The young cloaked man wandered through the streets of the Port, looking for people waiting to be robbed. To be robbed, you ask?
Yes, this young man was a thief. And a good one, at that. Of course, the thievery didn't start as a hobby. He had started it out of despair when he came to the Port with his family, almost three years ago. The family originally came from the mountains and had hoped to find a better life in the Port, but that had never happened. Instead, their oldest son had started robbing, unbeknownst to the rest of the family. They were convinced he had a simple job in the City, as a cleaner.
To disguise his 'mountain-appearance' - light skin and ruby hair - the thief always wore a dark cloak.

He turned some corners and hummed an old travelling song. Still humming, he walked into a girl, about fifteen, maybe sixteen years old. She was pretty, with dark hair and steel blue eyes, but she wasn't carrying money or jewelry, so the thief quickly lost interest and wanted to walk along.

The girl, however, stopped him and said: 'You, you should look where you're going! I demand you make up for ruining my dress!'
The man's jaw dropped. As far as he was concerned, he hadn't ruined the girl's dress in any way. Maybe it was a little dusty, but everything around here was! 'What?'
'You heard me! I demand payment. I am about to become one of the Nine and this is-' she looked down, 'this was my best dress.'

The Nine. The man had a vague respect for the priestesses, and the god. He wouldn't want to get on their bad side. 'Alright miss, I'll get you something.' He thought for a while, surveying the girl in front of him. She was impatiently tapping her foot.
'Alright,' he repeated, 'I'll get you a pretty necklace or something, and then we'll never speak about it again, may we ever meet. Deal?'
Her blue eyes were cold, but she said: 'Deal. I will await you near the bridge to the Island.'
The thief grunted as the girl walked away with small, graceful steps. 'I will await you near the bridge to the Island,' he said in a squeaky voice. 'Right. Let's find miss "I'll-be-one-of-the-Nine-soon" something pretty.'

He wandered the streets until he found a stall selling jewelry. He started a conversation with the lady behind it, distracting her while his skilled fingers picked up a necklace and tucked it under his cloak. He winked at the saleswoman and strolled away. To the bridge.

The girl was waiting there, just like she said she would. The man sighed and handed her the necklace. She immediately put it around her neck. 'Well,' she said, and for a moment it sounded like she was going to thank him, but then she continued, 'what are you still doing her? Go away.' And without uttering another word, she turned her back on him and walked onto the bridge.
'Ooooh, thanks mister with the cloak,' the man said in the squeaky voice again. 'This is a really pretty necklace. The Nine will be sooooooo jealous!' He grinned and began walking back to the Port.

After entering through one of the gates, he was stopped by another man, also wearing a cloak. He sighed; he'd hoped to "find" some money before going back home. 'Please sir,' he said, 'let me through.'
The other man didn't budge.
'Please, sir.'
'I hate you.'
'Pl... What?'
The other man threw his hood back, revealing a pair of raging brown eyes. 'I hate you.'
The thief was shocked. His younger brother? What was he doing here?
'I thought you had a job. Father and mother think you have a job! I looked up to you, do you know that? I admired you, wanted to be just like you, only to find out you're nothing more than an ordinary thief!' he spat. 'I am ashamed to call you my family, you... You... You fox! Yeah! You're like a fox, just as untrustworthy and shrewd!'

Then he started beating his brother. No-one was around to help, and the thief was defenseless. He took several punches to his head before he got knocked out and fell to the ground. His brother was blinded with anger and did not stop. Finally, he took out a knife and stabbed the thief in the right eye. The man screamed in pain and almost fainted. But somehow, he managed to stay awake enough to hear his brother say: 'You're no longer my family.' He felt him spit on the ground next to his head. 'Fox.' After this, he walked away.

The thief lay on the ground for at least an hour, not even wanting to get up. He heard footsteps approach from his left and grunted. Hopefully it was not some soldier who would throw him in jail for laying on the ground or something. The footsteps stopped next to the man. He opened one eye and saw they belonged to a tall man with light hair.

'You... You're a thief, aren't you?'
He grunted in response, but it was obvious enough what it meant.
'Would you like to join me?'
'Join-' He coughed. 'Join you? Who are you?'
'I'm Osa- I mean The Jackal, Lord of Thieves.'
'Mmmph. I don't suppose I have many choices... I'll follow you.'
'Marvelous.' Very posh word for the Lord of Thieves. 'How can I call you?'
'You can call me... The Fox.'

A/N Did you guess it? Did you guess it was the Fox? :D Okay. Two down, seven to go!