Protector

after all

Darkness.

Cold, dank darkness.

That was what made up my whole world.

It was the way it had been for the past six years. I hardly noticed the stench anymore and had come up with plenty of ways to keep myself occupied. Dungeons can get tediously boring, you know. I mean, there was my daily meal, regular interrogations, visits from other unfortunate prisoners who had done something to upset the wrong people, and consistent visits from the mice and spiders, who are surprisingly better company then you'd think.
'Why am I a prisoner?' You ask?

Let me explain.

My name is Hunter Eckbert. More formally known as the Princess of Carthya. I never liked that title much, but it doesn't matter now. Most everyone believes me to be dead, so it doesn't hold any authority anymore.

Six years ago, my twin brother, Jaron, got into a pretty sizable fight with our father about being sent to a boarding school because he was too much "trouble" for them at the moment. Jaron decided to leave, but he vowed he would not return. He would stay away, to punish them. Hours before he left, I confronted him and begged him to reconsider his decision, but he refused. That was how I had expected him to react, so I told him that no matter where he went I would always be there by his side. He was my other half and I his. We needed each other.

I told him that I was coming too.

He argued, of course, but there were times when I could be even more stubborn than him. In the end he didn't believe that I was truly going to join him, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to just let him run away all by himself. I left a note for my parents and Darius, our older brother, promising to keep Jaron in check and to convince him to come home. The night before he left, I snuck aboard his ship and waited in a private cabin until we were too far from Carthya for the captain to turn back and it would be safe to come out.

Flawless plan, right?

No.

They attacked before the small crew could raise a defense. They as in pirates. Avenian pirates. I fought as best as I could, and I was a pretty good fighter, if I do say so myself, but in the end it was one against one hundred. The pirates slaughtered the entire crew, sunk the ship, and took me prisoner. They brought me before the King of Avenia, knowing I would fetch a high price, even if I wasn't be royal they'd been paid to kill. King Vargan was surprised to see me, obviously, so the pirates explained that when they'd arrived on the vessel to murder the prince, he hadn't been on the ship.

He hadn't even been on the ship.

You can imagine the surprise and betrayal I felt at that. Then again, Jaron didn't think I had actually gotten on the ship.

At least he had escaped.

Vargan ordered me to tell him where Jaron had gone and where Carthya's vast expanse of gold was hidden. I told him I didn't know where Jaron was and that the route to the gold would be too complicated for his puny little brain to comprehend. I must have offended him, because he locked me away and told me that he'd let me go when I told him where the gold and my brother were or provided valuable information that would ultimately be the downfall of Carthya.

But I couldn't and wouldn't tell him.

If Avenia got their hands on that treasure, or got anything from me, they would wipe out my country. And there was no way I'd let that happen.

So he tried many different tactics to get me to talk. Pain, threats, — something I think was supposed to be similar to kindness? — a little more pain and lots and lots of isolation. He always kept me close though. Moving me from camp to castle to camp as him and his army moved.

But I never said a word.

So here I am. Stuck in a literal prison with no way out. Some days it took everything I had in me to just keep breathing. Each breath would draw me towards something. Either a future in this world or a future in another. Hell, it's been six years. What's a little longer? All I know is that no matter what happens, I would rather die than fail my country.

I am their princess after all.