Nora kept up a confident front as long as Bryan could see her, but she had to admit she was nervous. It was a comfort to know that he would be waiting for her return, but she wasn't about to let him know that.
The bus ride was long and boring. But at least she got a lot of information about the place she had searched for for 5 years. She had to make sure to remember it all, and not make a mistake. Luckily, most of it was things the previous guide she talked to had already mentioned, but there were some variations, or the guides had slightly different speeches to go through.
She loved the costume she got though. From what she could see, it was made entirely by old methods, it must have taken forever. She spent the rest of the ride explaining to a few of the others what it was made of, but she made sure to not do it loud enough for the guide to hear. If they looked for people with knowledge, she didn't want to paint a target on her back.
Nora had to temper her enthusiasm as they approached the small burh. Until Audrey had disappeared, she had wanted to come here more than almost anything. Now she had to be careful not to make waves or do anything to draw attention to herself. Whilst she would really like to check out the staff areas the guide mentioned, she believed they weren't really joking when they said that she would never leave again, if she was caught there. That was probably the mistake Rita had done, from what Bryan had said about her.
They did indeed take her phone and her obvious camera. But they hadn't found the small body camera she intended to leave behind. Or the GPS trackers.
She thought it would be hard to find Audrey, but she was one of the first people she saw. She seemed to be in charge of the livestock. Well, she had grown up on a farm, it made sense. Though she had said that she never wanted to work with animals again, that could have just been the grief talking. What didn't make sense was that there were no signs of recognition in her eyes when Audrey saw her. Not the slightest sign that she knew who Nora was. What had happened to her? Could this be another person? It had been over 5 years. Could she really have changed that much? Her clothes were worn, her hair was a lot shorter and looked like it hadn't been cleaned properly in years, and she had what looked like a leather collar around her neck, but other than that, she looked just like how she remembered her best friend.
As the day progressed, Nora's sense of unease grew. Everyone seemed perfectly content and happy on the surface, but something was definitely wrong here. She had looked over at Audrey many times during the day and she hadn't looked her way once.
The "Lady" as everyone called her, also had a strange vibe to her. She had seemed way too happy about the game where they had placed people in pillories, or stretch-necks as the Lady had called them. And the threat that they would be placed in them if they did something wrong did not sound like a joke. Was that how they trapped people? By letting them think it was just a joke, then suddenly not releasing them. The person who "lost" the game and had to beg to be released had struggled to be groveling enough, but the Lady showed mercy anyway. According to herself. Nora vowed to keep an eye on her, to see if she would return with them.
A few people actually did end up in the pillory. Most of them laughed about it afterwards too. Nora didn't. She could too easily imagine Audrey trapped in that thing. She knew she had lost the pillory contest, so she had been trapped at least once.
Nora had made sure to talk to several of the people she was visiting with, to make sure they would remember her, if she wasn't there on return. It wasn't in her nature to flirt, but this time it was from necessity. Only one of the men seemed remotely interested though. He hinted that they should share the bed tonight, which was way too far for Nora's taste. Besides, she had other plans for the night. One of the churls heard them and reminded them that only married couples could share the bed. The man nodded reluctantly; Nora nodded with relief. She really shouldn't be flirting at all, she was terrible at it.
The man who had been called an executioner definitely looked the type. And the whip he had shown looked used. Nora wondered if any of the theows had signs of that whip on their backs. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea.
She didn't even have the chance to talk to Audrey alone. She had gone over there to talk about the animals and see if a small wink would at least trigger a small hint, to say "Yes, I recognize you, but I have to stay in my role" but there was nothing. Audrey answered her questions in the same polite tone she had talked to everyone else. Perhaps even a little less polite. Audrey had avoided looking at her, but Nora didn't know if that was because of her role, or because she didn't want to break character. But why would she maintain that role so religiously, if she had just seen her best friend for the first time in 5 years? Wouldn't she at least give a small hint of recollection? Something was definitely wrong here.
During the dinner, which was marvelous, Nora made sure not to drink any alcohol. The ale tasted fine and had low enough alcohol to not make her intoxicated, so she stuck with that and only kept one mug of mead to avoid sticking out. One taste of that had made her dislike it anyway. It was probably fairly authentic, but it tasted like cough syrup with alcohol. She had tasted worse, but it was still not something she would drink voluntarily. Several of the others drank quite a lot of it though. Their taste buds must be numb.
She heard the hints of a small commotion in the corridor behind her, but resisted the urge to go and see what it was. That was one of the areas they had been told not to go. She looked around her and counted the number of visitors. One was missing. Had they been caught sneaking in the corridor?
The woman, Nora thought she had been called a scop, told many wonderful stories during the evening. It would all have been truly marvelous if Nora had been oblivious to the danger lurking just underneath the surface.
Then came the moment she had been hoping for. A chance to choose a theow to have in the bedroom! A chance to talk to Audrey alone. Though she suspected they would be listening, since they claimed they would know if they hurt them or did anything sexual. Still, it would be an opportunity to see what had happened to her friend. If everything else failed, they both knew sign language. She hadn't forgotten that, had she?