Thieves Gambit

[coolcoyote]

---Several Days Ago---

Far from the comforts of Redwall and out of the reach of the legendary Long Patrol, the port coty of Far Harbor stands as a beakon along the coast, enveloping the western beaches with wood housing and cobble stone streets. It is a fairly large harbor, one willing to trade with any beast or nation, be they lawfull or...lacking laws.

The city spreads even beyond its high walls, once made long ago to protect it from pirates. The inner city proves more upscale than the unprotected ramshackle houses beyond the wall, but the streets are crowded with the homeless and starving. Both vermin and non.

If nothing else the city is progressive in the fact that both woodlander and vermin can come together and be equally poor.

There were important to note about Elena. One, she was a fox. A white furred fox with black paws. Her fur stands out like a beakon in the night everywhere save for where the sleeveless vest covers her chest.

Normally this wouldnt be a problem, but if a guard were to look up it would be near impossible NOT to see the arctic fox climbing the side of the mansion.

Oh, Elena was also a thief. This too was important.

They called the leader of the city Lord Snaggletooth. A name that belittles the creature who has his enemies stuffed and mounted on whims. Elena could only imagine what he would do to HER if he found the fox scaling the wall to his office window.

Its a hard climb, nerve wracking too. But successfull. The vixen finds the office window unlocked, so she simply pushes it open. Her eyes narrow, a smile splits her lips.

There was the terrible beasts desk, and her end goal was with in her grasp. Making sure her footing was secure Elena the vixen began sliding herself through the window head first.

And this is where the final, but most important fact comes in to play. For you see, Elena may have been a sly fox, she may have been a crafty theif, but she was also very...

...fat.

A look of shock crosses the vixens face as she lays there half in the window, half out. The fox just growls in embarrassment. "Ok...note to self. Don't eat dinner before going on a job." the fox sucks in her gut and...

"Or breakfast...come oooooon." Still, nothing. The fox is growing desperate by now. She is so cloooooose. If she finishes this job she is set for LIFE.

And that is when, caught halfway in the window the office door opens wide. A slender cat enters the room. His tabby fur is dressed by a night gown and fuzzy slippers made from fox fur. Lord Snaggletooth is caught mid yawn when he sees the fox in his chambers.

"Uh..." Elena offers a nervous smile, "Would you believe Im the window cleaner?"

The cat twitches an eye, "ASSASSIN! ASSASSIN!"

"I guess not..." the fox struggles once more to pull herself out of the window as the cat runs off, calling the guards.

"Blast, blast, blast..." the fox comes free with a loud pop, tumbling down her rope and grapple with a loud yell. Things have, as they say...have it the fan.

---Now---

Elena had no idea how true that statement was, or the lengths Snaggletooth would go to to find the 'assassin' who snuck into his office through great strength, cunning and skill...rather than bribing some servents to leave the courtrayrd door open.

The effects were instantaneous. The gates to the city were closed off. The harbor was shut down. Posters of Elena popped up in mass across the city. Not only was a reward posted for her capture, supplies to the city could not get through the gates.

After the two days the effect was plain to see in the market place. Everyone from the baker to the butcher to the homeless beasts were willing to go looking for the portly thief.

The thief, now covering her fur in a thick cloak turns to look at a trio of posters against the wall. She shivers before pulling the cloak tighter and moving through the busy market place, keeping to the walls and away from people as much as she can.


(This is an open story, an idea I just sort of had. Anyone is free to join in anywhere in the city. Lord Snaggletooth can even be spoofed by anyone, he is a bit bonkers and prone to parinoia so having multiple people spoof him with conflicting actions would actually be in his personality.)

[zaveshchanie]

( My first post always sucks and always takes forever to write, pretty much without fail. Next ones will be quicker to follow and much better, you'll see )

Alga Tusel was on the hunt. Not, however, for the now-famous artic fox. At least, not at that moment. No, the mercenary stoat was on the hunt for something reasonably priced to eat.

The whole situation was infuriating. She had been in the city for two days when the city locked down, with a plan to spend some of her recent payments in the dice rings down by the harbour. Things hadn't played out the way she'd wanted -the stoat was still convinced the ringleaders had the dice fixed- and she had came out of there the first night with considerably less than she'd had before. The second night, after most of the players had gone home, Alga decided to hit the place and see if the owners couldn't be persuaded to reimburse her for her losses.

That hadn't worked either.

Then this work of a fox comes along -her face was plastered everywhere now- who makes one lousy attempt at taking out the local despot, and just like that the stoat was stuck in the city, where the merchants charged more and more for their increasingly scarce products.

The piece of stale bread she had in her paws now was worth twelve bronze pieces. She took it for free, but that wasn't always possible, and it wasn't wise to stay in the market for long after.

Looking over her shoulder to see if she had been spotted in the act, the stoat was just thinking about how much easier it would have been for everybeast if the city's lord had simply decided to barr all foxes from leaving the city, when she suddenly slammed right into a cloaked figure.

[coolcoyote]

The fox lets out a shrill yelp. She falls flat onto her portly rump and for a brief moment her hood comes off. She reaches up to pull it over here head but her white paws are still visible.

"What's the matter? You arnt blind are you?" Elena growls. She rolls onto her knees and then stands up, dusting mud off of her cloak.

The crowd around them keeps in motion, unaware of the scene the stoat has caused. "This was a new cloak you know..."

(OwO)

[zaveshchanie]

The apparent disinterest the crowd of market-goers had for the two of them did little to soften the sharp jab of embarrassment the stoat felt, not to mention the unfortunate physical pain that came with running into someone. She hadn't quite fallen over like the fox had, but she'd came close, and she'd dropped the piece of bread she'd stolen. That was enough to set her off.

"What's the matter?" Alga made like she was queen of the dice rings again, launching herself in the snow-furred fox's face like the vulpine had tumbled into the path of some member of royalty, and not an overblown darktip brigand from the coastlands. "The matter is you, you dumb oaf, getting in my way!"

"Now what, your cloak's all ruined? You poor thing!" Oozing false concern, the stoat took a haughty swipe at the poor fox's cloak, as if to help clean it off. "Is that all better? Or would you rather I take it off your hands?"

Her eyes moved quickly from what could be seen of the fox's face, to her cloak and back again, but between her earlier worries and her anger and embarrassment, the thought that the fox might look oddly familiar just wasn't clicking in her head.

[coolcoyote]

To be fair 'dont draw attention to yourself' wasnt going through Elena's mind either. As the stoat leans forward the fox takes a step back in shock. Then growling with anger she goes to push the stoat with one paw. "Don't touch me you scurvy, slithery, snake in stoat fur!"

The encounter goes largly unoticed by the crowd, largely. But not completely.

Trained to look for such problems and snuff them out before they become 'real' problems a single guard begins to approach the beasts. Its nearly impossible to tell what species the guard is under a chain mail tunic and iron helm that covers all but his snout and his tail. The guard at least doesnt appear to be as starving as the citizens around him.

"Is there a problem here, /ladies/?" he says as he approaches.

[zaveshchanie]

Only the arrival of the guard prevented the stoat from drawing her hatchet right then and there, and then probably burying it into the fox's face. Alga didn't want trouble with the guard.

Most of them, in her experience, were on more than one payroll, and that meant possible ties to whatever organized crime clique ran the gambling dens down by the harbour. What's more, she wasn't even sure her weapons could get through his armor if it came down to blows. So not provoking the guard was the smart thing to do, all things considered.

Still, the stoat glared daggers at him before reaching down to pick up her loaf of bread. It had fallen into a dirty puddle, but she supposed it was better soggy than stale, and certainly better than no bread at all.

"No problem at all... just foxes getting in the way."

Bread in paw, the stoat made as if to walk away. She was grumbling silently to herself about foxes and their pretentiousness - specifically artic foxes - when realization struck.

Spinning back towards the fox, Alga pointed a claw accusingly at the beast.

"You!"

She wanted to shout it out, to tell the world what she thought she now knew, but she had to be sure. She had to be sure this was the fox from the wanted posters.

Lunging at the vulpine, without a care in the world for the guard that might still be standing by, the stoat made a great effort to throw off the fox's hood, even if it meant wrestling her to the ground.

[coolcoyote]

Throwing the vixen to the ground is about the only way Elena's hood comes off. She lands on her side, her face exposed. It looks exactly like the wanted photo...just with out the sinister toothy grin the king insisted her wanted picture have.

The fox only replies with a heated glare at the stoat before the hood goes back on. For such a heavy set thief Elena is quick to get back to her feet, plowing into the guard and sending him spinning on one paw.

He catches himself before falling over. With his back to the stoat he struggles to draw his short sword, "H-hey! You there! Stop! Stop in the name of the king!"

Where the fighting beasts failed to gain attention a guard shouting for help would surely summon more beasts to the area...be they guards, or hunters for Elena's bounty...