Chapter 9Later, while Val was hurrying around getting dressed to go to the feast, he heard a knock at the door. He turned and went to open it.
“Yes,” he said, seeing two muscled men dressed in black armor.
“Sir, you are summoned to the royal bath.”
“To the bath?”
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
“By orders of the prince. It is to prepare you for the upcoming ceremony.”
“But that isn’t until—”
Suddenly he was grabbed and whisked away before he could get the words out of his mouth.
“Hey!” he shouted as he was dragged along. “What is this?”
The men carried him kicking and yelling down into the deepest, darkest confines of the palace, and then they entered a small place where they threw him against a wall. When he turned to run away, he was punched and jabbed with long sticks until he fell on the h
