Lord Cyprian was quite intrigued when his men dragged the girl from her hiding place in the dungeons, not least because he'd been expecting someone else altogether. Unless his renegade apprentice had turned into a curvaceous, raven-haired maiden since he'd last looked (a spell far beyond his ability to cast,) it seemed an attractive intruder had been the one to go about the castle, destroying his machines and gathering up his journals. Her garments were odd as well; although he could recognize what she wore as a nightgown, it was a startlingly flimsy thing, very nearly see-through, and clung to her frame like no fabric he'd ever seen.It was certainly rare for pretty girls to break into his dungeons, but who was he to object to such a thing?
"No!" she shouted. "This is all a mistake! I'm not supposed to be here!" The guard dragging her by the hair laughed, baring the fangs he'd grown after Cyprian had worked his magic, The other, whose curse took the form of stubby ram horns, held her arms behind her back and nuzzled the side of her neck. The girl squirmed and struggled, but for all the merry chase she'd given them through the castle, her physical strength was not much to speak of.
"My lord!" said the fanged guard. "We caught this pretty little pest scurrying about your cellar. Shall we take her to your laboratory, or may we have a bit of fun with her first?" The girl picked up her struggles at this, and the guard pulled her hair tighter in response. She might have struggled even more if she had known what befell the victims of Cyprian's experiments in his laboratory.
Or did she already know? If she was the one who had been hiding in the halls, just what had she seen and done?
"Perhaps later," he said. "Your sort of fun is rather pedestrian to share with an honored guest. Show her to me, and I shall decide what I want from her."
"Please!" the girl said, as they brought her closer. "Lord Cyprian! Please, I'm not supposed to be here! It's your apprentice, Thomas! He lost his memory and was following all the clues through the castle. I was leading him- no, wait, I wasn't leading him, I wasn't helping him! I'm not from here, this is all a game, this isn't supposed to be real!"
So she knew the names Cyprian and Thomas, and she knew he had stolen the fool's memories. That was troublesome, but intriguing all the same. He looked her over appreciatively, enjoying the fear in her eyes. Yes, this evening's catch would be far more entertaining than dealing with some traitorous minion.
"You solved the puzzle of stone and iron?" he asked. She nodded, then continued babbling nonsense about playing a game, which he cut off with a casual slap across her face. "You are very clever, my sweet," he said. "A shame I shan't be using you for your mind."
Cyprian reached out and appraisingly hefted a breast through her white nightgown. The girl squeaked in shock, and her evident fright increased when he gave her an appreciative squeeze. His curse-touched men cackled as he ran his hands over her body, patting her shapely hips and gripping her soft thighs. Once, when he still ventured into public life, women had blushed and giggled over his handsome, angular face and white-blonde hair; no reaction from a flirtatious lady had been nearly as satisfying as this poor maiden's alarm.
"No," she said, "you don't understand, I'm from another world!"
That caught his attention! Could she be from his lost world of Carcosa, from which he'd fled as a fugitive so long ago? Now that his sorcerous experiments had allowed him to grow his own army of curse-touched beast-men with which to conquer his old home, he had been searching for a way back- but without the black star amulet that allowed planetary travel, his search had been fruitless. Could this girl be a Carcosan, who could tell him how his planet fared? Unlikely, he knew. Still, the possibility made her even more intriguing.
"Indeed? And how did you find yourself in a foreign castle in a foreign world, then?" Cyprian continued to grope her as he spoke, earning snickers from his beast-men.
"I was playing a game," she said, though she was having trouble keeping her voice steady as he pinched her nipples through the nightgown. "It was telling a story about this castle, and a man named Thomas who had lost his memory. He started to remember bad things he had done, and then he had to solve a puzzle- I mean, I had to solve the puzzle- and then I was here!"
