Dark shadows danced through the bars on the barely lit walls. Water dripped from the ceiling. The walls were covered in green-grey moss that began to grow into the floor. In between the cold stones of the floor rats walked. Iron bars separated the hallway from the cells of the dungeon. All the cells were full of prisoners, most of the yelling to be let free.
Gaius sat against a damp wall, his head forward, staring at his hands in his lap. His clothes were ripped and his face scratched. His hands were soaked with blood. Candy wrappers were scattered all over his cell- he had no candy left. Water was running through the cracks in the floor and sweeping away a tiny bit of the sugar that was stuck to the wrappers.
There was a creak of a wooden door and Gaius perked up. He saw light flow into the dungeon. The other prisoners did as well. They ran to the bars of their cells and shook them, screaming things such as "Let us out," and "I don't want to die." A shadow of a man appeared and the repeating sounds of footsteps. They got ever so closer, but then they stopped. And they stopped in front of his cell. Gaius glared at the man.
"What do you want?" Gaius asked in a calm tone.
"I have heard of your crimes. You steal for no reason, they say," the man replied, smirking. "And you get caught on purpose."
"Lies," Gaius said boldly.
"Oh, I don't believe them. Truly," The man responded. "I think you steal for a good reason. And I think you're pretty damn good at it."
"What do you want?" He repeated.
"I need a job done. It's well paying… and it'll get you out of this dungeon."
"What is the job?"
"Kidnap the princess," the man said with a large grin. "Oh, and deliver her to a Plegian outpost." No response. "You don't get time to think about it, boy. I could just go out there and find another thief, but I want to help you get outta here. You have potential," the man continued. "All you have to do is sneak into her quarters and grab her, then run. It's not hard, boy."
"Then why don't you do it?" Gaius retaliated.
The man took a step back. "It seems you have a bit of a temper."
"Then why don't you do it?" He repeated.
The man reached down and rolled up one of his pant legs. His calf was droopy and it seemed like there was no bone. "How do some of your people put it? I'm a… vegetable?"
"Ah."
"So will you do it, boy? It's so simple," the man smirked again. "Remember, there's a good price if you do this. You escape from this cell and if you caught again, you could just pay them off."
Gaius stared at his blood soaked hands. "Fine. Get me out of here."
The man turned and grabbed a large chain. He pulled and the bars lifted up a few inches. "Scoot underneath, boy. Now."
Gaius crawled over and slid underneath the bars only a second before the man dropped the chain. The bars snapped back down and nearly cut his legs off. He pushed himself up and walked towards the door, which was still open. The moaning and yelling of the other prisoners echoed into the hallway, even after the door had been closed.
"Where are the guards, huh?" Gaius asked suspiciously.
"Knocked-out, obviously," the man replied and limped forward.
"I'm not stupid. I just don't see anyone anywhere."
"That's good, isn't it?"
"I guess…"
...
It was nearly midnight by now. Gaius sat in an old tent just outside of Ylisstol. He was waiting for a man, the boss of the operation. Just as Gaius was about to nod off, someone walked in. The man sat down in front of Gaius.
"Let's talk payment. I say that-" Gaius began, but was immediately cut off.
"Shut it. I will talk you payment, and you keep quiet," the man snapped back.
"Fine."
"Payment…" the man paced around the tent, murmuring to himself. "I will give you enough gold to buy food for four months, to keep out of trouble. That's more than enough, but Garten said you're good and expensive."
"Sweeten the deal," Gaius replied quickly, nodding.
"What?! You want more than that?" the man yelled.
"In a way, yes," Gaius smirked. "Sweets. Candy. Pastries. Add that to the deal- four months of them- and we'll be good."
The man laughed. "You want candy? If I gave you that deal… the gold for two and the sweets for two."
"Three months each."
"Three for the sweets, two for the money. That's the best it's gonna get, boy."
"Good enough for me."
"It had better be. I'm not paying you any more than that."
"That's fine with me," Gaius said, stepping up and turning around. "See ya."
"Where are you going?" the man yelled after him.
"I'm off to catch a princess."
A/N Hello there, people who are reading this. This is probably going to be one of the shorter chapters of this fanfic. Usually I write about 1000-1500 word chapters, but this one fell short. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and come back to read more!
-missxmad