Day break.
The bedding is made of heavenly down feather. The Violet Empress is drowsy with sleep as the rays of first morning seep in through the open window. The smell of fresh cedar burns in the fireplace to warm the room. She vaguely hears the sound of chirping and the clomp of hoofs mucking across the cobble roads floors below.
Where was she? When did she fall asleep? And why was she so sore all over?
The Empress sits up, letting the thick wool blanket fall to her lap. She was completely bare. The realization makes her blush, pulling it back up to cover her chest. Crawling out of bed, she takes the blanket with her to use as a make-shift shroud.
The room is decorated with paintings and assorted nicknacks. Her Highness spots an oak wardrobe off to the side. She tiptoes over the old wood floor and to the wide dresser, opening its heavy doors. It takes all of her strength to open them. Inside, the clothes are larger than even her father could have fit into. She unhooks an old thread bear tunic, clay in color, slinking it over her head and down her body, coming to just below her knees. This was much more suited for movement. And it was the most she could wear from her much smaller physique.
The Violet Empress drops the heavy cape, shedding it in favor of leaving the room. She needs to figure out where she was.
As she creeps from the quiet room, the Empress is met with the cold draft of outside air blowing in from the window at the end of the hall. The gusts chill through her tunic, spreading goosebumps down her arms and legs. As she approaches the sill, she sees the early morning of spring. The clouds drift aimlessly from above, dyed in rich colors of orange, magenta, and pink by the suns' rays. The atmosphere is dreamy, like a fairytale.
Who brought her back from the dungeon?
"You're awake" An expectant voice sounds from the bottom of the stairs, calling to her from it's landing a flight above.
Her Highness's head snaps to attention, hearing the voice from below.
It was a woman tall in nature. Her strong jaw protruded with two ivory tusks. One was sharp, pointed to the gods and the other broken in a jagged unevenness. She was broad with olive green skin. An orc woman.
The Violet Empress stood still with an overly cautious fear of the creature. She had never met an orc in real life, only the stories her hand maid would tell her and her sisters to keep them from straying far off the paths during their walks in the grove. Orcs were angry with a pension for blood lust. They hated humans. It was in the air they breathed and the dreams they conjured in sleep. All creatures of the unknown were enemies to the kingdom and ally's of The Crow Prince. How were they above ground?
"Are you hungry? I found you miles out land. Did your party leave you?" The orc woman's tone even and curious.
"Where is this place?" The Empress's voice is quiet, timid of the creature staring at her from below.
"Markellios." She responds.
What? Where? How was there a city within her great lands that she did not know of. The hours she spent learning each and every village, city, and capitol of her noble nation was failing her memory now. How was she outside of her own land?
"Where is that.." She asks again, looking for clarification. The soreness in her legs is starting to ache in her calves as she supports herself upright. It was no easy feat to stand there unwavering in front of a beast that may kill her.
"Markellios is a port city. This is the first landmark adventurers usually end up in while passing through the dungeon. I found you much further from the usual path by the mines. Is this your first time?" The orc woman was enlightening with her explanation.
The dungeon. The Empress was still in the dungeon. Her sisters were trapped in here by the Crow Prince and she had headed in without question to find them. It made no sense. How did a dungeon deep below the earth have skies with clouds and wind?
"Why don't you come down here so we can eat? I've prepared a small spread." The beastly woman motions with her arm and turns to leave the bottom steps. Her footsteps make loud creaks beneath her heavy feet, fading while she leads the way.
Her Highness is hesitant to descend the stairs, but the rumble of her gut coaxes her down. She follows after the orc woman, trailing her as the lost puppy she was in this unfamiliar city.
The downstairs is a tavern, barren of patrons and closed until afternoon. The wood floor has a layer of dried booze and scum to it, making the soles to the Empress's soft feet stick with each step. A bar top ran almost the full length of the large open room. The other half was taken up by booths and free floating tables with chairs. The orc woman was just sitting down at the bar, a platter in front of her, by the time she arrives at her side.
The Empress cautiously sits down, looking over the prepared breakfast. It was an assortment of cured meats, hard cheese, and crusty bread. It looks fresh and mouth watering. The last 24 hours had not been kind to the Empress and hunger was starting to affect her.
The orc woman watches the Empress expectantly, taking her own piece of cheese and popping it into her mouth.
"It's good. Yarrow's finest export." She smiles in an attempt to ease the Empress's nerves.
"What is your name?" The Violent Empress asks.
"Yonna." She answers. "And yours?"
"Violet." Her Highness obliges. She quickly realizes her mistake in being honest, biting at the inside of her cheek in an attempt to conceal her growing anxiety.
"Do you have an adventuring party, Violet?" Yonna was curious about her appearance in the dungeon.
"Yes. I found myself split from them in the mines. A party of goblins attacked. Before I knew it, I woke up here." She answers, taking a hunk of bread from the loaf in front of them. She bites into it, chewy.
The orc nods, listening and sighing. "You are lucky. Goblins don't tend to leave their victims alive after a rut. Dually lucky the Raven Guard did not find you. I almost had mistaken you for dead and they would have too. You'd have awaken on a pyre of flame." She explains through bites and crewing, careful of her tusks.
"The Crow Prince's army men." The Empress says to herself.
Yonna catches it and nodded in confirmation.
