The Breaking

Cell block- medieval style

"Prisoner of the King. I'll watch her." Artimis told the Knight at the entrance of the dungeon.

"How many dungeons do you guys have?" I remember him sending Greer to another dungeon.

"Two." Artimis answered stiffly.

"How convenient." I mumbled under my breath.

Artimis just continued walking me forward. He hadn't said much after he realized what he had said to me.

We passed by many prisoners. Some were big and bulky, other frail. But they all seemed dead inside. I realized after seeing them I didn't want to be here long.

"What's going to happen now?" I was worried. I don't know why, but I was.

Oh, never mind. I knew why. I was at a palace that I had escaped from after being branded and forced into serving. And to make it worse, the prince of the castle, that is currently in charge, probably hates me. As well as the Knight. Does this get any worse?

"We wait for the King to decide what to do with you. But, since you and your friend have magical abilities, you'll most likely be forced into helping the King in the war."

"Yay." It could get worse.

"The King is-"

"Kind and just. I get it. But what you don't get, is that we're prisoners here." I said snootily.

"I was going to say, gone for at least another two weeks. But, what you've said certainly describes everything." I glared at him, and his sarcasm. "Here we are. Your home for the next little while. Probably your entire stay."

We stopped at a cell that looked like it was in worse condition than all of the other cells. There wasn't even a bed, just some straw on the ground. Add a bucket in the corner and you've got yourself a medieval cell. I gave Artimis a look. I clearly saw his smirked face and deepened my scowl.

"We were in the process of cleaning it up after the guy that previously inhabited it was hanged. You came at a bad time." I let out a groan.

"So, you're just going to stand outside my cell and watch me?" I walked into my temporary room.

"Yes. You have magic so we can't leave you unsupervised." He took off my restraints.

"Creepy." I mumbled as I rubbed my sore wrists.

He walked out and closed the barred door. If he heard me, he didn't say anything.

I walked around my cell and kicked some of the straw on the ground. Artimis was right, they hadn't even cleaned up the spill over pee that hadn't gone in the bucket.

"Hey Arti." I called.

"Did you just call me Arti?"

"Yes, it's a nickname. Deal with it. So-"

"But what if I don't like it?" I groaned in frustration.

"Fine, Art, now, when is this place going to get cleaned?"

"Don't like that one either. And since you're in it, probably never." I walked up to the barred door and looked at Artimis. I just stared at him. I stared at him so long I could physically see him getting uncomfortable. "What do you want Ever?" I smiled.

"Get my caged cleaned. There's left over feces from a dead man. A man. As a lady, I find these conditions deplorable." He looked at me, his eyes glancing up to my hair floating around me.

"A lady? You? Last time I saw you, you were ripping off pieces of your dress because they were too heavy." His eyes challenged me.

"A lady does what is necessary in certain situations. If that requires ripping a dress to pieces because of its weight, then so be it." I said in the most posh way I could. Artimis just chuckled at me. I couldn't help but smile too. I am pretty funny after all.

"Well, my lady, if you wish for your room to be cleaned, I might be able to put in a good word and have some favors done for me. But you'll have to do a favor for me in return." I frowned at that.

"And what, my dear Knight, might you want to ask me for?" I said, still in my posh voice.

"I'm not sure yet, but it would be nice to have a favor from you under my belt. Never know when you'll need something like that." He wasn't looking at me. He did, though, look like he was smiling slightly. It was only in the small crease in his eyes that I could tell. He was teasing me. That little...

"If you can get my cell cleaned, then fine. I'll give you a favor." I dropped the posh and put on a more serious tone.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and nodded. I turned my back on the barred gate and looked at the plain wall across from me.

"Who was that girl with you?" Artimis spoke after several minutes of silence.

"Just some girl that got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time." I answered after thinking a little.

"Don't lie to me." His tone was cold and made me cringe.

"Why do you want to know? Why do you even care?" I matched his bitter tone.

"I want to know what you're planning. It upsets me that I can't figure you out." I smirked at his words.

"Have you ever thought that what we do is for the fun of it? That we actually just do things that will please us. We're like the gestures for the King, except the King is us." I sounded more sinister than intended.

"I don't believe that's entirely true. You both were clearly here in disguise. You got caught on  purpose, with that girl, you don't seem upset that she's not with you. In fact you seem calm, too calm. I knew she wanted an audience with the prince, I was the one who rejected her after all. What is it you two are planning?" He seemed to no longer be talking to me, but himself. He doesn't know anything. Best if he didn't too.

"Perhaps we just wanted to help her get in to see the prince." I said nonchalantly.

"You're not that nice."

"You don't even know me." I was appalled at his words.

"I guess you're right. But I know people, and people don't do anything for nothing in return." He was glaring at me. I could feel his eyes on my head.

"I told you, personal enjoyment."

"Then what will it lead to?" He was asking a lot of questions.

"Who knows? That's the fun of it." He fell silent.

After a few minutes I stated thinking. Not about anything in particular. But my thoughts were rudely interrupted by my hair tickling my face. I smacked it out of the way and went to pull it back. Only to find my hair tie was gone.

I remember that Artimis took my hair out. He must still have it.

My thoughts drifted back to when he pulled it out. Why did he do that? Did my hair amuse him that much? It felt good to have him- no. What was I thinking? I put a stop to those thoughts right then.

"Yo Arti, do you have my hair tie?" He looked at me, unamused.