Crimson

Thief's a gentleman?

The gentleman thief.

It was one of Mama's favourite stories.

It was about a french gentleman's adventures.

His name was Arsine Lupin and he could escape any situation no matter how desperate the situation was.

When Mama used to read his stories I was enthralled , not only by his precise adventures but by Mama's excitement as she read .

Mama read his stories like she was imagining herself living his life.

On days when Mama wanted to take me with her to help her work ,she read her book to me the night before.

I would sit by her feet polishing her knives as she read ,her hand stroking my hair.

Now that I was an adult , the image seemed quite disturbing to me.

But, those nights had been one of my favorites memories of my mama.

I had always hated the nights when Mama got new books on herbs ,then ,she would spend nights in her workshop , keeping the light on for the whole night.

She had forbade me from coming in ,so ,I would lie facing the shed she used as a workshop ,at least ,then, I would not feel as lonely or cold.

I had been distinctively surprised when Ali had confirmed that the short phrases mama had taught me were spells.

I did not want to believe it ,but ,it had explained a lot of things.

Why we never had a home and had to travel all day ,why we avoided other people and why we never went into town.

Mama was a witch. A scarlet witch.

They had begun to spring up after the Cleansing .But ,just like before the cleansing ,they were burned on stakes.

The Conclave had announced that they were part of the reason the world had been purged.

And even though deep down ,the people had known it was a lie ,they had been desperate to blame their misfortune on someone,so,the witches had been hunted. Because of the Conclaves decision , Mama and her kind had run all their lives and I had never had a home.

Since finding out why Mama had done a lot of the things she did ,I had received new hope of finding something , anything that told me more about the only person that had been my family.

****

I had never used Mama's spells on any other living being ,I had only used it on my blades and to help me fall asleep , whenever I had bad dreams .

But ,the horse had been more attached to his owner than I thought .It had liked me but abandoning his owner wasn't ideal for him.

So ,I had used a spell.

A brief possession spell ,I had not really thought it would work but it had.

Now ,I was riding the brigadiers beautiful horse away after hurting his partner.

Definitely not one of my best days.

Satisfied with the distance I had put between us ,I stopped the horse calmly and got down.

I walked ahead , leaving the horse to follow. The forest was quite cold .Would they make it out on time before dark ?

Would the map I had given them be useful enough ? There was no way stranger's would know their way about the forest.

I had not expected to meet them so close to the shelter ,so ,I had freaked out and not only hurt them but rendered them horseless.

A chill swept by ,I pulled my coat tighter and thought again of the state I had left the brigadiers.

Deciding in what I had to do ,I pulled my mask tighter , adjusting it's ropes.

I got back on the horse and began to ride for the shelter ,I would not be able to live with myself if anything happened to them .

There were several routes to the Shelter if you knew your way well enough.

I took one that we had used several times as a vigilance route .This would be the fastest way.

As I rode, I noticed how sturdy the horse was ,it didn't veer from the path . Almost as if it could read my thoughts on our destination , I decided to try something.

Releasing his reins ,I put my hands in the cold hair as the horse galloped. He was indeed beautiful.

He ran with no care ,his mind still foggy from the after-effects of the spell. This was no ordinary horse.

Up ahead ,I saw the first mark ,it was a sign on the tree that you had reached the shelters land .

Only I, Ali and a few select people knew about it.

I kept riding deeper into the forest , vaguely aware of the fresh set of eyes that watched me.

I didn't want to stop just yet.

A thought of Vita and his partner in this intense cold brought me back to my senses , I stopped the horse.

I was in a clearing of sorts...it was a space that had been cleared into a neat circle .

The circle looked like it had been drawn by someone extremely efficient.

I listened for the person that had been watching me to make a move ,I bent to pat his head and was fascinated by how the horses nostrils flared.

Swoosh!

I dodged and turned ,an arrow.

I narrowed my eyes in the direction the arrow had come from , speaking rapidly ,I sent a knife into the darkness beyond the trees.

A second later ,I heard someone howl in pain.

" Do you really not recognize me or are you pretending not to ?"

I raised my voice putting as much venom I could muster into my words ,they had rattled my horse.

The opposite part of the clearing shook and Gray jogged out looking flushed ,he was with his gang of equally bearlike men.

I got off the horse when I spotted a woman behind them .

She squinted at me before she started to walk over.

" By the goddesses , it is the prodigal child ", she was smiling .

I laughed at her choice of words.

Adah had fed Ali and I one too many hot meals while Gray, her husband had taught me to fight opponents three times my size . Which had been extremely useful since almost everyone I fought was bigger than me .

She put her hands up when she got closer and I went into it ,better to get it done with on time.

When she was done squeezing me ,she held me at arm's length like one would hold a piece of fabric to examine it.

I exchanged glances with Gray .No one dared interrupt Adah .

Satisfied that I didn't look too malnourished ,she let me go pushing me lightly ,I knew this drill and sadly I went along with it.

I fell into Gray's waiting arms ,he lifted me up and rolled me around in the air a couple of times before he set me on my feet.

I staggered a little and they all burst into laughter. The kind of laughter common among people like them ,the one where only your beard and stomach shook.

I shook my head .

" This is why I avoid you two ".

Adah tsked.

" Is this about the brigadiers you left in the forest ? ",Adah asked.

" The pick up guy told you ?" ,I asked.

Of course ,they all answered to Adah . That was why I had put her in charge ,her ability to put fear in the strongest of men always came in handy.

She tsked again.

" Ali just left with the most colour I ever saw on someone's face ".

I stilled . I still had to deal with Ali.

" How do you manage to always make that man lose it ?"

I would deal with Ali later.

" Where is he ?", I asked.

Gray pointed at one of his men.

" He took that one's horse and left immediately we met up ,the other man left on the mare ".

I nodded ,he would be in the city before me.

I took out a piece of paper from my shirt and an ink pen and wrote a short message for the brigadier.

I folded it up and gave it to Adah.

" Adah ,I need a favour ".

She smiled .

" Whatever ".

I looked over at Gray and decided I was safer whispering my intentions .

I moved even closer to Adah and whispered .

She only smiled ,her eyes twinkling.

" I suspected that was why you were here ,you should go. I'll take care of it from here ".

I looked back at Gray who was watching us with an hawk-like expression.

I smiled at him and turned back to Adah grabbing her larger hand.

" I will leave it to you .I need to go back to the city and appease Ali ,the longer I'm out ,the worse his temper gets ".

Adah nodded understandingly , everyone understood Ali's temper.

" You two should hurry and have s*x to get rid of the crazy energy around you ".

I blanked.

" What ?"

I was stuttering .

" It..its..it's not like that ".

Gray gave his wife a thumbs up and they all roared with laughter.

They wouldn't be laughing when Adah told them what I wanted them to do. I smirked at that .

I got back on the horse. I remembered something.

" Wait ,I hurt a man ".

Gray waved me off.

" It's one of ours , his pride is more hurt than he his ,go on your way ".

I nodded and urged the horse forward.

As the wind flew past us ,I thought of what I had been thinking when Adah and mentioned s*x ,my first thought had not been that they thought there was something between Ali and I .

My first thought , embarrassing as it was ,had been of the brigadier .

I had imagined him laying in my sheets,naked.

I was definitely crazy .

The sun was fast going down , I said a short prayer hoping they were safe . I had heard the rumors of wolves gathering in the forest.

But,of course,they were brigadiers for a reason.