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Chapter 3

Alexandra felt the wind chill sink deep into her bones, but she paid it no mind. She had felt worse.

She peeked slyly around the corner of the building and memorized the positions of the people at the bakery. Maybe if she were to… No. That wouldn't work.

Alex sighed. She would just have to pick some scraps out of the garbage pile in the back of the bakery tonight.

She slunk through the shadows and wove her way to the back of the opposite building.

Sure enough, the baker was just throwing out fresh scraps of burned bread and old vegetables.

Alex fell on the food like a starving dog, shoving whole rolls into her mouth. She ate all but the grossest parts of the vegetables, and all of the bread. She was as hungry as a racehorse.

Then, without a sound, she left.

She ran fast to her alleyway, making sure to hide her head underneath her cloak that she had stolen ages ago from the seamstress.

Once she was safe in the alley, she let out a sigh of relief and lowered the hood.

She sat down and leaned up against the wall, her eyes closed.

Like she always said: Home sweet foul-smelling alleyway.

She winced as her shoulder began to throb painfully. Her eyes opened and she moved the shoulder of her dirty, grimy, tattered dress away to look at her right shoulder. Sure enough, Alex's old scar from a gunshot wound, that she had no memory whatsoever of receiving, was an ugly shade of purplish-red, the color it turned whenever it hurt.

She sighed and replaced the shoulder of the dress.

Her hand reached up and fingered the small jade crane that hung around her neck. She didn't know where she had gotten it from, but she flat-out refused to trade it for food. She felt some sort of connection whenever she fingered it. A warm, wanted feeling. A good feeling. A familiar feeling.

Alex thought to herself like she always did when she felt that way, The person who gave this to me must have loved me.

Suddenly, Alex heard a noise. Her eyes snapped open. She crouched down and felt her defenses immediately go up.

The sound of something fluttering overhead.

She looked up…

And was caught in a net.

"Do not make a sound," a voice, deep, calm, and deliberate, whispered in her ear. "Do not struggle. We're not here to hurt you."

Alex had never been particularly good at taking orders, so she started to thrash around. But that only entangled her more in the net. She took a deep breath so she could start screaming, but found that her lungs wouldn't take in that much air. Someone had kicked her hard.

She struggled more as a man lifted her onto his shoulder and walked out of her alley.

"Who do you work for?" Alex gasped out.

She heard chuckles. They were amused!

"We'll answer all of your questions," another man answered. "But first, you have to answer ours."

Alex didn't know how long they walked for. It could've been a few hours or a few minutes. It was impossible to tell through the net.

Finally, they stopped and one of the men (she assumed that there had to be at least five) knocked on a door once, then paused, then five times in rapid succession.

The door opened, and light flooded though the small holes in the net.

The man dropped her onto the floor, and Alex cried out. It felt hard, like wood.

Hands removed the net, and Alex blinked at the sudden onslaught of light pouring into her eyes.

After blinking several times to adjust to the light, Alex saw three men sitting at a long table. They looked older.

And very, very serious.

"If you're here to take me to the authorities," Alex said in her best threatening voice. "Then you're going to have one big fight on your hands."

A man came up behind her and tied her hands behind her back.

Okay, Alex thought. Plan. Need a plan. Maybe if I can stand, then I can—

"We're not here to turn you in to the authorities," said one man. He was huge! The blood-red robe he wore was big enough to be a tent! But that wasn't the oddest part of him. He was also totally devoid of hair.

Now Alex was confused. "You're not going to turn me in?"

Another man, one dressed in a luxurious green robe, shook his head and said, "No. But we are here to ask you a few questions."

Alex felt a cold sweat break out on her forehead. "What sort of questions?"

The third man, with a thick brown beard and kind, green eyes, replied, "About who you are, where you're from. Those sort of questions."

Alex sighed. "I guess I have no choice."

The three men cracked smiles.

"But first," said the giant man. "Ying, can you undo her bonds. She must be very hungry."

A young man with a face carved like a dragon's came and undid her bonds. She rubbed her wrists a little, for they had slightly chafed her.

Another young man, this one larger and muscular, with a round head, thick black hair, tiny ears, and sharp, dark brown eyes, handed her a tray of food.

Alex felt her mouth water, and immediately began to shove the bean-paste buns into her mouth. She knew she should have considered that they had been drugged, but she was so hungry that it overruled the feeling of caution.

After a minute or two, she was done.

"Have you had enough to eat?" the green-eyed man asked.

Alex nodded.

"Good," he said. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Henrik. I'm captain of the Dutch ship Gabriel and ruler of the country of Holland.

Alex's eyes widened. "You're a king?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yes, that's one word for it."

The giant smiled at her and said, "I'm Mong. I'm the leader of the Resistance.'

Alex had heard of the Resistance. They were the ones who had helped stop and evil man named Tonglong, who had tried to take over China five years ago.

The man in the green robe said, "My name is not important, but you can call me 'Governor.'"

Alex couldn't believe that she was meeting so many important people at once!

"Now, we would like to ask you our questions," said Mong.

"Fire away," Alex said.

"Who are you?" the Governor asked.

"My name…?" Alex muttered. "I cannot remember my name. But I have one that I made up for myself."

"Then tell us," said King Henrik.

Alex took a deep breath before saying, "You probably know me as the Urchin Princess."

"Do you know who your parents are?" the King asked.

Alex thought for a moment. "I can only remember bits and pieces. I remember a ship. It was big. Not like Chinese junks. It was a Round Eye ship. With big white sails and tall masts."

The men at the table glanced at each other.

"I also remember an old man," Alex said quickly. "He wore an orange robe, like a monk. He was bald, and old, and frail. But I remember that he was stronger than he looked. And that he carried a sword from time to time. I cannot remember his name though."

She heard a few of the men standing behind her whisper to each other.

"What did the sword look like?" asked the one with the carved face, Ying the men had called him.

Alex thought hard for many moments before saying, "I think… I think it was a straight broadsword. It… had dragons on the blade. It was old, but strong. Like the man who carried it."

More whispers.

"Do you know how old you are?" the Governor asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I do not know. If I had to make a guess, I would say about seventeen or eighteen."

They all shot glances at each other.

"All right," said Mong. "We will ask you more questions later, but for right now, you are dismissed."

That was when the blindfold went over her eyes.

Dun, dun, dun! Sorry for the cliffie, but that's the way it's rolling right now.

Review please!

-A$h