I love the Fable series and recently while playing I got an idea to a fanfic, this is a retelling of Sparrow's journey, but with more insight than the games give. I'm taking inspiration from my own playthroughs of Fable II and also my own dog's has credit for giving me inspiration for how to personalize Sparrow's dog. This is about a good female hero, plus english isn't my first language so if you spot any wrong spellings I'm sorry for that.
I may also pair Sparrow with someone or no one, I haven't decided yet. And the first two chapters have much dialouge taken from the game, as I didn't want to change it, it will change after these first two chapters though.
I own nothing of this, it belongs to Lionhead.
"Come one, come all!
Lo and behold my story of spectacular proportions, sure to blow your mind as far as the Void.
A story of magic and mysteries of adventure and peace, of friendship and battles, of bravery and skill, of strength and weakness, of pain and happiness, love and hate, good and evil.
A mighty story indeed, as it should be all right, it reflects an entire life I'll have you know, and I dare say all of it is true.
You wonder how I can know? I saw most of it with my own eyes I say, every word I speak is taken from one with first hand knowledge.
Now back to my tale, we want to be done before the dawn breaks or half the atmosphere will fly its merry way, and I must urge that this story ought to intrigue you all the more. This place where the story will reach a critical point, this place where one life will end and another begins; the life of a Sparrow..."
Chapter1 - The Beginning
Winter had us all in its grip, the snow, though usually beautiful, fell silently through the ice cold air, foreboding dark times. The cold bit at my skin, chilled me to the bones and I could only wonder what kind of world we lived in, when our King didn't look twice at his kingdom or its people, but I never said that out loud as I knew how much Rose wanted to live in Castle Fairfax.
I sighed, it turned into a shiver and white smoke slowly drifted from my mouth and mixed with the smoke from small fire my sister had managed to lit, it wasn't much but the warmth was god send. I used to pretend, used to close my eyes and then I saw us, my sister and I sitting in front of the fire place in our house on the countryside, that our father rested in his chair and mother prepared dinner. But I couldn't anymore, that was just dreams, dreams for kids and weaklings and they only made it harder to survive.
The sad thing is, I am just a child, just eight years old, I think, and already I'm falling into despair.
I held my hands so close to the fire that I almost burned myself, I saw that Rose also shivered slightly, we were used to live on the streets, we had been for years now, but this was the coldest winter by far. If only the traders that often spent the winter in Bowerstone had come this year, now we had nowhere to seek shelter for the cold. I know that, despite Rose's encouragement, we had little to no chance of surviving this winter if we didn't find any shelter.
Suddenly something warm hit me on the head, a change from the cold snow. My hands flew up to find out what it was. Eew, bird poop, frantically I tried to brush it off with snow. "What was that?" Rose stepped closer to see what it was.
"Oh uck," she said before helping me clean it out of my dark hair. "Well I hear that's lucky, like finding a four leafed clover." She brushed my hair clean of snow and giggled slightly and added; "Although I think I'd prefer the clover." I cast her an annoyed glance but I did agree with her.
"Oh, look little Sparrow." Rose said and got a dreamy tone in her voice. "Castle Fairfax looks so nice in the snow, imagine the great dining hall. I bet Lord Lucien is having roast duck this time of year."
I nodded in agreement, even if I though the castle looked beautiful it was something about castles that seemed cold and unfriendly, but if it provided food and shelter I'd go for it. My stomach growled as I tried and failed to not imagine the taste of roast duck, neither of us had tasted real food for a long time but I remembered the smell all too well.
"But he must be really lonely since his wife and his little girl died." She said solemnly. "In that big castle all by himself." Rose had always been very empathetic and able to feel with people she hadn't even met.
"If only we could live there." She sighed and I couldn't help but agree, that would be a dream coming true, but a dream was a dream, a harsh way of thinking I know, but to survive on the streets you have to turn a bit harsh.
During this the voices drifting from the centre of Bowerstone Old Town had gained volume and people sounded excited, I wondered what could be exciting at this time of year. But I saw Rose get an interested look in her eyes.
"What's going on over there? Come on sis, let's have a look." She turned and headed for the market place, I followed her quickly, part of me was interested and I wanted to know what was so exciting.
She was faster so I lost sight of her in the narrow, winding streets but there was only one way to go so I soon caught up with her. She had stopped in front of a dirty, disgusting man, I hated that man, Arfur, he was evil, and was always being mean to everyone.
"Hello there young Rose, you look hungry," even his voice angered me and scared me at the same time. "Have you considered my offer?" I stepped closer to Rose and glared at the man, but he didn't even see me.
"We'll never be that hungry, the answer is no." Rose voice was sharp as she told him off and then she grabbed my arm and marched away from him. "Come on little Sparrow, let's see what's going on." I had never heard what the offer was, and I wasn't sure I wanted to, but there were no good things a thug like him could offer.
"You'll be back, and I'll be waitin' for ya." He called after us as we left him, but he didn't follow us thankfully.
"That creep," Rose mumbled harshly. "I hate him."
I stopped beside my sister, in front of us was a large crowd gathered. I couldn't see much, I was to short, the only thing I could see was glimpses of a colourful wagon of sorts. "It's only a trader," Rose sighed disappointedly but nevertheless we stood still to see what he may be selling.
"Gather now, for the sale of the century!" A man called from the caravan. "Ladies and Gentlemen I have travelled the land accumulating wondrous and mysterious objects which I now offer to you, for the modest price off...five gold. Consider this. This is truly a magical mirror, for as long as you look into it, it will make you beautiful."
"I'll take it." I saw who called out, I had seen the man a few times, one not so gifted with his looks.
"Very wise," the trader said. "Now just remember the magic only works if you look at it in complete darkness."
Yeah right, and it only works in darkness, how convenient. I saw that Rose also scoffed slightly at the supposed magic mirror. But it would be great to be able to buy worthless things just like that, for no other reason than to buy something.
"Ah, now this is truly a marvel." the trader said delightfully, motioning towards something at his right that I couldn't see. "This small, unassuming box is actually a device created by the ancients. As used by the old kingdom rulers themselves. Turn the handle three times and you'll be granted a single wish." Voices of disbelief filled the crowd, and I guessed that the trader didn't have any big chance of selling that box.
"There's no such thing as magic," Rose stated and part of me agreed but deep inside I still held tight to the fantasies of a child, that part urged me to believe.
"We live in grim times indeed, if the children are to world weary to believe in magic. Most children you age believe eagerly." A voice from beside us said. Startled, me and Rose turned to see an old woman cloaked in red and white.
"Look I can see your eyes are bad, but I'm telling ya, that music box is rubbish." Rose said to the woman, I looked up in her face, her smile was eerie but not evil, then I saw her eyes and that startled me. The woman's eyes were pale white, she was blind. Her gaze was piercing and I know it's ridiculous but it felt like she could see us clearer than one could imagine.
"That's what the seller thinks, he has no idea what he has stumbled upon." The woman continued. "But you have an inkling don't you? Some part of you wants to believe it's magic." She turned and walked away, her words lingered in my head, could it be true, did magic still exist? I could see Rose had the same thoughts.
"Y...you really think it could be?" Rose asked and the old woman stopped and turned her head slightly back at us.
"For five gold coins you could have your answer."
"For five gold coins we could eat for a week."
"Listen to me Rose, at the end of that week you and your little Sparrow would be no closer to your dream. Now closer to the inside of that castle."
Not until after she had vanished did I realise what she had said, how did she know our names? Our dreams? I voiced my questions to Rose but she could only shake her head in question.
"What if it is real? I bet we could get five gold pieces, and maybe this could be our way out of here after all. What is there to loose little Sparrow. Come on there must someone around here that will pay us gold to ... do something."
Eagerly I ran ahead to find someone in need of help, Rose easily kept up with me and I got the feeling that my eagerness made her happy. I knew she was worried about me, that I'd almost stopped speaking entirely after our parents' death. No matter how she tried at first I had not uttered more than a few words, now she had mostly accepted my silence.
"Oi kids, come here a minute!"
I looked in the direction of the voice, it was a guard. For a second I froze in fear, there were a few guards that were mean to the orphans and homeless, which enjoyed hurting just for fun. But soon I recognised the guard, he was pretty decent for a grown up, and one of the kindest guards.
"Hello Derek, loose something?" Rose asked.
"My arrest warrants, blew right out of my hands. They could be all over Bowerstone by now, and I can't leave my post." Some may call that laziness but both me and Rose knew that Derek was the most dutiful guard in town, he should be a sheriff instead of a guard in my opinion.
"Hey, why don't you find them for me," he said with a smile. "You could be like little constables, sounds fun right."
"And how much do small constables get paid?" Rose asked and I smiled inwardly.
"Paid? Listen kids, these are the five most wanted criminals in Bowerstone."
"Yeah, well how badly do ya want 'em?"
"Fine," Derek said with a sigh. "One gold for all five of warrants."
"Deal."
"The warrants blew off in that direction," Derek said, pointing to the right. "Through the alley by the bloke with the picture box."
"So we look out for those warrants but for now lets find some more money."
We took of in the direction that Derek had pointed out, there was a small group of people there, much was happening in this small part of town today.
The one all looked at was a skinny man who went on about his new contraption, some sort image capturing device as he called it. He sounded a bit funny to me and he was as eager as a kid in a candy store.
"Hi, what's that?" Rose asked the man.
"This. Why it's only the most amazing device ever conceived. It grabs your very likeness and transfiddles it to a magic piece of paper. It's going to make me very rich." It sounded very strange to me but who knew maybe he wasn't crazy. "If only I could find someone to modilify for it."
Rose looked at me and I showed my agreement with a nod. "We'll do it, for a gold piece."
"Hmm, I only have one gold left. But you're right, I should investialize in my new venture. Deal."
"A gold piece just to stand there, sounds all right doesn't it," Rose smiled at me.
"Like my uncle Finneus used to say, you're never too young to grease your elbows especially in harsh times like these." I stared at him, Rose did the same, our eyes said the same thing; he was crazy, but likable.
"Now all you have to do is to strike a pose for my little device, you'll be positively betwazzled by the results." The man said as Rose helped me up on the platform in front of the picture box. "Be- what?" Rose asked and straightened up beside me.
"Ah yes, I've been improving my vocabularium with a wonderful book bought from Murgo the trader. A thesaurus."
"He's a bit silly," Rose whispered to me with a grin. "But this could be fun.
"Very well, strike a pose my young friends."
I couldn't help myself, I had to chose the pose all the hero's in the books used to show. A bright light flashed and momentarily blinded me but my sight cleared instantly, puzzled I looked at the small insignificant box and wondered how it worked.
"Wondrous! This thing's going to be more popular than the pox! Now I'll just have to wait three months for the picture to develify and I can start showing it around. Oh, I can almost smell the gold."
The people around muttered about a swindle and it did sound like a strange device, but maybe me and Rose could see if he was still in Bowerstone in three months.
We left down the next ally, "this must be were those warrants blew down." Rose had barely finished when a pained yelp echoed between the walls.
"Come on, Rex caught a dog!" A few kids ran by when me and Rose left the short alley. "He's gonna kick the crap out of it!" Their excitement made me sick and furious.
A bit further down the road a group of street hard kids had gathered with the bully Rex in the middle. Rex was the oldest boy in this part of town, and the meanest, he loved to be the leader and forced the other kids to do as he wanted.
But what caught my eye was a dog, unusual in itself, it was heart wrenchingly skinny with ragged brown and black fur. It had been forced in to a corner, its tail between its legs and a gaze so hurt and confused that my throat laced together in empathy.
"Aww, whatsa matter poochie, does it hurt?" The dog shivered in fear and pressed its beaten body closer to the wall, whining softly.
"We have to stop this," Rose mumbled heatedly before storming over to Rex. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?" She exclaimed angrily glaring at the boy. He stopped his wooden sword just above the dog and turned to Rose, she was actually taller than him so he had to look up at her.
"Having a bit of fun, what's it to you." He replayed cockily and ran his hand down my sister's chest. Before I could do anything, or Rose for that matter, he head butted her.
Whispers rippled through the group; "He hit a girl..." "Yeah, and now I'm gonna hit another one." Rex boasted and turned to me, stepping closer.
"How dare you?" I said furiously. The rage I felt when he hit the defenceless dog had doubled when he dared touch my sister and the head butting was too much. I drew my own toy sword and before he could come closer I had already closed the gap between us.
I focused all my anger behind my blows, for being the toughest kid on the block he sure fought badly, he couldn't even hit me. I heard the other kids cheer but was too focused to hear for whom they rooted for. Finally after several hard hits Rex had had enough.
"Aww stop it you nutter!" He cried out and pushed through the crowd and ran away. I didn't care to see what the other kids did, instead I ran over to Rose, she was just sitting up. "Ow! Did you see that, that lunatic socked my right in the head." She said as she rose up and rubbed her forehead. "Are you all right sis?"
"Yeah I'm fine." She dusted off the snow and smiled at me. "Thanks for your help, I could've taken him though." I smiled back, I had no doubt she could have, but seeing as she had been unconscious she would have had a hard time beating him.
A low, pained whine snapped my attention back to the poor dog. It had been too scared to move past us even when no one had paid it any attention. We both walked closer the dog and bent down. "Aww poor thing, you've had a horrible time." Rose said softly.
The dog backed up further until it almost sat down and made a noise like a growl and a whine in one. "Don't be afraid we won't hurt you." The dog perked up a bit and moved away from the wall a little, even daring to straighten up slightly. When close to the dog I could also see that it was a he, and that his scrawny body wasn't badly wounded.
I cooed quietly and stretched out my hand to him, first he jerked back a bit but then he wagged his tail and pricked his ears to the sound of my voice. His dark eyes was gentle, the hurt, confused look was only a shadow deep inside.
"What you need is someone nice to look after you," Rose said and the dog barked and I could swear he smiled. Then it seemed he remembered himself and he hunched down like he expected a blow or harsh word. But he crocked his head and locked up at us, pleading with soft brown eyes.
"Aww, we can't keep you, we don't have enough food for ourselves." The dog looked at Rose and whined softly and begged even more. "Well I'm sorry but we can't. Now you just rest."
"Come on little Sparrow, let's go." I slowly did as she said and followed her down the road, all the while with the dog's whining in my ears. I wanted to argue that we kept the dog, at least to see that no one hurt him again but I knew how hard Rose was struggling with taking care of me. She was just four years older than me and now she was forced to raise me, give us both food and shelter all the while mourning our parents. So I kept quiet and tried to shut my ears for the whine.