Crows of a Feather

The Crow

Erine

Alone. That's what she was, alone. A little girl no older than 8 years old. No mother, No father, No name. The cold iron around her wrist rubbed her skin raw, the collar choked her with every movement. It was almost too dark for her to see the stars through the window. The little girl loved the stars, it was the only thing that never changed in her life.

    She was a slave, she knew that. The rich who would buy her would make sure that she knew that. Ravkan, Kerch, Kaelish, Suli; all of them were the same to her, just rich people who would always hurt her. It was all she knew, she first remembered waking up on a boat of slavers. There, they marked her wrist with the horrid tag. The only comfort the girl could have was seeing the stars.

    The door to the dark room swung open to reveal the man she currently called 'Master', per his request. He by far had been the worst of her owners. He was kerch, not that she knew that, a tall slender man with a sinister smile. From what she had experienced he only loved gambling and hitting her. " Get up" he spoke harshly, gesturing for her to come over to him. Unwillingly she did, The man grabbed the back of the loose dress she wore and shoved her forward. He led her to what she knew as his office, inside there stood a boy who appeared to be 14 perhaps. He wore a black hat that covered his crow-like hair, his pale skin contrasting with his blue eyes. But to the girl, his most noticeable attribute was his leather gloves.

Kaz

Kaz was annoyed, once again he was sent on an errand for the dregs. He may have been employed by Per Haskell, but that didn't mean he wouldn't have his own schemes. Like this one. " You lie, boy, I owed Haskell 1,000 Kruger- not 2,000" the slender man said from across his desk, he had already placed the bag of money in front of the boy but the boy did not move. " That was before you gambled another thousand away. The amount is 2,000" Kaz lied straight through his teeth, like second nature. The slender man dared not question him, Kaz Brekkar was not a person you'd want to question. The boy was quickly growing a dangerous name for himself in the Barrel of Ketterdam and many were starting to fear it. " I don't have that kind of money-" "Very well, I shall inform-" "No! Please!.. How about I give you something else?" he bargained. Kaz curled his eyebrow in interest " Like what?" " a girl, an indentured girl".

    Kaz thought for a moment. Thinking of any way or reason for him to need a slave girl- he figured he didn't, the whole notion of slavery was sick to him. Desperate, the man tries to persuade the boy "she's interesting, I have to keep her locked up so she stops stealing everything, and I've seen her sneak around. She is just like you people". That had done it, Kaz needed people like him for his own heist, and as much as he hated to admit it, it would be nice to have someone in his pocket free of charge. The crow looked up at the man " let me see her"

    Kaz wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn't a little girl. He assumed it was someone his age, not a child. She was probably skinnier than him, she seemed to share his dark hair but had tanned skin. She sported freckles on her face along with scars and bruises littering her body. But what stood out were her bright catlike eyes. Kaz knew she didn't look like much, and he almost turned her away. Until his eyes got the moving of her fingers as she fiddled with the slender man's pocket watch. A watch he was wearing all but two seconds ago " Alright, hand me the papers".

That was when the Crow found his Panther