Okay, so I'm taking part in the SuWriMo (Summer Writing Months) on and the novel I was writing didn't really work out too well. As a result I decided to free-write and just let go. This is where it's all going. One chapter at a time. Thanks in advance for reading: and if you do read, could you please drop me a review? Cheers. xx

A World Without Heroes

What will they do for power?

Prologue

The room was dark, dingy and quiet. It was small, made of dark grey stone, and water leaked down the walls, dripping in an irregular melancholy beat on the dirty filth-ridden floor. Strewn about the floor, amongst pieces of dirty cloth and two small, metal bowls, there was straw pile: two of which looked like that had been purposefully built to resemble a castle. The turrets and towers of the buildings stretched high above the architecture, held with mud and what looked like a range of elastic bands in all colours and patterns.

Although the room was small in size, it was inhabited by now one person, but two. Two grunged-up men with sorrowful expressions and enough dirt on their persons to match. The younger of the two men was small, petite, with a mass of curly blonde hair, dark brown eyes and about a weeks worth of stubble growing on his chin in patchy segments. His clothes had probably once been regal; they were well-cut and finely embroidered- or at least they had been once- and his shirt was made from what looked, even under the grim, to be silk.

The older man, on the other hand, was much older. His rich, dark hair was greying at the temples and his face looked worn, and old. His lips were cracked as he sat, scrunched up in one corner of the room, with his back against the wall. He tapped out some imaginary tune on the floor at his feet, mindless of the filth that encrusted his fingers.

“Do you think we’ll ever get out of here?” The younger man spoke quietly, his voice hoarse and rough, where once it had probably been rich and deep. The older man stopped his mad tapping and looked up, his eyes were cold and sad.

“I don’t even know how we got in here Robert. How should we get out? You’re the King. You tell me.”

“I think you missed a word out-” Robert snapped. “Former king, thank you.” He looked down at his ripped shirt and muddy trousers. How had he been reduced to this? Stuck in a room that was only five-by-five with a man he used to know. “I hate this place.”

“Well-” Drawled the other man snidely, tossing a piece of straw across the room so it landed in front of Robert’s feet. “Look who’s catching on!”

“There’s no need to speak to me like that. I’m in as much the same situation as you, we might as well be civil.”

“Civil? Civil! You want me to be civil with you? Robert, look, why on earth would I want to do that?”

Robert scowled and got to his feet as best he could with his ankles chained to the wall. Stumbling over to one of the little straw castles he pointed at it angrily. His face was pale, his eyes dark and cold.

“Why? Why Daniel? Because! Because this is what we’ve become! Look at us! You may not feel much like it, but you’re savage- not the man I once knew. We were royal once, nobal even. We were strong, courageous and handsome. Have yuo seen what they have done to us-”

“It’s hard not to when you’re blocking my view of the lavatory.” Daniel interrupted sarcastically. “What, do you think I’m blind, boy? It’s all I’ve thought about since they put us here!”

“Well, damn you, why won’t you help me get out?”

“How?” Daniel also staggered to his feet and staggered as far into the room as he could. “The whole place is guarded by them, they’re everywhere. They stuffed Eduardo down the hall, probably doors and doors away, and Samantha couldn’t even walk last time I saw her! How do you suppose we get out of this mess?”

“I don’t know.” Robert growled. “But I sure as hell won’t let them get away with it. Those villains are going to pay, once and for all. How dare they steal from us-”

“They’re villains.” Daniel reminded him less than politely. “What do you expect? You’re the king, you can’t tell me you weren’t expecting something like ths to happen sooner or later?”

“I can’t say I was! They were so quiet, so resigned, so nice. They’d given up!”

“Yeah; certainly looks like it to me.” He kicked up a lump of dirty straw and sighed angrily as though his chest was about to burst. “It’s not like we’re ever going to get them out now. We’ve lost, and that’s it. I’m not a hero, you know-”

“No?” Robert kicked the roof off of a castle and bent down over it. “Look at this.” He gestured Daniel onto his knees, who reluctantly did so, and pointed into the straw edifice. There were sat, side by side, two small dollies crudely made of straw and little bit of cloth. “You may not be a hero in standards, but Daniel- we’ve got to try. You’re my only hope of getting out of here. you my not be a hero, but I am. And without my people I am nothing.”

“Got it. King Robert Hood wants his kingdom back. Yeah, now we have that established, how are you going to do it? I keep asking-”

“Don’t mock me, Daniel. I may no longer be king, but I don’t appreciate the sentiment. If you can’t say anything nice, or helpful, keep your trap firmly shut.”

“Fine. Whatever.” The older man crawled back over to his corner and settled down, tapping out the same familiar rhythm on the floor.

And when the heroes lose their will,

To fight for their fair land,

Should they fight, or foot the bill,

Or flee at his command.

A strong and powerful villain,

Will beat him to the throne,

But how long will he stay there?

Not even Merlin could have known.

They will fight,

They will fall,

Who is who,

In this game of war?