Chapter 1: Awake

Darkness enveloped him. Ugh, what happened? Where am I? The last thing he remembered was charging into a room weapon blazing. His head started to hurt after that, then he was here. He tried to move and was startled with how weak he had become. What's going on here, atrophy? His stomach ached like he hadn't eaten in weeks, and it felt like someone had kicked him between the legs. A dull throbbing pain that seemed to shoot through his entire body. Reaching down on instinct he was met with shock.

“THEY SHOT MY BALLS OFF!” he yelped, but it was worse than that. There was nothing, it was all gone. “Those fucking terrorists! What do I do? Waaaa!” Even his voice seemed to have raised a few octaves, and in the back of his mind the thought went through that this was some kind of cruel joke that could only happen in cartoons.

After a long while of crying into his pillow Declan Cunningham raised himself up on the bed he was laying on. Wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes and moving the hair from his face he looked around the room he was in. It was dark.

“Must be nighttime, but how long was I out for my hair to grow this long?” he thought out loud. “My muscles have atrophied too it seems like, I can even feel my ribs...” And this voice of mine, isn't this a bit too much? He sounded like a girl, a little on the husky side. Maybe I can go on Britain's got Talent and win? He chuckled to himself. It was so off he was having a hard time processing it all. Then he felt his chest.

“...”

No, just no, but there was no denying it, “BOOBS?! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?” Falling back on the bed Declan slipped back into oblivion.

-*-

His eyes fluttered open as he shot up on his bed again. He had no way of knowing how much time had passed as his cell was still dark. No, I guess I'm a she now. What kind of fucked up hospital is this? Peering about the room she stepped lightly on the cold stone floor, noting her lack of footwear.

“This is odd, a hospital with stone flooring?” A flash of fear shot through her then, “The enemy must have captured me then, there's no way terrorists living in caves would have anything other than stone flooring.” If that was the case then he(?) was in deep trouble. “Still, I've never heard of terrorists performing sex change operations on their captives, something ain't right here.”

With that Declan walked, or rather shuffled over to what looked like a door on the other side of the room, noting what looked like (and smelled like) a chamber pot in the corner. Barred window, reinforced wood with metal, locked tight. Definitely not a hospital. In fact it was more like a dungeon cell, and she could hear voices on the other side speaking in raucous tones. A small bit of flickering light was trickling through the bars onto the floor, a torch must be out there. Where am I? Afghanistan, in the caves? He wouldn't be surprised, the last mission he'd been on was near the border taking care of some opium growers. He or she? A small voice seemed to say. “Maaaa, I'll deal with that later!” For now I have to escape!

Throwing her head around she scanned the room. There had to be something to make a shiv with, a wood splinter, a rock anything! As soon as the guards came she'd do it. This body though, it's so weak, how long have I been in here? Unconsciously she'd decided to go with she for now. When she thought about it she noticed that not only were the important manly bits gone, but her whole body was different. It felt as though she'd lost an entire foot of height. That's impossible, shaking her head of those thoughts she continued her search.

Suddenly the voices she had heard earlier seemed to be getting closer and she could start to make out certain words little by little. The language wasn't Dari, or anything like Farsi at all, more like a mixture of German with Russian. Luckily the CIA loved linguists like Declan, and after he'd served a few military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan they had enthusiastically employed him. While the overall sentence structure eluded her, she felt like she could pick up the gist of the conversation fairly well. It wasn't good, and with dread he realized why it still felt like someone had kicked him in the groin.

“Gahahaha, you had your turn an hour ago Boris! You still want more, you sick bastard? Hahahaa!” a voice floated into his cell. Declan shivered.

“Shut up Will, his wife just left his sorry ass after all, HAHAHA!” another jovial voice cut in.

“Hehe, you two are just jealous, I'll buy you a couple drinks after I'm done so just be quiet while I have my fun with her!” This voice was much closer, and seemed to be yelling back down a long hallway. She could hear the mutters of the other too receding as they seemed to be walking back the way they came. Declan's eyes narrowed, shit shit shit, they can't mean me can they? There had to be other prisoners, but if there were she hadn't heard anything from other cells. Where there other cells?

Footsteps could be heard finally, and the jingling of keys. Throwing her eyes around the room they finally rested on the chamber pot. Perfect! Shambling over to the corner Declan grabbed the small wooden bucket, trying to ignore the vile stench emitting from it, then ran to the wall with the entrance and put her back against the wall on the right side of the reinforced door. A small thought in the back of her mind noted the rags she was wearing, as bare skin met the stone wall. Guess a prisoner wouldn't be wearing an Armani three piece suit, she thought wryly. Declan waited, weakened muscles trembling, when another idea struck.

With an evil grin, Declan emptied the chamber pot right in front of the door. Now you can slip on your ass in my shit. The bucket wasn't so heavy now either, but the stench was now five fold worse and the vile liquids were pooling around her bare feet. Gaaa, bear with it, I have to get out of here! Finally the footsteps stopped in front of the door and she could hear the jingle of keys.

“Oi, what are you looking at brat?” Snarled the the guard at the door. Declan froze.

“Haven't you all had enough? She doesn't even scream anymore! Isn't she dead already?” A young voice nearby called out, followed by a scuffling kicking noise.

“That'll teach you brat,” the guard's voice rang out, then he muttered, “you wouldn't understand, or would you...thief!” Another kick and then silence. “Hmmpf”

Suddenly the sound of a key sliding into it's lock could be heard, the distinct click and slowly the door to Declan's cell opened.

“FUAAA, what happened in here little missy?” bellowed the guard as he stepped in, light pouring in with him as he left the door open, “You have an accident here, augh the stink!” As he was busy peering at the soiled floor before him he failed to notice two gleaming blue eyes behind him, hiding behind the now open door.

In an instant Declan hurled herself, bucket in hand at the man. Swinging the bucket overhead she brought it down violently on top of the guard's unsuspecting head. With a crash the chamber pot shattered and the man, shocked from the impact, slipped on the fetid excrement on the ground. In a flurry of movement Declan tried to get the man in a headlock, but it was no use, her body was too weak and she was easily thrust to the side.

“YOU BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU!” the guard shouted as he tried to regain his feat. He was a fat man and now covered in the contents of the chamber pot was having a difficult time getting back up.

Declan had not stopped moving however, the basics of CQC stated that you should never stop moving, one move should flow into another. As she slid down the wall she rolled to the side into the fat man's blind spot, picked up a splinter from the broken bucket, and with both hands used it to stab into his back. As he let out a howl of pain she noticed his hand flailing for something at his side, he had a short sword strapped to his belt. From her position straddling him on his back it was easy to reach down with her left hand and yank the sword free, and in one swift movement it was over. Staggering back against the wall, she heaved a sigh and slid down, grasping her knees as she plopped onto the floor.

“A-amazing!” stammered a boy from across the hallway. “I've never seen such movements in my life! H-hey, you're escaping right? We should work together, I can help! I've got tons of skills, so please lets get out of here together, Winter!”

Winter? Ah this language seems easy enough, but it's still weird. Is that some kind of sentence ending particle, desu? As she pondered the strange sentence structure Declan raised her head to peer at the boy sitting across from her in an iron barred cell, he looked like he'd just been dumped out of a moving car. His bright green eyes looked over her as she sat hugging her knees. He had a handsome face with short messy brown hair. He looked like a trouble maker, there was a somewhat mischievous air about his boyish features.

I'll give this a try then, “Was ist name yours?” She stated looking at the boy across from her.

The boy gaped at her as she got up and yanked the sword out from the back of the guard's neck. “Uh, I'm Lox,” he stammered looking nervous. Declan was retrieving the keys from the dead body and he continued, “I-I'm sorry, I could hear everything they were doing to you,” his face almost looked pale. “I honestly thought you had died or something, but that was three days ago when you stopped...” he paused as he looked up at her unlocking the cell door for him. “I-I'm sorry, I couldn't do anything Winter.”

Think I'm getting the gist of this language, still, whats with Winter? “Kein worry,” she stated flatly, “jetzt ist time not, later speak we,” she smiled then trying to make him comfortable.

“Oi, how hard did they beat her?” muttered Lox as he got up and exited the cell.

“Hearing you,” Declan said slightly depressed. Damn, I must sound broken in the head or something, I'll just have to keep listening and see what I can pick up. With that they started down the hallway toward where the guard room must be located. She worried that the smell from the chamber pot might alert the guards, but the whole dungeon seemed to have a generally distasteful odor. The dank hallway was long and straight, and oddly there were no other prisoners.

“I think everyone's being executed,” said Lox following behind her. He must have noticed Declan looking into the other cells, not that she had any interest in freeing other fugitives, she just didn't want to set any other alarms. “Hey, what are we going to do when we get to the guard room? I know you took out that one pig, but the others aren't lazy like him I don't think, and there are at least two in there.”

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Talk too viel you do,” said Declan in annoyance. It wasn't long before they could see lamplight streaming through a cracked door and hear the rough voices of too men within bantering with each other. In a whispered voice Declan motioned Lox to be quiet, “I go, execute wachen in there, you supporting wann something happen that bad ist.” She shook her head after saying so much, hoping that he understood.

Lox only nodded, “Okay.” Likely he would rush in at the same time anyway, as he seemed to take on a determined look to his face. They gathered on either side of the door, and counting down with her fingers they burst through the door, Declan first with Lox hot on her heels. The guards were sitting at a table playing some sort of card game. That barely registered as Declan sunk the short sword into the guard nearest her, piercing the man's heart before he could utter a scream. As she yanked the sword free Lox and the other guard collided into each other, knocking her to the ground.

In a daze Declan tried to regain his feet and get a hold of the situation. Lox and the guard were grappling on the ground, she couldn't get a good swipe in with the sword as they were rolling around exchanging punches and trying to choke each other. Luckily it looked like Lox had spent a lot of time brawling, and after a time he was able to turn the man around and get him into a choke hold. It wasn't long before the guard collapsed unconscious onto the floor still breathing.

Lox got up breathing heavily, his muscles heaving. What an odd thing for me to notice. Shaking her head Declan handed him the other guard's short sword.

“That was dangerous,” he said still breathing hard, “Ah, good idea, we might need these still,” he said taking the sword. “It was good you took out the magic user first Winter, we'd have been dead for sure.”

“Magic?” Her eyebrows shot up incredulously before she snorted in disbelief. What kind of back country podunk have I landed in? It was then that she noticed the man she had stabbed was wearing a light robe, and the staff holding a small crystal that was leaning against the wall near where he had been sitting. “Magic...”

“Anyway, we should be out of here,” said Lox nervously, not noticing the girl's obvious confusion. “We're pretty far away from the exit, but I hope no one was able to hear what happened just now.” As he turned to leave Declan noted that he hadn't finished off the unconscious guard. Walking past the man, she pierced him in the throat and roughly slashed horizontally, severing his jugular. Lox stood agape, then slowly nodded to himself as he seemed to come to an understanding. “It's only natural...he was the worst one to her,” he muttered under his breath.

Declan could barely make out what Lox had said. Better to have no witnesses, you never know when someone will wake up and raise an alarm, he thought to himself.

As they made their way up the stairs Declan began to think about his situation. I'm escaping a dungeon. The language is like...a mix of something I've heard before but not anything I can place. There seems to be magic, and those guards had swords and what looked like chainmail. “Where the hell am I?” the last was in English, and suddenly her legs gave out as energy seemed to seep out of her body. She could now somehow tell now which way was the way out, though only vaguely. Lox turned around at the sound of her collapsing and reached out with his hand.

“I didn't know you knew magic Winter.” Taking his hand she stood up on wobbly legs. “Looks like you exhausted yourself, here, I'll carry you,” he said offering his back.

“Haha, no,” she replied dismissively. As she fell to the ground in a heap. Again.

With a sigh Lox bent down and picked her up. He seems pretty dependable... The thought picked at the back of her mind and she flushed it away as fast as she could. I guess I'll try that end of sentence particle thing...desu. “This one ist in poop covered, winter,” she said shyly, “ist it not...bad? ...winter?” Why am I acting shy, he wondered.

“Those bastards, if I had the chance I'd kill them again for what they did to you,” Lox said shaking his head as he began to ascend the stairs once more. This time with the girl on his back. “Why are you saying your name like that anyways? It seems like you forgot how to speak after....a-after...all that happened.”

“Name?” she asked tilting her head to the side.

“Yeah,” he said turning his head to regard her, “you told me five days ago your name was Winter Ainsfeld, Third Princess of the Realm, Protector of the Gate, Watcher of the Path.”

The shock hit Declan like a truck and she found herself wrapped once more in darkness.

-*-

“Cunnigham's down, call a medic!” He could hear voices vaguely in the background as he lay on the ground. Something sticky was in his eyes, and he could only see the shape of a man above him. “A fucking claymore, where the fuck did they get fucking claymores?! Jackson! Hurry up with that, he's not gonna make it!” The noise seemed to fall into blackness, and then there was nothing.

-*-

Lox had barely been able to sneak past the guards on the way out of the palace. He thought palace, but it was almost more like a fortress. At least it was night time and he could move around easily. He knew the palace layout because he'd been there on several occasions, trying to stake out the area. Unfortunately he hadn't been able to even locate the treasury, but he assumed there were more guards in that area anyway, and he always avoided guards. Getting back over the wall to the outside had been the least of his worries.

Sneaking around with a girl on your back is tough! But at least she was light, too light. She'd been in the prison for who knows how long, he assumed it was something to do with the recent power shift in the royal faction, but he didn't pay too much attention to the likes of nobility and their ilk. One reason he had failed to use any honorifics when speaking to Winter. He'd call her Winter no matter what, because that was how he was. He almost wondered what he was getting into by saving this princess, but he put it aside easily. Whatever, she's cute! At least he thought she would be, once she got cleaned up and some food in her. He preferred a bit of meat on his women, like that Ella at the Broken Crow Inn. He let out a small smile as he thought of her jumping after a quick pinch.

He was out into the town proper now, winding his way through back streets. It would be a while yet before the guard change would find out the princess and a thief had escaped, he figured he would have at least until sunrise to get hidden. It was a massive city and there were plenty of places to hide.

“Ah, Clarissa is going to have my head this time!” he said despondently. Clarissa was his little sister, and only surviving family member. She was only in her ninth year but sometimes he wondered who was actually in charge between the two. She was bossy and mean and...and kept him out of trouble as best as she could. She was an outstanding individual, everyone who knew her praised her for her bright smile and her hard work ethic. She was smart, too smart, Lox thought, and she would see right through what had happened as soon as he showed his face at home, he just knew it.

“Nothing for it, I gotta get this girl somewhere safe, and there's nowhere better than at the guild.” Nobody would think to look for a scrapped princess at the Adventurer's Guild main hall. Clarissa worked as a clerk there and he himself was a registered guild member, so they had a rather large room to live in upstairs.

It took him a good thirty minutes before he arrived in front of the guild hall. It was a massive three story building made out of stone with large double doors standing before a small set of stairs. A bit of light shone from underneath the doors. Eagerly he ascended the stairs and made his way inside.

“Oi, it's Lox! Where have you been boy?” a big burly adventurer bellowed. “Clarissa's been in a fit you know! I'd watch out if I were you.”

“Thanks Bertram, I'll-” he began

“LOOOOOX!” A whirling fury of small fists and rage slammed into his side suddenly. “Where have you been?! You've been gone for a whole week! What happened to you!” A small girl who pelted him with tiny hands demanded. She wasn't even close to five feet tall but her onslaught was vicious.

“Whoa whoa I'm sorry Clarissa! H-hang on, I'll drop her!” Lox stammered back. He could see tears starting to form in the small girl's eyes, and also noted the stares of everyone in the guild hall. Most had stopped their eating and drinking to watch the spectacle. Bertram had vanished somehow. Smart man...

“Who is that?” Clarissa asked in a suspicious tone.

“Uh,” was all he could utter

“Don't give me uh, tell me who she is!” she said in a demanding voice, “and why do you smell terrible!?”

“It's a long story, can we get her cleaned up?” he asked, “I'll tell you after we get settled in.”

-*-

“So you found her lying in the sewer looking like this?” Clarissa asked. “I don't believe you,” she retorted in a deadpan voice.

“But it's the truth sis!” Lox's eyebrows rose just like they did whenever he lied, “I was looking around for a ring, from that quest, you know, the one that rich lady brought in a few days ago?”

“Andros completed that quest three days ago Lox,” she sighed. What a troublesome brother I have. “Besides, she looks familiar...”

“Egh,” something seemed to catch in Lox's throat.

Clarissa's eyes widened, “No, don't tell me,” she moaned. “What did you do brother?” Laying in Lox's bed was someone she had seen on a few occasions in the city. Mostly during festival parades or public gatherings, always in the background but always waving happily to her citizens. “This, please tell me this isn't Princess Winter.” She felt a headache coming on. “Please tell me the truth Lox, what happened?”

After that it was only a matter of throwing accusatory looks his way to get him to tell her the complete and total truth. My brother is an idiot!