The True King of Thieves
Ryomi Hayashi
Chapter Six: Leash?
Bulma's blanketed figure twitched and awoke, and she rolled to her side and stretched. Her eyes opening and closing slowly in sleepiness, she covered a yawn with her hand. Stretching one last time, she sat up and looked around, her hair tossed and strewn about her face. Vegeta was gone.
She shrugged internally at Vegeta's absence and was about to think about what she was going to eat for breakfast when she realized something. She was alone in a strange world and, quite possibly, Vegeta's presence meant life or death for her. Without him, she knew nothing about the land, the people, the customs, and most importantly, the basic means of survival.
Sighing, she smoothed back her hair and arose from the makeshift bed. She walked over to the middle of the clearing, where she could get a better look at the forest around her. Giving the forest a quick scan, she found that it would be better to just wait for him to return than venture into the menacing mass of trees.
Bulma sighed once again and walked over to the horse, which was acting as restless as ever. She looked into Vegeta's sack of grooming tools and picked one up. Trying to use it proved frustrating, she had no idea how it worked.
"Geeze, even the stuff for their horses are strange," she said to herself. After toying around with it for a while, she figured out it was some kind of medicine brush. The strange capsule on top was probably for the medicine, and the awkward bristles were probably for evenly spreading the medicine.
Now bored, she dropped the medicine brush back into the sack and took another glance around just to make sure that Vegeta wasn't approaching. He wasn't.
Bulma stood around for a long time, bored as ever. With nothing else to do or think about, her mind wandered to thoughts of where Vegeta could be. It wasn't long before she ran out of wild possibilities and she was even bored with that thought train.
She was about to sit down when something far off caught her attention. She froze and walked towards it a bit.
"Huh? What's that? I thought this forest was empty." Squinting, she could barely make out a hint of it.
It looked like some kind of gray structure, most likely made of stone. The blurry mass gave the impression that it very long and perhaps large in structure.
"Is that a wall or something?" she said to herself. She squinted even more and noticed deep groves in the structure.
"Screw Vegeta, I'm going to go check that out." She turned to the horse and smiled, wagging a finger.
"You be good. I'll be back in a sec." With that, she turned and walked towards the newly discovered oddity, making sure that the horse and the camp never left her sight. After nearing the structure only a short distance, she could automatically tell what it was.
Just as she had guessed, it was a large wall. Though it was far off, she could see it's enormous size quite clearly. She could even barely hear the faint din of an unknown crowd.
"Ah, so it's the wall to a town."
"Excellent observation," a sarcastic voice said from behind her. She jumped and nearly shrieked, but managed to control herself. Turning around, she found the source of the sound to be the one and only Vegeta.
"There you are! Why'd you go and run off? And where were you?"
He stuck out a bowl of some sort filled with a blue paste.
"Getting you what we came for. Now save me the banter and just eat it."
"What is it?"
"Just eat it, woman!"
She arched a brow. "I don't trust you."
His eyes narrowed menacingly. "I've come all this way, and now you're to tell me it was for nothing."
She sighed and took the bowl, and grabbed the eating utensil he had tossed in there. Scooping up a delicate portion, she took a hesitant bite. She nearly chocked.
"This tastes horrible! What is this?"
"Of course it tastes bad, it's medicine! But if you make this entire trip a grand waste of time and don't eat this, you stubborn woman, I swear to the Creator I will make you!"
She rolled her eyes. "Fine fine, I'll eat it, but just because I want to get better!" Bulma took a deep breath and scooped a spoonful. Practically shoving it down her throat to avoid the taste, she swallowed it as fast as she could.
"Ugh! Gross! You could've gotten me water, you know!"
"If you needed someone to cater to your needs you should've brought Warren along."
"Fine, whatever." She scraped away the last of it and painfully swallowed. She handed the bowl back to him and he grunted in what could be considered approval.
"Hey, Vegeta, I meant to ask you, what town's behind the wall?" Bulma asked, hoping Vegita wouldn't guess what she was getting at.
"What town it is isn't important, the fact that it's Miyanan is enough information you need to know."
"It wouldn't happen to be the capital of Miyana, would it?"
He shook his head.
"Well, if it's not the capital, I'm sure it'll be no big deal if we…"
"Woman, if you think that I'm stupid enough to journey into enemy territory unarmed with no men to assist me in battle…"
"Come on Vegeta! They don't need to know that we're thieves, we can just try and be discrete."
"You are truly mad to even consider such a thought!" he bellowed, "Miyana! Of all the places!"
She smirked. "If you don't take me, I'll tell everyone in your tribe about last night's incident."
His eyes widened. "How did you know? I mean…"
She laughed. "Come on Vegeta, did you really think I wouldn't notice?"
"Blackmail!" he yelled, infuriated, walking briskly over to his horse in a rage. As he mounted it, she just stared at him.
"Well? Get on if you expect to be there before dusk, you conniving wench!"
She laughed once more and walked over to the horse. She mounted the horse and rested her chin on his shoulder in front of her.
"Thanks Vegeta, you're a dove."
"I don't understand you, woman, what do you want with this town?"
"You'll see," she said, still smiling, "you'll see."
In a palace some ways away, a Miyanan named Elec and a Sorceress named Wynter were having a conversation in a banquet hall. Elec was seated on the long, dinning table and Wynter stood beside him. Above them hung a traditional Miyanan chandelier of sorts, a simple wooden structure with candle slots and delicately carved emblems. Around them were tapestry hung on the walls and rugs of a similar design. Together, everything in the room radiated a traditional Miyanan beauty, a beauty that failed to comfort the troubled Elec.
Elec was a blonde, whose hair was tousled from raking his fingers through it and whose pale face was streaming with tears he had resisted in wiping away. From the crying, his brown eyes had grown red and irritated, and his fine armor-plated tunic wet where his tears had fallen.
Wynter was also a blonde, due to her race as a sorceress, with eyes as strangely yellow as her hair. She stood there, trying to be of comfort. Mostly she tried to help him out of an opportunity to leach some of his funds, but she did feel a bit sorry for the forlorn nobleman. Greed always did get the best of her, so her need for money did conquer the ladder.
A loud noise interrupted her thoughts as Elec's fist landed on the table in front of him and the platters clattered with his rage and grief.
"Kinna, my love, why do you torment me so? Come back to me! Pity me for my state of undeniable sorrow!" he said, lamenting about an uncertain loss.
Wynter shook her head in shame, placing her hand on Elec's shoulder. "Calm down, Your Highness, I've told you time and time again that I am fully capable of finding a way to return you to your beloved."
"With your witchcraft! Do you not forget that a Miyanan such as I would never reduce himself to following such a heathen as yourself?"
He returned to sobbing into his hands and wailing in grief. Wynter retracted her hand and placed it on her chin pensively. She had to say something coaxing and fast.
"These are desperate times, Prince Elec, why do you not trust my promise? What have you to lose?"
"My entire faith!" he yelled, his eyes redder with tears.
"Your goddess won't abandon you for searching for a lost love, will she?"
"She will not abandon me, I will abandon her!" he said, his vision blurred by tears. No matter how much he struggled to be a man and hold back his tears, his grief always dominated him. Once he started crying, it seemed impossible to stop. He felt as though he was entrenched in a spiral of sorrow, grief for grieving sending him over the edge.
Wynter, meanwhile, rolled her eyes at his overreaction and tried to gather her patience. Maybe if I find her first, she thought to herself, I tell him this and he will have to pay me.
"Very well, Your Highness, I will search for her on my own," she said, turning and walking towards the door.
His moans of grief ceased instantly. Wynter smiled.
"You'd do that?" he started, and quickly added with unbridled curiosity, "And if you find her?"
"Should she be safe, I'll wish her the best of luck and be on my way. But if she's not safe, I will do my best to save her… And then return to my other duties as a Sorceress."
"And why would you do that?"
"A Sorceress helps those in need. It is my responsibility to keep Lady Kinna safe."
"But you are a heathen! Surely you are not burdened by duties and responsibilities of a regular Sorceress!"
"Prince Elec, though I am not a worshipper of the Creator, the blood of a Sorceress still runs within me. I will find your lady Kinna, and though I cannot tell you whether she is well or not because of demands on my schedule, you can have faith that I will find her."
"You will not return her to me? You will simply go back to your life?" She nodded in response. There was a drawn out moment of silence until finally Prince Elec stood up.
"I will pay you to find her and bring her to me. That way, you will make time for the finding of my beloved Kinna."
She smiled and nodded solemnly. "Of course I will find your Lady Kinna. Of course, I will not require much money…"
"Don't be ridiculous," he interrupted, "If you can truly find Lady Kinna, I will pay you sums that will make you wealthy beyond your years." He stopped suddenly, looking longingly off into the distance. His eyes began welling up with tears all over again and he raised a clenched fist. Wynter braced herself for a sentimental moment.
"Anything for my Kinna…"
Wynter remembered to bow in appreciation, partially to hid the disgusted look on her face. "Fear not, Prince Elec, your kindness will not go unrewarded. I will find Lady Kinna and bring her back to you, no matter what it takes."
"Thank you, Wynter, I will never forget this."
And with that, Wynter turned and walked away towards the door, grinning with delight. Prince Elec's eyes glowed with newfound hope and he smiled as well without hesitation. He was eager to cling to any hope that could be given to him, though after waiting he would probably change his mind.
Wynter, meanwhile, was sinisterly content. I knew such a desperate man would break under pressure, she mused to herself.
Suddenly, she remembered something and stopped. Swiveling her head over so she could yell over her shoulder, she said, "Prince Elec, I have one question."
"Yes? What is it?"
"What color hair did Lady Kinna have?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I need to know if I am to find her."
"Ah yes, of course."
"Well? What's the color of her head?"
"Blue," he said, looking off into nothing, drowning in a frequently visited sea of memories in his head, "She has blue hair."