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The thought of freedom flew out of her grasp as Gitana hit the ground with a heavy THUD , pinned down by two men before she even had a chance to get back on her feet. She struggled regardless, trying to twist beneath their weight in order to kick them off.
“What’s going on?”
She grew still, feeling her captors stiffen at the voice.
Above her, the third guard that had chased after her cleared his throat. “Ward. This one tried escaping.”
“Huh. That’s new. Let her up.”
“...You sure about that, boss?”
“Did I hesitate?”
After a few more moments, the two men pinning her down released her. The young dancer pushed herself up into a sitting position, spitting out the mouthful of dirt she had gotten when she fell. She then turned her mossy gaze to the newcomer. The man was human, dressed in a gray, high-collared jacket, though it seemed almost black against his pale skin. He had blond hair tied in a tail at the nape of his neck, and long scars that ran down the right side of his face, disappearing under the collar. His eyes were the same vibrant green of polished emeralds and regarded her with interest.
“So...you broke out of your cage?”
She nodded after a moment of hesitation.
“And where did you learn the skills to do that?”
She glanced at the other men, taking a moment to try and gauge her success of escaping once more. The chances were slimmer than before, boxed in as she was. She returned her gaze to the blond man, figuring it would be better for her to answer his questions. “The Thieves’ Guild in Moon City.”
He smirked a little and then offered a greeting in Thieves’ Cant.
Despite the situation, Gitana felt some sort of relief at seeing the familiar gestures, and smiled at the man.
“My name is Nathaniel Corrin, but my men call me Ward. And what is your name?”
“Jinx,” she replied automatically, too used to giving her stage name when introducing herself to strangers. “Er...I mean...Gitana. Gitana Rosenberry.”
He smiled faintly and stepped closer to her, holding his hand out. She took it after a brief hesitation, allowing him to help her stand. Once on her feet, he brought her hand to his lips, brushing a kiss to her bruised knuckles. She blushed despite herself; she was more accustomed to more inappropriate methods of flirtation.
“A pleasure, Miss Gitana. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like you to dine with me. It seems my men did not know what a treasure had fallen into their midst.” He sent a hard look at said individuals when they started to voice their protests. “She has talent,” he continued. “Even a fool could see that. I want to make an exception with this one. She’ll be more useful if she works with us.”
Panic settled in the pit of Gitana’s stomach but she felt the uneasiness fade as she met Nathaniel’s gaze. She had only met the man but he made her feel so calm…
Ward grinned as he watched the girl’s eyes glaze over as his magic took effect. It was about time he had another rogue in his midst and he was eager to take her under his wing. But he had no time to get to know her, to slowly gain her trust. This should expedite the process.
Gitana was not very familiar with love. She had laid with others, many times. Her fathers had always encouraged her to practice a healthy sex life, to experiment with others to see what she did and didn’t like. Regardless of the fact that she had had many sexual partners, none of those relationships had really progressed past physical attraction. Nathaniel had become her first long-term relationship. He was witty and charming, and he treasured her like nothing else she had experienced.
Gitana was also not very familiar with magic. Many members of her troupe used it to enhance their acts, but that was the extent of it. In her limited worldview, magic was simply a tool of show business. She knew casters existed outside of the troupe but she had rarely encountered them. Nathaniel was the first one, so when she asked why he continuously cast the same spell on her, she believed him when he told her it was a way to protect her, let his men know that she was to be treated as his guest.
“But isn't that exhausting?” she asked, glancing up at him while the two lay across a loveseat together. “Or a waste of your magic?”
He smiled faintly and kissed her temple. “I’ll admit it can be tiring at times. But…” He paused, staring off thoughtfully. “You have been with us for quite some time. I think my men have learned to accept you in their ranks, learned to respect you. Perhaps there's no need for magic now.”
“That makes me happy,” she murmured, and nestled her head in the crook of his shoulder.
He hummed slightly and the two lapsed into silence. After a pause, he pulled her up with him into a sitting position. “I have a gift for you.”
“What? Why?”
“I was just thinking that I want you to always have something of me with you. Even if we're apart from each other.” He crossed the room to his desk and opened one of the drawers before he pulled out a small wooden box.
Once she joined at the desk, Nathaniel lifted the lid of the box, revealing twin daggers. The blades had been shaped into small waves and instead of a standard hilt, it curved up into a U-shape, with two bars connecting the prongs. Gitana tilted her head a little, and picked one up.
"I've never seen a dagger like this before..." she said.
"It's referred to as a punching dagger," he explained, picking up the other blade, wrapping his fingers around the bars in the middle. "It changes your grip, lets you put some more strength into your blows. See how you have to make a fist to even hold it?"
She nodded.
"These were my first blades when I joined the Thieves' Guild," he continued. "I haven't used them since I started using my current knives, but I still held onto them. For sentimentality, I suppose. But now I want you to have them, Gitana. I know that you prefer that crossbow you bought, but...Will you carry them with you? Please?"
"Yes. Yes, of course."
He smiled. "Thank you."
As Ward sat in a corner of the tavern, Gitana at his side, he scanned the room for potential targets. He wanted people that seemed to be surviving on their last bit of coin, people that would jump at the chance of any work. The desperate ones were easiest to manipulate, after all. In the corner, he saw a lone tiefling carefully counting out a handful of coppers, before recounting them a second time, and then a third. He had very few belongings with him, just a simple knapsack and the clothes on his back. Desperation, if Ward ever saw it. He glanced over at the men gathered at his table and nodded.
They collectively returned the gesture and left the table, heading outside to wait like they'd been instructed beforehand. Gitana glanced up at him in confusion.
"Are we heading back already?"
"Not quite." He paused to take a drink of his ale before he looked back at her. "I have a favor to ask, my dear."
The confusion remained on her face. "Alright?"
He indicated the tiefling in the corner. "Do you suppose you could convince him to come outside to talk to me?"
"...Why?"
Ward grinned. "I'd like to offer him some work."
"Oh! Yeah, sure, I'll see if I talk to him. Just around back?"
"Of course. I'll be waiting."
As Gitana crossed the room, Ward finished off his ale and got to his feet before making his way out to the alleyway behind the tavern. All the while, his smirk never left his face. He had been keeping Gitana close, first under a fairly consistent charm spell, and then eventually by her own volition. He found out what she had been taught at the Thieves' Guild and then decided to teach her what he knew, taking her prior knowledge one step further. She truly was talented and a brilliant rogue, but she had only ever used her skills for little more than petty theft. Ward believed she could be capable of so much more than that. He considered shaping her into his new second-in-command.
"Pretty clever of you to be using the half-elf as bait, sir."
Ward shrugged at the comment when he joined his men. "If everything goes well, I want her to be doing it every time we're in search of cargo."
"And do you have a plan for keeping her with us? I mean, I know you like her and all, but ain't she a bit too soft-hearted for this?"
"I've got it under control, lads. She'll listen to me."
Up to that point, Ward had been showing Gitana the ropes of the smuggling business. It was his primary trade, after all. Up to the that point, however, Gitana had only been helping out with smaller contraband--illegal weapons, artifacts of forbidden magic, drugs. He had yet to introduce her to the fact that his small band of men dealt primarily with living inventory, and tonight was a test of sorts to see how she handled the revelation. Despite his men's concerns, Ward felt confident in his response. Gitana was much like the men and women he traded--desperate and easy to manipulate.
The backdoor of the tavern creaked open, and the young woman in question stepped out first, leading the tiefling. Both individuals seemed surprised to see the number of people waiting for them.
"Oh, Nathaniel. I didn't realize you all were going to speak with him."
The tip of the tiefling's tail twitched. "I smell a trap..."
Ward smiled. "Observant," he said before nodding to the others.
Gitana ducked out of the way as his men surrounded and attacked the tiefling. She turned to Ward with wide eyes, demanding, "What are you doing?"
"A full disclosure is overdue, my love. You've been a great help with the business so far but you need to know that the drugs and magical items...Those really aren't my main source of income." He nodded to the struggling tiefling. "Slaves, my dear, are my real trade."
Several emotions flickered across Gitana's face in the span of mere seconds. Anger. Betrayal. Heartbreak. Confusion. "You...You used me?"
"Of course not. I'm just teaching you the tricks of the trade."
She looked to the tiefling, now bruised, bloodied, and trussed up in rope. She then looked back to Ward. "Will I have to do this again?" she asked in a small, broken voice.
"Only if you don't want to end up in the same situation."
"Ward...Please. I can't do this tonight," Gitana murmured.
Rather than the usual singles that she normally was forced to chat up or seduce, she had been pointed in the direction of a family of genasi, a worn and single mother with two children clinging to each of her arms.
"Jinx, you love me, don't you?"
Gitana swallowed. She had been starting to wonder the same exact thing. Nathaniel had been her first serious relationship--her only serious relationship--so that had to mean she loved him. But especially as of late, she felt more and more like a tool and less of a lover. The whole slave business left a sour taste in her mouth, weighed her heart down with regret after regret. However, she feared that if she left Nathaniel's side, she would be tossed aside as part of his inventory. And she feared slavery more than she feared the person she was becoming.
She sighed and nodded. "Yes, of course I do."
"Then go work your magic before I become cross."
She forced herself to laugh at his choice of words and made her way across the room.
Gitana wandered through the dark streets, tuning out the sounds of revelry and drunken bar fights that surrounded her. The salt breeze coming up off the ocean was a small comfort, reminding her of Moon City, but it was not enough to make her forget everything. Down near the docks, a few streets down from the Thieves' Guild located on the Raider Isles, she had discovered a small opium den a couple of nights ago. She found the opiates were the best tool to help her seek the mental oblivion she so craved.
She pushed her way through the silks and beads that were dropped across the entrance. Although it had only been a few short days since she had first discovered the place, the eladrin in the reception area already recognized her. The two exchanged nods and she was led back into the depths of the den and offered a private booth. Gitana sank into the plush pillows and eagerly took up the pipe.
A severe wave of nausea threatened to overwhelm Gitana, roughly dragging her from her dreamless sleep. She leaned over the side of her bed, body racked with dry heaves, a small part of her thankful for the fact that she had nothing to throw up. When the nausea passed, she pushed herself up into a sitting position and felt cold panic settle in the pit of her stomach.
This was not her bedroom within Nathaniel’s complex.
She slid out of bed and looked around, taking note several peepholes hidden amongst the walls, some more obvious than others. Turning back towards the bed, she spied a sigil carved into one of the bedposts, one she recognized as a Thieves’ Guild shadow mark indicating “safety.” Turning once more, Gitana crossed to the door and pulled it open, letting out a soft yelp as she was met with a tall man in the doorway.
“Ah, good. You’re awake. I brought you food.” The stranger pushed his way into the room and set a bowl down on one of the bedside tables.
Gitana made a face. “I don’t think I can get anything down.”
“Well, you’ll need to try. Dealing with opium withdrawal on an empty stomach won’t do you any good.”
“What is this place?”
“The Thieves’ Guild.”
“...I’m still in the Raider Isles, right?”
The man nodded. “Yes.” He then sat on the bed. “Well, if you won’t eat, you should at least sit.”
She hesitated for a moment but eventually acquiesced, joining him on the mattress. “Who are you?”
“Reginald. Reggie. I run this chapter of the Guild. And you run with some of the slavers, right?”
Much to her surprise, that simple statement brought tears to Gitana’s eyes, and before she knew it, she was sobbing into her hands.
“A-ah...Touchy subject?” Reggie ventured, having not anticipated her reaction at all based on how uncomfortable he sounded.
“S-sorry...I just...I wish I’d never gotten tangled up in this mess. I never wanted this. Any of it. This island...This life...I never should have left home.”
Reginald’s face softened a little into a sympathetic smile. “Guess that explains the opium.”
She nodded, keeping her gaze downcast. “It let me forget about everything.”
“You know, normally I don’t mess around with the other factions here, but you don’t...seem to fit in with the other slavers.”
Gitana snorted a bit. “That’s an understatement.” The mirth drained out of her and she sighed. “I...Growing up, I learned some tricks from the Thieves’ Guild in Moon City. I used what I learned to steal coin when money was tight at home, but that was it. I left home, and that’s when I got involved with Ward and his group.”
“...You sound homesick.”
“I suppose I am. But mostly I just regret that I’ve trapped myself into this situation. I...I don’t really have a safe way out. Especially not here in the Isles.”
After a pregnant pause, Reginald said, “Maybe we can help you.”
She glanced at the man. “Huh?”
He offered her a crooked smile. “As you’ve probably noticed, the different factions here don’t necessarily get along with each other. But the pirates and the guild both agree that the slavers are scum. We at least keep to our codes, but they seem to ignore all of that just for the sake of earning coin. If you were to help us stage some attacks on the slaver factions, the Thieves’ Guild would be more than happy to offer you sanctuary. You can remain here and continue to hone your skills, or we can arrange for your passage back to Moon City.”
For the first time in a long time, Gitana felt a flicker of hope in her chest. “Would...you really do that?”
“Of course. After all, our guild looks out for our own, no?”
She nodded slowly. “Yes…”
“Now, do you think you can try to eat something? Before we can do anything further, we will have to ween that opium out of your system.”
Gitana nodded again and accepted the bowl that Reginald passed her. She ate a small spoonful of the porridge, forcing herself to swallow even as her body’s initial reaction was to reject the food. The porridge was still warm and Gitana felt like she might be on the verge of tears once more. Maybe now she had a chance to escape and right all her wrongs.
Thank you for this second chance, Olidammara.