Robber Royale: Fairytale of a Thief and a Scoundrel

Gaelian

The next morning Fox was awakened long before he generally liked to be, leastwise after nights that he'd been out gaming. Which accounted for the completely unmasked displeasure in his voice when he questioned those so unfortunate as to have been chosen to awaken him.

"What?!" He demanded.

"Um, well, sir, you see, we've uh...caught something, you might say, in one of the pits sir."

"So?! Kill it and skin it as usual. What are you involving me for?"

"Well uh...it's not exactly..."

Clyde spoke up then, interrupting, "You're gonna wanna see this sir."

There was a glint in his eye that caught Fox's interest, so he came, rubbing his face to wake-up as he went.

Clyde was right, as usual. He did want to see this, and he smiled as he came closer, enjoying it like nothing else in a long, long time.

"Well, well, well..." He said, looking down into a trapping pit they'd dug and camouflaged, at the girl from the night before. The same one who had so haunted his dreams, now here when he awoke.

She stood as proudly as possible, shoulders back, head up, though she seemed to be favoring one leg pretty heavily. Her cheeks were burning through the dirt that was smudged all along one side of her face and she had dead leaves poking out of her hair, making her attempt at looking strong and regal all the more humorous.

"Fancy meeting you here m'lady, and on such a fine morning. I think fate is on our side."

She simply looked down, refusing to play in his little game. His men were enjoying the scene immensely, standing around the circle and laughing, occasionally calling out something to her, getting themselves an appreciative laugh from the others...but still nothing from her.

"Though I am curious," He began after a moment, his men recognizing the change in his tone from joking to serious, though, as always, he kept his manner light and careless, "How you came to be wandering so far out in the woods, and so close to our camp no less."

She looked up at him, carefully reading him as she had the night before. After a while she dropped her gaze again, choosing not to answer.

"Seems our friend wants a little alone time men. Leave her there until she feels a bit more talkative." He instructed, walking away, but stopping as soon as he heard the muffled "Wait!", laced with a healthy amount of worry.

He walked back and looked down at her, raising his eyebrows expectantly. The truth was, he was troubled by how she had found him so quickly. They took great pains to keep their camp secret, keep it safe from rivals and unwanted guests. They needed one place where they could feel completely safe...which is one of the reasons they'd set so many traps about the surrounding area. It was handy for hunting and for the 'just in case' situations, such as this one. Though this was the first time a human had actually gotten this close, on purpose at least.

"You're right, I...tracked you here, but I really need to talk to you. Please."

He looked at her for a moment, almost relieved that she'd shown up in his life again. For the sake of being who he was he had walked away the night before, but even then he'd known it might not have been the right choice.

He then nodded to his men, who immediately got to work, throwing a rope over a sturdy branch above the pit, tying a loop on one end and letting that drop all the way down for her to grasp on to. She put her good foot into the loop to hold most of her weight, then was pulled all the way up and out by the men. Fox watched the progress carefully, and when she was clear he reached forward, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her towards himself, and solid ground.