Princess Myrcella couldn’t contain her excitement as she woke up from her slumber today. Throwing the satin covers of her plush sized bed from off of her nubile body the buneary hopped her way to her closet before she could stop herself. Gathering up a fluffy blue robe the young royal slipped out of her sleeping clothes and then wrapped herself up within the new article of clothing. Making her way out of her room and then down the hallway, nodding to the various royal guards dressed in silver chainmail armour as she went, who in turn smiled back at her, Myrcella found her way to the family bathing chamber. 

“Lila, are you here?” the princess called out to her royal attendant once she opened the door to white tiled room.

“Yes, milady.” a slim zoroark wearing a silk dress responded after exiting from the storage room. “I was just taking stock over the supplies we have here.” Lila said while pressing a black clawed hand to her dark furred face. “I think that I’m going to have to order more towels soon, but putting that aside, is there something you require of me?”

“Mmhmm! Can you please draw me a bath with lavender oil?” Myrcella asked even as she lowered her bathing robe from off from around her body. “Also, once you do, please see if the dress that I had ordered from the local tailor has been delivered.” the buneary commanded while stepping into the empty blue marble tub. 

Lila chuckled and then bowed to her master. “Yes, milady. I shall do so at once.” with that the Zoroark went over to the unseen command panel housed onto the side of the gargantuan sized bathtub, pressed a few buttons, and then waited for water to begin filling the wide expanse. 

Myrcella giggled as she watched a flood of water rise up to cover her, the warmth she soon felt made the buneary sigh and then leaned her head back against the rim of the marble tub, she always did enjoy how her attendant would draw water for her. Turning her head Myrcella watched as Lila made her way out of the bathing area, quietly shutting the door behind her long fluffy tail as she went about her way. Now alone within the room the young princess took a few minutes to soak her thick dark brown fur within the steaming water, shaking her ears a bit when she dunked her head down within the water to wet her hair, and then swam over to grab one of the bottles of sweet scented shampoos which had been set up for her. Gathering some of the creamy froth within her dainty hand the buneary princess quickly began to lather herself down, all the while she constantly giggled at the thought of the royal task for which she would be undertaking soon enough.

Today was the day that she traveled by herself to the northern territory in order to speak with the king therein. From what Myrcella had been told about the pokemorph in question it seemed as though he was an imposing blaziken with brilliant white feathers and sparkling blue eyes. According to the story that her father had told her, the flaming fighting pokemorph had gathered the fragmented countries of the north together by way of fire and blood before creating the Ruby Eye Kingdom. During the earlier years of his rule the blaziken had to constantly fight to keep control over those various countries which he had held under his control, however just when it seemed as though the kingdom he had created was about to splinter her father sent several thousand knights, and thousands of carriages filled with silver, copper, and grains to help King Ruben. The fire fighting pokemorph had been both thrilled and suspicious about such a gift, however the king had arrived himself to calm the other. A month of negotiations between them resulted in a strong friendship being forged between the pair.

“As heir to the throne you’ll need to learn how to speak and act around other leaders without me being there to chaperone your every word and move.” her father had told her a week ago during dinner. “With that in mind, I am sending you north as a dignitary.”

Myrcella was too excited to pay the older lopunny any attention to what her father had to say after that, that was just how excited she was to be able to go off on a royal journey all by herself. 

Well, sort of. 

Her father was no fool after all, he knew well enough that he couldn’t send his only daughter off by herself, and so the young buneary was going to travel with five well trained knights. The knight captain, an elegant zoroark who just so happened to be Lila’s twin brother, wanted to go with her but Myrcella had promised the other that she was going to be alright on her own and so bayed him to stay here at home. The older pokemorph had pouted but ultimately decided to allow the princess to have her way with regards to this situation. 

‘Sir Alan is such a worrywart.’ the princess giggled as she finished soaping herself up. Dunking herself within the warm water Myrcella couldn’t help thinking, ‘Nothing is going to happen to me while I’m in the north.’ 

Half an hour later Lila returned with a bathing towel to help dry the princess off. Once dried Lila helped the buneary into her clothes for the day, a silken dress which bore the silver leaf symbol of the kingdom onto its front. Topping the young princess off with her royal crown the zoroark shuffled Myrcella down the hallway to the royal dining hall. The two women spoke at length about her trip and the dress for which the princess had ordered, to which they both agreed would look rather beautiful on the buneary, before arriving just in time to see breakfast being served. 

“Good morning, daughter.” the king of the southern kingdom greeted cheerily as he watched his daughter come over to give her a massive hug. Beside him the knight captain smiled as he noted the princess nodding up to him.

“Good morning, father.” 

“Are you ready for your journey today?” he asked after watching Myrcella walk to her chair over on the left of the table. 

“I am indeed!” the buneary all but hopped up and down with her seat as she said this. She quickly settled down when she noticed a firm glower shine with her father’s eyes. 

“I’m glad to hear that, but don’t forget either your manners or your rank.” the older lopunny chided as he took his own seat at the head of the table. “No matter the exuberance you feel you must maintain an air of dignity about yourself while in front of King Ruben.”

“Yes father.” Myrcella sighed a bit.

“Yes, we wouldn’t want you to do anything foolish while you were in front of the blaziken, like cuddle up to him while in a drunken stupor.” 

The buneary had no idea what Sir Alan was talking about, seeing as she wasn’t allowed to drink for another five years, however her amethyst eyes didn’t miss the nervous squirming that suddenly overtook her father. The elder monarch coughed once when the morning meal arrived and then quickly dug into it. Myrcella turned to look at Sir Alan but the zoroark didn’t let whatever he had meant by that show on his face as his face painted itself with his normal stoic mask. Mentally shrugging the princess dug into her own plate of steamed carrots and diced pecha berries without saying another word. After the meal was finished the king walked his daughter out to the courtyard where the royal coach was waiting on her. Hugging her tightly and then helping her inside of the carriage the lopunny monarch watched as the driver snapped his whip forward forcing the feral rapidash to pull the coach out from the courtyard towards the front gates. He only returned into the castle once he could no longer see the outline of the carriage in the distance.

“She’ll be fine, sire.” Sir Alan comforted his liege once the king entered into the throne room.

“I wish this strange pit within my gut held the same conviction as you, old friend.” 

It took nearly a full day to get from the southern kingdom to the north, and while Myrcella had busied herself with reading the tomes Lila had prepared for her by the time she arrived the setting sun told the young buneary that a meeting with King Ruben would more than likely not be taking place today. And, as expected, she was indeed correct in her assumption as the chancellor of the capitol, an elderly alakazam wearing a long purple robe, greeted her warmly, yet without the king.

“Forgive me, princess, but upon realizing that you would not arrive before the evening fell his majesty decided to see to other important matters.” the psychic pokemorph said as he led Myrcella from her carriage up into the main hallway of the northern palace. “He will of course greet you first thing in the morning.”

“Thank you.” Myrcella bowed before the older man. “Please send his majesty my deepest apologies for not arriving earlier.” 

“Of course. Now then, would you care for something to eat before we show you to your room?” 

“If you would please. Also, might I ask that my guards be allowed to have their own rooms to rest in?” 

“Of course.” the alakazam nodded.

“Thank you.” 

The rest of the evening passed rather quietly for the young buneary. She was taken to the royal dining hall, given a meal of spiced fruits and berries, and then shown to the room which had been prepared for her. Settling down for the evening Myrcella stripped out of her silk dress and then put on the night clothes which had been packed inside her luggage. Crawling into the queen sized bed once she was properly dressed the princess sighed as she turned her head to face the open window. 

‘I hope King Ruben isn’t too annoyed by my late arrival.’ the last thing she wanted to do was to set off tensions between herself and his majesty for having arrived so late into the day. Murmuring softly in slight frustration the buneary closed her eyes and then drifted off to sleep. The last thought she had for the evening was, ‘The first thing I’ll do when I greet him is to apologize. That should soothe everything over between us.’

- - - - -

Myrcella knew she was in trouble when she felt hardwood against her chest. Blinking bright amethyst eyes open the buneary princess looked up to find an unfamiliar stone ceiling staring back at her. Not understand what was going on she tried move herself into an upright sitting position but she was rudely informed of this impossibility as both her arms and ankles were locked down by wood. Turning her head around rapidly the lapine princess struggled against the stockade for which she had somehow been placed within, however the wood was as tough as a sudowoodo and thus refused to give. Moving her head over to try and get at one of the locks of the stockade proved to be impossible as her head and body had been placed in such a way that it made her unable to get as far as she wanted to.

‘Well, this is more frustrating that I would have imagined.’ thought the princess as she continued to try and wriggle her way out of her prison. ‘Now I know what the drunkards in the town feel like.’ she chuckled darkly as she remembered being curious over how those publicly shamed within the town’s square had felt while being trapped for all to see within the polished wood of the public stockade. Finding herself inside of such a binding now revealed that it was not as pleasant as she had thought, especially with the way her back was slowly starting to ache.

Swallowing thickly and then calming her breathing the young buneary found her mind racing as she tried to think over what was going on here.

‘Could I have been betrayed?’ this was an obvious reasoning as she was inside of another kingdom’s hold and so it was feasible that the blaziken king might have decided to try and hold her for ransom, her father would of course pay whatever price named to have her returned. 

However that didn’t feel quite right. 

‘Have I been captured?’ that was the only thing that did make sense. Assassins or spies might have crept through her open window that evening to steal her away from the castle. Myrcella grunted to herself as she realized that if she lived through this that Lila was going to have a day of telling her off for being so foolish as to make such an easy access point to herself. All of the stories the zoroark had told her about princess of the past having been whisked away from feral charizards had seemed like the stuff of silly old legends, but given the current situation the young buneary slightly wished that this was what had happened to her.

‘If only so that I could scream for help and having a passing knight come to save me.’ she thought with a chuckle. The very idea of a handsome lucario dressed in silver plate armour galavanting across the country while riding a feral arcanine to rescue her filled the princess with a sense of amusement that made her completely unaware of the door to the stone room she was being kept being quietly open. 

“I’m so happy that you’re amused with your current situation, princess.” the grizzled voice of some unfamiliar maked person made her gasp and then blink. 

Because of the darkness surrounding her Myrcella could exactly see who the person speaking to her was, this made it so that she didn’t know exactly what to say or think with regard to how to deal with them. So, employing her royal voice the princess stated…

“Who are you, and why have you done this to me?” 

The unknown person chuckled low and deep, all the while taking slow and measured steps within the darkness of the room. The sounds of wood meeting metal met the buneary princess’s long ears, and yet despite this she couldn’t exactly tell what was going on at the moment. Several more seconds were filled with the sounds of leather being slid against itself while wood scraped against stone. Finally, just as her nerves were about to be frazzled all to the void Myrcella heard the other person, a man, as the heavy baritone voice suddenly became much clearer within her ears, spoke out.

“Who I am is of no importance to you, princess of the southern lands of Ferngul. What I want on the other hand, now that is of so much greater importance.” 

“And what exactly do you want?” nervousness ate away at the young buneary’s heart as those words rolled around inside of her head. While she had always been made painfully aware of her place within the world, both as a princess and as a fragile little bunny that others could easily take advantage of, Myrcella now wished that she had allowed Sir Alan to come along with her on his journey. Steeling her resolve Myrcella refused to let her fears get the better of her, she was stronger than that, after all, Lila had told her so, and her advisor never lied to her.

“Information.” the shadowed figured responded calmly.

“Huh?” it was inarticulate, but Myrcella’s comment did thoroughly highlight her current confusion.

“Information, dear princess.” her capture said once more, though this time with a hint of iron within his voice.

“Information regarding...what exactly?” Myrcella’s confusion was rather evident at this point, as she had no information with which to give the other. At least none that she was aware of.

‘And even if I did, I certainly would tell what I knew to brute who would do something like this to me.’ she had standards after all, even if she was still rather young.

“Your castle.” the other began to say as if checking off a written list. “Your lands, your family, your army, and other interesting secrets which might be useful to someone like myself.” 

“And who are you again? You failed to say earlier, and I am quite sure that King Ruben would never employ someone such as yourself.” the buneary princess sassed.

“As I just told you, I am of no importance to you.”

“Then it will be somewhat hard for me to give you what you seek, as it’s not permitted for someone of my rank to speak about such things with miscreants that kidnap others.” Myrcella found herself giggling within the back of her head as she thought back to the lessons her advisor had given her with regards to how to deal with those who were beneath her station.

Her amusement was short lived when she suddenly found her current position being shifted, literally. “Wh-what are you doing?!” the buneary screeched, her fear overwhelming her previous mental fortitude.

“Changing your stance on the current state of affairs.” the sound of metal locking into metal made Myrcella wonder exactly what was going on here. Her answer came a few seconds later when her once warm feet were suddenly made to feel the cool air of the room. “With that said, I think it would be very wise of you to tell me what I want to know,” something small and scratchy brushed against the young princess’s foot and reflexively she tried to move her lower appendage away from whatever it was, but as her ankle was still bound to the hardwood around her Myrcella found that she couldn’t get very far.

“I think it would be better for me if I don’t.” the buneary grunted while attempting to shift herself away from the annoying thing touching the bottom of her sole. “Also, I believe that I must protest this treatment for which I am being made to suffer under, as it is very unbefitting of someone such as myself.” 

“Hahah, you’ll be surprised how much some people believe that this is the perfect position for someone such as yourself,” her assailant chuckled while continuing to stroke at her foot with the unseen feather within his gloved hands. “After all, a lot more people than you think despise royalty such as yourself.” 

“You must be joking!” Myrcella giggled without meaning to as the feather brushing along her furry heel moved up to kiss her feet. The young princess had meant to let out a growl of annoyance but her senses were disobeying her current commands as base instincts surged up within her. Thankfully though she was able to concentrate her thoughts long enough to continue speaking, if somewhat jarringly. “Wh-who...haha...would ever think...heheh...of despising...hahehe...someone such as mEEEEhehe!!” 

“More people than you can imagine.” the unnamed man said. “Not everyone enjoys having others lord over them, especially monarchs who they feel are keeping them oppressed.” the feather within the masked man’s hand moved over and then down and finally around the sides of the buneary’s left foot before traveling across her right foot. All the while Myrcella found herself unable to say much in protest against either her current treatment or the accusations for which the man had made. 

Once the feather had moved away the princess found herself panting softly, her brown furred face was covered in a light sheen of sweat from where perspiration had traveled out from her unseen pores. Taking a few sweet gulps of breath Myrcella tried to steady her tongue, her entire body was shivering from the strange torture for which she had been suddenly introduced to, once she was able to speak however, “I must say, that was quite rude of you.” the buneary snorted, her small button nose wiggling incessantly in indignation. “To do things like this to a princess, you’ll be lucky if you’re not thrown into a dungeon once I get out of here!” 

A deep baritone chuckle made the blood within her heart chill.

“And this is why people aren’t exactly thrilled with monarchs such as yourself.” her captor whispered while moving away from her over to a leather satchel sitting onto the floor. Shifting through the sack the masked figure brought out a large wooden apparatus which bore two large wheels covered in farfetch'd feathers. “If you were any regular person you might think to try and fight me on your own terms if you managed to get out of here, but no, you monarchs always have to suggest taking away someone’s freedom from them in order to reaffirm your superitory.” the masked man set the machine he had fished out down in front of the bound princess and then flipped on a switch. The sounds of well oiled gears turning filled the darkened room followed by wheels slowly spinning. “With that said, why don’t you tell me everything you know about your family and the secrets that they bear so that I can inform the right people in how to remove you from the seat of power?” 

“No!” Myrcella shouted at the top of her lungs as the sensation of numerous feathers caressing into the bottom of both of her feet filled her mind. 

“A pity, this could have gone so much easier on you,” the masked man said as he stepped away towards the door leading out of the room. “But then again, I have to admit that it wouldn’t have been as much fun.” when the shrieking laughter of the buneary soon began to fill the room the figure continued with, “With that said, I think I’ll leave you alone with your thoughts. I’ll be back to finish our conversation once I feel that you’d had enough time alone with yourself.” and with that the other opened the door, stepped through outside into the hallway, and then quietly slammed the wooden barrier closed. 

Left behind as she was Princess Myrcella could do nothing but squirm in her position as she vehemently tried to escape the predicament that she had found herself trapped within. Sadly there was nowhere for her to go as she was still held down, and so with that fact cemented into the depths of her mind the young buneary was able to do nothing but wriggle into her position. 

And laugh. 

“Hahaha!! HELP!! HEHAHAH!!! HELP!!! Someone!!! Heheheh!! Anyone!!! HEEEELLLLPPPP!!!”

Shrieking loudly as she fought to try and escape from the sinful feathers tickling the bottom of her naked soles the princess fought and yelled and screamed at the top of her lungs to get out of the situation for which she had been placed into. Sadly no one came to aid her. Had she had known where exactly she was Myrcella might have silenced her futile attempts to cry out, being stuck so deep within the earth inside of an unkempt ruin and all, however without this knowledge the young princess cried out for salvation that would never come!

“Hahahah!!!” she continued to laugh, sparkling tears rising out from her eyes as he mouth was left open in breathless gasps. 

The running motor on the machine continued to turn over and over again, the feathers glued onto the extensions sticking out from the apparatus rolled around restlessly as they did their job of driving the buneary wild. Her previously struggles increased five fold as Myrcella fought desperately to try and get away from this torture for which she was currently enduring. Her strength did not avail her however as the stockade refused to give, even as the wood began to cut deep into the skin of her wrists. 

“HEEEELP!! HEHAHAHEHA!!! SOMEBODY PLEASE!!!! HAHEEEEHHAHAH!!! HELP MEEE!!!” the princess screamed.

And yet no one arrived to save her.

Not five minutes after she began to choke on her own breathes, her dry throat locking up slightly from not being given anything to drink. Not ten minutes after her vision began to grow hazy, her senses all overloading from the intense feelings of twisted excitement for which she was feeling.
Nor fifteen minutes after darkness overcame her eyes dragging her down into the sweet bliss of silent nothingness. 

With a startled gasp Myrcella woke up some seconds later, her amethyst eyes whipping around wildly as she tried to figure out exactly what had just happened. Seeing that she was once more within the white marble bedroom that she had been given access to for the evening by the king the buneary princess found herself leaning back into the pidgeotto stuffed pillows underneath her fuzzy head. Sighing softly Myrcella turned and then curled up on herself, her arms folding protectively into her chest, as she gently closed her eyes.

‘What a strange dream.’ she thought with a tired laugh. ‘I must have eaten something that didn’t agree with me last night to have such a nightmare.’ that was the only thing that made sense to the buneary at the moment. A silent warning in the back of her head made her reach out to caress her wrists. ‘Nothing.’ There were no marks suggesting that she had been restrained, much to her fatigued amusement. ‘I wonder why I feel so tired though?’ She knew that she had been rather restless last night from excitement at being here within the north but this strange level of exhaustion that the buneary now felt made it seem as though she had run several miles before bed last night. ‘That dream must have tired me out more than I had thought. I should get some sleep and then order one of the castle servants to draw a bath for me before breakfast.’

Nodding her head Myrcella settled herself down to get some much needed sleep, however when a stray breeze blew over her the buneary immediately snapped her eyes open. Looking over to see the setting moon clearly displayed out from the open window of her room Myrcella threw off the covers of her bed, stomped her way over to the stone wall, and then threw the glass covering across the window. Flipping the small latch at the top closed the buneary princess let out a nervous chuckle as she threw the curtains closed and then quickly hopped her way back into her bed.

‘No reason to take chances after all.’ she chuckled much more fearfully than she realized upon thinking those words. 

Sleep thankfully found her several minutes later.