A Thief's Gold: Ardeth Bay x Reader [Discontinued]

Chapter I - Omen

Y/N's pov

I didn't know how long I was walking, but all I knew was that I was far from home, in the middle of nowhere, trying to get to Cairo.

I started work around 6, and it took 2 hours to walk to Cairo through the valleys of sand dunes, and I wasn't about to let my dehydration get the best of me.

I worked in Cairo as ... a thief. People would pay me to get what they want, and in return I would take their payment and steal from my victims. 

But my victims were only the bad guys.

I live in a secluded village with my mother and younger sister. My mother had to always stay home and take care of my sister because she was too young. Still a child, with her head in the clouds of dreams. I'm glad her head isn't below the clouds yet.

I was always truthful to my family, but the only thing they didn't know was that I don't work in a tea shop, selling hot foods and drinks to the locals, and especially to the Medjai.

The problem was that I couldn't. The strict path from my village to the City was always bustling with a few, and if someone figured out this was my path from home to back, I would have been dead way before.

I couldn't be in prison or a corpse, or my family will be in debt. I was the provider, a father figure long gone before I could remember anything but dreams.

I had to stray from the path into the illegal territory and coming very close to the most forbidden area of the desert. So I hide as my life depended on it. I've been walking on this land for years, and not once did I ever see a Medjai this early. But, for once, I was wrong.

I kept on walking even though my body screamed at me. It was cold, but I was sweating so much from my frantic walking through the sand. Luckily, my boots were high enough to keep most of it out, but I could feel a small amount stick to my legs and the sole of my feet. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. The cool breeze brought a bit of peace to my senses, and so did the rising sky that guided me towards the city. The quite awakened a past memory I forgot even existed, one that brought a sense of sadness and betrayal. I thought back to what my mother told me about our home.

"Al-am?" (Mother) I asked her, I was very small, about 7.

"Yes, Tafli?" (My Child)

"Where has everyone gone?"

She sighed, stopping her delicious cooking and beckoning me to her lap. I sat down, gazing to her eyes with a curious stare.

She bounced me on her leg as she was lost in thought.

"Tafli, they went to Cairo."

"Why?"

"For money, for a living."

I could see the sorrow in her eyes. She was abandoned. We were abandoned by our own village.

"Can't we go with them?"

"No, sadly... "

Yet, she never told me why.

I was shaken from my thoughts as I heard the clanging of metal. Then I heard a yawn.

A human.

I hid behind a nearby sand dune, peering over the moving sand that was nearly going into my eyes. But I didn't care about that, I cared about this human.

I finally saw the intruder of my thoughts. It was a person who wasn't facing me. All I could make out was their trusty stead and their body covered in black drapes.

My eyes searched for a quick way to run to another dune, but I knew my chances were futile when there was nothing but dancing sand.

After a while, they started to walk away from the direction of where I came from. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, slowly getting up and walking again.

Ya shukra-lila (oh, thank you, Allah), I whispered to the air.