City of Stones

I had a distinct feeling of déjà vu as I walked up the long, twisting tunnel to the prison block. Angry shouts from the prince echoed off the rock walls back to me, followed by the familiar, calming voice of Jonah. I took a deep breath to hold back my temper; this prince was on his last chance with me.

I could hear Niko following me stealthily, probably to make sure that I didn’t do anything stupid when I got to the prince’s cell. This didn’t bother me nearly as much as it should have. Niko was just being overly-cautious as always, and he was trying to protect me from inadvertently hurting myself. There was no need for this, but of course he wouldn’t listen to me.

“I want to talk to your king, mutt.” I heard a forced calm voice say.

“I’ve already told you, Ryder, there is no king here.” Jonah replied.

By now I was standing in the doorway to the cell, hidden in the shadows so I could see the prince’s indignant reaction to being addressed to so casually, but he could not see me.

“Then I want to see your leader,” he said angrily.

Jonah bowed mockingly. “At your service, prince,” he said with a barely suppressed smirk.

The prince glowered at him. “Let me see your best warrior,” he said through gritted teeth.

Jonah glanced up at me, I had a feeling he had known I was there even as I had hidden in the shadows, and he gestured for me to enter the small cell.

“You seem to be in luck, she’s just arrived.” Jonah said, making room for me to stand next to him.

I strode into the room confidently and stood next to Jonah with my arms crossed, appraising the prince silently. I watched with a slight smirk on my face as the prince’s jaw dropped.

“This is your best warrior?” he demanded.

“Would you like to test me?” I asked innocently, my fingers itching for a chance to wrap around his throat and choke him.

Jonah stopped my violent thoughts with a stern look.

“Ryder, this is Aleah, and yes, she is our best warrior,” he replied calmly. “You can either tell her what you wanted to say or we’ll both leave.”

The prince glanced between the two of us suspiciously.

“How do I know I can trust you?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. “Doesn’t really matter much, does it, considering you don’t have a choice.” I replied.

His eyes flickered to me and then back to Jonah. For the first time I saw the slightest trace of apprehension in his startlingly green eyes. He licked his lips nervously, then opened his mouth as if to tell us, and then closed it quickly again.

“Look, Jonah, I promised Niko I’d give the kid a chance but I’m sorry this is a complete waste of my time. I’m going back to the training grounds,” I said before turning to leave.

“Wait!” the prince cried urgently.

I turned back to him slowly, one eyebrow raised in surprise.

“You have to listen to me,” he said desperately.

My jaw dropped. “I have to?” I demanded angrily.

Jonah put a hand on my shoulder. “Hush for a second.” He said.

The prince glanced at him, and then back to me pleadingly. I crossed my arms but made no move to leave the room. This seemed to encourage the prince to speak.

“The reason I came here is because my tribe needs your help.”

I snorted and the prince’s eyes shot up to mine.

“The great Water Tribe needs the help of a few rats?” I demanded with heavy sarcasm.

“You don’t understand-“ the prince began.

“I don’t understand what?” I barked at him. “That you expect us to help you like obedient servants? Like we owe you something?” I spat.

“No listen-“ he tried to start again.

“You and your people are so arrogant!” I shouted. “What makes you think we would even consider helping you? You’ve killed us off, you’ve imprisoned us, taken our homes and forced us to run away, give me one good reason why we should help you!”

“Because if you don’t you’ll be killed too!” the prince bellowed over me.

Anything that I was going to shout back at him was instantly forgotten as both Jonah and I looked at him quickly.

“What?” Jonah asked quietly.

“There’s this tribe coming from the far west, farther west than anyone from either the Water or Fire Tribe has ever gone before. A group of explorers from my tribe were caught while investigation around the far edges of our lands. One man escaped and made it back to our city. He died shortly afterwards, but he managed to warn us of this tribe. It wants to take over both Fire and Water tribes.” The prince’s words began to run together as he rushed to get them out.

“What does any of this have to do with us?” I snapped before he could finish.

“The tribe is bigger than the Water and Fire Tribes put together. It would obliterate mine and-“

“That doesn’t sound half bad to me,” I smirked.

“And yours too,” he finished finally.