Thieves of Fortune

Chapter 1: Phoenix

Today started like any other, I was sitting in the great hall surrounded by the chatter of other young ladies gossiping, the recurring topic of their affections, my brother Arcain, having been audience to their conversations countless times before, I drown them out and pay more attention to the other daughters of the court who, under the watchful gaze of our Instructor Madam Eden, were practicing balancing books on their heads while simultaneously trying to walk in a straight line.

My sisters were among them, The oldest of the Blackwood children, Alycone had just managed to stack 5 books on her head and walk, head held high in a confident line earning her great praise from our instructor, while little Andromeda had two books on her head holding them in place with her hands, stumbling a bit on her clumsy feet.

A squeal of excitement pulled me out of my head, looking up to see my Brother and my father's Adviser walk in and head towards my sisters, I rolled my eyes letting out an exasperated sigh, propping my chin on my hands, and stared out the window watching a little blue bird flaunt its freedom as the girls next to me swooned when my brother looked in our general direction.

My attention flew to the man in front of me as he let out a little cough, I look up to see Ser Crius Storm my father's best friend, and most trusted adviser  wave a letter in front of my face "My Lady, your father has asked for his children's presence in his chambers, there is something he would like to tell you" 

"He has returned from his trip to Whitehaven!" I asked as eyes wide in shock, "so soon?", i turned to look over at my brother who had thrown himself on the floor next to me just to see that he is rather occupied with politely declining the advances of the young ladies huddled around him, I suppressed a snort at the sight.

"Yes little lady, he arrived in Talverton Fort at the crack of dawn and sent a raven ahead to tell us he will be starting his trip back to Wolveshire palace as soon as he is finished consulting his bannermen"

My eyes shone in joy and I leaped up and let out a squeal of joy which sounded too much like the young ladies in training for my liking, chest tightening with embarrassed and joy I ran out of the great hall ignoring the sounds of my instructor reminding me that ladies don't run, but all I could think of was my beloved father returning.

I missed him so, during his 2-week absence, I ran through the halls not even sparing a few minutes to apologize to the people I bumped into.

I turned a corner and collided into a body, both of us falling to the floor in a tangle of limbs, I let out a few choice words which would have made Mrs. Edens hair curl, before looking up and staring into the electric blue eyes of the victim of my haste.

I was face to face with a wolf. The wolf is as Dark as the trees of the forest which surround our castle. Her fur, short over her body and longer at the neck and ears, is smooth and shiny. Although still a youngster, she is already the same size as our oldest hunting dog. Her stance, usually confident and body muscular, is now draped gracefully over my midsection. She let out a dignified huff as she looked away.

"Oh, my apologies, Moon" I managed to whisper in between laughter and labored breaths "you see Father is returning today, I simply can't contain my excitement"

She regards me fleetingly before letting out an annoyed grunt, heaving herself up and heading on her way, I quickly scrambled to my feet to follow. Her movements are fluid and without apparent effort; while I huff and puff to keep up with her methodical strides."Moon, wait I really am sorry!" I call after her heaving my skirt up around my ankles and flicking a lock of my dark hair over my shoulder, I race after her grunting "why must I wear such heavy clothing"