Bit shorter than I wanted...

7.

A Lot Of Questions And Less Answers Than Before

In the darkness of the dungeons, Rolanda found that her dreams were the only escape from the seemingly hopeless reality.

This night, or if it was night at all, Alannah did finally let her sleep for a few hours, after having calmed down after Rolanda had sung their lullaby to her.

Luckily, her mind spared her of nightmares about the horrors of the last days and instead did sent her to happier places.

She dreamed of the family picnics they had had in the meadows on warm summer days, chasing down a giggling Alannah. Braiding cornflowers into her own braid while her father and her mother bickered lovingly with each other. A peaceful evening bathing in the nearby lake while the sun was going down, giving her the impression of swimming in gold. Dancing with her friends on the wooden dance floor in the middle of the decorated market place of Waterhal, wearing her best dress.

But too soon, the sleep faded and the dreams slipped away as she was pulled back into the waking world, where she did not even know which time of the day it was.

Only after being woken up by a pair of guards and their superior that stormed into their cell, Rolanda found a little bit of her sense of time back.

"Miss Hooch, good morning," the superior guard snarled, not even bothering to introduce himself. "Get up, there will be a interrogation in a few minutes."

Rolanda slowly got up from their provisional bed and wanted to follow them, but Alannah was clinging to her arm, her eyes wide in fear.

"Don't worry, I will be right back. Everything is okay," Rolanda whispered to her after leaning down and pressed a kiss at her temple. Alannah sniffed, but still let go of her older sister's arm so she could go with the guards, leaving the younger girl alone in the cell.

At first, Rolanda expected to be led to the stairs that were coming down into the dungeons from the courtyard, but after exiting Alannah's and her cell and locking Alannah back in, the men gestured for her to walk into the opposite direction.

Even though Rolanda felt extremely nervous about the interrogation that was lying in front of her, she could not help but look forward to leaving the depressing dark walls of the dungeons for a while and maybe even catch a glimpse of the sky outside.

As they climbed up a the steps of the other serpentine staircase and the warm air met her skin, Rolanda just realised how cold her fingers and toes had become during the last days and she was actually surprised that they still seemed healthy. Shivers ran down her spine and an unpleasant prickling feeling did spread through her hands and feet as they got farther and farther away from the dungeons and she had to close her eyes as they left the staircase, which was only dimly lit by some torches. The daylight that broke trough the windows of the hallway they had stepped into flooded the whole place and blinded her so much that tears stung in her eyes.

The three men guided her down the long hallway, and then stopped in front of a wooden door, one of other countless, similar looking ones in the corridor. While they unlocked it, she had the time to take a look through the window next to her, which offered a good view over the whole valley beneath the castle.

It was a very clear morning, one of those on which you could see so far that the small cow and sheep herds grazing on the plateaux of the mountains were visible as small, black dots. Therefore, it was not difficult for Rolanda to spot the villages closest to the castle. Though a peaceful dawn was hanging over them, it could not change the fact that there obviously was not much left of them. It was easy to recognize that some of the roofs had broken in, due to the burnt beams underneath and sometimes, the only thing that seemed to be left of the cottages were the stone walls that once had been a home to somebody.

Horror flowed through her as she thought about how it was possible that many more villages and farms in the kingdom might look like this by now. There could not be a sense to this madness, only a reason why it was happening.

"Move," one of the soldiers demanded and pushed her forwards, directly into the room they had just opened.

There was not much furniture inside of the windowless room, only an uncomfortable looking chair with ropes tied around the armrests and a heavy wardrobe built out of dark wood. The ropes were in a knot that obviously allowed the guards to pull it close around the wrists of whoever would sit on this chair.

"Sit down!"

Rolanda assumed that it was a better idea to follow his instructions rather than to disobey and have herself punished without knowing what would follow afterwards, in the actual interrogation – but whatever it was, she would surely need all her strength to get Alannah and herself through it.

Therefore, she obeyed and sat down, only to have the men tightening the ropes around her arms, causing her to feel even more uncomfortable.

"So, Miss Hooch. I assume you know that your parents were not found anywhere near your cottage or even the village of Waterhal at all on the evening you and your sister were taken into custody," the superior guard without a name started, staring down at her.

"Obviously," Rolanda murmured, not able to surpress this dry comment. "I really hope for you that you did not left any stains behind on the precious living room carpet. My mother would explode and kill you with her bare hands."

It would have been odd to really expect the man to grin or even laugh about her words, but still Rolanda felt a bit nervous as none of the guards showed any signs of amusement, their faces remaining unmoving masks.

"We hoped that you would be able to answer us a few questions concerning the whereabouts of your mother and father," the nameless superior guard explained, acting as if she had not said anything at all.

"Well, I see we both want something from each other, and it happens to be informations," Rolanda answered, seeing her chance to finally find answers to some of her questions. Even though she could not exactly tell them which town or port her parents had gone to, because she simply did not know it, she dared to take this small risk to try and trick these men for her own benefit.

"You hope to find out where my parents are, and I would like to hear from you why my sister and I were taken from our home and thrown into the dungeons, starving and freezing, without any proper clothes? As far as I am informed, our family never had anything to do with your King Severus, or whatever he may be called."

"You should better keep your tongue in check if you don't want to have it cut out of your mouth sooner or later, girl," the man threatened her and she feared that she could have gambled too high, that she had been just too daring with her demanding manner to speak with them, but to her surprise, the man started to elucidate:"On the same evening you were brought here, Prince Severus captained an attack on Blackdown stronghold. He overthrew his brother Quinn and took over the throne as the rightful new emperor of Ulidia. Immediately, King Severus did sent out his men to every part of the kingdom to find all the people who once betrayed him as he tried before to rescue Ulidia and its folk. Because there is no space in our beautiful kingdom for people who are not willing to give everything in order to preserve the glory of it."

Rolanda had to let his words sink in for a long moment before she was able to fully understand what they meant at all.

This new king had got himself onto the throne through murder, by killing his own brother and was now hunting down the people who had prevented him from attempting this coup earlier in the past. Also was he pretending to only have the best intentions for the kingdom and the folk...

'This does not sound suspicious at all,' Rolanda thought sarcastically, surpressing a weak laugh and a snide comment.

"And why is the name of my father on your list? He is a peace-loving man who never caused any harm to his fellows! Also, why should a simple merchant be important to the power of a king? This has to be an error, my parents are good people!" Rolanda exclaimed, concentrating on the problems that were closest to her at the moment – she could not care about a whole kingdom when she herself had so much on her plate.

"You do not seem to know your father as well as you may think, girl," the nameless grinned, his voice sounding more than deragatory as he continued, looking a little bit too triumphant for Rolanda's taste. "There really is enough on his record to justify our actions. Do you really think our noble king would have his men hunt down people without having his reasons for his orders? You should rather be ashamed of your family name, girl! Your own father is a enemy to our new monarch because of his deeds!"