A/N: George isn't King of Thieves in this. I just gave him the nickname of
the Rogue. Also, I don't hate Jon, it's just that the character that I'm
putting as him was really evil. Hehe for anyone who's been reading, I've
decided to consolidate (ooo big word) all 3 chapters into one. Thanks to my
reviewers!! Love ya lots!!!
Disclaimer: This is not really an original story. I saw a really good movie series in Chinese and decided to translate it. The Tortallan characters (which belong to Tamora Pierce) seemed to fit the characters in the movie almost perfectly so I decided to use them.
"Good morning," called the captain of the guard, Goban Corvell, to his men.
"Good morning, sir," they all replied.
It was an important day. The stable of Naxen was housing the beautiful stallion, Blizzard. It was to be Prince Jonathan of Conté's wedding gift. The horse was caught in a canyon full of wild horses and was said to be fast as lightning and wild as the wind. Many thieves wanted to get their hands on this magnificent horse, so it had to be very closely guarded.
Just then, one of the stable hands gave a shout and pointed up at the sky. Goban looked up and noticed an unusually large flock of birds. By this time, the rest of the guards were looking up as well. All of a sudden, the birds flew at the men, diving at everything that moved. Men shouted in alarm and some were praying, believing that demons had possessed the birds.
"Everybody stay calm!" shouted Goban. "Don't Panic!"
Amidst the havoc, a young man in his early twenties jumped onto the roof and slipped into the barn, unnoticed. He jumped silently off the rafters of the stable and onto the floor with the ease of long practice. He walked over to the horse to give it a good inspection with his expert eye.
"The rumors are true about you, boy, aren't they?" he said giving out a whistle of appreciation as he ran his hand down the sleek muscular back of the beast. He had no worries about being heard for he'd been doing this for a while and the birds that he'd spelled to listen to him would definitely keep the men busy for at least another few minutes. He would be long gone by then if everything went according to plan.
As he neared the rear on his examination, the horse kicked out at him. His quick reflexes saved him just in time.
"Tsk, tsk. You are a naughty horse," he said as he walked to the front to consult the horse. "Alright then," he said forgetting about it. "We'd best get going now,"
The young man untied the reins from the post and began to walk out, expecting the horse to follow as they were usually trained to do. He'd forgotten, however, that this particular horse had just been caught two weeks ago and had not had the time to be trained properly, only tamed. The horse didn't budge. He went around the back, once again, this time carefully avoiding the hooves, to see if there was anything else tethering the horse that he hadn't noticed. There was nothing.
Confused, he tried again, pulling harder. This time, the horse reared and tried to strike out with his front hooves letting out a loud scream at the same time.
Now you've done it, thought the thief. He wasn't really bothered about fighting the men since they were all just poorly trained soldiers who knew little about fighting. It was a great nuisance, though, to try and get Blizzard out now through all the people. Too late now, he thought as the barn door opened and the first men came at him with raised swords.
Jumping up, he grabbed one of the low-hanging rafters. Swinging himself forward, he kicked out at the first line of guards. They were sent tumbling backwards. He pulled himself up onto the rafter and turned to meet the onslaught of guards that had gotten up by way of staircase. Here, they could only come at him one by one because of the narrow beams. He easily kicked the first one aside and knocked his sword, hilt first, into the next causing them both to tumble to the ground in an ungraceful heap. He punched the third man in the face, causing him to lose a few teeth.
By now, guards had gotten up the other staircase and were coming towards him from behind as well. Time to go, thought the young man, jumping down off the wooden beam onto Blizzard's back. Since the guards had mostly gone up to the loft to try and catch him, the stable ground was now pretty empty save for the two or three men who had chosen to stay. The sudden weight dropping onto its back caused Blizzard to rear. The guards that were on the floor scrambled aside to avoid the flailing hooves as the thief grabbed the horse's mane to keep himself from falling.
He slapped the horse's hindquarters and it took broke out of the stable. Outside, chaos still reigned, but some were still able to get up and try to stop him. He dodged a sword that was sloppily swung at him and kicked the offender with his foot. Blizzard panicked and decided to break into a gallop with the man barely holding on for dear life. Regaining his balance, he whistled to the birds that instantly stopped plaguing the guards and flew off. Blizzard jumped the low fence easily and they were out. Turning back, he smiled cheekily. He waved goodbye but had to quickly grab the reins again as Blizzard tried to buck him off again.
Goban and his men chased the thief out the gate, but they stopped there, knowing that it would be futile to try and catch any galloping horse on foot, much less Blizzard, one of the fastest horses in all of Tortall. Turning back reluctantly, Goban noticed a piece of paper stuck to the gate. Reading it, his eyes widened and he hurried inside to hand it to the duke.
Duke Gareth senior frowned as he read the piece of paper that Goban had just handed him.
"'George Cooper, the Rogue'," read Duke Gareth aloud. The paper had the picture of a crown it.
~***~
George tried his best to hang on to the stallion as it galloped through the forest.
"Whoa!" he shouted over and over again, but Blizzard wouldn't listen. George slapped its neck in frustration. Suddenly, it skidded to a halt. Not expecting this, George was thrown off. He quickly righted himself in mid- air and landed on his feet. He ran a hand through his brown hair as he glared at the horse.
"Shame, shame," he said. "You are a bad horse." Just then, a brown mare trotted by. Lightning turned around and meekly trotted after it, leaving George staring in shock. "It's tame."
A black haired girl with green eyes stepped out from behind a tree.
"Hey, Tavia," said George, recognizing her. "How'd you do it?"
"Heard from the stable master that Blizzard was wild as the storm but became as tame as a kitten when mares were nearby," said Tavia, giving a sigh of mock exasperation and George stuck his tongue out at her.
~***~
"Hurry up and clean this mess up!" shouted Goban. His men hurried to do what he said. Suddenly, the workers near the entrance paused, staring at something. Eventually, the crowd parted to reveal a black haired woman in her mid twenties. She had striking green eyes and a slim body.
"Wow..."
"So beautiful..."
"Will you marry me...?"
She smiled shyly at the guards thinking, Ugh, how pathetic. She walked forward until she reached the front step of the main entrance where more drooling men waited. Standing in front was a short boy, seeming to be about seventeen. He had brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing clothes of a slightly better quality than that of the guards.
"Who's in charge here?" asked the girl.
"Who wants to know?" asked the boy.
"Perhaps I've come to the wrong place," said Tavia, feigning uncertainty. "One would expect a well known place such as Naxen to treat guests with a little more respect. I must have come to the wrong place. I guess I'll take Blizzard and go sell him somewhere else then..." She turned as if to leave.
"Wait!" said the boy, manner completely different. "You have Blizzard?"
Tavia bent down as if whispering a secret. "If you have the money, then I have him, but if you don't, then someone else has him. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am," he replied quickly. He led to a waiting room inside. It was comfortably furnished with two large a few large chairs and a round table in the middle with tea and pastries on it. "I'm Faron, the personal servant of Duke Gareth the Younger. Wait here for a moment as I go and get him." Tavia nodded.
Moments later, a large young man with chestnut hair and eyes came out. Tavia put down the cup of tea that she had helped herself to and patted her mouth daintily with her handkerchief.
"Hello," he said. She's beautiful, he thought. Hey! Don't think like that! You're a gentleman and she's only here for business. Yeah, but maybe afterward...Just stop!
"Hi," she replied, looking him over.
"Who are you?" asked Gareth after a long silence.
"I am here for business, Master Gareth, not social enjoyment."
"Alright then, but please, call me Gary."
"Gary then," said Tavia, smiling. "So you want Blizzard, right?"
"How much do you want?" he asked, seeing that she didn't want to beat around the bush.
"100 gold nobles," she said.
Faron's mouth dropped. "100 gold nobles?! My master can't even spend 10 copper nobles without considering it for ages and you—" he was cut off by the duke who seemed surprised for a moment but then smiled and said, "No horse in the world is worth 100 nobles. Surely you must be jesting, my lady,"
"Well," said Tavia, seductively. "Whether Blizzard is worth 100 nobles or not, I don't know, but being the big wedding gift for his majesty's wedding, I think he would be very disappointed if your father were to announce that it has gone missing. Don't you?"
"B-But..." Gary was left speechless.
"Careful, Your Grace," whispered Faron. "She's trying to trick you! Be strong!"
"Oh whatever," said Tavia with a drastic mood change that threw the men off once more. "You're a nice lookin' guy. Tell you what, I don't want your money, and I'll even deliver Blizzard to Prince Jonathan personally."
"Wow," said Faron, somewhat amazed. "Who would have thought that someone with looks like yours could be considered a 'nice lookin' guy'?"
"Shut up!" hissed Gary, shoving him away in annoyance.
"And," she continued cheerfully, ignoring them, "I'll be sure to cook it just right, too."
"C-Cook?" stuttered Faron. She turned and began to walk out, still mumbling to herself about spices to use.
Faron and Gary exchanged horrified glances.
"Wait!" shouted Gary, running to catch up with her. In his haste, he accidentally ran into her, and as he put his arms out to stop himself, they accidentally encircled her waist. Tavia found herself looking up at his face. As soon as he realized what had happened, he quickly released her, blushing furiously. Strong, she thought, and muscular too, but too much of a blockhead. Tavia looked down and pretended to be embarrassed. She didn't really care that much. She had long ago learned that she had to sacrifice a little to get what she wanted. She knew, also, how to defend herself and to keep 'sacrificing a little' from going too far.
"Sorry," said Gary quickly, still looking quite mortified. "Um..."
"Was there somethin' else you needed?" asked Tavia.
"I-I-I agree," said Gary, finally making up his mind. "100 gold nobles it is. Faron, go get the payment."
"B-But, Your Grace—" stuttered Faron.
"Just go!" he said firmly, giving Faron a glare. Faron gave a hmph and stalked away to get the large sum, muttering under his breath the entire way.
"Well, business is done," proclaimed Tavia. "You're a smart man. I think we can be friends. My name is Tavia."
"Nice to meet you, Tavia," said Gary thinking, Wow, what a pretty name. Just then, Faron returned with a bag of nobles. Tavia took it quickly and began to count them. "Well, you live in the city, right?"
"Mm," replied Tavia, not really listening.
"Um... Maybe I could come visit you sometime," said Gary hesitantly.
"Yea, sure," said Tavia, still not really listening.
"Okay," said Gary. "I'll see you around then."
"Mm-hm,"
"Alright," she looked up, done counting the coins. "Blizzard is in the Foxwood Forest to the north of Lake Naxen."
"Wait," said Gary, "don't you have him?"
Tavia looked up at him as if he'd just grown horns and said, "Did I say I had him? I just saw someone bringin' him there, that's all!" Gary and Faron were speechless. "Alright, if there's nothin' else, I'll be leavin' now," she said, and without another word, she walked out.
She didn't notice Gary's eyes following her until she was out of view. Only then, did he look down to find that she had accidentally dropped her handkerchief. "Tavia, wait. You dropped your—" he tried to call, but she was too far away to hear. Oh well, he thought, maybe she'll come back for it. He hoped she would.
~***~
George pulled up the reins of his chestnut mare, Beauty, in front of a simple house. He jumped off and walked into the small cottage. Tavia met him at the door.
"So did they find Blizzard?" she asked.
"Found him and took him back," he replied, smiling.
Tavia hurried over to the table where she picked up two bags. "Yours, mine," she said, handing him one of them and keeping the other for herself. George looked in the bag and whistled at the amount he saw.
"Who'd of thought that the Prince's weddin' gift provided us with enough money to comfortably live for an entire year," he said, happily.
"What's the big deal about Blizzard? What's the big deal about Prince Jonathan?" said Tavia, impatiently. "I know somethin' that will make us rich. We could live like royalty!"
"Oh," said George, not really caring. He knew that glint in her eye. She had heard of something else for him to rob. He didn't really mind. In fact, he liked the challenge, but lately, he'd been getting restless. It seemed he would live out the rest of his life like this. It wasn't a bad life, but he wanted more. "What might that be?" he asked, fidgeting with his favorite knife.
"None other than The Storm Bringer," she said dramatically.
"You mean that famous sword that supposedly disappeared fifty years ago?" He balanced the tip of his knife on his index finger, skillfully not cutting his finger at all.
"Yes, yes" she replied, her eyes blazing impatiently.
"Hmm," he mumbled, still concentrating on his knife. Growing irritated, Tavia snatched the blade away. "Hey!"
"Look," she said, trying a different tactic. "If you won't do it for yourself, do it for Master Miller, who had to send his daughter to the convent," she said, naming one of the city dwellers that they sometimes helped out with the excess money that they'd gotten. "or Mistress Barns, who just had a baby, or Master Rodder who can't work anymore because of his arthritis, or—" George held up a hand and silenced her. Walking over to the table where she had left her bag, he took out one of the gold coins and put it into his bag.
"Hey!" she cried. "That's mine!"
"Shh! This is for Mr. Miller,"
"Wait, that's mine!" she protested.
Not paying any attention to her, George pulled out another one and said, "This is for Ms. Barns."
"But—" she said trying to grab her coin purse. He held it just out of reach and took out one more.
"And this is for Mr. Rodder," he finished, happily. He began walking out. "I'm goin' to go give it to them. See you later."
"Wait!"
"What now?" he asked, exasperated.
"Are you goin' to get it or not, you big buffoon?!" she demanded.
"I was considerin' it, but that sword must be very closely guarded and it would be dangerous." He said.
"Yeah," said Tavia, not understanding what he was getting at. He was among the best of the thieves and situations like this were common for him.
"One slip could mean my head."
"Yeah, what's your point?"
"Well," he said, smiling at her mischievously. "Buffoons are likely to mess up. I think I'd better not go."
"You little weasel!" she said, slapping him on the head.
"Ow!"
"I'll show you dangerous!" With that, Tavia went after him, smacking him on the head. She knew that he could easily have beaten her, instead of trying to dodge her, and that he was letting her win.
When he was six, Tavia (at the time, only nine) had found him at the side of a river. He had lost his family. Tavia had liked him and had taken him under her wing. She taught him the skills of a thief. He had picked them up fast and soon became much better than she. She had also tried to teach him some hand-to-hand combat but was surprised to find that he already knew. In fact, he was able to teach her a few tricks. Thus, they grew up, fighting, bickering, and playing like brother and sister. Tavia smiled as she thought of it.
Presently, George, having decided that he had been whacked enough, tackled Tavia to the ground and began to tickle her mercilessly.
"Ah! Hahahaha. STOP!" she shouted between laughs.
"Do you surrender?" asked George,
"Haha no! hahaha never!"
"Alright," said George. "Then I'll just have to," he tickled he harder.
"Okay! Hahaha okay!" shouted Tavia. "I give up! Hehehe"
"Really?" asked George, innocently. "You don't sound too sure to me."
"I give up! Hahaha"
"So am I still a buffoon?" asked George, still not stopping.
"Hahaha NO! Now—haha—Stop!"
"And I'll take that, thank you very much," he said, taking his knife back. George got up, dusting himself off and smiling smugly. "So, if there's really nothin' else, I'll be on my way."
"Wait!" cried Tavia one more time, still trying to breathe normally.
"Again?"
"My...handkerchief's...gone. Oh no! I must have...left it at...Naxen!" she said between gasps.
"You mean that one you always carry around with you?" Tavia nodded. "We just got a huge amount of money. Why don't you just go and buy yourself a new one?"
"But—"
"Here," he said. His hand flashed out so fast that his movements were almost undetectable to the human eye and snatched her bag once more. Pulling out another coin, he handed it to her and said, "Go buy yourself a nice silk one."
"B-but—" she started. Then she got an idea. "Here," she said. Grudgingly, she reached into her purse and took out a handful of the coins and put them in George's hand.
"What...?" asked George, surprised.
"I'm payin' you to go and get my handkerchief back,"
"Is it really that important to you?"
"Yes," His hand closed on the coin. Tavia was about to protest again, but then remembered that he was accepting her job. (A/N: Tavia is very...I think the word is money-oriented but I'm not sure. In any case, she REALLY likes her money) "Okay," she said. "But you have to go tonight."
"Alright, already. I'll go tonight."
"Oh yeah," said Tavia, remembering. "So are you going to get the sword or not?"
"Well," replied George, "if I can get it, why not?"
"How are you going to do that?" she asked him, getting up.
"Think about it," he said, poking her in the head (none too softly either) "When you have an idea, tell me." With that, he jumped onto Beauty and kicked her into a gallop, heading for the city.
Disclaimer: This is not really an original story. I saw a really good movie series in Chinese and decided to translate it. The Tortallan characters (which belong to Tamora Pierce) seemed to fit the characters in the movie almost perfectly so I decided to use them.
"Good morning," called the captain of the guard, Goban Corvell, to his men.
"Good morning, sir," they all replied.
It was an important day. The stable of Naxen was housing the beautiful stallion, Blizzard. It was to be Prince Jonathan of Conté's wedding gift. The horse was caught in a canyon full of wild horses and was said to be fast as lightning and wild as the wind. Many thieves wanted to get their hands on this magnificent horse, so it had to be very closely guarded.
Just then, one of the stable hands gave a shout and pointed up at the sky. Goban looked up and noticed an unusually large flock of birds. By this time, the rest of the guards were looking up as well. All of a sudden, the birds flew at the men, diving at everything that moved. Men shouted in alarm and some were praying, believing that demons had possessed the birds.
"Everybody stay calm!" shouted Goban. "Don't Panic!"
Amidst the havoc, a young man in his early twenties jumped onto the roof and slipped into the barn, unnoticed. He jumped silently off the rafters of the stable and onto the floor with the ease of long practice. He walked over to the horse to give it a good inspection with his expert eye.
"The rumors are true about you, boy, aren't they?" he said giving out a whistle of appreciation as he ran his hand down the sleek muscular back of the beast. He had no worries about being heard for he'd been doing this for a while and the birds that he'd spelled to listen to him would definitely keep the men busy for at least another few minutes. He would be long gone by then if everything went according to plan.
As he neared the rear on his examination, the horse kicked out at him. His quick reflexes saved him just in time.
"Tsk, tsk. You are a naughty horse," he said as he walked to the front to consult the horse. "Alright then," he said forgetting about it. "We'd best get going now,"
The young man untied the reins from the post and began to walk out, expecting the horse to follow as they were usually trained to do. He'd forgotten, however, that this particular horse had just been caught two weeks ago and had not had the time to be trained properly, only tamed. The horse didn't budge. He went around the back, once again, this time carefully avoiding the hooves, to see if there was anything else tethering the horse that he hadn't noticed. There was nothing.
Confused, he tried again, pulling harder. This time, the horse reared and tried to strike out with his front hooves letting out a loud scream at the same time.
Now you've done it, thought the thief. He wasn't really bothered about fighting the men since they were all just poorly trained soldiers who knew little about fighting. It was a great nuisance, though, to try and get Blizzard out now through all the people. Too late now, he thought as the barn door opened and the first men came at him with raised swords.
Jumping up, he grabbed one of the low-hanging rafters. Swinging himself forward, he kicked out at the first line of guards. They were sent tumbling backwards. He pulled himself up onto the rafter and turned to meet the onslaught of guards that had gotten up by way of staircase. Here, they could only come at him one by one because of the narrow beams. He easily kicked the first one aside and knocked his sword, hilt first, into the next causing them both to tumble to the ground in an ungraceful heap. He punched the third man in the face, causing him to lose a few teeth.
By now, guards had gotten up the other staircase and were coming towards him from behind as well. Time to go, thought the young man, jumping down off the wooden beam onto Blizzard's back. Since the guards had mostly gone up to the loft to try and catch him, the stable ground was now pretty empty save for the two or three men who had chosen to stay. The sudden weight dropping onto its back caused Blizzard to rear. The guards that were on the floor scrambled aside to avoid the flailing hooves as the thief grabbed the horse's mane to keep himself from falling.
He slapped the horse's hindquarters and it took broke out of the stable. Outside, chaos still reigned, but some were still able to get up and try to stop him. He dodged a sword that was sloppily swung at him and kicked the offender with his foot. Blizzard panicked and decided to break into a gallop with the man barely holding on for dear life. Regaining his balance, he whistled to the birds that instantly stopped plaguing the guards and flew off. Blizzard jumped the low fence easily and they were out. Turning back, he smiled cheekily. He waved goodbye but had to quickly grab the reins again as Blizzard tried to buck him off again.
Goban and his men chased the thief out the gate, but they stopped there, knowing that it would be futile to try and catch any galloping horse on foot, much less Blizzard, one of the fastest horses in all of Tortall. Turning back reluctantly, Goban noticed a piece of paper stuck to the gate. Reading it, his eyes widened and he hurried inside to hand it to the duke.
Duke Gareth senior frowned as he read the piece of paper that Goban had just handed him.
"'George Cooper, the Rogue'," read Duke Gareth aloud. The paper had the picture of a crown it.
~***~
George tried his best to hang on to the stallion as it galloped through the forest.
"Whoa!" he shouted over and over again, but Blizzard wouldn't listen. George slapped its neck in frustration. Suddenly, it skidded to a halt. Not expecting this, George was thrown off. He quickly righted himself in mid- air and landed on his feet. He ran a hand through his brown hair as he glared at the horse.
"Shame, shame," he said. "You are a bad horse." Just then, a brown mare trotted by. Lightning turned around and meekly trotted after it, leaving George staring in shock. "It's tame."
A black haired girl with green eyes stepped out from behind a tree.
"Hey, Tavia," said George, recognizing her. "How'd you do it?"
"Heard from the stable master that Blizzard was wild as the storm but became as tame as a kitten when mares were nearby," said Tavia, giving a sigh of mock exasperation and George stuck his tongue out at her.
~***~
"Hurry up and clean this mess up!" shouted Goban. His men hurried to do what he said. Suddenly, the workers near the entrance paused, staring at something. Eventually, the crowd parted to reveal a black haired woman in her mid twenties. She had striking green eyes and a slim body.
"Wow..."
"So beautiful..."
"Will you marry me...?"
She smiled shyly at the guards thinking, Ugh, how pathetic. She walked forward until she reached the front step of the main entrance where more drooling men waited. Standing in front was a short boy, seeming to be about seventeen. He had brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing clothes of a slightly better quality than that of the guards.
"Who's in charge here?" asked the girl.
"Who wants to know?" asked the boy.
"Perhaps I've come to the wrong place," said Tavia, feigning uncertainty. "One would expect a well known place such as Naxen to treat guests with a little more respect. I must have come to the wrong place. I guess I'll take Blizzard and go sell him somewhere else then..." She turned as if to leave.
"Wait!" said the boy, manner completely different. "You have Blizzard?"
Tavia bent down as if whispering a secret. "If you have the money, then I have him, but if you don't, then someone else has him. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am," he replied quickly. He led to a waiting room inside. It was comfortably furnished with two large a few large chairs and a round table in the middle with tea and pastries on it. "I'm Faron, the personal servant of Duke Gareth the Younger. Wait here for a moment as I go and get him." Tavia nodded.
Moments later, a large young man with chestnut hair and eyes came out. Tavia put down the cup of tea that she had helped herself to and patted her mouth daintily with her handkerchief.
"Hello," he said. She's beautiful, he thought. Hey! Don't think like that! You're a gentleman and she's only here for business. Yeah, but maybe afterward...Just stop!
"Hi," she replied, looking him over.
"Who are you?" asked Gareth after a long silence.
"I am here for business, Master Gareth, not social enjoyment."
"Alright then, but please, call me Gary."
"Gary then," said Tavia, smiling. "So you want Blizzard, right?"
"How much do you want?" he asked, seeing that she didn't want to beat around the bush.
"100 gold nobles," she said.
Faron's mouth dropped. "100 gold nobles?! My master can't even spend 10 copper nobles without considering it for ages and you—" he was cut off by the duke who seemed surprised for a moment but then smiled and said, "No horse in the world is worth 100 nobles. Surely you must be jesting, my lady,"
"Well," said Tavia, seductively. "Whether Blizzard is worth 100 nobles or not, I don't know, but being the big wedding gift for his majesty's wedding, I think he would be very disappointed if your father were to announce that it has gone missing. Don't you?"
"B-But..." Gary was left speechless.
"Careful, Your Grace," whispered Faron. "She's trying to trick you! Be strong!"
"Oh whatever," said Tavia with a drastic mood change that threw the men off once more. "You're a nice lookin' guy. Tell you what, I don't want your money, and I'll even deliver Blizzard to Prince Jonathan personally."
"Wow," said Faron, somewhat amazed. "Who would have thought that someone with looks like yours could be considered a 'nice lookin' guy'?"
"Shut up!" hissed Gary, shoving him away in annoyance.
"And," she continued cheerfully, ignoring them, "I'll be sure to cook it just right, too."
"C-Cook?" stuttered Faron. She turned and began to walk out, still mumbling to herself about spices to use.
Faron and Gary exchanged horrified glances.
"Wait!" shouted Gary, running to catch up with her. In his haste, he accidentally ran into her, and as he put his arms out to stop himself, they accidentally encircled her waist. Tavia found herself looking up at his face. As soon as he realized what had happened, he quickly released her, blushing furiously. Strong, she thought, and muscular too, but too much of a blockhead. Tavia looked down and pretended to be embarrassed. She didn't really care that much. She had long ago learned that she had to sacrifice a little to get what she wanted. She knew, also, how to defend herself and to keep 'sacrificing a little' from going too far.
"Sorry," said Gary quickly, still looking quite mortified. "Um..."
"Was there somethin' else you needed?" asked Tavia.
"I-I-I agree," said Gary, finally making up his mind. "100 gold nobles it is. Faron, go get the payment."
"B-But, Your Grace—" stuttered Faron.
"Just go!" he said firmly, giving Faron a glare. Faron gave a hmph and stalked away to get the large sum, muttering under his breath the entire way.
"Well, business is done," proclaimed Tavia. "You're a smart man. I think we can be friends. My name is Tavia."
"Nice to meet you, Tavia," said Gary thinking, Wow, what a pretty name. Just then, Faron returned with a bag of nobles. Tavia took it quickly and began to count them. "Well, you live in the city, right?"
"Mm," replied Tavia, not really listening.
"Um... Maybe I could come visit you sometime," said Gary hesitantly.
"Yea, sure," said Tavia, still not really listening.
"Okay," said Gary. "I'll see you around then."
"Mm-hm,"
"Alright," she looked up, done counting the coins. "Blizzard is in the Foxwood Forest to the north of Lake Naxen."
"Wait," said Gary, "don't you have him?"
Tavia looked up at him as if he'd just grown horns and said, "Did I say I had him? I just saw someone bringin' him there, that's all!" Gary and Faron were speechless. "Alright, if there's nothin' else, I'll be leavin' now," she said, and without another word, she walked out.
She didn't notice Gary's eyes following her until she was out of view. Only then, did he look down to find that she had accidentally dropped her handkerchief. "Tavia, wait. You dropped your—" he tried to call, but she was too far away to hear. Oh well, he thought, maybe she'll come back for it. He hoped she would.
~***~
George pulled up the reins of his chestnut mare, Beauty, in front of a simple house. He jumped off and walked into the small cottage. Tavia met him at the door.
"So did they find Blizzard?" she asked.
"Found him and took him back," he replied, smiling.
Tavia hurried over to the table where she picked up two bags. "Yours, mine," she said, handing him one of them and keeping the other for herself. George looked in the bag and whistled at the amount he saw.
"Who'd of thought that the Prince's weddin' gift provided us with enough money to comfortably live for an entire year," he said, happily.
"What's the big deal about Blizzard? What's the big deal about Prince Jonathan?" said Tavia, impatiently. "I know somethin' that will make us rich. We could live like royalty!"
"Oh," said George, not really caring. He knew that glint in her eye. She had heard of something else for him to rob. He didn't really mind. In fact, he liked the challenge, but lately, he'd been getting restless. It seemed he would live out the rest of his life like this. It wasn't a bad life, but he wanted more. "What might that be?" he asked, fidgeting with his favorite knife.
"None other than The Storm Bringer," she said dramatically.
"You mean that famous sword that supposedly disappeared fifty years ago?" He balanced the tip of his knife on his index finger, skillfully not cutting his finger at all.
"Yes, yes" she replied, her eyes blazing impatiently.
"Hmm," he mumbled, still concentrating on his knife. Growing irritated, Tavia snatched the blade away. "Hey!"
"Look," she said, trying a different tactic. "If you won't do it for yourself, do it for Master Miller, who had to send his daughter to the convent," she said, naming one of the city dwellers that they sometimes helped out with the excess money that they'd gotten. "or Mistress Barns, who just had a baby, or Master Rodder who can't work anymore because of his arthritis, or—" George held up a hand and silenced her. Walking over to the table where she had left her bag, he took out one of the gold coins and put it into his bag.
"Hey!" she cried. "That's mine!"
"Shh! This is for Mr. Miller,"
"Wait, that's mine!" she protested.
Not paying any attention to her, George pulled out another one and said, "This is for Ms. Barns."
"But—" she said trying to grab her coin purse. He held it just out of reach and took out one more.
"And this is for Mr. Rodder," he finished, happily. He began walking out. "I'm goin' to go give it to them. See you later."
"Wait!"
"What now?" he asked, exasperated.
"Are you goin' to get it or not, you big buffoon?!" she demanded.
"I was considerin' it, but that sword must be very closely guarded and it would be dangerous." He said.
"Yeah," said Tavia, not understanding what he was getting at. He was among the best of the thieves and situations like this were common for him.
"One slip could mean my head."
"Yeah, what's your point?"
"Well," he said, smiling at her mischievously. "Buffoons are likely to mess up. I think I'd better not go."
"You little weasel!" she said, slapping him on the head.
"Ow!"
"I'll show you dangerous!" With that, Tavia went after him, smacking him on the head. She knew that he could easily have beaten her, instead of trying to dodge her, and that he was letting her win.
When he was six, Tavia (at the time, only nine) had found him at the side of a river. He had lost his family. Tavia had liked him and had taken him under her wing. She taught him the skills of a thief. He had picked them up fast and soon became much better than she. She had also tried to teach him some hand-to-hand combat but was surprised to find that he already knew. In fact, he was able to teach her a few tricks. Thus, they grew up, fighting, bickering, and playing like brother and sister. Tavia smiled as she thought of it.
Presently, George, having decided that he had been whacked enough, tackled Tavia to the ground and began to tickle her mercilessly.
"Ah! Hahahaha. STOP!" she shouted between laughs.
"Do you surrender?" asked George,
"Haha no! hahaha never!"
"Alright," said George. "Then I'll just have to," he tickled he harder.
"Okay! Hahaha okay!" shouted Tavia. "I give up! Hehehe"
"Really?" asked George, innocently. "You don't sound too sure to me."
"I give up! Hahaha"
"So am I still a buffoon?" asked George, still not stopping.
"Hahaha NO! Now—haha—Stop!"
"And I'll take that, thank you very much," he said, taking his knife back. George got up, dusting himself off and smiling smugly. "So, if there's really nothin' else, I'll be on my way."
"Wait!" cried Tavia one more time, still trying to breathe normally.
"Again?"
"My...handkerchief's...gone. Oh no! I must have...left it at...Naxen!" she said between gasps.
"You mean that one you always carry around with you?" Tavia nodded. "We just got a huge amount of money. Why don't you just go and buy yourself a new one?"
"But—"
"Here," he said. His hand flashed out so fast that his movements were almost undetectable to the human eye and snatched her bag once more. Pulling out another coin, he handed it to her and said, "Go buy yourself a nice silk one."
"B-but—" she started. Then she got an idea. "Here," she said. Grudgingly, she reached into her purse and took out a handful of the coins and put them in George's hand.
"What...?" asked George, surprised.
"I'm payin' you to go and get my handkerchief back,"
"Is it really that important to you?"
"Yes," His hand closed on the coin. Tavia was about to protest again, but then remembered that he was accepting her job. (A/N: Tavia is very...I think the word is money-oriented but I'm not sure. In any case, she REALLY likes her money) "Okay," she said. "But you have to go tonight."
"Alright, already. I'll go tonight."
"Oh yeah," said Tavia, remembering. "So are you going to get the sword or not?"
"Well," replied George, "if I can get it, why not?"
"How are you going to do that?" she asked him, getting up.
"Think about it," he said, poking her in the head (none too softly either) "When you have an idea, tell me." With that, he jumped onto Beauty and kicked her into a gallop, heading for the city.