Chapter Three

"Aahh, so I see you're finally awake," Henry greeted, surveying the groggy Yorkist.

"W-where?" asked an obviously disoriented Rosenkreuz. His hair was tousled and his white clothes were disheveled and in places smudged with dirt or grime.

"You are in my dungeon in my fort, and you are my prisoner Rosenkreuz."

No!" Rosenkreuz struggled vainly against the chains that held him, attempting to strike out at Henry and escape.

"Don't worry; your precious army will be fine without you. We'll have dispensed with them long before they can fall into true disarray," Henry smirked. Rosenkreuz growled angrily at him, still straining against the chains.

"What do you want from me?" he asked viciously.

"Everything," stated Henry. "There locations of you troops, your stocks of supplies and weapons, the weaknesses of your strongholds, and the secret passage into the palace."

Seto stared at Henry for several moments in utter disbelief, taking in what he had just been told.

"You expect me to betray my army, my people? …" He whispered in disbelief, and then suddenly began to laugh bitterly. Henry glared at him in frustration.

"You won't be laughing for long, not after the interrogators have had their way with you!" he fumed before storming out, slamming the heavy door and shutting out the sounds of Rosenkreuz's deep chuckles.

(Thisisabreaksorespectit!)

Seto let his eyes drop slowly closed, not that it made much difference. The cell was so dim, dark, and plain, that there really wasn't that much to see in the first place. His eyes were tired, and he let out a deep sigh, sinking deeper down the wall. To tell the truth, he had never liked the dark that much, and certainly not small cell-like spaces… Heh… Who was he kidding, 'cell-like'? Not like, it was a cell. Shifting uncomfortably, he considered what Henry had told him. His army was likely where he had left them, safe for the moment, but leaderless. He himself was now a captive, possibly a hostage, and expected to fulfill the demands of his captors. The Lancastrians were attempting to take the Kingdom of York. They were considering some sort of siege of the palace for Ra's sake!

The Yorkist palace was an ancient citadel, and was considered unconquerable, having been laid siege upon more than once in recorded history. Built by the Yorkists' forefathers, it was both beautiful and impenetrable. The architecture superb, lending both aesthetic and structural prowess. The palace served as the home of the royal family, also the capital and seat of power of the Kingdom. It was however known to have some carefully guarded secrets, in the way of passages, tunnels, and escape routes. Henry wanted to know the palace secrets, to exploit them in his attempt to seize the Yorkist Empire. He had in fact been systematically kidnapping various individuals he believed might be forced into revealing such information. What Henry didn't realize, was that the true secrets of both the palace and the empire itself were known only to the royal family itself, and in turn taught to the heirs, thus rendering all his efforts to discover them by such trivial means, useless.

Seto's musing was cut short by the opening of the door to his cell, heralding the entrance of the 'interrogator' Henry had mentioned earlier. 'Oh joy,' he thought.

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A/N: Pinfeathers: Another short chapter, but I wanted to get something up; it's been quite a while since I wrote or posted anything really… So here it is anyway, I'm writing as I type now, rather than writing a hard copy and then typing it up.