Ok, so once upon a time (yes, again) there was a thief. Now, professional thieves are cunning. They will rob you blind without a second thought and leave you to suffer the consequences of their actions. However, this thief is not a professional. He wore all black out in public, believing that it would help him "blend in with the shadows" but all it did was make him stand out. Seriously, when you are in a sea of people dressed in vibrant colors and your in all black, you are going to be noticed. It's like when someone wearing bright floral patterns enters Hot Topic.
Another problem with this thief is that his name was Brayden. Ok, there is nothing inherently wrong with this, he just doesn't like his name. The real problem is that he is terrible at his job.
Once he tried to steal a glowing vase by hiding it under his cloak. Issue number one: he didn't think that people would be able to see the light through his cloak. Issue number two: his cloak was too long and he would trip over it. You see where this is going, right? That's right, someone saw the glowing vase from under his cloak and he tried to run away, but of course he tripped over his cloak.
The vase shattered into a million little pieces, making tinkling noises as they spilled across the ground. He ran away with what little dignity he had left, little ceramic shards embedded in his hands. You think he would have been more careful after that incident. Well, you'd be wrong! This incident happened over a year ago. Anyways, let's begin his story at the marketplace.
It was another day for the thief. Empty belly and empty pockets, but hopefully not for long. He managed to steal a small loaf of bread from a cart without being caught. He squealed with excitement, almost giving himself away. Once Brayden scarfed down the loaf of bread, he was off to find something more lucrative to steal. He spent a few hours walking around attempting to pickpocket unsuspecting customers. The thief managed to get one sack of coins, but it only had five gold in it. He sighed. At least he could but something to eat today.
Many failed pickpockets later, Brayden decided to try stealing something from one of the shops. He finally settled on one that sold jewelry, since that was the only thing he had much luck with taking undetected. He was pretending to look at some ornate diamond necklaces when a shopkeeper came by. "Ah, are you looking for something for a special someone?" they asked, eyeing the man dressed in all black in 100 degree heat suspiciously.
Brayden panicked. "No, I'm looking at something for me!" he blurted out, much louder than he intended to. Come on man, you could have just said yes.
The shopkeeper gave him a weird look before saying, "well, to each their own, I guess." He walked away, keeping a close eye on the man dressed in black. Oh no sir, should totally ignore this person who you have never seen before! You can totally trust him! No. No you can't.
Brayden heaved a sigh of relief, and walked to the rings, hoping to seem a bit less suspicious. It didn't really help his case. All that aside, it would be difficult to steal from this shop, knowing that the guy who ran it was now watching him like a hawk does its prey. But of course Brayden wasn't paying any more attention to the shopkeeper.
He reached out for one of the rings and was about to slip it into his pocket when he heard, "Stop! Thief!!" Meaning it was now his cue to start running as fast as he possibly could from that booth and not get caught.
Unfortunately for him, he wasn't actually the one being yelled at. There was another person a shop down stealing some pottery who had been caught. By running, he just made himself a target. The jewelry maker quickly took notice and started calling after Brayden in outrage.
Brayden wasn't really paying any attention to what was going on around him as he looked desperately for a place to hide. He found an alleyway and ran down it to hide, just like you see on cartoons. He heard some sort of metal clinking to the ground behind him as he ran faster. His feet pounded on the ground, his lungs screeching for air as he twisted and turned down the various halls of the alleyway. He seemed to be getting farther away from his pursuers when he felt a tug cloak. He panicked for a second, thinking that someone had him by the back of the neck. By the time he realised he was really tripping over his own cloak, it was too late. WHACK! He came crashing down to the ground. That was sure to leave some bruises "Ow," he muttered as he tried to get back up, but was stopped by a blade being pressed to his throat.
"Don't move a muscle," a voice came from behind him. The voice was a higher pitch, and sounded happy, but that only made it more terrifying. A small trickle of blood came from his throat and the voice behind him said, "Oooo, blood!" with a little too much excitement.
Another voice sounded from behind him, this one more timid. "Sage, let's think this through, ok? How would your mother feel if the first thing you did once she let you out of her sight is slit a man's throat?"
"She doesn't have to know."
"Sage."
"Fine." Brayden watched as they moved the blade away. He didn't dare move. He had no doubt that at least one of the people behind him would not hesitate to kill him if he tried to flee. "So what exactly do you think you are doing?" sounded the voice that had a ring of authority to it.
"I was-"
"Hey! Look at me when you are talking to me!" Brayden jumped and slowly turned around, not getting up from the ground. He saw standing before him a person in a silver dress, holding a slightly bloodied dagger to her side and glowering. The other person was wearing armor and fidgeting, an apologetic look on their face. "Do you know who we are?" Sage asked, wiping the dagger on their dress. Brayden wracked his brain trying to remember where he had seen them before until he finally noticed the royal insignia on the guard's uniform.
He let out a small squeak and immediately sunk into a bow. "My lady."
Much to his surprise, the princess groaned. "Call me Sage, I'm not a lady. Or a sir, for the record." Brayden was a little confused, but he wasn't going to argue and risk being decapitated. Smart move, because that is exactly what Sage wanted to do. "This is my personal guard, Anabella," the princess said, motioning towards the guard who waved sheepishly.
"It seems more like your guarding her," the thief accidentally said out loud. He closed his eyes and braced for impact, expecting at the very least be be kicked in the face, but instead felt someone grab his hand and help him to his feet. He opened his eyes to see the guard before him. She tugged him to his feet in one swift movement, helping him balance as he moved his cape out from under his feet.
"While it may be true that I was ordered to protect Sage, it is obvious they are more than capable of taking care of themself," she said with a smile. Sage nodded in agreement. No? Really? The one who was willing to slit someone's throat was way less dangerous than a knight who rarely ever took her balde out of her sheath? Who would have guessed!
"So why did you steal that?" Anabella asked, gesturing to the ring on Brayden's hand. "No offense, but it's obvious that you can't afford that."
"Well, I kind of want to be able to afford to eat tonight," he said, trying to sound threatening. It didn't work. He sounded more like a child desperate to survive.
Sage's eyes softened a little with sympathy. Out of the many stupid things they had to suffer through, they were always glad that starvation was never one of theose factors. "Well, maybe there is something we can do about that. Get you some food or something. Maybe even a job if you want."
"We could always use more guards for the palace," Anabella said. "I can put in a good word for you if you want." Good idea Anabella. I don't think they would bring athief into the royal guard to guard the treasury without someone else to blame it on first.
The thief looked up with a newfound hope. "That would be- WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!" he said, pointing down the alley.
"Nice try, but we're not falling-" Sage was cut off mid sentence as a bright ball of fire whizzed past her head. A laugh echoed from down the alley way. It was the laugh that you want to do as you watch your enemies make fools of themselves.. "Who goes there!" Sage called out to the invisible attacker. No response.
The thief looked down the alley, trying to find the source of the fire ball. He smelt something smoking and looked down to see a small creature lighting his cloak on fire. "Ahh!" he shouted, stomping out the fire and trying to swash the creature. It darted away. Actually hitting something that tiny and fast would be a miracle, like catching the glass that your friend knocked down just barely before it hit the floor. "Thief, are you ok!" Sage asked distracted, swinging wildly at the tiny projectile as the knight stepped out of the strike zone.
"It's Brayden!"
"Now is not the time for introductions !" they shouted as she tried to strike what they could only assume to be a fire demon and got their blade stuck in the wood of a building. While they were tugging it free, the bottom of their dress lit on fire. "You little!" They tried to strike it again, missing.
"Sage, calm down!" Anabella called out to no avail. This was worse than the time the Queen forced Sage into a frilly dress that she could barely move in. Actually, that might have been worse. Either way, there was no stopping them as they hacked fruitlessly at the thing that kept darting around her head like and annoying fly.
"YOU!" an unfamiliar voice rang from down the hallway. The buzzing creature stopped and looked towards the voice, giving Sage an opportunity to grab it.
"I've got it!" They exclaimed, holding it aloft like a trophy.
"Who are you?" said the unfamiliar voice again. The group turned around to see a woman dressed in a purple dress with a pointy hat hanging crookedly off of her head. The Woman's eyes widen in realization as they see the princess and her knight. "My La-"
"Don't finish that sentence, please," Sage interrupted. They looked back down into their hands at the creature, which they could now see was a fairy. He had short, black hair and clothes made from leaves. How did the fire not burn them? Because magic, that's why. "So you clearly know who I am, unfortunately, we need to get rid of the insignia, but who are you and why are you here."
"I am Helena, also known as the creepy witch who lives on the edge of town. Really people, I'm not that scary. And I'm here because that thing lit my house on fire!"
-end chapter two-