Chapter 2

"Leave the boy alone."

The voice wasn't one I'd heard yet. It didn't come from the outside of the cell from another prisoner to my right.

"What'd you say?" Linong snarled.

"I said leave the boy alone. He's just a child." I turned and pressed my back in to the wall. My rescuer stood in a similar position, his arms crossed over his chest. He was perhaps late twenties, with fair hair and cloudy gray eyes circled by red-rimmed lids. He wasn't nearly as tall as Linong , not as solid, and I doubted he could defeat Linong or Zhu in a fight. My heart sank.

"You going to make us?" Zhu asked.

The man shrugged then winced, as if the movement hurt. He spotted a bruise in his cheeks, and his blond hair was matted with blood.

"One must try. It's the decent thing to do"

"One must try." Linong mimicked the other man's toff accent to perfection. Zhu and the fourth prisoner, lounging on the cot bed, laughed.

Zhu straightened his back, threw out his chest, and affected a feminine walk to where the man stood. The prisoner on the bed laughed even harder at the hairy beast's acting. "Oh, protect me from these brutes sir," whimpered Zhu in a high pitch, "You're my hero."

The blind man lowered his hands to his sides and curled them into fists. I held my breath and waited for the first punch to be thrown. The man smiled instead. It held no humor. Zhu tugged into the lapels of the blond's man jacket, pretending to straighten it, then fidget with the high, stiff shirt collar. The gentlemen wore no tie and his hat and gloves were also missing. The fine cut of his clothes reminded me of my father, always so perfectly groomed. Even the follows aristocratic bearing was very much like my father's. Weather it was also an affictationthis gentleman had developed, it was difficult to tell. I wasn't as experience with the upper members of the society and their ways as I used to be.

"Finished?" The blond man drawled. I wondered why the gentlemen had landed in jail and why he was defending me, a stranger. He'd get himself killed if he didn't keep quiet.

His fun spoiled by the gentlemen's lack of fear, Zhu snorted and move away, he turned his back to me and licked his lips. Linong wiped the back of his hand over his mouth and eyed me with renews interest. He reached for me, but the blond man smacked his hand away. Neither Linong nor I had noticed him approached.

Linong bared his teeth in a snarl. "You don't get to ruin Linong’s fun!" He smashed his fist into the blond's man face, sending him reeling back to his bed.

The prisoner lounging there had to quickly pull up his legs or be sat on. The blond man recovered, and with a growl of rage, lunged at Linong. But he swung his fists wildly and his blows merely glanced at Linong . Linong responded with another punch to the gentleman's jaw. Blood splattered from the man's mouth as he careened backward and slammed into the wall. His head smacked into the bricks, and the crack of his skull turned my stomach.

Zhu Laughed, sending spittle flying from the slit in his beard. Linong dusted off his hands and watched as the gentlemen folded in on himself and crumpled to the floor like a ragdoll. My heart sank. And it was only then that I realized I'd let it rise in hope.

My rescuer was dead.

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