Author's Note:

I'm finally getting more time off from work and have been itching to write the Nalbina Dungeons part of the game thanks to listening to way too much Plan B! As always thanks for your reviews and alert subscriptions. :)

Disclaimer:

I don't own Final Fantasy XII. I do own Edie, my OC.

Chapter XII: Welcome to Hell

I managed to snatch a few hours of sleep. When dawn came around the sound of someone knocking loudly on the tavern's door disrupted my disjointed dreaming.

"Open up! This the Imperial guard! There are still insurgence members at large! I want everyone to have their civilian certificates at the ready so we can account for everyone last night!" Barked the guard from the other side of the door.

Any sleepiness was effortlessly wiped from my mind at these words. It suddenly went into overdrive. If they saw my civilian certificate I was done for. They were probably still looking for Penelo, Vaan and I. The lights flickered on and everybody rummaged through their belongings for their certificates. A man who had been sleeping near the door moved to open it. I hauled myself up from the floor, ignoring the pain that was throbbing up and down my spine due to sleeping on such an uncomfortable surface. I quickly moved to where Tomaj was stood at the other end of the bar, stepping over people and their bags as I went.

"Hide me." I said in a hushed voice.

"What?" He said. If his eyebrows had jolted any higher they would have joined his hair.

"A few days ago I did something stupid and if they see my certificate they're gonna know it was me! Please, Tomaj, hide me."

There was a brief pause as he was thinking the situation through. I heard the sound of the heavy doors being opened, they always creaked loudly. "Please." I pleaded.

"The storage room, quick."

We quickly ducked into the kitchen. There was a door on the back wall that led to the storage room. Tomaj pulled a large key-ring that was heavy with keys of all shapes and sizes. Despite the amount of keys, he managed to find the right one quick enough. The door opened to reveal barrels, kegs of ale and large wooden crates. They were big enough for a person to fit in.

"Here, this one's empty. Get in." He yanked open the crate's top. I climbed in and looked up at him, waiting for him to replace the lid. "Be quiet. I'll come get you when they've gone." I nodded. He closed the lid and the darkness engulfed me.

Tomaj hurriedly exited the storage room and locked it again. Just as he left the kitchen he snatched up a small, leather folder.

"You there! Care to explain why you were back there, in the kitchen?" A guard asked when he entered the bar. Another guard barged past him to go check the kitchen.

"My apologies. I'm the owner of this tavern. I thought you would need to see my licence and other documents for this establishment. I have to keep them in the kitchen otherwise they'd get soaked with spilt ale."

"All clear." Confirmed the other guard as he left the kitchen.

"Very well. Your documentation, please."

Tomaj handed over the folder and looked around while the guard checked it. There were three of them, including this one. The other two were going over all the civilian certificates.

"Tomaj Baal, so it was you who suggested everyone came back here."

"I didn't think you'd want us all loitering in the streets." He explained with a smile.

"Yes, very good of you to take such liberties. I only wish more people were as responsible. Your paperwork checks out." He handed back the folder with a smile. "Don't worry, we'll be out your hair soon enough."

"Oh, please take your time. I probably won't open today anyway due to all of my good clients such as yourself being busy dealing with the aftermath of the attack."

"That's true, but I'm sure by tomorrow this place will back to its usual lively ambience. I'll see you then, good day."

"Good day, sir."

As soon as the guard turned his back, Tomaj dropped the polite smile that had been etched on his face throughout the conversation. He hated it when he had to be civil to the likes of the Imperials, still it was the most efficient way of dealing with them.

It took over an hour for the guards to check and log everyone's details. Once everyone had gone, he locked the doors just in case any of the guards decided to take advantage of their rank and have a swift drink before carrying on with their duties. He had been pretty shocked when Edie had asked him to hide her. He had always thought she was such a well behaved girl, a little odd maybe but defiantly not the kind to do something reckless. He hurried to the storage room.

I tried to shift my position so I could sit more comfortably but it was impossible. My limbs were throbbing with a dull ache due to them begin constricted for so long. I couldn't really hear anything, only the dripping of water hitting the floor from a leaking pipe overhead. Its steady beat merged with the drumming of my heart. The door abruptly jerked open, making my heart splutter. Had the guards figured out I was hiding here? The lid of the crate came away to reveal it was only Tomaj.

"They've gone?" I asked, pretending not to notice the annoyed look that was decorating his face.

I rose from my cramped hiding place and carefully climbed out of the crate. My leg was asleep, which made the simple task twice as challenging.

"What did you do?" He said in a snipped tone.

I sighed. It was only fair I told him since he had helped me.

"The night we performed at the Boscobel Oak while me and Penelo performed for the Archadians, Vaan stole their wallets. It was a plan he had come up with when he had heard the Oak was looking for performers to entertain the guards. It went without a hitch, we got a lot of money but the one thing Vaan hadn't thought of was that we had to register for a later curfew to the usual one. They have our names on file. If they had seen my civilian certificate they would have thrown me in the dungeons no questions asked."

"And Penelo agreed to this? Doesn't seem the kinda thing she'd do."

"No, she had no idea. She just thought we were doing some extra work. She found out after though... didn't speak to either of us for a day."

"It also doesn't seem the kind of thing you'd do."

"The rent had gone up, that's why we're working for you as well as Migelo, but it still didn't seem enough..."

"So now what? You going to be able to keep out of their way?"

"I've managed so far." I shrugged.

He sighed, shaking his head. My leg was beginning to wake up, it tingled painfully.

"You better get going. I'm not opening up today so I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you for hiding me."

"I never thought I'd have to say this to you, but stay out of trouble, okay?"

"I will." I said with a nod.

The sun had fully woken up and was bearing down on Rabanastre with the full force of its rays. I walked near to the buildings so I would be protected by the shade their looming forms created. Luckily, it was a short distance from the Sandsea to the Low Town so I managed to reach my destination before getting too hot. I hoped Penelo was okay. I immediately lied to myself, something I often did when I was fretting. She's fine! I bet Vaan's already back from waltzing around the waterways and she's giving him an ear full on how stupid he was and how he should never do it again! My pace quickened.

Once in the Low Town, I noticed it was surprisingly quiet. It was probably because people had been up all night worrying and wondering about what had happened. As I turned round a corner I suddenly saw why it was so deserted everywhere else. A crowd had gathered in front of the door that led to the waterways. There were plenty of soldiers scuttling about, making sure everyone stayed back a decent distance. Amongst the crowd was a familiar face. Penelo. I hurried over to her.

"Hey."

"Edie!" She hugged me tightly. "Are you alright?" She asked. She had released me but kept contact by holding my hand.

"I'm fine. What's going on?"

"I think the Archadian guards have caught some Resistance members in the waterways."

"You want to make sure it's not Vaan, right?"

"Yeah..." She said not taking her eyes off the doorway.

The suspects were soon marched out. They were quite an odd bunch. First, there was a girl with short brown hair and a strange outfit which included a pink miniskirt. Then, a man with brown hair who seemed completely unfazed by the fact he had been arrested, which gave me the impression this wasn't his first offence. There was another woman, who at first glance I had thought was really tall but as I focused my attention on her I noticed the reason why. She had large, white, rabbit ears that sprouted from the top of her head. A Viera! I had seen drawings of them in the book Old Dalan had given me. However, this Viera looked nothing like the others, who had been depicted frolicking in a woodland scene. She was fierce looking. She had what appeared to be black armour on, yet it didn't seem all that practical as if it was merely to define her form rather than protect her, this only exaggerated her warrior like appearance.

"Vaan!" I heard Penelo gasp.

I had been too busy gawping at the strange creature to notice that bringing up the rear of the group was indeed, Vaan. She pushed through the crowd. I was quick on her heels, the last thing we needed was for her to be arrested too. By the time we had broken through, the girl in the pink skirt had been ushered away by a gabble of guards.

"Wait!" Penelo shouted and dashed forward.

"Where do you think you're going?" One guard demanded whilst he and another blocked her path.

"He didn't know what he was doing! You have to let him go! You have to!" The guards quickly seized her.

"Hey! Come on leave her alone, it's not her fault!" I growled.

"You'll be dealt with as well if you don't shut it!"

"Penelo!" Called Vaan, "Sorry." He lifted his hands up to show that they were shackled. "That dinner'll have to wait."

"I told you." She said in a thin, wavering voice.

"That's enough!" Barked the guard who was at Vaan's side. He clipped the boy around the head to silence him. This only upset Penelo further and she wriggled free of the guards' grasp before dashing towards her friend.

"Penelo!" I moved to stop her but was greeted by a wall of armour.

Surprisingly, the brown haired man intervened. He simply stepped in the way of Penelo's path, a white handkerchief in one of his bound hands. He offered it to her.

"Hold on to this for me, would you? Just until I bring Vaan back." She took it from him and held it in both hands. His gesture seemed to have calmed her somewhat. I pushed past the guards and went to her side.

"Thank you." I said looking at him. He wasn't that much older than me and from the amused smirk and the way he seemed to be handling this whole situation he was incredibly self-assured, cocky even.

"You! Here, now!" Bellowed the guard that had hit Vaan. It seemed he had hit him harder than I thought as Vaan was picking himself up off the floor. The guard marched up to Mr. Arrogant and shoved him in the direction of Vaan and the Viera.

"Alright, alright. Edgy, aren't we?" He remarked.

After they were escorted away, I turned to face Penelo. She was still tightly clutching the handkerchief with both hands.

"Who was that guy?"

"I-I don't know..." She mumbled, still staring straight ahead.

"Penelo, don't worry. Whatever Vaan's managed to get himself caught up in, we'll get it out of him. Surely prisoners can get appeals. We should go down to the parliament offices-"

"And what? Have him excused? We're criminals too, Edie. They'll lock us up!" She was upset and tearful. She had been through a lot of stress during the last day or so, with everything that had happened. I wrapped my arms around her. People were still lingering, their attention to the arrest now was placed on us.

"What are you lookin' at?" I spat. This was a good enough indication to tell them to move on, which most of them did. "Penelo, you're tired, you should go back to the apartment and try and get some sleep. I'll cover your shift at Migelo's."

"No, you don't have to."

"But I want to."

She nodded.

I opened the door to Migelo's Sundries and entered. The fact that the shop wasn't open yet confirmed that Migelo was still at the palace, he was probably being question as a procedure. I went about setting the shop up for opening. Whoever had closed up hadn't swept up the sand and dust that normally coated the flagstone tiles. This meant it was probably Kytes and seems as both he and Penelo had been temporarily trapped in the Low Town, he closed up early. Slacker. I inwardly grumbled. This was a trait that had no doubt been obtained when hanging around Vaan for too long. I sighed and began sweeping up. As my mind raced to draw up ways to get Vaan out of the dungeons, the abrupt sound of someone rapping loudly on the shop's door disrupted me.

"This is the Imperial guard. Is anyone present?"

My heart leaped up into my throat. I stayed deadly still. I daren't even breathe too loudly.

"Come on girl, open up! We know you're in there! We saw you enter not but ten minutes ago!"

"Shit!" I whispered. I went to the door and opened it. On the other side stood two guards.

"Sorry, I was in the stockroom." I held open the door and gestured for them to enter. I was going to need to be politeness personified to keep this encounter brief. "Is there something in particular you need? I've already been accounted for, for last night this morning at the Sandsea if that's what you've come about."

"Oh, we're not here for that. There's another regiment working on it. We're here to pick up the shop's tax payment for this month."

"I'm sorry the owner isn't here, I think he's still at the palace because of what happened. Can you come back later?"

"'Fraid not. The payments have to be made on time or we take disciplinary action against the business. Here, this month's charge."

He handed me a scroll. I unravelled it and scanned the document for the amount. It was 1,504 Gil. I silently prayed yesterday's takings would cover it. I moved behind the counter and unlocked the cash register with a small key that we hide under one of the tiles over night, just in case there is a break-in. There was only 550 Gil in it.

"Erm... Would it be okay if I paid what's in the till and Migelo can give you the rest when he returns?"

"No. Payment has to be made in full."

"But I don't have enough and this is all we have in the shop."

"So, are you saying you're refusing to pay the payment?"

"No, no I'm not I just can't. This isn't even my shop, I just work here. I didn't know that this had to be paid today. I sure Migelo had a lot to think about with the fete and everything."

"I want to see your civilian certificate please."

"What? Why?"

"Are you refusing to show me documentation as well as not paying the tax?"

"Of course not! I just don't think it's necessary.. It's not my shop."

"Failure to present documentation when asked by an Arachdian guard is a serious offence, one that could have you thrown in the dungeons."

I quickly scrambled around in my shoulder bag that was slung on the counter.

"Here."

I held it over the counter, my hand was trembling noticeably. The guard who had been doing all the talking snatched it from my quivering fingers. I hoped these two hadn't been at the Boscobel Oak that night, or that there wasn't a warrant for my arrest floating around the Archadian offices. He looked at it and handed it to the other guard, who in turn scrutinized it. They looked at each other and smirked. My eyes widened- they knew it was me! That smirk they had shared was one of satisfaction.

I bolted around the counter, managing to outmanoeuvre their attempts to stop me but as I reached the door a hand seized a fist full of my hair. The sheer strength of it caused my neck to snap back painfully. Tiny pinprick surges of pain attacked my scalp. If I carried on straining against the soldier's grip I was going to lose a sizable chunk of hair. I was just about to give in when my feet were swiftly knocked out from under me. The impact with the ground stole the air from my lungs and all I could do was gasp for more. A pair of gloved hands roughly pinned my arms behind my back and dragged me up from the floor. It was done so effortlessly, as if I were a mere ragdoll.

"Edie Navidson, you are under arrest for assisting the robbery of numerous officers of the Imperial guard on the night of 15th of Sept'ber as well as refusing to pay taxes, refusing to show documentation and violating the use of the extended curfew permit. Due to your residence being in the Low Town and your multiple offenses, you will not be allowed to stand trial. Your imprisonment is immediate."

"We've already thrown the little bastard who robbed us in the dungeons and now that we have you, your friend shouldn't be too hard to find. Your sentence could be shortened if you give us her location." The other guard said still smiling. That smirk was a nasty little smear across his face that I wanted to wipe off with my fist.

"Go.. to.. hell!" I gasped, feeling dizzy.

"Suit yourself, then. Clap her in irons." He said with a shrug to the talkative guard.

"Wait. Please, let me lock up the shop first. It isn't my business, please." I beg as they went about clasping my hands together in front of me ready to slap on the hefty looking handcuffs.

"Very well, but try anything foolish and you'll be dealt with, you got me?" Said the quiet one.

I nodded. He released my wrists.

"Good because unlike my partner here, I have no problems with striking women." It was obvious which one of them nearly scalped me then.

I held my hands up to show I was co-operating and shuffled back over to the counter to fetch my bag. My knees were bleeding from being knocked to the ground. I could feel the blood trickle down my leg.

Outside in the brilliant sunlight, my senses seemed to have recovered from being assaulted. This only resulted in my brain being able to now gauge how much pain I was in. My head ached, my knees stung and I could feel a cloud of bruising already blooming on my cheekbone, a result of my head been knocked as I had gone down. Despite all of this I managed to lock the shop's doors, although it did take me a couple of attempts to get the key in the lock seems as my hands wouldn't stop shaking.

I've never been arrested in my life. I hadn't even ever set foot in my hometown's local police station. The moment I had returned the key back into my bag, the quieter guard seized my wrists while the other secured them with the handcuffs. They marched me down the street until we reached some gates. Luckily, it was the left of the shop and wasn't far, but passersby still turned their heads to gawk and whisper.

A guard on the other gate nodded at them in recognition and opened the gates.

"You'll never guess who this is. Edie Navidson." The talkative guard informed his peer as we passed.

"Two down one to go, good work." He replied.

I was ushered along to a courtyard where two chocobos were enjoying a meal of greens. Near their undersized pen was a booth with another guard in it. He looked up from reading a newspaper.

"Gods, what did you do to that one?" He said, referring to my cuts and bruises.

"She was resisting arrest." Shrugged the quieter guard.

"Still, no need to beat the girl black and blue."

"That may have been the case if she hadn't had stolen our wallets. Don't you recognise her?"

The guard in the booth narrowed his eyes, studying my face. Suddenly, a look of recognition soon flickered across his features.

"The girl from the Oak!" He exclaimed, "'Bout time you found her. Well there's no more room in the wagon, after this one. There's been a new record in arrests made today. I've already sent the three carts full of offenders on their way to the Nalbina Dungeons. I'm down to my last two chocobos!"

"Good. The less delinquents on the streets the better. Did you get any Insurgence members passing through here?"

"You know I'm not allowed to disclose that information, his Excellency would have my head. Now, hand me her paperwork."

The guard in the booth went about logging down details from my passport before handing it back to my capturers.

I was slung into a large cart that was basically a cage on wheels. It was so medieval, here I was sat amongst other paupers and wrongly accused riffraff as the mobile prison moved through the streets of Rabanastre to one of the cities gates. I turned my back to the cage's bars. I didn't want anyone I knew to recognise me. My thoughts flickered to Penelo. First Vaan, now me, she was going to be devastated if she finds out. The cart soon moved from the city and into the desert. There was no protection from the midday sun, which bore down on us relentlessly and without mercy. I attempted to distract myself from the fact that my skin was blistering and my tongue had turned to stone by watching the pair of chocobos. They were up ahead, pulling the cart.

I had been with Penelo and Vaan when I first saw one...

We were running an errand for Old Dalan and needed to speak with a Moogle named Gurdy at the South Gate. I had insisted I went along so I could explore Rabanastre so I could eventually get my bearings, just in case I had to stay here a while.

"Most of the city's import and export comes through the South Gate because of the Aerodrome, which can dock large cargo ships." Informed Penelo as we passed through the mammoth gate.

"Since when did you become a tourist guide of Rabanastre, Penelo?" Vaan scoffed.

She playfully swatted at his head as a response.

"Anyway, traders also bring goods by chocobo-"

"Chocobo?" I said the alien word slowly too interested to care if I sounded like a dunce.

"You don't know what a chocobo is?" Vaan jibed.

I shook my head, ignoring his teasing tone.

"Over there in the pen, see? Those are chocobos."

I followed Penelo's outstretched hand to see what she was pointing at. Closed in by a wooden fence were birds as big as an ostrich, maybe bigger. I moved closer, dodging people as I went. They were huge, with strong, thick legs and feathers of bright yellow. I placed my hands on the fence. I could smell the hay they used to nest in. My eyes widened in disbelief. What was this creature? I had thought some of the races in Ivalice were bizarre but this one took rank as the weirdest. One of them trotted up to me as if it had noticed my staring. It cocked its head to the side, scrutinizing me as I had it. It had deep, blue eyes that showed a shimmer of intelligence behind them. It soon grew bored and whistled, ruffled its feathers and wondered off.

"You've never seen a chocobo before? What kinda backward village did you come from?" Vaan's voice broke my studying of the giant birds. I was growing tired of his attitude.

"She has seen one before, Edie just probably doesn't remember. That's what happens when you lose your memory, Vaan!" Penelo snapped.

That had been months ago and now such things as seeing chocobos had become an everyday normality. I shuffled around, trying to relive my cramped limbs and looked beyond the bars of the cage. The desert stretched out like a never-ending blanket of sand that was trimmed with the jagged form of distant mountains. Four soldiers moved along with the wagon, one on each side, one behind and one in front of the steeds that were pulling us. I couldn't decide if they were marching with the cart to keep its cargo safe from fiends or were present in case one of us was lucky, or stupid enough to escape. Escaping the cart would undoubtedly result in death, if the guards didn't claim your life the desert and it inhabitants surely would. I sighed and closed my eyes, she sun's sharp rays were irritating my already throbbing head.

I jolted awake when the wagon's wheels meet the cobbled surface of the Nalbina Fortress. The gigantic structure was surrounded by streets full of market venders, although there didn't seem to be any houses or accommodation, making me believe the vender's stalls doubled as their beds. The fortress itself appeared to be under reconstruction from the battle it had witnessed, the same battle that had claimed Lord Rasler's life. Craftsmen were hard at work cutting huge blocks of bleached sandstone, causing fine dust to coat the cobbles. We swerved behind the work site and entered another enclosed courtyard with its own booth, pen and horde of chocobos.

A guard approached one the soldiers that had been chaperoning the wagon.

"You bring us more to be cast off into the dungeons. Dare I hazard a guess that your ranks in Rabanastre are bored?"

"Not at all, sir. We are merely being cautious. All of the accused are citizens who weren't accounted for when the Insurgence attacked. We are wanting to rule out the possibilities that they are indeed within their operation."

"Are you saying all of these prisoners are to stand trial?"

"Only a hand full, the rest have previous or numerous offenses and therefore don't merit such a right."

"Very well, but please tell your superior I'm not going to be accepting this number of prisoners day after day. The dungeon is already overcrowded as it is, so he'll need to be diligent in future."

"Sir, yes sir!"

With their exchange over, the door to the wagon's cage was opened and one by one we climbed out. The guards then went about attaching sturdy chains to our handcuffs so that we were all linked up in one big miserable conga line. I looked over my shoulder to see Rabanastre's guards and their wagon leave.

"Eyes front!" Barked a soldier. I jerked my head round and set my eyes on the floor, not daring to look elsewhere.

"Forward march!" Another bellowed from the head of the line.

We slowly began to trudge forward. There were plenty of guards with weapons moving along with us. A large, wooden door with elegant metal detail opened. Surely this door had never been created to wind up as the entrance to a dungeon, it was too majestic.

I almost sighed in relief when I entered the fortress. I was finally out of the sun. We moved along, down a seemingly endless flight of wide stone steps. The collective sound of our footsteps echoed loudly. My heartbeat began to soar again. I suddenly had the feeling I was descending down into hell.

At the bottom of the stairway there was a large archway that led to a vast room that had intricate stone engravings, some of which had been damaged during the attack on the fortress. No-one had even bothered to sweep away the bits that had crumbled off and now littered the tiled floor.

"Halt!"

Everyone quickly stopped, causing me to bump into a large, red skinned Bangaa. He jerked his head round to scowl at me. He looked older that I had expected him to be.

"Right-turn!" The line shuffled so we now all faced forward, where a soldier stood. His armour suggested his was of a higher rank to the others.

"You are now prisoners of the Empire. You are here by stripped of your rights as civilians thus you shall be relieved of your personal effects and civilian certificates. Any failure to co-operate will be met with, with discipline."

The guards moved from their original positions to stand in front of us. There were five of them in total and roughly twenty of us. Despite us prisoners outnumbering them it didn't take me long to part us from our belongings. The guard that was going to remove my personal items eyed my shoulder bag. He drew a small dagger and cut the bag's long, thin, strap. It would have been impossible to remove it from me otherwise as I always wore it slung diagonally across one shoulder, like a messenger bag and due to my hands being bound in front of me. It landed on the floor with a thump. He then notice my hair pin and yanked it free from my hair. It hadn't really been holding that much of it up thanks to the other guard in Rabanastre pulling the vast majority of my hair free from it when he arrested me. I stood stock still all the while my jaw clenched tight trying not to cry. I could feel my bottom lip quivering, a tell-tale sign the waterworks were going to start. I attempted to stop it by clenching my hands into fists, my fingernails bit into the soft flesh of my palms.

"One at a time you are going to be released from the line and fitted with an identification cuff. Each cuff has a number which has been assigned to your name. From here fourth you shall be addressed by your number and nothing more. These cuffs are made from Thalassinon shell and therefore are more or less indestructible. They also double as an anti magicks device due to having a coat of Geocite- a cheap by product of Manufactured Nethicite- painted on the inner side of the cuff, meaning you will be unable to do your fellow prisoners or any of my men harm by magicks."

I waited my turn, as I did I stole glances at the prisoners who were going to be entering the dungeons with me. I didn't see any women. Were they just going to throw us all in together without a thought of sex, race or creed?

"Next. I said next! You there, quit your dawdling!" Growled the superior solider.

I quickly sprang forward and close the space between myself and one of the drones that were waiting to unshackle me from the remainder of the queue. After he had, he escorted me through another archway into a smaller room, where a different guard waited.

This other guard was sat on a stool, beside a make-shift work bench that displayed all manner of tools. He grabbed my handcuffs and slapped on a thick metal cuff on my wrist, just above my shackles. It was of a simple design, so simple it was almost ugly. In its centre a number was engraved- 178. I was prisoner 178. The guard went about securing it by turning a small bolt until the cuff was snugly resting against my skin. He then placed a small but thick sheet of metal over the bolt.

"I'd look away if I was you. Don't want to be down there with useless eyes, do you now?" He advised as he tugged down what appeared to be a welding helmet over his face.

I did as he suggested and looked over my shoulder. I felt the metal of the cuff warm up slightly.

"All done. She's free to join the others." I glanced back to see that the sheet of metal had been welded so the bolt was now impossible to get to. With the cuff secured, my chaperone shoved me in the direction of yet another archway. This place was becoming more and more like a rat maze. We silently descended a smaller flight of steps and came to another gigantic set of doors. These ones were so huge they scraped the ceiling and even had a smaller, regular sized door cut into one of the wooden panels. The wooden panels, themselves were so wide they might have well have been a row of gargantuan redwood trees.

"You know, we don't get many women." Said the guard as we approached. "And the ones that we do don't tend to look like you. I almost pity you."

He nodded to the two guards that stood either side of the door before retrieving a key and opening it. The soldiers guarding the doorway drew their swords and stood in a stance that was ready for attacking, suggesting someone had tried to break free the last time they had opened this door. How bad was it in there that a prisoner was desperate or stupid enough to try such a stunt? My chaperone flicked through his key ring, which was clustered with countless tiny keys, like padlock keys. He soon came across one that had the engraving 178 on its head. He unlocked my handcuffs. "Welcome to hell." Was all he said before shoving me through the doorway and into the unknown.