Inexplicable Incidents: Day 15

Word Total: 90,007

Year to Date: 270,020

Summary of Events:

Aline paid a visit to Adrien and told him that she was suspicious they were being followed by a spy who was burning all the places they visited that were important to the defence of Trempré. Étienne was woken in the middle of the night and discovered Beaudroit was on fire; he immediately sought for Gisèle, but only found her when he was shown the recovered bodies of the dead; learning from Commandant Bouchard that the Mardeaux had burned the town, Étienne attacked them in a grief-driven fury and ended up being knocked unconscious by a flying piece of broken spear. Aline was woken by scraping at her window; she opened the window, admitting a man who bound her, gagged her, and then dragged her to the front door, where he roughly shoved her boots on . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Left foot up,” she was ordered.

Once again, Aline obliged and winced, displeased by the roughness with which her footwear had been shoved onto her feet.

She was then hauled to her feet roughly and left to stand while she heard the chair being put back, then she heard the sound of a cloak being removed from a hook and felt the movement of air as it was brought around over her shoulders and secured.

Her upper arm was again seized and the front door opened, through which she was pulled, turning to the right, which meant north.

Aline paid attention to every turn, finding that the clear night sky, although without much of a moon, actually provided enough light for her to be able to see buildings about her as she was pulled through the streets of Trempré.

As she was towed along she tried to get a good look at the person who had grabbed her, but he had a cloak on and the hood over his head, obscuring himself from view entirely as he hauled her up to the bank.

Suddenly the man turned to face her, his face obscured by his hood, which covered his head well. He produced a thick cord and wrapped it about her neck before tying it to something on a wall behind her.

If she dared struggle she could choke herself to death, and she didn’t exactly want that, but yet she also wanted to get away.

With her secured, the man then made his way toward the bank, Aline listened and watched. She heard the sound of glass shattering, then she shuddered at the sound of a profanity.

She was able to see the figure heft himself in through a window and waited anxiously; was he robbing the bank? Why? Who was he?

Suddenly Aline noticed light and her stomach contracted in horror. Fire. The spy. She had been captured by the spy, and he was lighting the bank on fire, just as she’d suspected, and he was going to make his getaway with only Adrien the wiser.

Soon the amount of light increased and the glow grew; suddenly flames flashed up the wall she could see, the flames seemed to be spreading with alarming speed.

The man then came to the window, his hood down, the orange backlighting showing his hair to be brown. He jumped out of the window, drew the knife — which glinted orange — and cut the rope behind her neck.

He turned his head to look at the fire and the orange glow from the windows illuminated his face, prompting a wave of horror and betrayal. Adrien.

Throwing his hood up again, as well as hers, Adrien towed Aline through the streets of Trempré, Aline had no idea where they were going, tears flooded her eyes and streamed down her cheeks; she felt utterly betrayed. Adrien was the spy. She had been directly helping the spy, and now he was taking her captive.

Next Post: 31 March.