Scabs led me to a lower part of the castle into what looked like a medieval torture chamber. "The dungeon," he said, unlocking a massive prison cell. "Have fun, make some friends, at least you'll feel like you have a chance of getting out." Scabs pushed me into the cell filled with other women as well as men and children. He slid the cell door closed and locked it.
I looked around at my new surroundings to notice a particularly old woman in a darkened corner.
"Look here, fresh meat," one of the male prisoners said.
"What's your name girlie?" another asked, running a strand of my hair through his fingers.
"You're pretty, you'll be a good girl for us, won't you?" a third inmate quipped.
"She better be, that's the only way you'll survive down here," the second man spoke again, pulling me closer to him.
"Stop it! Leave the new girl alone!" a woman with hard blue eyes said pushing the men away from me.
"Come on Xenia, we were just having a bit of fun, we were really going to do anything," the first prisoner said. "Yet." he added quietly.
"I know you aren't going to do anything to her because she's with me. So why don't you and your goons find a hole to crawl in, Paul," the woman Xenia said.
The three men dissipated and went to their areas in the cell. I looked up to thank the woman who had surely saved me from a horrible fate to see that she was exceptionally tall and very beautiful. Xenia stood close to seven feet and had a long cascade of wavy, waist-length orange hair. "Thank you Xenia," I said.
"Sure, whatever. Just avoid the men and keep close to the women," Xenia said walking away. She looked down her nose at me the whole time as if I were lower than dirt.
"Don't mind her, she's just mad that she's a half-breed, its nothing personal," another, smaller woman said. She turned her head and raised her voice when she said 'half-breed'. Xenia gave no rise to the comment.
"I'm Diana, goddess incarnate," the woman stated extending her hand in a gesture of greeting. I noticed the difference between her and Xenia more so, especially since she was kinder. Her green eyes were like giant spheres that looked like they could see into your very soul set under her perfectly sculpted green eyebrows. Diana had short, olive green hair just as strange to match her eyebrows.
I took Diana's hand in mine and shook it, introducing myself, "Donatella."
"Donatella? The Donatella?" Xenia spoke again.
"Yeah, I guess," I answered.
"You're Donatella?" Xenia stood up and walked in a circle around me, looking me up and down. "Strange. The prophecy spoke of a beautiful, statuesque maiden of noble descent. You look only slightly better than the pigs I tended back home!"
"Hush, foolish girl!" the old woman in the corner spoke up.
"Grandmere, I was just joking-" Xenia began.
"I heard you child. Sit in your place and mind your tongue, lest someone not as kind cuts it out," the woman spoke. She turned her attention to me after reprimanding Xenia.
"Come closer child," the old woman beckoned from her corner. I walked to the old woman and stood before her. "Please, be seated." I sat on the cold, hard ground before her feet. "The story I'm going to tell you is just as true as it is false; just as applicable to your life as it a fairy tale; just as remembered as it is forgotten."
"Yes ma'am, please continue," I said quietly.
"Very well. The story starts with a king. He was called King John and his wife, Queen Julietta, was the most beautiful in the land. One day, Queen Julietta became pregnant and was confined to bed rest by the castle doctor," the old woman began.
"At this time, fairies were known to walk the earth with mankind. One day, toward the end of Queen’s pregnancy, a fairy came to her."
"What did she say Grandmere?" Xenia asked.
"Hush, child, let me finish," the woman scolded Xenia gently. She continued on, "The fairy came and told her that she was impregnated with a beautiful baby girl she was to name Gaea."
"That’s the name of the mother of the gods!"
"Yes, it is. Queen Julietta listened to the words of the fairy and when the time came for her to deliver the baby, a beautiful girl with bright blue eyes and hair the color of corn silk was born. King John suggested a name for the baby but Queen Julietta insisted on naming the baby Gaea. In a town, a few miles down the road, there was another King and Queen delivering a baby. The same fairy had gone to them and told them to name their baby boy Antonius. When the children were older, the neighboring King and Queen sent Prince Antonius to ask the Princess Gaea's hand in marriage. Both sets of parents were forewarned to allow them to marry but they were never to meet until the wedding day. As Prince Antonius was traveling, he was struck blind by a fearsome beast. Princess Gaea happened to be looking out her window at the tine and saw the prince crawling toward the castle in royal clothing, unable to walk. She ran her favorite knight, Chronos, to bring the wounded prince to the castle."
"But if the prince was supposed to marry Gaea, that would mean she had an affair!" Xenon interjected excitedly.
"Not necessarily half-breed," Diana answered with an air of annoyance.
"Stop bickering amongst yourselves, it won't solve anything," the old woman spoke. She went through a long fit of coughing. I jumped up to steady her from falling of her stool but she pushed me back. "I'm not quite an invalid yet, Donatella."
"I'm sorry, I meant no offense," I tried to apologize to the aged woman.
"It's fine. No where was I---- oh yes. Princess Gaea had her knight Chronos to retrieve the wounded man. When he was brought to the castle and Gaea looked on his face, she immediately noticed something strange about him. The young prince was born split in two races. One side of his face showed his mother's roots, with pale skin, a green eye and brown hair. The other half of his face was a sickening, ghastly, pale yellow color. There was no hair on that side and his eye was void of color. Once the princess saw the poor state of the prince, she immediately took pity on him and knew in her heart she could never be happy with him. She decided to put the prince out of his misery and kill him."
Diana and I gasped as we listened to the story. Xenia turned to us and shushed us loudly.
"The princess knew it was unlawful for her to kill anything, even an insect so she used her womanly wiles to persuade Chronos the guard to kill him. After Chronos killed him, he took Princess Gaea as a hostage in a fortress many miles away. Their first winter together, Princess Gaea gave birth to many children. They came to be known as the Titans. Later in Gaea and Chronos' marriage, she bore more children, the gods Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Hestia, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Hermes. The gods waged a war against their siblings, the Titans and won, retreating to their home on Mount Olympus. Some of you here are Incarnates, gods and goddesses who have been given a life to live on earth through a human-esque form. Some of you," the old woman nodded her head toward me, "are Descendants. You are blood relatives as far back as time to the original gods and goddesses. Many of the Descendants are even said to have special abilities that not even their ancestors could perform. Do your best to learn your ability and hone it to use it for the good."
Although the aged woman was speaking to the group, it felt like the last part was directed to me, like I had an ability of some sort.
"That’s very touching Grandmere, but how does it apply to us here?" one of the men who tried to mess with me earlier asked.
"It has everything to do with you all. We're all in here because we are either Descendants-" Xenia sneered at the word, "or Incarnates. This story was about how the IDs came to be."
"A very touching story, half-breeds," the prison guard said, clapping in mock enjoyment. He leaned closer to the bars and spoke, "Your fairy tales won't help you get out of this dungeon or anywhere else. Give up on your dreams, all they do is raise your expectations only to leave you under-whelmed." he walked away, leaving us alone.
"It is nearly time for bed, you'd better find a shadow and lay quietly," Diana said, running to a far corner of the cell. I found a space near her's and fell into an uneasy, uncomfortable sleep.