"Move and your dead." His voice rumbled from beneath the mask he wore, hiding most of his face from view and leaving little more than his dark piercing eyes in view as he glared at me.

I barely drew a breath as he slowly rose from the ground, his weapon never wavering from its aim at my heart. I could feel my legs begin trembling as he took a step towards me, what breath I dared breath catching in my throat.

I knew I shouldn't have tried to steal from David. I just knew if I was caught it would be the death of me and this moment seemed ready to prove me right. What had made me think I would somehow be the one to get away with something nobody had ever succeeded at doing.

I flinched when I saw him lift his free hand up, waiting for a blow to land. Instead I felt my own mask pulled from my face, the sudden change from clean, filtered air to the dirty, dry air of the city causing me to start coughing, my eyes shutting in reaction as I brought my hands up to try and cover my mouth.

Before I could even get them shoulder high, I felt both my wrists caught in his strong grip, freezing in place again as I felt him quickly move and trap me against a wall. Before I could do more than gasp and open my eyes to look at him, I felt him rip the wrapping away that had protected my hair from the same dry air that pulled the moisture from my lungs with every breath.

The laughter I heard next was, to say the least, a bit unexpected. Feeling the grip on my wrists loosen slightly, I tried to pull them free from his hold, only to freeze again when I felt him press up against me.

"Well, well... Our little thief is turning out to be quite the prize to capture today. And I must admit, I do like prizes. I wonder if David will let me keep you?" Releasing is hold on one of my hands, he quickly reached up and grabbed my chin, turning my face side to side as I brought my own hand up to try pushing him away.

I could almost see the unnerving smile that was hidden behind his mask before he stepped back, his chuckled apology lost as the air rushed from my lungs, his fist only moving from my stomach enough for him to catch me as I collapsed towards the ground. The added pain as he swung me over his shoulder had me seeing sparks of pain induced lights filling my vision before everything started fading to black.

I had just enough time to promise myself I would pay him back for that roaming hand before I lost all traces of consciousness.

--------

Groaning at the pain in my head, I wished I could slip back into unconsciousness, to escape the pain if nothing else. Part of me was expecting to find myself tied down to whatever I was laying on while the other part of me wondered why I wasn't already dead. The lack of either expectation being meet already had me wondering when something would happen to bring everything crashing down on me.

There was no way I would be left unpunished for my attempted crime. I mean, who would let someone who had tried to steal something from them live afterwards if they managed to catch them? This wasn't a world where anyone could chance leaving an enemy alive to cause trouble for them in the future. Either you killed them or you found a way to make them an ally and I had no reason to believe David wouldn't prefer to just avoid any potential headaches I could cause him if he allowed me to live.

So why was I still alive?

--------

I must have explored my cell thrice over already since waking up, trying to find either a way to get out or a weapon I could defend myself with. Sadly, it seems my luck had really run out, leaving me with no sign of anything useful within the room and no way to escape the door that seemed to not only be locked but also had a bar across it that I could just barely see when I peeked out the tiny grill of a window.

I'd finally given up and sat down on the thin bedding of the cot I had awoken on, leaning against the wall as I ignored the continued growling of my empty stomach. I could only hope they didn't plan on letting me starve to death in here, having come close enough in the past to know how horrible it was to go that route.

Maybe they planned to use food as a way to get me to join them? Starve me and then have me begging for food until I willingly gave up my freedom for it? Or maybe-

"Hey, stop daydreaming and get up already!" I shrieked when the voice shouted from in front of me, looking up to see the same guy from before standing in the now open doorway, although his clothing was different, showing far more skin than before.

The laughter that rang through the room had me blushing in embarrassment as I covered my face with my hands, mortified that he had caught me off guard enough to give such an undignified reaction to hearing him speak. There was no way I would ever be able to meet his eyes again, not after hearing him laugh at me like that.

"That reaction! That was hilarious!" Tears of laughter were starting to run down his face, one arm wrapped around his stomach as he leaned over, almost gasping for breath between peals of continued laughter.

When he finally slowed down his laughter and looked up at me, the upset glare on my face just sent him back into another laughing fit. It wasn't until he heard someone behind him clear their throat that he finally froze in place, his laughter stopped and the grin gone from his rapidly paling face.

"I thought we told you to bring the prisoner to the chambers. Was there something you didn't understand about the order you were given? I'm pretty sure the order was rather straight forward. Should I tell David that he needs to speak more clearly so you can understand him? I'm sure he would be willing to dumb things down for his underlings, don't you think?" The wickedness that flowed through the new voice sent shivers down my spine, a darkness curling about the corners of the room that hadn't been there before. "Just get out of here. I'll retrieve the prisoner myself. Now scram!"

It only grew when the almost groveling 'underling' almost fled from the room, revealing another young man, his black hair pulled back behind his head before trailing down his back like spilled ink. But it was his eyes that made me flinch, seeming to almost burn as he stared down at me, an odd jeweled length of something dark that looked like it could be either old wood or tarnished metal being twisted about one hand. The red gem at one end flashed as it caught the light, sending a shiver down my spine yet again.

"Get up and follow me, thief. If you want to live past the hour, that is." The smirk on his face was anything but reassuring to me.