The Princess in the Dungeon by Kinto Mythostian Dear Diary, Today was Market Day. I love Market Days because Daddy has executions on Market Days. Today, 3 bitches were hanged. They were guilty of treason. That means they wanted to hurt Daddy. A lot of lupines want to hurt Daddy. There are executions every week now. I don't understand why anyone would want to hurt Daddy. He's very nice and strong and gives me lots of pretty things. The 3 bitches who were hanged today said bad things about Daddy, Daddy's spies say. I'm glad Daddy has his spies. That way he knows who wants to hurt him and he can arrest them and stop them. I got to wear my new mantle today, the pretty red one with the gold embroidery. The 3 bitches who were hanged weren't wearing anything. It was funny. Everyone got to see their girlparts. A lupine was in the front row with his cubs. He was crying. Daddies shouldn't cry in front of their pups like that. He shouldn't have married a bitch who wanted to hurt Daddy. She told him she loved him and their pups and then she was hanged. The second bitch didn't say anything before she was hanged. The last bitch looked at Daddy and me and cursed us with her last words. She had scary eyes. I'm glad she's dead. I like hangings. I like to watch them struggle and dance. Today when I was watching it made my girlparts tingle. It was weird but it felt good. One of the bitches soiled herself. It made me laugh. -- Lady Fenice, Princess of Valle Neire, set down her quill and, after making sure the ink was dry, closed her diary and locked it away in its hiding place. The full moon was shining through the window into her bedchambers. There were sounds of shouting coming from the direction of the city. Fenice stood by the window in her long white shift, idly fingering the old silver necklace she wore. Her snow-white fur practically glowed in the moonlight. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew she was safe in the castle. She drew the curtains across the window and climbed into her opulent canopy bed. She blew out the candle on her bedside table, plunging the room into darkness. -- As the king's only child, Fenice lived a pampered life, sheltered from many harsh realities. She didn't know that her father was a cruel, paranoid tyrant. She didn't know that the lupines of Valle Neire were starving, suffering under her father's unsustainable taxes while she lived in luxury. She didn't know that tonight would go down in history as the night the king was overthrown in a bloody revolution. The history books record that the king was later executed for crimes against the citizens of Valle Neire, as were many officers of his regime. Those same books also record that Princess Fenice vanished the night of the uprising, and was never seen again. -- Several hours later, Fenice woke with a start. She wasn't sure for a moment what had awoken her, but then she heard a shout, and then another, quite close. Lupines were yelling in the corridor outside her chambers. Fenice sat up in her bed and fumbled to light the candle on her bedside table, but in her fright couldn't manage it. The door burst open, banging loudly against the wall, and a palace guard stumbled through backwards. There was a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest, and another in his eye. Another lupine strode into the room holding an empty crossbow. There was a sword hanging from his belt, and his clothes and matted fur were soaked with blood. He turned to look at the princess. His face was locked in a primal snarl, and his wide, crazed eyes glowed orange in the reflected light of the torch lit corridor. Fenice screamed in terror. Before she could even act, the stranger was at her bedside. Without a word, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of bed. "Unhand me! I am the princess! Help! Somebody help!" Fenice tugged and fought, but the stranger's grip was like a vise. The stranger cast his crossbow aside and drew his sword, pressing the edge of the blade to her throat. "Shut up. You will come with me or you will die. Nod if you understand." Fenice nodded; his tone of voice suggested that disobedience was not only unwise, it was simply unthinkable. Fenice was scared, confused, and angry. She did not understand what was going on. She did not know who this lupine was or why he was here. She did not like the way he was treating her like a peasant. He had a sword, but civilians weren't allowed to have swords. By law, only officers of the palace could have swords, and this lupine wore no uniform. Fenice wondered if he might be one of Daddy's spies. He dragged her quickly through corridors and down stairs; Fenice had to jog to keep up. He never slowed or stopped, not even when she stumbled. All around there was shouting and the clang of swords. Up ahead, Fenice saw a palace guard stagger through a door into the corridor, bleeding from a wound on his arm. Fenice recognized him as Martin; he was always nice to her, sometimes even giving her piggyback rides. Martin would know what was going on; he could explain it to her. Martin turned and saw them; Fenice opened her mouth to greet him. "Hey! What are you doing with the princess?!" Martin shouted. The stranger said nothing and continued to drag Fenice down the corridor towards Martin, his sword raised. Martin was just able to block the stranger's first blow with his own sword. The stranger deflected Martin's return and in one smooth movement drove his blade into Martin's chest. Martin collapsed to the floor, mortally wounded. Fenice screamed. Whoever this stranger was, he was not a friend. He brandished his bloody sword at her and Fenice was silent. He led Fenice all the way to the dungeons. She hardly ever came down to this part of the castle; it was dark and damp and smelled weird. The stranger sheathed his sword and took a torch from the wall. Deeper into the maze of dungeons he led her and the sounds of fighting in the palace gradually faded. The walls here were unadorned stone, roughly cut and crumbling in places. Fenice knew the castle was very old, and had been rebuilt and expanded many times; there were some parts that even predated the modern kingdom. Fenice, though, had never been this far into the dungeons, and she had no idea where they were. At the end of a long, dusty corridor, a heavy wooden door stood ajar. The stranger dragged Fenice into the small, square room beyond and released his hold on her. While he closed the door and put the torch in a bracket on the wall, Fenice rubbed her sore wrist and looked around. The room was completely empty except for a round hole in the center of the floor. "Who are you?" Fenice demanded haughtily. The stranger leaned against the door, glaring at her silently. "I am the princess. When my father finds out what you've done--!" "When your father finds out what I've done, your highness," he spoke, pronouncing "highness" in a tone of voice more appropriate for discussing a flea infestation, "he will be in no position to do anything about it." "What do you mean?" "Let me tell you a story." The stranger stepped forward from the door, advancing towards Fenice. "There was once a pup named Isabel. She was about your age, with light brown fur and gray eyes. She was the most beautiful little pup in the kingdom." Fenice rolled her eyes at such a blatant falsehood. Three years ago, her father had issued a royal decree declaring that she was officially the most beautiful pup in the kingdom. If the stranger noticed, he didn't react. "A year ago, Isabel complained to her friends about how her family could barely afford food because taxes were so high. She told them she wished we had a different king, one who wasn't so mean. One of the king's spies heard about it and told the king. Isabel was arrested and charged with treason. A young pup, charged with a capital crime. She didn't even know she had done anything wrong." The stranger continued to advance towards Fenice; she took a step backwards. "She was convicted and sentenced to death. But there was a problem. The king refused to execute pups in public - he didn't want his daughter to see someone her own age die." Fenice's bare feet were now right at the edge of the circular hole, and she could back up no further. The stranger stopped advancing and stood still, looming over her. "So the king made Isabel disappear. They brought her down here, to this very room. Do you know what this room is, princess?" Fenice shook her head. "This is an oubliette. They dropped Isabel through this hole and they never came back. She wasn't the first." This close, Fenice could see that there were tears in the stranger's eyes. "She was just a pup. *My* pup. For months, I never knew what happened to her, and when I finally learned the truth...it..." the stranger choked back a sob, "it was worse than I had ever imagined. It was like losing my darling Isabel all over again." Fenice was amused, her fear forgotten for the moment. This big, strong lupine was crying unashamedly, embarrassing himself in front of her. And for what? For a worthless little pup who, as far as Fenice was concerned, had gotten what she deserved. No one should say that sort of thing about her Daddy, and it didn't matter how old they were. Fenice wouldn't have minded seeing this Isabel hanged, but it wasn't her place to argue her Daddy's decision, and it certainly wasn't the place of this strange lupine. Her Daddy's word was law. Peasants did what their king told them to do, that was how it was supposed to be. The stranger wiped his eyes on his arm, his tears mingling with the dried blood that already matted his fur. "So, your highness, do you know what I'm going to do now?" Fenice thought for a moment. She had never associated with peasants before, but she was fairly sure she knew how to deal with one. She took her tarnished silver necklace off and held it out to him. "This necklace once belonged to my mother; it is of great value," this was only half-true; it had indeed belonged to the late queen, but did not possess significant monetary value. "You may have my necklace, peasant, if in exchange you agree to let me go." Fenice figured she could have this disgusting peasant arrested later, and get her necklace back. "I don't want your worthless jewelry, you stupid brat!" the stranger snarled fiercely. He smacked Fenice's hand, sending the necklace flying. It skittered across the floor and came to rest in a shadowy corner. The stranger pushed Fenice hard in the chest, making her shriek and sending her stumbling back towards the hole, her bare feet teetering on the edge. Before she fell completely, he grabbed the front of her shift and she instinctively grabbed his arm with both hands, holding her suspended above the yawning void. "I want my daughter back." Fenice was truly scared now. This lupine was insane. The only thing that kept her from crying was the knowledge that royalty weren't supposed to cry. "That can never happen. I know that. So I'll settle for the next best thing. I will make the king suffer as I have suffered. He will never see his daughter again, and he will never know what has happened to you." Fenice barely heard him. Her feet were slipping, slowly sliding off the edge of the stone towards the emptiness below. Her fingers could barely get a grip on his blood-soaked fur. This lupine couldn't be serious. She was royalty; didn't he know that you couldn't treat royalty like this? He wasn't really going to let her fall, was he? "Release me at once!" she commanded. "As you wish, your highness," he hissed. He let go of Fenice's shift. Fenice's fingers slipped off his arm and she fell backwards into the oubliette, screaming as she did. The stranger watched her fall, a cruciform white figure against a backdrop of solid black, until the darkness swallowed her up. He heard a distant squelch when she landed. He took the torch from the wall and closed the door behind him, leaving the room in complete darkness. Later that night, he was killed in combat in the castle. He never told anyone what he'd done with Princess Fenice. -- Fenice opened her eyes, but it made no difference in what she saw. The darkness surrounding her was complete. She was lying on her back at the bottom of the oubliette. Her back was sore, but as far as she could tell she was uninjured. Her fall had been broken by a thick layer of soggy mud that covered the floor. She could feel it oozing through the soft material of her shift and soaking into her immaculate white fur, infiltrating every crevice of her body. Shaking, Fenice pulled herself to her feet, her body coming free of the mud with a disgusting sucking sound. She wiped her hands clean as best she could on the front of her shift. When she was standing, the filth was above her knees. Somewhere, there was the sound of slowly dripping water. Fenice wrinkled her nose; the smell was unbearable - mold, mildew, fungus, and several other repulsive odors she didn't recognize. "Help!" she shouted. "I'm the princess! I'm down here! Help me!" The sound was quickly swallowed by the blackness. There was no response. Fenice began to wade through the mud, her arms outstretched in front of her. The quagmire sucked and pulled at her legs; every step required a great amount of effort. Every now and then, hard objects embedded in the mud pressed against her legs or caught at the hem of her shift; they felt like sticks or maybe shards of stone. It felt like ages before her hands felt the stone wall of the chamber. The stone was damp and slick. Fenice hugged the wall, following the curve, exploring her prison. She found a spot where a trickle of water ran down the wall, forming a puddle on the surface of the mud. She cupped some water in her hands and drank tentatively. It tasted awful; Fenice spat it out. A little bit further along the wall, Fenice found a group of the hard objects. She picked one up; it was about the length of her thigh, thin, and with knobs on the ends. Like everything else down here, it was coated in a slick film of slime. Others were curved with pointy ends, while others were knobby all over. She picked up one more. It was large, but surprisingly light - probably hollow. In the dark, she ran her fingers over the surface. It was smooth on one side, with holes and odd protuberances on the other, and... teeth. A skull. Fenice screamed. She dropped the skull and jumped back, falling on her tail in the mud. More objects - bones - poked at her. This place was filled with bones! There were dead things in here! Lupines had *died* in here! This shouldn't be happening. This *couldn't* be happening. Fenice howled and yelled, desperately hoping for someone, anyone, to hear her, to come to her rescue. She shouted for hours until she was hoarse, and when she couldn't shout anymore, she sank to her knees in the filth and cried until she fell asleep. -- Fenice woke up. Exactly how much later, she had no idea, since it was just as dark as it had been before. Her bladder ached. With no alternative, Fenice had to piss and defecate on the muddy ground. When she finished, she waded through the sludge to the other end of the chamber, trying to get as far from her feces as she could. Her stomach gurgled hungrily; she never went this long without eating. Fenice had head rumors that some peasants regularly went days at a time without food. If a peasant could do it, then a princess like herself should have no problem, she reasoned. Someone was bound to find her and get her out of here soon. All she had to do was be patient. That knowledge didn't make her stomach hurt any less, unfortunately. Fenice tried to keep her mind occupied. She thought about what she would say to her Daddy when she got out of here. He must be worried sick about her, she knew. She got some pleasure from thinking about how the stranger who had dishonored her would look struggling at the end of rope. She soon realized, though, that that would be too good for him. He deserved nothing less than being thrown down here in her place. Maybe they could hang him some first, but let him down before he died. She started to think about what she would eat first when she got out, but that only served to remind her of her hunger. Fenice began to pick the mud out of her fur. She realized she must be filthy; even though she couldn't see her own hand in front of her face, she could feel the sludge all over her. It wouldn't do for her to be seen like that when she was rescued. She followed the curving wall back to where the puddle was, doing her best to ignore the macabre skeletal remains that littered the mire. She splashed handfuls of water on her fur and scrubbed, but she couldn't tell if it was doing any good. It seemed like it was only making the mud muddier. Her throat felt awfully dry, but it wouldn't do for a princess to willingly drink stale, muddy water like a commoner or a beast. She splashed her face and "accidentally" got some in her mouth. It was gritty and smelled funny, but Fenice swallowed anyway; it didn't taste nearly as repulsive as she recalled. Immediately, her throat felt better. Ancient, long-buried instincts kicked in and she dropped to her hands and knees to eagerly lap at the puddle with her tongue. It was several moments before Fenice realized what she was doing. Disgusted, she jumped back and crawled away from the puddle. She fell asleep reclining against the wall. -- Fenice felt a tickling sensation on her chin. Half-asleep, she brushed it away. A barely perceptible weight on her chest shifted. Reflexively, she swatted at it, and her hand felt mangy, muddy fur and a long bald tail. Fenice shrieked. The rat squeaked shrilly and jumped off her chest. Fenice jumped to her feet and stumbled quickly through the mud, not caring where she was going as long as it was away from the rat. She tripped and fell face-first into the ooze. Fenice spat the disgusting filth out of her mouth and sat up. She hugged her knees to her chest, crying. There were *rats* in here! Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse. What else was in here? Cockroaches? Snakes? Fleas? Centipedes? *Spiders*? Fenice hated spiders. Suddenly, it felt as though the darkness pressing in on her was filled with little beady eyes, all staring at her, just waiting for her to let her guard down. Her stomach grumbled loudly. Her throat hurt. Her muscles ached. In all her life, Fenice had never been this thoroughly miserable. She wanted her Daddy. She wanted to wake up in her warm and comfortable bed. She wanted food brought by a servant whenever she needed it. She wanted her bath and her clean, pretty dresses. She wanted her pony in the stables. She wanted Martin and his piggyback rides. More than anything, Fenice wanted to go home. Fenice wondered if this was how Daddy's enemies felt before they were executed. Had Isabel gone through this, too? Would anyone really rescue her? For the first time ever, doubt began to creep into Fenice's mind. Again, she cried herself to sleep. -- Again, she was awoken by a rat sniffing her face. Fenice shrieked and swatted it away. Her stomach gurgled painfully. She was clammy and her limbs trembled. With difficulty, Fenice extricated herself from the mire she had sunk into while she was sleeping and found her way back to the puddle. She swallowed her pride and knelt to drink deeply. Her muscles were sore; Fenice felt like she needed a rest. She sat down in the mud with her back against the wall. A long, slime-covered bone poked at her and she picked it up. The knowledge that this place was filled with the bones of lupines who had died down here still disgusted her, but compared to some of the other things down here, the bones were harmless. Maybe she could even use them to fight off the rats. Clutching the bone tightly, she began to doze off. -- Fenice felt whiskers tickling at her left hand and lashed out in the dark with her improvised weapon; by pure luck she scored a direct hit. The rat squealed sharply and reacted by biting Fenice's hand painfully hard. She dropped the bone and yowled as she felt the sharp little teeth dig into her skin, tearing off a small hunk of flesh. The rat fled, its hunger sated for now. Fenice wrapped her injured hand in her stained, filthy shift, waiting for the flow of blood to stop. She began to cry again. The bite throbbed in agony, but everything else ached too. She needed something to eat, and soon. She felt around in the mud and picked the bone up again. Fenice wiped the tears from her eyes and as she did so the bone passed in front of her nose. Deeply buried instincts, dating back to her earliest canine ancestors, kicked in, telling her that bones equaled food. Without thinking, Fenice began to gnaw at the bone, hesitantly at first, then ravenously, chewing off the layer of slime, seeking out microscopic pieces of meat, swallowing greedily. The bone was covered in her own tooth marks before she realized what she was doing. Fenice yelped in disgust and flung the bone across the chamber. In the dark, she heard it clatter against the far wall and land with a soft thump in the mud. What was happening to her, Fenice wondered. Had she really sunk so low that she would chew on rotten bones to survive? Fenice was disgusted with herself. When she was rescued, she would leave this part out of the story. If she was rescued. -- Time passed. How much time, there was no way of knowing, but for Fenice it felt like ages. For a while after her experiment with the bone, Fenice experienced painful stomach cramps, accompanied by dry heaves and shivering. She continued to drink from the puddle, sometimes even licking the wall where the water trickled down and tasted a bit purer. Eventually, though, it was no longer refreshing. Her throat hurt so much that it became too agonizing even to swallow. She hardly moved at all anymore, instead staying close to the puddle. She defecated in place, her foul, watery feces staining her shift. Moving hurt too much. -- The rats became bolder, and she was bitten several more times. Fenice didn't have the strength to fight them off. In this fetid hole, the wounds quickly became infected and swollen, often oozing blood and pus. Raw, itchy lesions unrelated to the bites began to pop up on her skin. When she scratched, she could feel small tufts of her fur fall out. -- Between the rats and the rot, Fenice's once immaculate shift slowly disintegrated. She could feel her own bones through her skin; she had lost so much weight that she barely even sank into the mire. -- To her mild surprise, Fenice realized she wasn't really very hungry anymore, and after a while even her thirst went away. Fenice was vaguely aware that that couldn't be right, since she hadn't had a proper meal since she was thrown down here, but she wasn't sure what she could do about it. -- Once, she thought she heard voices coming from the room above her. She tried to call out, but all she could manage was a faint, rasping whisper, and even that was unbearably painful. -- Gradually, Fenice faded away, trapped in a wretched hell of interminable agony. She didn't care anymore if anyone rescued her or not. -- Fenice closed her eyes. -- -- Fenice opened her eyes. She looked up from her supine position on the ground. Everything was still black, but there was someone standing in front of her; a beautiful young lupine, about Fenice's age, with light brown fur and gray eyes. She wore no clothes, but appeared unashamed of her nakedness. She seemed to glow in the darkness, lit by an unseen source. "Have you come to rescue me?" Fenice rasped. The stranger said nothing. Her expression was heartbreakingly sad, and it was clear that her short life had not been kind to her. They had never met, but Fenice realized she knew who she was. "I'm sorry. I never knew...." Isabel nodded. She held out her hand to Fenice. Fenice stood up and placed her hand in Isabel's. Together, they left, leaving Fenice's ruined body behind. -- Author's Notes First draft begun January 23, 2010, on paper. Transcribed onto computer and completed February 1, 2010. Final revisions completed February 3, 2010. In a Michener-esque fashion, Valle Neire in this story is the same location as the nation of Vellanyre mentioned in my story "Sophia's Goodbye." This story takes place a couple millennia or so after that one.