Brian's Adventures Ch. 14

We relayed everything we saw and not quite everything we did to the group that had gathered to meet us on our return. After discussing what we had seen and heard everyone was disheartened at the news. We knew that things were more desperate than we had first feared. For the only person who could do anything about the traitorous Felleona, could not be trusted herself. We knew that now more than ever we had to sit tight until an opportunity arose to take matters into our own hands.

I will admit that there was talk of simply killing Felleona then and there but that was dismissed. In retrospect it may have been simpler that way, but it was not the way we wanted to handle the situation. I still wanted to quell the rebellion without anyone loosing their lives, save The Mistress of course. For now we would keep to ourselves, for we had still not received word from Greenglen.

For the next few days we carried on like any other Guards and fell into a routine of sorts; drills during the day and taking turns on watch by night. Laughter and joyous times were shared by us all as we trained and enjoyed the company of the other Guards around us. It reminded me of the pleasant times I had working on the ship that brought me to Tania. Hard work, but good times with those I was working with sprinkled liberally over the whole affair.

It was mid morning when something happened to brighten all of our moods, the one thing we were waiting for had happened. I remember that we were in the middle of hand-to-hand combat drills when there was a general commotion about something. Jealile was my sparing partner so I was learning a great deal and losing even more of my pride in the process. She was kind though and let me win a match or two, and I think even one match I won fairly. As I looked around to the other Guards who at this point had stopped sparing and were all looking up.

As I glanced in the direction they were all looking I saw that the flags over the watchtower had changed. Now there were six flags flying high rather then three, underneath the message 'Trouble in Greatfoot' was the message 'Prisoner in Greenglen'. I smiled to myself and to Jealile as well for we knew that The Mistress had been captured. We flashed a smile to the others around us that knew the meaning of this message and then stopped smiling. For nobody else was overjoyed over this news, the others had resumed their sparing after shrugging off another meaningless message.

I noticed Felleona looking up at the flags for some time and the longer she looked, the longer her face became. Her whole manner seemed ill at ease and generally upset and agitated. It was almost as if she knew the significance of this message and didn't like the thought of her Mistress captured. We kept an eye on her for the rest of the day and on into the next, her mood remained black and foul.

That following day the whole town was abuzz with activity as stores and provisions were loaded on a few wagons. The area where Felleona's 'special squads' were located was a hive of activity and they seemed to be preparing to move out. When the rumour came to us that Felleona would attack the rebels at dawn we knew that time had run out. We knew that Felleona was taking her Disciple/Guards and reinforcing The Rebels at Kincaid. We knew that something had to be done to stop her and that Pelluluka was our only chance and a slim chance at that.

None of us liked the thought of laying our hopes on a woman who we could not trust but we had little other choice. We knew that next to Felleona, Pelluluka had control of the situation; under her there were a number of sergeants but nobody specific. In short we had no other choice but to talk to Pelluluka that night if we had any chance to prevent Felleona's final betrayal.

All twenty of us talked that night and decided that only the 'Band of Misfits' would talk to Pelluluka. Everyone wanted to go but we decided it would be wiser if only a small number confront her in case something goes wrong. We knew that someway Felleona and The Mistress had to be stopped and to do that someone had to survive who knew the truth. I wanted to go alone but I was reminded of my own rule 'no splitting up the group'. Alas I was tripped up by my own rule and that night we went to talk to Pelluluka together.

She was still in what used to be the town hall and in her office or rather an office that she had commandeered. As we entered the room there were two Guards talking to her and they were looking over some papers together. All of them looked up at us, disinterested in us and Pelluluka looked at us and sighed in frustration.

"What is it?" Pelluluka said dismissively as she barely looked up from the papers in front of her.

"We need to talk." I said respectfully and stood firm.

"I haven't the time." Pelluluka said now not even looking up to speak to us. "Come back tomorrow."

"With all respect Commander, this matter won't wait until tomorrow." I said as delicately and firmly as I dared.

"Fine, what is it?" Pelluluka huffed as she looked up at me with a slight scowl.

"It is a private matter Commander." I said looking sternly at each of the other Guards in the room.

"I haven't the time for this nonsense, just spit it out already!" Pelluluka growled, not at all in the mood to be bothered by any of this.

"It's about the Captain." I said and looked her dead in the eye with a raised eyebrow and a knowing look.

She sighed and looked down at the desk for a moment, and drew a few breaths before speaking again. It was clear she was in thought and needed a moment to ponder a response. I guessed she was thinking about tossing us out but doubted that was the best course of action.

"Leave us." She said after a brief pause while not looking up from the desk.

"Thank you Commander I'll be brief." I said after the door closed behind the two other Guards that had left the room hastily. "Have you ever heard of The Mistress of Tania?" I asked with a pause.

"Rumours and ale-talk. Complete nonsense the lot of it." Pelluluka huffed dismissively. "I thought you said this was about the Captain?" Pelluluka huffed gruffly. "Get to the point or leave, I'm busy." She added in a commanding tone that suited her position.

"Because the Captain is a Disciple." I said firmly looking her dead in the eye with all my seriousness.

"Disciple? What Disciple? Speak Tanian man!" Pelluluka spoke curtly with a wrinkled forehead.

"A Disciple of The Mistress." Treabilla spoke abruptly. "Does she bear a mark like this?" Treabilla asked again before pulling her pants down and revealing the mark on her thigh once more.

"That means nothing, it could mean anything." Pelluluka said with a wrinkled forehead looking only briefly at the mark before looking away.

"If this nonsense is all you came to say then you might as well leave now." Pelluluka said with a slightly perturbed and unnerved look about her.

"Please, you must listen!" I implored with an impassioned plea. "I didn't want to believe it either but I have no doubt now that The Captain serves The Mistress!" I said firmly and with a heavy heart.

"You're talking nonsense and I will hear no more of it!" Pelluluka said with an even more uncomfortable manner about her and even a tear could be seen threatening to leave her left eye.

"I care for her too, I also shared a bed with her. It pains me more than you know to go against her but I can't let her do it." I said without taking my eyes off of hers. "She will not attack The Rebels that hold the Kincaid Quad tomorrow, she will join them." I said with a sigh and my eyes never wavered from staring deep into her eyes the whole time.

"What of the four units of Guards? Will they join them as well? You're mad!" Pelluluka said with a now angry and upset tone, but the tear had run down her cheek and another was poised to do the same momentarily.

Clearly she was in conflict over this news and didn't want to believe it, heck I didn't want to believe it either but it was true just the same. The emotional strings tying her to Felleona was strong and I could see her trying to find a way to resolve this inside her. She clearly had seen some signs herself or she would not have been in such turmoil over this news. Either she would believe me or toss me out, but she was torn between believing me and believing Felleona. That was a most uncomfortable place that I had been in not long ago, not a comfortable place at all, and I felt for her.

"That's exactly what I'm saying! Everyone in those squads are Disciples as well! There may even be more of them in the rest of the ranks! You cannot trust anyone who bears that mark!" I said sternly, not liking being mocked or not listened to.

"You're a hypocrite and a liar! That one bears the mark and you trust her?" Pelluluka snarled back at me with anger and fire in her eyes, nodding in the direction of Treabilla.

"She used to be a Disciple but I rescued her from The Mistress herself!" I said now my anger getting the better of me and I leaned in toward Pelluluka.

"Oh so she's a good one and the Captain is a bad one is that it?" Pelluluka spat with a sarcastic, teasing tone of voice. "And only you can tell the difference right?" She added with equal disdain and cheek.

"No! Treabilla is no longer a Disciple but Felleona is!" Jealile jumped in and clarified as forcefully and respectfully as she could.

"We're telling you the truth! Why can't you see that?" Yeoline said with a questioning and accusatory look.

"What are you saying?" Pelluluka asked with a glaring reply. "You think that I'm one of these Disciples do you? Is that it?" Pelluluka growled who was by now quite angry and loosing her cool.

"We know you're not a Disciple but we know that you are involved with Felleona and that may cloud your judgement." I said a little calmer, trying to get a hold of my emotions.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Pelluluka said with a flustered look and a blushing reply.

"Why won't you listen to us? I promise you that Felleona will march into Kincaid without an arrow fired on either side! By nightfall you will see her on the walls of Kincaid! She goes there to aid the rebellion and not to crush it!" I said now as calm as I could and yet firm and self-assured as possible.

"Are you accusing The Captain of the Guards of treason?" Pelluluka leaned in with a sparkle in her eye.

"Yes, you must stop her, before it is too late." I sighed regrettably.

"Are you certain? Will you not reconsider and recant your words?" Pelluluka replied with the same twinkle in her eye.

"I will not take back the truth!" I replied quickly and indignantly.

"Guards!" Pelluluka said loudly and immediately the door opened and two Guards entered the room.

The Guards stood at attention just inside the door and sternly looked through us. It was clear that while they were not moving from that spot that they would not let any of us leave the room. I looked them over and while they looked sturdy enough and I knew that the six of us could take these two. But with the vast numbers of Guards in the building and the town in general, we were as good as caught; fighting was pointless.

"What's this then?" I asked with a nod to the direction of the Guards at the door.

"Arrest this lot and confine them to quarters until further notice!" Pelluluka said with a stern look about her as she talked to the Guards and ignored my question.

"On what charge?" One of the Guards asked while the other one signalled to someone outside of the room.

"Impersonating Guards and insubordination." Pelluluka replied before turning to me. "I recognise you lot now, you're that Outsider spy who was let go for some stupid reason." She said pointing to me. "You're the foolish Guard that married him." She said pointing to Jealile. "You must be the director's daughter that went missing some time ago." Pelluluka said with a nod to Treabilla. "The rest of you I don't know and don't care to know. You are all guilty of the same crime and will be dealt with accordingly." Pelluluka said gruffly before looking back to the Guards. "Take them away and send word to the Director to send someone to fetch his daughter." Pelluluka said before turning to Treabilla one last time. "I am correct am I not?" Pelluluka said with an expectant look at Treabilla who nodded the affirmative in response.

We were escorted with Guards all around us to our barracks and once there all the weapons we had on us or inside the building were taken away. We were put inside and the door shut quickly but not before three Guards passed us on their way up to the roof. Three more Guards were left at the bottom door and we were shut in for who knows how long.

We had taken a gamble and it had not paid off, we had failed to stop Felleona and her band of Disciple/Guards. I didn't sleep much that night as I felt the failure rested solely on my head, after all I was the leader and I was supposed to steer us away from such troubles. I cursed myself for not finding a way to prevent such an obvious act of treason from taking place. Then again few people knew what we knew about The Mistress, I couldn't blame Pelluluka for not believing us.

Early the next morning we felt the earth rumble and the sound of a great many feet on the move and knew our failure was complete. We knew that that sound could only be Felleona and her Deceitful Guards on the move, marching towards Kincaid. We all gathered around the windows that looked over the short distance between the barracks.

We watched as four columns of Guards headed by Felleona and Irillis on horses at the head. As the vast numbers of the Disciple/Guards passed us by I watched their faces and wondered why they would choose to serve such a woman? Why would they give their will over to a woman who demanded absolute obedience and gave nothing in return? The whole matter was lost on me as I watched the four units of Disciple/Guards go by.

I almost thought I saw Felleona look in our direction as she passed and it caused me to wonder a few things. Of all the gates that she could have gone past, why choose this gate in particular? My guess was that Pelluluka had said something to Felleona and this was Felleona's way of rubbing my failure in. To make us watch as her Disciple/Guards marched out right literally under our noses was an added twist of the dagger.

I hung my head in shame as the thunderous marching passed us by and eventually faded in the distance. I knew that I had failed; it was one of the things that I had hoped to prevent. Instead of making things better I had made things worse. Not only was Felleona marching to Kincaid with two hundred well trained and excellently equipped Disciple/Guards. Not only that but we were now arrested essentially for trying to stop the matter. It was one of the lower points in my life but still not as low as when I awaited my execution but not far from it.

Later that day when the evening meal was delivered I could see that the lass who delivered the meal was upset. She looked at me and I could see that a question was on her mind as she slowly put the tray down on the table in at one end of the room. Her eyes rested on me for a moment and she started to speak but fell silent before she turned toward the door.

"What is it?" I called after her. She turned to face me and thought for a moment. "It's alright." I said with a reassuring smile.

"I heard that you predicted the Captain's betrayal. Did you? How did you know?" The young lass asked curiously still keeping her distance from me.

"What happened? What betrayal?" I asked knowing fully the answer but still needing to hear it to believe that it actually took place.

"She marched out to attack The Rebels but marched right into the Quad. Funny thing was that they opened the door to her and everything; nobody shouted or fired an arrow to or from the Quad. It was as if they were expecting her and gave her a warm welcome." The young lass said to the now quiet room of drawn faces. "How did you know? Why didn't you stop her?" She asked curiously.

"We've been investigating the matter for some time now. We tried to convince the Commander of her guilt but she threw us in here instead." I said aggravated for being told that my efforts were not good enough.

"The scouts who followed the column reported that when the doors closed behind the column a great cheer went up from the Quad." The young lass said with a very distressed look. "Surely the Commander will see the wisdom of your words and let you free." The young lass smiled and turned to leave. "Don't worry, all will be well." The young lass smiled as she left.

The rest of us sat there and sighed our heavy hearts and looked at each other and we felt low knowing that what we feared had actually come to pass. Nobody said anything for the rest of the night we all just mired in our own black thoughts and self-disappointment. We only retired to bed when we our bodies would not hold out any longer and sleep overcame us.

The only consolation was that Jealile was able to share my bed from that night on. Our little secret was out and people knew who we were, so it was not strange to see two Guards sharing a bed. Having Jealile at my side was little comfort to my spirit as I thought of Felleona in Kincaid as now one of The Rebels. But the one thing that did lift our spirits but a little was the knowledge that The Mistress was captured.

However we still were under arrest long into the next day and nobody was sent to release us as we had thought. We believed that once we were proven right we would be sent for and consulted on the matter. Time was wasting and plans needed to be made and we could do little confined to the barracks. As darkness fell the second time we wondered what would become of us as we paced and pondered.