Trading in the Catch

"I am a loyal member of the Jarrow thieves guild!" Kaylan shouted as he was all tied up with a makeshift rope Zaniva created with her magic, binding his hands. The rope's surface was overall cold, brown on the outside, but the thief grunted midway as he was being escorted with Jimmy and the other succubi by his side.

"Hey." Kaylan spoke towards Jimmy, who had a scarf covering his mouth, preventing his forked tongue from emerging any time sooner. "Hey snake freak I'm talking to you."

The thief stopped himself from speaking any further, feeling a sharp tip making contact with his back. He turned slightly to see Sillis narrowing her eyes as she smiled.

"Say another word to Jimmy, and I will actually stab you." the succubi spoke, all while her eyes glowed red and Kaylan saw a gust of black aura surrounding her body, before it slowly faded away.

Kaylan kept his mouth shut. The Silvanir sisters, Sillis and Velyn, were standing behind Kaylan, while Belva held Kaylan by the arm. Zaniva gripped onto Jimmy's own arm, resting her head on his shoulder as they all continued to walk through the crowd.

"Hey." Belva spoke. "Shouldn't we focus on exchanging this thief for coin?"

"We'll get to that." Jimmy said in a muffled tone, as he saw the eyes of the civilians looking elsewhere. Good, he thought, people can be unpredictable when it came to their overall reactions. His childhood was no different, his younger years were no different, and here he was now, a full grown man.

Well, he thought again, the body of a man at most.

"Jimmy!" A familiar voice came, and Dimebag Drummond was seen going through the crowd, before he saw the sight of him and the succubi. "What's with the scarf, and what happened to your eyes? You look like a snake!"

"He's gotten a case of the flu." Zaniva spoke. "A rare flu case involving a venomous snake. I plan to make him some soup later, and treat him until he is better."

Dimebag shared a laugh. "You his wife?"

Belva and the Silvanir sisters froze in place, as they looked on at the couple.

"Soon to be wife." Zaniva lied. "It's the least I could do for him, as he has been a wonderful cook up until now."

"Uh..yes." Jimmy stammered as he saw Dimebag's roaring laughter.

"Well good for you then, and what do we have here?" Dimebag smirked at the sight of a tied up Kaylan. The giant man pushed the thief's hood downward, revealing Kaylan's messy and dirty hair.

"Piss off." Kaylan shouted at the giant man.

"Oh tough one are you?" Dimebag spoke. "People are going to be happy by the time you're in a cell, and Jimmy here's gonna roll in coins by the time he turns your bounty in."

"Any idea where we could turn him in?" asked Jimmy

"One of the guards here should know, afterall, they're supervising the bounties on orders of the King. Guess I'll leave it all to you lot then."

"Where you heading?"

"My boys and I plan to go to Werth, you know, bustling port and market city hours from here."

"Could we perhaps tag along?" Zaniva asked. "The girls and I are from out of town, and we'd love to visit more places within Gilvenheim."

"Of course." Dimebag remarked. "You ladies seem to have some energy, but Jimmy will have to manage you."

"We can manage ourselves." Belva said in confidence.

"Confidence, I like that."

***

At the center of town, there stood the marketplace, the same place where you could get all types of fish in addition to Brimstone Beef or ounces of spice imported far from the East. Jimmy and the succubi escorted Kaylan, still going through the crowd. Sillis' eyes were focused on the amounts of animal meat taken from many of Gilvenheim's fauna, each of them varying in shape, size and even color.

"They're still raw, sister." Velyn remarked.

"Well they won't should we buy them." Sillis spoke, her mouth watering slightly.

"Wait." Kaylan begged. "Come on, hear me out." his voice stopped the group from moving on further.

"We are not interested in your offers, thief." Belva said, keeping up with their cover.

"Be quiet lady, I'm talking to the snake eyed man." Kaylan remarked as Jimmy turned to face the thief. The man's snake eyes were giving the thief a deathly glare.

"You let me go and I'll tell you where members of Thousand Cuts are located."

"Who?"

"Thousand Cuts, the organization, the one on the wrong side of the Law." Kaylan grinned. "My guild is nothing compared to what they're doing in Werth and other cities in the West."

Jimmy spend seconds thinking, rubbing his chin with his hand, before he spoke. "Even as I struggled through life, experience has taught me that lying will never get you anywhere."

"Why would I lie!?" Kaylan shouted. "They're not just criminals, they're enhanced ones! With magic!" he lowered his tone. "You think your abilities can match them, Cerrit?"

Kaylan felt his collar pulled by Jimmy, who shot him another glare.

"Even if what you say is true, I won't be the only one facing them." Jimmy remarked. "Ain't that right, ladies?"

As Jimmy said that, Kaylan saw the faded rising aura from all the disguised succubi. It's visibility was only see for him for some reason, as the people passing by did not notice a thing. The thief felt some sweat running down his face.

"Indeed Jimmy." Belva smiled. "Now, let's trade in our catch of the day for some coin."