Reconnaisance

"I don't remember what happened to me," you say.

"What?" your sister says, her voice quiet.

"I... I lost my memory in the battle," you say, a bit nervously.

She's quiet. Then, "You lost your memory?"

"Yes," you say. "I... I just woke up near the village, and I... I couldn't remember anything. I couldn't remember who I was, where I was, what happened..." your voice drops to a whisper, "...you..."

A pause. Then, with a pained voice, she says, "You don't, do you?"

You shake your head.

Your sister's quiet. Finally, she tells you what you've wanted to know since you woke up in that ditch so many hours ago. "Okay," she says weakly, wearily. "Your name is Karen. Mine is Alyssa. We were born in Westminster, a different town, fifteen years ago. Then... then mother died." Her voice breaks, and she pauses. With a shaky, sniffling voice, she continues, "Father left Westminster. He had to get away. He couldn't deal with it." She sighs. "That was three years ago. He moved here. He was a blacksmith, so he was free to move around. That's also where we learned to fight. Even though it was 'improper' for women to fight, he taught us anyway, and he taught us well. Anyway, when he moved here he became really well-respected; he became the leader of the militia. Unfortunately, after mother's death he became distant from us. We kind of grew up by ourselves. We had nothing. That's why when we heard about the New Amazon rebellion a few months ago you convinced me to run away. We joined the Amazons. They trained us, fed us, and made us feel like we belonged. Then, yesterday, we were attacked." Instead of growing angry, she seems depressed. "The village was burned down. We were the only ones to escape. I ran away from the battle. I watched Princess Illura die." Her voice take on an attitude of self-lothing. "I watched the men swarm over her, and I watched them murder her, and I didn't help her. I ran away. I ran home, like the coward I've always been. Then father and the guards locked me up here in the jail, and I've been here ever since." She sighs. "So, you know who you are, and you know about me. Now, what about you?

You struggle to take all of this in. You're learning too much too quickly. You suddenly have a background, a life, a reality, when only minutes ago you had none. When it all sinks in, you tell her your own story. "I woke up near the village last night," you say. "I saw the dead bodies, and I saw the village burning, and I saw the kingdom's army leaving. I... I was terrified." She lets out an odd noise. "And alone," you continue. "Then a man came up behind me. Prince Aaron."

"Prince Aaron?" she says incredulously.

"Yes," you say. "He wanted to get revenge for the Princess's death. He had a plan to go to King Eric of Daria and get his support, but I wouldn't go along with it, so we separated. Then I found a note that the Princess must have intercepted from Prince Samuel of Daria saying that he had troops stationed in the pass to kill anyone who came through... including Prince Aaron."

She gasps.

"So," you continue, "I chased after him to try to save him. Unfortunately, as I came into town I saw all of the townsfolk running after a man, Greger. I tried to save him, and they captured me. Unfortunately, they hung Greger, so I sacrificed my freedom for nothing."

"They didn't hang him," she says.

"What do you mean?" you ask.

"They never hang anyone until five days after his arrest, just in case they find evidence that he's innocent," she says. "Unless they're hanging him illegally, he's still alive."

"Then why did father say he was dead?" you ask.

"I don't know," she says.

You both pause. Then you say, "We need to escape."

"You're right," she says.

"Do you have any ideas?" you ask.

"Me?" she says nervously.

"Yes," you say. "You know this place better than I do. Do you know how we can get out?"

She pauses. "You're the one who always comes up with the ideas," she says.

You can see that she won't be of much help. Something tells you that even if she does have an idea, she's not comfortable offering it.

You look around the room. It's getting late, and what little light there was is slowly fading. You have to act fast, or it'll be too late. You try to think of something. Then...

1. ...you try to struggle free from your chains.

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