Trinh groaned, there was a severe pounding in her head. Where was she? Groggily, she sat up. There was old straw underneath her, and cold stone underneath that. Steel was wrapped around her leg.
"You woke up," said the woman attached to the other end of her manacle. "You were out for a while."
Trinh shook her head - an attempt to try and clear the cobwebs that had gathered inside. "Where am I?" She croaked; her throat was parched from being unconscious for so long.
"I don't think you need to be told that," said the woman as she looked across at Trinh.
"I meant which prison am I in? There are a couple small jail cells in the city."
"Ah. Well, in that case, you're in the main prison of Eisoptros."
Trinh frowned. The main prison; she wouldn't be breaking out of here, not easily anyway. She had broken out of the smaller jails a time or two, but that didn't take much. It seemed that those escapes had been noticed.
"What did you do?" Trinh snapped out of her reverie. "I imagine they don't get many halflings in this place..."
"More than you know, they just don't stay here long."
"Where do they go?"
Either this girl was completely oblivious, or she wasn't from here. "Executed most likely, or to the mines if they've offended someone more important. It just makes for a slower death, and a deeper grave." Trinh's attempt at humour didn't go over well. "You're not from here are you?" she asked.
"I've been here a few times, but have never stayed long." replied the woman. "You didn't answer my question."
"Why should I?"
"Do you have anything better to do?" she asked.
Trinh made an indistinct noise and looked around. The cell was small, but not unbearably so. Old stone walls surrounded them, save for a small barred window set high into the wall to her left and the barred door to her right. "Stole from the wrong person I suppose." she said.
"Aren't they all the wrong people?" smiled the woman. "Though, I suppose that's why I'm in here as well."
"I figured you escaped from your pimp, or from some merchant," said Trinh.
"Not this time. I had a plan to steal from one of the merchants in this city. Someone must have ratted because I'm here and they're not."
"What were you trying to steal?"
"Some golden statue, it doesn't matter anymore. What about you?"
"Some trading records. I got the records fine, but was caught by the city watch when I escaped. Just bad luck, not sure if that's better or worse than being betrayed."
"Better. Infinitely better." She extended her hand daintily, "Lanta."
Trinh took the hand tentatively, "Trinh." Lanta might be the last friend she made, not that she had any real friends, but contacts were always useful. "Where are you from Lanta?" Trinh asked.
"If you don't shut up I will come over there and fuck you until you can't scream anymore!" A huge voice boomed from outside the cell.
Lanta and Trinh looked at each other, and then stepped over to the door. Now that they had stopped talking, they could hear a man muttering to himself in the neighbouring cell. A man was leaning against the door of his cell, when he saw them he leered. Insults were exchanged by Trinh and the man, and that drew the attention of another man. No, not a man, a dwarf. As he stepped into the light of the hallway, Trinh recognised his face - Bigwood. She was surprised he was in here, he was the leader of the largest dwarf gang in Eisoptros. There must have been some changes going on in city watch, they weren't usually this competent.
Bigwood looked at Trinh and said "I like your spirit, but it's foolish to try and test Arry." Comprehension slowly moved across Trinh's face, but Lanta didn't react.
"What's the big deal? He's just another asshole."
"Just another asshole?!" roared Arry. "I've put more people in the ground than your mother slept with, the disgusting whore."
"A whore my mother may have been, but at least she taught me respect." retorted Lanta.
"Bah! Respect. Do you think everyone deserves your respect? Look at that old man in the cell next to you, half mad from being in here so long, wreaking of his own shit. The only thing he has going for him is he has that pretty blond plaything in his cell with him."
Trinh and Lanta stopped to listen. The old man continued to mumble, but got considerably louder. It was like he was speaking in tongues, with only the occasional word being understandable. "Dragons. Betrayed. Revenge."
They soon lost interest and lay down to sleep.
Hours later, an explosion rocked Trinh's cell.
