I walked through the busy trading stalls clutching at my newly cut shoulder length dirty blond hair. If I was a regular princess, I would be astounded by how people failed to notice their future queen on sight. Then again, I was not a normal one. Whenever our family had time for all of us to play a game when I was small, no one could ever find me. It went as far as to my mother calling the palace guards to find me! In truth, I was simply retrieving a snack when they found me because I was terribly hungry, but I let them have their victory.

It was not a regular occurrence for me to be going out among the citizens, so I did not know my way around. Last night, I had cut my hair short so I would not be recognized immediately. I decided that I would help my family and kingdom, not by marrying a prince I had never met, but by finding out where my family had gone. Hoping there may be clues out in the kingdom, I thought that perhaps I could listen in on an ongoing conversation about the scandal yesterday.

I squinted my blue eyes toward a particularly dark alley where I had seen the kidnappers run through while carrying my sister and my mother. It would make sense that maybe they left some sort of clue as to where they went. However, I hesitated. Never had I gone this far without anybody watching me. Then again, it was always a bit annoying when I was not allowed to handle any sort of affair by myself. Breathing deeply, I walked briskly through the dark hallway.

As I did so, I could not help but notice the red stains smudging the floor at various places. Perhaps it was red wine, I thought to myself in a weak attempt to mask the horror and fear that quite obviously stopped my heart. Yet, that was nothing compared to what I found when I got the dead end. Pirates.

Slowly approaching, I noticed that they were too busy playing a game involving dice to notice me. The one currently rolling it had dark brown skin and was obviously confident in winning. As I watched, I realized that the game was quite easy, simply guessing a number and if the dice rolls to your number, you win whatever somebody else offered if you won. I cheered along with him when his number rolled to the top. The man next to the winner wrapped an arm around his shoulder and said, "Alright, what's the next bet? We got this covered!"

The winner rolled his eyes and said in a foreign accent,"I'm not doing anymore, Grant. We have to get back to the ship."

The man in front of me yelled, "I got a map that could be up for grabs if someone else tries!"

The Grant fellow squinted at him. "What's the map lead to?" he asked curiously.

He laughed. "Map to the COC base, of course. Did you hear? Just the other day, they took the queen and her princess! Too bad they missed that younger one, though. Then this kingdom would be ripe for the taking."

My hands began to clench when I heard these words, but then I fully comprehended what this man said the map was. He was directly in front of me. So was the map. Could I really get away with it?

Grant's friend pursed his lips while I tried to ever so slowly pull the map away from the man's pocket. He spoke. "How do we know this map of yours is even accurate?"

My fingers stopped dead. Until he laughed again and said, "I know it's real because the cloaked guys dropped it when the princess was wriggling around, yelling about why would he would wear brown with yellow. You can imagine how hard he hit her."

This was my chance. I grabbed the map and attempted to back away slowly as they said, "Fine, we'll roll."

So close was I to freedom...yet I backed so far that I tripped over an uneven cobblestone and tripped over loudly. Every single one of them turned around, and seeing that I had the map they were about to bet on, the previous map owner promptly took out one of the biggest swords I have ever seen and threw it on me.

It was lucky that there was a puddle where my hand was, for I wouldn't have slipped and the sword would not have missed. That being said, I wonder if there was a reason for the puddle's foul odor. The sword hit the wall behind me with a sharp pang that left my heart beating for a second before I ran off.

I could tell they were well on my tail, so I ran a few corners, and accidentally bumped through the crowd. "Pardon me, excuse my presence, oh, what nice hair you have! Excuse me..."

Finally, I was able to find my way out of the crowd. I expected to see them at a hair's length, so I do not know why I dared to look back. When I did so, however, there was nobody following me. I sighed. Putting my hands over my face to recover, I wondered how I was able to lose them so quickly. Obviously, anyone would have been taken over by the waves of people brushing through, correct?

Absorbed in my thoughts, I didn't notice the fact that perhaps I should have uncovered my eyes while walking, because the next thing I knew, unconsciousness had taken over.

I woke up being dumped out the barrel I had apparently fallen into and closed. My eyes were still blurry, but I made out a figure standing above me with a dumbfounded expression on her face. She turned her head to the side as if to address someone, but still kept her eyes on me. "I think the apples may have been infested, Captain."