Song: Young and Crazy
By: Frankie Ballard
Jack found himself in The Pole's library one day. Though self-taught, Jack did like to read a good book now and then. So he browsed the shelfs to see what he could find.
"Talking to crickets, Sword fighting across the globe, How to toys: From welding to electronics. Interesting selection and variety." Jack thought aloud. There were books about every subject imaginable and quite a few subjects Jack didn't even know existed.
Around some comfy chairs Jack found the fiction section. "Oliver twist, 20 thousand leagues under the Sea, call of the wild, White Fang. Good selection here to." The leather bound volumes then gave way to hardcover and paperback. "Ranger's apprentice series, Peter and the star catcher series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the lost hero series, and the Kane books! Man North has it all!"
"Thank you." A proud voice said, snapping Jack's eyes away from the titles. "Lots of children like books for Christmas. So I have secret connection to all publishing companies." North gave Jack a wink "So, looking for something to read Da?"
"Yeah, thought I'd brows." Jack replied.
"All books you are velcome to read." North spread his arms wide to show off his collection.
"Thanks!" Jack was more than thrilled, if North had every book he'd be more than happy to sit and enjoy them. But now Jack had a new dilemma. Where to start? For no real reason Jack meandered to a small bookcase next to the fireplace and a large bay window. Each book looked brand-new but had an ancient feel to them. Leather bound and gold scripted titles met his eyes. "Nicholas St. North." He noticed each had a number beautifully printed beneath the series name. Randomly Jack took one and flipped it open. The first page showed a lean, muscular, young man with a black mustache and a beard. Though the drawing was in charcoal black and white, you somehow just knew his coat was a deep crimson red with gold buttons. The man held two, very familiar, sabers aloft. "This is you!" Jack exclaimed showing North picture.
"Da, it is indeed. Katherine, she had me tell her my tales so she could put them on paper."
"Mother Goose wrote this? No wonder they seem old and new at the same time!" Jack flipped a few pages to another picture, this one of North riding a large horse with a large sack sling over his shoulder. The caption read: The theft of Europe Capital treasure house. "You are a thief?"
"Ha ha, a bandit. And not just any bandit, the king of bandits!"
"Can you tell me some of your adventures?"
North, more than happy to tell his tales and adventures sat in the comfy chair nearest the small shelf. As Jack sat in Santa's lap, North reached for the book numbered one.
(Start song here)
He opened the book showing Jack a young lad with wild hair and rugged clothing. North spoke of his years growing up as a wild child. Living off the land, no family, no humans to teach him or raise him. How he was found by a band of Cossacks and trained to be a killer with all matter of weapons. "I learned about many things from those men. But never shared their perspective that life, of any kind, didn't matter. So I left them."
North showed Jack a picture from the third book. It showed a young North around his late teens. "It didn't take long to find a new way of life. With my expert weapon and fighting skills I made quite the bandit."
The sixth book, the one Jack had first picked up and seen, told of North forming his band of bandits and his exploits as he climbed the ladder to the title of bandit King. In book 8 the story shifted. A picture showed North fighting a bear, whose eyes looked possessed, as children stood together behind the bandit King. "It all started one night when Manny sent the Moonbeam with a dream of riches beyond even my wildest imaginings. My bandits and I rode hard straight to Santoff Claussen! When we arrived we were met with the spirit guardian of the village who offered riches, at a price. As my men ran to the spirit and the riches she promised my focus was on the village itself. Good thing to for my bandits were shrunk and turned to stone elves."
At a picture of the men turned stone Jack did a double take. "Elves!? You mean...?"
At that moment Serigei walked in with a plate of cookies and Jack could have sworn he was a twin to one of the elves on the page before him.
"Da!" North nodded as he took the plate. "Serigei is one and only Serigei the terrible." The elf blushed and acted fidgety from North's comment. "Course his, like my, banded days are over. When the elves were freed of stone they stayed small, and lost some if their wits." North added the last part in a whisper as Serigei was still in the room. When the elf left, empty plate in hand, North resumed where he left off. " Anyway I turn towards the village and straight to the children's defense."
"Like the strong, brash, grandfather figure you are." Jack half joked.
North only laughed and continued his story, he told of the trip to the Lunar Lamadary, the battle with Pitch, time as a doll with Katherine in the ice cave, and his first fight beside the yetis. The whole tale thrilled Jack! And North relish telling his story to someone who was eager to listen.
North stopped the story however after he told of receiving the man in the moon's, father's sword and his pledge to use it to fight and stop the Nightmare King.
"What, you're stopping?!"
"That's enough for today."
"But there's still more to the story!" Jack pointed to the shelf that was still half full.
"Rest will make more sense when others stories been told."
"Others? You mean…!"
"Da, all guardians have set. You want full story, right!?" North smiled knowingly, Jack was bouncing he was so excited. "The next part best told from Bunny."
"All right! Thanks for the story North! It was amazing!"
North got up from his chair as the winter teen left the room. "I'll call Katherine. Time for rest of story be written and Jack's set to be created. She's always on the lookout for new tale." North put book number eight back in its place. As he left the library memories of his past danced in all their glory before his mind's eye.