Muahah! Chapter 8!
I tried to make it longer than the last few chapters have been...I think they are, but I dunno.
Warning...there's a bit of swearing in here. Hope you don't mind.
I don't own the Prince, of course.
When the first light of dawn began to shine in her window, Nesia decided to give up trying to sleep, and threw her covers back with a groan. She got out of the bed slowly, then pulled on the dry breeches that the innkeeper had brought for her the previous night. She put on the knee-length tunic he had also brought, and then started to look around for her boots. She found one under the bed, and the other on top of the desk.
"How odd..." Nesia murmured absently as she pulled the boots on. Once they were snugly on her feet, she left the room, grabbing her short sword as she left, and went next door to the Prince's room. She opened the door quietly, and shut it behind her just as noiselessly.
The Prince lay on his bed, wrapped up in the sheets, sleeping soundly for a change. She softly walked over to his bed, making close to no noise. Then she stopped trying to be quiet.
"You bastard!" she yelled, making the Prince sit up suddenly, and reach for his swords that sat on the side table. Nesia grabbed his arm before he could, and wrenched him to her painfully.
"What did I do?" he asked somewhat groggily. Nesia punched him solidly in the side of his face, knocking him towards the foot of the bed.
"You'd better come up with a good reason for me not to fucking kill you right now!" she threatened, pointing her sword at the Prince's throat. The man opened his mouth to reply, but Nesia kicked him soundly in the chest, making him fall off the bed and onto the floor.
"Please stop..." he said weakly as she approached him again, ignoring his plea. She stabbed at him with her sword, trying to impale him, but the Prince rolled out of the way, and sprung to his feet. Now that he was feeling more awake, he didn't plan on letting her land another hit on him.
"That thing was chasing you," she growled, "I know it. You got my ship destroyed and my crew killed, and you expect me to leave it at that?" Nesia lunged forward with a quick slash, forcing the Prince to jump back into the wall. She lashed out with her free hand, landing a strong punch on his shoulder. He sighed inwardly, and blocked her next strike easily.
She was angry, and that was weakening her. Grabbing both of her wrists, her flipped around quickly with her, so that her back was against the wall. Then he began to squeeze on the wrist of her hand that held the sword, until she grunted, and dropped it to the floor with a clatter. She struggled to get out of his grasp, but the Prince refused to budge, keeping her against the wall, and her hands pinned above her.
"Are you feeling better now?" he asked bitterly. Nesia spat in his face, which made the man flinch, and she pulled mer arms free of his grasp.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" she screamed, pushing him backwards. He wiped his face of with one hand, then calmly punched the woman in the stomach. She doubled over, not expecting the blow, and gave the Prince an opportunity to attack. He kicked her legs out from under her, making the woman fall heavily on the ground.
"No one important, obviously," he muttered to himself. Nesia sprang back up to her feet, but the Prince leapt at her, tackling her to the ground and sitting on her stomach.
"Get the fuck off of me," she snarled, struggling, and trying to get the man off of her. He wouldn't budge, though, his greater weight keeping Nesia trapped on the ground. She tried punching at him, but he grabbed her flailing arms and once again held them above her head. She looked like she was about to spit at the Prince again, but he began to talk before she could.
"Listen, I didn't ask to stay on your ship," he began. "You didn't give me much of a choice in the matter. There wasn't anything I could do to stop what happened, so why should you blame me?"
"You could have fucking told me, you asshole," Nesia spat at him, her eyes narrowed in anger.
"And what would you have done about it? Assuming you believed me, that is," he retorted mockingly. The woman below him was silent for a few minutes, and the only sound in the room was their heavy breathing.
"Get off of me," Nesia said emphatically, but more calmly this time. The Prince released her arms, and stood up, offering a hand to the woman on the ground. She ignored this, and got to her feet by herself. Then she grabbed one of the Prince's scimitars from the side table, and lunged towards the man in one fluid movement. He could feel the sharp point of the blade on his bare side, and cursed himself mentally for letting Nesia get to her feet.
"Going to kill me now?" he asked sardonically, staring at the plain wooden ceiling above him.
"Look at me, you bastard," Nesia ordered, digging the sword in slightly. The Prince complied, looking down at her brown eyes. "You are going to help me kill that thing, or die trying. If you try to get away from me, I will hunt you down and make you wish that beast had found you instead of me. Do I make myself clear?"
"Perfectly," he replied, his lips turning up in a sarcastic smile. Nesia shoved him back into the wall, and tossed his scimitar to the ground.
"Get ready," she told him, as she bent to retrieve her dropped sword. "We'll be leaving immediately." She left the room then, slamming the door behind her, and leaving the Prince alone in his room. He wondered how to explain to the woman that the Dahaka was more or less invincible, and if she would even listen to that news.
Five minutes later, the two were out in the street, in the pink light of dawn, and headed for a house in the slum area where Nesia needed to meet a 'friend' of hers.
"So, about this friend of yours..." he began, as the walked down the street.
"He deals in smuggling and stolen goods. If there's an artifact that can defeat that demon of yours, he knows about it," she explained. "Also where I got that elephant."
"Wait, I thought you said..." the Prince protested.
"Yeah, I lied," the woman cut him off. "I'm sure you wouldn't know anything about that, would you? I'm sure you never lie." The man grimaced, and decided not to talk to her anymore.
They continued to walk in silence, Nesia guiding the way, and the Prince following. It took them close to half and hour to reach the house.
"Here it is," the woman announced abruptly, and stopped in front of a shabby looking one-story house, that could be better described as a hut. Without waiting for a response from the Prince, she opened the rickety door, and went inside.
When the Prince entered after her, he saw a room that looked nothing like the outside of the house. It was clean, with expensive looking furniture, and a very polished look. A man sat at a small table in the middle of the room, sharpening a long-bladed dirk.
"Khasik," Nesia said in greeting as she entered the house. The man looked up, at first startled, but grinned when he saw who it was.
"Nesia," he remarked, sheathing the dirk at his hip, and standing up. "I haven't seen you in months. How are you?" Nesia gave the Prince a sidelong glance, that was closer to a glare, but then returned her gaze to Khasik. He was tall, easily over six feet, and lean, with a wide mouth and prominent nose. He had earlobe-length brown hair that was raked back from his face, and moved like a cat.
"I'm here for business," she replied more seriously, and took a seat on another chair by the table.
"Alright then," he said, sitting down again. "What can I do for you?"
"I need some information on beasts from the Island of Time," Nesia told him, once again glaring at the Prince out of the corner of her eyes. Khasik raised his eyebrows incredulously at her.
"What have you been getting yourself into?" he asked.
"It's not important," the woman avoided the question. "Now can you help me or not?"
"You know my policies. It's going to cost you," Khasik told her, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on the table. Nesia sighed, and reached to her somewhat bulging purse.
"How much will it cost me," she asked, "for you to tell me about the demons that the Empress of Time controls?"
"That's come tricky stuff there," he began. "It's hard for me to get any information on the Island of Time. I'd say...three hundred gold coins. Nesia winced, but reached in her purse, and counted out the money. She placed it on the table, but didn't give it to Khasik.
"Tell me now, and I'll be the judge of what this information is worth," she said. Khasik sighed.
"You always ask me that," he remarked.
"Yee-e-s," Nesia drawled, "and unless you want a repeat of that one time you refused, then this is how we're going to do things," The Prince saw Khasik wince, and the tall man nodded.
"Very well," he said. "I don't personally have any information about the beast that reside on the Island, but I know where you can find some. There is a library at Memphis in Egypt that is supposed to contain all texts even remotely connected to the supernatural. I would suggest looking there." Nesia thought for a moment, then pushed all of the money across the table to Khasik, who began tocount it immediately. Then she stood, and turned to go out the door.
"And remember," she threatened, "we were never here." Khasik nodded, continuing to count the money in front of him, and Nesia and the Prince left.
Well, I would like to take this time to thank my few faithful readers for continuing to read this. I'm hoping there are some new people reading now...but, well, I'm not going to be picky about who reads this.
And to Lady Discord...I just did the same thing as you did in your latest chapter! I'm not purposely copying your idea of tying in Ancient Egypt, I had the thought in mind when I started to write this story.
Please review! Lemme know what you want to see in upcoming chapters...