Chapter 37 part 1

Rick opened his eyes as the sun rose, letting it's light shine through the window in whatever room he was in. It wasn't exactly a cell, but it wasn't really much different. Especially with what he'd seen around here for the past month. Though, he was still trying to figure out what the language of the people who were holding him here were saying.

The room had a bed and mattress that was softer than he'd have expected. The other cells that he'd seen had merely straw thrown on the floor for any kind of softness. It wasn't anything that made sense to him. Although, that might because he hadn't done much study on actual history. His interest had been more in science, or more specifically meteorology, which this world didn't have much use for, given how it seemed like they might be living in a period like what little he remembered learning about the dark ages in his history classes so long ago.

Ever since he'd been captured, he'd been chained, although it didn't seem to do much other than keep his magic from being used. Which as he thought back, might have been a mistake to have used his magic to try to keep from getting captured. Of everyone in their team, only Emily hadn't used magic and she was the only one he was sure had escaped. If that mattered, he wasn't sure how.

They had taken everything from him that he'd had when he arrived in this world, including the clothing on his back. They then left him in this room. However, what puzzled him most was they would have women, or really girls with how young they were, enter the room on various days. He wasn't sure what was expected, but he certainly wasn't going to let his captors force anything on him. He had an idea, but one thing was certain, the girls they sent in were too young to interest him. Maybe he'd be tempted if they sent in a MILF or an older, more mature woman, but not with these young girls.

Yet, since he couldn't speak their language, he couldn't really try to get any information on what was going on. Why he was being held here when so many others were being held in rather unsanitary conditions. Or even what his captors wanted from him.

Maybe he was overthinking things, but he certainly wasn't going to let them control every aspect of him. Especially since magic and science weren't his only skills. Not that he was sure anyone else in the team were able to do what he could.

When he was growing up, his father had taught him how to pick locks. Mostly in the event he was arrested by the police for anything he didn't do. While he hadn't used those skills in years, he had to admit, the locks on the chains his captors had put on him that somehow prevented him from being able to use his magic were a lot easier to pick than the handcuffs had been.

At the very least, he'd had a few times he'd been able to get himself into hysterics by using his magic to turn what he could hear as a festive atmosphere around wherever he was, into a disaster by bringing in a thunderstorm. Not only that, but with a few alterations with the temperature around the clouds, he could make sure it was a heavy downpour that lasted a while.

Afterwards, he always made sure to put the chains back on, as at first he wasn't sure if they would check on it. Yet now, he knew they would and didn't want them to realize that he could get them off. If they did learn, he couldn't be sure they wouldn't weld them on or something. He couldn't underestimate what they could do, like he already did when he'd gotten captured.

He wasn't sure what to expect, but he doubted that he would like it. Especially since his captors didn't seem to care too much about his own sense of modesty. Though, any chance of escape he could think of would depend entirely on learning the language of this world. Not that it was particularly easy, since even the girls that were put in his room didn't seem inclined to speak.

Whether it was from fear or something else, they wouldn't say anything to him, even when he made it clear that the wanted them to stay arms length away from him. It was a headache, but every so often he could hear others talking, so he at least had that to go on.

He just hoped it would be enough. Not that he could expect it to be. Too much of what had happened was nothing that they could have anticipated. Just as he couldn't say for sure if the others on his team were doing as well as he was or if they'd found a way to escape.

He at least hoped that Emily had gotten away. At the very least he would then know that someone from their team wasn't being subjected to this insanity.

_

It was morning. While the spots on Amelia's new patients were still there, she was confident that the treatment was working, as some of the spots were starting to peel off. Not that it meant anything to Ralph. To him they were just as obstinate as when he'd first arrived. Especially the boy who had tried to get them to leave.

Only now he didn't have to deal with just the boy. Now he had to deal with his entire family. It felt like it was close to giving him a migraine just from the contact with them. Though their father was still under bedrest from Amelia's orders, not that Ralph expected the man to protest, given how tired he looked in general.

Wes and Amelia weren't any help with dealing with them, as they couldn't understand what they were saying. So, all of their curiosity or any kind of complaint about him or Wes and Amelia were directed to him. Even when he had asked to be given five minutes by himself.

The boy's siblings were about seven, six, and three, aside from the infant that is. The seven and three year-old were girls, according to Amelia while the six year-old was a boy. Though, with what clothing they wore, Ralph would have assumed their genders were the opposite. Just another thing on this world that didn't make any sense.

The seven year-old had a light brown hair, a little lighter than her brother's, and lilac colored eyes. The three year-old had dark brown hair, almost black, and the same shade of pink eyes as her older brother. The six year-old had brown hair and rose colored eyes.

They were also so dirty, and their hair was so tangled that it was hard to tell if he'd gauged what their hair color correctly or even how long it really was. He could even tell in the light of the new day that their older brother was much dirtier than he'd thought the day before in the failing light of the day. Ralph couldn't help but wonder if they'd ever taken a bath, though if they hadn't, he wondered if some of what stank in the house was them and not just the general aroma that looked like it had several sources.

The clothing they wore was just as strange to Ralph as when he'd seen the boy in the hooded dress, which was what the younger boy also was wearing. Although, for some reason he couldn't explain, he didn't notice that the color of the dresses were a dark color that almost looked black. In the light of the day he could see that the boy's sisters wore what he could only assume was a hooded tunic that were so the same color of the dresses their brothers wore, and leggings that were the same color, which made him think of the renaissance festival he'd gone to a couple times in Larkspur in his home state of Colorado. Patterns also decorated each of them around where the sleeves ended, along the bottom of the skirts and leggings, as well as around the neck and edge of the hood. The patterns were various colored circles, that were connected like rings stitched into the clothing, that made him wonder if it had meaning behind it, much like the plaid colors in Scottish families indicated who was a part of which family. Some of the rings also seemed to be different sizes, though he couldn't determine a specific pattern or anything.

Ralph also somehow found himself being assigned to essentially baby-sit the kids. Which he was still trying to figure out how that happened. Naturally their father couldn't, given how he wasn't allowed by Amelia to get up, even if he had the energy to do so, but Ralph couldn't understand why it had to be him who had to keep an eye on them. In the end, he was stuck in the house while Amelia and Wes left to collect some more mushrooms in case they needed them, though Ralph couldn't understand why he couldn't have joined them.

He'd later tried entertaining them, mostly as a means of trying to get them to be stope bugging him about his past and where he came from, as Beth had suggested when he complained to her through his magic. He didn't have any games that they could play and the only thing that he could think of to do that held any interest for himself was to tell them a story. However, any story he could think of was shot down almost immediately. Almost like the ideas were so foreign to the kids that they rejected them before even really giving them a try. Although, he still had a few ideas that he hoped might work.

He wasn't sure what the problem was exactly from him trying to tell the children a story. He knew it wasn't because he was a bad story teller, but it was more because they wouldn't give him a chance. Or at least with what he'd tried so far.

He'd last tried going with the movie Shrek, but as soon as he'd mentioned the princess being held by a dragon and a prince or knight having to go save her, they reacted like he was telling them that rubber had the same texture as pudding. It felt like they couldn't believe that a princess would be the one being held captive. It at first puzzled him, but then he came up with an idea that he thought might work. If his hunch was correct, not that he expected it to.

"Okay, gather around again," Ralph said as he came up with another idea. If they felt that it wasn't believable that a princess would need to be saved, he wondered what would happen if it was a prince who needed to be saved. Although, the story that came to his mind didn't exactly have a prince at first. Not in the way he was thinking of changing it.

"This better be better than the last one," the oldest boy said. "Any princess who got held captive like you said wouldn't be a real woman."

Ralph wished he had some Advil or Tylenol. Something to help him with the headache he felt coming on. He'd seen gender swapping having been done on some shows and stuff, but this was something else. Almost like it was like something from the Twilight Zone or something. Not that he was one to talk, given his story was essentially a gender swapped fairy tale he could actually remember that wasn't just because it was from a funny movie.

"Whatever," Ralph said, brushing the comment aside. He certainly didn't have the energy, much less the mental energy to deal with whatever issue they had with the princess being the damsel in distress. "This will be a different kind of story. One I don't think you've heard before."

"Is it anything like Keitha and the mermaid sands?" the older of the girls asked.

"I couldn't say," Ralph answered honestly. "I've never even heard of that one."

"Really?" the other boy asked. "It's told everywhere."

A movie scene then popped in Ralph's mind from the movie 'The Wedding Singer' with Adam Sandler, when a kid told Adam Sandler's character that 'everyone' had been saying it. Which he'd replied that the kid was only something like five or six and only knew his parents.

"Moving on," Ralph merely said, hoping the kids wouldn't push the subject. If they did, he couldn't say how long it'd be before he'd lose his temper. Then he wasn't sure how their father, who also apparently wore a dress, would react. Especially with how he was becoming convinced the entire world was insane. "The story is about a boy whose mother had remarried after his father had died. His step-father was a wicked one and the boy had two ugly step-brothers."

"What's the boy's name?" the oldest girl asked, her eyes wide.

Ralph sighed in relief. The story seemed to hold their interest more than the Shrek story had. "The boy's name was Cinder," Ralph said, unable to come up with a better one on such short notice. Though, he wished he could.

"That's my name!" the oldest boy said. The one that Ralph had to first deal with when he'd first reached this house.

Great, Ralph thought to himself. When I asked what their names were earlier I got blank stares, even after I introduced my name as well as Amelia's and Wes'.

"Anyway, Cinder took it well, but his mother died shortly after. After which, his step-father began making him do all the chores while his ugly step-brothers were allowed to do whatever they pleased," Ralph continued.

"Did Cinder run away?" the younger boy asked.

"Just let me tell the story, okay?" Ralph asked, wondering if he should give up trying to tell them a story at this point.

"Alright," the boy murmured.

"So, Cinder did his best at the chores, hoping one day that his efforts would be recognized. However, nothing was ever good enough for his step-father or his step-brothers.. Years passed and one day a notice came to everyone throughout the kingdom. That a ball-"

"Queendom," Cinder corrected.

"What?" Ralph surprised, not sure how to react to it.

"It's a queendom," Cinder answered.

"Okay, throughout the queendom then," Ralph continued, a little confused at the correction or why Cinder seemed to think it was so important. Not that he really cared. "That a ball would be held where the princess would choose a person to marry."

"Was Cinder a noble, then?" the older girl asked.

"Uh, no," Ralph said, unsure if that was ever mentioned in the fairy tale he was blatantly taking his story from. "The invitation was to everyone. No matter who they were. The ball would be open to everyone. In fact, it was urged for all unmarried young men to attend."

"Why would they allow commoners into the ball?" Cinder asked, looking confused.

"It's a special occasion," Ralph said. "The princess hadn't been able to find someone she was interested in and so she agreed that if she couldn't find someone anywhere from the kingd- queendom, that she would accept whoever her parents chose."

"Wouldn't her parents have looked outside the queendom?" the older girl asked.

Ralph sighed. This was going to take a while, he realized. "As I said, she couldn't find someone she was interested in. That includes outside the queendom," Ralph said. "Any more questions?"

Ralph waited a moment and then continued, "Cinder was excited about the ball. He had no illusions that the princess would be interested in him, he just wanted to see the ball. He wanted to see what it was like in the palace and to just have that experience. However, his step-father feared that Cinder would outshine his own ugly sons, so he gave Cinder an impossible amount of chores to do and that he had to complete them by the time they left or he'd have to remain behind because it was too far to walk to the palace before the ball would be over."

"How far away were they from the palace?" Cinder asked.

Ralph hesitated. He hadn't actually planned on giving specifics, so he first debated on whether or not to entertain that question, but in the end decided to just answer it. It couldn't hurt. Then, he had to figure out an estimate. One that would be believable. "Let's just say it took about two hours for the step-father and Cinder's ugly step-brothers by carriage and would take Cinder about six hours to walk there," Ralph estimated. "The ball was to start at about seven at night and would last until midnight. So, even if Cinder snuck out just after his step-father and ugly step-brothers left, he'd make it to the ball, but it would already be winding down and he wouldn't be able to really look around."