2.
"I don't care if she's the loveliest maiden in this part of the world, she's a total and complete loon!" Casphus's voice echoed through the hallway, making the thin man in front of him flinch and glance around him to make sure none of the courtiers or vassals had heard.
"Please, sire, keep your voice down." He frantically waved his bony hands in an gesture to silence the prince in front of him.
Casphus ran his hand through his sweep of raven's wing black hair, his deep blue eyes vexed. He paced several steps, turned on his heel, then paced back towards the thin man, gesturing emphatically at the door in front of him. "Did you hear her?" He rolled his eyes as he imitated the girl's waffling voice, "oh but Prince, books are my life. I could never marry someone who's never even read The Tales of Grimmauld and Presopice also known as The Most Boring and Giant Book About Nothing in the Entire World! Grisby, I am prepared to give her diamonds and pearls, but I'm not going to suffer through all of the books she shoves at me just to go through with this farce of a marriage!"
"So reading is important to her... You'd think you'd be grateful to find a cultured and well-read young woman such as herself." Casphus snorted and turned on his heel, striding down the hallway and back towards his rooms. Grisby let out a noise as if someone was strangling him, hurrying to keep up with the rapidly retreating Prince. "She knows things, your majesty!"
"Not how to be interesting in the slightest bit!" Casphus shot over his shoulder and Grisby rung his hands together nervously.
"Your majesty --" he pleaded again but Casphus wasn't stopping nor waiting. He just kept walking, his long legs devouring the ground and making Grisby trot to keep up with him, something that had the thin man wheezing and gripping the wall by the time Casphus reached his rooms.
He shoved open the doors with a resounding boom!, striding in and making the servants that had been cleaning the room (thinking he would be out all day with his soon-to-be-betrothed) scurry out. Like nervous sheep, Casphus thought irritatedly.
He didn't like this place. He didn't like the pretentiousness of Krayve, the vapidness of his daughter, the way everyone -- servant and villager alike -- seemed cowed, spineless, and ready to kiss his toes at a moment's whim. It made him long for home, where people stood tall and met his eye, where the villagers didn't wear tatters or look as if they were in need of a solid meal or six or seven.
"We're going home, Grisby. Tell everyone to make ready. I want to leave tonight."
All of the color fled from Grisby's face and Casphus swore he was about ready to keel over. He didn't relent, however, staring at his vassal expectantly. He was completely and utterly serious, and the realization of such made Grisby open and close his mouth in a rather impressive imitation of an oversized fish.
"But we're-- Joy-- Lord Krayve-- the servants--"
"Make it happen, Grisby. Lady Joy is not the lady I will be wedding." Then he turned on his heel again, heading for the patios. He needed some fresh air, even if the air here was staler than air at home.
"Tonight is impossible, m'lord... The time it'll take, to get everything together... and to make apologies to Lord Krayve... Not to mention we don't even have any provisions for this sort of thing..."
Casphus turned on the skinny man, his blue eyes flashing. The court at home joked about that look, joked that once he turned it on someone neither Fairy Godmothers nor the Dragonmother herself could make him change his mind. Grisby quailed under that look.
"... but we'll leave as soon as possible, m'lord..."
"Tomorrow morning, Grisby. See to it. I don't care if you have to be up all night, I won't stay in this heathen town for a moment longer than I absolutely have to. I'll be taking supper in my room tonight, as well. Supper last night was the worst affair I've ever seen." All Lord Krayve had spoken about was how wonderful his lands were, but Casphus had yet to see even a spark of fire or determination from any of them -- including the illustrious Lady Joy.
Ignoring Grisby, he flopped down on his bed, distracted from his quest for fresh air by the lure of the only good thing he'd discovered in this whole forsaken land, the softness of his bed. He closed his eyes, willing the day to be away.
When he re-opened his eyes again, it was dark outside. He must have slept almost the entire evening away, he thought, sitting upright in surprise. The servants hadn't even woken him up for his supper, which he could see sitting on a nearby table. Sliding to his feet, he tugged his rumpled tunic down and inspected the food. Roast duck -- charred, unidentifiable vegetables, some sort of rock-hard bread... He left the rest of the meal and elected for an apple from the bowl sitting on the table.
Biting into it, he idly wondered how Grisby was doing with his quest to get them out of there by morning. He was sure Grisby would do it; there was a reason he kept the nervous man around and it wasn't his winning personality. Rather, his astounding ability to just... get things done. It never ceased to astound Casphus.
His feet led him to the balcony, stepping out into the fresh(er) air, still munching on his apple. He leaned against the marble railing, letting his eyes wander over the mansion's grounds. The moon was high in the sky, the stars glittering. He was probably the only one in the entire mansion who was still awake.
Except for one lone figure. He found his eyes drawn to the person who had just slipped in through a gate he hadn't even noticed before. My, they were getting back to the mansion rather late, he thought idly, taking another bite of his apple as he continued to watch the person.
When they paused, not once, but a half dozen times, to glance around them to make sure no one else saw them, however, Casphus straightened, his brow furrowing.
Nothing screamed suspicious like that, and the very large, very empty burlap sack slung across the figure's shoulder. Casphus grinned, leaning over the railing a bit further, confident the person wouldn't see him. They weren't looking up, after all.
"Ah hah, a little thief, are we? Not a very good one, either..."
He grinned, finishing his apple and tossing the core far into the grounds, far from where the figure was still hurrying, just entering the shadow of the buildings. He stretched, then turned, leaving the balcony.
"It's about time it got interesting around here."
He slipped from his room, out into the hallway, once again glad for the fact his boots were made out of supple, strong leather, and not the fancy and loud wooden heels that so many other courtiers favored. He was also glad for the extensive and rather boring tour of every room of the mansion that Krayve had given them earlier that day, for he knew right where the figure would have entered.
A flitting shadow made him flatten himself back against the wall, watching as the figure moved past the alcove he had ducked into, single-minded in their pursuit. He grinned. Not a very good one, indeed!
It took little for him to keep up with the thief, and to keep out of sight. He was quite renown for his hunting prowess in his own lands, and the quarry he often liked to pursue was usually much larger and of sharper hearing than this little intruder. The more he followed them, however, the more he thought that this was no thief, at least no experienced thief. They didn't look around nearly enough, they didn't double back, they just snuck quickly towards their destination. Very amateurish.
Their destination, however, made Casphus breath a silent chuckle at the mere audacity. For there, the door that the thief was ever so carefully easing open, was his maids' bathing chambers.
And where a lot of very expensive and very precious jewelry was currently residing.
He flattened himself against the door as the thief slipped inside. A few minutes later he heard the drawers shifting and knew they had found the jewelry boxes that held the jewels. Instead of taking the boxes, however, they were taking the individual pieces. Smart -- boxes like that were added weight, cumbersome, and far too easy to trace back to Casphus.
So, inexperienced, but smart, at least -- and about to be apprehended.
He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "I'm sorry, are you lost?"
The figure stiffened. They were clad in simple brown clothes, bulky and basic, with a long cloth wrapped around their head with only enough space for them to see out of. The clothes made it impossible for him to tell much about the intruder, other than they weren't a rich assassin and they were, as far as he could tell, human. They didn't have the magical grace of Fairies or Elves. Or the hearing.
He folded his arms over his chest. "Listen, surrender now and I'll go easy on yo-oof!"
The thief didn't even wait for him to finish speaking but grabbed a jewelry box off of the shelves, chucking it at his head. It hit him soundly, making him wince in pain, though thankfully they were decorated with silk and embroidery so all it did was surprise him.
"Hey!"
They were already running, bolting for a far window. By the stars, they were fast. He dashed to intercept them, sliding between them and their chosen method of escape just before they were able to dive through.
"Give up," he ordered, reaching out to grab the thief. They swung the bag of jewels and Casphus stumbled at the force of it slamming into his side. Feisty! he thought, in surprise. But yet again the thief had surprised him by showing no signs whatsoever of having a weapon. They were unarmed? Just what sort of thief were they?
Well, other than a thief already running for the other window. "Hold on a second!" he said, diving forward. He caught the figure around the middle, taking them both down to the ground in a confused jumble of legs and arms and slapping hands.
He rolled and pinned the thief. "Hah! Gotcha!" Brown eyes, exquisitely long-lashed, stared up at him, and for a moment he was taken aback. That gaze... It just shot right through him, making the hairs along his arms stand on end.
The figure took advantage of his momentary distraction, grabbing a nearby table and yanking it over. It fell into him, knocking him off balancing and giving them just enough time to worm out from underneath him. He grunted, lunged to his feet, tackling the thief again. They fell against the wall, sharp elbows jabbing back against him as he grabbed the thief's shoulders, shoving them back against the wall with a hand in the middle of their chest.
Wait a second... He blinked, the thief stiffening in surprise and, perhaps, mortification. Because underneath his hand, where there should have only been the smooth plane of muscle, there was in fact a supple softness. Those big brown eyes were staring up at him, wide as a doe's eyes and just as liquid. They were feminine, enchanting...
It's a GIRL?! He couldn't help his impulse and jerked his hand back, as would any real gentleman.
She got herself back together and was half over the windowsill by the time he recovered. "Hey, wait!" he yelled, making one last grab for her. His hand closed around a dainty ankle and he yanked.
She let out a yelp, grabbing hold of the window sill and jerking herself forward. His hand slipped further down her ankle, digging into the heel of her shoe. They struggled against each other in a game of strength that Casphus knew he could win and determination that, for the first time, he wasn't sure he would. The shoe in his hand, however, seemed to decide for him, for with one last yank, she freed her foot and he tumbled backwards, shoe in hand.
By the time he righted himself, she was already over the window and running, fast as any of his finest horses and just as wild, over the grass towards the gate she'd snuck through, bag of jewels in hand.
Casphus was left standing there, shoe in one hand, feeling as if the entire world had just changed. He stared down at the shoe, then, abruptly, began to laugh, the sound ringing out from his chest. He'd lost, but he'd never felt more like he'd found something, something he hadn't even realized he'd been missing.
He gripped the shoe and stared out the window, grinning. "Don't worry, pretty thief. I'll find you, one way or another."