The moon glistened like a great jewel in a royal crown…It's light radiating and spreading into the inky black sky, however it was not the only thing that glowed…In the great expanse, millions of tiny, distant stars shone, like thousands of miniature rhinestones in a woven silken robe…Making the sky as beautiful and picturesque as one could make it…It was a fitting night for a momentous occasion…And indeed, it was a momentous occasion…
For below the beautiful night sky, lay the great, fortified city of Mobotropolis…A bustling metropolis home to over fifty-thousand people…It was the shimmering jewel and capital of the Kingdom of Acorn…One of nine great kingdoms to the west who's seat of power rested on Westside Island and other small, surrounding areas of land…
The history of the Kingdom had been marred by centuries of warfare, invasion and raiding from other kingdoms and lands on the mainland, the Apotans, the Spagonians, The Soleanans, all of them had clashed against the Kingdom in wars, the victory passing between Acorn and whichever foe it faced, be it internal or external…Leading to the blood of thousands being spilled, be it man, woman or child…Staining the history books a virulent crimson…
However, In the past century…Something had changed, the kingdom had entered a long-lasting period of stability, financial security and most bizarre of all…Peace…The royal family of the Kingdom, house Acorn had been blessed with a trio of long lived and diplomatic kings…Malcom II, Elias the Silver-Tongued and Nigel III. The last of which who's reign the kingdom was currently within, the king was a kindly, boisterous, larger than life man…If a bit of an unremarkable ruler, however one thing about the king that certainly wasn't unremarkable was the absolutely stupendous banquets and parties he hosted…
This was one of those occasions, or at least the aftermath…In the quiet, tightly winding streets surrounding Acorn Castle, there was a great many royal guests shambling and stumbling through the streets, heavily drunk on the rich, Spagonian wine imported for this latest banquet…Nobles, soldiers and even some esteemed peasants mixing together in small groups of intoxicated men and women…However, amongst the gangs of drunks…There were a few sober men…
One of them marched through the streets of Mobotropolis quickly and with extreme purpose…The figure was tall and muscular, frame and face hidden under a violet-coloured cloak that wrapped around them, in their arms a small bundle of white, shaking blankets…The figure was flanked by two soldiers, each of them clad in chainmail and bearing a coat of arms and colours not of the Acorns…
Instead of the blue and red chequered pattern bearing a black oak tree and crown; The coat of arms of the royal family of Acorn…They bore a different one; a simpler, mustard yellow, emblazoned with the face of a snarling fox…They were the colours of another house, another noble family…In their arms, they held great kite shields that bore the same colours and sigil that was emblazoned on their chest-plates…And from their waists hung broadswords within their scabbards…
They followed the shrouded man, their footfalls heavy and metallic…Heading into a narrow, filthy back alley…The squeak of vermin slightly sounding out…The man in the cloak then suddenly stopped in his tracks…His shrouded head turning as if he was analysing the area around him…The man then slowly lowered the bundle of blankets onto the filthy, maggot and dirt ridden earth…The pure white of the cloth going a dirty shade of brown…
The man then stood up, yet he didn't turn his tail and leave…Instead he stood there, staring at the bundle…
"It is done…Come, let us prepare for the journey back to Blackwater Keep…Our stay in Mobotropolis is over." The man spoke, his tone cold and nigh emotionless.
"Of course, m'lord…But…are you sure 'bout this? I mean…He is your son, regardless of his…condition." One of the men responded, his own tone concerned and slightly worried…
The man turned to face the soldier, pulling down his hood and revealing the scowling face of a brown furred, one-eyed fox…His knife-like fangs gleaming white, and his ears flattened against his skull with rage,
"He is no son of mine; I shall not allow this…brat…Bismirch the reputation of house Prower. Regardless of if he is of my blood or not…Besides…I already have two other children. They'll be more upset with the death of their mother than their 'stillborn' sibling."
The bodyguard opened his mouth to speak once more, however he was cut off by the man suddenly asking in a very nasty tone,
"Tell me…Robert…Would you like your head to be mounted on the battlements of Castle Blackwater?"
The words of the lord made the blood in the guard's veins run as cold as midwinter ice…So, heedng to his lord's command he meekly stated,
"No lord Amadeus…I was just concerned…"
"Well your concern is noted and your pay is docked for a month…Now, let us leave already…It'll be raining soon and I don't want to have this cloak ruined the day I got it." Amadeus Prower said in a cold, unfeeling tone…Barging past the two guards…The one called Robert lowered his head and let out a disappointed sigh at the knowledge of unpaid labour…However he was quick to heed his lord's command…And so the three men left the alleyway…Leaving the small bundle of blankets in that filthy back alley…The thunderous boom of a distant storm rolled in…And then all of a sudden, a sound resonated from the bundle of blankets…One that was drowned out by the sounds of the city around them…It was the shrill, frightened cry…Of a baby…
…
(Eight years later…)
The sun slowly rose over Mobotropolis, casting down it's beautiful golden rays down upon the landscape…It was a crisp morning in the early days of June, the warmth of the summer soaked into the people and into the earth…The grass that lay outside of the city's walls bleached, yellow and dead from the scorching sun…
The streets of the city itself were crowded, choked with the shuffling bodies of it's inhabitants as they went about their daily lives…Be they bakers or clergymen, chefs or soldiers, blacksmiths or basket-weavers…Each of them lived, toiled and died in the cities…But this time of year…The streets were especially packed…And for good reason too.
In the heart of the city…In the sector known as Willowheart Plaza, a special ceremony was being set up…Great pavilions of all colours of the rainbow were neatly laid out towards the outskirts of the plaza, whereas in the centre there stood both two jousting courts and duelling rings for melees…As well as stands for the crowds. It was time for the Kingdom's annual tournament, where the finest knights from across Acorn and the wider world would gather to show their martial prowess and chivalric valour…
It was always something that the people of Acorn looked forward to, it was more or less a holiday…The splendour and excitement that the tournaments caused matched the holidays at the very least…In some cases it even surpassed them…And for good reason, for in recent years there had been a surge in exceptionally talented Knights…The tales of their deeds enough to draw in crowds from hundreds of miles around just to see them draw their blades…
And considering the lineup of Knights who were in attendance to this tournament? It meant that the city would be especially busy…For this particular tournament had arguably the greatest lineup of Knights in at least over 500 years…There were legendary names like Sir Shadow The Demon Of The Ark, Sir Knuckles the Iron-handed, Sir Amelia or Amy Rose…Each of them had exceptionally decorated careers, fighting in wars abroad and ensuring that the realm was unsullied by brigands or internal threats…And so, king Nigel had spent a King's Ransom on making sure this tournament would go down in history as one of the greatest gathering of warriors ever known…
However, in the streets of Mobotropolis, another impressive skill was being utilized…One that didn't require the clash of blades or the ability to ride a horse…It wasn't a chivalric talent at all in fact, it was one punishable by mutilation and imprisonment…And that talent in particular…was pickpocketing…And with the streets of Mobotropolis filled to the brim with people from all walks of life? It practically made the city a dutch oven for crime…Like placing a sick person in a room of unvaccinated pensioners.
And so, in the outskirts of the Plaza…One of the many pickpockets snuck through the streets…Their footfalls were nearly silent on the dirty, worn-down cobbles of the plaza…Their shorter frame making them at waist-height to most other people…A desirable trait if you wished to steal…However, this little cut-purse was different…His eyes weren't out to rob the many fat and rich merchants who wandered the streets with body guards, cutting the hands off of unskilled pickpockets…
It was a boy, a young boy of eight years of age…A fox to be more specific, with dirty yellow and dingy grey fur that would have been brighter if he had the opportunity to actually clean it, blue eyes that were the colour of the midsummer sky and a small, spindly frame…Showing signs of malnutrition and illness…His small form wore a dirty brown tunic, darker brown trousers and worn, leather shoes…The clothes were baggy and covered in stiches and patches…signalling that the by was hanging on the very bottom rung of the ladder of society and only just hanging on…He needed to steal if he was to survive...And he intended to collect from the most plentiful target possible…
His sky-blue eyes were locked upon one thing and one thing only…A large blue and gold pavilion beside the tournament grounds…It was the pavilion of one of the Knights fighting in the tournament…With the busy schedule that all of the tournament participants had, it meant that it left their pavilions…And thus their belongings within were practically unprotected…
The thief slowly snuck through the crowd, gently pushing his way through the tightly knit bunches of people…Their bodies packed like sardines in a can, however…The thief was used to conditions such as these and wouldn't allow them to impede on his mission…He slipped through the fleshy, hot, humid jungle of legs…Only barely brushing against them as he prowled through the street…Like a predator in search of it's prey…
As he drew closer and closer to the pavilion, he could hear the thunderous roar of the crowds grow louder and louder alongside the newer sound of steel rapidly clashing against steel…The clear sounds of a melee between either two or more of the tournament knights…He allowed himself to let out a small chuckle…This was going to be easy with such a brilliant distraction…And considering his teensy frame and ability to disappear into a crowd? He could be in and out over the course of a single minute…
However, there was a bit of a problem…When he reached the border of the tournament grounds, he came face to face with a large wooden fence…No fence was an understatement, it was a wall: three meters tall and constructed out of thick logs of oak…
He cursed and kicked his foot against one of the logs creating a dull thud, this was brilliant…Just bloody brilliant…How on earth was he going to get past this? He couldn't climb it without drawing attention, there wasn't any gap in the wall that was small enough for him to squeeze through…And he didn't have any money on him in order to pay to go into the grounds…He was stuck! Completely and utterly stuck…
The gears in his mid-turned like clockwork as his eyes danced around the area, looking around frantically for a way to get in without being seen…There was only one way he was getting in…5 meters away, there was a small pie stall, vacant and seemingly unnoticed by the crowd around him…It's small, crimson painted, slanted wooden roof appeared to be thick enough to support his weight, as well as tall enough for him to clear the fence without people noticing...The only problem was getting up onto the roof with his teensy frame, and even then he could sort that out…Thanks to a certain quirk he had…
He snuck over to the stand and swiftly leapt up, holding onto the roof of the stall for dear life…However with a low heave, he slowly pulled himself up onto the roof and quickly looked around, wanting to survey the area around him to see if anyone had seen him…Thank Chaos, everyone's attention seemed to be focused on the tournament instead of him…That was good, it meant that the next step should be piss-easy to complete…
With another heave, he pulled himself over the top of the wooden wall…His little legs kicking out frantically as he tried to get his bearings as he passed over to the other side of the wall…However, he had to stop himself from screaming as he plunged three meters…Landing painfully on his back…A horrible, stinging agony pulsing throughout his back…Forcing him to take a seat momentarily…Just to get his bearings…
However, once he had been able to rest himself a little and get the pain in his back to die down a little bit…He rose to his feet, staring up at the thick, coloured cloth of the aviliion before him…A small smile spreading across his lips as he could practically taste his prize…
The boy lifted up the cloth of the pavilion and slowly snuck inside…dirtying his fur as he rolled under the small opening that he had created in the cloth…However once he was through, he allowed himself to rise to his feet once more and take a look around…The boy was utterly gobsmacked…
The room was far more ornately decorated than he had originally anticipated…There was a small bed in the far end of the room, a full bed! With a proper duvet and pillows…There was even a leg rest at it's end! Then flanking the bed stood two large suits of beautiful, shimmering white armour…Small floral patterns of sunbeam gold beautifully gilded into the steel, making the armour practically glow in the light of the pavilion…As if there was a constant heavenly aura surrounding the suits…In their hands they held equally beautiful longswords with golden hilts…Rubies, sapphires and emeralds being inlaid into the metal too, making them twinkle like stars in the deepest of voids…
In the centre of the room, there was also a small table…Upon which rested a platter of luxurious foods, there was fruit, meat and assorted vegetables…All the nourishment that a knight needed in order to maintain the strength and shape to serve their lords…And beside the food rested a large jug of rich, sweet and complex scented wine…
The boy couldn't help but advance towards the table…Quickly stuffing a bit of bread, cheese and pork into his mouth…He was famished and he had been craving a meal like this for a long time…However…He knew that as good as it tasted and by god was it delicious…He needed to get the gold that was surely in one of the drawers or chests here…And get out before anyone caught him…And so with a heavy heart but a slighter fuller stomach…He snuck away from the table and headed towards a large chest…
He heaved once more, every ounce of his strength being used to just lift the lid of the chest…However it swung upwards…Forcing the youngster back a couple of feet, however when he walked back and peered down into the chest…He felt his heart skip a beat…
It was a chest of riches unlike anything he had ever seen! The chest was filled the brim with…Hundreds of golden coins, gemstones, tiaras, necklaces, rings…All sorts…It was…it was the most beautiful thing that the boy had ever seen…He had temporarily forgotten the futility of life and all the misery and pain it wrought…All that mattered now…was the treasure and taking just enough to get by and leave this horrible city…
He outstretched one hand, reaching out to take his first handful of the oh so golden coins…However…He was violently ripped out of his trance like state as he heard a surprised voice speak up…Talking directly to him…
"Looking for something…Thief?"
