The Thief
Chapter Two
Disclaimer: I don't own. I don't make money. Please don't sue me.
~The Inspector
~~~~
Kura was surprised when two guards came for him the next morning. He had thought it would take a while for the preparations to be made, since Kaiba obviously only got the go ahead for his plan the night before. Kura shifted uncertainly from foot to foot, unsure where exactly the magus planned to take him, but his spirits cheered when all his chains were removed.
Kura was marveling the absence of the clanking sounds that accompanied him as the guards led him past the rows of other cells and through the halls. Then they reached the door to the courtyard and some idiot opened it.
Screaming bloody murder and howling and cursing, Kura tried to pull out of the guards hold and back into the shadows of the prison. "Why don't you just fucking burn me at the stake!?" Kura hollered, trying to shield his eyes. "It would be kinder, you assholes!"
It was nearly noon and the sun, the blasted sun, shown right into the courtyard, its light reflecting on every surface.
Kura hunched over in pain, but the guards simply picked him up by the elbows and dragged him, howling and swearing, out into the courtyard and the sunlight.
"I'm blind!" Kura continued to holler. "Damn! Gods damn! Owwww!"
"Cut that out," Kaiba said from somewhere Kura couldn't see. "Pull your self together and stop whining."
"The gods damn you too," Kura snarled in his direction. To his relief, Kaiba and the guards left him alone and Kura was left alone to deal with the pain in his eyes.
The pain didn't fade quickly, but after a few minutes Kura could take his hands away from his face and make out the stones beneath his feet through blurry eyes. Some time later he was finally able to lift his head and take a squinting look around the courtyard.
Servants rushed about, bothering the group of horses, while Kaiba shouted orders at them, Kura practically forgotten. One horse in particular seemed very nervous as a man unpacked a brace of saddlebags, searching for something and spilling the contents of the bags near the horse's feet.
Kaiba swore and scowled when whatever it was that the man was looking for was not found. "Go back and look for it on the bench outside the galley. That's where it was when I told you to pack it the first time, idiot."
Kura watched as the 'idiot' simply nodded and departed back inside, returning within minutes with a small leather case that he dropped into the saddlebags.
Kura still could only look at the world through slitted, blurry eyes, but he was pretty sure that he saw only five horses. Not a large traveling party then, but each horse was loaded with baggage meaning, to Kura's relief, a long journey.
"Let's go," Kaiba shouted suddenly from over Kura's head, "I wanted to leave at daybreak. We're already behind schedule. Odion, get the boys on their rides. I'll load the thief."
Kura bristled at being referred to as if he were a piece of baggage to be dumped in a saddlebag-or saddle in this case. He could see Kaiba standing near one of the hoses and motion him over, but Kura didn't move.
He hated horses. HATED them. He knew that some people thought the beasts were graceful, noble, beautiful animals, but Kura knew better. No matter how nice a horse looks from a distance, he could never forget that it would just as soon step on him as look at him. No, he was sure it would rather step on him than look at him. Malicious creature.
"Get on the horse, you idiot."
Kura blinked and looked up at Kaiba's angry face. "Me?" Kura asked. On the horse? Forget it!
Kaiba rolled his eyes. "No, the other thief. Of course you, you fool."
When Kura made no move to get up and move towards the horse, Kaiba got tired of waiting and grabbed the thief by the back on the neck and dragged him, protesting, over to the waiting animal.
Kura set his heels and resisted Kaiba's efforts. If he was going to have to get onto the blasted animal eight times his size, then he wanted to plan the attempt first.
But Kaiba was stronger than him at the moment and he have Kura a good shake, making the thief's head swim and the cheep cloth of his shirt tear where Kaiba had his grip. "Put your left foot in the stirrup," Kaiba snapped. "I said you left one."
Eventually two grooms had to come over and after a lot of pushing and pulling, they finally got Kura into the saddle. Once situated, Kura shook the hair out of his eyes and looked around. Being so many feet off the ground did give one a sense of superiority and Kura scowled and crossed his arms, but then the horse moved a little and Kura uncrossed his arms in order to hang onto the front of the saddle, trying not to look like he was clinging on for dear life. Damn horses.
Once the others in their party were up, Kaiba turned his horse and started out of the courtyard and into the city. Kura's horse, he had decided to call it Dumb Beast III, obediently followed and the other riders fell into step behind him.
There was no fanfare, no crowds, no trumpets to announce Kura's departure from the cursed prison, but he didn't mind. The last time he had been the center of a crowd's attention had been at his trial, and he hadn't liked that one bit. That kid that had thrown that tomato was SO on his death list.
Still, it was rather depressing that no one knew that he was out.
The streets the magus took them through weren't the main roads, though there were still a lot of people out. There were merchants shouting, donkeys baying, and a lot of all around noise. And Kura loved it. It was a welcome change from the cloying silence of the prison.
As they made their way through the general traffic, Kura noticed that they were getting several curious looks. His companions were all dressed in sturdy traveling clothes, but Kura was still in the clothes he had worn when he was first thrown in prison.
His tunic had been a bright, cheerful yellow when he had bought it. He thought it looked kind of dashing when he had bought it, even if yellow wasn't his color, but it had now faded to a greasy beige color. It didn't help that in addition to the small tears he had managed to acquire by himself, there was a long tear across his shoulders, courtesy of the magus.
Further down the road, Kura recognized different shops that he had visited and looked wistfully at the shop on the corner that sold only earrings. He twisted around in his saddle, but alas, they were too far away for him even to catch a glimpse of the merchandise in the window.
The little traveling party was down by the docks, nearing the outskirts of the city, and Kura was counting the cannon on one of the King's warships when he saw a boy run past.
"Jounouchi!" Kura called, "Hey, Jounouchi!"
He didn't get any further before Kaiba, grabbing Kura's arm and widening another small tear, kicked his horse into a trot and hurried down the street and around a corner, leaving the other riders to catch up.
"Damn it!" Kaiba snapped, glaring at Kura. "What do you think you were doing?"
Kura rolled his eyes and pointed backwards. "Jou's a friend of mine. I was trying to say hello." 'Dumbass,' he added mentally.
"I don't want everyone in this blasted city to know that you're working for the King," Kaiba said, glaring at Kura.
Kura, not impressed with Kaiba's glare, shrugged with indifference. "Why not?" he asked.
Kaiba threw up his hands in disbelief. "Do you announce that you're going to steal something before you…" Kaiba paused and shook his head. "Wait, I forgot. You do. Well, I don't."
"Why not?" Kura asked again, knowing that it would get on Kaiba's nerves.
"Because I don't. Now shut up," Kaiba said, scowling.
"Yes, sir," Kura said, snapping a salute. But as the horses began to move again, Kura snickered and made a face at Kaiba's back.
Before long they exited the city walls and Kura breathed a sigh of relief. Now he began to look around at the new scenery in earnest. They passed the fine houses and villas of wealthy merchants, and then the fields and farms that stretched on for miles in every direction. Kura noticed that the watermelons in the fields were already as large as his head. Heh, it was later in the summer than he had thought. It had taken a long time to get out of prison.
"Don't pull on the reins," the man to Kura's right, the 'idiot,'…what had Kaiba called him? Right, Odion. Odion said.
Personally, Kura didn't know where Kaiba got the courage to call the man an idiot. The magus was tall, but Odion was taller. And with his strong build, dark skin, and knot of long black hair, he looked particularly fierce. He was obviously a soldier. Kura could see a sword tucked away in his saddlebag. Kaiba had to either be a fool, or Odion was not as dangerous as he looked. Kura was betting on the former.
But back to the reins. Kura looked at the strips of leather in his hands and dropped them altogether. The stupid beast obviously knew where it was going better than Kura and didn't need any additional guidance.
Without anything else to do, Kura looked over at the other two in their group, obviously the boys. There was one younger, maybe a year or so younger than Kura, and one older by perhaps a year, if even. Kura was at a loss to even guess why they were part of the party. He saw a sword and scabbard on the horse of the older one, and maybe with some direction he could chop up a straw dummy. The younger one however, looked completely useless.
Both boys were obviously well bred, defiantly not servants, and Kura wondered if they were perhaps brothers. They were both dressed like Kaiba, in dark blue tunics that flared at the waist over their trousers.
The older one had light blond hair like bleached summer straw and violet eyes. He was riding on Kura's left and every time a small draft of wind blew from Kura's direction, the boy would wrinkle his nose, but didn't bother himself to look at Kura.
The younger one was another story. He rode behind Kura and every time Kura turned around he saw that the boy with long silver-white hair was staring at him with wide, brown eyes.
For the time being, Kura identified them as Useless the Elder and Useless the Younger.
Kura sighed and squirmed uncomfortably in his saddle. In the city, Kura had soaked up the heat and sun, turning purposefully towards it to warm up his prison cold body. It had been nice a first, but before the city was a lump of color in the distance, Kura felt like he was wearing a coat two sizes too small. A coat made of sweat and dirt.
All the smells of the prison floated down the road with him, only getting worse as the day's heat increased. Kura had a suspicious feeling that even the hose under him was offended. Not to mention that the riders on either side of him kept moving farther and farther away.
As the heat grew more intolerable to Kura, he grew more and more exhausted. Finally realizing that he was going to do something stupid and embarrass himself, like falling off the damn horse, if he didn't rest, Kura tried calling to the magus. "Hey," he called ahead, "I'm tired." Ouch, that sounded pathetic.
But Kaiba didn't respond, didn't even turn his head to show that he had heard and Kura decided to make the executive decision. He slid sideways down the side of his horse, hoping that his other leg would follow.
It did, though hardly gracefully. He was sure that he heard Useless the Elder snickering at the comical figure he made, hoping on one leg while the horse walked on, nearly taking off his other leg before it caught up.
Once both legs were safely on the ground, Kura staggered to the side of the road and to the grass that grew there. He sank to his knees, then flopped onto his stomach with a small 'oof'.
As Kura fell, he felt someone grab for this shirt, just missing it. Heh, Odion. Kura figured that he must have gone after him the second he had slid off the horse.
The rest of the group dismounted and gathered around Kura in a small half circle. Kura opened his eyes a moment, seeing only the four pairs of boots, and then closed them again.
"What's wrong with him, magus?" Kura heard a soft voice ask, hesitant and worried. Must be the younger one.
"Gods damn," Kaiba said instead, "We're only halfway to Methana. We're supposed to reach Matinaea tonight." At seeing the concerned eyes of the young boy, Kaiba shook his head. "He's fine. His body is just exhausted, not enough food to keep him going."
Odion, nudged the tired thief with the toe of his boot, but Kaiba shook his head. "No, just leave him."
Kura, somehow still awake, was glad when he heard that. They were just going to leave him. He could lie there in the grass forever. Kinda like a milemarker. He didn't think he'd mind that. Once you reach the thief, you know that you're halfway to Methana. Wherever the hell Methana was.
But they didn't leave him. While Kura slept, the rest of the party let the horses take a break and ate their lunches, waiting for him to recover
Damn.
~TBC
Note: Hey, which does the hikari Marik go by? Marik or Malik?