Ancient Greece

The high noon sun felt hot on your head and clothes shoulders. You sighed. Seeing your obvious discomfort, a servant wandered over with a wide branch to shade you.
“Thank you, but I think I will just walk inside” you spoke to the servant. They nodded, until your cousin spoke up.
She was tall and thin, which ran in your family. Beautiful from head to toe, men said the women in your family must be descended from goddesses themselves. Her eyes were closed lazily as she was fanned and shaded.
“Mother hasn’t spoken to you yet” she shook her head as you stood to leave.
“She will just have to find me inside. I would be daft to stay out here in this heat” you answered her. She rolled her lazy eyes at you, which did nothing to stop you from heading inside.
Like always, your ladies maids followed you inside. When you stopped, they stopped; when you walked they walked.
Wandering around the palace, you were soon being carried in a familiar direction without realizing it at first.
Walking up to an open doorway, you knocked on the stone doorframe. Your uncle looked up and smiled. He waved you in as he stood and walked with you to the large window that sat behind his desk. A light breeze flowed through the room and rustled the corners of the maps on his desk.
“My favorite niece.” He said fondly as he kissed your forehead.
“Shouldn’t you be out enjoying the weather with your cousins?” he asked as he walked back to his desk. You remained standing by the window, looking out at the surrounding lands.
“It was far too hot. How can anyone be so lackadaisical when there are battles being fought all around us?” you told him what was on your mind. He chuckled.
“Your cousins have no concern with things that don’t directly bother them... If their wine spills, they order someone to bring them more wine. If a tree grows in their path, they order someone to cut it down” he shook his head.
“They think nothing of the people who planted the tree or for what purpose.”
“They were born into royalty and have never known poverty of the people.”
“Have I not been born into the same royal family?” you asked and turned to him.
“You have been exposed to the people. You understand them better. Your cousins have never left the walls of this palace, nor would they survive if they ever did”
“They are childish” you settled.
“Perhaps looking over some military maps will take your mind off of things” your uncle offered.
“Needing someone to correct your mistakes, then?” you joked. He smiled fondly at you once more. You didn’t remove yourself from the window, but continued conversing.
“I have heard rumors that there are bands of robbers on the outskirts of our lands. Should we be worried?” you asked.
“Hardly. We have been safe in this spot for nearly two decades. The gods continue to smile on us.” he disagreed with you and studied the maps in front of himself.
“And may the gods continue to bless us, but the outlaws are getting clever. It worries me even if you try to tell me we are safe”
“Your cousins have the advantage over you here; you need to worry less”
“I will try to remember this next time I find myself content with doing nothing” you smiled at your uncle as you walked over and kissed his hand before exiting his library.
Your uncle had no clue as to how worried you should be. Over a cliff a fair march to the south, a meeting was being held in a large tent. There were intricate rugs covering the ground and trunks holding treasures were stacked in every corner. At the end of the tent was a large ornate wooden chair behind a large table. Behind this, somewhat hidden, was a large plush bed stacked with fine silk pillows.
Sitting in the chair, eyes furrowed with concentration, sat the owner of this tent and riches. His men were outlining details of the surrounding land.
“There is a prosperous town to the north…”
“How prosperous?” Changsub asked from his chair. He thumbed the wooden arm rest of his seat lazily with one arm as he rested his chin in the other hand. He looked bored.
“The magistrate is said to have more gold then we have yet to encounter. His daughters are also fair prizes, from what we have heard.”
“I’m sure he would pay a fair price to have them back unharmed.” Changsub nodded as he spoke this. His men gazed at him with the same malicious glint in their eyes.
“We don’t normally deal with kidnapping. More mouths to feed. Not to mention, women of royalty aren’t the easiest to care for” his right hand man, Sungjae, spoke his thoughts out loud.
“We will just have to threaten enough harm to one of his daughters, and he will pay up in no time” another man, Patroclus, added. Changsub listened to their thoughts, and nodded.
“How guarded is the palace?” he asked.
“We have watched them. Their changing of the guard happens every four hours. This would be the time the archers will be distracted.” At this information Changsub nodded. He stood and addressed his men.
“Then tomorrow, at the first guard change after dark, is when we will attack. Find his daughters and bring at least one of them to me. Make sure she is seen to be alive as she is leaving. Any gold and riches you find along the way are yours, but we will leave you behind if you take too long” they nodded and turned to leave.
Changsub stayed awake for a while longer. He triple checked maps, and was already moving onto the next own he wanted to plunder after he had returned the princess and received his ransom.
He glanced around his tent and sighed. He was beginning to feel like he was living his life in circles. He was pulled from his thoughts when Sungjae entered the tent.
“Fresh wine?” he asked, and offered a jug of the red liquid.
“No” Changsub declined but Sungjae sat down and poured himself a large glass.
“Wine will help you figure out the thoughts that crowd your mind” Sungjae offered his advice after he had taken a long sip.
“There are no thoughts on my mind” Changsub deflected.
“There never are. If you need a break, you can pass along the leadership to me. Allow you to take a rest” Sungjae joked.
“I will rest when there is a knife in my back” Changsub spoke as he stood and walked to his bed, retiring for the night. Sungjae chuckled and took another large sip of wine before exiting the tent once more.
The next night, you and two of your cousins were lounging in their room, getting ready for bed. A bath was being drawn for all of you as you were brushing your hair before undressing and retiring to your own room.
You heard shouting outside, but thought nothing of it, until there was a second shout. You paused brushing your hair and listened.
“Do you hear that?” you asked your cousins. They nodded but seemed unconcerned as they answered.
“Probably just someone having a celebration”
“Or a drunk” they added.
More shouts followed, and if you weren’t mistaken, you heard clanking of metal. You walked to the widow and peered out. In the dark, you couldn’t make out a thing. The torches that lined the top of the wall were lit, but there were no guards around them. You began to get a bad feeling as more shouts reached your ears.
“We aren’t safe here” you spoke out loud. The shouting was getting closer.
“Of course we are safe here” your cousin shook her head. She too walked to the window and grabbed your hand.
“You are always over thinking things” she said as she grabbed a brush and began combing your hair as you sat on the floor in front of her. The shouting had not subsided, and sounded as though it was still drawing nearer. You opened your mouth to say something when the bedroom door sprang inwards.
A guard rushed in and looked frantic.
“Princesses! You mist hide!” he said before, out of nowhere, he flinched and glanced down. The blade of a sword was protruding from his middle. He looked at you once more and fell to the floor.
Standing behind where this guard had fallen were six men. Your breath caught as they stood in the doorway, swords drawn and bloodied. Your cousins screamed, but you reached for a metal spoke in the fireplace. Holding it in front of you, you stood between these men and your cousins, who were doing nothing but cowering.
The man in front looked form the metal fireplace tool you were holding and back to you. He was smirking. He took one step towards you and smiled as you wouldn’t move.
“Put that down” he said and tapped the side of it with his sword. He seemed completely uninterested in what was going on around him.
“After you” you responded quickly. He smiled and licked his lips. He was enjoying this.
“I’m not here to play games, princess” he said and took one step closer.
“Neither am I, so you might as well leave” you told him forcefully. The smile had faded from his face as shouts were reaching your ears once more. Guards must be on their way. Seeing that you were off guard, Changsub lunged at you and grabbed you around the waist. Your metal weapon clattered disappointedly to the floor as your cousins screamed once more.
“Take her and get her out!” Changsub said and tossed you to one of the men that was following him. Your cousins cried out for you as you were thrown over this man’s shoulder and carried out of the bedroom. Changsub followed up the rear and fired off arrow shots when needed. Your screams could be heard echoing down the hallway.
Your uncle leaned out of a top floor balcony and watched helplessly as you were being carried away.
You were carried out through the gates of the palace and thrown unceremoniously onto the back of a horse. While one man tied your wrists tightly with rope, Changsub mounted the horse behind you. You tried your best to flail and dismount, but he stopped you cold when you felt the metal of a small knife against your throat.
“Better stop struggling or you will fall off” he told you in a low voice as he kicked the horse in its side to get moving. His men mounted horses as well and you were soon being carried away towards the south. In a few minutes, your palace was no longer in sight. You sobbed, stuck on this galloping horse until a great scattering of tents loomed out of the distance.
Riding right to the largest tent, Changsub dismounted the horse and held his hand out for you to dismount after him. You glared at him and got off the horse yourself as gracefully as your bound wrists would allow. His men were on you in an instant. Two men grabbed your upper arms and dragged you into the tent.
“Let her go” Changsub said, entering the tent behind you. His men dropped you roughly to the floor, as Changsub leaned over and tilted your chin upwards to face him. He wanted to get a look at who he was dealing with. You spat in his face before he could get a good look at you. Surprise lingered on his face only briefly.
He cocked his head as that same smirk played at the corners of his mouth. He removed his hand from your chin and wiped away your spit off of his cheek.
“Shall she spend some time in the camp with the men to teach her some manners?” Patroclus asked. You kicked out at this man for suggesting such a foul idea, causing him to snicker. Changsub smirked once more. You were completely helpless and at their disposal, yet you still felt you should fight back. He felt it was admirable, and somewhat stupid.
“No, she can stay here with me. I doubt her family will be eager to get her back if they think we have touched her.” Changsub said, standing over you. You did your best to scramble into a sitting position and faced away from him. His men chuckled once more as Changsub waved them out. He walked to a water basin next to his large chair and ran a wet washcloth through his hair and over his face.
“Your palace was not easy to get into, princess.” He began trying to converse. You ignored him from your sitting position. You sat as straight as a pin and remained unmoving.
“Thirsty?” he asked, getting no response.
“Hungry? It won’t be anything like the food you got at the palace, but it isn’t bad” he continued talking. You heard him walking towards you and you tried to stand with your hands still tied tightly in front of you.
“Here” he reached down and helped you to your feet. He brought you face to face with him and you tried to look away, which was difficult as he cupped the side of your face.
“Follow me” he released you as he spoke. You were momentarily shocked. You watched as he walked to a cloth that was hanging from floor to ceiling behind his large chair.
“You can take the bed. It is the least I can offer you” he said pulling back the curtain and revealing what looked to be a rather comfortable bed.
“I don’t need your kindness.” You said and walked to the other end of the tent and laid down on the hard ground. Changsub looked at you in mild frustration.
“Suit yourself” he said and entered his make-shift bedroom. He closed the curtain and listened as he heard you sob. He felt bad, never liking to deal with kidnapping. Something about the way you had faced him when he was there to kidnap you was intriguing. Now that he thought about it, a lot about you was becoming intriguing to him.
During the night, you became cold. You rolled over and tried to use your long clothing to cover your bare feet. You were facing the corner of the tent when you felt a blanket being draped over you.
Sitting up, you flinched away as Changsub took a step back from you slowly.
“You seemed cold on the floor.” He explained in a soft voice. You opened your mouth to thank him, but anger took over at the last second.
“I wouldn’t be cold if I was still in my palace” you grabbed the blanket tightly around yourself and laid back down, facing away from Changsub. He chuckled.
“And you wouldn’t cold if you had taken the bed, like I offered.” He shook his head and returned to his room.
An idea hit you as you heard him settle down for the night. Trying your best to not make a sound, you slowly stood up. Looking around, you quickly located a knife. Grabbing it your hands, you tried every angle to cut at the rope that held your wrists together.
You accidently dropped the knife and froze, waiting for a sound. After a few minutes of silence, you bent over and grabbed the knife. There seemed to be no useful angle you could find to cut your bonds. Another idea hit you as you gazed at the hanging cloth that was hiding Changsub from view.
Walking slowly towards it, you peered behind the hanging blanket. He was laying on his back, arm behind his head and blanket covering his bare waist. You watched his slow and steady breathing, deciding that he seemed to be asleep.
As silently as possible, you inched closer. Taking a deep breath you crouched low and leaned over Changsub, holding the knife up to his throat.
“Might as well just finish me off” he spoke without opening his eyes. You jumped, and your grip on the knife slackened. Sensing this opportunity, Changsub grabbed your wrists and threw you onto the bed under himself. His one arm held your wrists down as the rest of his body laid against yours and pinned you to the bed.
“Almost had me” he joked. Your breathing quickened, being so close to him. His eyes softened as you waited, wondering how he would punish you for trying to kill him in his sleep.
Surprising you, he released your wrists and stood up. You looked away as he stood, noticing he was naked. He walked to a basin of water and washed his face. Looking at you, he saw you averting your eyes and smiled.
“Never seen a naked man before?” he asked, thinking your bashfulness was endearing. It surprised him.
“I have yet to be married” you admitted, looking down at your feet. He chuckled.
“God be with the man who is stuck being your husband” he joked. You looked at him briefly in anger, but quickly looked away once more. He walked towards you and reached for your wrists.
“Your hands have gone purple.” He rubbed your palms as he grabbed the knife that had fallen next to his bed. You tried to crawl away as he brought the knife closer.
“Calm down, princess. Just cutting these ropes. I wasn’t aware how tight they were or I would have cut them off sooner.” He began gently and easily slicing through the rope. When he had released you, you began rubbing your wrists where they had become raw.
“Don’t move” Changsub pointed the knife at you as he stood and walked to a trunk on the side of his bed.
“I can’t just let you roam around completely free, but this will be better than ropes” he walked back over to you with metal shackles. You had only ever seen something like this used for criminals. They were rusty and heavy, but they fit loosely on your wrists, which was quite comfortable when compared to the ropes that had been binding you previously.
“This is for prisoners” you complained as he stepped away from you after fastening them on your wrists.
“What do you think you are?” Changsub chuckled as he climbed back in bed. He closed his eyes and fell silent. You said no more and stood up, exiting his bedroom. You returned to your spot on the floor and tried to get comfortable and fall asleep.
You were awoken early the next morning by Changsub’s men entering the tent. Changsub entered the room as he heard them arrive, and took his spot in his chair, rubbing his eyes. You sat up prepared to listen to what they were going to discuss. One of the men at the back of the group stood back and kept looking at you. You ignored him and kept your face stony and unmoving.
“Awaiting your orders?” Sungjae, who stood at the front of the group, addressed Changsub.
“Send a messenger. Tell them we need money for the princess’ safe return. Don’t linger, but make them aware we plan on returning in two days with their princess unharmed if they have the gold we desire” Changsub answered, laying out his plans. His men nodded and left.
Shortly after the tent was empty, food was brought in. there was a tray that was brought over and laid in front of you. You looked away and turned your nose up at what you were sure was going to be awful tasting food.
“You need to eat. Can’t just sit in here and starve” Changsub said as he took a bite of a pear.
“If you are only planning on keeping me here for two days, then I would rather not let this filth pass my lips” you told him indignantly. He chuckled at you.
“At least drink some water. You won’t last two days in this heat with no water” he said. You figured he was right as you grabbed the cup of water and chugged it down. You were actually very thirsty.
As the afternoon wore on, you were becoming very bored. You sighed and stood up. Changsub was looking over maps of the surrounding area, but your apparent frustrations were distracting him. You passed his chair and continued to sigh. He looked at you once more and raised his eye brows.
“Can I help you?” he asked sitting back in his chair as you paced back and forth for the fourth time.
“Is there nothing for me to do to pass time in this place?” you traced your finger over a wooden trunk that was stacked next to Changsub’s chair. He chuckled. Here you were, kidnapped and should be fearing for your life, yet you had the gall to complain to him that you were bored.
“What are you doing?” you asked, taking a seat in the rickety wooden chair next to him at the table.
“Looking over maps…” he said returning his gaze to the table top. You leaned forward and looked at the maps with him. He glanced sideways at you but said nothing.
“What is this?” you asked, pointing at a cross that was marked on the map.
“Where we are now” he informed you.
“And what is this marking?” you asked, noting a square shape that had been drawn on the map.
“Your palace” Changsub said. He looked at you sideways again, assuming you must be very bored, talking to him about maps.
“And where does this road lead?” you asked tracing your finger along a black line that flowed to the edge of the map.
“Do you normally pass the time asking too many questions? About maps?” Changsub asked you. You looked at him and he didn’t seem annoyed, so much as he seemed puzzled.
“Yes, actually. My uncle always had me look over his maps when they arrived.”
“I didn’t know that is how princesses normally passed their time” Changsub smiled.
“Not normally. My cousins were… boring” you added. Looking at Changsub, you and him smiled.
“The few prisoners I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with could be found sitting as far away from me as possible. Yet, you grow bored?”
“Even if I am trapped here, why do you assume I should be idle?”
“Prisoners are expected to be idle” he shook his head and smiled.
“Afraid I will learn of your next move?” you asked as you pulled a map close and began looking over the writing that expanded across it.
“Forgive me, if that thought doesn’t strike me immobile with fear” he slowly took the map back from you.
“You claim to not be fearful, yet you took the map away from my gaze” you jested. Changsub nodded, and smiled. You were turning into decent company.

Notes