Chapter Ten

Ianto held the sword out if front of him and pushed Jack behind him. "You mean you wish to surrender to me? Very well, I accept."

"I'll give you full marks for bravery, Don't make yourself a fool." Prince Hart sneered.

"Ah, but how will you capture us? We know the secrets of the Fire Swamp. We could there happily for quite some time. So when you feel like dying feel free to visit." Ianto replied.

Jack turned to and saw and archer come from behind a tree.

"I tell you once again." Prince Hart started to talk, "surrender.

"It will not happen." Ianto said defiantly.

Jack saw another archer come from the other side.

"For the last time surrender!" Prince Hart's voice rose.

"Death first." Ianto shouted back.

"Will you promise not to hurt him?" Jack said suddenly.

"What was that?" Prince Hart asked.

Ianto turned to look at Jack. "What was that?"

Jack slowly walked forwards his eyes on Prince Hart. "If we surrender and I return with you, will you promise not to hurt this man?"

"May I live 1,000 years and never hunt again." Prince Hart said formerly.

"He is a sailor on the pirate ship Revenge. Promise to return him to his ship." Jack said coolly.

"I swear it will be done." Prince Hart replied. He nodded his head towards the archers and whispered to Countess Gwen. "Once we're out of sight, take him back to Florin and throw him in the Pit of Despair." He ordered.

"I swear it will be done." Gwen replied and watched as the Prince rode towards Jack.

"I thought you were dead once and it almost destroyed me. I could not bear it if you died again. Not when I could save you." He opened his mouth to say something else when suddenly he was pulled onto horseback and taken away.

Ianto watched with pain in his eyes.

"Come, sir, we must get you too your ship." Gwen said.

Ianto turned and walked towards here, flanked by the archers.

"We are people of action. Lies do not become up." Ianto replied smirking.

Gwen grinned. "Well spoken, sir." With a nod of her head one of the archers tied Ianto's hands tightly behind him. Ianto looked at the woman on horseback and something caught his attention, her hand. It had six fingers on it. "What is it?" She asked.

"You have six fingers on your right hand. Someone was looking for you.

Gwen brings down the hilt of her sword and hits Ianto on the head with it, he falls to the ground unconscious.

XXXXX

Water drips from the ceiling, a door creaks open as a man with a tray walks in. The dungeon is in a cavern, stairs carved into the mud. Mickey slowly walks down them trying not to drop anything.

Laying tied to a rack was Ianto. His shirt had been removed and the wound on his arm still bleeding, his shoulder complete red with it.

Mickey damps a wet cloth and starts to dab at the wound. Ianto wakes up and looks around in confusion.

"Where am I?" He asks.

"The Pit of Despair!" Mickey replies hoarsely. "Don't even thing…" He coughs and hacks clearing his voice and starts again to talk, normally this time. "Don't even thing about trying to escape. The chains are far too thick and don't dream of being rescued either. The only way in is secret. Only the Prince the Countess and I know how to get in and out." He says as he continues to tend to the wound.

"Then I'm here till I die?" Ianto says.

Mickey nods. "Till the kill you." He walks away and gets a dry cloth.

Ianto turns his head and frowns at the wound that is being taken care off. He turns back to Mickey. "Then why bother curing me?"

"The Prince and the Countess always insist on everyone being healthy before they're broken."

"So it's to be torture?" Ianto says and watches Mickey nod enthusiastically. "I can cope with torture." Mickey shakes his head this time. "You don't believe me?" Ianto asks.

"You survived the Fire Swamp. You must be very brave, but nobody withstands the Machine." Mickey walks away, Ianto staring at him as he does so.

XXXXX

Jack walks down the long corridor forlornly, his arms dangling loosely at his sides. The Prince and the Countess as he walks sadly past them.

"He's been like that ever since the Fire Swamp! It's my father's failing health that's upsetting him." Prince Hart explains.

"Of course." Countess Gwen replies.

XXXXX

"The king died that very night." Grandfather said his voice soft, "and before the following dawn Jack and Prince Hart were married and at noon he met her subjects again - this time as their king."

XXXXX

King Hart stands at the edge of the balcony and shouts out to the crowd below. "My father's words were …."

XXXXX

"Hold it, hold it Grandpa you read that wrong. He doesn't marry Hart, he marries Ianto I'm just sure of it. After all that Ianto did for him, if he didn't marry him…it wouldn't be fair."

The Grandfather looks over at the boy in the bed. "Well who says life is fair? Where is that written? Life isn't always fair!"

The boys voice raises. "I'm telling you, you're messing up the story! Now get it right!"

"Do you want me to go on with this?"

He lowers his head and replies in a sheepish voice. "Yes."

"All right then, no more interruptions. 'At noon he met his subjects again - this time as their king."

XXXXX

"My father's final words were 'love him and I love him and there will be joy'. I present to you your king. King Jack." Hart said.

The crowd murmurs and turn to see their new king. The fanfare starts and slowly Jack walks towards them

"Boooo, booooo, boooo." Old woman Estelle shouts from the crowd, as the others go to their knees she stays standing.

"Why do you do this?" Jack asks.

"Because you had love in your hands and you gave it up!"

"They would have killed Ianto if I hadn't done it."

"Your true love lives and you marry another." Estelle points a finger at him. "True love save him in the Fire Swamp he treated it like garbage and that is what he is - the King of Refuse. So bow down to him if you want. Bow down. Bow to the King of Slime, the King of filth, the King of Putrescence! Booo! Booo!" Estelle walks towards him. "Rubbish! Filth! Slime! Muck! Booo! Booo! Boooo!"

XXXXX

Jack awakes with a gasp and climbs out of bed in a hurry.

XXXXX

Grandfather said almost whispering. "It was ten days till the wedding, the King still lived but Jack's nightmares were growing steadily worse."

"See! Didn't I tell you he'd never marry that rotten Hart!"

"Yes you're very smart. Shut up!"

XXXXX

Jack rushes to see his husband-to-be. "It comes to this I love Ianto. I always have. I know now I always will. If you tell me I must marry you in ten days please believe I will be dead by morning."

Prince Hart watches him and sighs. "I could never cause you grief, consider our wedding off." He rises to his feet. "You, erm, returned this Ianto to his ship?"

"Yes." Gwen replied.

"Then we will simply alert him. Beloved, are you certain he still wants you. After all, it was you who did the leaving in the Fire Swamp. Not to mention that pirates are not known to be men of their words."

"My Ianto will always come for me." Jack replied.

"Ah…I suggest a deal. You write four copies of a letter, I'll send my four fastest ships one in each direction. The Dread Pirate Roberts is always close to Florin this time of year. We'll run up the white flag and deliver your message. If Ianto wants you, bless you both. If not…please consider me as an alternative to suicide. Are we agreed?"

Jack nods.

XXXXX

"Your Prince is really quite a winning creature." Gwen says. "A trifle simple, perhaps but his appeal is undeniable."

"I know. The people are quite taken with him. It's odd, but when I hire Owen to have him murdered on our engagement day I thought that was clever but it's going to be much more moving when I strangle him on his wedding night. Once Guilder is blamed, the nation will be truly outraged. They'll demand we go to war." The two of them snigger at the thought.

"Where is that secret knot?" Gwen asks herself. "It's impossible to find." She starts to push at the tree until a door opens. "Are you coming down into the pit. Ianto's got his strength back. I'm starting him on the Machine tonight."

"Gwen you know how much I love watching you work but I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my husband to murder and Guilder to frame for it. I'm swamped." Prince Hart said.

Gwen walks over to him. "Get some rest, if you haven't got your health you haven't got anything."

XXXXX

Ianto is strapped down with leather to the rack and there is a piece that runs over his mouth.

TBC