Anna, the Theif

Things could possibly be any worse. Anna glared out of her bedroom window at the gloomy sky. It rarely ever rained in Chaitu, but for some reason, it had decided to do so today. Of all days! She sighed to herself as she brushed her unruly black curls out of her face again. What a bother.

The roads would be slush in the morning. “I can’t believe I’m going to be stuck here again!” she cried out, stomping her foot into the heavy rug as she stood before the fire. The normally cheerful orange glow seemed brittle and dead as she kicked a small twig into it.

Of all places to get stuck, she had to be stuck here. “I’m no more happy about it than you,” answered Colin as he looked up finally.

His heavy cloak nearly hid the uniform he had on, but Anna wasn’t fooled. Try as he may, Colin would always be nothing more than a spineless soldier. “The least you could do is let me loose!” she snapped, turning towards him now.

If she could rile him enough, maybe she could get him to leave. “There’s no way I could escape from you now…”

“I have my orders.” Colin never wavered as he eyed the beautiful temptress before him. He didn’t really like denying a woman anything so simple…but Anna was more than just some woman…she was a theif.

Anna pouted as she flounced onto a couch. She shifted so that she was leaning over the back to look at him, her arms laced under her bodice. “And what exactly can I steal around here!?”

My heart. Colin frowned as he looked down at his regulation styled boots, since when would that happen? “You going to answer me?”

Anna’s voice was sour as Colin looked up again with a sigh. “No.”

The slight tapping on the door alerted them as a very wrinkled, crooked lady came in, carrying a rusty old tray into the room, nearly dropping it as she slid it onto the desk in front of Colin and wobbling her way out. “Even the silver is worthless!” groaned Anna as she flopped onto her back, her feet kicked up in the air for theatrics.

“Quit your whining and eat,” ordered Colin tersely. He’d had just about enough from the rather spoiled woman.

He should have expected her to sit up and clamp her mouth shut, crossing her arms stubbornly as she glared at him, but Colin wasn’t exactly a lady’s man. For a moment, he wasn’t even sure what he would do. They looked at each other silently—Anna with an angry glare and Colin with a blank stare. “I have no orders that I can’t starve you,” he informed her heavily, settling down before the tray and wondering exactly what the innkeeper had made. It didn’t really look that edible and Colin wasn’t the most willing to try something so unappetizing.

“Looks like third day gruel to me,” grumbled Anna as she gracefully sat herself across from him.

Riling the soldier hadn’t proved fruitful, so perhaps spinning a bit of her womanly ways would. He was a man, after all. She frowned for a moment, not the best at this sort of thing. It was made worse because she hated soldiers and anything dealing with the law…whatever that may be to whomever it was that was in power.

“…I’m sure that the company will make this all the more…edible…” she tried, feeling like she’d sounded a million times worse than when she was trying to poke at him.

Colin didn’t even flinch as he glanced up at her with only a moment’s smile, “That’s the spirit. We know that it won’t kill us, at least. This is the same stuff she serves everyone, and I don’t see that many graves out back.”

“…Because they’re all in the forest and along the roads away from here,” mumbled Anna sourly, before smiling innocently up at the ignorant soldier.

They managed to clean the tray off after a while or so. Colin leaned back in his chair and watched Anna carefully. The thief had stopped harassing him and he was starting to wonder what she was trying to do now. He’d had enough prisoner escorting missions to know that they never stopped cajoling and double-handing. Anna could be no exception.

After a moment of cringing inwardly, Anna stood up and slipped across the room, accentuating her movements slightly, turning only once to see if the lap dog was even watching. He didn’t even look up from his scowling glare at his rather nice leather boots. A light came to her eyes for just a moment, vanishing as he looked up at her.

“Care for a game, Sir…Colin?” she tried, almost forgetting the man’s name. He eyed her warily. “…of dice?” she’d tried.

“And what are we gambling for?” Colin knew something was up.

Anna did her best to allay is scrutiny, but she finally brushed it aside out of annoyance. “A game of dice then.”

Colin allowed himself to be drawn into the game. It was a boring past time to him, but it passed the time as the rain tumbled down outside. Before long, Anna had gotten them two goblets of port from the small cache of drinks the inn could provide. He knew better than to drink too heavily.

The fire had nearly died out by the time Colin realized just how tired he was. “Never fear…Colin,” cooed Anna, slowing gaining confidence as she slowly got Colin to lie down. “The morrow will prove a good day for travel and we’ll both be off quick as you please!” He had one final thought as he eyed the port, drugged. He’d been drugged.

Anna grinned back at the inn. Foolish man. His boots hung over her shoulder; a burlap sack sheltering her from the rain. Once she hit the forest, she’d be able to hide her tracks and lose that ignorant lap dog forever.