Black Moon Draw

"This is gorgeous!" I exclaim, walking to the bed. It feels like a real mattress and I fling my sore, aching body across it, sinking into it with a sigh. It's plush and the blankets a bit itchy. They smell like horses. Pretty much everything in this world does, I'm noticing. But I don't care. I curl up on my side and relax my unhappy body.

"Witch!" the Shadow Knight snaps.

"Can you leave me in peace for two seconds? Please?" I groan.

There's a moment of quiet and then, "Very well. Do not leave this chamber."

Thank god. I say nothing.

The door closes behind him and I lay still. I'd give anything for a bath or maybe some Icy Hot. I wonder if it's possible for my ass to be broken; moving even a little bit makes me wince. I have enough padding down there that a day on a horse shouldn't faze me.

"Are you hungry?" the squire asks.

"Starving."

"Shall I fetch you supper?"

I lift my head. "You'd do that?"

He nods.

"That'd be amazing. Thanks."

The kid leaves.

After a good five minutes, I sit up with a grimace. I check my hand, hoping to find a note there from LF with instructions on how to get out of here. There's nothing, aside from the countdown, and I stand and do some stretches to loosen up my miserable body.

A knock draws me towards the door and I open it, expecting the kid.

"M'lady." A man with a white tree on his black tunic bows. "The Red Knight will see you, if you are available."

"I am." Interested in what the Red Knight can tell me, I hesitate only for a moment to consider what the Shadow Knight might want me to do.

No. I'm strong enough to make my own decisions and apparently, magical enough to flatten full-grown men into pancakes. I'm no longer waiting for permission from someone else to do what I want to.

Take that, Jason!

The messenger leads me through the maze of a hold. Torches light the hallways cheerfully and provide a source of warmth. It doesn't seem like we go far despite the many turns and he opens a door leading into a garden lined by torches. Dark hedges line cobblestone pathways leading toward a black splotch I assume is a pond in the middle of the small garden. Benches squat beneath trimmed trees and I can smell flowers without seeing them.

A form near the pond stands and I wade through the well-maintained foliage towards him. The Red Knight stands beside a low table with a pitcher and two chunky goblets on the tray.