The Journey of a Thief, Dominique Pearce (heavenly.kaos) [ebook smartphone txt] 📗

I took a deep breath. I realized I had stopped breathing for a minute. ‘Even if I die.’ I thought.
Kitiraa turned away from me again, but kept her cool. “Okay...” she stood up suddenly and brushed off the dirt on the backside of her pants. “In that case, we shouldn’t sit around. We’re gonna need supplies, food, you’re gonna need a weapon...” she trailed off, apparently in her own world at the moment. She began walking in the wrong direction, away from Okia. I got up and pointed my hand toward her, calling after her. “Kitiraa!” She turned quickly like the strike of a snake. “What!” she answered back, harshly.
“You’re... uh...” I’d forgotten what I was going to say. “You’re... going the wrong... way.” I finally stammered out. She paused, looked around, and noticed I was telling the truth. She came back slowly, head down, and asked, “Luneth... which way...” I pointed her in the right direction. “Thanks.” she quickly said, obviously embarrassed. “Welcome to the team.” she added as she walked away.
. . .
We were heading back to Okia; Kitiraa and I were nearly there. I was beginning to become curious as to why we were here. From the way she’d reacted to Sylphi being taken, I think Kitiraa was out of leads. And didn’t she say something about supplies? Maybe that’s why we were here.
“Hey, Kitiraa?” I asked her.
“Yeah? What?” she asked back. I noticed she was a lot calmer now. Almost like nothing was wrong. In fact, it’s the most calm I’ve seen her since she got here. It was actually a little unusual to see her this way. Wait, what was I going to say?
“Uh, what exactly are we doing here?”
“Stocking up, among other things.” She sat down under a shady tree in view of the village. She brushed her smooth black hair out of her eyes, and put her hands on her head to rest. “Like I said before, this isn’t going to be a camping trip. It’ll be dangerous. We need supplies like food, water, a pack, clothes, probably some canvas or rope, I need to make more bait--” whatever that means, I thought. “--medicine, information, and I can tell you right now, there is no way in hell I’m taking you along without a weapon.”
“Okay, makes sense to me.” But then I thought. “How do we get all of that?”
“How else? Walk up to the front door and say hi.”
“Really?” I asked in disbelief. “What are we supposed to say? ‘I’m sorry sir, but your daughter has been kidnapped by a dragon and is most likely going to be eaten? We need supplies?’”
“Actually, yeah.” she calmly replied. “But not like that. You need to sell it.”
“Sell what?” She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Oh, Luneth.” she said. She got up, stretched, and shook her head a little to fix her hair. “You know what, just watch the master at work.” She ran off to the center of the village. I followed.
“She’s gone! She’s gone!” Kitiraa started crying franticly. She was acting hysterical! “She’s been taken! She’s gone!” The people came out of their houses, and gathered in the center around her. They ate up every word that came from her mouth!
“Are you okay?”
“What happened?”
“What’s going on?”
“Is the dragon going to come back?”
“Will this ever stop?”
 “Are we safe?”
The questions kept coming, Kitiraa kept acting, and the people were becoming more and more nervous. Suddenly, the patriarch came out of his house and saw from the confusion and terror that something was definitely wrong. When he saw Kitiraa in the middle of the trouble, he clearly became angered. He glared at her until she saw him and they made eye contact. He signaled for her to come inside. She walked slowly, still acting, moving as though she was half dead with a horrified look on her face. I caught up with her. I simply stared. I couldn’t say anything. I probably had a shocked look on my face, because when I came up to her, she whispered in my ear, ‘And THAT is how you sell it.’ She went ahead of me a few steps, a with slight smirk on her face, and left the crowd to it’s chaos.
Wow.
. . .
We sat down on the floor around the table. The patriarch was pacing back and forth across the room. I couldn’t really tell if he was angry for all of the trouble Kitiraa caused, or nervous because of the bad news we were obviously going to tell him. I turned to Kitiraa. She was apparently still acting. She was staring at the floor, acting anxious, like the news she was going to tell him was a memory she didn’t want to have. I didn’t want to admit it, but she was good. Like, really good. Although I didn’t quite understand what it was she was doing, it certainly was helping, so I didn’t complain or ask questions. I simply, ‘watched the master at work’.
“Dammit!” I turned sharply to the patriarch. He had stopped pacing by now, and was sitting opposite to us. But he seemed in a worse state than before. His hand covered his face, which by now was pale and white. He wore a look of sorrow on his face, of grief. It was almost the very life had drained from him.
“How could this happen!” he exclaimed. “How could you just stand there while my daughter has been kidnapped!”
Kitiraa just kept looking at the floor.
“Answer me!” he cried.
“I’m sorry, sir.” she said softly. It was obvious she didn’t cope well with people being angry with her. Or was she acting? “I had little to no control over the situation.”
Lie. I saw the look in her eye, talking to it. She was totally in control.
“The dragon acted of it’s own accord; I couldn’t stop it.”
Truth. She freaked out when the thing bolted.
“I did all I could. We both did.”
We?
At this, he (the patriarch) slid his hand down his face, and leaned back. He looked at the floor with tired dark brown eyes. “You’ve got him caught up in this too?” he questioned, pointing at me. Kitiraa appeared baffled. “No sir, nothing of the sort!” she retorted. “Luneth has volunteered. I... I would never force someone to... to... I wouldn’t even think of having some one like him... join a mission so dangerous!” She was slipping on her words, like she was insulted he would even think of asking a question like that. Probably more acting.
He didn’t seem like he was buying it. “Is that true?” he asked. He had an inquisitive look in his eye. I swallowed. “Yes, sir.” I replied. “I voluntarily joined her. I want to help.”
“You see?” Kitiraa jumped in. “I didn’t force anyone to do anything. I even made sure to tell him the dangers of the mission. He knows what he signed up for.”
He sighed. The poor patriarch. His wife and parents died in the war, and Aleena was taken by that fiendish dragon. Sylphi was he had left, and now she’s gone too. “Alright.” he finally said. “But hear me, Sage. If anything happens to that boy, I don’t care who you are, I will have your head.” She appeared relaxed. Calmly, she replied, “Don’t worry sir. I will take every precaution with him.” He dismissed us, saying we should ask around for the supplies we needed. He even gave us a blessing.
But wait a minute. Did he call her a Sage?
. . .
Kitiraa
“Alright, do we have everything we need?” I heard Luneth ask. I checked our little pack of supplies. A week’s worth of food and water, spare clothes for Luneth (because I have my dressphere), a thin, gray cotton blanket, a first aid kit, a few phials of fishing bait (I borrowed some ingredients and made some myself), a small iron pot (perfect for hanging over a fire), some fire starters, and a little map of areas where the dragon has been spotted, courtesy of the friendly neighborhood cartographer, Leo. But something was missing...
“Where’s your weapon?” I asked him.
“Uh...”
“Luneth, I’m not going to take you along without a weapon.” I told him through clenched teeth. “Where’s your weapon?” He had a look on his face of discomfort. ‘I have a weapon,’ I heard him think, ‘I just can’t use it.’
“Don’t tell me you don’t know how to fight...” I said tiredly. I really, really didn’t have time for this. And I especially didn’t have time to teach him. We needed to get on the road. Time was being wasted the longer we stayed here. And time was not something Sylphi had...
“I can fight.” he replied. I looked him in the eye. He was telling the truth. “I can fight, but the only weapon I know how to use... I can’t take it.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. Who cares? I could just steal it for you, dammit. We don’t have time for this...
“It was my father’s.” he said quietly.
I saw the look in his eyes. Memories flooded to him, memories that were better off not known. I saw them, just as vividly has he did. Memories of his father, fighting, training, teaching little Luneth how to fight, to defend himself. Memories of his father’s funeral... I understood. There was no way he could desecrate a memory as precious as his late father’s sword. But still, we needed to get going. And soon.
“Okay.” I said finally. “Is there any other sword you can use?” I asked softly. “Maybe the blacksmith has one you could use.” He looked a little confused. ‘How did she know it was a sword?’ he thought.
Oops.
“Uh, come on,” I said, grabbing his hand. “We need to find you a new sword.” I dragged him off to the local blacksmith. “But Kitiraa...” he he protested. I shot him a slight glare. “No buts. We need to get you a weapon. We’re not leaving until you have one, end of story. Got it?” He nodded in reply. His mind was clear of all thoughts of me knowing about the sword. Phew. Almost blew my cover there.

Chapter 5
We were on the road, Luneth was nice enough to carry the pack for me. And by that, I mean I volunteered at first, but when he saw how ‘exhausted’ I was, he took it from me. He’s alright, but way too easy to predict. Not that I’m complaining.
The pale, olive green pack was strapped to his back, and sheathed at his waist was his new sword. Beautiful thing. In fact, I was surprised the blacksmith gave it to us free. It was silver with a soft darksteel handle, and had a mirror-like reflection all the way from the tip down to the hilt. Light weight, easy to handle, Luneth seemed to like it enough. There were runes carved on the blade, but I was quite surprised to see them there. They were written in Drayko; dragon script. Few people in Aavia even know about this ancient writing, and even less know what it means. These particular runes said, “Courage”. I thought the sword was perfect for Luneth. It almost reminded me of him. And besides, he was brave enough to join me, wasn’t he?
“Ah!” I cried. I slipped on a loose rock, and started tumbling. Again? Luckily this time, I only went about five feet. But it hurt all the same. My already sore bruises started aching again. “Ow...” I muttered. Luneth came running down. “Kitiraa, are you alright?” he asked me. He helped me up.
“Yeah, I’m alright.” I managed to say. “You guys really need to put in some trails or, something.”