Chapter Three: Hate and Longing: Part Three

"You again?" Randolf said, fake annoyance lacing his voice. "It the monarch found out..."

"It is fine," Aldric said. "I'll just tell her that I like hearing the... screams."

"The monarch is okay with that?"

"She is more than okay with it. She would see it as me changing for the better."

Randolf leaned on the dirt covered wall. "So, what give you a reason to actually come see me today? Here to offer me more cheese?"

A look of guilt crossed over the prince's face. "I can't today. My mother and brother are coming, for a day of... what they call fun. If they were to smell it... I would surely be caught."

"So why are you here?"

"To warn you."

"Consider me warned."

Aldric took in a deep breath. "You shouldn't hold back any screams."

"What?"

"Scream your head off," Aldric said. "If you hold back screaming, it will make the torture all the worse. They like to hear screams. If you please them, it will be over faster."

"If I am too pleasing, I will be their favorite."

"If you are not you will suffer more."

Heave doors slid open.

"I must go," Aldric said, sliding a small pouch through the bars. "Hid this somehow, and when they are done, use this to ease the pain."

Randolf turned away from his friend to shove the pouch in a hole and cover it. When he turned back around, Aldric was gone.