A visit to the king . . .

The moonlit scenery would’ve been a highly calming scene, the lush greenery was looming over, the trees only allowing a little of the moonlight come through.  The owls could be heard doing their little songs, and the wolves could be heard howling at the moon, some of them actually yelling with forlorn. The grass bed that I sat on would have been a nice place to sleep for the night, and I had actually thought about doing that very thing, but duty called me tonight. Duty told me that I would have to wait, and wait I would.

The tree in my direct sight was being a victim of my boredom, every few minutes it would produce a throwing knife in the diameter of marks from when I pulled out the dozen I finished. I acquired the throwing knives and belt to hold them on one of my recent adventures. It cost me a scar on my left cheek from when the owner called the guards on me from stealing their property. It would’ve cost me a thousand gold coins, and I wasn’t ready to give up my title of thief just yet. He didn’t realize that I had stolen the book of shadows from his store too, but maybe he did, in hindsight at least.

I sighed, a little louder than I should have since I didn’t know if I was alone in this forest. I really didn’t want to be alone, it was getting long past midnight, and I got on my feet to pull out the knives from the tree, cursing at the tree because it was my only form of entertainment. I pulled out the last one and accidentally snapped a twig, cursing at the slight sound that I made. I looked up and I saw it, the belt that would hold my throwing knives, was gone.

“Okay,” I started “You have my attention. But you know what they say. You can’t steal from a thief.”

I decided to untie my hair from its usual position down my back, allowing it to curtain my face and its features. If I would have to fight, I wouldn’t want any survivors to be able to recognize me, as of now, no one really knew where I was. I heard rustle in the background, which caused me to pull out the dagger from my right leg. I couldn’t carry any bigger weapon with the lifestyle I lived, but this eight inch dagger did the things I needed it to. The moonlight gleamed on the blade, and I realized that would most likely give my location away, but then again, if they stole my belt, they already knew where I was since I was in direct eye sight from that position. The more I thought about the more I realized that whoever stole from me was doing it just so that I would go looking for them, and that made me realize the culprit.

“Okay Pony, you can come out now.” I said; which made the little seven year old come out of the bushes, having a little laugh as he threw me my belt. His blue eyes were gleaming for some reason, meaning he was indeed happy about me letting him go on his own for the third time. “What does a seven year old do at this late at night? You were supposed to meet me a half an hour ago. Which means that you are indeed late kiddo,” I said, removing the smile off of his face.

“I’m sorry Dante, I didn’t know how late it was, I’ll do better next time, I promise,” was his remark. I knew that he knew I couldn’t be mad at him, but he knew that I was being serious. I couldn’t afford for him to get lost, especially when I didn’t know where he would be last seen.

I looked at him experimentally for a second. His eyes were a distinct blue color, the color every child saw when they looked at the sky.  The hair on his head had been allowed to grow a little too much, his bangs hanging stubbornly over his forehead. His face still had a trace of baby fat upon them, and his cheekbones reminded me somewhat of a chipmunk. His dimples told me that he meant me no harm, and he wished for no harm to be done to him. His front tooth, the one of his left side, was missing, but the one he would get when he was older was showing its end. He cocked his head to the side like a dog, and his eyes brightened in the sea of questions he wished to be answered.

“I’ll give you a warning this time; don’t let it happen again, I don’t want to have to have you by my side all the time. And we still have a job to do, so let’s go and do it.”

“Wait, Dante I wanna show you somethin! I made a drawing of myself!”

I felt as though he listened to nothing I had said in the last five minutes, but I did what he wished. He did have a little drawing of himself, but it was more than just a drawing. It was a perfect picture of himself, and he had written his name at the bottom of this torn piece of paper. It was a scary sight, not because of the looks, but the fact that it looked similar to something one would draw if they wanted Pony on a wanted poster.

“Anyway, we have a job to do.”

Most people wouldn’t call stealing a job; more than half of the people I know would call it a crime, especially because of the person that I was stealing from, though I didn’t believe that the fat king of ours would be mad if some jewelry went missing, even if it was from me. Tonight was a perfect day to do so, and this time I wouldn’t feel bad about doing so.

I packed my weapons and headed east, the delay in my little advocate’s arrival may cost me a little time if I am not careful, but I had a feeling he would be late, and made plans accordingly. Yet he still was a little late by my standards. Even yet, there was nothing that was going to stop me from doing this, not on my watch, nor the guards.

I had to walk in, or trespass, as they would call it if I am caught, from the west end of the castle, because that is where the treasury lay. That part of the castle would be have double the defense of a normal treasury since the princess’s sleeping quarters so happened to be there also. It seemed flawless, but I have been wrong before in my life, many times more than I would like to admit. I had Pony walk along side me, not making a word until I knew that I would be able to see how the guard watch would be this night, and his voice seemed to carry a lot. Walking around logs and under branches would have been a peaceful time, but he was the one to break the silence as usual.

“How do you know exactly where we’re going without a map Dante? Wouldn’t you need a map to make sure that we’re going the right way?”

“Uh, no, and I think you asked the same question twice, but reworded it. Anyway, I have been walking through this land since I could walk; I know it better than I know myself, so to speak.”

“Oh . . . okay,” was his response, which would lead to another break of silence. The moonlight was a nice way to see where I was going exactly, but it didn’t have enough to tell everyone of our location, or us of everyone’s location.

“But how do you know if-”

 I had to put my hand over his mouth to stop him from talking, seeing his brow furrowed in a question made me show him exactly why I had stopped him from talking, and pointed a finger in the direction that we were just walking to, right into the eyesight of someone on duty, and right into my capture, something that I cannot afford at the moment, or ever to be exact. That still didn’t stop the guard, he stopped dangerously close to us, almost asking who was there, but decided against it, the only thing hiding us was a blanket of shadow acquired by the trees we were next to, which would also help us in our next action.

“You have to whisper a little, well more than a little now Pony.  You don’t want them to hear us now, do you?” he shook his head violently as to say no, which I told him not to worry, and start climbing the tree next to us.

When he finally nodded his head to show that he understood I moved my hand, and started climbing the opposite tree. If anything goes wrong, this would be the time for it if I didn’t make my jump, I would fall straight into the sleeping quarters of the princess, so we had to be extra careful, especially me.. I started to climb branch after branch, the once rough bark now smooth from the thousands of hands that wished to climb the tree, all from the same guild, all looking to do the same thing. A guard once again came our way, this time abandoning his post to look deeper in the woods, believing that someone was at the other side of the brush. The moon then decided to come out of its cover of clouds to give him a better view, but he didn’t see anything. Of course he wouldn’t, the guild was only able to make feats like this is because no one ever wanted to believe people could climb, therefore believing there was no reason to look up.

The twin trees have always been a passage way to the castle wall, both of them having a branch that would lead us to wall, but the king noticed that someone might be able to climb this wall, and had his men cut some of the branch off, thinking no one would be able to reach this spot any longer. I must say, he did do a great job in his thoughts, if everyone in the land lived their life like a fat king as him. It would be easy for someone who had a minute of exercise in their lifestyle, so that would have never stopped the guild. I looked for a single shine of light, reflection of the moonlight upon Pony’s blade which would mean he was ready to jump, and when I saw that I was ready to make my jump, already seeing that I was going to make a fortune.

I had the slightest feeling that something was going to go wrong, and that feeling increased the moment I decided to make my jump. If I was to miss this mark I wouldn’t be on the ledge that would give me a chance to climb up onto the roof, but I would be falling into one of two things: a broken neck from the castle wall or the window of the princess. Something told me the broken neck would be a better thing.

As soon as I did so the moon decided to hide behind a cloud, giving me no light to see if I was going to, or if I was going the right way. I learned that the moon must have had a very bad vendetta with me, and he would have his revenge this very night I knew because I ended up in the room of the princess, daughter of the very man that I was trying to steal from.

“What was that noise?” I heard a sleepy female voice say. The moon wasn’t done with its game of hide- and- seek, so I was still surrounded in the shadows. I wanted to get up, but the cold wood floor wasn’t the least amount of comfort that I was looking for, aching my left shoulder, I tried to move a little, but realized that I wasn’t familiar with the room at all, which would cause me to stub my toe, and curse.

 

“Who’s there?” the voice said again, this time without its sleepiness. The moon was still hiding, so only the cold draft of the window could tell me where it was at, nothing more. I knew that the princess had protection against the wind, but nothing that could stop the sounds I was making. I was almost free, until I realized where exactly I had to go I didn’t know, and I knew that she had a candle, which gave my location away

“What are you doing here Dante?”

At a normal time and place, if I was asked what exactly I was doing in. I could think of a logical explanation, even if I had to lie. But in this exact time and place, I had the daughter of the man who hated me the most asking me exactly what I was doing in her bedroom, and I don’t think that “Y’know, just stealing from your dad,” would be an answer.

“Uh, how do you know my name princess . . . ?” I finally asked, since I never remember speaking with her before, or having any other transaction. Not that I remember.

During the time that I had put into thinking of the answer to my question she got out of her bed to see me, wiping her eyes from being in the middle of sleeping. For a second I thought that there was a smile, but I rejected that thought. I tried to think of the reason, but I found no logical answer.

She put down the candle, giving the whole room light, and answered my question, chuckling as she did so. “What noble in the castle does not know of your name? You are a known enemy to my father, you have stolen from him many times, and he speaks of you to anyone who dares listen. I’m surprised that he hasn’t labeled you as a wanted man. The way he speaks of you, I wonder why he hasn’t trained guards specifically for your capture.”

She moved toward me, but I didn’t brace myself for an attack. As an enemy of her father, I should have been an enemy of her. “But the reason why you’re here is evident. You are still wearing the sapphire ring your last ‘visit’. I would think you were only coming to get the corresponding ring.”

She was talking about one of the first things that I stole from the king, it was a not-so-simple sapphire ring laced with diamonds, but she was right, I was trying to get the match to it because, I like shiny things, and a good collection.

“But it wouldn’t seem right for me to just let you go to commit crimes. How are you going to ensure my silence?”

I looked at her playing with her brown hair flirtingly, waiting for an answer. I had a seven year old waiting for me on the roof of a castle, and I was trapped by a damsel. it would be my luck, having to make a deal with her so that I could steal from her father. She did create a good argument, and I didn’t want to have Pony waiting on me as though he was my guardian.

“What will it be?”

“Oh, you will know in due time, but like I said, I’ll let you go, but when I ask for my favor, you will indeed give it to me.”

Something didn’t seem right about this, everyone was ready to make leverage with me then and there, but she wanted hers on hold, at any time she could call for me and, since I saw no way out of this, demand me to pay. But I had more things on the line: a small little boy a few stories away. I knew that there were rumors about the princess. About how she, like everyone who wasn’t a noble, thought that the king wasn’t a good king, and he didn’t do a very good job to rule. I felt like I could trust her, but I haven’t lived this long from being optimistic.

“You have my word.”

She smiled a dangerous smile, a smile that meant she was planning something and I would be the victim of it. Now that she had been given my word there would be no way out of this. So I decided to ask what it was, and this was the start of the mistake that I made. “It was the beginning of the saving of your soul.” Some little voice inside of my head said.

“We need something to make sure you would keep your word, don’t you think you so Durante?”

She had used my full name, and that was something that not much people would know.

“Okay, what do you want from me to do?” I asked.

“Just a simple kiss Durante, just a simple kiss.”

I asked the little voice inside of my head what he thought, but at this moment he decided to be quite. I pulled her close and kissed her, noticing the softness of her lips and the texture. I wanted to stay for more, but I had a mission to do, and I pulled away after the moon decided to show itself again.

“Like I said,” I started, trying to keep the obvious bliss from my voice. She did have very soft lips, and I wasn’t that excited about leaving at that moment. “You have my word.”

“Where have you been?”

I looked down at Pony, he was indeed mad, but I didn’t have time to elaborate, I knew that sooner or later I would have to actually answer his questions, but I chose later as  I brushed his question off. We had to jump rooftops to get to our destination, and Pony continuing to surprise me, if I didn’t know he could do it and keep up with me I wouldn’t let it, but he did, keeping up with me and making me wonder if I needed to exercise a little.

“Hey Dante,” Pony said between breaths “What are we going to get?”

“I just need to get a ring, and you can get something that you want, but all I really care about is that ring, per se.”

“You don’t care about me?”

“I said per se.”

The slate roof had pieces breaking off from the impact of our feet hitting them, I watched some of them fall off, wondering how they looked down at the ground, but had to make sure that I was going the right way. Another thought came into my head as I thought of the level of noise this was causing. I was wondering were where the archers, they should have been looking for intruders on the roof, which would mean that they must be off duty.

Thinking too soon cost me time, and pain because my left shoulder exploded with the stuff that all would call pain. I couldn’t think that I would be so arrogant that I would think I wouldn’t be seen, or shot at, or anything. I fell down and almost fell off the roof, having to hold on by my right hand because my left shoulder had an arrow poking out of it.

“D****t.”

“D****t?” I heard a voice say a little above me.

“Don’t curse Pony! Just get me up from this and help me out.”

The seven year old decided to grab my left hand, causing me to move the shoulder with the arrow sprouting out. I saw a little piece of paper floating down after me, I didn’t know what it was, but I thought that I have seen it before.

“Hey!”

When I finally was back upon the roof and not dangling toward my death, more or less by the fall I took a breath. The shoulder that received the worst of the fall before also had an arrow sticking out of it, tonight just wasn’t my day.

“I’m going to have to break the shaft to pull it out, bite down on this,” Pony said, giving me a shirt. The shirt didn’t help the least, because the pain still came out with every part of it, every time the wooden shaft had to move I wanted to yell, this wasn’t the arrows I remember, they must be using some sort of machinery to make them go faster, and therefore, hurt more. Since the royal archers used poison with their arrows, it caused me to see blotches of black around my vision.

“You know, I didn’t buy you the book of shadows for nothing,” I said a Pony through the shirt, but he didn’t hear much, but I believe he got the message.

“Okay, okay, I’m on it, but maybe if you looked out for people we wouldn’t have this problem, hmm?”

I was about to say something until I felt the relief coming and the pain leaving, the black blotches also left, but when I sat up I still felt the ache of it.

“Why didn’t you just fix it all the way?”

“You wouldn’t have learned your lesson,” he said.

“When did you become so annoying and sarcastic? Who did you learn that from?” I asked, already hating the answer.

“The one who just received an arrow through the shoulder, he’s the one. I could recommend you if you need me to, I think he would do a great job with you.”

I cursed, making sure that he didn’t hear me, knowing that I would hear him say it again, and started to get back up and run. The wound was healed as best as he was going to do, which meant that I would feel the aching of it, though no pain. He had a way of making his point across, which mostly consisted of my delayed relief of my injuries. As we reached the last rooftop, the one of the treasury, I looked around to see that there was no longer and archers, maybe they were looking for a body from the target they shot. I knew that if I was to be caught I would have to see the rope, and before that, the whip. The rooftop had an opening in the center of it, just big enough for a bulky man to fit through. To the average person it would be a sheer drop to the bottom, which would lead to a broken skeleton. But there were reliefs that could be used for a place to put one’s hands, but nowhere to put feet. As Pony took his place upon my back I started my climb down, knowing one wrong move could end a good thing, actually, three good things.

“We’re almost there.”

After there was a balcony of some sort, it seemed to be just decoration matching the ivory and gold room, but it did in fact help to catch one’s breath, as soon as we got down to the floor we started our pickings, though I only came for one thing and one thing only, and there was nothing stopping me from getting this ring.

I walked slowly, making sure not to hit anything as I walked, and looked upon the masterpiece; it was at the center of room, having the moonlight hit it in a way taunting perfection. It seemed almost flawless, the band was more or less ribbons of silver and gold, having a diamond whenever the two would overlap, which was more than a few times. But the thing that I like the most about it was the jewel; it was one of the bluest sapphires that I have ever seen, also being the color that I fancied the most. It was a twin with the ring I now wore, though this one was made for a woman, not a man.

I placed it into my pocket as soon as I heard the familiar turn of a key, and the opening of a door, meaning that the princess did tell that I was going to be here, and I could tell that there wasn’t going to be a good way out of this. But I pulled out a dagger looking for an armored person; weapon out ready to slash at the intruder, the thing that I noticed was the exact person that I thought was telling of my situation.

“What are you doing here!?” I more or less whispered, and then thought about the situation that I was in, letting her voice it.

“I am walking into this place with impunity, and I just so happen to see a thief while looking at the manifold of items my family now owns. Based upon my perspective of where my loyalties should be, I should be turning that thief in. and this thief so happens to be an enemy to the king. But I won’t do that tonight, even though I shouldn’t, I will help you leave because if I don’t, you could get a present from the king.” she took her finger around her neck, showing me what would happen.

“This hasn’t stopped me before.”

“My dad hasn’t gone to sleep yet.”

That was a bad thing, if he sees me I will die tonight. But even if he isn’t looking for me, the men on post would be double the number, and that would mean he would see me, and I would die tonight.

“What should I do?” I asked.

“The nobles went on a hunting trip earlier, and the gates are still open. A stable man forgot to check the horses, and there so happens to be two horses ready to run, ready to leave in a hurry. They’re royal breeds, so I believe you can make a little money from them if you don’t want to keep them. I can give you five minutes, nothing more, and I won’t give you less. And I don’t think the horses are under your standard of stealing.”

“And how do you think this will work?”

“You do understand that you now have in your possession the two most valuable things in the kingdom, I don’t doubt you will steal a couple horses . . .”

“Good point.”

“Now go,” she said, kissing me on the cheek. I was about to turn around when she started whispering in Pony’s ear about something, and pivoting her body so that I could see the exchange between the two of them, if there was one to begin with. She dusted off her dress and stood up, contradicting the fact that she just told me to go.

“You have five minutes . . .”

With that I started to run, making sure that Pony was still behind me as we ran. The treasury had a balcony, which was high enough to allow us to jump onto the rooftops, it was a little harder since my dominant hand’s shoulder still hurt, but we were making good time, enough to provide that we would be able to get out. When I finally saw the gates of the castle, and by association, the stables, I heard a high pitched scream, meaning that my five minutes had started.

As soon as we jumped from the rooftops I saw something move, and a fraction of a second later a black arrow came in front of me, not hitting me, but getting dangerously close to the bridge of my nose. I knew that the royal archers only used red arrow shafts, so this archer wasn’t from the kingdom; I looked around for something, and didn’t catch anybody, though looking as though I had forgotten about my situation. I shook my head like a duck shaking off water and decided to again run for it.

We saw them, two battle horses that surprisingly had the size well enough for me and Pony. They still had the reins on them, and were ready to go. We chose the ones that were suited to each other, and after a hastily cooing the horses decided to run from or for something. The gates were still open, which gave me another reason to believe the princess. The sounds of hooves were about to be multiplied, and I knew that our five minutes were almost over, and as we crossed the bridge our window of time was indeed over, hearing the sounds of horses coming behind us. I knew that they could have guessed that it was me. No one in the right mind would steal from the king, a lunatic would steal from him more than once, but a dead man would steal the king’s namesake, more than once. I guess not only would I be flirting with the princess, but death himself.

“I HAVE YOU NOW DANTE! YOU’RE MINE NOW!”

“Oh great,” I said to no one in particular “The king himself is in with this, oh yes, I am now heading for the gallows now, Pone may you do me a favor?”

“Yeah . . .”

“Make sure everyone remembers what a nice man I was,” I said, trying to keep the grin off of my face, but all in vain, “I wonder if Death himself watches his pockets. What do you believe?”

“I believe that he does.” He said as he laughed. I have said this many times before on different occasions, and never seen the gallows yet.

“They’re not catching us, are they?”

“I sure hope not . . .”

We led them into the woods, and since they fat king was too busy trying to get me he forgot to bring lamps to see which way we were going, only the moonlight to show him the way, and what I have learned from the moon is it decides when and where to help, and I hoped that he would give me a favor tonight, that’s all I ask for. We started to go until I had a good time to see the moon, flirting with a cloud that needed on a few seconds to seal the deal.

“Okay Pony, count to two and then slow down. Don’t forget to widen the gap between us.”

At that moment we went into an area of shadows, making that the time when we decided to slow down and separate. The fickle moon chose the right time to play hide-and-seek, making it dark enough for us to be unseen as we slowed down. The mistake of the king was my blessing. Since he didn’t bring any torches he could only count on the moonlight. When the last of the part went past me I chuckled, the moon was a helpful companion, but a deadly foe. I gestured for Pony to get down and go back into the forest, more carefully than before since we had to watch for the horses.

“One . . . two . . . three-“

“Ah!”

The moon chose that moment to come out of its hiding place, and the king noticed that his prey was no longer in front of him, in his sight. I silently thanked the princess; I would be meeting the rope if not for her. I couldn’t understand why she would help a thief steal from her own father, but that was why I didn’t have a woman in my party: I just didn’t understand them. I smiled again as I heard the soothing sounds of wolves howling.

“I think you could use this . . .”

I looked at Pony, who had two things in his arms, though he should have three. They both were only a diamond necklace, something that was only taken because he was told to do so. I could have thought that there would have been something more . . . valuable. If you’re going to be caught with someone like me, you should at least have something worthwhile.

Then I remembered that I must be destroying this boy’s innocence. Living with me and he will never have the same joyful look upon his face. But I looked back at him, his smile showing to joy, all he wanted to do was to make someone happy, someone proud of him. I remembering feeling that same way when I was is age. Though I didn’t have someone like me now, someone to make sure that I was able to have a meal every night, and I was happy to see that I could have given this to someone. I smiled, just in time for a little moonlight to show it to Pony. After that we could hear another wolf howl, which made Pony have a question.

“Dante, the moon is gone. Why are the wolves still howling? I mean, the moon is gone.”

The answer of the question made my stomach rumble, I remembered I haven’t eaten anything since earlier in the morning.

“Because, they’re hunting.”

“Oh,”

I sat down where I stood, knowing now I wouldn’t be able to eat anything until the next day, my stomach growling in protest. There wasn’t much that I could do about it though, not that I really cared, I have missed my fair share of meals, and I knew Pony was able to do so, so we slept there for the night, I knew no one would come into the forest after nightfall, many people believed that the forest was guarded by mystic things of some sort, but I was never able to see any myself, though I would have loved to. I remembered the old wives’ tales about wolves, about how they would be big enough to ride; I fell asleep with that thought in my mind.

“How long are we going to be here?”

I looked down at Pony, a little restless and more impatient than usual.

“We just have to sell the horses and then we will be on our way.” I looked around the town, with was given that title gracefully, and wondered where in the world would I be able to sell a horse. The townspeople went out of their way to get out of ours, and I could find nothing of the sort for a stable, it seemed to be a dead town, and I was looking for anyone that I could, and I found someone.

He was a man of middle age, the gray hairs in his beard more of the norm than the exception, no one would have given him a second look because he looked like a beggar with the rags that he wore and the dirtiness surrounding him, but there was a tattoo on his left forearm, just a small owl, which told me he was a good candidate.

“How’s everything at the guild?” I asked him, watching his hunched beggars back straighten and the dumbfounded look upon his face be replaced with one of knowledge and information.

“Everything is good sir Dante, how have you been?” he said with a bow. I may not be royalty, but my name went far within the thieves’ guild, and farther out of it.

“That is good, do you have any place you can hold two battle horses? They were just borrowed from the king, and I need to know that I can give them to someone without-“

“Being followed?” he interrupted, and a nod from me let allowed him to go on “I will take these horses for five hundred crowns each, how’s that for a deal?”

One crown was worth ten golden coins. I didn’t have any gold coins with me, which would be good. I only had ten silver, which would add up to one golden piece, but still, it wasn’t gold.

“That’s all?” I asked, more of teasingly than anything else. I knew that if I wanted these off of my hands I would have to see to them within the guild, no one else would take them, so I accepted; also getting the necklaces Pony stole off of our hands.

“Give Pony his money, put mine into the Grapevine.”

The grapevine, or more or less the Thief Grapevine, was a system used by anyone outside of the law, mostly thieves and bandits so that one could know a good place to raid, or in my case, steal from. The money, if it was too much to fit into the purse one carried, would be taken into the Grapevine so that one, whenever he met a tradesperson within the guild, could take some out as he pleased. I believe the normal people would call it a bank, but I have never been normal.

With a nod of the head he did so, giving Pony his money and being on his way. The little advocate was frisking himself, looking for something inside of his many pockets.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, though I needed no reason to do so. It was his drawing.

“I lost my drawing Dante!” he yelled.

 I shook my head, I didn’t know what I could say to comfort him at this time of need and even if I did, there wouldn’t be anything that would actually make him forget.

“Pony, you can draw another one at any time. I’ll buy you the items needed later on.”

Not once did I think about a small detail, one that may have more of an influence than Pony losing it.

That detail was someone else finding it.