Prisoners of Scythia Shifter Box Set

by Lisa Daniels

  “You have been studying my kind, then.”

  “When it comes to progressing in unusual circumstances, you have to consider all of your options. Even those that seem terrible.”

  “I’m not sure if that is meant as a compliment or an insult.”

  “It is neither. I’ve come to trust few people, and that stretches to the histories that have been recorded. When we win, we change the history to make ourselves look better than we were. When we lose, we change history to show that the odds were impossible, yet we fought nobly despite that. The lies permeate every aspect of our lives. How could I simply trust the words and writings about a species that we have had little exposure to over the years?”

  “You are a strange one.” He rubbed his forehead with his hand. “I take it you want me to return the favor by getting you out of here.”

  “Not at all. I’ve no doubt that you were captured with a plan in mind. I am simply speeding it up because I can’t imagine that it is comfortable to be left hanging from the wall. Oh!” I suddenly remembered I had brought something to give him. “Here.”

  Lifting up my skirt, I didn’t see what his reaction was. Grabbing what I had hidden under my dress, I dropped the hem back to the ground. The shifter was staring at me, unsure what to think. “I brought you something to eat and drink. I know that you haven’t gotten anything since they brought you here.”

  “That is very kind.” He paused for a moment, then took the wrapped cloth from one hand and the flask from the other. He closed his eyes as he took a long drink.

  “I suppose I should have thought about that.” I gave him a smile. “You must be incredibly thirsty. I will try to return soon with more. In the meantime, you can take the keys.”

  He looked down at it as he pulled out a small sandwich. “That is very kind. And I’m not sure that I should trust so many magnanimous gestures, especially from the princess.”

  “Yet you have already drunk and eaten, showing that you don’t mistrust me as much as you are making it seem.”

  “I was quite hungry and thirsty. That can make you less cautious.”

  “I imagine that is true. But you don’t need to worry about me.” I hung the key from one of the chains on the wall. “I do want to leave, but I’m not going to force you. While you are here, I will do what is in my power to help you. I simply ask that you consider helping me before you leave. Again, I know that you have a plan and that I am unnecessary. I simply wish to go with you until we are away from the city.”

  I didn’t know what he thought after that first encounter, but he was kinder after that day. We only saw each other a few times, and in that time neither of us gave too much away about our lives or plans. Still, it had brought me a sense of calm when I was near him. If nothing else, I felt like I had a purpose beyond what my station demanded of me. I was also helping someone my father loathed, which was enjoyable on its own. Even if it didn’t yield anything, I was happy just to have someone to talk to.

  It was only when Leland had appeared in my room that I realized just how little he had actually needed me during that time. He claimed to have lost the keys after our first meeting, yet he was able to get out of his cell. Perhaps he shifted into something small enough to fit through the bars. As the day passed without his appearance, I began to feel increasingly certain that there was no hope for me that way.

  I had been a distraction, nothing more, while he waited to execute his plan.

  With a heavy sigh, I moved to the window. Not having visitors could actually be a good thing. Pulling up the cloth, I brought the small bundle of daggers into the room. Feeling each of them, I decided on the smallest. It wasn’t quite the same as having someone teach me, but I could at least get accustomed to the feel over the next few days. It was very likely that I would need to use at least one of them to get away from the future my father had planned.

  I removed a few dresses that I hated from the wardrobe and hung them around the room. Over the next hour, I tried lunging and slashing at the dresses, knowing full well just how ridiculous I must have looked. If nothing else, the time was spent doing something potentially useful instead of focusing on the growing pain in my stomach.

  Chapter 6

  A Glimmer of Hope

  When I finally stopped trying to train myself in how to use a dagger, I had a couple of cuts on my hands where I had accidently nicked myself, and a blister on my right hand. It may not have been ideal, but it was definitely a good learning experience. When I began training the next day, I would know to wear a glove. Or perhaps I should bandage my hand. Hadn’t one of the guards mentioned something about bandaging themselves for practice? It hadn’t made sense at the time, but now it did. Looking down at my hands, I knew that my time was running out—two days gone, four left to get out.

  There was no guarantee that someone wouldn’t make their way into my room at some point. Knowing my father, he would want to torment me as much as possible, and being in a vulnerable state after not eating for a few days would certainly fit the bill for that one. After what had happened with Falmen the morning before, I didn’t want to underestimate anyone else who came into my room. That meant finding somewhere else to hide the weapons. With a heavy sigh, I looked around the room. No place seemed ideal for what I needed. Then I looked at my bed.

  With a shrug, I moved over to it. After pulling back the covers and sheets, I plunged one of the daggers into the mattress. I cut a hole big enough for the dagger’s hilt to slide into the feathers. I added the other few daggers into the space, then remade the bed.

  Flopping down on the other side, I looked up at the ceiling. With only a few days left, I was going to need to come up with a way out of the room that didn’t end in me plummeting to the ground below my window.

  “Maybe I can use the daggers to incrementally move down the wall, in addition to some kind of rope. I know that I can use them all the way down the side, but I could probably keep myself from moving down too quickly.” I was pondering the idea when something caught my eye. On my dresser was the strange device that Falmen had found. I had placed it on the dresser when I tore into the mattress, but otherwise had not done anything with it since being imprisoned in my room.

  I got up and walked over to the dresser. The object was pretty if a bit odd. It appeared to be made of gold and a few gems. It was cylindrical with glass on either end. I held it up toward the dying light, thinking maybe I just needed to look at it from the right angle. Moving it around, nothing became obvious about its purpose. I put it back on the dresser and rolled it the length of the top. Apart from the pretty way the metal and gems reflected light, nothing presented itself as a reason to have the device. Yet someone had made sure that it was at the front and center of the weapons in the armory when I snuck into it. What was the point of that?

  Picking it up, I moved back over to the bed and lay down, holding the device up to look at it some more. Maybe it was some type of puzzle? But why would it be with the weapons?

  “What were you doing in the armory? And why didn’t Falmen take you if you were in the armory? He didn’t seem to think you were a weapon, so what are you?” I asked the little device. I pondered it for a while until I got tired enough to sleep. Slipping it under a pillow, I closed my eyes, my curiosity remaining piqued as I fell asleep.

  The next day was pretty much a lot of the same. I practiced with the daggers a couple of times after wrapping my hands in some of the remains of my least favorite dress. There was no doubt that I would be in serious trouble if I actually had to use them, but with any luck, just the sight of a couple of well-crafted daggers would get me out of most trouble outside of the castle.

  I let my hair down and brushed it. It gave me some comfort to have something to do that wouldn’t cut me or leave me feeling foolish. As I braided it, I wished for a moment that my hair was long enough to act as a rope to get me down a few floors. Then again, that would be ridiculously heavy. With a laugh, I wrapped it up on my head and thought about trying to us
e the daggers as a way of climbing. I picked up one of them and moved over to the wall. Holding it as tight as I could, I tried to stab the dagger between two of the stones.

  Immediately I knew two things.

  There was no chance that I was strong enough. The reverberations up my arm felt like someone was trying to tear my arm off, causing me to drop the dagger. I looked to the door, thinking that it might have been loud enough to make the guards peek into my room. I held my breath, waiting to see someone poke their head in. Several minutes passed before I knew that no one was coming. With a sigh of relief, I leaned over and picked up the dagger, putting it in my mattress.

  The second thing that I knew was that it was a wild and impractical idea. Part of the blade had broken off in the stone. I walked over and stared at it for a few moments, weighing my options. Trying to lower myself was going to be difficult enough, but now I knew that I would have to do it without any kind of grip.

  My predicament looked increasingly more difficult.

  The rest of the day was spent practicing with a couple of daggers and trying to make something that would be long enough to get me to the next window down.

  After a long and largely unproductive day, I lay back on my bed and stared at one of the burning candles. “Maybe I could start a fire in here. That might get the door open long enough to escape.”

  At least it was another idea, even if it was verging on ridiculous. My options were fairly limited, and it was getting increasingly harder to find something that wasn’t too far-fetched. Of course, I could always try to escape from my husband’s home, but after nearly a week without food, I knew that I would be in no state to do much. It would be best to escape from familiar surroundings than to start somewhere that was entirely unknown. Even if I had not been able to leave the city, I had seen maps of the surrounding area. Evinough was a long way from here and I had no knowledge of the region. My best bet would have been when the carriage was leaving the city, but I knew that I would be too weak by then.

  “You look like you are deep in thought.”

  The voice caught me completely off guard, causing me to nearly fall of the bed.

  “Whoa, that was not quite the reaction I expected.”

  I looked up into Leland’s face. “Good gods! You startled me.” Placing my hand over my heart, I stood up.

  “My apologies. I thought I should check in with you to make sure that you are doing alright.”

  I shrugged, trying to hide my hands in the folds of my dress. “Just fine. How are your friends?” I did not want to talk about the last couple of days. I was not his primary focus and I didn’t want to force him into acting because of my situation. “Any idea how the woman with Bryce is doing?”

  He tilted his head to the side. “I don’t know. I have not seen her. From what I heard, she is alive and well. Once Bryce feels she is ready, he will get her out of here.” He gave me a small smile. “He’s pretty much refusing to leave her, despite what his role was supposed to be.”

  I laughed and sat down, making sure that the cut on my cheek was turned away from him. “She is quite beautiful, so I can’t say that I blame him. I’m glad that she is doing alright. I suppose my interference was unnecessary. Kind of the way things have been going lately.”

  “Have you lost weight?” He was looking at me more critically than when he had entered the room.

  “Yeah, you could say I’m on a crash diet.” The last thing I wanted was for him to start inspecting me. Either he would decide to get me out of there instead of taking care of his friends or he would decide that I was in no state to take out of there. In the case of the latter, I was afraid that he would give up on me entirely. Best to distract him from my problems and focus on the things that were important to him.

  Leland frowned at me, “If you are trying to protest your current conditions, I strongly recommend that you eat while you can. When we leave here, we may have to go a couple of days with little to no food. Get your strength up.” He began to walk toward me.

  “You still plan to take me with you?”

  He stopped. “Of course. I said that as long as you were interested in leaving, I would help you out. Did you forget that, or do you think that I would go back on what I said?”

  “I figured you had more than enough to manage. A spoiled princess seems like a bit of a burden.”

  “I never called you that.”

  “No, but you certainly thought it on a few occasions. Maybe you forgot our first conversation.” I tried to smile at him, but felt the scab pull on my cheek. The smile quickly turned into a grimace.

  He watched me for a moment. The way he was looking at me was a bit unnerving. Shifting my weight a little, I made sure that my hands were completely hidden from view.

  “You appear to be uncomfortable with me.”

  I looked at him askance. “I’m just… I think that I need to be alone for a bit. Sorry.”

  “Did you not enjoy our night together?”

  His blunt question caught me completely by surprise. My mouth dropped open a little and after a moment, I started coughing. I felt the heat in my cheeks and looked away. With everything that had happened since that night I had not really had much time to spare to think about it. Now that he was asking me about it directly, I wasn’t sure what to say because I was embarrassed by the memory of how much I had begged him for more that night.

  He watched my awkward reaction. With a quick bow, he said, “That is a shame. I found it quite enjoyable. However, I cannot change the way you feel.” Turning, Leland moved toward the door. He stopped at the door and spoke over his shoulder, “I will be back in a few days and we will leave. Apologies for the delay, but I’m afraid my other friend is acting a bit erratically. I fear that he may be breaking, so I need to stay close a little longer until I am certain he won’t do anything stupid.”

  “Take all the time you need. I know that your friend comes first.”

  I watched as he gave a quick nod of his head, then disappeared out the door.

  Feeling a bit stupid and very embarrassed, I stood up and tried to convince myself that it would be alright. Fully aware that the shifter may not be back before my marriage, I knew that I was going to need to come up with my own method of escape. I pulled a few dresses out of my wardrobe and found one that I thought would attract the least attention.

  This was the perfect opportunity for me to go. Taking the unbroken daggers from the bed, I slipped them into some pockets in my petticoat. Next, I retrieved the strange object from under my pillow and slid it into my stockings.

  Carefully, I moved over to the door. Giving the doorknob a twist, I was shocked to find that the door was again locked.

  “You have to be fucking kidding me.” I stared at the door. Leland had locked it after leaving. The guards were out there, unconscious, and no one would be expecting me to slip out, yet I couldn’t go anywhere.

  I stepped back and stared at the door, wondering if there was any way I could possibly remove it. Now was the perfect time to escape. I couldn’t wait for Leland any longer because there was every chance that he would need to stick around more days than I had left.

  There was no point in time where I had told him how long I had until the marriage, and he didn’t have any conversations with anyone else in the palace as far as I was aware. He probably had no idea that I was supposed to be married in a few more days. With the way things had been working out, I expected that he wouldn’t be back until after the wedding was supposed to happen.

  As expected, I was going to need to rely on myself. And I was certain that I needed to find some way to remove the door that night to finally escape.

  The next few hours were dedicated to trying to figure out how to remove the door. After a second of considering ramming into it, I quickly dismissed that idea. I was far too small and the door was solid oak.

  Next, I examined the hinges. They were old and large, but they would not be impossible if I could just find the right way to remove them.
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  Pulling out one of the undamaged daggers, I placed it under the top hinge. Carefully, I began to bang it against the bottom of the hinge without any movement. Looking around the room, I tried to find something that I could use like a hammer. The room of a princess is many things, but there are few items that can be said to be functional as tools. As much as I hated the idea, the hardest object in there was a large chunk of geode that had been a present from my mother when I was young. It was one of the few things I had from her since she died under suspicious circumstances when I was five years old.

  As much as I regretted it, I began to use the rock to hammer at the bottom of the dagger. I had no idea how much time had passed when I finally felt the dagger move up a little. I continued to hammer away at it until the bolt slid out of the top. Wiping sweat from my brow, I gave a half smile.

  That was when I noticed that I could see far more clearly than earlier. Turning to look at the window, I realized that it was too late. The sun was beginning to rise.

  Slumping back against the door, I cursed my luck.

  Chapter 7

  A Hasty Escape

  I slept much of that day because I was exhausted and starving. It had been, what, four or five days since I had eaten anything?

  “Maybe I’m light enough to float down instead of plummet?” I laughed at my predicament from my bed. I didn’t have long and at that point I had no set plan. “Looks like you aren’t as smart as you think you are. If you were, you would have gotten out of here nearly a week ago based on the plan instead of getting tangled up in something that had nothing to do with you. Stupid.”

  Rolling over, I stared at the wall. “It’s probably best to just rest today, then try to get out in the early hours of the morning. One way or the other, I cannot stay here another day. My father will have to start preparing me for the wedding if nothing else. And once the preparation starts, it will be that much harder to get away.”

  A few hours after dark, a sound from the door startled me. Sitting up too quickly, my head began to spin. I sat with it in my hands for a few minutes until the dizziness ceased. Taking a deep breath, I looked up to see a small bundle sitting on the floor. With a frown, I crawled off of my bed and moved toward the door.