I opened my eyes and out of habit, I looked out the window. The only thing I could see was a small piece of the sky - dark blue, dotted with twinkling stars, like the eyes of some monsters. So it's still night. I closed my eyes again and lowered my head.

In my current situation, you can't sleep much. My legs are spread to the width of my shoulders, and I can’t close them because of the metal pipe that connects the steel bracelets on the ankles. The same tube connects the bracelets on my wrists. In addition, my legs are chained with sturdy chains to rings fixed to the floor, and another chain extends to my hands, passed through the ring, screwed into the wall behind my back. This chain is so short that if I try to sit down, I will inevitably dislocate my shoulders.

But not everything is so sad. I have to stand not on a bare stone, but on a soft fluffy carpet. For my physiological needs, I have a bucket that very nice, half-dressed maidservants carry out twice a day. They are so funny embarrassed when they enter the room, and so funny hide their eyes at the sight of my naked body, that I even forget about their chains and shackles.

Sorry, nobody comes to me at night.

I opened my eyes again and shivered. Despite the crackling fire in the fireplace in the far corner of the room, despite the warm carpet under their feet, it is pretty cool at night. And all because of the window - it is too big, as for a dungeon, and there are no glasses or even shutters in it. Apparently, they keep me not in the basement, but in the tower, and, apparently, this window overlooks some water - a river, a sea or a marsh - otherwise it would not be so damp here. It does not look like a swamp, because there are no mosquitoes - these small bloodsuckers would not let me rest. And this is hardly the sea - I do not hear the usual smells of salt and iodine. There remains a river, but it is painfully quiet. There is, of course, the option that my tower is so high that mosquitoes and smells just do not reach, but it is hard to believe in it. Well, I do not want to believe in it. After all, if I am so far from the earth, escape through a window, which I had been thinking about for some time, becomes completely impossible.

I sighed and tried again to appeal to the elements. There was no answer. And this depressed me much more than not the most comfortable position and nudity. I was locked up before, tied up, fettered, deprived of clothes, the ability to move and talk, but I could always use my abilities and leave. And now I can't even pray to any servant that she let me out.

Obviously, the magic was not deprived of me, because in that case I would immediately take my true form, and I still look like a human being. But I cannot use my class abilities and cannot contact my father or brothers. There is magic, but it is not available. Why?

I remember getting out of the inn. The sky was slightly lighter than it is now, but the stars blinked in it just as merrily. In the bush on the other side of the road, a nightingale chirped like a bush. I stopped to listen to his singing ... and then woke up here. Apparently, they hit me on the head, because for several hours after waking up my neck hurt badly.

I recalled that damage to the cervical vertebrae can lead to blockage of the energy channel that goes from the brain along the spine and distributes energy through smaller channels throughout the body. Apparently, in my case, this is exactly what happened. What does not require access to this channel — that is, maintaining the form — remains, but everything else does not work. And this means that I myself can not get out of here.

I sighed. With this sorted out. It remains to find out who put me here, why I was stripped and chained in such an awkward position and what they are going to do with me further.

Suddenly, a heavy wrought-iron chandelier over my head flared up, the fire in the fireplace glowed even brighter than before, and the door, which was in the wall opposite the window, opened wide. Two fragile girls rushed into the room with large wicker baskets in their hands. Judging by the smell and appearance, these were flower petals, which I had not seen before. But the flavor was amazing. They put their fragrant burdens at my feet and ran out of the room. For a while nothing happened, but the door remained open. The smell from the petals was so strong that I started to feel dizzy. I was already rather tired and with difficulty standing on my feet, and from this aroma I almost lost consciousness and, if it were not for the chains, I would definitely fall on the floor.

After some time, several more girls entered the room. Two of them carried a wooden bucket, the rest - huge jars, over which steam rose. Despite the fog that covered my eyes and mind, I guessed that I was preparing a bath. The girls poured water from the jugs into a tub, one of them laid down bath accessories and towels on the floor, and they, too, quickly left my chambers.

After another time, when the fog in my head became almost impenetrable, someone else entered the room. Strong hands clasped my waist, something clicked, and I felt that my arms and legs were free, but I didn’t have any help - I still couldn’t move because of the damned flowers. Then I was carefully submerged. She was hot, even burning, but I didn't care. I was rubbed, scraped, washed, doused, and I could not help it. For some reason, special attention was paid to the perineum. I am prepared for sex - suddenly flashed away where the sober thought had come from.

Then I was taken out of the bath, chained again to the wall and to the floor and thoroughly soaked with a towel.

And only after that I passed out.

How much time passed before I woke up, I do not know, but a piece of the sky, visible to me in the window, brightened noticeably, and the stars disappeared from it.

I shook my head, chasing the rest of the dope. His shoulders ached, his knees trembled, his mouth was dry, his head was buzzing. The morning breeze unpleasantly cooled the body, which had already cooled down after a hot bath. The chandelier under the ceiling was no longer burning, the fire in the fireplace was barely warm, and the door was closed again. If I were not me, I would have thought that the bath and everything else just dreamed of me.

The door creaked softly. I forced myself to strain my knees and lift my head. A pretty brunette in a translucent tunic peeked into the room. She didn’t look like a servant, even if she looked at me from head to toe without a bit of embarrassment and smiled with such a pleasant and sincere smile that I wanted to answer her the same way. But the muscles of my face still did not obey me.

Vigilantly looking around, the girl slipped into the room, closing the door behind her, and slowly approached me.

“Hi,” she said in a half whisper.

I just nodded back.

- You are not hurt here?

I laughed convulsively. A silly question to a man who has been standing for the second day chained to the wall and to the floor with his legs and arms shoulder-width apart.

She frowned.

- Do you want to eat?

There is? I completely forgot about it.

- P ... drink ... - I squeezed out with difficulty.

“I'll bring it now,” she was delighted, and scooted out of my pensions.

She returned a couple of minutes with a scoop and brought it to my lips. I greedily drained it and asked for more. She ran away again and returned in a couple of minutes, from which I concluded that there is a tub or barrel of water not far from the door to my prison. Not bad, considering that I still had no idea where I was.

- What is your name? She asked, squatting in front of me and putting her palms under her cheeks.

She has beautiful eyes. Although personally I was more interested in the fact that below - under the tunic, the outlines of a rather big breast with nipples sticking out in different directions and slender legs in elegant sandals were guessed.

“Shane,” I answered hoarsely.

“Nice name,” she smiled.

“Your turn,” I grinned.

- Sorry, mom does not allow me to give my name to unfamiliar men.Perhaps then, when she finishes with you, she will allow me too ... Then I will say ....