The Thief

By The Inspector

Chapter 13

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Disclaimer: Same thing as always. I don't own. I don't make money. I don't want to be sued. Thanks so much.

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When Kura woke, the sun was up and the day was already warm. He was on the bank of the river, his clothes heavy with sand and his feet still in the water. Had it all been a dream? He opened his eyes and looked at what was caught in his hand. Still there after a night in the river was the poor, plain, gray-and-white spotted stone-Horus's Gift.

Clasping it to his chest, Kura closed his eyes and thanked every god he could remember. For some reason, they had decided to spare him. Then he pulled his feet out of the river and dragged his tired body up to where the sand was dry and lay down to sleep a little longer.

That's where Kaiba, Odion, Malik, and Ryou found him some time later. After Kura had not returned to camp when the river returned, they walked downstream with their packs to see if they could find his body so that they might at least give him a decent burial.

Kura woke when he heard their voices coming around the bend. Slowly he said up, groaning at the new bruises on his body and blinked in the sun.

The rest of his party starred at him in shock. "Holy Ra!" Malik finally exclaimed. "Are you telling me he's still ALIVE?"

Ryou let out a strangled cry and ran to him, throwing himself in Kura's arms and began to sob. "I thought you were dead!" he cried, burying his head against the thief's chest. Kura blinked dumbly at the rest of the party and then wrapped his arms around the shaking boy, rocking him gently back and forth.

"Well," Kaiba said as they made their way over, "At least my conscience is clear that you did not drown." He sighed and pushed his hair out of his face. "We are alive, and you are alive, so this expedition was at least not the disaster of earlier ones. If we failed to recover Horus's Gift, well, perhaps someone found it first or it was never there at all."

Without meaning to, Kura unwrapped one arm from around Ryou's waist and opened his hand so that the magus could see the Gift resting on his palm.

Kaiba sank to his knees and Kura grinned at the magus's wonder and his own delight. Odion and Malik pressed closer to see the prize that they had traveled all this way for and even Ryou turned around, sniffing once or twice, to see it.

"You are a wonder, Kura," Ryou said, hugging the thief.

"Where was it?" Kaiba asked, taking the stone and turning it in this hand to inspect all sides.

Kura told him about the obsidian door and stairway, but declined to tell him about the gods. He didn't want to risk Kaiba dismissing and laughing at what he knew had happened.

"The river came down just as you said it might," Kaiba informed Kura, "It washed right across our old campsite on the lower bank. So I suppose we owe you for our lives as well."

"Is that really Horus's Gift," Malik said, leaning over Kaiba's shoulder to see the rock. Kaiba turned it over for him so that he could see the ancient lettering carved into the stone with Horus's ancient name. "But it's just a dumb old gray rock!"

"Take a closer look," Kaiba said. "What we see is not always the truth and can deceive us." He handed the stone back to Kura. "What can our thief see?"

Kura held Horus's Gift up in the sun and saw a glint of something blue at the bottom on one of the letters of Horus's name. "It's a sapphire," Kura said in surprise. "At least, part of it is."

"Correct," Kaiba said, "There is a description of the stone in the scrolls of the High Priest of Eddis. Whenever someone produces a stone, the High Priest compares it to the description in the scroll. No one but the Priest is allowed to read the description and so no one has ever managed to offer a successful fake. Probably because someone who is already as wealthy and powerful as the High Priest of Eddis is difficult to corrupt."

"Or he's already corrupt and doesn't want to share his power," Kura put in.

"But you know the description?" Ryou asked Kaiba.

"Yes."

"How?"

"My predecessor visited the High Priest during a trip as ambassador to Eddis," Kaiba explained. "He gave the pries a drugged bottle of wine and then looked through his library while he was unconscious. I found the description of the stone in his journals after he went missing."

Kura shuddered at the idea of poisoning a High Priest. They were still throwing people off the edge of the mountain for crimes like that.

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There was little food left and what there was left was rather unappetizing. After Kura swallowed the last of the dried meat, he asked Odion for some string to tie back his hair. He was given two pieces of leather thong, one longer than the other, and tied up his hair with the long one, saving the other for later.

Then they began the trip back across the dystopia, Kaiba wearing Horus's Gift around his neck. Kura was a little disgruntled that it had passed out of his hands only a few hours after he had stolen it.

The sun on the dystopia was hot and over bearing, but Kaiba pushed them on with breaks far and few between. "The quicker we go, the better," he told them.

At the edge of the black ground, they reclaimed the horses, fat from eating the overgrown grass and dropped fruit.

"I'm hungry," Kura complained as they entered the Sea of Olives. And he continued to whine and groan about his empty stomach until they reached a small stream and a group of men on horseback appeared from behind the trees.

Kura saw the swords in their hands and didn't wait to learn anything else. He dragged his horse to the side, hitting Kaiba's horse and barely brushing shoulders with the magus before he managed to turn the horse into the trees.

As a branch passed over his head, Kura grabbed it with his free hand and pulled himself up into the tree, leaving the horse to keep walking rider-less.

By the time he was secure on a higher branch and could look down, Kaiba and Odion had their swords out and one of the attacking horsemen was laying facedown in the water.

Kaiba proved himself a dangerous swordsman, Odion's equal in skill and superior in style. Between them they managed to hold back the three remaining attackers. This was good, because Kura was sharply reminded of exactly how useless the two boys were.

Ryou was twisted in his saddle with his back to the fight, trying to get his sword out of his saddlebag. Malik was doing the same, but he had the sense to turn his horse away from danger. Ryou, looking in the wrong direction, didn't know how close he was to being spitted.

"Ryou!" Kura called from the tree. "Ryou, damn it, move!" But Ryou didn't hear him over the other shouting, which was mostly Odion and Kaiba yelling at him to forget the sword and hide in the trees.

Kura swore fiercely and ran along the length of his tree branch, throwing himself facedown on the limb and reaching through the leaves. All that he could reach of Ryou was his hair but one of the horsemen slipped between Kaiba and Odion so Kura grabbed large handfuls of the white fluff and pulled Ryou off-balance.

With a surprised gasp, Ryou fell off his horse and landed in the mud, the animal between him and the fighting. He would have been safe if he stayed down, but he struggled to his feet, sword finally in hand, and the cursed horse moved away. Ryou was left, standing with his mouth open, as his opponent lifted his sword.

High in his tree, Kura flinched and closed his eyes. He didn't want to watch. But at the last possible moment Ryou must have shifted his weight and parried the blow aimed at his head.

Kura heard the clang of metal on metal and his heart shuddered and his stomach jumped. Ryou's return to guard was always slow, and he had to be off balance.

But when Kura peered through his fingers, he saw Odion appear behind Ryou's assailant and slid his sword into the man's rib cage, nearly to the hilt. The man hung for a moment on the sword, and then slid off into the water. With all the horsemen finished off, Kura was able to breath easier and sat up on his branch.

With everything calming down, the magus was finally able to check on the members of his group. Ryou was a little shaken, but unhurt. Malik was fine and Odion had a small superficial cut on his arm below his elbow.

"And Kura," Kaiba said, looking up at the thief, "I see you found a safe place to hide while we were busy."

Kura scowled and opened his mouth to point out that he didn't have a sword to defend himself with, not that he wouldn't have climbed the tree anyway, but instead he starred at Kaiba and his mouth dropped open like a horrified gargoyle. Slowly, he raised his hand and pointed to the magus's shirt.

Kaiba lifted his hand instinctively to his shirt, checking for a wound, before he realized that Horus's Gift was gone. He looked down at the neatly sliced leather thong laying over one shoulder. Frantically, Kaiba searched the folds of his clothes, the ridges of his saddle, and the saddlebags before he waded into the stream.

"What happened?" Malik cried, shimmying down from his mount, "What happened?"

"The stone, the damn stone," Kaiba said. "I lost it in the fighting. Damn it! Who are these people?" he snapped, shifting a body off a gravel bank in midstream."

"Shame you can't ask them," Kura said dryly from the tree as he redid his hair, "Because you killed them all."

"They are Attolian Guards," Odion said gravely. He pointed so the identification of their uniforms. "These were scouts."

"Great," Kaiba snarled. "Kura, get down out of that tree and help us look."

"I can't believe you lost it!" Kura whined as he slid down the tree. "All my hard work, and you LOSE it! I risked my life for that thing!"

"Shut up!"

They looked for the stone for a good quarter of an hour, shifting through rocks on the riverbed that looked no different from the precious stone, when Odion finally spoke.

"It's gone, magus."

There was a long silence while Kaiba still starred through the water at the gravel. "Yes," he said at last. "Yes, we must go. When the Scouts do not return they will send others. We must go as quickly as we can." He looked back at the water and shook his head. "I don't believe this."

"You don't believe it," Kura snapped as he squeezed out his wet shoes, "I don't believe it! How could you just lose it!?"

"Shut up!"

Everyone mounted their respective horses and Kaiba turned to take one last look around at the stream and trees around him, as if he were memorizing the place so that he might return someday and resume his search again.

"Let's move!" Odion said, and the horses were kicked into a gallop. Kura tried very hard to keep his concentration on his riding. Now was not the time to drop behind or, worse, fall off the horse.

After some distance was covered, they turned the horses into the trees and moved a little slower. "We have to keep ahead of them," Kaiba said matter-a-factly, "They'll track us."

Kura's head swiveled around to stare at the Magus. The man sounded almost…cheerful. How could he be cheerful!? He was stunned, and it must have shown.

"I've given it some thought, Kura," Kaiba said, "And I've decided that the stone itself doesn't matter. We've seen it, have the description, and know that no one can produce the original. We'll simply make a copy. We'll manage."

Kura didn't know how someone who had held the stone in his hand managed to say that it wasn't important. He almost expected lightening to strike the magus dead. And all of his work just thrown away because the magus would manage. Kura grit his teeth and growled.

"Stop it," Kaiba tossed back before he turned to Odion. "We'll follow this track to the main road. It is the fastest way to Sounis."

"What about food?" Kura snarled, ticked off that they were ignoring him.

"We'll try to get something in Pirrhea tonight," he said vaguely.

"Tonight?!" Kura screeched as his stomach gave a hungry rumble that was heard all the way to the last rider in the line.

'I'm sorry," Kaiba snapped, "But I can't just pull food out of the air for you."

"Well, you're not going to pull it out of Pirrhea either," Kura shrieked, "What, do you plan to just knock on a door and say, 'Oh, Excuse us. There are four of the Queen's Guard dead, soldiers are searching every road for us, and I'd like to buy some bread and dried meat, please?'!"

"And what do you suggest, O oracle of the gutter?" Kaiba growled.

"I suggest that you should have brought food for five people on this miserable traveling circus of yours," Kura retorted smartly, "That, or you should have left Useless the Elder and his younger brother at home!"

"He's not my brother," Malik said, offended.

"That," Kura snarled, whirling on him, "Was a figure of speech. Now shut up!" Malik jumped in the saddle like he had been slapped. Then his eyes got hard.

"You lying little bastard," Malik snapped, "I am a valuable asset to this group! Unlike you, you gutless gutter brat!"

"You were no help just now," Kura returned smartly.

"Neither were you," Malik shot back. "You went and climbed a TREE!"

"Hey, I didn't have a sword."

"You can have mine once I run you through with it."

"Stop!" Odion ordered and both boys fell silent for a few moments.

Then Kura turned back to Kaiba. "How do you propose we'll get this food?" he demanded.

But Kura's altercation with Malik had given him a moment to think and he had arrived at the obvious solution. "You," Kaiba said with a smirk, "Are going to steal it."

"Just great!"

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Pirrhea was an old town. Kura left the others in the trees outside the town limits. "You have one hour," Kaiba told him as he gave the thief a small sack. "If you aren't back by then, I will go into town and shout 'Thief!' at the top of my voice."

Had it not been so dark, Kaiba would have seen the contempt on Kura's face. As it was, he heard it in his voice.

"Be sure to shout 'Murderers! Murderers!' too," Kura hissed. Better yet, he'd do it himself. That was one way to get rid of his problems.

Kaiba grabbed Kura's arm as he tried to pass, jerking him back around to face him. "Either way, we all go to the block together," Kaiba said nastily.

Kura shook the magus off and stomped off towards the town to find food. Kitchen gardens were easily raided and Kura harvested whatever his hands found. He didn't dare risk his neck by going inside homes, not when he had so much to lose, and stuck to looting what could be found outside.

Feeling like a creeping fox, he snuck into a hen house at the largest home he found and wrung the necks of three chickens and then slipped into the barn to collect to can of goat milk before returning to the magus and the others.

Sadly, there was no time to stop and cook the chickens. Odion tied them to his saddle and everyone had to be content with raw vegetables and a mouthful or so of the milk. "Well cook the chickens as soon as we're in Eddis," Kaiba promised, "Once we're on neutral ground."

They road hard into the night, not stopping for sleep except the few minutes that could be caught while the horses were being rested. But they couldn't delay for long. The guards pursuing them were never far behind.

It was midmorning when they finally stepped out of the Sea of Olives and found themselves at the base of the mountain that rose sharply out of the ground.

"Eddis begins here," Malik said cheerfully. "Aren't we on neutral ground now?"

"Only if there are enough Eddisians around to insist on it," Kaiba said gravely. "Dismount, we have to hike it up."

"Not me," Kura said as the horses trotted off on their own. He fully intended to find himself a safe hiding place to wait until the hunt for the travelers went past him. "I'm going my own way now." He had no intention of being taken back to prison, or to Sounis for that matter. He washed his hands of that entire country.

Kaiba was astonished. Then he was angry. "What to you mean, not you?" he demanded.

"I'll take my chances in Attolia," Kura retorted, "I am not going back."

"You are coming back with us even if I have to drag you there myself!" Kaiba shouted.

But it didn't phase Kura. He simply crossed his arms across his chest and leaned against a huge bolder. "You're wasting time," he pointed out lazily.

Kaiba threw up his hands. "Fine!" he bellowed. "Go die on the swords of the Attolians. Be drawn, quartered, and hung; I don't care! Spend the rest of your miserable, worthless life in one of their dungeons. It makes no difference to me!"

Kura stood aside and watched the small group begin their ascension up the mountainside. Kaiba muttered curses as he began climbing his way up. Odion was quiet and Malik wore a triumphant smirk on his face. But Ryou…

After a few hesitant steps after the rest of his companions, Ryou stopped and slid back down the few inches he had climbed and walked back to Kura. Awkwardly, he pulled his sword free from its scabbard and offered it to Kura. "It's not any use to me," Ryou explained truthfully, "Be careful."

It was only a beginner's sword, lighter than a regular one, but better than nothing. Kura took it from Ryou and nodded. "Thank you," he said honestly. He glanced up to see Kaiba look back and snort in contempt before he disappeared between two boulders, making his way up towards the cliff. "You need to hurry," Kura said at last. "Go, Ryou."

When Ryou didn't move, Kura gave him a small shove in the directing of the mountain and climbed up the side of his boulder to wait. At the top of it, he was above the eye level of any passing horseman, and it served as good a hiding place as any.

Kura listened with sharp ears until he heard the small clatter of rocks as Ryou finally began making his way up the mountain's steep side. Lying out of the rock, he settled down to wait and tried to keep grisly images of them all beheaded out of his mind.

He watched Ryou pick his way up, now the only one still visible from the road, and remembered how the boy had slipped down a good deal of the mountain on the way down. He was allowing himself a small smile of victory, when his heart began to race as he heard the jingle of bits.

The Attolians, dressed primly in the colors of the Queen's Guard, approached fast and halted at the base of the mountain. "Come down, boy," one called up to Ryou, laughing.

To Kura's horror, Ryou's grip faltered and he slipped a few feet before he could stop himself. But his hold on the mountain was weak and he was sure to slip again before he could recover the distance he had fallen. Kura could see it and so could the Attolians who unsheathed their swords and held them in the boy's direction, meaning to tear him apart as soon as he was within their range.

Kura shook his head stubbornly, tried to understand the internal battle going inside him between his head and heart. He had promised, had sworn to the gods that he wouldn't get involved in any more of these stupid plans. He had his full of stupid plans. And yet, his heart gave a great lurch as Ryou shrieked in fear as he slipped again and the Attolian Guards laughed.

This was not his fight! This was none of his business. He had his own motives and goals to achieve! Wasn't his fight…

FLASHBACK

"What's your point?" Kura challenged, "Eddis didn't have a motive to get involved in a fight because Eddis never got overrun. The Invaders never conquered them. It wasn't their fight."

"The Invaders eventually took over Attolia as well as Sounis," Kaiba said, "And yes, the rule of Eddis never changed hands at the invasion of an outside force. Eddis just sat back and watched everything happen, never lifting a finger to help either of her neighbors that were invaded."

FLASHBACK

Could he just sit back and watch Ryou die because it wasn't a factor of his plan? Ryou, sweet little Ryou with the kindest heart he had ever known? No, no he couldn't do it. In fact…Kura's eyes narrowed in anger. The Guards were almost twice Ryou's age. How dare they attack him like this!?

With a growl like a white-haired mountain lion, Kura launched himself off the boulder and jumped onto one of the Guards, taking him down and the guy that had been next to him. The guy Kura had jumped on was hit by the horse behind him, who had been startled when the rider fell right at his feet.

Scrambling away on all fours and dragging Ryou's sword after him, Kura hurried to get away from the knot of riders and jumped to his feet. "Leave him alone," he demanded, waving the sword at the remaining guards. Then before they could react, he turned and ran.

'Follow me,' his mind hissed, 'Leave Ryou. Follow me.' He didn't have time to turn around, but he hoped that Odion had gone to get his smaller look-a-like. Once he got to the trees he'd be safe. Without dogs, they would never be able to track him. But he couldn't outdistance them on foot and swerved back to the mountain, trying to get to the rocks where he wouldn't be ridden down.

A horse swerved in front of Kura just before it made it to the rocks and he turned around. There were horses everywhere, and shouting. Everyone seemed to be shouting.

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TBC

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Author's Note: Answering Questions and Such

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(Blink, Blink) Kelsey! Oh my god! You were the only one to recognize that line from 1776. Yes, the obnoxious and disliked part. I love the musical 1776 and love to sneak the quote into my writing if I can get it there. Good job!

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Sorry Mokuba's Official Glomper, I saw your question last time and forgot to answer it. Yes, the plot and some of the lines in this story are from a book called The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner.

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That's all for now! Until next week.

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The Inspector

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