City of Stones

Loud clatters and shouts echoed down the long, twisting, cave tunnel to where I stood, motionless, leaning against the wall. I ground my teeth in anger. Couldn't the kid just shut up? Didn't he know when the time to fight was over? When to give up? Obviously he didn't, because ever since he had woken up, about two hours ago, he had been fighting. Fighting the doctor we sent in to make sure I hadn't hurt him too badly (I had said there was no point but no one else bothered to listen to me) and he was fighting the guards now who were trying to knock him unconscious again.

So far the other soldiers had called me to the tunnel just in case they needed me, but so far I hadn't done anything. I knew why the soldiers were reluctant to call me too. It was because I, a supposedly harmless little girl, could easily do the job that ten men, the supposed best fighters we had, could not.

I growled in annoyance. In about two seconds I was going to go into that cell (a small cave with a few modifications consisting of a door made of bars placed on it and a small rock bed) and make the kid shut up myself, screw the soldiers' pride.

"That's it," I snarled, getting ready to push myself away from the wall when suddenly someone placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Easy there, tiger." Niko laughed.

"He hasn't shut up for two hours!" I hissed. "What the hell are they doing in there? It's ten agaist one for crying out loud!"

"They found out some interesting news." Niko said, suddenly serious. I glanced up at him. "He's a prince."

I froze. A prince? What was a prince doing out here? Where was his royal guard, making sure that his royal little neck wasn't snapped?

"How do you know?" I demanded.

"They found a ring on his finger and royal seals all over his boat." Niko said.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"Aren't I always?" Niko replied innocently. I snorted. And then he did turn serious. "So yeah, they're trying to 1) get him to eat something because he looked like he had starved himself trying to get here and 2) figure out why, exactly, he was trying to get here."

"And we need to know if people will be looking for him." I added.

"That too." Niko said.

There was a resounding crash from the prince's cell followed closely by a series of curses undoubtedly from one of the soldiers. I growled again.

"What the hell?" I said angrily. "I could have it done in ten seconds!"

"Yeah but he'd also be unconscious and probably more unwilling to reveal any secrets than he already is." Niko added, glancing down the tunnel just as I did.

I sighed. "Let go of me." I said.

He appraised me. "Why? What are you going to do?"

"Nothing." I said, trying to look innocent.

Niko's eyes narrowed at me before he sighed and then released me.

"At least you'll be able to shut him up." he said in defeat.

I grinned at him before taking off down the tunnel, determination set on my face. Down this particular tunnel that was located at the very back of the city, were a few small caves that we had turned into jail-cells. They had two uses, 1) for anyone who disobeyed our laws within the city and 2) for any enemies we managed to catch. Hardly anyone ever disobeyed rules in the city because everyone was too busy trying to survive to cause trouble within. It would be taking ourselves down from within, stupid. And we hardly ever caught enemies alive, so these cells generally went unused.

I passed about five empty ones before reaching one that had two soldiers standing guard outside. They glanced at me shamefully, embarrased that they had to be helped by a "little girl."

"Let me in," I said forcefully.

The one to my right stepped aside and unlocked the door before stepping aside and allowing me access to the chaos within. I had barely stepped through when a large object flew at my head. I ducked and the clay bowl clattered against the wall behind me where it shattered. I looked up to see the prince standing in the middle of the room, his green eyes wide with anger, rebellion, and was that a touch of fright I saw?

For a few moments I just watched as eight men tried to subdue him without resorting to knocking him out. The boy threw trays punches and kicks at them to keep them at bay, succeeding all too easily.

"Enough!" I finally bellowed, fed up with the embarrassing display my fellow soldiers were putting up.

Everyone in the claustrophobic cell froze, even the prince, who turned his orb-like eyes on me. He was panting slightly, and beads of sweat rested on his brow. I surveyed him silently. He glanced from me to the small group of soldiers and then back again. I turned my gaze from him to my soldiers calmly.

"What the fuck is the problem?" I demanded.

"He won't eat." one soldier said.

"This isn't food," the boy snarled, motioning to some of the food that hadn't been flung at the soldiers. "You'd think that if you mutts kidnapped me you'd have the decency to give me good food, don't you know royalty when you see it?"

My eyes narrowed as they flitted back to the boy. "What?" I hissed.

The boy looked back at me, his eyes drained of all the emotions I had seen there just moments before, and now filled with arrogance.

"I would like some decent food in here, mutt." he said slowly, as if talking to the stupidest person he'd ever met.

And that set me off. I snapped. I flew at him, shoving him into the rock wall behind him, making him lose his breath. I glared up at him, nearly a head taller than me and yet I was able to overpower him.

"Listen here, prince." I snarled. "While you're here, you're our prisoner, and as far as I'm concerned you're lucky to have any food, because without food you'd starve to death and I'm all for that. So eat the fucking food or don't, I don't care. But don't you dare talk to me like you're above me when you're my prisoner."

With that I shoved him away from me harder into the wall and then stormed out of the cell. Niko was leaning casually against the wall across from the cell, watching my reaction to the prince.

"Real good with people, isn't he?" he said lightly.

"Yeah," I snarled. "He's a real Prince-Fucking-Charming."