In the aftermath of the woman who had previously been a statue collapsing, the room fell into silence. The black clad figure seemed stunned, unsure of what had just happened, and if this had been a part of the plan. Their eyes darted about, trying to see if there were any other surprises in the room after that blast of magic. Not seeing anything, they hesitantly stepped around the altar, and knelt at the side of the beauty that lay on the hard stone floor, her jet-black hair strewn about her.

The gentle rise and fall of her breast under the jewel encrusted gown showed that she was alive, but a touch to her cheek indicated that she was freezing cold. Even a quick glance at her face revealed her to be even more beautiful in person than she had been as a statue. Moving quickly, the intruder unslung the slim backpack and delved within it. A bound packet of wood was pulled out and placed in the corner to reflect the heat outward. With a flick of the wrist a small ball of fire lit the wood into a cheery campfire. Next came a pair of heavy furs, both of which were wrapped around the woman's body until she was no longer touching the freezing stone of the floor and allowed her to be slid closer to the fire to capture even more of the heat. Slipping off their left glove, the person revealed slender dusky colored skin and long delicate fingers with long, sharp nails. One of those fingers had a plain black ring made of carved pumice, which was then slipped off before being placed on the unconscious woman's hand. A preserved haunch of boar was soon in hand and on a spit over the fire, and soon the scent of the fat dripping into the fire made two stomachs growl.

The scent also drew the hungry noses of the rats from the other room, but they didn't get too close to the hated fire. They did find the chunks of bodies that had once been broken stone, and those were rapidly brought back to the nest for an unexpectedly morbid feast. But they would be back for more food if those smells kept tempting them.

With the ring off, the black clad figure began to shiver, and they dug through the backpack looking for more of the furs, only to find that there were no more. Sighing deeply, they huddled next to the fur bundled woman, and tried to absorb some of the heat from the furs. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. It took a while for the boar to cook, and by the time it was finally ready, the shivers of the intruder had become shakes, and they had moved to stand over the fire, almost wishing they could be on a spit like the food. But the food helped, as it gave calories to burn to stave off the frost.

It also brought a groan from the woman in the gown.

"Wha... what happened?" she croaked out in a husky voice, her eyes searching about for clues.

"It seems you were turned to stone some time ago, and now you're free." Came the lilting voice from behind the cowl.

"Ahh, you're from Dallinia. I recognize the accent," the woman said sleepily. "My mother is from there too. I'd like to visit there some time."

"You have good fortune then, as that is where I'm headed with you. I was hired to retrieve the treasure in this room, and while I was led to believe it was jewels, I now think it was you." A knife sliced off a strip of the boar, and handed it over to the woman, who levered herself up with a wince to lean against the wall to eat.

The woman took an undainty large bite and moaned appreciably. "Thank you, this is very good. I think I might eat the whole thing given the option."

The other removed her cowl, revealing brown doe like eyes and a tiny pink nose, like that of a cat. With the cowl removed she took a chunk of the boar and started to eat as well. "I'll save the majority for you. You look hungry."

"You're a Kittani! I was always told Kittani are all thieves." Inez smiled at the sight. Her mother had told stories of the Kittani, the race of cat like humans that had been bred by sorcerers thousands of years ago. She'd hoped to meet one someday but could hardly have expected it to be under such circumstances.

"I am, yes." She pulled back her hood to reveal the light grey catlike ears atop her head, nestled into her inky black hair. "And you were right about many of us being thieves too, though I try to avoid stealing, when possible, I did so in my youth. Now I'm more of an adventurer for hire."

"And someone hired you to release me?" Inez said in wonder.

The Kittani shrugged, unsure of the truth. "Either I was duped into trying to get the jewels on the altar, or the person who hired me truly thought a fortune in jewels awaited me here. Judging by your gown, she was right, though not in the way I had expected. Now eat up, I think you'll need to eat a lot after all this time."

"After all what time? What year is it?"

"It is the winter of 873," came the reply, causing a gasp from the other.

"873? But it was just 832! What madness is this? Have you been casting spells on me?"

"The only magic I cast was to make the fire. I put an enchanted ring on your finger that keeps you warm. The only other thing I did was turn you back to flesh from the statue you were when I found you."

"I was a statue?" Inez searched her memories, though they seemed fuzzy from the day of the wedding. "Hudd! That damned King Hudd! He performed some magic on me!" she finally looked around the rest of the chamber, seeing the pieces of statues lying about, including the stone head of Gettle, who had been the kindest woman she'd ever met. She sucked in a harsh breath, tears pouring rapidly from her eyes.

"And now that magic is gone, and he rules Appalya as the king," the other explained.

Wiping away her tears, Inez took a few shuddering breaths, thankfully not seeing a rat scurrying away with a fleshy hand. "I'm sorry. This is all so confusing and overwhelming. Can I get your name? I'm Princess Inez of Appalya."

"My name is Medya, and as you noted I'm from Dallinia."

"Does the person who hired you have a name?"

"Not that was given to me. I was given money, and a promise of more rewards when I returned the treasure. I don't want to strip the gown off you, I have more decency than that, but I do wonder if they knew what would happen. If that is the case, they may want me to return you instead of the gown," Medya explained. "Though the gown could buy my own city."

"If you help return me to power, I'll reward you with more than that," Inez boldly promised. She would repay Hudd for his treachery as well.

"What makes you think I'm the kind of person who would do that?" Medya asked as she lay back against the wall and sighed. The food had helped with the cold, and now she was feeling better. It hadn't escaped her notice that Inez had indeed eaten most of the rest of the haunch.

"You could have killed me and taken the gown while I was helpless. Instead, you helped keep me warm." Inez gestured to the furs. "You used valuable magic on me, you've fed me, given me your name, shown me your face and professed to be an adventurer for hire."

"You do make a series of good points. But that is still a risky venture," Medya acknowledged with a purr. "Can I give you the answer once we reach Dallinia?"

"That seems fair. I think Dallinia is a good place to go regardless of who hired you. My mother's family was from there, and I may be able to find allies," Inez noted. It dawned on her suddenly that after all this time, her parents were most likely gone, which would explain why Hudd was on the throne. Once more, tears pricked at her eyes. What other changes must have been wrought over 40 years? "I mean to see Hudd die for what he's done."

"Then we should go soon. I didn't bring supplies for two people, so we need to get off the mountain quickly or we'll perish from the cold or lack of food," Medya stated.

"Do your supplies include clothing other than heavy and impractical wedding gowns?" Inez asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Medya looked over the princess. Inez towered over her by almost a foot, and she was shapelier than the slimmer Kittani, but perhaps something might fit since not all the clothing in the backpack had been hers. "I have some clothes, though they may not fit. We can try them out. I may not have the underthings you need either, but we'll make do."

Digging through her backpack, she pulled out a pair of fur lines breeches and a heavy tunic that might work. Neither were fit for a princess, but they would keep her much warmer than the gown. She also dug out a pair of her underwear in case the princess didn't mind. "Here, these might fit."

Inez struggled to her feet, still a little weak even after the food, and slipped off the dress, letting it pool around her ankles in a pile of gold and diamonds. But as glorious as all that treasure may be, Medya was sure that the princess was the real prize. Inez had the curves of a voluptuous woman and the muscles of a warrior, and Medya couldn't help but stare at the woman in front of her in all her glory. She didn't seem phased as she pulled on the underwear and then the breeches. She had to wiggle a bit to get them over her hips, causing her breasts to bounce in time with her tugging. Even then, Medya still couldn't look away, though she knew she should. Her face was burning, and her jaw was slack, but it was though the princess had a magic of her own that she had cast.

For her part, Inez didn't realize at first the effect she was having on her rescuer. She had been used to changing with the guards before taking baths after training, and nudity in Appalya was much more frequent among friends. It wasn't until she was buttoning up the tunic that she glanced over at Medya to see the slim cat girl staring at her with a crimson face, that she realized that the customs in Dallinia were obviously much different. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you," she apologized with a smirk.

Medya didn't answer right away, too busy trying to replay that small sequence of events to her memory. The Kittani, as a race, were prized as slaves because the wealthy loved them in the pleasure houses. She had kept herself hidden under her hood and behind her cowl for years to avoid being taken, because she knew that such a fate might befall her otherwise. As such, she had avoided any pleasure of the flesh because it would mean revealing herself to others and seeing Inez bare before her had been like a punch to her senses that made her realize that such pleasure might not be something she should always avoid.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare, you just caught me by surprise," she finally said in a shaky voice. "I'll store that dress and the tiara. We may need it later."

Inez kicked the dress over to her, or shoved it really since it was so heavy, and Medya carefully folded it, as much as metal would fold, and stuck it into her backpack. The tiara had lain on the floor since Inez had fallen earlier, and that was tucked away as well. She took apart the fire spit and wiped it down before storing that next. She slung the pack over her shoulders, keeping out the furs since they'd need them outside with only one magic ring.

"That is quite the backpack," Inez commented. She hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "Do you think we could take any of the stone heads on the floor? Would they fit?"

"Yes, it was enchanted to store quite a bit more than it looks on the outside," Medya agreed. "And we can take the heads. They certainly don't deserve to stay here." She moved quickly about the room, collecting the seven stone heads that were laying amongst the other pieces of stone. "Wrap one of the furs around you, and I'll take the other. We may have to pass the ring back and forth every few hours to protect from frostbite, but I'm hoping to have us at a lower elevation before the day is out."

Inez nodded, realizing that Medya wasn't going to expound on her answer. She didn't seem to be the type to open up much. The cat girl put her cowl and hood back up before draping one of the furs over herself and leading the way outside. The snow was still swirling about in the breeze, though that was better than the earlier wind where it had been cutting through her clothes.

The hall was high enough on the mountain that only a few of the great fir trees were surrounding it, but they grew into a much thicker forest all around them further down the slopes. The road down to the pass between Winterhaven and Appalya was gentle enough that they could walk it and be warmer by daybreak at the lower elevation. However, the breeze brought with it the sound of many heavy hooves on stone from that direction. As Medya looked down the trail the way she had intended to go, she could see a flickering lantern bouncing about, no doubt while on the back of a horse.

"Someone is coming. We have to go a different way," she said quickly, pulling Inez by the arm around the far side of the hall.

"Couldn't we ask for aid?" Inez asked.

"Since Winterhaven and Appalya are one now, there is little traffic in these parts other than merchants and bandits. There are no more soldiers patrolling the roads as there used to be. Since the merchants keep to the main roads between their customers, anyone coming up here is unlikely to be offering help to us. We need to leave." Medya knelt next to a snow drift and pulled out her backpack once more. She stuck both hands in and then stood as the pulled out a six-foot-long wooden toboggan.

Inez chuckled at the sight of yet another thing magically appearing from the bag. "I really want a backpack like that." Another part of her wondered who would be coming up here, and why, but Medya's warning was enough to decide that she could find out another day.

"Well, the next time I steal one, I'll make sure to get one for you too!" Medya grinned while lining the toboggan up with the woods leading away from the hall and down a steep slope. She sat down at the front and looked over her shoulder. "Want to go for a ride with me princess?"

Inez just smiled at the young woman and sat behind her. Wrapping her arms around the slimmer girl, she hung on tight. "Let's do it."