My eyes blink, then blink again before finally opening. Even the dim light of the castle corridor sends stabbing pain through my skull. 'What happened?' I think, 'what in the world happened? Ah yes, I had been sneaking through guest rooms, looking for, for, well anything that might give me an edge in this competition. Most of the rooms had been empty, but not that one, the last one. What had I found? What had I found? Why is my memory so clouded? A trunk, locked. What had been inside? What is wrong with my head? That's right, I never got it opened. She had arrived. Another contestant, a cousin perhaps, and we fought. Evidently I had been on the losing end.'

I slowly stand. The stone floor is cold beneath my feet. 'Why am I barefoot? That's right, I prefer to go unshod when working covertly like this. I'm quieter that way, and most of my martial arts training had been done in bare feet, lot of good that it did me in there. That woman was built like a damn football player.' I check my pockets. My lockpicks and the syringe of ketamine are gone. 'Disarmed and humiliated, by a woman nonetheless. Not a good way to start.'

I start to limp back to my room. 'Why does my head hurt so badly? Yeah, I know, I took a beating, but it's a different kind of headache. Drugged? Was I drugged?' I start to mentally make a list of any pharmacologic agent that could have been used against me, but my mentation is slowed by something. A drug? But which one?' Ultimately, I surrender to whatever agent has been used against me, and collapse on the bed of an empty guest room. 'Just need a little sleep. head will be clearer after that.'