Chapter One: Bread and Cheese: Part Two

Screams surrounded the your prince as he walked down the tunnels, bits of bread and cheese stuffed into his bag.

Hands of people beyond saving reached out to pull him into their torments. The faces attached to those hands were sunken in and starving. Their eyes black with hatred for their monarch, and the ruler's kin.

He quickly stuffed pieces of bread into outstretched hands and moved on.

The further he went, the worse the screams became. Their new lives had barely started.

They rattled the bars of their cages. They shook their chains. They begged to be let out. Some tried to bribe him.

He tossed cheese into their cells. Trying not to make eye contact.

"You're not supposed to do that," Someone said from the blackness of their cell."

This mad the young prince pause. "I thought you would like some food."

"The Monarch demands we only eat once every three to four days." The voice said, emerging from the shadows.

It was the boy from the square, who had resigned himself to his fate before it had even begun. The one who didn't cry or shout.

"I saw you," The prince said. "You didn't cry."

The boy picked up the cheese, shrugging. "You didn't cry."

"Why would I? I wan't selected."

"You will be next time, if the Monarch finds out about this little stunt you pulled."

"She won't," The prince promised. "I know better than anyone that she won't."

"It is only a matter of time."

"I disa-"

The prince grew quiet, then fled as heavy, fast foot falls were heard in the tunnels.

The boy stashed the cheese away.

A slender guard ran past the cell, frantic.

"Prince Aldric," he yelled.

The boy in the cell smiled, it was the only smile in the whole of the castle... excluding the Monarch herself.