simply enjoy watching her struggle?
"Are you getting sick of those yet?" he asked with a look at her chained feet.
"I'm managing," Audrey said, forgetting the honorific in her annoyance.
"Yes, you seem to adapt to new situations and difficulties remarkably fast," Morcefres said with a sneer. "You never seem to complain about anything."
"I learned fairly quickly that complaining will get me nowhere, thegn. You either adapt, or you die."
"That is a good outlook on life. What I wonder is, are you happy?"
"Why would you ask that?"
"Because of all of the theows, you are the one who seems the most well-adjusted and most settled. The Lady seems to think that is because you lost your memories of how things once were. But I think differently." Morcefres had come right up beside her as he was talking. Now he grabbed her collar and yanked her towards him.
"I know better. I've seen the flashes of anger beneath your eyes. You have recovered your memories, haven't you? Despite the scop's efforts to make them seem like nothing but a dream."
So, the scop had given her something to make her amnesia worse! She had wondered about that ever since she recovered her memories.
"So what if I have? It doesn't change anything. Just because I have vague memories of a life before I came here, it doesn't change the fact that this is where I am now. If you have to know, my life from before was miserable. I had no one to rely on, my family had just died, and all the neighbours felt more sympathy towards the man who killed them than for me, and I had also just lost my job. If you had asked me if I wanted a job here, I would have said yes in a heartbeat. You wouldn't have needed to restrain me."
"Perhaps, but that wouldn't have been as fun for me. And we wouldn't have nearly as many willing workers if we didn't force them."
"You never really tried. Admit it, you enjoy this. You live for the moments when you get to whip us or tie us up. What will you do, when the Lady dies, and Arthur deems that unnecessary?"
"You assume I don't have a plan for that?"
"I don't know, nor do I care what your plans are, as long as you don't expect my cooperation in them."
"Don't worry. I am well aware of how much you hate me. All of you hate me. You are just one of the best to hide it."
Audrey didn't know how to reply to that. Morcefres still held her close to him, just to remind her of his power over her. Could he leave soon? What did he want with this conversation?
"Just so you know, I'm looking forward to when Arthur comes to power. Because he won't have the same ban on sexual affairs. He wants to make new theows in a more efficient way. By breeding them. Personally, I am looking forward to it." And with that last statement he pushed her forward, causing her to stumble yet again. With a contemptuous snort, he turned around and went back to the castle. Audrey drew a sigh of relief, but she was worried about what he had said. She hadn't thought about that aspect of it. It wouldn't surprise her if Arthur decided to do something like that. She knew he wasn't a fan of dealing with theows that tried to escape and he didn't share the Lady's ideas about abstinence. He had tried several times to be allowed to go on tour and see if he could find a wife, but the Lady had vetoed it completely. She was probably worried that another female would take the attention away from her, but it also meant that there were no other heirs after Arthur.
For the first time since she recovered her memories, she truly wanted Nora to come in with the police and end all of this.
"Wow, he really is just as creepy as you described him," a voice said behind her. Audrey stumbled and fell back down at the sound of it. Just because she had thought about Nora didn't mean she should hear her voice.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Why do you have chains on your feet? Are they still punishing you for dirtying my costume?"
Audrey spun around and saw an arm waving at her from beneath the pile of fodder bags in the corner. She went over and removed one on the opposite side of the castle. In the darkness underneath was the layout of a person. Then the head became visible and smiled at her.
"Hello, Audrey. I was beginning to fear that you wouldn't come out here at all today."
"Nora? What on earth are you doing here?"