It took longer than Nora expected for her to come. The hours seemed to go on forever, sometimes she wondered if her watch had stopped working. When she finally saw Audrey come out of the gate, she seemed to walk differently than she had the last time Nora had seen her. As she came closer, she saw why. Audrey had chains on her legs, tying them both together. Was that punishment from when she stumbled to give her the camera? It hurt to see her struggle to walk with those on. She was about to announce her presence when she saw that Audrey wasn't alone. The man she had called Morcefres, the executioner, was with her. Audrey seemed to hold her own in the conversation at first, but then he yanked her collar towards him and whispered something in her ear that seemed to upset her. She drew a sigh of relief when Morcefres left and had to steady herself on one of the water barrels.
"Wow. He really is just as creepy as you described him," Nora said, once she was sure Audrey was alone. Audrey jumped about a mile and stumbled to the ground again.
"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 seemed to search for the source of the sound, so Nora took one arm out and waved. Audrey came over to the other side and hesitated when she took away one of the bags she had used to hide. Her astonished face almost made Nora want to laugh. But the situation was too serious for laughs.
"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?"
"I've come to warn you. The FBI will be here tomorrow and anyone they see with a weapon will be arrested."
"What!?" Audrey fell down again as her legs gave out. Nora gave her a few minutes to let that sink in.
"Why are you telling me that? And how do you know? How did you even get here?"
"I flew. In a helicopter. Listen, tomorrow, when you see helicopters fly over here, you have about 20 minutes to gather anyone who will listen, and get them to lay down their weapons. Probably including that knife thing you mentioned. The FBI wants to avoid hurting people as much as possible and I wanted to make sure that no one that doesn't deserve it gets arrested. Please, Audrey, can you do something? Will the other theows at least listen to you?"
"I don't know. None of us talk much anymore. We just work around or with each other, and try not to earn more punishments."
Audrey suddenly lowered the bag and stood up. A few seconds later, Nora heard voices again. A churl or a theow came to ask if she would come in for lunch. Audrey said no since she had a concern with one of the sheep, so she had to take care of it before she could go back to eat. The other soon left. When Audrey returned, she actually did have a sheep that she lay down on the ground in front of them.
"I needed a reason to stay out here longer," she said. "It would be suspicious if I stayed out for longer than necessary, especially because they all know how much I hate walking with these on."
"Why do you have those on? It isn't because of what you did for me, is it?"
"Not directly. But one of the chickens got loose and I chased after it and I didn't watch where I was going and managed to run straight into the Lady. Again. That's the third time, and she's getting frail and really didn't appreciate me ruining her dress again."
"The third time?"
"That was how I was initially captured. Though now I'm wondering if that was staged. Either way, I was told to be the practice dummy for the training of some new churls and then they put these on, to teach me to watch where I'm going."
"They look uncomfortable."
"They are. Though they do make me watch where I'm going. But it also makes everything take longer, since I have to take shorter steps."
Nora didn't waste time asking for more details, there was so much else she needed to say. They had the rest of their lives to talk about the details of what they had missed, but for now, she needed to convince Audrey that she was the group's only hope of not getting arrested.
They talked about the details of what Nora knew and what chances Audrey had of preventing the churls from attacking. Audrey also warned that if the raid didn't happen and she took the steps they mentioned, she would probably be killed, or at least heavily restrained and punished severely. Nora assured her that if helicopters were flying low over the castle, the raid was coming. She even contacted the head of the FBI group, whom she had on speed-dial, to confirm it. In the end, Audrey reluctantly agreed to try. Nora also realized that she would have to spend another night and most of the day under these bags. Audrey shook her head and pointed out that she should have expected that, as she handed Nora a bucket.
"In case you need to relieve yourself," she explained as Nora accepted it. When Nora took out a roll of toilet paper, Audrey laughed.
"It's amazing what little details you forget. I haven't seen toilet paper since I first got here."
"You haven't? But what do you use then?"
"Nothing. Or, if it is absolutely necessary, a communal sponge. You don't want to think about that one too hard."
Nora almost gagged at the thought. That reminded her of one other thing though.
"If you can, try not to drink too much of the water. We suspect that they put some sort of drug or herb in it, to make you more obedient or at least make you forget about the world around you."
Audrey gaped at her.
"That makes so much sense! It would also explain why we can remember things on the train, where we don't get as much water. I even thought about how the water there tastes differently! I will try to avoid drinking too much of it, but I have to drink some."
"Here, have a bottle of mine." Nora had noticed that Audrey had some sort of container in her belt that probably held water. Audrey quickly emptied that, used some of Nora's water to rinse it slightly, then filled it with the rest of the bottle. Then she looked up and saw a sign of something.
"Sorry, but I have to go. It's my turn to serve dinner, so I can't miss it. I'll see you tomorrow, I hope."
"Yes, see you tomorrow." Nora agreed, trying to sound positive and optimistic, though she was still worried. She watched as her best friend hobbled away from the sheep pens inside the castle walls.