The Thief and Prince

Chapter 20: Tainted Rose

"Took you long enough," Laria grumbles, standing up.

Darko ignores her jab and pulls out a ring of keys, shoving one into her cell until finally one works. He swings the door open and she steps out, immediately pressing her back behind the wall and peering through the main door, looking for anyone that might have followed the slaver.

He repeats the motion until all four of us are free and Crispin sighs, turning to the man he gave his word to. "Where is Rose?" he asks, folding his arms across his chest.

The man looks between Crispin and Darko before pursing his lips, "Somewhere in the keep. All I know is that she isn't being held in the dungeon—honest," he answers, then motions to the keys. "Now keep your word."

Glancing at Darko, Crispin nods, "Let him out."

The slaver slowly shakes his head but doesn't object, and shoves a key into the lock, popping it open. The man steps out, his eyes filled with disbelief at his freedom. The only thing he has left to do is find a way to escape without alerting anyone. Realizing though, that if a guard were to see a slave running free, they would undoubtedly seek us. "He needs to stay here," I say, stepping forward, "If someone were to catch sight of him we'd all be done for."

Crispin nods, agreeing with me. "She's right. Stay here and on our way out we'll come back for you," he says. The man objects but Crispin raises a hand, not having time to argue. "You have to trust me. I'm not going to risk you blowing this for us."

The man frowns but gives a nod. "Fine. But I won't stay here, I've lived in these four walls long enough. I'll ready the horses at the stable, just tell me which ones are yours," he states. Crispin quickly describes them and the man slinks out into the darkness.

"You aren't really going to leave me here, are you?" the crippled man suddenly asks, gripping the bars so tight the skin goes white over his knuckles. "If you don't, I'll scream and listen for the crows wings as they fight over your corpses," he threatens.

Amiri's eyes darken and he steps forward, squaring up with the man. Just as he opens his mouth to alert the guards, Amiri reaches through and with one swift motion, he grips the man by the back of the head before jerking him forward, slamming his face into the iron bars. He falls into an unconscious heap and I raise a brow, somewhat not surprised. The mad man laughs and a part of me fears that it will alert a guard until I realize that they are probably used to his antics.

"Let's go," Laria whispers, and we follow her through into the man area of the slaving building. We search for our clothes and find that they sit in a pile inside of a basket.

"Where is our armor and weapons?" Amiri asks, "You have them, do you not?"

Darko nods, "They sit behind the blacksmith shop in a rubbish bin. Stay here and I'll bring them right back. Afterwards you are on your own."

Without another word from any of us, he disappears outside into the darkness as well.

We quickly get dressed, giving each other as much privacy we can afford and await for Darko's return. Ten minutes go by...twenty...thirty, and I begin to wonder if something went wrong. When I'm about to suggest that we look elsewhere, he returns with a heavy bag of our belongings and tosses it at our feet. "My debt has been paid. I got you into Rorik and have done what I could. If you don't mind, I'll take my leave," he says.

Crispin nods as the rest of us dig through the bag, sorting out the items. "Aye. Thank you for taking us this far, would have been a hell of a lot harder if we killed you," he says with a half-smile. Darko smirks and silently leaves us to our own devices. As for where he is headed, I have no idea, but he'd be a fool to stay around tonight given the fact that he was the one that brought us here.