Sankt Fairbanks was an unusual kind of city and unusual kind of area.
The piece of land was owned by the king of Blakeney, but the country Blakeney was actually quite far away. It took weeks on boat to even reach the nearest shore of Blakeney far away, which meant that Sankt Fairbanks was what you call a colony.
It was no wonder though that the king of Blakeney wanted this piece of land, for the land itself was beautiful.
The temperature was often hot but still the crops and and goods were of the finest quality in the world.
Grapes were being harvested for the best wines in the world and no one could beat the live stock of the land, the king himself would order ample supplies to his court from Fairbanks and would hate to loose this easy access to the best wine in the world.
For all intense and purposes this land should be paradise on earth but it wasn't exactly so.
Not so long ago had the country been torn in a war, finally with the help of the king of Blakeney the war had been settled and Blakeney had earned himself this large piece of land where a city had now been build, governed by the kings own men.
What the king had failed to realize though was that in a land so far away from the kings eye, the governors and military personal he send there could easily become corrupt and abuse their position and they did indeed.
They had no trouble capturing the locals and force them to do their bidding on the fields and in the city, then they took all the riches for themselves and left the poor people in the dust. And it was hard to object as none had the same resources and weapons as these soldiers.
The people whom originally lived in that land was called the Akapaki, they lived in several tribes and worshipped nature as well as spirits. It seemed like a pretty good deal for the settlers from Blakeney.
How ever it was not everyone who benefitted from the wealth whom agreed with this arrangement, for there in Sankt Fairbanks also lived a noble man by the name of Francesco Pulido.
Francesco was a distant cousin to the king himself and had served the army doing the war in this land, as he had fought for the land he had also fallen deeply in love with it and had decided to settle there and build a new home. He had fallen deeply in love with one of the Akapaki, a beautiful woman with dark skin and long nearly black hair called Esperanza. After the war the two had married and worked together to make the land prosber ones again. With time Esperanza had born Francesco the two most lovely daughters in the world. Lolita and Angelina Pulido.
Lolita was of course the oldest and quite a responsible little lady while Angelina was a bit more of a trouble maker.
Still, Francesco loved his family dearly and the home he had made for himself at this land he had fallen in love with.
Unfortunately for this family though, when the corruption didn't meet any resistance it kept growing. The greed of the governor only grew more and more, the misfortune of the locals were to be felt and the Pulido family with their two small children stood powerless.
It became an a hard decision to send their youngest child away when she asked, it would be hard to be separated from their dear Angelina. But Angelina really wanted to go to that school back at Blakeney and at least there she would be safe! That had been the last determining factor, she would be safer away from the brewing conflict than here in the middle of it.
The thing about Angelina though was that she was quite the little actress and quite the little trouble maker, she was supposed to go on a boarding school for young noble girls but she had NO intention what so ever, of ever showing up.
The crafty little lady forged letters and with a little switching around managed to pass herself off as a boy by the name Angelo Pulido so she could go to the boys school where they taught sword play instead.
And Angelina loved it, she loved learning the way of the sword, horse riding, lazying and everything in between, with the boys she would cause a lot of trouble in town and eventually bump into the person whom would become her best friend in the world.
For her this was all the greatest game in the world where she could excel and have fun with the things she enjoyed.
Things though stopped being a game as a letter finally found its way to Angelina.
The letter had been two years delayed as the poor postman couldn't find any Angelina Pulido at the girl school she was supposed to be at, but finally it had arrived.
It arrived while Angelina, or Angelo as she went by was in the midst of one of her favourite games. It was a sort of mix between tag and sword fighting she played with her friends. The last one standing with a sword won, ones you lost your sword you were out, those were the only rules.
In front of Angelina stood a young man with black hair and a grin. "This time, I am going to get you I swear!" Daniel stated.
And Angelina laughed loudly. "Keep telling yourself that!" she exclaimed just as Daniel launched for her and Angelina leaped up into the air grabbing a beam above them, and then kicked Daniel whom stumbled backwards but kept his sword.
"NOW!" Two other young men shouted as they came running and Angelina dropped down to make a roll fall making the two run into each other and fall down.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Angelina laughed loudly. "Oh my god your faces!" she shouted.
Just as another back attack came and finally Angelina raised her sword to pare her attack, they circled as their blades were clashing and they both grinned, behind her Angelina could hear Daniel disarm one of their friends and she just managed to duck before Daniel got her from behind, then she swept the legs away from her opponent in front of her, making a summersault to get away but ended up in a corner.
Daniel grinned as he realised he had cornered her. "Got you now Angelo, say your prayer."
Angelina lifted an eyebrow and then jumped up grabbing the beam above and crawled up now standing up there making Daniel loose face. "CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!" she laughed and ran across the beams under the ceiling.
"Oh so they monkey returns." Daniel commented. "You're not a noble man at all, you're just a monkey dressed up as one!" he stated.
"What kind of monkey?" Angelina asked in a grin as she hung upside down as if just to taunt Daniel with how easily she moved around up there.
"A big baboon what else? It's a big butt just like you!" Daniel stated pointing up.
And Angelina reached tounge of him as she sat there high above. "Are you going to come get me or what?" she asked. "Or are you giving up?" she asked in a blink.
"NOT ON YOUR LIFE!" Daniel shouted as he climbed up to.
The rest of their friends whom had already been disarmed looked up at the two, the best sword fighters in their class now jumping from beam to beam, their swords occasionally clashing. "Aww, getting tired?" Angelina asked.
"HAH! You're the one whom fight like a girl!" Daniel stated.
"Your mother is a hamster and your father smells like elderberries." Angelina returned showing off her tounge again and their swords clashed, they jumped in circles and then suddenly their swords were locked, the two pressing against each other trying to make each other to fall down.
"You're fast and nimble but i'm the strongest." Daniel commented as he was clearly pushing Angelina backwards and he smirked. "Got you."
Angelina looked back at him, then nodded and finally she stepped aside so suddenly Daniel fell forward instead of backwards and down on the ground loosing his sword in the process. "URGH!" he shouted as he landed on his back, then he laid there gasping for air before he laughed. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Good show you never dissapoint Angelo." he grinned. "Next time... I'll get you." he gasped.
Angelina smirked as she put her sword back into the shed and jumped down offering Daniel a hand pulling him back up. "I'll look forward to it." she blinked giving him a friendly punch on the shoulder.
"You're lucky you're so fast when you're so small." Daniel commented reffering to the fact that Angelina was by far the smallest and skinniest of all of them. What the young men didn't realise was of course that she was just average for a woman but she refrained from saying so... All the young men had basically gone through puberty now. Before puberty had hit them blending in had been a lot easier, now though. Her charade would probably soon have to end.
Then she smiled lightly. "Remember what our teacher told us, turn your disadvantage into an advantage." she commented amused. "And keep on training!" she lectured.
Just as a young servant came running in, the mute Bernadette who worked for Angelina holding up a letter. "Bernadette?" Angelina asked. "What is it?"
Bernadette swallowed as she hid the adress on the envelope but handed it to Angelina whom looked at it being adressed to her girl self, and quickly opened it before anyone could read the name.
"What is it?" Daniel asked.
"It's... from my sister." Angelina breathed.
"You got a sister?" One of their friends asked. "Is she pretty?"
"HAH! A sister of Angelos has to be a pain in the butt." Another commented and Angelina rolled her eyes as she read.
But as her eyes scanned the letter she started to grow pale, her mouth opened in horror and at last she looked up.
"What is it Angelo?" Daniel asked.
Angelina swallowed. "Excuse me I... I need to go." she said as she ran outside, following only by Bernadette. First as she was out of sight did Angelina read the letter again, and then one more time to let the horror sink in.
The corruption in her hometown had now gotten out of hand, it had become to much for Francesco and Esperanza whom had finally decided to protest!
That though had been their mistake, the governor had grabbed Esperanza and slitted her throat to make an example, who would even care for a dark skinned Akapaki merely dressing up in silk?
It felt like a huge ice cube had sunken into Angelinas stomach… Her mother… Was dead. It had been murder.
Murder by a corrupt military captain whom didn't tolerate resistance. And worst of all, this letter was old. It was adressed to two years ago! Her mother had died... Two years ago. No, it couldn't be... It was.. No.
Angelina turned to her friend, the young woman her own age by the name Bernadette. Angelina had caught Bernadette as the young woman had tried to pick pocket her, and she had nearly succeeded.
Bernadette was the best pick pocket in the world, also she was mute, and Angelina had ended up hiring her as a hand maid.
Angelina looked at Bernadette and Bernadette looked back at her with large brown eyes, it was clear that the young woman could see something is up.
"Bernadette.." Angelina swallowed. "I… I have to go home now. And when I get home, things will be very complicated. I wont be a boy anymore, i'll be a noble lady. Will you be my hand maid?" she asked. "I promise the pay will be good and i'll protect you, you just have to promise that you'll keep my secret! That you wont tell them I didn't go to the girls school... I mean obviously you can't because you can't even talk. But you can communicate other ways just... Don't spill my secret."
And Bernadette smiled as she nodded.
"Are you sure? It's very far away." Angelina informed. "It'll be weeks on a ship and I can't guarantee we'll ever make it back here. Plus, if you think i've gotten you into trouble so far." and she smirked. "Oh man, think of all the trouble we can do when those living there don't even know!" she chuckled amused.
And Bernadette only smiled as she gave Angelina a thumbs up.
Angelina smiled softly. "Thank you my friend. Lord knows what we are going to see over there." she breathed turning her head so she could just see the far off ocean.