Hannah: No, don't worry! It was just a quick hit on the back of the head! She's not that wounded. And...it's the Count I think you should be worried about, but I do love the name you gave the prince.
Alicia: No, don't worry, this is all part of my plan! My cunning plan! *devious grin of secrets*
Guiltypleasures1: SHEESH! Keep the spoilers to a minimum! *light tap on arm* I see you're new to the site, so I'll let you off with a warning...THIS TIME! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! ...in all seriousness, welcome to the site! And as for your question...you'll have to wait and see! Thanks for reviewing!
Chapter Ten
Westley and Jenna awoke chained inside of a giant cage. Jenna felt fine, aside from the throbbing headache she was given when the count hit her. Westley slept beside her. His wounds were worse than hers, but that was because he had fenced, wrestled, and been bitten by the R.O.U.S. But after he awoke, an Albino man appeared, entered the cage, and began to clean Westley's wounds. "Where are we?" Westley asked him.
"The Pits of Despair!" The Albino rasped. "Don't even think about…" He paused, coughed, and continued in a regular, almost pleasant, voice. "Don't even think about trying to escape. The chains are far too thick. And don't even think about being rescued. The count, the prince, and I are the only ones who know the way in."
"So we're NOT in the Pits of Despair!" Jenna scoffed. "We're in the Zoo of Death!" She had seen the exterior of the Zoo of Death on her grand tour of Florin, but she hadn't set foot inside. She looked around. "What level is this?" She couldn't see any animals, and certain animals were assigned to particular levels of the Zoo. The first floor held wild dogs, cheetahs, and hummingbirds. The second had anacondas and rhinos and enormous crocodiles. The third had spitting cobras, jumping spiders, and bats. And the fourth, a level which the Albino feared during feeding time, had the shrieking tarantula, the blood eagle, the sucking squid, and shrieking eels, and the mad sharks. "It's the fourth level, isn't it?" Jenna asked. "But where are the animals?"
The Albino shook his head. "You're on the fifth level."
Jenna froze. "But the fifth level was supposed to be empty…"
"Not anymore," the Albino said in a cheerful voice. "Prince Humperdinck was so pleased. He's always hoped for placing something worthy up here, something as dangerous and fierce and powerful as him."
"I would be flattered if I wasn't inside a cage," Westley spoke, eyeing the Albino. "You're going to kill us. Why bother curing us?"
"The prince and Count Rugen like the prisoners to be at their best before they're tortured."
"Oh, so we'll be tortured first?" Westley said. "I can cope with torture." He looked at Jenna. "And you'll be fine, too. I promise."
"I hope so…" Jenna gulped. The Albino shrugged and left them alone. Westley began to prepare Jenna for what was to come.
Alicia's wounds were healed within a day of their return to the palace, and life went on as usual. However, Buttercup began to sulk, and Alicia and Lulu began to fret over Jenna. They had only been with her for less than a day, and they missed her so much. "She's been doing this since the Fire Swamp," the girls heard Humperdinck whisper to Rugen one day as they passed them in the hall. "It's my father's poor health that has her spirits down."
By the end of the thirtieth day of festivities, with sixty more remaining until the big wedding, Buttercup was exhausted. During the day, during the parties, she had to smile and wave and curtsy over and over and over again. But Alicia and Lulu were the only ones who knew that she had terrible nightmares after the parties.
The first nightmare was of her becoming Queen Buttercup and being presented before the people. One person booed her for throwing away true love, and Buttercup woke up screaming. The next night she dreamed of giving birth to her first child, a baby girl, and the baby said, "There is no love in your milk, your milk has killed me." The baby crumbled to ash in her arms, and Buttercup woke up screaming. The night after that, she dreamed of giving birth to a son, a son who avoided her and called her a murderer until he died in her arms, and Buttercup woke up crying. The night after that, Lulu and Alicia did their best to keep Buttercup awake, but all three girls fell asleep, and Buttercup woke up gasping. She had dreamed that her parents had strangled her when she was born.
When there were fifty days left until the wedding, Alicia and Lulu escorted Buttercup to Humperdinck's office. They entered when they were allowed to, and Humperdinck frowned. "I see trouble in your eyes." Alicia helped Buttercup to a chair while Lulu fetched both the prince and Buttercup a glass of water.
The princess took a deep breath. "It comes to this. I love Westley and I made the worst decision in my life in the Fire Swamp when I walked away from him. If you are to tell me that I must marry you in fifty days, I will be dead by morning."
After a few stunned moments, the prince cleared his throat. "I admit that when we first became engaged, there was no love involved. But you must have noticed my change in attitude in this last month of parties and festivities. I have come to love you and would rather die than cause you unhappiness. I would call our wedding off...except for one thing. Have you considered the possibility that he might not want to marry you any longer?" Buttercup became pale. "How about this: you write him a letter, telling him everything. We'll make four copies of it, and I'll take my four fastest ships and order them off in all directions. The first one to encounter the ship Revenge will run the white flag of truce and deliver your letter. Then we'll see what will happen next."
"I think...I'm not sure, but I definitely think...that this is the most generous decision I have yet heard," Buttercup said. Lulu and Alicia nodded in agreement.
Humperdinck escorted them to the door. "Off with you now, sweet child, and write your letter," he said with a warm smile. Lulu and Alicia cast suspicious glances back at him.
"I still don't like him," Lulu whispered to Alicia.
"Neither do I," she replied. "What do you think he did with Fezzik and Inigo? Are they safe?"
"If they made it out of the Florin-Guilder Border safely, they're probably in the Thieves Quarter," Lulu said. "They'd be safe there, but we wouldn't be. Neither would Buttercup."
This was the night that they began to torture Jenna and Westley. Count Rugen did the actual torture, but Humperdinck was the one who asked the questions. "Do you have any complaints about the way you've been treated so far?" He wondered. Rugen took careful notes.
"Well, I've had better experiences, but I've had worse ones, so I really can't complain," Jenna said in an honest voice. "My legs are a little stiff from being chained up, but I feel fine."
"Then you'll be the first one we'll ask," Rugen sneered.
"Who hired you to kidnap Princess Buttercup?" Prince Humperdinck continued. "It was someone from Guilder. We found fabric indicating as much on Horse."
"On who?"
"On Horse."
"Who is Horse?"
"No, Horse is a Horse!"
"Wait, so Who is a Horse, and Horse is Who?"
"STOP IT!" Rugen shouted, interrupting both the prince and Jenna. He cleared his throat and said in a much calmer voice, "You're breaking my concentration."
"No one hired me," Jenna said. "My friend and I were working on our own. And we didn't kidnap her! We saved her from the kidnappers!"
"Tell us the truth or face torture," Humperdinck warned.
"But I'm telling the truth! No one hired us!"
Count Rugen set down his notes and stood. He opened a large jar of oil and dipped Jenna's hands in it. Afterwards, he brought both hands near the flame of a candle. As the oil bubbled, Jenna screamed, "NO ONE, NO ONE, ON MY LIFE!" After she had done this a significant amount of times, Rugen quenched her hands in water and allowed the Albino to see to her wounds. Once that was done, the three captors left...and Westley burst out laughing.
"That was a pretty convincing performance, if I do say so myself! You actually almost had me fooled for a moment!" He complimented.
"Aw, thanks!" Jenna blushed. "But it was your trick that helped! I wouldn't have lasted long without it!"
"It's really easy once you get the hang of it, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is!" Jenna smirked. "Let's just see if they'll get tired of torturing us before we get tired of being tortured!"
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