A tanned male stands at the cliffs on the outskirts of a village. He wears a blue kilt with a tan undercoat and a trademark red cloak with white lines that billows in the invisible wind. His bracelets jingle as they hit against each other. He stares at the village and scoffs to himself. 'There's probably nothing worth wild but might as well stock up on supplies for the hideout,' he reasons to himself. He puts his fingers to his lips and lets out a low whistle. The neigh of horse is heard as a black Arabian Stallion trots through the white sands and over to his master.
The male smiles at his non human friend fondly and stroke the creature's muzzle earning a whinny. Yes, Kem is one of Akefia's only friends, excluding Mariku. Akefia at the age of 12 found Kem's previous owner abusing the poor creature, beating and starving it, hardly giving it water. How the horse survived and still kept its spirit intact is astonishing. Akefia stumbled upon the horse when he was passing by after his latest find. He had a sack of jewelry swung over his shoulder and was currently making his way out of town. He was looking for a horse to steal and after finding Kem he knew it was the right one.
Akefia nursed Kem back to health and earned the horse's trust and friendship. No one is allowed to touch Kem or they earn a knife in the gut or a hoof in the face when Kem jerks himself upwards. Before all that happened though, Akefia didn't hesitate to drive his dagger into the abusive mans gut. He set free all the horses except Kem who came with him.
The man smirks at the memory of the man's final breath and pats the horses head while swinging himself onto the back of the horse. He leads the horse down the side of the cliffs and onto the flat plain of white sand. When he reaches the edge of the village he dismounts and lets the horse wander. Kem can take care of himself, even if he is just a horse.
Akefia already got the supplies and put them onto Kem. The male smirks as he begins to travel in between the alley ways and manages to pickpocket a few drunken males on the way. He scoffs at how easy it was. 'Well, I am the King of Thieves, an amateur might have trouble but I'm not one.' He sighs as he pulls his hood on more. No need to be caught tonight, not that they would catch him, even if they did, and they had in the past, he'd just escape again just like always.
He hears the scurrying of feet up a head as he spots the body of a slave coming down the alleyway. He raises an eyebrow and smirks to himself. Might as well have some fun he thinks to himself. He notices the small pouch of coins in the girl's hands and knows just what he's going to do now he just has to wait for the street urchin to come forward a little more…
***
Ryou's bare feet hit the cool sands of the night as she rushes down the dirt packed roads. 'Oh no, oh no! If I don't make it home soon, I'll be punished again!' She winces at the pain in her back from the last time she was late. She adjusts her tattered hood and clutches the small pouch of gold coins in her hands as she rounds the corner into an alley way.
She forces herself to slow down. 'It's alright Ryou, the moon hasn't gotten all the way up in the sky, you've still got time before you're late,' she reminds herself. She's praying to herself that her master got himself drunk and passed out. She's gotten out of a lot of trouble when her master decides to drink. Not just her though a lot of the slaves in the house have also gotten out that way. Sometimes the slaves of the house purposely get the master very drunk so other slaves won't be in trouble.
She just hopes that's the case for her. She forces herself to speed up after the short break even though her legs feel like they're going to fall off at any moment. She rounds around corner and runs straight into a wall. She falls on her backside with an 'oof', as her hood falls off. She sits with her legs sprawled out at her sides as she rubs her nose which made contact with the stone wall.
'But, there shouldn't be any walls… Did I take a wrong turn somewhere?' She opens her eyes and looks up. She gasps. She didn't hit a wall, she hit a person! She stares at the large male in front of her. From what she can see through his open red cloak his body is entirely muscled and toned. His face is shadowed by a hood but she can see can make out a smirk plastered on his face. Ryou gulps, 'Oh no.'
She lowers her gaze to the floor and inhales. "I-I'm sorry s-sir, I wasn't paying attention. I-I d-didn't mean-n to bump into you," she says softly, hoping he won't punish her for it. She's already going to be late at this rate, but depending on how late depends on this man right here. She clutches her hands on the pouch. She gasps, 'Where is it!?' she looks at her hands and sees it's gone. 'Did I drop it?' She looks around the ground with no sight of the bag.
"Looking for this?" the male says Ryou looks up and sees the man holding the small pouch in front of her face. Her eyes light up and she reaches for it… only for him to pull it away and he 'tsks'. "Ah, ah, not so fast little urchin." He looks the pouch and opens it and dumps the 10 gold coins in the palm of his hand. He observes each one as Ryou looks at him very nervously.
Akefia watches the girl look at him with fear and nervousness. He smirks as he shows her the coins. She brings her hands up to her chest and looks so helpless. "Now tell me little one," he puts the coins back in the pouch and jingles them. "What is an urchin like you doing with a pouch of 10 gold pieces?" He smirks as he leans forward, keeping the pouch in front of her but just out of reach. "Are you a thief perhaps?" The urchin shakes her head negatively. "You are? Well you know the punishment, don't you?" With his spare hand he pulls a silver dagger out and lets the moon's light reflect off the blade.
Her eyes widen and her mouth opens as she tries to say something but nothing comes out. He leans forward more, "The punishment for stealing is to cut off your hands." The girl cries out when he grabs her wrist and pulls her forward so her arm is right in front of him. He holds the blade up and the girl screams.
"No! No! Please I didn't steal them I swear! They're my master's! He sent me out to go buy something and that's the change I swear! Please don't cut my hands off please!" At this point the girl has tears streaming down her face as she frantically pulls her arms trying to get it free from his grasp. Akefia barks out a laugh and lets her arm go sending her falling backwards right onto her bottom again. He puts his blade away as he smirks and still holds onto the pouch of coins.
"Well then, I might just have to take these of your hands, just tell your master you ran into a man who decided to let you keep your hands if you gave him the coins," the man says. Ryou's eyes widen. Her master would punish her and most likely end up killing her. She gulps; she needs that pouch of coins. She would rather take the risk of traveling out into the desert with no water then to return back to the house without the pouch and greet her master.
" B-but I… I need the pouch sir… P-please if I don't give it to my master, I'll be punished, please sir," Ryou says, hoping Ra will take pity on her and have this man give her the pouch. She bites her lip and the man looks at her then turns away and starts to walk down the alley.
"Not my problem, slave," he says over her shoulder as her throws the pouch up and catches it, repeating the action. Ryou stands up and begins to run after the man.
"W-wait! P-please give me the coins! Please I don't want to be punished," she reaches out and grabs the man's cloak, effectively stopping him. "Please sir!" He looks over his shoulder at Ryou and she suddenly wishes there was a hole in the ground that would swallow her up. He smirks and suddenly Ryou finds herself pinned against the clay wall of a house. She gulps and fear races through her veins. 'Is he going to…? No… He can't! Master would kill me for sure. He said I need to stay pure so I fetch a high price at the next slave auction.' Thoughts race through her as his face comes mere inches to hers.
"You want the coins?" he asks her. Ryou nods and stares into those lavender eyes that glow from the moon light reflecting off them. The only thing she can really make out from his face. A feral grin stretches on his face revealing pearl white teeth with canines that are pointer than a normal person's. "And you want to keep your hands?" Again Ryou nods and tries to swallow the lump of fear in her throat. "Well, little urchin, if you want to have both I need something in return," the man purrs out. Ryou feels dread and more fear wash over her as that sentence, the one she didn't want to hear comes right out the man's mouth.
"W-what d-do you want?" The girl asks. Akefia's grin stretches as he watches the girl practically squirm beneath him. 'Oh yea, this little slave was certainly worth coming to this town.' Akefia had no intention of actually leaving with the coins or cutting the girls hands off. He wanted someone to entertain him tonight and the slave fit just right. He never paid attention to her looks.
But now that he looks at her though, she's quite a beauty. She filthy but it hardly makes a dent in her looks; her hair is long and in white fluffy layers that are lighter than her extremely pale skin, but not pale enough to look sickly. Her face is slightly chubby from baby fat, a soft looking pair of pale pink lips and has a large air of innocence around it. But the most beautiful feature is the pair of bright emeralds eyes. Akefia's favorite gem has always been emeralds. They were the rarest gems the thief ever found. The ones he did he never sold, he kept them for himself, building a collection of emeralds.
'What should I say… hmmm…?' Akefia's eyes gleam with a thought that crossed his mind. "How bout a kiss little slave?" He purrs out wiggling a silver brow and holding in a laugh at the way the slave's eyes bulged out of her head at the statement as a red blush colored her cheeks. Oh yes, Akefia was certainly enjoying himself.
"A-a k-kiss?" she stammers, her cheeks flaring up more. Akefia nods his head and presses his forehead to hers. "J-just one?" Again Akefia nods leaning in more.
"Just one, little slave," Akefia chuckles and adds, "And if you make it good enough, I'll even walk you home so no thieves get to you." Internally he chuckles. 'Oh, if only she knew."'
Ryou's having an internal conflict. 'It's just a kiss,' she tells herself. "You won't do anything else will you?" she asks softly. He nods and says, "Don't worry it's just a kiss, I won't go any farther. I'm a man of my word." Ryou bites her lip. "O-okay," she mumbles looking at the ground. She feels the man smirks and he puts his fingers beneath her chin and raises it up. They make eye contact and the man lowers himself down and brushes his lips against hers. Ryou squeezes her eyes shut, 'Oh goodness I can't believe I'm actually doing this! If it's for the coins then I guess I have to. The man said he'd take me home too… Maybe my master won't punish me too much if he comes wit-'her thoughts cut off when their lips connect.
Something sparks inside Ryou as the man begins to move his lips with hers. She gasps when his hands hold onto her waist, the male then slips his tongue into her mouth, mapping out her mouth and trying to coax her tongue to come and join his. When he did that he gave Ryou a taste of rich spices on her tongue. Ryou squirms in the kiss and lets the man assault her mouth with his.
Ryou remembers him saying if she made it good enough he'd walk her back to the home. Shyly Ryou decides to responds and she guesses that pleases him when his hands pull her hips forward as they slide behind her to rest on her bottom. She squeaks and the man pulls back, a thin string of salvia hanging between them. He smirks as he wipes his mouth. Ryou is left panting slightly and with a permanent blush on her cheeks.
Akefia holds out the small pouch of coins and the girl carefully reaches out and grabs it. "That was defiantly good enough for me to walk you back to your master's home." Akefia licks around his mouth and still tasting the lingering sweet taste of the slave's mouth. Akefia decided in that moment he would have that slave for himself, one way or another.
He wraps his arm around the small girl's shoulders and frowns at how skinny the slave feels. He felt it before when his hands traveled to her hips. 'Her body is just skin and bones.' But he smirks, 'except for that ass of hers, defiantly something I'd like to see uncovered. '"Shall we go, little slave?" The little thing nods and slowly begins to walk with the tanned male besides her.
The entire way to the girl's house they two were silent. Akefia kept staring at the girl and the girl seemed to always know when he was looking because she'd focus on the ground instead of the male next to her. She finally stopped outside a fairly large house. She turned to him and bowed, "T-thank you, sir for being kind enough to walk me here." Akefia smirks.
"Anytime," he grins deviously, "but, I never did get your name."
Ryou hesitates but eventually speaks, "I-it's Ryou," she pauses "may I know your name sir?" the man smirks and Ryou suddenly dreads the answer.
"Me? Well you wouldn't know would you not with this on," the man pulls his hood off and smirks at the girl who gasps. 'I-it can't be!' The man before her has white choppy hair and lavender eyes. Through his right eye is a double crossed t shaped scar. The man's face is deviously handsome to say the least. 'It's him! The man with hair made of the moon light, eyes so feral and full of flames; the eyes of a demon! It's him! The stealer of jewels and souls! The Thief King Akefia!' Ryou takes a few steps back as the Thief King chuckles. "So you do recognize me," he takes a step towards the girl who takes two back and end's up with her back against the door and he smirks, "Pft, don't fret lovely, I don't harm the innocent. Well I won't if you take me to your master; I have some business with him I'd like to discuss."
Ryou nods as white hot fear courses through her. 'Oh gods, it's the Thief King! B-but what business does he have with my master?' Ryou turns to face the door and knocks. Shouting and stumbling is heard from within as the front door opens and Ryou's master stands there, a drunken sneer on his face and a bottle of rum in his hand. He's a man in about his 50's, bald and fat. A greasy face and he's all around disgusting.
"Sooo, you *hiccup* finally decide to come home huh you little bitch!" The drunken man yells, slurring his words. He reaches out and smacks Ryou across the face hard. Ryou falls to the ground with her head lowered as she whimpers. Akefia sneers at the drunk. 'So this is her master, shouldn't be top hard,'
He clears his throat and both heads turns towards him "Who the fuck are you?" the drunk said after landing a kick into Ryou's gut causing the girl to yelp.
"I'm here to make you an offer for that slave right there," Ryou's eyes widen as Akefia gestures to her. 'N-no way, that's what he meant by business with my master? He wants to buy me? B-but why?' The drunk pulls Ryou up by her hair and sneers at Akefia.
"Not for sale," he grumbles dragging Ryou into the house as she whimpers at the force being put on her scalp. Just before her master slams the door, Akefia pushes it open.
"You never heard my offer," He says with a feral grin on his face. He pushes himself into the house and rips Ryou away from the disgusting man. He steps in front of her and watches as the drunk male pulls out a dagger and waves it at Akefia.
"Get the fuck out of my house, you're not buying her," suddenly the drunk man grins, "Ohhh I get it, you want to have a good shag tonight, well that little bitch over there is a virgin so if you want to fuck her it'll cost ya" Akefia smirks.
"Well of course I'd like to bed that girl, but that's not want I came to offer you." Ryou blushes at the statement. The drunken man finds the dagger hit out of his hand and pressed against his throat. "Like I said I came to make you an offer," Akefia's smirks grow as he feels the drunken man tremble beneath the blade. "You can keep your life if you give me the girl," he presses the blade into one of the sweaty neck rolls causing a thin line of blood to well up on the skin. "Or I'll kill you and take the girl, your choice,"
"Y-y-you c-c-c-can have h-her, just don't kill me!" The man says his hands going up in surrender. Akefia pulls back and turns to the girl smirking.
"Well, little Ryou it seems like your mine now, so let's go," Akefia says grinning. The grin turns into a frown as the drunken man aims to stab him only for Akefia to side step and ram the blade in between the man's shoulder blades. He scoffs and kneels down. "You could've kept you life but you decided to be foolish," he pulls the blade out and watches the crimson liquid spill from the man's back as his body goes lifeless. He looks around and finds 2 more slaves are pressed against the back wall shaking. He frowns.
He points the dagger at the two girls and they flinch. "You two, go tell all the other slaves that they're free and to leave the house now." When they don't move, he growls. They squeak and bolt from the room. He turns to Ryou who's pressed against the wall staring at the corpse of her ex-master in fright. "Hey," she looks up and he saunter over. "Time to go." He pulls her to her feet and holds onto her wrist as they leave the house. Ryou keeps quiet, from fear of being killed, as he takes her to the edge of the town. "I'm not going to kill you." Ryou looks up to find him looking at her. "Like I said I don't kill the innocent. That man was a bastard and deserved what he got." She looks away.
"Why are you taking me with you? The other slaves were prettier and can probably please you more than me so why?" He looks back and releases her wrist as he calls on Kem. A few moments later the horse comes over and Akefia pats his nose and gestures for Ryou to come over. She does and Akefia has her hold out her hand so Kem can get to know her scent.
"You're one hell of a kisser," he smirks at her blush but then his face goes serious again. "And you don't deserve that treatment, I plan on taking good care of you, I was just messing with you earlier I had no intention of cutting your hands off," He hoists himself onto Kem. He sighs and pulls a squirming Ryou onto the horse right in front of him. He wraps her up with himself in the red cloak and looks down. "Ready?
Ryou bites her lip. 'Maybe he won't be so bad… What am I saying he's the Thief King!... But… then again he never hurt me or the other slaves in the house only our master.' She looks down and nods. "Yes, sir," she mumbles. Akefia grins and cracks the reins, setting off into the mountains towards the hideout with his new precious desert flower…
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