"I still don't think this is a good idea, boss. We never took slaves before, and-"
"Shut yer gob, Zamik."
"But-"
"I said, SHUT IT. An' besides, she ain't gonna be a slave. Lookit 'er. She'll prob'ly be nothin' mor'n a decoration. She's froze. Sleep'n, like."
This conversation had gone on for weeks now. From the blasted Thunderblacks, all the way back through the Serha plains, and now...
"Thrice Gods Damned desert...." the leader of the band of bandits muttered under his breath, his booted feet dragging through the sand as they pulled a cart, by hand, up to the crest of a dune.
If only the damned horses hadn't run off, they could have been there by now. The last four days, they'd been pulling the cart by hand. And wheels typically didn't work well in loose sand.
And so, Itachi, one of the most wanted bandits in all of Adela, was heaving right alongside his underlings, trying to get the cart with its pretty 'goods' all the way to Essyrn. Lately now, though, members of his band of Craol seemed to be mysteriously disappearing through the nights...
Well, better than mutiny. More gold for him, too.
"Look. It's almost dark. Per'aps we should call it quits for tonight, eh? It's hot, 'n I know if'n we don't stop soon, I'll be lis'nin to yer bellyach'n till we stop."
Itachi dropped his end of the yolk, and stretched his arms high above his head. He felt as if the kink in his back would never work it's way out. After a moment of snap-crackle-pop, he made his way back over to the side of the cart where, underneath the leather tarpaulin, there was a vaguely female shape. With a quick snap, he pulled the tarp off.
And laying there was this light blue beauty, sleeping without a care in the world. "Ain'tcha a pretty li'l thing, now? Yer gonna make me some pretty coin, methinks," he said, one hand reaching toward her face, the back of his palm gently tracing down her cheek.