Thank you for the reviews! :D

The story will be slightly more positive from here-on out, but if it's starting to get more negative I will warn you the chapter beforehand, okay?

Hope you like it... and please keep reviewing, it's lovely to hear from people


There weren't many girls that wanted to go to Bowerstone with the King and his men. Instead they chose to go their own ways, to try and find their way back to their homes and families they were ripped from. Logan provided them with transportation and provisions and wished them well with their lives, and each and every individual woman thanked him and Elouise watched as the women she'd known for years left, and she felt happy for them.

"Excuse me miss, we were wondering where you were going?" asked a man with a very posh accent, and Ella turned to see a man a good foot taller than her looking down with the kindest twinkle in his brown eyes, and the most impressive moustache she'd ever seen. It took a moment for her to get past this anomaly before she actually registered that he'd asked her something.

"I'm sorry?" she replied, feeling her face flush as she felt embarrassed and stupid.

"Miss, I was wondering if you were in need of transportation home, or if you were going to come to Bowerstone to be placed with a family that could care for you until the time comes you can move on?"

"I..." she paused and thought about it, biting her lip. The only way she knew to get back to Gunk and Bloodstone would be through Wraithmarsh, or by the high seas. This all seemed like too much effort on their behalf, so feeling heartbroken and defeated she dropped her gaze. "I'll come to Bowerstone. And please," she added, wringing her hands and uncomfortable with the formality, "call me Elouise."

The man paused, as though he knew what she was thinking, and he said very softly and quietly to her.

"We can take you anywhere you need to go, my dear."

She could hear the honesty in his voice and she bit her lip again, feeling tears spring up and threaten to break free from her eyes.

"I don't have anyone to go back to," she lied, but that felt the easiest way to stop this conversation going any further, and she looked up slightly to see him looking at her very sympathetically.

"I am sorry to hear that... in any case, you'll be travelling with me and Walter then, back up to Bowerstone and to the castle so King Logan can make arrangements for you. I'm Major Swift, but you can call me Jack," he added with a wink, and she felt instantly that she could trust this man. He led her over to the gate at the front of the bordello, where the iron was wrung and twisted together in what could only be seen as a threatening manor. It was as if it were there to say 'nobody gets in, and nobody gets out' (unless they were paying customers, of course), but this time they had failed. She saw where part of the gate had a huge chunk missing from it, the iron blown away or else leaving twisted bars in its place that were mangled and wrecked. That must be how they got in. Avo, how she would have loved to see that. He led her through the gates, chortling slightly at how her blue eyes grew as she got a look of the valleys of Rookridge. It wasn't a bad place really, and though she'd seen them before it felt different. It wasn't from over a brick wall or behind iron fences. There was a sense of freedom about the place, and she revelled in that for a moment, and Jack let her. Only for a moment though, then he tapped lightly on her shoulder and directed her attention towards an absolute bear of a man. He stood easily two foot taller than herself, a foot taller than Swift, wearing clothes of red and gold with a huge sword on his hip and a gun at his side and the smear of blood spatter across his shirt. He was intimidating, he was impressive, and she felt an unexplainable respect for the man. His eyes had the same friendly shine behind them, and she felt an unquestionable trust build up inside her for these two.

"Elouise, this is Sir Walter Beck. The Kings friend, mentor and advisor. He'll be travelling with us."

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir," she said meekly, holding her hand out to shake his. He looked at her, his beady grey eyes sweeping over her, as if examining her, and he smiled behind his gruff grey beard and moustache.

"And you, Elouise. I take it you're the one that raised the alarm about this place?"

Her heart dropped then, and she cast her eyes away from the pair of soldiers and looked down the path she and Charlie had taken only days before, before they were caught and when they had a hope of freedom. She had it now, but it seemed bitter sweet without her friend.

"I suppose I am in a way, yes."

"I'm sorry about your friend," Walter said quietly... or what she assumed was quietly for the hulking great man. His voice still carried, but it seemed no one else was listening. "The men that did this... well, they're going to get what's coming to them, don't you worry."

"Oh, I'm not worried," she spat out suddenly, her voice a lot stronger and more defiant than she'd meant it to be. She was looking over to the largest cart where the men were being put in cage like containers. She saw Hale, and he was looking back at her with venom in his eyes, his clothes torn from the struggle she had heard downstairs and blood drying slowly on his face. She felt a small smirk creep across her lips and for once she wasn't scared by him, she felt more powerful knowing he was going to die. "I know they're going to get it, they can rot for all I care."

She looked up at Walter and Jack, and both seemed a little taken aback. She started to open her mouth to apologise, but they both burst out laughing, and Walter patted her on the shoulder.

"Damn straight, balls to them all!" the larger man guffawed.

Logan shouted out for the men to ready themselves to move on, but not before having quiet words with one man before they were bundled into carts and small carriages. She was put into a horse drawn carriage with Walter and Swift, and she felt a small pit of hope and happiness build in her stomach, and though she couldn't wait to see the last of her prison as they trundled off down the road to Bowerstone, she felt the urge to look back, say goodbye to that chapter of her life and wipe the slate clean, ready to start afresh. She pulled a rope which whipped the blinds open, and to her shock, surprise and joy, she saw the bordello up in flames, the roof cracking under the heat and flame. She watched it in wonder as they moved further away, and then just before they rounded the corner and the sight was lost forever, the roof caved in, and a cloud of ash and smoke rose into the air.

This really was the end of those days, and she felt all the happier for it.

She was free, at last.