"We have fetters of iron there against the wall," the guard said. "But we're ordered to not put them on thee. Here's a bed; there's a fire. The baron will send more comforts down, I'm sure."

They disappeared up the ladder. The floor was at least two manheights above him, and the trap about four fingerbreadths thick. If he got up there, and they'd remove the ladder soon, he'd confront at least two guards, armed, armored, and probably experienced in war for longer than the fourteen years he'd been alive. And they'd stripped him of weapons and armor. After that, he'd be in the great hall of a castle. It would be occupied by armed knights unless there were an attack on the walls at that precise time. And how was he supposed to know when an attack occurred? On the other hand, the walls around him were stone -- solid enough to support the entire weight of a keep. Yards thick, and he had no tool for excavation.

The chimney had to be a weak point. He checked. It was hard to see, but it narrowed to about the width of his head well before it reached the next level. Certainly, it was narrower than either his hips or his shoulders and had to be a longer climb than ten manheights.

There was a noise from the ladder. A servant girl was descending with some clothes over her arms. Her skirt was long enough to be decent, but his vantage from below as she backed down the ladder let him see her thighs almost to where they joined.

When she reached the floor, the guards raised the ladder. Then they lowered several cauldrons of water and closed the trap door. "Highness," she said, and dropped a pretty curtsy. Now that he looked at her face, that was pretty, too.

"'Highness, '" he mocked. "I'm a captive."

"And, highness, I am a slave. But thou art the son of a king and I am the daughter of a slave."

"Very well, what wouldst thou have me do?"

"I was ordered to bathe highness, and obey thy orders."

"Which is it?"

"I shall obey thy orders. Does highness not wish to bathe?"

"If thou wouldst obey my orders, get me out of here."

"I shall obey thy orders, so far as I can. Does highness not wish to bathe? I have a clean guest robe as well."

Refusing the bath would be silly. She poured much of the water into a bath, put one cauldron over the fire, and helped him off with his clothes. She handed him a linen cloth and used another to scrub his back. When he stood, she scrubbed his legs. Her hands went much higher than his servants', even his men servants', had. As she rinsed him off with the hotter water from the last cauldron, it splashed on her, revealing the shape of her breasts.