Nora should have known that the local FBI office wouldn't take them seriously. Even when she showed them the video, they dismissed what they saw.
"It's just a group of nerds playing dress-up," they said and refused to even look at all the other evidence they had gathered.
Bryan seemed ready to hire his own team and try to take these people down himself, but Nora didn't want to give up on the law enforcement so soon. After some internet research, she found a special tip line to the group that worked with illegal sects, cults or other groups. Maybe they would be more interested in their information. She sent in a tip, including her phone number and a summary of the information they had. She also mentioned that they had video evidence. She had made several copies of that video, and both she and Bryan had multiple copies hidden on separate hard drives and computers. Her hard drive was hidden under a loose floorboard, so they would have to search very hard to find that. She also had a hard drive out in the open, with another copy.
It didn't take long for the FBI to get back to her. She had finally found the right people to report to. They had some intel about this group, but lacked the necessary details to justify a shut-down. Plus they didn't know the location of the main base. They were also very pleased with the video. They went out and searched the place where Nora had found them, and to her surprise they found something. A dead body, and not just any dead body, the dead body of the woman that Audrey had caught on camera as being stuck in the pillory! Now they had a concrete death to connect to the group.
Nora had explained what Audrey had said, that most of them weren't there voluntarily, but she was still worried that it wouldn't be enough. What if the leaders ordered the guards to attack? Would they all be arrested? And what about the people like Audrey, who didn't have any visible restraints, but also didn't protest when others were whipped or punished? Bryan tried to reassure her that the FBI would understand that, but Nora couldn't help but worry for her friend.
***
Audrey soon realized that the new couple knew Morcefres from a previous encounter. Taking them was personal to him and he was ruthless. They kept trying to call him by another name, something beginning with "Fi…" but he never let them finish. He just snapped the whip over their heads, or directly on their body and reminded them that they needed to call him by his title. Audrey wondered who they were and what they had ever done to Morcefres. They must have recognized him, when they came to the burh on tour, that was why he had to insist on taking them. They were given a room away from the rest of them and kept separate even during mealtimes. What did they know that Morcefres didn't want them to be able to tell any of the others?
The man who had accepted the label of a Viking was mostly moving the stone grinder until he collapsed, giving their donkey a much-needed rest. He kept the helmet, though it didn't help him much. It was just a reminder of his role. The man who had tried to sneak into Nora's room died just after they arrived back at the castle. His body didn't survive the sudden stop of the alcohol, combined with the hard labour. He and the Viking were buried just outside the castle, in a mass grave with the other victims that had died over the years. Audrey hadn't thought much about that before, but now she wondered how many people were in that anonymous grave. She had fed some bodies to the pigs over the years, but what little remained had been buried in that grave.
After a few days, the Lady announced to all of them that there was to be a pause in going on tour.
"We need to focus more on our own community, rather than bringing in others," she said. "I ask that we all try to do our assigned tasks to the best of our ability."
Audrey thought the Lady looked rather frail as she spoke to them. And she rarely showed her face in the months afterwards, letting Artur deal with most of the administration. That was how things used to be at the castle anyway, so no one thought too much about it.
The Lady recovered a little after a few months, but it was clear that she was ill. Would she dare to go to a doctor? Did she even exist in the outside world? The scop continuously gave her restorative medicines, but they could only hide the symptoms, not cure them.
What would happen if the Lady died? Arthur was supposed to take over, but would Morcefres let him? And would Arthur try to limit the cruelty, or would he continue the way the Lady had?
Such thoughts could not be said out loud, but Audrey suspected she wasn't the only one thinking about it. Nora had been right about one thing. It wasn't healthy having to live like this. She forgot sometimes, when she was allowed to just do what she wanted to do, what life here was actually like. She needed to remember days like this, when everyone was walking fast, trying not to give any reason for Morcefres to punish them. He had a bad day and was clearly itching to hurt someone.
Why was it so hard to remember the anger? It was like this place sucked you in and made you feel only peace and happiness.
If she ever forgot, she could look at Kaneez and remember how utterly broken she was. For some reason, she had been given a task that kept her indoors a lot. Some whispered that the wizard had taken an interest in her. The wizard was such a mysterious character for most of them. He rarely came downstairs and when he did, he didn't interact with the theows. Audrey remembered that he had been there in the infirmary, but not much of what was said.
As the months went by, she did occasionally remember the real world and wonder how Nora was doing. Did the GPS tracker work? Did the FBI believe her? She had no way of knowing and it frustrated her. But she would soon forget about it again and just lose herself in the daily work. That was probably for the best anyway, so she didn't show that she remembered anything about the outside.