Corruption Rent: Day 3

Word Count: 18,002

Summary of Events:
Chapter 5:
Étienne found a place suitable for firing down onto the enemy and made his way up there to fire. He discovered that it was the opening of a tunnel and after he'd run out of arrows he followed it down and found that it came out behind the lines and thought it would be a way to get all the archers up there, except there wasn't enough space for them. Agathe took Jacques his new clothes and came home to find a soldier. He had seen her take the clothes to Jacques and ordered her to take him there. She did and the soldier then took her and Jacques to wait for the wagons to haul them away.
Chapter 6:
Étienne had told his superior about the tunnel he'd found, and the fact that another tunnel branched off of it onto a much larger plain which his superior thought would be a good place to put the archers for his plans to drive the Wouest-Suides southeast. Jacques was taken away after three days. Étienne engaged in more battle and then Agathe was taken away. Finally the Wouest-Suides were where they could be seen well from the larger space and Étienne led the archers to the place and they readied for the attack.

Excerpt of the Day:
"No answers had come to Agathe so far. Only food and weeping women. The soldiers had not denied the residents of Extraireville the ability to see her and Jacques, although it had made Agathe feel downhearted that many of them had been weeping.
Today many ad gathered as, early in the morning there had been the sound of hooves and wagon wheels on the roadway. Now, standing before them was a pair of stockier horses of pure black, harnessed to a wagon whose sides comprised of stout iron bars. Inside were four young men who looked subdued.
Three of them — like Jacques — were dressed in rough, grey material, while one was dressed in normal, somewhat colourful clothing. He had been either willingly surrendered or forcefully taken before he could escape into hiding. The other three had been found somewhat similar to Jacques.
One soldier came and took hold of Agathe's upper arm. Two seized Jacques' arms, being as the soldiers all seemed to be uncertain of what Jacques might do as, throughout the three days he'd been chained to the tree with Agathe he had not shown any signs of having been broken, saddened, giving up, or submitting. His fight had not been crushed.
Agathe heard and felt the chains fall. Jacques was led forward. He walked willingly, with an even stride. Agathe heard the chains being redone around the tree, but watched Jacques walk willingly forward.
As she watched her brother, Agathe had a feeling that their father, even their brothers and every other man who had once lived in Extraireville, would have been proud of Jacques for his actions. Sacrificing his freedom to keep the other boys free.
Jacques stepped up inside the wagon and sat down easily so he was facing Agathe, he gazed at her with calm and peace. Agathe felt comforted and a thought struck her and flooded her with awe.
Had their Great Lord's Son done the same when He had been taken? Agathe had a feeling He had. He would've been dignified, willing, and accepting of what was to happen — even though He had been somewhat afraid of it before, He had willingly gone — He wouldn't have been broken. He would've willingly accepted what was to happen.
She smiled at Jacques whose eyebrows twitched upward inquisitively, wondering as to why she'd smiled. She looked at the sky and back at Jacques. Jacques gave a glance up, returned her smile, and gave her a small nod. She had a feeling he understood what she'd meant.
The wagon's door was closed loudly and roughly, it's lock clicking loudly. The driver flicked his whip and the horses began to move forward. The wagon jerked into motion, and the women broke out into mournful wails. Except Agathe.
As the wagon moved away Agathe felt comforted. If Jacques, young though he was, could be peacefully accepting of the situations befalling him, then surely she could as well, even if she didn't know where she might be heading. She was heading somewhere with a particular purpose in mind, and it wasn't necessarily the purpose that her captors might think it was."