Note: Thank you to the two people who reviewed (Blackcross-Taylor and Inconspicuous Acuity)! Here's another chapter… hope you enjoy it, but if you don't you have to tell me. Well, you don't HAVE to, but unless all you want to do is point at the screen and say "You suck, Brice!" you really should…
Oh, and I don't know if it matters, but the chapter title comes from the Garbage song of the same name… I got the idea from one of Ryan's thoughts, otherwise it has nothing to do with anything except arson…
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Have you ever noticed just how dull a prison cell is? There's a stone ceiling, a stone floor, and four stone walls. You might take that as an obvious fact, but I was now experiencing all the boredom that those blank stretches of gray had to give, and after only a few hours of it I could safely say that this was a notable part of the punishment.
For years I'd walked by Athkatla's prison without giving it so much as a glance. Most times, it wasn't even something I'd want to give a glance, as there was often a public execution happening out front. Seeing a pickpocket get the short drop while I have someone else's money weighing down my pockets? Not exactly my idea of a good time. I wasn't anxious to follow their lead, but I also wasn't sure I could stand the suspense much longer.
So when I heard the footsteps and furtive whispers from the hallway outside, I leapt to my feet, sprinted to the door, and began pounding.
"Shut up in there!" a hoarse voice called out. "D'you want to bring the guards over here?"
"It doesn't matter, Falon," another male voice answered. "You've killed them all already."
In spite of my position, I hoped that no one I knew had been on duty. Even Angston was decent if you weren't in immediate danger of arrest.
"Now that's settled, can you get me the hell out of here?" I shouted.
"Don't wet yourself," Falon snorted. "We're letting everyone out as long as we're here. Though if you keep carrying on like that, it might be better to leave you there."
Like a good little
desperate inmate, I stepped back and shut up.
"Maybe we should
just leave him in there anyway," Falon continued sullenly.
"You idiot, we need whoever we can get. You think you, me and the Captain can go on by ourselves?"
Falon made a dismissive noise.
"In that case, you can do your newly expanded share of the work, and I'll get these people to do mine."
I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that. But they were my only ticket out of here. If they made me promise to clean the floor of the Copper Coronet with my tongue, I'd agree to it.
Until I was out the door, of course. I wasn't exactly a floor-grime connoisseur.
The door rattled and squeaked as it was opened (either someone felt that the prison needed sound effects, or the maintenance man was just a slacker). When it was open far enough for me to get more than my pinky finger through, I bolted into the light and past my saviors without looking back.
"Not so fast!" A hand grasped my wrist and pulled me back.
"On the contrary," I cursed myself quietly. "Not fast enough."
"I heard that!" Falon growled as he and his colleague hauled me off to a place I was pretty sure I wouldn't want to be.