Rosalis and her custodian and herald sailed out to the sea in a cog ship. It was small and had virtually no defences, but it did the job. By nightfall, Bellburn came into view. It was a huge dungeon, posted on a single island, home to some of the worst criminals of the known world. Ten foot, pointed wooden stakes surrounded the island, there being only one way in and out. Rosalis climbed into the rowboat and looked at her custodian. “You are not coming?” She asked him.

“Nothing you can say or give me will make me go there.” He replied. “I refuse to enter and I am staying here.”

“It’s probably for the best. I will need someone to guard the ship.”

The custodian lowered the lifeboat down and Rosalis rowed her way to the island.

Rosalis set foot on Bellburn and looked up at it. It was a dungeon that was made out of mere boulders, looking like parts of it were going to collapse into the sea at any given moment. She crept around it and opened up a hatch leading to a sewer. Crawling through the pipes, she opened up another hatch and set foot in the prison. She walked down a corridor when something caught her eye. A single key hanging on a rusty nail. She took it, turning to look at the first cell that her eyes caught. There was a wooden plaque on it. Averill The Silent. She opened up the hatch and peeked inside. Averill immediately looked up at her. His arms were thick and lined with muscles and veins. It seemed that he had taken time to workout, given the sheer boredom of his sentence. Rosalis unlocked the door and he walked up to her, nodded once.

“I am getting you out of here.” She whispered to him. “I have a ship waiting.”

He nodded once more.

“Can you not speak?”

Averill opened his mouth and Rosalis saw that his tongue had been cut out. She grimaced slightly. He closed it. She gestured with her head.

“Come on.”

Averill followed after her as she continued forward. She then spotted a door with a five kilogram padlock. She looked at the plaque. Crazy Eyes Jake. She opened the hatch and almost immediately, Crazy Eyes Jake ran up to her, pressing his wild eyes to the open hatch. Rosalis stepped back slightly in shock.

“What do you want?” He asked her. “Why are you here?”

“I am here to break you out.” She replied.

“Break me out you say?” His eyes dashed about everywhere, searching for something and then fixed themselves back to her. “Deal.” Suddenly, there was a small squeak and Crazy Eyes Jake dashed away from the door, diving to the floor. He grabbed a mouse in both of his hands and Rosalis looked in a slight horror and he proceeded to bite its head off. He spat the head out and lifted the headless carcass above his head, pouring the mouse’s blood into his mouth. He swallowed the blood with great satisfaction. He threw away the carcass and snapped his head to her, a drop of blood dripping down one side of his lips. “Well? What are you waiting for?”

Rosalis unlocked the door and strained slightly as she carefully put down the padlock onto the floor. Crazy Eyes Jake opened the door and joined her. They stopped by a third door. Razor Russel. Rosalis opened the hatch and Razor looked up at her. He looked at the two criminals beside her.

“I presume that you are here to break me out?” He asked her.

“Yes I am.”

Razor grinned and Rosalis could see that his teeth were replaced with metal spikes, looking like he could easily tear someone’s throat out. She opened the door and he stepped over to her, nodded. “Lead the way.”

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Continuing forward, they stopped by a fourth door. One Armed Orion. Rosalis opened the hatch. One Armed Orion was clad in the same dirty rags that everyone else was dressed in, save for one sleeve that was torn off and sewed up, hence his name. He looked up at her.

“What is this?” He asked. “A breakout?”

“That's exactly what this is.”

“So unlock the bloody door.”

Without asking, Rosalis did so. One Armed Orion walked up to her. They went to continue forward when Rosalis saw Razorʼs expression. She turned to him. “What is it?”

“He's got three-quarters of the limbs that we have, how is he going to help us?”

Orion suddenly punched Razor in the face and got him in a headlock. He fell onto his back and Razor squirmed about, choking, trying to escape the grasp. Rosalis stood in place and did nothing. “I'm sorry, you were saying something?” Orion asked him.

“No...I—wasn't.” He gurgled through the choke hold. Orion released him and Rosalis chuckled. She reached out her hand to him and he grabbed it, allowing himself to be pulled up back onto his feet. They came to another door. Bullseye Jaxon. Rosalis opened the hatch for a fifth time. One of Jaxon's eyes was covered with an eyepatch that was made out of a strip of fashioned leather.

“What is your speciality, pray tell?” Rosalis asked him.

“I'm an archer.” He told her, but then tilted his head, gesturing with one of his hands. “Or...I was.”

Rosalis unlocked the gate and he stepped up to her, looked at the newcomers. He looked at her.

“Why are you breaking us out? You're a knight.”

“I was a knight. I am now queen of Wolfholde and I want you to help me take back Frinnor. I need people with experience, people that know how to kill, people that know how to stay under the radar.”

“Okay, deal.”

Rosalis looked at the other criminals and they all nodded, almost in unison. She hung up the keys on a nail and gestured with her head. “Come on, we are getting out of here.” She led the way as the rest of the killers followed in her wake, sticking to the shadows. They crept through the dungeon, salvation in sight when suddenly, there was a shout.

“We have prisoners loose!”

They proceeded to run through the dungeon and came to the last room, the exit less than fifty metres away from them. Suddenly, the guards blocked their way, stealing their easy option of escape. They were all armed with swords. One of them ran at Rosalis and she drew her sword out, quickly disarming him. Orion grabbed the sword that skittered over to him and joined in the brawl. Averill disarmed a knight, wrenching his sword out of his grip and immediately killed him. He killed another knight and kicked the fallen sword over to Jake who grabbed it up off the ground and proceeded to slaughter any knight that dared to face his mania. Suddenly, all of the knights ran at them and a battle ensued. Razor suddenly grabbed a knight by shoulders and wrenched his head to the side. He dug his metal teeth into the knight's neck, tearing his throat out. Taking the chunk of meat, he squeezed the blood into his mouth as the knight bled out and died almost immediately. Jaxon disarmed one knight, wrenching the bow out of his grip and headbutted him in the face. He proceeded to punch him in the throat once, killing him immediately and stole his weapons off of him. He knocked an arrow into the bow and began to pick off the knights, one by one. An arrow flew by and impaled itself into one guard's eye. He dropped to the ground. Jaxon let loose another arrow and it hit another guard in the throat, protruding out from the other side. Blood squirted onto the floor. “Come on!” Rosalis roared over the brawl. “We are getting out of here!” She fled as the rest followed after her. Averill suddenly grabbed a knight and threw him towards the others, knocking a large group of them to the ground. They all made it outside and then Rosalis proceeded to scream, “Cast off! Cast off!”

Seeing the fleeing killers and the knights pursuing them, the custodian immediately undid the rope and they all boarded the ship. The knights skidded onto the ground, almost falling into the sea and yelled, screamed and cursed as they all escaped from their sights.

The regent king’s herald and custodian stood in front of him as he sat in the throne, discussing matters. “What should we do about Rosalis?” He asked.

“The kingdom cannot have another ruler until Rosalis is either dead or she abdicates the throne.” The regent king pointed out. “She is a ruler of two kingdoms. Rosalis needs to die and Wolfholde needs to be destroyed.”