Chapter 2: In the dungeons

The chariot swayed and rocked as it progressed on it's way over the bumpy road. It was definitely no excessive luxury that the seats in the chariot had fluffy cushions. Although the bright pink of the cushions would surely hurt everyone's eyes, except the princess's,it did nothing to diminish the comfort and softness.

The passengers riding the chariot hardly uttered more than two words among eachother. The trip had been a long and boring one, the scenery outside no longer a reason of fascination to the young, terribly spoiled princess. They had been driving trough the forest for hours, and the end was nowhere in sight. After seeing the beautifull landscapes, varying from hills to lakes and meadows, and plains and cherryblossom gardens, the dark forest held no source of interest for the princess, and after a few attempts to brighten her spirit, she had snapped at her maids to keep quiet and let her sulk.

The chariot was surrounded by the princess's personal guard, and she lazyly looked at the one riding next to her chariot. He was reasonably good looking, for a guard that is. As the only heir of Magnolia, the princess was not allowed to have premerital affairs, but that didn't keep her from toying arround with her guards, whenever she felt like it. But she couldn't remember playing with this particular guard before. Maybe, when they would stop for the night, she could order him to be her personal watchman for the night, and mess with him a bit. As long as she didn't give her female innocence to him, the throne would not be in jeopardy.

Lucy lightly shuddered at the idea of conceiving a bastard child from one of her guards. Toying with them was all the fun she wanted for now, especially with the destination of her trip in mind. She was on her way to meet her future husband, the young prince of the north that she had been promised to since birth. She never laid eyes on him before, but with her sixteenth birthday two weeks ago, her father, the King, had decided it was time for the young betrothed pair to meet. And like all arranged marriages, Lucy had nothing to say in the matter.

Lucy sighed with boredom. She sure hoped this prince would at least be handsome. He probably wouldn't be. Why else would his father arrange a marriage for him? That could only mean he was too ugly to find a proper wife himself. O ,If only the princess had the right to choose a husband herself. Surely her mother wouldn't have allowed this if she knew how unhappy it made Lucy. Ofcourse she agreed to it when Lucy was born, but if her mother could see her now, she would certainly protest against it. Unfortunately, the beloved Queen had deseased at young age, felled by the black plague.

The princess laid eyes on her guard again. It was strange that she couldn't even remember his face. Surely she didn't care about her guards, but she knew all of their faces, and heaven forbid she would forget the face of a handsome man. As she studied his face intensely, he shortly looked her way, something guards were not suposed to do. As he caught her looking at him, he grinned in the most charming way, causing her to blush. Lucy quickly sat back on her seat, refusing to look at him again. He was not suposed to look at her, let alone smile at her. How dare he make her blush?! She toyed around with the guards, not the other way around.

Leaning forward again, she peaked around the curtains adorning the chariots windows, carefully making sure he wouldn't catch her looking at him again. But this time the guard didn't seem interested in the chariot at all, and even less in the princess. How infuriating. The guard suddenly seemed solely focussed on the forest surrouding them, and whistled shortly in appreciation of his surroundings.

There was a short disturbance in the front lines of the small Royal convoy, and the leading guard called for a halt. Lucy grunted in annoyance. It wasn't time to halt yet. Irritated she stuck her head out of the window, looking at the road in front of them. Adressing the guard, she ordered an explanation.

"What is the problem? Why did we stop"

Looking ahead the guard answered her.

"It seems a tree has fallen on the road, your Highness. We might have to find another way."

"But I was told this is the fastest way out of the forest."

The guard nodded and shifted in his sadle.

"It is, Princess. But I'm afraid we don't have another choice."

Grunting once more, Lucy sank back into her seat again. Her personal nurse slightly patted her on her left hand.

"No worries, my dear. I'm sure the captain will find a proper solution."

Lucy did not reply. She had dreaded the long trip to the north, and now it seemed it would take them even longer to get there. Her fears were confirmed when the Captain positioned his steed next to the chariot, and adressed one of the dames.

"I'm sorry, but there's a fallen tree on the road, and we can't get around it. We will have to take a left turn and take the longer route out of the forest."

The dame he had been talking to nodded in understanding as the princess averted her eyes, once again irritated,and looked at the handsome guard again. He seemed quite restless, eager to move on. He must hate the forest as much as the princess did. The way he kept looking around seemed almost nervous to her.

The Captain, having reclaimed his place at the front of their convoy, shouted orders to move on, and the chariot started moving again. The convoy took the only other route it could take, taking them into the forest to the left. After a few minutes, the convoy entered a clearing in the forest, a wide open meadow. The guard whistled in appreciation again, and Lucy looked to see what was impressing him.

Within seconds the meadow was filled with noise, cries from the guards and orders, shouted by the captain. Lucy only saw how arrows came flying from the cover of the trees, and the meadow filled with men dressed in black hoods, covering their faces with the waving fabric. The next moment a boulder, likely swung from a large katapult, hit the right front wheel of the chariot , shattering it, causing the chariot to fall sideways. The princess and her maids screamed with terror, as the princess was thrown out of the chariot by the momentum of the fall, and as she looked up, the whole meadow was in disarray. The Royal guards were fighting with the robbers, desperately trying to protect the princess.

"Milady! Quickly! We must run and hide!"

The princess's maids crouched next to her, shielding her with their bodies. The guard that had grinned at her had abandoned his horse, and stomped towards her.

"I cannot allow you to run."

He forcefully yanked one of the younger maids away from the princess, and when she screamed, he quickly silenced her, cutting her troath with his hunting knife. Blood sprayed over the princess, who was still kneeling on the dirt next to her chariot, and as her mouth fell open and her eyes popped wide in shock, the dead body of her maid dropped to the grass, blood pooling around her fast. Before Lucy had the chance to move, her personal nurse blocked her view, pulling a knife from the folds of her skirt.

"Stand back, you scoundrel. I have no idea how you managed to infiltrate the royal guard, but your wicked ways end here."

For a moment the fake guard, wich was obviously on the robbers' side, looked surprised at the older woman's claim. But it only took him a second to calculate the odds of her defeating him, and they were very slim at most. Smiling like the wicked man she accused him to be, he took one large step towards her, so quickly, the poor nurse didn't have the time to move. Her knife missed its purpose completely, as the man pierced her straight trough the heart with force, effortlessly tossing her aside, as she gasped her last breaths, allowing herself to call the princess's name one last time.

"Lucy..."

Tears filled Lucy's eyes as she looked at the only woman she ever cared for after her mother's death.

"Nana! Nana, no!"

The screams of her maids pried her eyes away from her nurse, the woman who took care of her all her life, only to see how the last two maids dropped to the soil as well, the life drained from them the moment the man severed their arteries. Stricken with fear, Lucy crawled back against her severely damaged chariot, absolutely sure it was her turn to face death. But the robber just stood there, looking at her as the ruckus arround them slowly diminished. The screams and shouts of the royal guard died out one by one, as the band of robbers succesfully slayed every single one of them. Lucy saw her loyal Captain, kneeled between a few robbers, forced to his knees by their strength. He looked her way for the last time, and smiled at her encouragingly, only a second before the robbers' leader severed his head with swords that seemed to be attached to his arms. Lucy screamed in agony , and let her head hang low as she sobbed.

...

...

Crying, Lucy woke up from her nightmare. The memories of those terrible, frightning events haunted her in her sleep, and her body felt sore from the tension as she regained conciousness. Her arms were lifted above her head in a very uncomfortable way, and frankly said, it hurt. When she opened her eyes, it took her some time to adjust to the darkness of her surroundings. Where was she?

"Finally awake,Princess?"

A low, bass voice drew her attention to the far corner of the cave-like cell she appeared to be in. Lucy strained her eyes in an attempt to see the owner of that voice. She was sure she never heard it before, so it couldn't be one of the robbers that had attacked her and her guards. She could only see vague shapes, since the only light present, was a torch further down the cave corridors outside of her cell. She could see the iron bars locking her in, and against those bars leaned a man. The shape she could distinguish, was tall and muscled. It seemed his shoulders were plated with armor, and his long hair was combed back, to fall down along his shoulders and upper back. A cape waved behind him.

"Who are you?"

Lucy's curiosity overtook her fear shortly, even though her voice still trembled at the sight of this unknown man.

"My name does not concern you. You won't be able to tell anyone either way."

His voice rumbled trough the cell, and he sounded like he was older than the King, even though his voice and his stance were still strong. He pushed himself off the bars, and took one slow step towards the princess.

"See, I don't intend to let you go home. It suits me a lot better to keep you here. Either that, or I will just have you killed."

Lucy cried in silence, hoping the dark would prevent him from seeing her tears. The man turned his body to his right, showing his impressive profile, even though Lucy was still unable to see his face. His cape waved with the movement, right before the man was suddenly engulfed in a shadow that seemed to appear out of nowhere, and without another word he dissapeared. Lucy looked at where he had been standing just a second ago. How could he just dissapear like that? Who was that man?

Her thoughts were interupted by the echoing sound of heavy footsteps down the cave corridor, coming her way. Pinned to the wall by iron cuffs, Lucy was unable to hide, although that was exactly what she wanted to do right now. Considering she was imprisoned by those robbers, whatever came her way, scared her. And for good reason. With the light of another torch, came the leader of the robbers who had attacked and killed her entire guard. The man that one of the robbers had called Gajeel. The wolflike man, with metal all over him, and hair as black as night. He was followed by two other men, also with torches, and the three of them came to a halt in front of her cell.

Only now Lucy noticed there was no door in her cell. Only a wall of bars. Before she could wonder about this, the man named Gajeel lifted his hand, and as he slowly waved it to the side, the bars bent, creating an opening big enough for him to pass trough. The other two men followed after him, putting the torches in their holders on the cave walls, illuminating the cell enough for Lucy to see her surroundings. And also the humilliating fact that she was still in her undergarments.

The two unknown men left the cell, and Gajeel waved his hand again, closing the bars behind them, sealing her in with him. Too scared to wonder how he could bent the bars with just a wave of his hand, Lucy stared at the wolflike man. Adamant in her pride, she lift her chin and looked him straight in the eye, with the coldest look she could master. Gajeel only snickered at her attempt to hide her fear.

"Now now, blondie. If only looks could kill. You might have a chance here. How unfortunate you are not capable of mastering such a power."

He mocked her with another snicker, and Lucy bit her lip to prevent it from trembling.

"Shall we remove those?"

With another wave of his hand, the cuffs on Lucy's wrists released her, and weak and exhausted, she fell to her knees. Gajeel came towards her, and crouched before her, the way he had done back in the meadow. With a jerking movement, she backed away from him, slamming her back into the wall, resulting in another snicker from him. He put down a plate on the rocky floor, and as she looked at it her mouth watered at the sight of the food on it. And not just any food. Fruits, milk, freshly baked bread, cheese and cream.

"Why are you feeding me? Aren't I your prisoner?"

Gajeel got back on his feet with a grin as he nodded.

"Well, yeah. But there's no point in letting you die, before I get what I want."

Lucy gulped audibly.

"What do you want from me?"

"Everything I can get out of this."

And after a last, lustfull look at her body, he turned on his heels, bent the bars again, and left, making sure the bars would bent back, so she was sealed in again. Desperate by the bleak prospects of her imprisonment, Lucy hid her face in her hands, and cried as loud as she dared.

Back in his room, Gajeel sat on his bed, elbows on his knees, and his forehead resting on his wrists. A sudden surge of power made him aware of the precense of another man, and looking up and to his left, he saw the Dark One sitting in the most comfortable chair he owned. Getting off the bed, Gajeel got down on one knee with his head bowed down, and his right hand on his heart.

"Master."

"Get up."

The Dark mages voice sounded harsh and demanding, and Gajeel jumped to his feet.

"Have you done as I told you?"

"Yes, Exalted One."

"Spare me your flattery. You have been sloppy. I had to go back to that wretched meadow to make your mess look like an assault from Tartarus, you unusefull swine!"

The Dark mage got up from his chair and got right in front of Gajeel, his face deformed with anger, his eyes darkening. Gajeel looked down to avoid his gaze, knowing very well what power those eyes held.

"I ordered you to make it look like an attack from those rebellious tramps, so the traces wouldn't lead back to me, but you and your band went about that meadow like a band of baboons!"

His hand slapped Gajeel in the face, causing him to stumble back a few steps. Rubbing his cheek, he kneeled again.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again, my Lord."

"Indeed."

After a short silence, passed with the Dark mage pacing around the room, and Gajeel impatiently waiting, praying for him to leave, Gajeel got back on his feet slowly.

"If I may,my Lord, do you really think feeding that blondie with luxury will make her talk?"

Grinning devilishly, the Dark One turned to face him.

"She has to regain strength. She has been passed out for three days. It would be a shame if she would die from exhaustion the first time you interogate her."

Widening his smile to a wicked, deformed grin, he continued.

"I want the torture to have it's full effect."

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A/N : Thanks for reading! I hope this chapter was to your liking; this story is different from anything I ever wrote so far, fanfic or other, and I'm trying to improve my writing skills. Please leave a review, for that will only help me to improve more! Thank you very much!