Acclayne Book 1: The Game Begins
Chapter 16

Stella had began to lose sense of time. The small windows in the tworoom shack had been covered over and only glimpses of daylightmanaged to trickle through. These glimpses had eventually winked outand the Princess assumed that it was once again night-time. She hadbeen sleeping for most of the afternoon – she guessed, and her neckwas stiff. Groaning; she rolled her head to ease the tension.

“'Bout time you wokeup. Been sleeping all day you 'ave.”

“Oh I'm sorry, isthere something else that I should be doing? Oh wait, I seem to be abit tied up at the moment.” She sighed as she heard her captorwalking around behind her. “Can I not at least get up and stretchmy legs? This chair is terribly uncomfortable. I do not know why Icannot just be permitted to sleep on the bed-”

“-I tol' you, you'lljust try an-”

“I mean, it feels asif the pattern of the wood has embedded itself in my skin; I'mawfully sensitive you know, my legs have fallen asleep and even mybottom is sore...” Stella continued on in this vain for quite sometime, causing Alox to experience quite a similar level of discomfort.He had never heard a woman refer to her, um, bottom in quite so blaséa fashion before. He was rather taken aback.

“Well,” heeventually interrupted, “I suppose I could give ya a bathroombreak.”

“Oh thank you!” Shesquealed. “Though I do not know if I would go so far as to callthat broom closet a bathroom. I mean, I have wardrobes with more-”Stella held her tongue as she acknowledged the look on his face; hewasn't angry, exactly; more...hurt? She had not previously consideredthat this small hovel might actually be his home. “Bathroom breakit is.” She smiled sweetly at him as he untied her. Instinctivelyshe rubbed at her freed wrist and winced. Her skin was chafed andsore.

Alox looked at her;concerned. He had to admit that he wasn't entirely comfortable withkidnap. Not only was he replaceing it extremely inconvenient andirritating but he wasn't getting the thrill he would normally getfrom killing something. When you killed someone it was all overrelatively quickly- that was unless it was a grudge job; he took histime over those. He grabbed her hand and turned it over to betterexamine the damage. Her hand was so small in his; and soft. He felthimself redden.

“Might have somethin'for that.” He grunted. “Go wash up first.” And with that hedropped her hand.

Stella looked up at himfrom her chair. It was the first bit of consideration he had shownher and she felt surprisingly overwhelmed by it. “Thank you.” Shesmiled and stood; stumbling slightly as the blood rushed down herlegs.

Alox grunted. He hadn'tbeen given instructions on how he should treat his hostage but thisfelt like the right thing to be doing. Nothing wrong with showing alady a bit of decency; She may have got on his last nerve but that'swhat she was; a lady. No need for him to be getting all chatty withher though. He waved her away and she practically scampered to thebathroom.

“Isit all right if I wash my hair while I'm at it? I mean, that horridstuff that you smoke is wreaking havoc with my hair. I don't thinkthat I have ever smelt so bad, and how about a toothbrush? My breathis rancid, whatwas in that food you gave me last night? I mean, there is no excusefor poor dental hygiene...”

Alox groaned andwondered where he'd put that gag.

Stella closed her eyesand towel dried her hair as best she could without dwelling too muchon the cleanliness of the only towel she'd managed to replace in thebathroom. She felt so much better after a wash; she'd only managed tohave three since she'd been kidnapped. It never failed to amaze herhow much it lifted her spirits; everything seemed easier to cope withwhen her hair was clean and glossy.

As she rubbed herselfdown she eyed her gown. It was a pink number; all full skirts, bowsand satin. Not the most forgiving of fabric she had to admit; ithugged every curve, even the ones that she didn't really want it tohug. She had pleaded with her father to let her have it; it was thefashion she told him authoritatively; positively everyone was wearingone. How could he have refused her that- he already denied her asocial life; a fact that she used against him regularly. He hadn'tliked it when he saw the way that it cinched her waist and surely theneckline was not supposed to be quite that low? But she had loved it;even when she had to refrain from eating whenever she wore it, theresimply was not room for both her and food in that bodice. Sherevelled in every opportunity to wear it and so had chosen to wear itthat fateful morning on her way into the town. Now, the mere sight ofit lying in a crumpled pile on the floor made her feel sick. Shecouldn't possibly put it on again. It had become looser on her now;that was true, but it had lost all of it's sparkle. The flow of thefabric had been replaced with a horrid stiffness thanks to the crustof dirt that had worked it's way into the fibres of the material, theonce bright pink had now dulled and the lace trimmings were hangingoff after she had been so roughly man-handled. It was a shadow ofitself; a poor excuse for a dress.

Wrapping the damp,dubious towel around herself she shuffled across the small room.There was a tall cupboard in the corner which she tentatively opened.She thought herself extremely rude, but then surely allowing a youngwoman to dress in the same clothes for this long was just as bad? Ofcourse it was. If anything it was worse. Inside the cupboard shefound shirts, vest tops and trousers. She picked up a shirt andexamined it, she was pretty sure it was clean but it was certainlypast it's prime. The cotton was worn at the elbows and it was now farfrom white, but, she reminded herself, it was clean and beggarscannot afford to be choosers. As she pulled it on she was thankfulfor her captor's size; the shirt fastened comfortably over her chestand hung loose over her stomach and legs; falling just short of herknees. It was hardly what she would call decent and so she opted fora pair of trousers as well. They were much too big on her and shefound that as well as turning up the bottoms she also had to hold thewaist band in order to stop them from falling down to her knees.

As Stella scrutinisedher now predominantly dry hair in the mirror she heard a dullthudding noise coming from outside. Startled; she rushed through tothe other room to replace it empty. She was alone in the shack.

Alox had recognised thesound of rhythmic footfalls as soon as he'd heard it. He peered downthe deserted road from his small doorway. They weren't passing by thehut at least; they were just sticking to the main road South, hecouldn't risk being found- Fofana would have a complete meltdown.From where he was standing he couldn't make out who they were, butthere sure was a lot of them – he was glad he was tucked away. Hecould take down a couple of men at a time but definitely not thatmany. They marched ceaselessly by until soon he could no longer see them, merely hear them marching as they headed South; away fromVallaylii and away from therm.

He turned to headinside; no need to stay out in the cold night air any longer thannecessary, and; he thought, he should probably check on thattroublesome girl – make sure she hadn't managed to drown herself inthe bath. What he found when he opened the door was not what he'dexpected. Huddled on the floor in the corner sat the Princess; eyesclosed and whimpering quietly. She opened her eyes when she heard himclose the door behind him, and her whimpering lessened.

“I thought I had beenforgotten.” She said in a small voice when she had composed herselfa little. Alox crossed the room slowly so as not to alarm her. Hehadn't seen her this hopeless the whole time he'd been minding her;it was disconcerting.

“Nah, just sometroops out on drill or somethin'” he said quietly. He stopped a fewfeet from her. “Them my clothes you're wearin'?” He asked,secretly amused.

“Y-y-yes.” Shesniffled and he smiled at her. She looked so young huddled in thecorner; drowning in his too-big shirt. She reminded him of his owndaughter; the one he'd lost, along with his wife, the one time he'drefused to finish a job. He always finished what he started now.regardless, this girl was someone's daughter and right now she wasall alone and scared.

“Let's get that creamon yer wrists shall we? It's Alox by the way.” He said. She smiled.