Someone had slipped the ruby into his pocket... That was the only logical explanation on how it got there. The only explanation.
"I-I swear to you, I didn't steal it! I didn't even touch it!" he stammered, digging his heels into the floor but failing to keep himself from being dragged. The man latched onto his arm merely jerked him along, a grim look on his face.
"Tell it to Kassius."
Kassius. Merle's heart sank. Kassius was the current king, the acting Lord of Silas. Rumor had it that he wasn't the nicest man alive...especially if he found out Merle had 'stolen' from him. He was completely screwed...
"I didn't take it!"
"It was in your pocket. Don't lie, mongrel!"
"But I don't know how it got there!"
"Who put it there then?" The man looked angry, but also a little bit suspicious, like he expected Merle to know.
"I..." Who had put it there, anyway? He tried to think, to remember a time when he might've been in close contact with someone, the real culprit, but... "I don't know," he finished lamely.
"Well if you don't know, I can't help you. Sorry. Now move your lousy ass."
Merle followed the man doggedly, like a beaten horse following its master. Stonepike was Silas City's jail of sorts. It was the current home of thieves, offenders, rapists and murderers, at the worst. Merle's heart lurched. He didn't belong in a place like this... He was the son of Lord Amarus; a king highly regarded but lower, of course, than Kassius.
And Merle had heard stories about this place and they were never good stories. Tales about how the strongest ruled the cells, the weaker men being their slaves...in more ways than one. Merle shivered and gazed around nervously. Stonepike was a large building with several cells all surrounding one big room, the stone and iron walls cast in shadows. Just looking at it was enough to bring terrible thoughts to the boy's head.
"You'll be stuck in here for a few days, til Kassius can spare time to hear your plea. Dinner's served at four, and lights go out at ten. You get a bathroom break every three hours, so you'd better hope you can hold it."
The big man slid a barred gate open, the keys dangling from his fingers. Merle looked up at him, trying to find the words that would save him from his sentence, but none came. He walked into his fate and the door shut and locked behind him. "Play nice," he called out, and then, giving Merle a somewhat sympathetic look, walked away.
"Who says anyone'll wanna play nice..." From the shadows a deep voice, like a tiger's growl, rumbled out. Merle blanched and backed up. Three men prowled from the back of the room, leaving behind their hiding place that the sun couldn't touch. Merle desperately wished there was a window now.
"Lookit the young one, boys..."
Another man sniffed the air, his dark hair pulled back in a braid. "Smells like fear."
"They're always afraid for their first night here."
"Don't worry, pretty boy," the first man, the tiger voiced man, murmured. He had shaggy blond hair and bronzed skin and teeth like fangs. "It only hurts the first few times..."
"N-No!" Merle barked out, backing away from them and right into the iron-ribbed wall. "I'm only in here until Kassius sees that I'm innocent. I-I don't belong here, with you people!"
"So?"
"So... Don't touch me." His voice was brave, but his heart and his soul were quivering in fear.
They all laughed. Sabertooth growled again. "You're ours until you get outta here. That's how the rules work. Got it, kid?"