Status: next few chapters being written
City of Stones
Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
“Don’t be nervous, I promise I won’t let them kill you.” Jonah said to the prince. This seemed to do little to reassure the prince’s apparent nerves.
We were standing in the Council Room, well technically in a small alcove that had originally been a crack in the wall that we had carved out and put a curtain in front of to make a small closet. Jonah was trying to convince the prince to speak to the Council and inform them of what was going on. If anything was going on. Which I highly doubted.
I had told Jonah my doubts, but he just told me that I was being my normal paranoid self. See, I said that the prince was just saying that there was some other tribe to scare us, to send us into an uproar so he’d have time to make his own escape. It made sense to me, but apparently not to Jonah. So Jonah was now making the prince tell the rest of the council what he had told us.
“This is a complete waste of our time,” I muttered angrily, crossing my arms and tapping my foot against the stone ground.
The prince shot me a nervous look and Jonah jabbed me in the ribs with his elbow.
“Hush,” he said sternly.
I glared at him but obeyed nevertheless. Soon I could hear the buzzing of voices from behind the curtain and I knew that the rest of the council had arrived. Judging by the way the prince’s face paled I guessed he knew too.
“Ready?” Jonah asked him, clapping him on the shoulder encouragingly.
The prince’s knees buckled slightly and he muttered an inarticulate squeak of terror. I struggled to hide a smile at this. Honestly, if he was this scared of twenty of us, there was no way he’d ever be able to stand up to the so called tribe that was coming to invade his city.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Jonah said. “Al, would you lead the way?”
I was there to be the prince’s bodyguard if anything got nasty. Jonah would handle any elemental problems while I would fight off anyone who tried to get too close to the prince after his speech. I highly resented this job, but I respected Jonah enough to accept it.
I pushed the curtain aside and held it open for Jonah and the prince. The prince gave me a pleading look, as if begging for me to believe him, but I just glared up at him and closed the curtain, allowing it to brush him across his back before he kept walking forward. The hushed melodies of voices slowly dissipated as all eyes turned to the prince.
I watched in amusement as Dante’s eyes narrowed at the prince, hatred easily read in them. It was refreshing to see him hate someone other than me. Dante’s dark eyes followed the prince as he made his way nervously to the head of the table where Jonah usually sat. Jonah trailed him like a shadow, staring down anyone who he thought was going to threaten the prince. When they reached the head of the table, me not far behind, Jonah cleared his throat to gain everyone’s attention even though they were all already staring at the prince.
“Council, this is Prince Ryder of the Water Tribe,” Jonah began.
A low hissing of disapproval began to makes its way around the room and the prince shrank back slightly from the open hostility.
“Hush!” Jonah shouted. Immediately the hall was silent again. “He has important information, crucial to our survival, so I want you all to shut up and pay attention.” He ordered.
He then turned to the prince.
“Shoot, kid,” he said.
The prince cleared his throat nervously and lowered his eyes to the ground.
“I know you don’t trust me,” he began. The Council murmured its assent as each and every member, excluding Jonah, glared at him. “But you have to listen to me, because this concerns not only my nation but yours as well.” He paused as if to regain his courage.
“There’s a tribe from the far west, farther than my home land reaches, and it is advancing swiftly towards my nation. We fear that it will take over, obliterating our homes and our government.”
“And the point is?” demanded the high reedy voice of a man named Marco.
“This tribe isn’t like anything we’ve seen before. They’re like animals; they have thick armored skin and stand almost six feet tall. They’re heads are the size of small boulders and they speak a language none of my people have ever heard before. We fear that they won’t stop at our lands, we think they have set out to take over the Fire Tribe too.”
“Once again, I ask you, what’s the point? Are you asking us to help the likes of you? Why should we give two shits about you and your people?” Marco spat.
A murmur of agreement to this rippled through the seats and I smiled to myself. At least I wasn’t the only one not completely convinced by this idea.
“You should care because they know of you too.” The prince spat back at Marco, for the first time throughout his entire speech he didn’t look scared, simply determined.
He probably should have been scared at that point, however, because at that moment the Council broke into complete and utter chaos.
People around the table were talking concernedly, men were arguing with each other over the possibilities and Dante, above all the din, was shouting, “Liar!” at the prince. I watched in amusement until out of the corner of my eye I was a man lunging for the prince, his arms outstretched to strangle him.
“Don’t be nervous, I promise I won’t let them kill you.” Jonah said to the prince. This seemed to do little to reassure the prince’s apparent nerves.
We were standing in the Council Room, well technically in a small alcove that had originally been a crack in the wall that we had carved out and put a curtain in front of to make a small closet. Jonah was trying to convince the prince to speak to the Council and inform them of what was going on. If anything was going on. Which I highly doubted.
I had told Jonah my doubts, but he just told me that I was being my normal paranoid self. See, I said that the prince was just saying that there was some other tribe to scare us, to send us into an uproar so he’d have time to make his own escape. It made sense to me, but apparently not to Jonah. So Jonah was now making the prince tell the rest of the council what he had told us.
“This is a complete waste of our time,” I muttered angrily, crossing my arms and tapping my foot against the stone ground.
The prince shot me a nervous look and Jonah jabbed me in the ribs with his elbow.
“Hush,” he said sternly.
I glared at him but obeyed nevertheless. Soon I could hear the buzzing of voices from behind the curtain and I knew that the rest of the council had arrived. Judging by the way the prince’s face paled I guessed he knew too.
“Ready?” Jonah asked him, clapping him on the shoulder encouragingly.
The prince’s knees buckled slightly and he muttered an inarticulate squeak of terror. I struggled to hide a smile at this. Honestly, if he was this scared of twenty of us, there was no way he’d ever be able to stand up to the so called tribe that was coming to invade his city.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Jonah said. “Al, would you lead the way?”
I was there to be the prince’s bodyguard if anything got nasty. Jonah would handle any elemental problems while I would fight off anyone who tried to get too close to the prince after his speech. I highly resented this job, but I respected Jonah enough to accept it.
I pushed the curtain aside and held it open for Jonah and the prince. The prince gave me a pleading look, as if begging for me to believe him, but I just glared up at him and closed the curtain, allowing it to brush him across his back before he kept walking forward. The hushed melodies of voices slowly dissipated as all eyes turned to the prince.
I watched in amusement as Dante’s eyes narrowed at the prince, hatred easily read in them. It was refreshing to see him hate someone other than me. Dante’s dark eyes followed the prince as he made his way nervously to the head of the table where Jonah usually sat. Jonah trailed him like a shadow, staring down anyone who he thought was going to threaten the prince. When they reached the head of the table, me not far behind, Jonah cleared his throat to gain everyone’s attention even though they were all already staring at the prince.
“Council, this is Prince Ryder of the Water Tribe,” Jonah began.
A low hissing of disapproval began to makes its way around the room and the prince shrank back slightly from the open hostility.
“Hush!” Jonah shouted. Immediately the hall was silent again. “He has important information, crucial to our survival, so I want you all to shut up and pay attention.” He ordered.
He then turned to the prince.
“Shoot, kid,” he said.
The prince cleared his throat nervously and lowered his eyes to the ground.
“I know you don’t trust me,” he began. The Council murmured its assent as each and every member, excluding Jonah, glared at him. “But you have to listen to me, because this concerns not only my nation but yours as well.” He paused as if to regain his courage.
“There’s a tribe from the far west, farther than my home land reaches, and it is advancing swiftly towards my nation. We fear that it will take over, obliterating our homes and our government.”
“And the point is?” demanded the high reedy voice of a man named Marco.
“This tribe isn’t like anything we’ve seen before. They’re like animals; they have thick armored skin and stand almost six feet tall. They’re heads are the size of small boulders and they speak a language none of my people have ever heard before. We fear that they won’t stop at our lands, we think they have set out to take over the Fire Tribe too.”
“Once again, I ask you, what’s the point? Are you asking us to help the likes of you? Why should we give two shits about you and your people?” Marco spat.
A murmur of agreement to this rippled through the seats and I smiled to myself. At least I wasn’t the only one not completely convinced by this idea.
“You should care because they know of you too.” The prince spat back at Marco, for the first time throughout his entire speech he didn’t look scared, simply determined.
He probably should have been scared at that point, however, because at that moment the Council broke into complete and utter chaos.
People around the table were talking concernedly, men were arguing with each other over the possibilities and Dante, above all the din, was shouting, “Liar!” at the prince. I watched in amusement until out of the corner of my eye I was a man lunging for the prince, his arms outstretched to strangle him.