‘Excuse me?’ he asked to that guard.

‘Yes, lad? What can I do for you?’

‘I was wondering if I could have a pen?’

‘A pen? What for?’ the guard just groaned ‘Never mind, I’ll go and get you one. It must be pretty lonely for you to be stuck in that cell. I’d rather see it occupied by a real crimimal’ the guard walked away from the cell ‘Won’t be two seconds, lad’ Mattias started shaking as soon as the guard left, he sat back on his bed. About two minutes later, the guard came back with a quill and ink. He put it in between the cell bars. ‘Anything else you need, lad? You’re not hungry, are you?’

‘Not really’

‘I will have a look at what there is for breakfast. Once the Duchess wakes up she might even let you out of this bloody cell. I don’t know why you were put in here in the first place. Only the guard captain knows and he’s been rather tight-lipped about the whole thing’ the guard walked away from the cell. After he did that Mattias put the quill and ink onto a desk. He got the map and the drawing of the man he murdered onto the desk, as well. He spent the the rest of the morning defacing the man - afterwards he had long, curly hair, a moustache and a long beard. With the map he draw over it so it looked like the leaf from a plant. When he was finished with the them he simply put them face down on the desk. About an hour later, the woman wearing the black leather dress came to see him.

‘Good morning, Mattias’ she greeted ‘Did you sleep well?’ Mattias looked at her and sighed’

‘Not… really’

‘Well, the castle dungeon isn’t designed to comfortable. Quite the opposite, in fact’

‘Yeah, I figured as much’ he was staring at her exposed leg ‘So, what’s going to happen now?’ the woman took a while to answer.

‘That’s depends’ Mattias suddenly looked nervous.

‘OK…’

‘I will make sure you are fed while you are the dungeon. Also I might let you out from time to time with the guards escorting you. How does that sound?’ Mattias took a while to answer.

‘I guess that’s reasonable’ all of a sudden she started staring at him.

‘Guards?’ two guards came over ‘Is it just me, or do his clothes look cleaner than they were last night?’ the guards just looked puzzled.

‘I dunno, they look the same if you ask me’ the other one didn’t say anything at all. Mattias was shaking wildly in the meantime.

‘Well, I definitely think they look cleaner. Strange. There’s nowhere in the dungeon to clean them. Did any of you give him new clothes?’ Mattias breathed an obvious sigh of relief when she suggested that.

‘Not that we know of, your highness. Though he may have asked one of the night guards ‘ she then shook her head ‘What does it matter? I must be seeing things’ she focused her attention back to Mattias ‘What would you like for breakfast?’ he took a while to answer.

‘What do you have for breakfast?’

‘Toast, eggs on toast, a bowl of oats, roasted mushrooms… that’s about it’ 

‘Why do I not fancy any of these things?’ Mattias muttered, to himself ‘I think I’ll just have a bowl of oats’

‘Very well, a bowl of oats it is. Would you like some water, too?’

‘Yeah, OK’

‘All right then’

‘Shall we do this for you, my lady?’ asked one of the guards.

‘No. I’ll tend to this myself’ she walked away from the cell ‘You may stay where you are, I do not sense any imminent danger’ Almost as soon as she was away, the two guards started talking.

‘What was that nonsense about him having cleaner clothes?’

‘I dunno, maybe it’s just a woman thing. They tend to be very perceptive about these things’

‘But then, even if it were true, so what? Maybe he just asked for his clothes to be washed. Or maybe he put on different ones that were just the same’

‘Who knows? Women are stupid’ Mattias cringed as he heard that. Not too long later, the women returned with a tray that had a bowl of oats, a slice of thick toast and a jug of water. There was also a small pot of honey. She opened the cell door to put his breakfast inside - she put it on the desk.

‘There you go, my dear’ she said. After she did so she picked up the two pieces of paper. ‘I like your drawings, by the way’

‘Oh! Ummm, thanks!’

‘Have you ever considered being a painter? I could actually do with one right now’

‘Maybe. It’s… not something I really had in mind’

‘OK’ she was still looking at the pieces of paper.

‘Hmmmm, there’s something odd about the paper… it’s not the sort we usually have in the castle’ Mattias was quaking again.

‘By the way, one of those guards was… saying nasty things about you’ the woman gasped, and glared at the two of them. She put the pieces of paper down.

‘No, your highness, he’s lying. We wern’t saying nothing’

‘Is that so?’ she went up to the one who said “women are stupid” earlier ‘I’ll have you cleaning the privy chambers for this. I’ll also report you to the guard captain’

‘But I-?!’

‘I can see it in your eyes. I’m not as stupid as you think. Now come with me’

‘Yes, your highness’ she turned around to face Mattias.

‘I’ll be back later’

‘OK, bye, Helga’ After Helga left Mattias simply sat down and ate his breakfast, spreading honey on his toast and mixing it with the oats, doing so peacefully for the next hour or so.