Joven was supposed to have been released early the morning, but when I dragged myself out of a deep sleep, he was at the end of a whispered conversation with Commander mercy-man. After the commander left, I asked Joven what they had been discussing.

"I'm a regent of your court," Joven said. 

"That gives me some value as a prisoner."

This was not the time for vanity. "You have more value to Anneleon alive," I said. "You should be on your way there already."

"I agreed to stay, in exchange for some real food and a blanket for you. As part of my terms, they're also giving you today to rest."

I wished I were strong enough to refuse the offer and force him to leave, but I wasn't. I desperately needed the food by then and I was almost constantly numb with cold. So I nodded back at him. Even if I disagreed with his decision, I was grateful for it.

The food was brought soon after, but it was done as a mockery to me. A thick cut of slice-meat and large chunk of Brown-bread were offered on a heavy bowl fit for a king. For as little as I'd eaten over the past few days, I knew the slice-meat would be too much for my stomach. I tried nibbling on the bread, but it felt just as uneasy inside me.

I kicked the bowl over to Joven. "You should have this half of bread."

"No, My king," he said, kicking it back to me. "Richard, that's for you."

"I can't eat it, and they know that." I sent the bowl to him again. "It takes a lot of effort to push this over to you, so just take it, please."

He reached for the bowl, but only stared at it. "I made a deal with them. This isn't what I wanted."

"I have the blanket, and that's enough. Now eat. At least one of us needs our strength." The food smelled so good that it renewed all the hunger pangs within me. So I wrapped myself in the blanket and lay down to sleep.

I remained that way until late in the day when Mercy-man came into the dungeon and announced that King Eeron had returned to speak with me. "You promised to answer the rest of our questions," he said. "The king wishes to ask them himself."

I didn't even open my eyes to reply. "That agreement was only if Joven left safely."

"He is still here because of the agreement he made on your behalf! Now get to your feet. King Eeron is extending a hand of friendship to you. He invites you to share drinking with him."

The drink appealed to me, but I had no interest in the kind of friendship he was offering.

Altox returned, and this time he was carrying a black livery coat crossed in brown. similar to his own uniform. I eyed it, but remained silent. I slowly rose to my feet, mostly to avoid the kicks he was so generous in giving me.

With a nasty glare on his face, Altox began unlocking the irons that had bound me to the wall. Then he tossed the coat my way. "Put that on."

"Wear Neleon colors on my back? You must be joking. Get me something else."

He pointed to Joven, who sat silently in his corner of the dungeon. "If you won't, I can break his arm."

"Or you could say please. Have you no thought other than cruelty?" I reached for the coat, and then held it out to him. "I'm a King and you're a mere servant. You should dress me."

Altox nearly hit me again, but Mercy-man grabbed his arm first. "You're nothing but stink rot to us. Put that on."

With a sigh, I slipped the coat over my

shoulders. I didn't bother with belting it closed, but mercy-man cinched it tight for me, then ordered my wrists to be chained again. I held them together without fighting. Once I was bound, Altox ordered me to follow him.

"I can't walk," I said. "You should know that. You beat me the worst."

If they hadn't liked me when I was unresponsive, I certainly wasn't gaining any friends now. mercy-man huffed and ordered his soldier to carry me to Eeron.

"I'll do no such thing. He can walk just fine."

"I watched how you treated him yesterday. Even if he can walk, with those bruises it'll take an hour to get him there. Pick him up."

With the gentle manners one might expect from a rabid bulldog, Altox threw me over his shoulder. That's when I finally saw my opportunity. We weren't even out of the prison before I had the keys from around his waist slipped down the sleeve of my coat.

The king was housed in a hastily assembled but elegantly decorated brick building with three steps leading to the entrance. The soldier dropped me on the ground in front of them and told me I'd walk from here or get dragged in by my feet. I got up, but immediately collapsed forward onto the middle step. That was my moment to let the keys fall inside the coat, held up by the tight belt. Before he had the chance to kick me properly, I stood again and limped to the top. That part was not an act. Walking was genuinely painful.

Eeron was seated beside a simple wood table that looked completely out of place for someone dressed in so much royal finery. The spectacles were gone this time, but he had two red marks on either side of his nose, indicating he had recently been wearing them. And he wore his black hair straight down today, which made him look even older than usual. A good decade past death, at least.

The entire back of the room was masked by a heavy embroidered curtain that draped onto the floor. I briefly wondered what was behind it, and then decided I didn't much care. Eeron was surrounded by at least thirty highly decorated armed-soldiers, each of them a human silver armory. I wanted to believe so many men were needed as protection from my tricks, but I had no tricks left. Both my strength and will to fight were failing. A kitten could've guarded Eeron from me.

When I entered, he motioned to a chair across the table, inviting me to join him. I stood in place until the soldiers at my heels pushed me forward. I shuffled to the table and, without looking at him, dropped heavily onto the chair.

Eeron studied me with an expression of disgust and finally offered me a plate of brown bread and sliced meat that had been set between us. He waited for me to look at him, and I gave him the finest acknowledgment I could, which mostly consisted of me gathering spit in my mouth in case he happened to lean in closer.

Instead, Eeron sat back in his chair. "Tonight, Havania will begin a march into Anneleon. Thanks to the information you provided my commander yesterday, I know exactly where to attack, and how. I have a hundred men for each of yours. Everyone who stands against me will die."

My eyes darted up to him, then back to the table. Nothing more.

That angered him, and he got louder. "Don't you care what's happening out there? To your country, your people?"

Of course I cared. If he looked at me and saw only the scars of my flesh and callous tone of my words, then he knew nothing of who I really was. Who I'd always been.

"You made a bargain with my commander, and you owe me some information. However, we both know that once you give it to me, there won't be any reason to keep you alive." Eeron did lean forward then, but it was too late. I had swallowed the spit. "So I'm making you an offer instead. Work with me to end this war. Together, we'll save thousands of lives, including your own."

He paused so I could give him some response. I declined to so much as blink.

So he continued, "Anneleon will become a tributary to Havania. I will become emperor of these lands. You will still be a king, although subject to my rule. We can negotiate terms for the tributes, in exchange for peace between us." Another pause, then he said, "I know you don't want to hear any of this, but I warned you on the night of your family's funeral. You could've had peace from me then --- I wasn't asking for much. But you ignored my warnings, you played games with the loyalty of my pirates. You had to make it worse."

Despite everything, I smiled a little. Making things worse was one of my few talents.

"I have shown my ability to take whatever I want from you, and I'll take Anneleon as well, if I have to. But I'd much rather we came to an agreement. With your signature on a treaty, there can never be any question of the arrangement between our countries."

This time when I failed to answer, Eeron leaned forward enough to reach me. I turned my face away, but he pinched my cheeks with his meaty fingers and forced me to look at him. "I'm offering you peace, and a chance to live. This is the only way you'll leave this camp alive."

He was close enough now that when I spit, it hit him directly in the eye. I had aimed for his cheek, but this was better.

"If I care nothing for my own life," I said bitterly, "just imagine how I feel about yours."

He cursed and backhanded me hard enough to nearly knock me off my chair, but I didn't care. I had insulted him worse.

"I told you to humble him," Eeron said to his men. "Does he look humble?"

In all fairness to his soldiers, until the moment I spit on their king, I probably had looked pretty humble. But this also meant I had more punishment coming my way. The spitting was still worth it.

Eeron started to say something else, but mercy-man had been waiting outside the building and burst inside. He gave a hurried bow to Eeron, then said, "Pardon me, Your Excellency, but a diplomat has come from Anneleon inquiring about King Richard's death. He begs to see you at once."

My head whipped around. What diplomat?

Altox was immediately beside my chair and put a knife to my throat.

"Take him behind the curtain and keep him quiet there," Eeron ordered. "I want this boy king to understand exactly what's at stake if he doesn't cooperate."

At knifepoint, three other soldiers dragged me to the head of the room and behind the curtain where there was nothing but stacked crates of supplies for the war. Altox whispered again what he'd do if I breathed a word, and it didn't sound very pleasant. But there'd be no trouble from me. More than anyone in this room, I wanted to know who had come.

As it turned out, I'd have recognized the voice from any distance, and I wished it could've been almost anyone else.

"King Eeron, I bring you bad greetings from the kingdom of Anneleon, where our people are in mourning. As is my duty at this time, I have come to inquire about the body of our monarch, King Richard." That was Albus's voice.

I wanted to cry out, to tell him I was this close and a lot more alive than I was being given credit for. But I knew what would happen to both of us if I so much as cleared my throat.

For reasons I couldn't fathom, Albus had willingly walked into Neleon hands. And now, if I didn't cooperate, Eeron would take him from me too. I want to tell to my people that I'm not dead but the news already spread to my country.