The last thing Leon remembered was a giant flaming ball hurling towards the post on the castle wall he was manning that night. _How could the enemy get a cannon or trebuchet that close? Where were the rangers and forest patrol that should have caught and stopped a device like that from getting anywhere near the castle?_ With these questions swirling in his mind his other senses began to wake up and he could feel that he was on some sort of cart and it was making its way along a bumpy road. When he opened his eyes, he could not see anything, there was a sack over his head, but he could hear water moving off in the distance. It wasn’t moving particularly fast, like the river near the castle, so he must be a long way out. He started doing a body scan once feeling had returned and found that his legs were bound and hands tied behind his back. With very small movements he began to wriggle to see if any of the restraints would give, unfortunately one of guards noticed he had come to and approached him.

“You’re that really sneaky one, aren’tcha?”

Leon froze. He tried to act like he was still unconscious, but that didn’t stop the guard from giving him a good whack on the head, everything went black.

He woke up this time in what appeared to be a dungeon cell, he was no longer bound and the sack had been removed from his head so he did a quick scan of the environment and determined that he was underground and the metal bars to his cell had been reinforced.

“They really don’t want me getting out of here” he muttered to himself. He started checking all the usual places where there might be a weakness in the connection or structure, but was dismayed to find that this cell was really well built.

“Pssssst” he heard a noise. “Psssssssst” he looked around and could just make out a figure peaking around the corner down the way from him. He could tell it was female, but because the dungeon was dark, he couldn’t make out any features.

“Uuhhhh… Can I help you?” He spoke in a quiet and soft tone.

“Here” she tossed something his way. The trajectory was spot on and the object landed on the ground almost touching the metal running along the base of the cage. He quickly stuck his hand through the bars and grabbed the item. It was a key. “Be very gentle and quiet opening the door, noise echoes all the way to the guard station at the end of the hall” In a skillful and fluid motion he quietly inserted the key in the lock and gently turned. This particular cell was definitely paid attention to and maintained regularly, there was virtually no noise as he spun the key around in the lock. Through the gap between the door and the frame he watched as the bolt began to retract, just as he was about to get to the point where the bolt fully retracts and slams against the inner housing of the lock mechanism he was able to finesse the door open. He stepped out of the cage, closed the door and quietly locked it back up. He swiftly moved towards where his savior was and rounded the corner. She was already around another corner leading down another row of cells and motioned for him to follow.

As he moved carefully towards his destination he was questioning who this person was and why were they helping him. He came around the second corner and this time she was right there. She put her hand on his chest and pulled him down into a crouch, there was a guard meandering in their direction, but with the poorly and unevenly lit space, they were in a deep shadow. They then noticed the guard was swaying side to side and almost losing his balance. “Is he drunk?” Leon whispered.

“It would appear so. Let’s wait for him to pass, then we will move to the last cell on the left.” She whispered back. There was something familiar about her voice, even as a whisper; flashes of his childhood popped in and out of his mind. Soon the guard passed and they stealthily made their way to the last cell. Before he could fire off the question, she had reached somewhere and released a mecahanism which slid open a secret door. She quickly grabbed him and shoved him into the pitch black just beyond the secret door and came in after him. The secret door slid closed and they were encased in absolute darkness, there was no light source in any direction and Leon’s eye failed to adjust. She nudged him to move so he began maneuvering his way further in, or maybe this was heading out? “This is a single path, no traps, so just keep moving forward” she said speaking slightly louder than a whisper.

“Wait… I know you, don’t I?” Leon questioned.

“You think I just rescued some random person?” She said in a slightly sarcastic tone. There it was, an image clear as the day it happened formed in Leon’s mind’s eye.

“Lunabelle?!” He gasped. She was his first (and only) crush, they grew up together in the trade city on the border of the 2 kingdoms and they were inseparable. He remembered that slightly sarcastic way she would always respond to him. But then on the day the old king passed on his duties to his son, the new king, she just disappeared. When he went to her house it was as if no one had lived there in years, it was bare. He began to question if it was all just his imagination, but then he remembered their hiding spot where they would leave spy notes to each other, she had left her lucky button, so he knew it was real. He also remembered the promise he had made, he would grow big and strong and learn all the cool fighting and spy stuff they were fascinated with and become a pivotal force in the kingdom to be reckoned with and they would get married. Leon started to feel his face flush at the sudden recollection of that memory. “I… I don’t know where to begin… I have so many questions. What happened to you?” His voice almost broke in a pleading tone as he posed that question.

“I will try to answer any questions you have for me later, we gotta move, fast. The Tyr army is advancing on Castle Graymire as we speak. We need to stop this needless bloodshed. I was about to ride to your kingdom to find you when I got word that someone fitting your description had been captured after a bombing of the south wall. Serendipity? Coincidence? Fate? I don’t know, but they don’t know they captured the true prince of Greymire and plopped him right in my lap.”

“Wait… what?! True… Prince?” Leon’s head was spinning.

“Yes, you are the true heir to the Greymire throne. The reason I, we, disappeared was because we knew that and have proof. We also had to leave because the new king, who has stolen your birthright, has always hated the Tyr. My grandfather wanted the 2 kingdoms to live together in peace, and he made that happen, but as soon as my father and that fake took over, they let their hatred reign.”

“Wait… what?! Your father?! That makes you…” Leon’s head was about to explode.

“I never wanted to keep it from you, but we had to keep it a secret. Yes, I am the princess of Tyr.”

“I… I need to sit down for a minute…” Leon said exhaustedly.

“I’m sorry Leon, we don’t have time, we need to get to the cathedral. I really hope you remember your promise to me…” Lunabelle said a little bit shyly.