Seasons Greetings

Many thanks to Nausicaa of the Spirits and FeatherWind for their reviews.

I hope everyone is having a good holiday break!

Is anyone looking forward to the New Year?

I am!

(Sorry for any mistakes by the way.)

I don't own Princess Bride, but I do own Blossom, Nettie, Michael, and Felix.

Chapter 13

Continued from previous chapter…

"Be careful." I whisper to myself.

A hand comes from behind me and wraps around my mouth. There is another strong arm around my waste. The grasps are hard and I can't set myself free. There is an odd smell too, of dirt and grim. I can't see his face, but his voice whispers in my ear, "You're the one who should be careful."

I try to scream, but the sound is muffled.

"Do that again," The man threatens as he pulls a blade to my neck, "Just one more time I'll slit your throat."

Somewhere in the Twisted Gallows…

"Was it a soldier?" I thought to myself.I move my head slightly so I could try to see some of his face.

I feel the blade make a small cut on my throat and the tiniest drop of blood rolls down my neck. "Don't move again." He growls from behind me.

I follow the stranger's instructions and I don't utter another word. I don't move. Now I wasn't sure at all as to whom he was. I had never known a Florin soldier to be so hostile.

After the man realizes that his point has been made loud and clear he pulls away a bit. I strain myself as I try look out the corner of my eyes so I wouldn't move my head. However, I still couldn't make out the soldier's face.

He forces me on the ground. I lay flat down on my belly with my face pressed against the muck of the forest. The muck filled my nose and my mouth.

Whoever this man was he certainly worked fast. He tied my hands behind my back and gagged me with some soil tasting cloth. He leaves me on the ground and starts to dig through the bags that Michael and Nettie had left behind. His sword still drawn in his hand, just incase I moved.

He comes with in inches of stepping on Nettie's knapsack, the one with poor little Felix tucked inside. I groan a bit to keep him from killing the young pup.

"What did I tell ya?" He says in a threatening voice. He still hadn't moved.

I groan again. "If only he would just move to the left some more." I think to myself.

This time he moves but without a warning, I feel his hand push me back into the mud. I moan in terror. My blood seems to rush through my veins.

"Do that again and I will kill ya. Understand?"

I howl in terror and pain. This time someone else in the darkness responds.

"Blossom?" Nettie whispers in the dark. I can't see her with my face in the mud.

Was she close? I decide to take a chance. I groan again.

If my attacker had something to say about this second groan he didn't have the time to say it. Nettie heard me and now she was calling to Michael. "Michael! They got her! They got Blossom!"

Michael didn't answer. All you heard was two pair of feet running through the forest trying to get back to me.

I was so sure that he would have killed me. I found myself anticipating it. However, it never came. I slowly lift up my head. He was gathering two of our bags in his hands. He was fleeing!

"Blossom!" Michael calls to me. "Blossom, say something!"

A muffled scream escapes my mouth. "He and Nettie are on their way." I think to myself. "I'll be saved."

Or at least that's what I thought.

Instead of leaving me the stranger grabs me and forces me to run along with him. When I pull against him he lifts me up. He carries my over his shoulder with my stomach on top of one of his hard shoulders. My hands were still tied behind my back, my mouth gagged. Once again I was completely helpless.

"Blossom!" Michael screams, not caring if anymore soldiers heard him this time. He was in sight this time. I could just make him out. Following him at high speed was Nettie. Eventually, I let my head just hang. I was tired. The stranger's shoulder cut into my stomach's side with every jot he made. It was agony.

It didn't take long though for Michael to spot a huge man trotting off with a girl over his shoulder. He comes running our way. However, the stranger gets to his destination first. He had a horse.

There was a horse in the dark, gloomy Twisted Gallows. It didn't make any sense. All horses were too scared to enter this place. But my eyes didn't deceive me. It was a strong looking black steed tied to a tree waiting for the stranger. "How did he get the horse to stay?" I wander to myself.

The man hurries now. Michael is not too far. He was determined to catch me, but he just couldn't reach me in time.

The man dropped me on top of the odd horse. He placed our bags in his saddle bags and he climbed on behind me. Michael screams in anger and Nettie is crying in despair. They haven't given up yet, so neither would I.

I struggle against him and I manage to escape his grip for only a short while. I wiggle off the horse, ready to run back to my Michael. My sad attempt of freedom was pointless. He was much too strong for me. And in one second he grabs me and mounts me back on the horse.

The stranger yells something at the horse in another language that I am not familiar with. And that's all it takes. We are off, but not towards the other soldiers like I had expected. We were going in the opposite direction, away from the garden. "Wait! Where are we going?" I scream through my gag.

The stranger had had enough of me by now. He draws his sword again and knocks me over the top of my head with the handle. I fall back into his arms as he rides on as if nothing has happened. It gets dark and the last thing I hear is Nettie screaming from behind the horse. It's so distance. The horse gallops on. The cool damp air in the forest slaps me in my face. Everything goes completely dark.

I black out.

When Blossom regains consciousness...

The first thing I feel is the shocking cold. I'm cold from my head to my toes. I'm shivering, my teeth are chattering together and I hardly seem to notice. I'm still crunched against the stranger and completely numb.

When I finally open my eyes I see nothing. I see nothing but the same gloomy trees and lurking shadows. We were still in the Twisted Gallows. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing at the moment.

How long had I been passed out? Minutes, hours, or maybe even days had passed. I wasn't sure. It seemed quick but then again you could never tell if it was day or night in the Twisted Gallows.

There was one thing that I knew for sure for sure. I hadn't escaped. I was still on the odd stallion. Neither Michael nor Nettie were anywhere around. I say a little prayer. Hopefully wherever they were they were okay.

The bumpy road continues. I'm not even aware if the stranger knows that I am awake. I try my best not to move too much which seemed fairly easy considering that I was still frozen everywhere.

After what felt like hours I see what the stranger was heading for. I see small lights of red flicker up ahead. As we get closer I get a better look. They were torches lit around some campsite. There were huts made out of mud and wood. The huts blended in perfectly with the Twisted Gallows. It was a camouflaged little settlement.

We rode into the campsite and it looked worse on the inside than the outside. It had an odd smell, twice as bad as the stranger's body odor. Everything was covered in muck. The town was oozing in it. The glow from the torches cased an eerie shadow on everything. The huts stood side by side in a semi-circle. In the center of the village was a huge campfire, complete with a wild boar being cooked by two men (or at least I assumed they were men). Behind some of the huts were wagons that looked as if they hadn't been used in years.

My attacker makes an odd sound yelling sound. This call got the attention of all the people. The villagers came running out of their ugly homes. They made the same yelling sound as some kind of greeting.

They looked just like the stranger. Everyone was missing teeth here and there. They looked as dirty as their huts. Dreary clothes of many layers covered their bodies which seemed to flow as they ran up to us. Many of their garments had holes in them. There were patches covering as many holes as possible. I wasn't sure if any of them had ever taken a bath.

In short, they reminded me of the homeless beggars that used to hang outside the palace at Florin. Except the beggars were cleaner and nicer looking.

These people took one look at me and they started to holler in excitement. A few reach out and try to touch me but the stranger tosses their hands aside. They laugh as they see how horrified I was by all of them. Their little black teeth showed. One man licked his lips. Only one thing came to mind.

They are going to eat me.

They sure did look hungry enough. The children were nothing but skin and bones. Not only that but they looked savage enough. Maybe a wild boar wasn't adequate to sustain all of them.

They rush behind our horse and we all stop in front of the huge campfire. The whole town gathers around forming a circle. Just a head of us was a chair mounted on a pile of muck. It was meant to be a throne I supposed. When the man who sat on the "throne" stood everyone hushed.

The chief stepped forward. A large smirk rose over his dark face sending cold shivers up my spine. He said, "Well, Ace, what have you brought back from your journeys?"

"A treat for you, Kaz." Ace said. He pulls me off the horse. I'm too weak to stand on my own feet. I crumple to the ground floor.

The beggar people laugh at me. The sound is a combination of coughs and dry chuckles. With one hand gesture from the chief the crowd simmers down. "I see." He says to Ace, "She's a handful?" He asks after he notices that I was tied up.

"Naw," Ace answers, "She has a mouth on her though."

I glare at Ace. He attacked me! He kidnapped me! Of course I was going to scream. Why shouldn't I?

Chief Kaz folds his arms over his massive chest. He was huge compared to the thin villagers. "I guess you can untie her now." He looks down at me, "Scream all you want. No one will hear you."

I just shrug my shoulders. I wasn't going to bother screaming any how. I was sure my voice would only crack and then I would end up coughing.

Ace untied me and stripped me from my gag. He takes a few steps back as Kaz made his way around the fire to me. Up close you could tell why he had been chosen as the leader. Out of the group of people I had seen he was the cleanest. He wasn't as ugly as the others as well. He would be at least approachable if he would only bathe.

Kaz lifted my chin so my eyes met his eyes. He looked me over. He wiped some of the muck off my face from when Ace had forced me to the ground. After he had inspected me he stepped back a bit to look at the full package. It looked as if he was waiting for me to say something. I didn't. I concentrated on looking as calm as possible.

On the inside, I was a mess. My heart was beating so loudly I was almost sure that someone could hear me. I was so tired, so frustrated but I had to pay attention.

Finally after much thought Kaz says, "Pretty young thing isn't she?" This sends the crowd into a laughing fit once again.

If I wasn't covered in so much muck they would have easily seen my blushing cheeks. I wasn't used to being the pretty one. That was usually a comment to Buttercup. It was a very sweet thing to hear, even if it was from a monstrous man like himself.

"Very." Ace answers over the crowd's continuous laughter.

"Where exactly did you find her?"

"I found her some ways from the tree of lights. There was a loud commotion in that area. Soldiers and the like were running from the light. She may have been traveling with some of them. I don't know."

Suddenly the crowd doesn't find this too funny. "There are soldiers in the Gallows?" They whisper to one another. "But no one has been this deep in the Gallows besides us?"

"Are you sure?" Kaz asks over his gossiping people.

"I'm positive. I saw them myself."

The people's murmurs grow louder.

"Quiet!" Kaz commands.

The villagers obey.

"There is nothing to worry about." Kaz reassures them. "No one knows the Twisted Gallows better than us. Am I right?"

The crowd cheers. It sounds more like an animal roar than a cheer. It echoes through the empty forest.

"Now Ace," Kaz continues, "Your mission was to bring back some food. Where's the food, the meat?"

Ace hangs his head a bit. "There isn't any with me."

The crowd gives a low growl in anger.

"Surely you must have something." Kaz says, "You are our best hunter. A hunter can't return empty handed."

"Believe me Kaz, I wouldn't have. I have never returned without any food. But like I told you, there were those soldiers. All the noise they were making scared away any animal within the area."

A few people moan.

"All I was able to bring back was the girl and the bags she was caring."

"That might be something." Kaz says, "Empty her bags."

Ace takes the two bags he stole from his saddlebag. He dumps the contents on the forest floor. Out of the first bag falls our blankets and an emergency kit. Out of the other bag pops Felix our little fox.

There was a man in the crowd whose eyes popped open and out of his skull at the sight of Felix. "Ace was just kidding. He did bring food."

Felix is terrified of his not so sunny surroundings. He runs and the man starts to chase him. The man was too quick for the little one. Just when his grimy looking fingers were about to scoop up the young fox, I crawl over to him and kick him in his shin. He hollers in pain and I caress the fox in my chest. I couldn't tell if it was he who was shaking from fright or me.

The man yells at me in their foreign language. I'm pretty sure his words were harsh, for his eyes seemed to curse me. His hand rises over me in attempt to hit me.

Kaz calls out to him in their foreign language. He shakes his strong head and the man slowly falls back outside the loop. I return to my little spot in the center of the circle. I hold Felix tight in my grasp. These people were ready to kill me for Felix. I could see it in their eyes.

Kaz comes up closer to me. He holds out his hand as if he wanted Felix. I ignore his hand. I place kissed on Felix's little nose. He responds by licking me at the corners of my mouth.

Finally Kaz just looks down at me. I wasn't going to cooperate. "Stubborn little thing isn't she?" He asks Ace.

"Yeah, I see that." Ace answers, "But Kaz, how do we split this stuff?"

"There is nothing really to split." He responds as he sits on his throne once more. "I don't think anyone cares about a blanket or baby fox. We were expecting a large deer."

"There is one thing that we have to decide." Ace says correcting the chief.

"And what is that?"

"What are we to do with the girl?"

Someone in the crowd calls above the others. "Chief Kaz should have her!"

This started an argument. "Why should he get her?" one man cried.

"Excuse me?" demanded the chief.

The man remembers that he was in the presence of the chief quickly. "Well…" he says, "You always get the first pick and the most valuable things... Shouldn't a humble leader such as you share our spoils of plunder?"

Kaz didn't like this plan. A stern look appeared on his face. The man quiets down and doesn't speak again, but it was too late. The rest of the villagers thought that this was a splendid plan. And they started to shout in response. "Give her to one of us!"

Kaz looked around helplessly. I feel as if I am about to die.

Then Ace spoke out in agreement with the people. "Besides Kaz, you already have plenty of women." He points to the six women that stood by Kaz's side at the throne. They seemed to be the cream of this terrifying crop.

Kaz nods his head. The women look at me with anger and disgust. I was taking Kaz's attention away from them. "Alright!" he bellows. He waves his hands and calms the people. "And if I were to give her away? Who would want her?"

All the men raise their hands. They laugh and whistle at me. Felix, who wasn't used to such commotion, quivers in my arms. I hold him closer to reassure him. Everything was going to be okay.

"Me!" some of the men shouted, "Choose me!" All the women just gave me ugly looks. I hold my head low in fright. If Kaz didn't stop them soon I was sure that they would rip me apart.

At that moment someone gets a better idea. "Give her to Ace! He found her!"

I didn't like this idea at all. I would much prefer spending the rest of my days suffering with Kaz than Ace. Ace was older, smeller and evil. He had nearly suffocated me in the muck. He had kidnapped me. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.

However, by the look on Ace's face he seemed to like the suggestion. His face lit up and he grinned (evilly, mind you) with pride.

Kaz shook his head from side to side. "If I must give her away, I must. I'll give her to someone else if that's what you all see fit. So I choose my own brother. Gunnar, come forth."

The man named Gunnar steps forward. If he was Kaz's brother it was nearly impossible to tell. He was covered in more mud and dirt than Kaz that was for sure. He wasn't as muscular either. Actually he looked rather scrawny.

Gunnar walks up to me. He inspects me just as Kaz had. It didn't take as long for him to come to a conclusion as it had Kaz. He simply calls out to the crowd, "I think she'll do!"

I want to say, "Why thanks. Now I feel special."

"Not fair!" an old man calls from the crowd, "She should go to Ace!"

"You asked that the girl go to someone other than me." Kaz yells in furry, "I have chosen to give her to my younger brother. Now whoever dares to question my authority come forth and show yourself!!"

No one moves. For a second I'm sure no one breathes. It's quiet except for the single sound of a babe crying in one of the huts.

"Fine then." Kaz says. He rises to his feet, "Since there are no objections my judgment is final." Kaz gets up and walks to me. He makes a hand gesture and his six women walk behind him. "Got a name?" He asks me.

I don't answer. I don't look in his eyes either.

"Doesn't matter." He says in response to my silence, "Gunnar will pick out a name for you. I'm Kaz as you probably have figured. And this is the Bailey Brothers Utopia. A home for all wild bandits."

"Some utopia," I thought to myself, "It's more like a type of a nightmare in the middle of nowhere." And then like a bolt of lightning it hit me, but at first I couldn't believe it. Bandits. Of course! That was what I was supposed to look out for; Weeping Weeds, Biting Bunnies, Bandits and Severe Storms. I had forgotten all about the bandits. I wanted to kick myself. If they were bandits than they definitely knew the Twisted Gallows like it was their own personal playground. I wouldn't be able to escape so easily.

As my eyes glance at the other faces around me, Kaz gestures to his surroundings. "Welcome." He says.

And with that he walks off. His many wives follow behind him. Kaz walks pass me to one of the massive huts that stood behind me. The rest of the villagers disperse back to their own huts or wherever they had came from.

Gunnar looks down at me again. He was expecting me to move or at least say something. I didn't do either. I was still in a state of shock. How did this happen? All I wanted was to be away from Prince Humperdink. And at the moment Prince Humperdink didn't seem like that bad of a choice for a husband. He was far better than Gunnar or Ace or even Kaz.

"Let's go." Gunnar finally says to me. He pulls me up, but I only tumble right back down.

It hurt for me to stand.

"What's wrong with her?" Gunnar asks with absolutely no concern in his voice.

Ace shrugs his shoulders and looks at me for an answer.

How could he not expect me to be hurt? He knocked me over the head. Obviously he wasn't innocent in this whole ordeal.

An old woman sees what happens. She bends down beside me and lifts up my dress to examine my legs. "She's all swollen." Was her response, "Looks like a bunny bite. A nasty bite at that."

Gunnar looks at me, a little impressed expression on his face, "A bunny bite? Are you sure?"

"No question of it and no doubt in my mind. It's a recent bite too."

"Makes sense," Ace comments, "I found her not too far from the garden remember? That's where those nasty bunnies like to hang out."

A grin of admiration appears on the skinny man's face, "She's a lot stronger than I thought. Take her back to Dagmar. Patch her up."

They try to help me up but I refuse to take their assistance. I crawl on my hands and knees and gather up the stuff Ace had spilled on the floor. I, with no grace what so ever, stand to my feet and hobble back to them. Ace offers his horse but I ignore him. It was too late for him to act like he cared.

"Stuck up princess." Gunnar grumbled under his breath and he leaves me with Ace and the old woman.

What a gentleman he was.

Ace and the old woman don't say anything. They walk forward and I hobble behind them. If I had any plans on running away they had been shot down. My ankle was now huge from all the running I hade been doing. Every step sent a dreadful flood of pain through my body. It was all I could do not to cry. But we stumbled forward and we didn't stop until we were on the very edge of the campsite.

We came up to one of the little huts. It looked just like every other hut in the village. It was small and it had a door made of some type of thin wood. The old woman knocks softly so she wouldn't break down the door. A woman comes and answers it. She is about middle aged and a bit cleaner than the others. She had a dirty apron wrapped around her waist. Her grudge blonde hair was tied back away from her face.

My first thought was that she was a Miracle woman. And the last thing I needed was another crazed so called "miracle" healer.

She looks me up and down, "Yes what is it?"

"We need your assistance." Ace answers for me.

"And why exactly should I be helping you, Ace?" The woman asks with her hands on her hips. Her eyes were squinted and she stares at him evilly. She had obviously been hurt by him in the past.

There was some tension in the air as Ace tries to talk himself out of this one. "This isn't what you think Dagmar?"

"Alright, then what exactly is this?"

Ace was about to answer her when she interrupts him.

"I can't believe you Ace. First it was that sleazy woman Mara and now this one. Well, I have had enough. Go knock on someone else's door for help." She starts to close the door, "When I said that I want absolutely nothing to do with you I meant it."

"But wait." He says pushing against the door. "She isn't mine."

"Don't lie to me Ace. I hate liars more than scumbags like you."

"I'm telling you the truth. I just found her. Gunnar already claimed her for himself. It's his orders that you help her."

Dagmar opens the door slightly. "His orders?" She looks at the old woman who backs up the story with a slight nod. "Why does everyone feel as if they can order me around? They just assume that I will do whatever they say." She moves aside resentfully and lets us pass. I stumble in first.

"He is Kaz's brother." Ace says.

"Brother to a man who made himself chief over us. I hardly see how that makes him exceptional than the rest of us."

"He's still the leader."

"He doesn't rule over me." She says. She shuts the door and walks over to me. She circles around me. My head swims and I get dizzy. "What's wrong with her?
"Bunny bite on the ankle."

"Really? Hmm…"

"Is there a problem?" Ace asks with very little patience.

"No, just intriguing is all." She utters. She starts digging around the room looking for something.

"Can I trust you and leave her in your care?" Ace asks.

"Why would you not trust me?" Dagmar asks from across the little room. "I never gave you any reason not to trust me, unlike you. Sneaking out, have as many women as you could on the side. It's your word that I should be questioning."

Ace groans, "When you are finished send her back to Gunnar. He'll be waiting." And he leaves. The old woman asks if she will be needed. Dagmar insisted that she go home and check on her grandchildren.

When everyone leaves Dagmar turns her attention back to whatever she was looking for. "Have a seat if you want."

I wasn't sure what she meant by that. There were no chairs in the place. There was hardly anything. I just stand there and look around. There were no windows just a small hole in the roof. Still the stench of the mud walls filled the room. There was no light except for the fire in the middle of the little area. It was much warmer in here than outside. The floor of the hut was the bare earth, complete with grass and creepy crawly bugs. Little bags, jars, and containers of various objects sat on the floor of the hut.

Dagmar finds a jar of something red. "Sit on the mat."

It was a poorly made mat but it the best thing in sight. I sit down as slowly as possible. Dagmar examines my face again. "You are a pretty little girl. Gunnar is going to have fun with you."

I wasn't sure what she meant, but I knew that I didn't want to know.

"Is that a fox?" she asks.

I pull Felix closer into my arms and rock him gently.

"Alright, alright. Your point has been made. I just asked if it was a fox. I didn't offer to barbeque it." Dagmar gets on the floor with me and gets to work on my ankle. She smears some of the red goop on the swollen area and massages it. "How old is this bite?"

I don't reply.

"Listen missy. Don't go pouting with me. I just met you; I haven't harmed you in anyway. But in order for me to help you, you got to cooperate." She looks me in the eyes, "Now when did this happen?"

"……………A few days ago." I say in a low whisper.

"Hmm…okay." She continues in silence. Felix falls asleep on my lap. I just look around the room wandering if there was a way out of this mess. There didn't seem to be.

"Where are you from?" Dagmar asks, purely making conversation.

"Florin." I whisper.

"Florin? That's a long ways to travel all alone-"

"I wasn't alone." I respond bitterly.

"Oh I see." She didn't seem surprised at all, "Did Ace kill him?"

"No. I don't think so--wait. How did you know it was a him?"

"It's always a man, little one. Always." Dagmar starts to bandage my ankle again. "And if you say that Ace didn't kill him than you are in luck. Ace is notorious around here for being quick with a sword."

"He kills people?"

"Yeah. At times." The woman looks up from what her hands are doing for a second. "Don't look so amazed. I'm sure by now you have seen how ruthless those people are."

I only nod my head in fear.

"Listen little girl, these people are bandits. They steal, they kill. They do whatever pleases them no matter how sick it may seem. Haven't you ever heard of the Bailey Brothers Bandits before?"

"Never."

"What do they tell you in that Florin country of yours?" She stands to her feet when she is done with my leg. "It's a short story. Before the Bailey Brothers were bandits they were circus performers." She hands me a mug of something warm. "Drink this."

I look at her suspiciously.

"Don't give me that look. Do as I say."

I take a sip. It was terrible.

"Drink it all." Dagmar commands. "It'll dull the pain. Take away some of the swelling away."

I try my best to gulp it down. "Were they really circus performers?" I whisper.

"What? Can't you tell?" Dagmar puts more wood in the fire, "Kaz was the 'strongest man on earth' and Ace was the 'animal tamer'. They traveled around many countries but they originated in Devons. They had animals and clowns. The works."

"What happened?"

"Nothing really," she says, "They were fairly good, but they were thieves. They stole from many of the people. The whole lot of them stole whatever they could get their hands on. They even kidnapped a few people for their act. And what an act it was. They had acerbates, magicians, animal performances; everything." She sighs and relaxes by the fire, "It wasn't until they returned to Devons that they got caught. Many countries asked Devons to hand over the crew for a lot of money and jewels."

"What did they do?"

"The only thing they could. They ran into the Twisted Gallows where the soldiers couldn't get to them. They've been in here for years. Or at least it feels that way. There is no way to tell how much time has passed in here. I would guess ten maybe fifteen years."

"Fifteen years?" I whisper. I take the last gulp of the potion and hand the cracked mug back to her.

"I would guess so."

"Who are the Bailey Brothers?"

"The Bailey Brothers; there were three of them, all of them were idiots and probably burning in hell. They were the ring leaders of this hellish circus. They are the ones who encouraged the others to steal in the first place. They died some time ago. The eldest brother was the only one to have children; Kaz and Gunnar. They are the leaders now, if you care to call them that."

"Oh." The red potion was starting to have an affect on me. The room was spinning. Although I really didn't want to, I lower my head on the mat. "What were you?"

"What do you mean?"

"What were you in the circus?"

Dagmar scoffs at me. "I wasn't part of this rebellion. I was a young woman in Devons living near the Gallows. I was kidnapped; me and my mother, some years ago. I would guess eight years ago. I've been living here ever since."

"But why did they take you?"

"They needed a doctor for some of the people and my mother was the best." Dagmar pulls a blanket out of my bag, "She died some years ago."

My eyes close and my mouth shuts. There is so much I don't understand, so many questions running through my head. But all I feel right now is sleep pulling me down further and further.

"Yep, I've tried to escape many times, love, with no success. I finally accepted my fate just as you will. You'll be Gunnar's girl whether you want to or not, just as I was Ace's girl. If you're lucky like me he might get bored of you and leave you alone." Dagmar places the blanket on top of me, "But for your own heart's sake, little one. Forget this other man. It'll only break your heart."

Then I fall into a solid sleep.

Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Teenstar113