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You won't believe me when I tell you: chapter 1

"Where am I?"

These croaking, tired words were the first to escape my mouth shortly after I opened my eyes. As if my body was rebelling against being woken so abruptly, my eyes stung harshly as a far stronger light than I expected shone straight onto my face. Reaching an arm up to shield my eyes for a few moments, I attempted to shuffle myself into a position where I could rest on my elbows only to find that even my arm was voicing its displeasure at my efforts, the limb trembling weakly for a few moments before slipping out from under me to leave me lying right where I started.

After a few seconds spent grumbling to myself while I waited for my eyes to adjust, I opened them to find myself lying on my back on long shades of dark green grass, and judging by the complete lack of fences nearby I was presumably in a large open field. The air brushing against my bare cheeks felt quite cool despite the lack of shade though. This time ignoring my body's protests, I hoisted myself up onto my feet, taking a few seconds to regain my balance and make sure that I wasn't going to fall face-first into the dirt at my feet, then dusted the dirt and grass off my previously clean clothes. At least I thought they were clean, but to be honest I couldn't really recall what state they had been in before. Thinking along the same lines, I then tried to remember how I got here in the first place or what I was doing here, but I got nothing back except a growing headache that seemed to throb inside my head like an insufferable tumor the harder I thought. For a few seconds the pain inside my skull was unbearable but luckily it disappeared as fast as it came, at least it didn't seem to be triggered by me thinking too hard, as I checked that hypothesis just moments later.

"What happened to me?" I thought out loud. "What is this place?"

There was no sign of anything familiar nearby, or anything moving on the field except some birds in the sky, chirping without a care in the world. In fact, I couldn't see any evidence to say that anyone besides myself had ever been here, and there weren't even any foot-prints or flattened grass to suggest how I came to be here.

"This is just too weird..." I continued to nobody in particular.

The calm wind blew in my face as I tried desperately to recall the events that got me in this predicament, the people I was with before I got here, where I was exactly, if there was something that I was meant to be doing but still nothing. Not a single fact presented itself to me. Not even...

"...My name..." I spoke in shock, feeling the blood in my veins run cold for a moment. "I don't even remember my own name..."

If I wasn't scared after waking up in an open field, (more of a valley as I now saw large mountaintops appear that had just seconds ago been obscured by the clouds) with nobody in sight or any way of seeking help, I was sure as hell scared now. How could I not remember my name? What happened to me? Why am I here? Where is everyone else?

I kept asking myself those questions again and again without pause and without relent, already sending my mental health into a downwards spiral. I was getting more and more scared by the second; I started hyperventilating, clutching my shirt purely so that I had something to cling to. I needed answers and I needed them now!

*Calm down, man!* I shouted to myself inside my head, *You're not gonna get any answers from a panic attack! You have to be calm to think your way through this. Just breathe in and out, nice and slow. Nice and slow...*

I had no choice but to listen to that voice in my mind, even if it was my own. It was right. Panicking would just make things worse for me, especially here...wherever here was. After taking a few moments to calm myself down, I decided to take a better look at my surroundings. There were a couple of large green slopes around the area with a few trees here and there up and down them, but none immediately close to me. Big, massive mountains with a white sheet of snow covering them lay a few miles north of me (or at least so I thought was north) from where I was standing. The sun was nearly above the horizon from what I could tell, indicating that it was close to the afternoon. Finally, I caught sight of something that'd help me that about a foot or two away, that I hadn't noticed earlier due to the length of the grass around me: a dirt road.

I began walking towards it earnestly, thankful that something I had done so far had paid off.

"Good," I thought out loud again, trying to figure out what I can remember as I looked up and down the new path. "A road usually leads to civilization, and if there's civilization close by, I could get help. And if I'm lucky, I might be from that town and some of the folks are sure to recognize me. If not, then there's still a chance that I could get help."

I walked and walked for who knows how long, and as I walked I attempted to remember anything there is to know about me. From what I could remember, I felt I should start with the basics. I looked at my clothes: what I remembered were called trainers adorned my feet, with similar white...socks I think...carrying on up my legs underneath them. On top of those I was wearing dark blue pants, that I seemed to remember being called jeans. On my chest was a loose t-shirt, although I had no idea what the funny little logo on it was from, and other than that I was wearing a loose jacket thing, at least I thought it was a jacket until I saw the hood on the back, reminding me that it was in actual fact called a 'hoodie' by most people.

Finished with my clothing, I moved on to what I could work out from my actions and what little memory I had to work with.

"Okay, I know I'm a guy," I thought out loud just for the sake of hearing someone's voice. "That was easy. What else? I know how to walk, talk, think, and such like a sentient being. Yes! I know all those things. It's just my name and my past I'm having problems with--not counting that I'm lost and alone in some sort of valley. I must be in the old country or something. Wow! Another point for me! I remember I'm from the good ol' U.S. of A. Ten points there! At this rate, I should know my name in no time. Right, now what comes next?"

Just then, my stomach made a large growling sound.

"I remember that too!" I smiled, patting my tummy. "It means I'm hungry! Hopefully this road will lead to some food soon. That's a point, what kind of food did I like before I came here? I can't remember clearly but I seem to remember lots of people crowded into buildings with a large yellow 'M' over them. Maybe it stood for 'meals' or something. I don't think I went there much myself though, so perhaps the food wasn't that good there after all?"

I kept on walking as I kept my brain working on the off-chance that I would remember something important. The whole trek was pretty uneventful and terribly boring, but finally after like an hour (and perhaps the tenth time my stomach moaned) I saw rows upon rows of trees with what appeared to be golden-white, almost platinum colored orb-shaped fruit. Every single tree was practically heaving with them, all branches bearing at least 4 of these fruit of varying sizes, and somewhere in the back of my mind I felt that I should be impressed by the fact that none of them had a single mark from where an insect or some other form of pest might have attempted to eat them.

"If I remember correctly, I'd say those are supposed to be apples," I thought out loud.

"But...my memory's also telling me apples are supposed to be red, and maybe sometimes green, but not white. What else could they be...and more to the point if there's so many of these trees close together does that mean somebody planted them, or it that me getting my thoughts mixed up again?"

I would have carried on my conversation with no-one for another 10 minutes if given the chance but my stomach growled angrily and impatiently at me to take the fruit already.

Who was I to argue with it?

The pearly-colored orbs hanging on their respective healthy twigs look so tempting and delicious just hanging there in front of me, and there was no telling when I would come across another opportunity to eat, especially since it had taken me so long just to reach here without seeing any sign of someone else that I could ask for help or directions. I threw all caution to the wind and after making a quick dash up to the nearest tree, I picked out the juiciest fruit I could see and plucked it from the branches with a sharp twist of my hand.

I felt saliva flooding my mouth as I brought the mysterious fruit closer to my face, and not wanting my stomach to start complaining further, I took one big bite of it to see whether it truly did taste as good as it looked.

The taste was...indescribable...but...in a stupendous way! My taste buds felt like they were flying out in the clear blue sky and I was right there with them to enjoy the ride. I may not have been able to remember much, if anything at all, but right then, that fruit was the best I've ever eaten. Needless to say, I devoured the pearly apple like it was the last thing I would ever get the chance to eat, as for all I knew it might be. With nothing left but its hard core, I tossed it aside and started licking my fingers feverishly. Without hesitating I then grabbed another white fruit from the same tree and then devoured it just as I had the last one.

And then I had another.

And another.

I was about to reach for my fifth fruit when I heard the sound of loud barking coming from ahead of me. Seemingly from out of nowhere, a massive brown dog of a breed that I couldn't remember seeing before came charging at me fast from between the trees. Before I could even think of avoiding it by trying to climb the tree, the huge canine pounced on me to the ground nearly knocking the wind out of me. Cold fear took over my entire body as I lay petrified beneath it, staring back up at the ferocious beast on top of me as it growled viciously, displaying its yellow teeth no more than an a inch away from my face as if daring me to try to take it on. Of course I did no such thing. My memories may have left me, but my common sense was still very much intact and telling me to not do anything stupid considering that so far I hadn't found anyone to help me if the beast on my chest decided to bite me..

"What do yer think you're doing, yer vagrant thief?" came the gruff voice of a furious old man from somewhere off behind the animal pinning me down.

The giant dog got quieted its growling and reluctantly stepped off of me when it saw its master running toward us, who was no doubt referring to me as 'thief' even though there was no fence to stop anyone from walking right up to the apples in the first place. Relieved to have the dog's forepaws off my chest, I attempted to I get up and apologize to the man for my honest mistake--but then froze in place when an old and rusted but still rather sharp pitchfork was suddenly pointed mere inches away from my neck.

Making sure to not move my arms or legs any more than it took to raise them in what I hoped was a gesture of submission, I looked up at the owner of the pitchfork to see what kind of man I was dealing with. He was a short, overweight, balding old man with a furious and foreboding look on his face, with an unshaven jawline and a strong brow that was currently wrinkled in outrage. Going from the strong smell of trodden earth and vegetables that exuded from the man, I guessed him to be a farmer of some sort, and certainly the clearly visible soil that coated his entire forearms seemed to support this. The old man's attire was somewhat strange tough, and even though my mind was admittedly still pulling itself together, I couldn't quite recall ever seeing something that resembled his clothing in person before; he appeared to wear a brown patchy robe that went all the way down to his feet, with a leather wrapped tightly belt around his waist in order to keep the very simple garment in check.

The man's icy blue eyes were staring mercilessly down at me as I gulped in utter fear, neither understanding what I had done to earn such malice or how to explain this to him.

"D'yer have any idea what you've done?" He bellowed. "Have ye no shame at all?"

"I-I'm sorry," I quivered. "I was passing by and I just saw these fruits and I was hungry and I don't even know where--"

"Hogwash!" the angry farmer spat back at me. "Even beggars so far in the gutter they can watch the worms churn the earth know not to touch such sacred foods as these! These are the Pearly Apples --fruits for the Unicorns themselves you bastard!"

Before I could ponder on what I just heard, another set of footsteps was running toward us, these ones much heavier and from the sound of them belonged to an even less agile individual than the old man. It turned out to be a very plump woman roughly the same age and height as the old man, and by no means in any better condition as the old man. She had dirty brown that appeared to have forgotten that combs existed, and judging by the number of visible split ends and its dull, lack-luster dry appearance, I doubt it even knew what shampoo was. For her part, she wore a filthy brown apron that I presume would have been white at some stage, and a patchy dress that looked to still be in the process of repair even as I looked at it.

"Ah, there you are, you old fool," the old woman grumbled in an irritated tone to the old man. "Where have you been, eh? Of all the days to footle around you would have to pick this one. The guards from King Cornelius' castle are already here to pick up their shipment and you're out here--"

"Halt your tongue, woman!" the old man snapped. "Have yer nay eyes open to see what's happenin' before you?"

For the first time the plump woman looked down at me with a hint of concern, seeming to take pity on me for this misunderstanding that left me the victim of her husband's short temper; then she her eyes flicked to look right at the pearly-colored apple cores on the ground, and then to the half-devoured apple still clutched in my right hand, the shock of the old man's dog suddenly appearing having prevented me from dropping it.

She gasped in horror.

"H-How dare you!" She bellowed coldly, now almost as outraged as the old man.

"How dare you spoil something so sacred as these fruits! These apples were entrusted to us by King Cornelius and King Arrian themselves! Our sacred duty was to plant and nourish these apples as if they were our own children! And here you are stuffing your mangy face with them right under the king's nose! I outta have Brutum maul you like the thieving animal that you are!"

"WOOF!" barked the gigantic dog in what seemed to be an equally dark promise.

The entire time the plump woman was yelling at me, I lied on the ground motionlessly staring back at her without saying a word. Don't get me wrong, I wanted more than anything to plead my innocence, because I knew what would most likely happen if I didn't. But as I tried to get the words past my lips I felt a massive lump suddenly clog my throat, making speech impossible. Whatever these pearly-colored apples are (and as delicious as they are too), going by their reaction, people here didn't take lightly to complete strangers taking a bite out of them. A thought pressed its way to the front of my mind about a funny flower that remembered was called a rose; I managed to recall that while they were normally red, a huge sum of money was being paid to try and grow ones that were black. Perhaps it was the same with these apples, and it was a matter of their extremely high value?

Whether this was correct or not, I wished that this thought had presented itself to me sooner so that I didn't have to find out the hard way.

"Sir! Madam!" came a loud voice from the same direction that the woman had come from.

Our heads all turned as one in the direction the shout had come from. Walking towards us as a fast pace that belied his impatience was what I could only guess to be some sort of knight; the reason I came to this conclusion was the fact that he was wearing polished silver body armour in the form of gauntlets, bracers, shoulder pads and a helmet, each modeled in a style that reminded me (if my memory was correct, that is) of some sort of hoplite warrior from either Greece or Rome (except his helmet looked more like something a knight from the something called the crusades would wear), and he even had the cape and sandals to complete the look. What made him stand out from the image in my head was the long white shirt-like affair he wore, which bore a strange golden insignia of a horse with a horn rearing back on its hind legs.

Wasting no time, the strange knight went up to the angry apple farmers, disregarding the shouts of fury that he had undoubtedly overheard and making his own thoughts known to the shabby pair that loomed over me.

"My men and I have waited here long enough," the man in armor said in a voice that carried the distinct sound of a man used to being in charge.

"We don't have the time or the pleasure to lollygag here! His Majesty, King Cornelius, has ordered us to bring the Pearly Apples back to his castle before King Arrian and his family arrives from Unalight. This is a matter of the utmost importance to everyone who resides within our nation. So I'll ask this one more time: Is everything ready for transport?"

"Yes, my lord!" the old man said as he appraised the knight, although his pitchfork remained right where it was.

"But I'm afraid the wife an' I have a bit of bad news for yer." He pointed his dirty, stubby index finger at my face as he continued. "This...thief broke the sacred law and filled his filthy stomach with the Pearly Apples! Just look at him an' all the cores on the ground!"

And that he did. Just when I thought things couldn't any worse, this happened. The knight in question walked up to me to take in the scenario with his own eyes and caught a glimpse of the half-eaten fruit in my hand. Immediately his sword was drawn from its scabbard in a single fluid movement that demonstrated his comfort of use with his weapon, the sharp tip of the blade pointed right at my face as it knocked the old man's pitch fork aside. While I was glad that I was no longer engaged in a staring contest with half of a dead earthworm, I can't say that I was any happier with my position.

"Eat the sacred fruit for the Unicorns, will you?" The guard exclaimed with venom in his tone. "That's the highest treason one could commit in the kingdom of Everglade! Not even murder will get you onto the gibbet in less time than this. I'll be sure to be there to see your body dangle until it stops squirming, you lowly excuse for a rodent!"

Again, I might not have had any memory of myself at that point, but I fully understood the definition of execution, and that's what's going to happen to me was due to a crime I unwittingly committed. "L-Look, please," I begged, forcing the words out of my mouth desperately in a last ditch attempt to save myself. "I-I d-didn't know that I--"

*Thwack!*

Unfortunately before I had the chance to plead for mercy, I was hit by something very hard and very heavy across the side of my head. I collapsed onto the ground as I began to feel my senses ebb away from me once again; my vision was very hazy and I was losing what little consciousness I had left fast, but I could barely make out another nobleman with a heavy shield held in his right hand...before...before...

...

...

I have no idea how long I was out, but when I came to, I awoke to feel my hands tied firmly behind my back. All around me I could hear the low rumbling and creaking of wood, and opening my eyes I saw to my momentary relief that I was in some kind of horse-drawn carriage. My elation at still being alive only lasted as long as it took for me to realize that I was about to die, which wasn't very long. All around me were the same trees that had got me into this mess stretching for as far as I could see, the carriage making its way through the fields where the Pearly Apple grew but never once scratching the bark of any tree it passed.

Those damn apples. Why did I have to eat those damn apples in the first place? Oh, that right! I was hungry, didn't know when my next meal was going to be, and didn't know any better--BECAUSE I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO THE HELL I AM! But still...they were so delicious!

Something still wasn't fitting into place with all of this though. Why exactly was something so delicious forbidden to others, as surely if this was all just a matter of money then I wouldn't have earned such a rough reception? Maybe because it's so great only those who are "worthy" can have the privilege of eating those delicious, juicy apples...

Right then my nose caught wind of something truly horrendous, an unspeakably foul stench which brought me back to reality in an instant and was most likely responsible for the complete absence of birds anywhere nearby. I coughed a little to rid my airways of this abhorrent smell and looked around the cart in an attempt to find the source of it--and it turned out I wasn't only one in the wagon, and they weren't in a much better predicament than me.

Two other prisoners were sitting right at the very back on each side, and if I looked like I was forlorn then these guys looked practically dead on their feet; one of them was looking right at me, seemingly trying to guess what I was thinking without bothering to ask, while the other was silently staring down at his dirty feet in an almost trance-like state, his mood completely indiscernible due to his face being completely obscured by his long unkempt hair that seems to only have ever been cut when a nearby bush tore out a decent amount as he passed it.

I could tell they hadn't bathed in decades from their awful body odor alone, and when I got a good look them I discovered that accumulated sweat was the least of the filth clinging to them. Somebody better hose the pair of them down at the very least, hell a simple bucket of water being thrown at them would have done wonders! Both of my fellow "prisoners" had long, unimaginably filthy hair covered with dirt and sweat and a myriad of other unmentionable substances that had clumped together over time; one had dishwater-colored blonde-ish hair and the other bore dirt-colored brown hair, which was all that I could use to distinguish the pair due to the impenetrable layer of grime that coated them. Going from their muscular legs and crooked backs, I guess they were no strangers to physical labor, possibly continuing for entire days at a time with little rest, and their clearly visible ribs told me that lack of food and nutrition had been a common problem for them for quite some time. The clothes they wore were nothing but filthy rags covering their shoulders all the way down to their knees, absolutely nothing else adorning them apart from dying flies unable to escape from the filth they'd landed in. The dishwater blonde haired one was barefooted while the dirt brown haired one wore what appear to be bags made out of cloth protecting his feet, though I doubted they provided him with much comfort. Dishwater Blonde (this is all I knew to call him, as I didn't get chance to catch his name) scowled at me eerily, to which I turned away attempting to ignore him.

What the hell had I got myself into?

"Boy!" a voice that I assumed belonged to Dishwater Blonde yelled out harshly.

"Boy! I'm talking to you! You look at me, boy!"

I reluctantly, slowly turned my head toward him, my face a vision of irritated impatience. I didn't want to waste manners on a man in his position who still thought is perfectly fine to call me 'boy' just because I was younger than him.

"Never seen the likes of you before," he stated, displaying his filthy yellow teeth. "Where did you steal those clothes from ay, the jester's personal wardrobe?"

I looked down at my duds. They were covered in mud and grass stains, but even then I could tell they were still in far better conditions compare the rags my fellow prisoners were wearing. It was only then that is realized that my clothes were of a completely different style to everyone else's clothes, as if I had been plucked out of a different country, or possibly even a different planet, and dumped unceremoniously into this one. I looked back at Dishwater Blonde and just shrugged, unable to find any real explanation to give him.

"I couldn't tell you where I got these clothes even if I wanted to" I answered flatly.

That got Dishwater Blonde laughing like a clogged drain. I could make out the three or four holes of missing teeth, and at least five others were rattling in their sockets from the sudden movement. "So you must be King Cornelius' jester then?" he said, quite pleased with himself, "Or was his jester...though I've never seen an outfit to match yours...must be foreign."

I didn't like the sound of the 'was' in that sentence. It immediately got me thinking back to the guard telling me that I was to be executed for my crimes. A quick flex of my arms put paid to any hopes I had of breaking free of my shackles, they were of very basic design from what I could tell but they were also made of a cold metal that sucked the warmth from my body. There would be no hope of me breaking out of them with both my hands still intact, and running wouldn't get me anywhere as I didn't know where I was going. But, if nothing else came out of this, maybe I could finally get some answers to my identity and this whole situation from the dirty old man. He was hardly the sort any sane man would talk to, but I wasn't exactly feeling all that sane right at that moment.

"Listen, I don't know what the hell's going on around here," I expressed in a hastier tone than I intended, probably sounding quite desperate to him. "In fact, I don't even know my own name, or even where I am. You said something about me being a king's jester? For all I know, I could be, or might have been! But could you please tell me where they're taking us!?"

Instead of answering, Dishwater Blonde cackled yet again, making me grow angrier and more frustrated by the second. If my hands weren't bound then I would probably have punched him by now and sent what few teeth were still hanging on in his mouth down into the soil.

"You must either be telling the truth or truly insane to not know the situation you're in boy," the filthy man said once he'd calmed down. "From what I gathered from our fine gentlemen up front with the reigns, you ate quite a number of Pearly Apples specifically grown for--and only for--the unicorns. Now, till recently I thought there wasn't a man, woman, or child who wouldn't know not to touch, let alone eat such forbidden fruits. But in your case, you must have suffered a club to the head to not remember the golden rule here in Everglade: 'All humans without the unicorn's blessing to handle such a task of growing the Pearly Apples are forbidden to even touch such a sacred fruit'. That's the way it has been for a hundred years now, and if you can't even remember what has been the law of the land for a hundred years, then your hopes are pretty slim."

To say I was more baffled than before would've been an understatement.

Unicorns? I remembered the old farmer and his wife mentioning Unicorns when they found me. Then I had thought nothing of it, assuming it was some sort of code-word or local slang for a horse rider, but it seemed less and less likely that this was the case each time I passed the possibility through my mind. Do they really mean Unicorns as in real, living, breathing Unicorns with a Horn protruding from their heads? Although I still couldn't remember anything that would help me out of my current predicament...I knew that unicorns were supposed to be mythical creatures, only spoken about in fairy tales children's stories, along with a strange image in my head of something called My Little Pony, but seeing as I couldn't recall what that even stood for, I just ignored the thought. The point was...they were not supposed to exist...about as real and tangible as a banker's conscience.

"Halt!" came a sudden loud shout from in front of us.

I was forced out of my thoughts yet again by the cry, coupled with the sudden stop of the wagon. I looked up to see that we had arrived in what appeared to be a wide open street within some sort of magnificent city. I momentarily wondered just how deep in thought I had been to not notice such a drastic change in scenery. From the highest flagpoles on the buildings to the cobblestones that made up the roads, everything was remarkably clean and well polished. In the back of my mind, it occurred to me that there would be no practical need for the street to be this clean unless there was some sort of important event going on; however, I really didn't think about that at the time, considering I was effectively being lead to my death. Houses and shops made out of fine oak wood walled the street, each with ornately crafted wooden signs, clean glass windows and carefully planned out displays sitting behind them. All the way up and down the street, black lampposts stood up from the landscape like spears, although they looked far more like gas lampposts than the electric ones I was used to seeing. All in all, this city was quite a wondrous place to behold; it was a shame that I had to see it under the circumstances I was in.

I then heard the horses that had been pulling the wagon I was in neighing at another knight who was standing in front of the carriage, although he really didn't look much like the previous knights I had encountered. Whereas the pair that had knocked me unconscious and presumably bound then tossed me in the wagon had been wearing gleaming yet simple gear, this proud and tall nobleman wore silver battle armor from head to toe; helmet complete with a visor which obscured his face, metallic boots with chainmail adorning his legs underneath, silver 'battle-skirt' around the waist, gauntlets and elbow pads adorning his arms, shoulder-pads and full torso armor, every inch of it well polished and devoid of any scratches.

Despite that fact that he was clearly someone of great rank and importance from the way the wagon-drivers (the knights from before) saluted him, I couldn't help but think that his armor couldn't be the same set he wore for battle, else there would at least be a few dents or scrapes. This little fact perplexed me; why would a high-ranking guard be wearing such a complete set of armor while he was on duty if he was not expecting to be in combat? Surely we wouldn't care what a trouble-maker thought of him. Looking closer at the knight, I saw that on the front of his chest, emblazoned onto his breastplate in solid gold was an insignia of a unicorn reared up on its hind legs. It was exactly the same as the emblem that I had seen on the shirt that the Knight from the farm had been wearing, albeit much more grandiose. The knight had his left hand held up in front of the two horses, a heavy silver shield with the same insignia as on his breastplate held in the other by the handles on the underside.

"You could not have chosen a more wrong time to come this way!" said the knight to the driver, his very clear pronunciation of each word indicating that he had a good upbringing, "You must turn back now and find a different route to the dungeons, before our honored guests see you with this filth! This is not debatable!"

I was getting very fed up of being referred to as "filth". If I wasn't chained up right now then I would be more than willing to tell this new knight to take his remark and shove it right up his silver-plated... "My sincere apologies, Lord Draco," said the driver. "It has slipped my mind the time the honored guests would be arriving."

"Save it, driver!" Lord Draco shouted irritably. "Just turn back while you still can before--"

Lord Draco didn't have the chance to finish.

A deep, loud horn was blown not too far from where they were standing, although I couldn't see where it was. While the two noblemen had been speaking to each other, I had continued to explore the surroundings that my eyes could show me: we appeared to have stopped at an intersection, where pretty much anyone who had business in one of the other section of the city would have to pass through. I began to see a crowd of people in fine clothing (that got what was left of my memories shouting "medieval") on each side of the street up front. They paid no mind to us at all as they all gathered to the sidelines. I could hear the sound of children anxiously talking about wanting to see the "King and Queen of the Unicorns" in person, as well as the "princesses" on their royal visit.

This was it, time to find out whether these mythical creatures actually were real in whatever insane land I had found myself in, or whether it was just a fancy name for some foreign royalty.

However, I wasn't going to be given the chance to find out for myself: at the front of the cart Lord Draco groaned loudly in frustration from behind his visor as the townspeople continued to flood the streets to look and admire their four-legged royal guests. Turning his head to look at the growing crowds of people for a moment, he then quickly barked orders at the driver, having run out of patience for his error.

"Never mind, driver. Wait until our honored guests have passed us by, then continue your business as you please. But make sure you have the prisoners well hidden within the wagon so their Majesties would not have to set eyes on such scum! I will not tolerate such an abhorrent sight to ruin the visit of such pure creatures to our lands."

"Consider it done, Lord Draco," the driver said, after jumping off the wagon so that he was at eye-level with the armored lord. "See to it then," the silver plated knight ordered in an unforgiving tone before departing into the crowd, everyone parting wordlessly before him as he moved. He might have been one of the most unpleasant men I'd ever seen, but from the looks of it he was a man that everybody knew, and either feared or respected. I silently hoped that I wouldn't have to encounter him again if I survived beyond today.

"Alright you filthy mongrels!" the driver instructed, pulling out a large cloth cover for the wagon from underneath the driver's seat, "You heard the captain! On your knees now! And you all better keep your traps shut or its a hundred whips to the back with the cat-o-nine tails each time a word escapes your mouth!"

The three of us quietly obliged without making a fuss (in fact, Dirt Brown hasn't spoken a word at all since I woke up). I got on my hands and knees with my head facing the back of the driver's seat, with Dishwater Blonde and Dirt Brown kneeling behind me in that order. It's amazing that I don't remember my damn name but I remember that a cat-o-nine tails is a torture device rather than a household pet; I had already got myself in far deeper than I could ever imagine simply by not trying, so I really didn't want to provoke anyone or anything that might make it worse for me right now. After making sure none of his captives were sticking out of the sides of the cart, the guard draped the sheet over us covering the back of the wagon entirely.

I then heard the anxious gatherers from outside cheering as I heard the knights shout out:

"Make way for Their Royal Majesties: King Arrian and Queen Celia, and their daughters, Princesses Aliana and Jovia!"

I heard the distinct sound of trotting hooves passing by, all the gatherers cheering elatedly at what I assumed must have been a truly amazing sight. I was itching so badly to see exactly who these "Royal Majesties" were. I just had to--nay, yearned--to see if unicorns really did exist, because if they did, why would I think that they were fantasy rather than reality? Nevertheless, I wasn't stupid enough to crack the tarp a peek just for the driver to "teach" me (and possibly the other two captives) a good lesson about disobeying his orders, especially when he could quite easily have turned it into a public punishment once the royal guests had left.

Just when I was about give up, I looked down in defeat to see light filtering in from a small hole, the beam of light aimed at the back of my left hand. I couldn't believe my eyes.

Wow! Talk about a lucky break!

I then positioned my head and body as close to the peephole as possible and looked through it with my left eye; somehow I got a good view of the street right between the two wagon-drawing horses. Meanwhile, the crowd continued cheering and waving whom I guessing to the "Royal Majesties" since I still can't see them yet.

"Caught a lucky break, have you, son?" whispered Dishwater Blonde from behind.

I turned around and smiled sarcastically at the dirty, middle-aged bum who in turned showed off his dirty yellow grin.

"You get to see them out there now, greeting the many happy people who would happily sell their own mother just to be bonded with one of them."

"Bonded?" I whispered back, confused.

"There they are!" screamed a little girl's voice, drawing my attention back to what was happening outside.

I jerked my head back to the hole. Sweat was flooding out of pores on my face as I impatiently wait to see them, holding my breath the entire time as I heard the sound of hooves get closer and closer, until I saw the first one come into my line of sight.

I can only describe the feeling as a religious moment in my life as I beheld them.

I could see them!

I could see the unicorns in the flesh!

Well...one of them anyway: the one I'm seeing right now is...amazing.

It had to be King Arrian; his coat was as pure a white that would shame any cloud in the sky, his long regal mane and tail flowing majestically in the gentle breeze, and bobbing ever so slight as he proudly trotted down the street towards his yet unseen destination. Atop his face sat a long, perfectly straight, helixed horn, as pure white as his hair and almost seeming to glow as I looked at it. Memories be damned, I never knew such a regal creature could exist in nature. His taught muscles demonstrated to all who saw him that he was a strong stallion, not some meek overdressed pony. As he walked with his head held up high, every single individual awed and gasped at the magnificent sight, the strong male's intelligent blue eyes set straight ahead of him.

Right after the unicorn king left my view, there came another equine into my sight. From its far sleeker body structure I could tell this one was most likely female, possibly the queen. She appeared to be a bit shorter and far more slender than her counterpart, but no less graceful by any extent of the imagination. Her beautiful white mane was expertly well groomed and flowed down to her equine shoulders, her tail just as cared for as it trailed most of the way down to her hooves. She looked around at the spectators with a polite and welcoming smile, the people in turn continuing to wave and cheer for her as she walked by. She was so utterly graceful in her every movement that for I moment I thought that she was an illusion created by my mind, but the hard wood beneath my fingers reminded me that this was not the case.

The whole time I was watching them, I somehow felt my spirits lifting in spite of where I was. They were such...remarkable creatures! I don't know how, but watching the king and queen pass by had done for me in the few moments I saw them than I could have ever imagined.

After the queen and king passed, I was enthralled to see yet another unicorn mare trot slowly into my line of sight, but unlike the other female I had seen, this one was slightly smaller and sported a lot less body mass, although one could hardly describe the beautiful creature as unhealthy. My best guess was that she was just coming into adulthood, as while she still sported the long flowing white mane and tail that her possible parents bore, she was noticeable sorter in stature while remaining in perfect proportion. That had to be one of the princesses!

Unlike her mother and father who had displayed such grace and dignity as the trotted toward their destination, at the same time admiring the gathered high-spirited humans as they cheered them, this one kept her eyes looking down at the cobblestone road in front of her, trying her best to not to make eye contact with anyone. Although it didn't look like anybody took offense or ridiculed the young equine for this action, a part of me couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor unicorn. The way that she walked, automatically changing course to follow her parents, reminded me of the look a person would normally give when they had a lot on their minds.

"Oh, look! Look at Princess Jovia!" a small child shouted.

The unicorn mare I had been watching stopped right in front of my view and turned her head over her white-furred shoulder. I then heard some fast trotting close by, although it was hard to tell which direction it came from while I was still inside the cart. Just then I saw the cutest little unicorn filly possible come bounding down the street from behind the larger mare. The happy filly gleefully pranced around her big sister as the gatherers watched in awe--myself included-- at her happy and carefree attitude, going up to some random people who had come out to see her and bouncing around, displaying some show-pony tricks she had likely picked up from her parents. It was obvious the little filly loved the attention that the crowd of humans was giving her, although I doubted it was hard for her to get attention when she wanted it.

The larger unicorn mare smiled a bit at her little sister's silly antics, but then neighed at her in a disciplinary fashion, which caused the small filly to stop promptly. She looked back at her sister for a few seconds and then started walking along the road behind her parents calmly and somewhat professionally, looking--from what I could guess-- at bit grumpy at her sister's disapproval of playing around. It was understandable that such a little filly would want to play, but I could also appreciate that she had to behave herself in public when there was royal business to be seen to.

The larger Unicorn mare was about continue walking along the street after her parents--then suddenly she stopped and made a low cry that I could only assume was a gasp. Without warning her long white horn began letting out some type of an amethyst colored aura from it, small blue sparks that could be mistaken for strange fireflies dancing in the air around it. At that precise moment I felt a sharp burning sensation on top of my chest, as it someone was burning me with a branding iron. I wanted desperately to touch it to find out just what was happening, but my hands were still tied behind my back, preventing me from doing so. The burning feeling only lasted for a few seconds before it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

*What the hell was that?* I thought, staring at my chest frighteningly. With my luck up to that point I wouldn't have been surprised if it was a heart attack.

I then looked back up at the unicorn through the peephole, wondering if she was somehow responsible for it, seeing as I had been fine until her horn started glowing. She was now panting a little, and wore a very confused look on her long, white face. The gatherers gradually grew silent and showed looks of concern toward their visiting equine princess as more and more people noticed her distress. The unicorn shook herself back to reality when she noticed that she was making the people who had come to see her uneasy by proxy. Then, at the moment she was about to start walking again, she looked over in my direction--right at the wagon, almost meeting my eye as I watched! The two horses that were still tied to the wagon grew uneasy and restless with the unicorn mare staring at them (most likely because they were stallions), and began bouncing in their reigns, which in turn forced the driver attempt to calm them down. However, the unicorn paid no attention to the anxious stallions of even any of the whispers now flitting about the crowds--she was looking right at me with those sky-blue eyes of hers, as in actually making eye contact! I couldn't explain it if I tried, but I knew that she was aware that I was watching her, and even stranger, I got the feeling that she was sympathetic of me. I honestly had no idea what that feeling meant until much later on...

Before I could ponder it further, an abrupt neigh from her father sent the unicorn mare trotting off quickly the same route the rest of her family went, setting the crowds hearts and minds at ease for now. As I watched her disappear from my sight, a whole manner of questions began growing in my mind, each fighting for a place at the front, one of which I wanted answered more than anything.

What the hell was going on in this place?

Was all of this actually real or had I somehow gone mad without realizing it?

All I can remember for certain was that after the crowds dispersed and the cloth was pulled off the wagon again, I drifted off into a light sleep, seeing little point in staying awake for the rest of our journey to converse with the lunatics that shared the small space with me.

About an hour or two later, although I can't quite be sure, I found myself being dragged unceremoniously by two more unfamiliar knights down a dark, eerie and smelly dungeon corridor on my way to my cell. At this point I had already resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't about to escape this nightmare by just waking up, so I wasn't all that surprised. Dishwater Blonde and Dirt Brown were taken elsewhere--but not before Dishwater Blonde gave me a sickeningly creepy grin, and Dirt Brown gave me a thoroughly hateful look before the guards took him away. I really didn't understand what I had done to earn such a look from him. We've never spoken a word to each other, or even made eye contact up until that moment. In fact, I hadn't even heard the old guy speak a single syllable (might he possibly have been a mute?). But that look he gave me made it look like I'd done him an unspeakable wrong, which I had not!

I tried to keep my head facing straight ahead due to the overwhelming, vulgar, desperate, pitiful cries the other prisoners were making as they saw us walk by, each man we passed looking less and less like a human being. I was scared beyond belief. I was going to be beheaded at sunrise, all because I ate some stupid apples, which I couldn't even remember were called apples at first! And to make it even worse, I still didn't know who I was or who my family was, meaning there was absolutely nobody that I could talk to in order to ask for help! I was totally helpless to defend myself from my inevitable execution.

I could feel tears begin to fall down my cheeks as we kept walking, though I never uttered a whimper.

Soon I heard the heavy clink of a lock being undone, followed by the loud screech of a rusted iron door opening; I felt my restraints being taken off my hands, and then with one hard shove to my back, I fell face first one onto the cold stone floor of my cell as the heavy door slammed shut behind me. I could barely see anything inside my cell, the only light coming in being supplied by torches from outside in the corridor.

"Have a good rest, thief, because it'll be your last," said one of the guards behind the door maliciously.

I listened to their footsteps trailing back down the corridor as I just sat there on the floor for a while, trying to make sense of it all. Fuelled with confusion and rage for being treated with such undeserved hatred, I got up and banged on the door, screaming like psycho.

"LET ME OUT! I'M INNOCENT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!"

I don't know how long I screamed and banged, but I kept on going until my voice was hoarse and my hands hurt. I slid down to the floor with my back against the heavy iron door, panting for breath and completely devoid of any hope that I had previously held. I felt lost and afraid and alone. Trying to relieve myself of the buckets of sweat on me, I pulled off my shirt and threw it onto a small bench that had been provided for me to sit on. As it made contact with the wood I heard a distinct clunck as something heavy and very solid made contact with the bench. Intrigued as I hadn't had anything in my pockets earlier, I looked down at my shirt and caught sight of something glinting in the low light that broke into my cell. I reached out for it in curiosity, to my utter amazement, I pulled out a small golden locket held on a long chain of silver linkages, the front of it bearing a symbol of the unicorns that was only marginally different to the ones I had seen the knights wearing, embedded upon the surface in what I guessed was real white gold!

How long had this thing been hanging around my neck without my knowing? Should I show it to the guards, after all everyone here seemed to worship the unicorns, and attempt to talk my way out, or should I hide it, as I was already considered a thief, so they would hardly believe me if I just said that I had found it out of nowhere in my prison cell?

I examined it thoroughly to see just exactly what I had found. When I opened it to look inside, I saw a small jeweled emblem of another unicorn, but what intrigued me was that it was the exact same shape as the unicorn mare that I had seen in the streets earlier, right down to the small spirals in her horn. Now even more bemused than when I started, I looked on the back of the locket to see if it would tell me who made it or who it was intended for. There was only one thing written on the back, a name in bold letters that I swear glowed bright yellow, but as I held my hand up next to the locket the light did not reflect of my hand, as if it only shone from behind my eyes. It was just a single word.

NOVA