The next visitor day after that didn't lead to any new theows. Apparently, it didn't happen every time. Or maybe it was because the Lady still had her fun tormenting Karen. Audrey started to get into the rhythm of life in the burh. It was easy to lose yourself to the monotony, the same chores to do every day, the same food. Now that she had become used to it, she was punished less as well. And since she seemed to do well with the animals, she was tasked with husbandry tasks more often and didn't have to be punished for failing to make flax into linen. She did fine with leatherwork though, so she usually tried to do that, when they were all doing inside work in the evenings. On the third visiting day, she was even allowed to sit and work on some of that instead of being stuck in the cage. That revealed yet another mystery; why some of the theows didn't talk. It turned out, the veils that looked like a part of the costumes were really there to hide a small bit-gag, to prevent them from talking to the visitors, or warn them in any way. If she tried to remove the veil, she would be taken away, they would give some excuse to the visitor, and she would be punished severely. Audrey didn't want to risk that, for something that was unlikely to make any difference. They really had thought of everything.
It wasn't until the fifth visitor day, which must have been over a month after Audrey herself was taken, that something extraordinary happened. For one, the Lady seemed even more jubilant than usual, and there seemed to be extra churls out. And they all focused on one woman. She looked a bit like Karen, so Audrey thought maybe they were worried this woman would do what she had done. Audrey and the other new theows weren't allowed out with the visitors that day, so they all did chores in the crew areas instead. No one with veils was allowed outside. Was that because of that woman? Audrey was able to watch from a small opening as they did the stretch-neck lottery game. The woman they all were watching didn't participate.
Later, during the dinner, Audrey was fetching more ale from the cellar when she was astounded to see that woman hiding in one of the corridors. A crew corridor! What was she doing? The woman seemed to notice her and instead of trying to hide, she approached her.
"Can you talk? What is going on in this place? What's with the extreme secrecy?"
That was two things you weren't supposed to do!
"You need to get out of here! Quick, before they find you!"
"I'm not leaving until I've found the answers I'm…" It was already too late. Two of the churls that had been watching the woman came up from behind her, grabbed hold of her and tied her up. A third churl grabbed Audrey by her collar and dragged her along as they moved to a private room. The ale she had been fetching fell on the floor, yet no one seemed to care much about that. They could hear the faint sounds of the scop starting one of her tales in the Dining Hall.
It didn't take long before the Lady joined them. She had a wide smile, the wicked smile she only showed when she was able to punish someone. Audrey thought she knew what would happen to the woman now.
"Someone didn't follow my simple rules. Where did you find her?"
"We found her hiding in the corridor, trying to sneak into our private areas."
The Lady's smile vanished. The woman looked a little nervous as the Lady's expression turned deadly. The woman tried to say something, but the hand of one of the churls in front of her mouth meant that her words were unintelligible.
"She wants to see the staff area? Show it to her then, let her see where her future is. Take her to the stretch-neck."
"This one tried to warn her," the churl that held Audrey said.
"She will share the punishment then."
"No, my Lady, I tried to make her go away. I just wanted to help you, my Lady, please."
No amount of pleading helped. Once again, Audrey was placed in that dreaded stretch-neck. Right opposite the stupid woman. However, neither of them was gagged this time. Audrey had a suspicion that they were listening. Audrey got a few strikes with the whip. The woman looked horrified as the whip slashed her, but Audrey barely even thought about it. She was more curious about who this woman was and why she had wanted to talk to her so badly.
The woman didn't say anything for the first hour. She tried to look around, but there were limits to how much she could move her head in the stretch-neck. After an hour, she tried to release herself. Did she really expect this to be like the other stretch-necks in the outer area? Hadn't she understood what had just happened? Now the woman turned to her for the first time.
"So, how do we get out of these? This is rather uncomfortable."
"We get out when they release us. Most likely, that won't happen until morning."
"They can't leave us here the entire visit!"
"Your visit is over. Didn't you understand what the Lady said? You're here to stay now. They did warn you."
"Did they capture you in this way as well?"
"I'm not as stupid as you. I didn't break any rules."
"Then how did you end up here? Did you choose to join this group?"
"No, I was a visitor. I was the unfortunate one in the stretch-neck game, yet it wasn't until the next day, when I stumbled and made the Lady's dress dirty, that I ended up here."
"How long have you been here?"
"I don't remember, but for quite some time. We don't exactly keep track of the dates here, it's not important."
"What's your name?"
"Why do you care?"
"I have a long list of people who have vanished after visiting this place. That is what I am here to find out."
"Are you from the police?"
"No, I'm a journalist. I stumbled upon an ad for this place and wanted to write an article about it. Then I saw the massive list of things they required you to tell them before they would even consider letting you in. I know from my work as a journalist that some of the details they asked for were things no one would need to know for liability reasons. That got me interested in what these people wanted to hide. I've tried to come here many times, with different answers each time. Now I'm finally here and it seems I got my answers. They really do kidnap people."
"You mean you suspected something bad was going on here, and your first thought was that you had to come here and see for yourself? Why would you place yourself in such a risky position?"