A Thief's Heart
A tired looking blue Zafara yawned as he sat down at the breakfast table. Hryre put her hands on her hips. "Leoht ShadowLight how late were you up last night?" She demanded.
Leoht covered another yawn and said. "Oh, got back around four." He mumbled. The Zafara was oddly colored. His fur, unlike normal Zafaras, was colored several shades of blue deeper than usual. A deep navy, almost so that he looked scorched. Also his eyes were the inky brown of most Zafaras. They were orange, mixed with gold and scarlet, but orange was the dominant color. His eyes simmered oddly, it reminded those around him of burning embers.
This Zafara, LeohtShadowLight, was one of the most feared pets in all of Neopia, not because he was particularly dangerous, but because of the fact that no matter where someone hid their treasures, he would find it. Leoht was the best Thief that Neopia had seen, the Times had named him the NightWalker, and he rather liked the name.
"Did you get a good haul last night?" Asked EaldorStormLife. The electric Eyrie looked at his brother, eager for details.
"Yeah I got some pretty good stuff." The Zafara replied. He stood, "thanks for breakfast Hry, I'm gong back to bed." He staggered tiredly to the stairs and up them.
Silence was left in his wake. "Do you think he knows?" Asked the purple Shoyru standing near Hryre. MaestitiaSunSorrow was her name, she looked worriedly at Hryre. "After all, the Nightwalker knows everything."
"Nah, he hasn't guessed." Replied Maestitia's brother, ScinanDarkShine, the shadow Lupe. "Leo's sharp, but he's got better things to worry about than what his family's been doing.
"Well, we'll just have to wait for tomorrow then." Hryre said with a grin. She went to the pantry and lifted out a wooden box. "I bet he'll never know what hit him."
Leoht was awakened abruptly by a loud chorus of, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEO!"
The Zafara jumped to attention and fell out of his bed. Unintentionally he fell right through the floor. This talent was due to a gift he had been given by the Ghost Lupe. A drop of ghost blood in his veins allowed Leoht to walk through walls and climb up them.
The Zafara hit the kitchen floor with a loud thud. He groaned and rolled over unto his stomach and froze. A little light shone in through the glass doors that led out to the garden. It allowed Leoht to just see his reflection on the shiny tiled floor. His ember like eyes were the same, but the fur around his face had turned a creamy white, something that gave off a soft golden glow was hovering above his head and pearly wings had sprouted from his shoulders.
For a moment, he was in shock. Then he leapt to his feet and met his owner coming down the stairs. "H – Hry," Leoht choked, his voice shaking with rage. "D – did you guys paint me Christmas while I was asleep?"
His owner beamed. "Yup, don't you like it? Isn't it cute?"
Leoht snapped. "NO!" He screamed at his taken aback owner. "I'M A THIEF HRYRE NOT A CHRISTMAS MASCOT! NOT ONLY AM I WHITE, WHICH MAKES ME EASIER TO SEE, BUT I'VE GOT THIS GLOWING THING ON TOP OF MY HEAD! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME! IF I COULDN'T TURN INVISIBLE ON MY OWN, I'D... I'D - " The Zafara threw his hands into the air and stormed out into the garden.
Hryre put a shaking hand over her mouth, her eyes shone with tears within her face that had gone pale. She turned and walked into her room, closing the door gently behind her. The remaining three Neopets distinctly heard the click of the lock being moved into place.
Ealdor laid his ears flat in anger. "How dare he say that to Hry? Doesn't he know how long it took her to save up for that? What an ungrateful wretch!"
Scinan put a dark paw on his seething brother's shoulder. "Calm down, we must see it from Leo's point of view. The only thing he is good at is being a thief, if we take that away from him, he'd lose everything that made him stay here with us."
"But he is still in the wrong for speaking to Hryre that way." Maestitia said, her eyes were darkened with anger. "I'm going to go talk to him." Carefully she slid open the doors and walked out into the garden. As Leoht had said, the soft golden light from the halo above his head made him easy to find. The Zafara was sitting on the garden wall, twirling a silver dagger in one paw.
"Leo?" Maestitia asked tentatively.
The Zafara shot her a murderous look. "What?"
The Shoyru drew herself up. "Hryre's crying, I thought I should tell you. Also, it took her six months to save up enough to by that for you, even if you don't like it, you should be a little more grateful." She flew up to sit next to him. "Leo I know thieving is your life." She gazed at him. "But you have a life here too." The Shoyru stood, gazing out across the sparkling expanse of the sea. "Leo, I'm beginning to think that those two lives can't coincide." She didn't look at him, "in the end, you may have to choose between us and them, between darkness and daylight." She jumped off the wall and picked her way through the haphazard garden.
Leoht stood and leapt into the air, spreading his new wings he set out into the night in search of the answer to the question of if he would have to choose. His mind remembered faintly, that long time ago, when he had still been a Draik, when Ealdor had run away. He'd gone because he had betrayed Hryre, in a way had Leoht just done the same. The Zafara was ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry Hryre," he murmured, "but maybe you should place your love into someone else."
Hryre turned around on in her desk chair as she heard someone walk in. It was Ealdor, with a steaming mug of tea. "Here," he said, holding it out.
Hryre sniffed. "Thanks Eal," she said taking the mug gratefully. Over the rim of the tea she raised her eyebrows at Ealdor. "You picked the lock?"
The Eyrie nodded. "Yeah, Leo taught me. Listen Hry, I've been reading the papers and I think I know why Leo was so mad about being painted Christmas." The Eyrie held out a folded paper to one of the inside pages of the Times. Frowning, Hryre took it.
Has Your Greatest Treasure Been Lost to People Like the Pant Devil?
Do You Want Vengeance?
Then the Official Criminal Busting Guild is
For You!
It has recently come to our attention that the great Judge Hog has been extremely lenient when it comes to the Nightwalker. Not only did he let the foul beast escape from his inner headquarters, but he made no move to stop the Thief.
We have decided that Judge Hog is no longer the adequate personage to hunt down the NightWalker, who is, in fact, a blue Zafara. We have an extensive web throughout all of Neopia, and it is steadily growing. Become a hero and become part of our great shield of justice. So that noble Neopians like us can stamp out the vermin that prevents this world from being paradise.
Hryre wrinkled her nose. "Talk about gagger!" She snapped and through the paper to the floor. "If there are people like these guys roaming around out there, I wonder why Veronica, Priscilla, and Britney haven't piped up."
Ealdor picked up the paper. "That's because they've suffered greatly at Leoht's hands. He's not the type to hold grudges and I know hate is a strong word to use, but Leo absolutely hates those three. At least we don't have to worry about Aaron, he's still locked in King Skarl's dungeon."
"They've suffered? How?" Hryre demanded, alarmed.
Ealdor grinned. "Leo haunted their servants until they quit work. Now those pets and their owners have to do everything themselves. I think it's a just punishment for betrayal."
Hryre's eyes darkened. "There is no just punishment for betrayal. There is only punishment."
Ealdor shrugged. "Anyway, I think Leo's worried about exposing us as his family. Never mind what'll happen to him if he's caught by these weirdos."
Hryre smiled. "Have faith in your brother EaldorStormLife. The half-ghost of Neopia will not get caught again."
Leoht found himself walking quietly through the back allys of Neopia Central. He tried to keep things off his mind, but nervous thoughts kept wriggling out. Suddenly the Zafara heard the sounds of blaring horns echoing through the night. Hurriedly, Leoht took flight. Quickly he found the source of the commotion. In one of the richer districts a large plume of smoke rose. Without thinking the Zafara tore off toward the fire.
The giant mansion was an inferno, there would be no way that the squad of water ability wielding Peophins would be able to cool the blaze. Their only hope was to not let it spread to any other houses and just let it burn itself out.
A man standing near by was ranting. "No!" He cried, "all my work! All my research!"
A girl seemed to be trying to comfort him, with little success. "Don't give up Alan," she told him. "Even without all your research, out intelligence web is a big success. The Criminal Busting Guild will still get the Nightwalker."
Alan mastered himself. "You're right Shara! I won't give up, that thief stole my precious Draik Egg, I won't forgive him." Leoht felt cold, i this /i was the leader of the Criminal Busting Guild? Every one of Leoht's senses told him to run but something stopped him as a Scorchio in red fireman's gear strutted over to the man and the girl.
"Excuse me sir, but did you have any pets inside?"
Alan went pale instantly. "Y – you mean, Kaya is still in there?" He asked in horror.
"Well since no one but you has come out, it would all point to that direction." The Scorchio replied.
Alan put his face in his hands. "Oh Kaya, oh my Kaya, please be safe. Be safe!" He cried, Shara put her arms around her friend.
"She'll be okay, don't worry, she will be okay." Alan couldn't answer, his voice lost amid sobbing.
Leoht turned, his heart drumming in his chest. He swallowed hard, having almost burned to death once before, having been the reason why his blue fur had been such a strange color. The Zafara cast aside all his fears and ran toward the flaming entrance of the mansion.
Alan saw the flurry of light and looked up. "Hey! Where are you going! Hey, you can't - " He stopped short as Leoht turned to look at him with his burning eyes of fire. "I – I don't believe it," Alan murmured, astonished. "N – Nightwalker?" But the Christmas Zafara was gone into the roaring blaze.
Leoht felt adrenalin race through his veins. He was scared of the fire, terrified of it, but his heart told him that this was the right thing to do. A thief's heart, he thought wryly, I am acting on the instincts of a thief's heart.
Suddenly he heard sobbing coming from a room to his left. Leoht ran through the closed door and found himself in a playroom. He saw a baby Kougra huddled in one corner, clutching a blanket. "Kaya," Leoht said calmly walking over to her. "It's all right, I've come to help you, we need to get out of here." He held out a paw and Kaya took it.
Lifting the baby in his arms Leoht turned to face the door. Heat pressed on his face and he felt sweat collect on his fur. There was a groaning sound above him, Leoht's eyes widened, in his panic he clutched the Kaya closer to him, making her squeak. He knew what was coming, knew that there was no way to get out fast enough with the baby. Leoht remembered what this had felt like before, when he stood facing the realm of the ghosts, facing death, and this time too, he had someone to protect. Leoht knelt, wrapping his feathered wings around himself and Kaya. He bent over, shielding her trembling body with his own. He knew it was coming.
The Zafara's burning eyes snapped open, reflected with the flames blazing in the world around them. "Now," he whispered. There was a snap of beams and the whole two stories above came crashing down to meet him.
Alan and Shara picked their ways through the wreckage of his home. Alan's eyes were red and puffy from crying, and Shara sniffed occasionally. Neither Kaya, nor the Nightwalker had come out of the house. He knew it, but he didn't want to believe it, they were both gone.
"Are you sure that Zafara was the NightWalker?" Shara asked.
"I'm telling you he was! He had the eyes like the burning embers, exactly how the Lord described them! That's got to be him! The only living half ghost in all of Neopia!" Alan swallowed. "I don't get it though, he was listening to you talk, he must have known I'm the leader of the Criminal Busting Guild, why didn't he run?"
"I – I don't know Alan." Shara stammered.
A flash of white caught Alan's attention, he whirled. There was a perfect, pure white feather resting on the charcoal and ash. Next to it was a singed and blackened tail connected to a Christmas Zafara who's lower half was pinned under a large support beam.
"Shara! Come here! Help me move this!" Together the two humans wrenched the beam off the Nightwalker. The Zafara was lying on his left side, his remaining right wing spread out full across his shoulders and stomach. The left wing had been burnt to almost nothing and the right was badly broken, to the point where he would never be able to use it again. The halo had melted and dripped a thick stream of molten gold down the Zafara's face. It had oozed down his face in a large streak of hardened gold over his left eye. He only sported two dots of gold under his right . All of him was burned darkly black, except for a long strip of white down his back. His eyes were open and staring. But they were empty and no longer burned with life.
"H – he looks," Shara fumbled for the right words.
"Broken," Alan whispered. The man knelt next to the Zafara. Reaching out he gently closed the Nightwalker's eyes. "I don't understand you Nightwalker," he murmured. "Such courage, such valor, such self sacrifice..." he paused, "such a heart, could not belong to a thief."
Alan jumped as the feathers of the Zafara's wings stirred. A tiny baby Kougra wiggled free of the Zafara's grip. "Daddy!" She cried, tears in her eyes, and leaped into her owner's arms.
"Kaya! You're alive! I'm so happy." Alan hugged his pet until she said it hurt then let her go.
"Daddy," Kaya said, quietly. "The nice Zafara won't wake up. When will he wake up Daddy?"
"He's not going to Kaya," Alan whispered, "I'm sorry. He went away."
She looked confused. "Why? Will he come back?"
Alan's lip trembled. "No, he won't Kaya, he can't."
"So why are you here again ma'am?" The Scorchio fireman inquired of ruinstar as she and her three pets gazed, horrified, at the wreckage of the mansion.
"I heard about the fire. One of my friends lives in this area, I came to make sure she was all right."
The Scorchio puffed out his chest. "Yes everyone is all right, thanks to our brave squad."
"Your 'brave squad' didn't do squat," growled a voice from the wreckage. A man and a girl came out from behind a melted sheet rock wall. The girl carried a crying baby Kougra in her arms, and the man, the one who had spoken, carried a limp, charred body with broken wings. "And you're wrong, someone did get hurt... very hurt."
Tears overflowed Hryre's eyes. "P – please sir, l – let me see him." Alan looked at Hryre, slightly surprised. Then he held out the body to her, she took it gingerly with shaking hands. "L – Leo? Can you hear me? Leo! Please wake up!" She buried her face in the charred fur. "No! You promised!" She cried into the silence as everyone watched, "you promised you would never run away! Leo, please come back! Please!" She wept bitterly. Ealdor, Maestitia, and Scinan stood around her, also crying.
"Miss?" Alan asked, he knelt in front of Hryre. "Is he... truly the Nightwalker?"
Hryre recognized Alan as the leader of the Criminal Busting Guild. Her eyes snapped with anger. "What do you want with him? Yes he is the Nightwalker! I don't care what you say, I'm proud of him! I'd be proud of him even if he were a villain bent on world domination!" Hryre's fiery voice died. "It's his birthday you know. What a horrible thing to happen on his birthday." She buried her face in Leoht's fur again. "Oh Leo, stealing from a burning house, why did you do something so reckless?"
"He wasn't stealing." Alan whispered, Shara came over with Kaya and Alan picked up his pet in his arms. "It's because of him, that Kaya is still alive right now.
Alan knelt next to Hryre, his gaze cast to the ground. "When I realized that he was the Nightwalker, I didn't believe it. The thought of a thief doing something so heroic, I thought he was just a thief. Just the evil being who stole my Draik Egg."
Hryre stood, pressing the limp body of her Zafara to her chest. "I don't think he stole it." She murmured. "He wouldn't steal from someone like you."
"But surely," Shara protested, "he is the NightWalker, only a thief."
"Only a thief," Hryre murmured, "but he has a good heart."
Shara snorted. "I should just turn you into the Defenders for sheltering a criminal."
Hryre's eyes flashed, then changed color. They went from a bright winking green, to a dark, almost black, red. "Shame on you," She hissed, stinging venom dripped from her words. "Shame on you for saying so. Look at him! Look at him and tell me that he is just a thief with just a thief's heart!" Tears coursed down Hryre's cheeks, her pets backed away from their owner's fury. "Anyone with a normal heart would not have done what he did. They would not have even turned a hair!"
Shara was also backing away, but she did as Hryre commanded. She looked at Leoht's scorched fur, his ruined wings, the hardened gold on his face. She swallowed.
"I'm here! I'm here already stop yelling in my ear!" Snapped an irritated voice they all turned to see the well known Gelert Doctor making his way toward them. He stopped in front of Hryre. "Is anyone hurt?"
Hryre nodded, unable to speak she set Leoht down in front of him. The Gelert's eyebrow's snapped together and his eyes widened slightly. The doctor dropped his bag and knelt hurriedly by the Zafara. "Idiot!" He muttered, Kaya heard him.
"He is not an idiot!" She cried, startling her owner and the others. "He saved my life, he could have gotten out by himself, he didn't have to come get me. He's a hero! Don't ridicule him for wanting to save someone else's life! Don't you dare criticize that decision!" She squared her paws and glared murderously at the doctor. "Answer me this! Would you have been brave enough to do what he did in his place? Would you throw your life away for a complete stranger?"
"Don't talk about what you don't understand child." The Gelert snapped. "It's not a question of bravery it's a question of stupidity. The young ones are always doing something dangerous, they don't know what could happen to them! They don't understand what such dangerous acts could result in!"
"You're wrong," Hryre whispered. Her eyes had returned to normal. "He does know what death is. A while ago, he - he almost joined that world. He saw it through his own eyes. Now he doesn't sleep at all for fear of seeing it in his dreams, he is, almost dead himself. For the blood of a ghost runs in his veins." She looked up at the Gelert. "Don't say he doesn't know what death would mean for him. He knows all too well."
The Gelert stared open mouthed at Hryre, then jumped and dropped Leoht's scorched paw. The limp appendage dropped to the ground as the Gelert doctor turned his wide eyes on the Zafara. He fumbled for the stethoscope at his neck and pressed it gently to Leoht's chest. "His heart," the doctor murmured, "his heart is beating again." Almost as soon as he said it, Leoht's lungs expanded as he took in a breath full of air, of life.
The doctor quickly went over the unconscious Zafara. He pointed a mint green paw at Leoht's right wing which was nothing more than a burnt stump. "I'm afraid this is so badly burned that the wing is dead, it would be easiest to amputate it. The other wing is broken beyond repair." The Gelert unrolled a large strip of bandage and wrapped it around the tip of Leoht's left wing. "There, that should keep it from flopping about." He looked at Leoht's face. "I don't think I can get the gold off him unless I surgically remove it and I don't think it's worth that." Hryre nodded, her lips tight to form a grim line on her face.
It was three days before Leoht awoke. To his family's surprise, he was not at all shocked by his appearance. When he was well enough to get out of bed, Maestitia again found him sitting on the garden wall. His petpet, Loki the spotted gruslen, was asleep in the Zafara's lap.
Silently Maestitia sat next to him and looked him over. He was still black from being burned, almost every bit of him was except for the long white stripe down his back. Then there was the single awkward wing on his left shoulder. His fire like eyes were darkened with thought as he gazed out across the flat expanse of sea in front of his home.
"Was it horrible?" Maestitia asked timidly. "Being burned?"
"I can't feel burning anymore," Leoht replied. "Not after what happened to me in DarkBane's castle."
"Oh," Maestitia's voice trailed off.
There was silence between them for a moment before Leoht said. "I look like a freak don't I?"
"What?" Maestitia asked, startled. "What are you talking about Leo?"
Leoht turned to look at his sister, pain in his eyes. "I don't know Maest, I just don't know. I don't know who I am anymore." It looked like to Maestitia that a piece of her brother had broken off and vanished. Deep within his heart, a part of the Zafara's spirit was missing. "I just don't know..." He looked up at Maestitia. "What will happen Maest? Is it all just governing of fate? Was I meant to be miserable like this? Was this all how everything was meant to be?"
Maestitia reached out and hugged her brother. The emptiness in Leoht's eyes slightly scared her, she wanted his heart to be whole again no matter what. "Don't worry Leo," she murmured. "We will find out someday." She whispered as her pressed his face into her shoulder. "But hear what I do know. I may not be a philosopher, but the choices you make are what govern your future, not someone or something else who's manning the puppet strings tied to you and your fate. Those strings belong to you alone." Leoht was listening intently to her words giving her heart in what she had to say. "You don't have to follow any path that someone lays down for you. You don't have to sail any charted course. Find your own path, fill your sails with the strange winds of the other side of the world."
"Maest, I'm just a thief with a thief's heart, what sort of destiny would the likes of me have?"
Maestitia raised her gaze to the stars. "One day you'll show us Leo," Maestitia looked at her brother, pained, scarred and broken. "One day you'll prove to the world just how powerful that thief's heart of yours is."
Destiny does not determine actions, actions determine destiny.