Completed Charity

[Gad]

Continued from "Cages"

Summer 11, 505AV The road to Zeltiva I woke up that night while the slavers were at the fire. They were talking loudly so that I could eavesdrop on them. The man in the yellow doublet was going on defense. “I swear, it weren't me!” “Hmph. Are we're supposed to believe one of those slaves, what, got out of their cage, walked about to the front of the wagon, took some beef, but only so much, kindly retied the knot, and then got back in their cage, locked it behind themselves, and gently lay their head down for a good night's sleep?” It was the fat man with the frog face and short gray hair speaking. “This is ludicrous, why don't you just admit you ate it Clyde?” “Ludi-, you know it's funny Porter, ye ain't look like ye missed a meal once in your life, you fat tub of lard. Maybe ye was feelin' peckish?” I couldn't see it in the dark, but I could just imagine fat Porter's typically pallid complexion getting all red over that statement. “Yeah!? Maybe I'll break you spine you twiggy little shyke, scrape the marrow out and make a stew! Then we'll see if your rations keep coming up missing, hm!?” I could see his fat throat flapping in the light of the fire, and Porter Jr. was getting this riled up look and staring daggers at Clyde, who'd just insulted his father. “Gentlemen, gentlemen.” That voice was so low I could barely make it out over the crackling of firewood that it's sound so resembled, but I recognized it was the one eyed leader of the outfit. “Now, let's not resort to accusations. If Clyde says it wasn't him, then we ought to believe him now. He's been our associate for years, and he's never done anything like this before-” “-Ha! Yeah except for-” it was the man with the red feather in his hat. “-Yes, Tom, except for that, and that was a long time ago, let's move on from. I'd think our colleague here more than deserves the benefit out the doubt. Perhaps a slave did take it, somehow, or maybe it was an animal. Ravens and racoons can be clever critters. Or, it could have fallen out, somewhere along the way. Maybe it was never even in the bag, and we just miscounted when we took inventory. It doesn't matter now, and we'll probably never know. Let it go gentlemen.” He turned to Clyde. “Let's make sure this doesn't happen again, alright?” “Alright, alright!” I heard another one say, it was the cross-eyed redhead “Let's have ourselves a game then, gents?” He ruffled around and pulled something out of a bag. “How's a little game of Stammer and Blush sound?” “It'd sound nice if you weren't always hiding cards Wreck.” The one called Tom said. “Me!? Cap'n's the one walking around with a Whip tucked in his hat!” The leader of the band laughed and responded in an amicable fashion. “Well, we'll all just have to keep a keen eye on each other's sleeves then, won't we boys? Deal me in Wreck.” Yep. And here's where I got myself an idea. I'd heard they were having trouble trusting each other. I thought, Hey, I might do pretty good to help that along there. So, I started working on a plan, formulating in my little head. Maybe I could use this game of Stammer and Blush they were playing. If I could make it look like there was a cheater amongst their ranks, it might happen that I could throw some of the suspicion off of me, and take my food more freely. So, I laid there, stiff as a board, and got to work. First, my right eye. Slowly, slowly, you know the routine, to get it out of my head, and then my right hand too. They were still on their first hand when I got my projected body parts out of their shells. Then, I floated them on over to where they were playing. It was within my range, though enough away that I could tell I wouldn't be doing any heavy lifting. That was alright, because I didn't need to, for what I was planning. As my hand and eye drifted over I made sure to keep my eyes closed, just because it's an odd feeling having on eye looking at one thing and another eye looking at another thing; I guess that was probably how that cross-eyed redhead felt all the time. At any rate, I moved over them over there real smooth like, and found the deck they were playing with. It was sitting on an almost flat rock, that they were using as a game table. I rested my projections over the deck, and made them intangible, so no one bumped into them on accident. From my deck's-eye view I could tell when they were looking at the deck, and when they weren't, so now I just had to wait.

[Gad]

It only took about a chime for an opening where none of them were looking at the cards to happens. It was when fat Porter and Porter junior got caught mumbling to one another. Of course, Clyde accused them of playing teams, but they swore they were just talking about Missus Porter. The leader- the one they called Captain- had to get involved again to cool everybody out. But, I was already making my move. As soon as the commotion started I slide a card off the top of the deck, and pressed it against the ground. I dragged it all along the surface of the ground, and my projected eye followed so I could see what I was doing up close. Now, I got the card over to fat Porter's boot. He was, at this point, standing up wagging his finger at Clyde, who was standing on his tip-toes across from the fat man. He was so into his argument that I was able to slip the card into Porter's boot. It seemed like he felt something, because I could see through my projected eye him shift his eyes down for a moment to the ground. It was only for a split second though and he musta shook the feeling off because right after that he went back to arguing. Well, like I said, Captain calmed them down and they got back to playing their game. They even broke out a little cask of beer, and started drinking together, just a chime later. Clyde and Porter started joking together even. Well, I couldn't have any of that, now could I? No. So, I watched and waited for just a tick to see if there was another opening. Wreck, the cross-eyed redhead, was sitting between Tom and fat Porter, and I could see he wasn't too smooth with his hands. For a tick his left hand was lowered down by where Tom's mug was sitting on the rock, nobody was really looking at it either. I moved my projected hand and eye over there, and flicked it real hard, towards Porter. Well, that took something out of me, so I started reeling in my hand and eye, and working on putting them back in. Though, as I worked, I did crack open my left eye, and angle it towards their little group, so I watch the magic happen. Immediately, Tom stood up. “Damn it Wreck! Ya cross-eyed fool! Look what you did, you clumsy ass!” “Ugh, now my boots are filled with ale.” Porter chimed in. “Hey! No need for name calling now Tommy, don't worry, I'll get your mug for you pal. See?” The cross-eyed Wreck bent down to the ground to retrieve the mug, from where it had landed next to Porter's feet. I couldn't quite make it out, but I could certainly imagine the look of surprise on the simple fool's face when he caught half a glimpse of what was tucked into Porter's boot. “H-Heeey!” He let out in a whiny moan. “What's that there Porter!?” He grabbed the fat man's leg and pulled it up forcefully, setting it on the stone they were playing off of. “Unhand me you thug-!” Porter's indignation was cut short, I could see everyone in their outfit was looking at him hard, and so could he. He peeked over the side of his own girth and looked down at his leg, spotting the card. Tom reached in and pulled it out. “One of Coins, looks like somebody had a bad hand they didn't want playing.” Everything was quiet for a minute, and then Clyde stood up, threw his cards down, and stormed off to his bed role, where he wrapped himself up and turned facing away from the group. Tom spoke up “Hey, don't be so damned dram-” “-Good evening, gentlemen! I refuse to play another hand with liars and cheats!” The group started looking from one, to another, but I could see all their eyes and heads pointing towards Porter. He stammered up a defense.

[Gad]

“Why, I don't know how that got there at all! Captain, you- you've got believe me!” The Captain nodded. “Aye, I do. Maybe it got there the same way that portion of Clyde's beef vanished.” He voice was grim. “Alright boys. Wreck, would you kindly reshuffle the deck? Perhaps we ought to start a new game.” They did so, and carried on for another bell, but did so in almost total silence. I was grinning ear to ear. My plan had worked, or at least it had seemed to. I waited until they turned in for the night, and then went to work getting more of that beef jerky. The way I was looking at it, I had already put suspicion on somebody else, right? And the idea that a slave was stealing the meat just sounded ridiculous, because the driver's seat on the wagon was more than two arms' lengths away from the closest bars on the cage. I felt like I'd covered my tracks well enough, so why not take some more? I started working on my projection, and pulled my astral hands out in the joint to tip fashion that was the safest. I had just set the pieces of jerky I'd snatched into my lap, and was reattaching my hands, when I heard a grumbling and saw Jeff rousing from his sleep. “Mmhn, what're ya doin?” I heard him say. I shoulda just pretended to be asleep. If I was smart, if I had any sense in my head, that's what I woulda done, instead I said; “Uuhhh. Eating?” He rubbed his eyes. “Well damn boy, whatcha got there?” He snatched some of the jerky up an sniffed it. I couldn't much do anything because my hands were still indisposed. “Why- hot damn, this is the jerky that came up missing- how'd you get this?” Well, shyke, what was I supposed to say to that? Luckily, I guess, he got the idea that I wasn't trying to give anymore of myself away. “Huh, guess it don't matter. Say, you might want to share this with me, you know? It's awfully hard to talk, with your mouth full.” My expression was flat, but I wanted to scowl. After a tick I just sighed. “Take it.” He gobbled it down. I guess our conversation was enough to rouse baby Sam Jr. from his sleep, because he started awake and hollering. His crying was loud enough to start waking up others, and Tina was working real hard to shut him up. Not fast enough though, because we could hear over from where the slavers were sleeping Captain's voice booming out across the grounds. “Gods damn it bitch shut that bastard up or I'll come over there and gut you!” In the shade of night, I could see Tina didn't take that as an empty threat. Somehow, she managed to get her baby quiet. But then, Tuck and Lefty were up too, and they were all looking at what I had, and the jerky Jeff was gnawing on. “Ivak's balls, look Tuck, this kid's the one who boosted the jerky!” The one handed brother whispered to his elder. “I see Lefty, I see it. How in Rhysol's name did you come by that kid? Heh, guess the less we know the better, eh? Come on, don't hog it all for yourselves now.” The two of them took a piece each, leaving me with two. I figured I might as well give one of them to Tina- even though it was her baby's fault Lefty and Tuck took half of what I had. She thanked me and started gnawing on it. At least she expressed some gratitude, the other three took it for granted that I owed them some of my score. Yeah, I let it go though. For a while there, all of us were just sitting there eating quietly, grinning at each other like fools. Like we were free, or something. After they'd horked their shares down, my cage-mates fell asleep one by one. The last one was Jeff. “Hey, you did pretty good kid,” he said to me, before nodding off “gotta be careful though, with that little trick of yours.” I froze in place when he said it. Good thing I hadn't been planning on sleeping because I wouldn't have been able to after he dropped that on me. I wasn't sure if he knew how I'd done it, or just meant stealing the jerky. I didn't respond though, and in a few ticks he was snoring away. I spent most of the rest of that night staring around the dark, and thinking about what I'd done. I thought I was doing them a favor by sharing. Really, I was making them each one an an accomplice. I guess they shoulda known what they were getting into. Then again, if they really knew, they probably would've spat in my face. I fell asleep just before dawn.

Continued in "Caught"

[Zandelia]

Gad :

Skills
Projection – 2
Observation – 3
Larceny – 1
Planning – 1
Subterfuge - 2

Lores
Creating Havoc With Loyalties
Driving A Wedge With Cards
My Secret: Discovered?!

Notes :

Another nice thread. Cunning mind you have. I’ll have to borrow it one day.

Any questions about my grade? Feel free to PM anytime. Keep Writing!