Thief

Chapter 4

---Nadir's POV---

My hands trembled as I made my way across rooftops and walls, a shadow in the night that saw but was unseen. I swallowed thickly, feeling the slight niggling guilt in my stomach for taking a human life.

But was it really a human life? He deserved it. He enslaved so many people, ordered the death of innocent men, women and children, exploited them... He deserved to die.

Nodding to myself, I made my way to the small watering hole, drawing up a bucket of the precious liquid before using it to wash the sweat of my face. Dipping my hand down, I cupped the water and drank it, soothing my parched throat.

That was one of the many targets I had. Word would spread quickly now but my next target wouldn't know what hit him. I would make his death as painful as possible.

Hence why you made Javier an example of what would happen to slavers.

A smirk curled at my lips as I remembered Javier's sneering face turn horrified when I had knocked him out. Most would've thought me to be cruel about killing him the way I did but I simply rewarded him the same treatment he gave to his slaves.

The necklace I had left on him was once Saemus'. A mark of possession of his most prized slave. Back then I had no idea but I learned now that I had made the man a small fortune.

Sitting down on the sand, I loosened one of my boots and looked at the scorched mark on the sole. Even after all these years, it felt incredibly sensitive and each step I made was a solid reminded that I had once been a slave.

An object. A mindless being to abuse and disregard without further notice.

I was lucky that I had only been branded on the foot and lower back. I've seen many different types of slaves and saw different brands of tattoos. There had even been one female slave who had been branded on her cheek, for refusing to "service" her master.

She didn't live long after the branding. Killed herself after many of her master's men had visited her in the night. Her body never buried, because it wasn't a slave's right to pass onto the afterlife, according to our masters.

Sighing deeply, I quickly shoved my boot back on and disappeared into the darkness. I was going to make my way to Aakif, my second master. And the most monstrous one in my opinion.

Most of my former masters had the same jagged and warped minds, which need to humiliate and abuse a weaker person. But Aakif... Aakif was a monster in his own realm, feared and hated by all his slaves.

And he had many, though he sold numerous amounts to his friends and allies. Bargaining chips in trades, rewards for his men or simply work labor.

Looking at the morning sky, I smiled at the sunlight, though I was still trapped in the past. Seeing Saemus after all these years had been hard, harder than I had expected it to be.

I could very clearly remember his and Javier's training sessions in obedience, attitude and posture. Fingering the long scar on my collarbone, my eyes grew blurry with the memories assaulting my mind.

A strangled yelp escaped the young girl in front of him but Nadir couldn't, wouldn't look up. He knew that Javier was standing right behind him, whip in hand and an all too eager hand ready to lash out.

"Like I said before, slave, you have no name. What do I call you?" Saemus asked in a bored tone, glaring down at the girl as she sat on hands and knees, head bowed and tears dripping down her face.

"A-Anything y-you wish, S-sir?"

"And why was that a question and not an answer, you whiny brat?" Saemus snapped before Nadir flinched when the whip flew through the air to crack over the girl's back once more. The young boy was shaking on the spot, but not in fear.