The Thieves of Otar

The Unexpected Guest

"What were you thinking?" Arch paced back and forth in front of his desk, his hands on his hips. His hair was sticking up at odd angles from running his hand through it so many times. Zia had hardly seen him like this, and seeing him irritated sent a chill down her spine. "What could you possibly have gained from doing that?" Arch demanded.

"They were being-"

"Men?" Arch said, stopping his pacing to look at her. "I don't know if you realize this, Zia, but men don't respect women who are strong. Men need to feel like they're stronger than women."

"But why?" Zia complained. "Just because it's been that way for thousands of years-"

"Exactly," Arch said as he began his pace once more. "It's been that way for thousands of years. And I think we both know that's the way it's going to be for a thousand more to come."

"That still doesn't change the fact that I was able to take them both down," Zia said. Normally she didn't take such pride in her fighting skills, but this time was different; she was defending herself.

"Precisely!" Arch said as he once again stopped his pace to face her, hands still on his hips. "Zia, do you know where those men were from?"

"A village out east?" she guessed.

"No, they were from a very well-connected family in a northern city," Arch said. He began to pace again while he said, "They have threatened to leave us."

"So?" Zia asked. She could go on with life just fine without those two jerks demanding her to leave.

"So," Arch said, getting more agitated, "our location could be revealed; our men's lives could be lost. If King Donathan were to find out where we are located, this hideout would be over-run with Guards before you could say 'my bad'."

The fullness of the situation came crashing down on Zia like water cascading over her. In her few moments of blind rage and pride, she may have unraveled the happy and somewhat peaceful life she'd had for twelve years.

"Did... did they leave?" she asked quietly, now looking down at the floor.

"Not yet," Arch said. "I've convinced them to stay a while longer... and I've worked something out with them to stay permanently... if you're willing to cooperate, that is."

Arch could never hid things from Zia, and she knew he was hiding something from her now.

"And what is it I have to do?" Zia asked carefully, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer or not.

"Well, as you can imagine, they demanded that I kick you out-"

"Fat chance of that," Zia growled.

"-but I was never going to let that happen, of course, so I lowered them down to an apology."

Zia stared at him like he had dropped from the sky. "An apology?"

Arch nodded.

"No. Not going to happen," Zia said.

"Zia, it's either you give them a two-second apology or everyone in this camp dies." Arch's voice was hard and sent a chill down Zia's back. He spoke the truth, and it allowed her to put aside her stubborn pride and realize what was really going on.

After a long inward battle with herself, Zia finally huffed, and growled out, "Fine, I'll give them a stupid apology. But don't think for one moment that I actually mean it." Then, without waiting for a reply, she stormed out of the tent, leaving Arch shaking his head behind her.