Page 15 of Her Royal Blood

“Anyone else want to try?” I said looking around the room.

Suddenly I was surrounded by Crypt Claw warriors and the guy with the whip cracked it in the air two times. I was fully expecting it to land on my back after the guards had secured my arms, but he only used it to silence the crowd which had erupted in gasps and conversation after I’d quickly dispatched my assailant.

“Take him to solitary. Clearly he’s a physical threat. And get this piece of shit out of here,” the guard with the whip kicked my opponent’s side and I was dragged away.

Behind the main building were the mess hall, intake desk, administrative offices, and an outhouse. Our recreation yard was nothing more than a slap of concrete in the middle of a rocky jungle. I couldn’t imagine what the prisoners did out there in the heat, but I didn’t care, I was being taken to yet another prison cell.

My guard followed me to my new confines which were furnished with only a wooden bench in the middle of the room. At least there was a bench, I’d slept in worse places. This room actually had a barred window I could see out of, for that it was down right luxurious.

“If you behave and keep your mouth shut, you’ll be out in a week,” the guard told me. “In here you get one meal a day and one bathroom break, no showers.”

“Sounds delightful,” I taunted as I was thrown into the cell.

In the sunlight I got a better look at my guard’s face. He had big droopy eyes and a nasty scar on his neck that looked like he’d been hanged. His hair was short cropped and he had unusually large nostrils. Genetics had not been good to him. He locked the door and I watched him through the bars of it.

“You think my one meal might be served now since I was being poisoned for breakfast?” I hadn’t eaten anything for almost two days and if I was going to constantly be fighting for my life I’d have to have some nutrition in me.

“You’ll eat when you eat,” he said and went back to his guard.

“That’s reassuring.” There was nothing to do but sit on the bench and shore up my strength and determination.

After being in my cell for a while, I noted that time had no real meaning on the island, but the sun was still making its trek across the sky, so despite the long boring hours, it was still mid day. Suddenly, there was a loud clamoring outside my window. No wonder the guards were so insistent on silence, prisoner uprisings could be very loud and chaotic. I braced myself foranother attack when out of the barred window I saw Hawk and a group of prisoners. They are fighting their way through the guards to get to my cell.

“Redveign,” Hawk yelled and since I didn’t want to be scolded with a beating or not fed for disobedience, I waved my arm out of the cell window but didn’t say anything. “We got that guy who tried to poison you.” Hawk continued to call out as those he was with started to cheer, like an angry insane mob. “You got our backs, we got yours! You don’t die on my watch.”

“Get back the lot of you. Back to your work assignments,” my guard started yelling and there was a scuffling of bodies and then the commotion was over.

I wouldn’t die on Hawk’s watch. That was good. I was getting through to them. I moved the bench next to the wall so I could rest my back against it and a few hours later my guard came in with a stale piece of bread and a moldy piece of cheese with a tin of water.

“This looks delicious,” I took the food from him and he didn't say anything as he went back to his watch.

Taunting him had become an amusement as there was so little else to do. The food tasted as disgusting as it looked but at least it had given me the nutrition I needed. I was about to lay back and catch a nap since the night would be more dangerous when I heard another guard approach mine. I figured it was going to be a shift switch of some kind, but it was the whip guy coming to confront my guard about my imprisonment.

“We aren’t to have him out of the general population. Orders from Polonius, he has to be with the rest. He’s a harder target to get if he’s in confinement. Polonius wants him out in the open where anyone can get a shot at him,” the guy said peering into my cell. “Polonius wants him dead, but not by us. We can’t touch him. Prisoners gotta get him.”

So Polonius was very serious about this assassination business. He didn’t want to get his hands dirty obviously, but he was damned determined to have someone else kill me off. It made sense. He wanted to rule Tobran and he coveted Aria and not just for her kingdom. I saw the way he looked at her. One thing you didn’t withhold from a powerful man was something he desired and Polonius had become obsessed with Aria. I focused my thoughts on the moment I’d see Polonius’ face after I returned from this ordeal and killed him slowly with Aria on my arm, watching with glee as he died.

I was deep into that fantasy when my cell door opened and the shadow walked in.

“You’re being released from solitary. You’re on sanitation. No one wants to train you for anything else since you aren’t going to live long. So, here’s a bag.” He handed me a burlap sack. “Pick up trash and debris around the island. Bring the bag back full or you don’t eat until it is.”

I took the bag from him and smiled. “Sounds fun.”

Hawk walked over with another guard and stood in front of me.

“I got this,” Hawk told the guard who brought him over. “You ever question me and I fuck things up for you. Do I keep the prisoners in line?” Hawk towered over the older man who had brought him to my cell.

“You’ve been good at keeping the prisoners compliant,” the guard agreed. “But you promised to have this guy’s back and you know Polonius wants him dead.”

“I want him dead,” Hawk said and looked at the older guard. “Gotta play the hero in public, keeps the men’s hopes alive, keeps them working without a revolution. If they don’t think I’m a threat to them getting a shot at him, then we keep things peaceful,” Hawk says slowly. “We outnumber you, things could get messy.”

“We have guns,” the older man countered, touching the pistol at his hip.

“Pfft. Some of these guys eat bullets for breakfast. You think your guns scare them? I want off this fucking rock and I’ll do it murdering him.” He pointed to me, which filled me with mixed emotions.

The guards wanted me dead and most of the prisoners were willing to strike a bargain with Polonius. I had very few allies on the island so I had to remind myself to take what I could get. Only some of the prisoners were starting to think that being on my side and fighting for their true freedom might be a better bargain, but the guards wouldn’t let Hawk near me if they didn’t think he’d leave me wide open for attack or kill me himself. Trusting Hawk was a risk, but one I was willing to accept.

“Good to know,” is all the wizened guard said as he left Hawk with me.

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