Chapter 1: Unbroken Heart Chapter 3: It’s a Trap!
Chapter 2: Prisoners
I awoke in a cold stone cell. I stared up at the ceiling blankly until feeling returned to my body.
Then it became imperative that I sit up.
“Ow… my head…” I moaned, rubbing the spot on the back of it where I had been hit by Orson’s lance haft.
“Prince Ephraim, are you all right?” called Kyle’s voice.
“Mm? Yes. I’m fine. My head just still hurts where that – ” I broke off. “Kyle, how are you? Is Forde with you?”
“Yeah, I’m here, Prince. We’re all stuck in this room together. You’ve got a cell to yourself, though.”
“I can see that,” I said, standing unsteadily and leaning against the bars. Across from me were my two cavaliers, crouching in their cell.
“You’ve been out for a couple of hours longer than we have,” Kyle told me.
“Any way to get out of here?” I asked, pushing each separate bar in turn.
“Nope, not from what I can see,” Forde commented cheerfully. “Anyhow, it would be kinda foolish to try and escape just yet – they’re bound to have extra guards with you and all.”
“I see.” I turned my head to hear better. “Someone’s coming.”
Orson clattered down the stairs into the room.
“Orson!” I snarled. If there hadn’t been bars I believe I would have thrown myself on him and proceeded to beat the daylights out of him, but as it was, I couldn’t.
“My Prince -” Orson began.
“I’m not your prince,” I gritted at him. “Go and swear fealty to Valter, you treacherous snake. How could you do this?”
“Let me explain,” he began again.
“I will,” I growled.
“My wife is in the capital.”
“Oh, so this is about your wife, is it?”
“They told me she would be unharmed, and what’s more, I would not have to fight anyone anymore; I could simply be with her, if only I did one thing for them.”
“You – you -” I choked out. I grabbed the largest loose stone I could find – which was no larger than a pebble – and threw it at his head. Even in my anger, I hit him square between the eyes.
“Is that the best you can do? Is the Prince of Renais reduced to throwing pebbles?” I raged helplessly like a beast for a couple of minutes. Orson smiled at the wall, not listening.
“I have to do one more thing, and then I can just be with my wife for the rest of this quick war.”
“You betrayed your prince for your wife?” Kyle and Forde gasped in tandem.
“She’s dead, you idiot! What are you talking about!?” I demanded.
A first flicker of trouble crossed Orson’s face. “I… they promised me…”
“You gave your allegiance on the promise of Grado? The promise of something impossible? I bet it was Valter! You can’t trust them! We trusted them up until a month past, and look what happened!” I cried. “I suppose you think they’re going to be the winning side! I’m not dead yet, you know! Why, if I were only free with my lance in my hand, it would be in your traitorous heart!”
Orson gestured absentmindedly. “It’s over there…”
“You’ll regret telling me that,” I said, looking over in the corner where our lances and Kyle and Forde’s swords and even our medical supplies we had taken with us were.
Orson left silently.
I sighed and slumped against the bars, pushing my green hair off my forehead. “He’ll pay. Anyway, we need to get out of here. I think I’ll see if I can open this door, then we can open it whenever we need to.” I undid my belt and, poking the buckle through the bars, stuck the tongue into the lock. It only took me a few hours…