An Unusual Fairytale

Chapter 6: Men Of The Dungeon

Mason stood on shaky legs. Looking around he saw he was surrounded by at least fifty men all of different ages. He lifted his right hand, bound with metal, up against his lip to stop the blood.

"Friend or love?" An older man, probably in his fourties, asked.

"Love." He answered with a smile.

"You poor boy."

"Poor boy? He is a fool! Falling for a woman from the kingdom of dames?!" A young man who looked a little older than him bellowed in a raspy voice.

"I was not aware. My kingdom is above a hillside."

"You are a prince?!" The man laughed again.

"I am! I fell in love with a beautiful maiden and she loves me! When I get out of here we will be wed! She will return with me to my kingdom and rule at my side! I will save her from this wretched place!" He shouted back annoyed by the young man's additude.

"Ha! Good luck! We are not getting out! We are being burned alive!"

"What?!" Mason shouted fearful and appalled.

"Our own mothers, sisters, and lovers cannot stop the burning. They have tried for months. You stand no chance! Lay your head down in the dirt and await your death!" He commanded.

"I will not give up! I will not lay down! I will be free and Amelia and I will be wed!"

They all seemed to gasp when he said her name, but he didn't understand why. The young man laughed more than he had before. He shackles shook as he chortled.

"Amelia?!" He could not stop laughing. "The princess?! You think the princess will go against the queen for the likes of you?! Against her own mother?!"

Mason was shocked. "She wasn't a maiden? She was a princess? But she did not look like one." He was thinking out loud as the annoying man laughed at him. "Did she trick me?"

"Of course she did! Her mother threw us down here while she watched! She does not care that you are down here! You are a man!" The man's laughter faded into anger.

"Leave him be Jacob!" Another man around the same age yelled. "He has not given up. He has not become bitter like you!" The man stood, his chains clinging together. "Pay him no mind. He is merely upset that his girl left him down here to rot. As did mine. However, I have not lost hope and he has." Jacob scoffed. "I know one day we will be reunited and I will ask for her hand."

"You should give up too you fool. Carmen will never free you!"

"She will as soon as the queen relinquishes the throne to Gretchen."

He scoffed again. "There will be no difference! When Gretchen has the throne she will rule the kingdom as her mother has! After what her father did she will not trust another man!"

The other young man sighed. "Excuse him." He said to Mason. "I am Michael. I have been here for-" He looked at the scratches made by a rock on the wall. "-six weeks. I still believe the women will save us. They just need to make a plan and rise up against the queen."

"You are both fools." Jacob said sliding his back down the stone wall. "We will die. There is nothing we can do and the women do not care." He scoffed bitterly.

"Could you explain why children are down here?" Mason asked pointing to the little boys crying beside some older men, with long white beards and dirty ragged clothing.

"Boys grow to be men and men are not allowed in the kingdom or village." Michael explained. "We are all being punished for the cruelty of the king. All men will not be trusted, will be hunted, found if hidden." He sighed. "Then thrown down into the dungeon together."

"Well that does not seem fair." Mason said and Jacob huffed.

"They do not care about what is fair. Only what makes sense to them. One man did wrong by them and we face the punishment. In their eyes all men are evil, cruel." Jacob spoke in a harsh tone, but it faded half way through his sentence to a sorrowful tone. "I have never been cruel." He whispered, his face faltered to one of sorrow instead of rage. It resembled the faces the women had as Mason walked through the village before they saw him and glared.

"Mason?!" A voice shouted from the top of the stairs.

"Who is a fool now?" Mason said to Jacob. Jacob just huffed and kicked his leg out in front of him. "Amelia?!" He shouted so she could find him. "I am here my love!"

"Mason!" She saw him and ran into his arms. He held her so his shackles would not press into her skin. "I was so scared! I thought I would lose you!" She cried in his arms.

"I am right here my love." He comforted.

"I betrayed my kingdom for you." She whispered.

"I betrayed mine for you." He replied softly.

"Why were you not thrown out as the other traitors were?" Jacob asked harshly.

"The queen would not throw out her own daughter!" Amelia directed to him, then turned back to Mason. "She told me she would forgive me if I said I did not love you. I could not do that so I ran down here instead. I would rather burn down here than live without you."

Mason held her in his warm embrace as she cried into his chest.

"Do not fret my love. We will get out of here and then I will marry you. We will rule my kingdom together. I promise you, Love." Amelia wept until she fell asleep against him.

"I promise you." He whispered again into her hair.