It is at this moment that Marabir coughs and stirs, wincing as he opens his eyes blearily and attempts to look about him.

"Where am I?" he asks weakly.

Tyronius narrows his eyes as he glances over at his awakened brother. He makes no effort to answer Marabir's question, however, and continues his pacing.

"In a cellar prison cell devoid of food thanks to a certain someone getting held hostage," Aerendir says crushingly.

Marabir doesn't seem to have a response to this.

"Ah," he says, rather flatly as he sinks back into his blankets, staring at the dimly lit roof above him. After a moment he reaches a hand into his bandaged tunic and breaths a sigh of relief, which ends in a few weak coughs. He pushes himself up a few moments later once more, glancing about the room again.

"Tyronius," he says with mild surprise, "You're here. What happened?"

Tyronius pauses in his pacing to fix Marabir with a particularly unimpressed glare.

"You happened."

Marabir does not seem particularly perturbed either by his brother's tone or his expression. Pushing himself up to sit with his back propped against the wall beside Aerendir, he glances about the room in more detail.

"There must be some way out of here," he says optimistically.

Tyronius rolls his eyes and returns to his pacing.

Ignoring his brother, Marabir turns to Aerendir.

"What are your thoughts?"

"My thoughts are also that you happened. Try to rest while we have that luxury instead of looking for exits when you can barely sit up so that you do not happen twice."

Marabir winces but makes no sign of lying back down.

"What happened to Falnis?" he asks after a moment.

"Skulking around somewhere I assume. Hopefully not murdering Thanian noblewomwomen or tricking them into giving him their hunting lodges," Aerendir says critically.

Marabir frowns.

"I take it he and Lady Veldorn did not return?"

"They did not," Tyronius says at length, "However her uncle did with an army. I suppose it is not difficult to surmise who may have informed him of our presence in these parts."

Marabir gives a dark grunt of agreement.

Aerendir also grunts in dark agreement.

"All the more reason," says Marabir at length, pulling himself up against the wall, "for us to find a way out of here."

"There is no way out," Tyronius replies dampeningly, "No trapdoors or windows. That door is the only way in or out, and likely has Veldorn's army guarding it. Our best bet is for you to rest and await a better opportunity to present itself."

Marabir frowns.

"How did her uncle acquire an army? From what I understood he had a small band of hired thugs in his employ."

"That, we don't yet know. But mercenaries take more than a day to organize which means he either hired them long before we showed up or he has a private army. I'm not up on Thane's laws, are nobles even allowed to have private armies?"

"Those were certainly not all mercenaries," Tyronius asserts darkly, "And yes, some lords do possess such armies, especially in these northern lands. However Veldorn is not one such lord. And he isn't even a lord. Someone must be backing him. And someone powerful at that. I suspect," he lowers his voice slightly, "the Caladormists."

"Caladormists?" Marabir frowns, "I know not all the lords of Hyrond have a love for the Carendils, but surely they wouldn't dare to openly wage war against us."

"Their sympathies run deep in these parts," Tyronius replies grimly. "And they have been becoming more belligerent of late. Calvorn was fretting over them for most of our journey up here."

"Typical Caladormist behaviour. First they whine Carendils don't care enough about the rights of their subjects. Then they work with a worm like Veldorn threatening helpless women and kidnapping children and joining forces with the varim," Aerendir says contemptuously.

Marabir still doesn't look convinced.

"I still don't see how they could have organised themselves for war. We have powerful lords in these parts like Borandis and Ravalor. They would have noticed something."

"Be that as it may, these men are not simply a bunch of Veldorn's mercenaries," Tyronius replies firmly. "This is a rebellion."