I awoke in a strange room. My mind was hazy and I couldn't remember how I had gotten there. Then I remembered the fight with the basilisk. Just what had happened to me at the end? My vision had gone red and I lost control of myself. I remembered lots of blood and the basilisk's head rolling on the ground, glaring at me with it's dead, soulless eyes. Then I must've passed out, I suppose.

I shook my head and decided to stop thinking about it. It was more important to figure out where I was. The windows were dark and the room was lit by candlelight. Night must have fallen while I was out cold. I was lying on my side, with a blanket over me, on what seemed to be a couch. A very expensive couch. In fact, everything in the room looked nice enough that if I were to sell it, I could eat for a year. I saw expensive chandeliers, a coffee table, a desk, a bookcase filled from top to bottom and several extremely expensive vases with gold detailing... Forget a year, I'd eat well for life!

I looked at my hands and noticed that they were completely healed. They should still be torn apart from the fight. Did someone use magic to heal me? Why?

I checked the rest of my body and found that my old rags were gone and replaced with new clothes. They didn't look all that expensive, but they were leaps and bounds better than what I had before. It seemed that a tailor had cut and hemmed a hole for my tail.

*Sniff, sniff*, I didn't even stink anymore! Who the hell gives a bath to someone who's unconscious!? CREEPY!

"You awake?" said a voice.

"AAH!" I yelped and sat up in surprise. I turned around and found Milena sitting right there next to me.

"How long have you been there!?" I asked.

"Since the beginning..." she replied like there was absolutely nothing wrong about sitting in the dark next to some unconscious kid she didn't even know.

How did I not notice her? Did she really sit there next to me the entire time? Why would she do that? And why...

"Why are you holding my tail?" I asked.

"Huh?" she said with a blank look in her eyes.

"My tail... the thing in your hands- the thing that you've been petting like some kind of- AARGH! DON'T DO IT BACKWARDS!" I yelled as I quickly snatched my tail out of her hands and tried to smooth the fur back into place.

"I'm sorry. But it's just so fluffy I couldn't help myself!" she explained. We've got a freak here...

"Let me put it this way. How would you feel if some strange boy you didn't know suddenly started touching your hair?" I asked.

She thought about it for a moment then her face quickly turned red and she couldn't make eye contact anymore.

Thinking the discussion was over I said, "So that's how it is. So why don't you just-"

Before I could finish she cut me off and quickly asked, "If I let you touch my hair would you let me pet your tail?"

"WHAT!? No, of course not!" I yelled. Seriously, what's wrong with her? If this freak show continues I'll never figure out what's going on.

"More importantly, where am I?" I asked.

"My house," she said. "More specifically, Daddy's office."

...HUH!? None of this made any sense at all. I had her explain what had happened. After Roland chased me out of the garden, she knew something was weird about her father's behavior. So she chased after him down the street. Roland could barely keep up with me and he's a full grown adult, as well as a trained soldier. Obviously, Milena couldn't do that, so she lagged pretty far behind. That didn't matter much though, as our trail was very easy to follow with all the smoking craters and debris. I found it strange that the guards didn't stop her from exiting the East Gate, but that could easily be explained if they were still busy cowering in the guardhouse. Useless.

She started to follow our trail into the woods when she happened across the basilisk. I knew what happened at that point, so I had her skip ahead.

Supposedly, after the fight, some guards had come to investigate that howling sound. It seemed that Milena didn't know that was me making that noise. They found me unconscious and Roland and Milena beat up and exhausted. They had a healer with them so they took care of Roland's injuries right there. Milena noticed the terrible shape my hands were in and asked them to help. Now here's the strange part: Roland agreed.

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why Roland would do that. Didn't he want me dead? Supposedly, he's the one who ordered for me to be bathed and given new clothes, too. That made even less sense.

I stared at the ceiling and tried to figure it out. What had changed? Was it just because I helped them fight the basilisk? That was probably part of it, but for some reason I didn't think it was that simple.

I was quickly jolted out of my thoughts when I felt Milena petting my tail again.

"What did I just get done telling you?" I asked as I glared at her.

She quickly pulled her hands behind her back and looked away, acting like it wasn't her. There's only the two of us in here, you know...

"So where's Roland now?" I asked.

"He's in the next room talking with Uncle," she said as she pointed to the wall on my right.

I got up from the couch, walked over and stuck my ear to the wall. Milena followed and put her ear to the wall right behind me. I could make out two voices. One was definitely Roland, but the other I didn't recognize. That must be Milena's uncle.

"So, that's what happened, is it?" said the voice that I was assuming to be her uncle. "Ripped the head off of a basilisk with his bare hands. Very impressive."

"Yes," Roland replied. It seems they were discussing the same things I was talking with Milena about.

"I guess now we'll have to decide what to do with him from here on," the uncle said. "Hmm... he's here, right? In the next room?"

"Yes, he should be awake by now. I heard talking coming from over there. Milena must've snuck in there and woke him up. But why she would do that, I don't know," Roland said.

I had a pretty good idea why as I swatted her hand that had grabbed my tail again.

"Well, let's go talk to him then. He should be part of this discussion," the voice said.

"What!?" Milena yelped after hearing that. "Uncle's coming here?"

What's she so excited about? It's just her uncle right? I quickly went back to the couch and sat down and Milena did the same. I looked to the door as I heard the sound of them heading through the hallway. Milena was fidgeting expectantly and straightening her dress. The door opened and Roland strode in, followed by three men. Two of them were royal guards in full uniform and they stood on either side of the doorway to make way for the third man.

He was a big man, but not big like Roland. One look and you knew this guy liked to eat. It wasn't that he was obese, but I guess when you stand next to Roland, whose stomach was like a brick, I suppose anyone would look fat. They didn't look anything alike, though, so they couldn't be brothers. It must be on Milena's mother's side. With that thought I started focusing on his hair and received a shock.

He was wearing a crown! Milena's uncle is the king!