Hood Part 1

Sixteen Years Later

​It was another boring, hungry day, guarding the kingdom of Carnen. At the age of ten I'd been apprenticed to the guards of the kingdom because the orphanage I'd lived in threw me out. My life wasn't much better here, but at least I got a full stomach on holidays, a roof over my head, and a warm quilt in the winter. There were two others apprenticed with me.

A boy named William, who was a week away from his eighteenth birthday, and a boy named Arthur, who was just my age. Today I was patrolling along the south edge of Carnen, right next to the forest, with Arthur. I hated my job, but Arthur's jokes and optimistic view of the world helped me put up with patrol. William was almost eighteen and at eighteen we were promoted to being real guards, so he thought he was better than us even though he was only a year and a few months older than us. Patrol with William was enough to make me want to run away and take my chances in the forest.

​"Hello? Phillip? Are you still in there?"

​Arthur's voice broke through my thoughts.

​"Oh, sorry. What did you say?"

​"I said, check out the green cloak at five o'clock. He's a bit suspicious, don't you think?"

​I looked in the indicated direction and noticed the person Arthur had talked about. There was a boy, it had to be a boy for what little I could see of the clothing was pants not a skirt and the person was not big enough to be older than twelve, who wore a plain green cloak. The hood was pulled down far enough that the only thing visible beneath the hood of the cloak was a smirk. It was not unusual that the boy wore such a cloak, considering it was raining, but something about the boy felt wrong. We were on patrol, but because we didn't get uniforms until we were eighteen, we didn't appear to be more than a pair of boys slouched against a wall. The boy walked right towards us. He passed through the market as he walked and as he moved he discreetly picked something from almost every cart selling food.

​"He's a thief," I whispered. "Okay west forest maze maneuver."

​Arthur nodded and took off running. I waited until the boy had almost drawn even with me and then began to shout, "Stop! Theif! Halt!"

The boy froze and then whirled and ran back the way he had come. I chased after him as fast as I could, still shouting. He ran like a deer and clearly had practice running from guards. He toppled over crates and carts in my path. I chased him toward the forest and at the last moment Arthur shot out from behind one of the last buildings. He ran at the boy to tackle him, but just before they collided the boy darted out of Arthur's path and stuck out his leg. Arthur flew through the air and landed on his face. The boy then ran and disappeared into the trees. I helped Arthur to his feet. He claimed he was fine except for some scratches and a broken nose. Arthur may have been fine, but I would not be. Arthur, being injured by the bandit, had no responsibility to catch the thief after his injury. I on the other hand, would have all the blame for the bandit's escape placed upon me.

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​"The boy is clearly sorry and accidents happen."

Arthur and I had made it back to the guard house and as soon as the other guards had seen Arthur's face they had whisked him away to be treated and had me tell the story. As soon as they had heard that we had failed to apprehend the criminal our council convened and began doing the very thing they did best. Arguing.

"Thieves escape, and this one was well learned about how to avoid guards, much less two apprentices."

The guard who spoke was one of the younger guards. At twenty one she had been raised to a full guard only a few weeks before I'd arrived. She was the only female guard and had always been like a big sister to me. Her name was Constance and because she was the only woman the other guards were not always very kind to her.

"Maybe the thief could have avoided the apprentices if it had been a simple chase, but when using a maneuver like they did, it should have been impossible to escape," argued Walter, the biggest and burliest guard of them all.

"Then what do you propose as punishment?" Constance asked.

"No food for a few days should bring the lesson about."

"No! You already don't feed them enough!"

"You are just soft on the boys because you are a stupid woman."

"You are just hard on the boys because you fear they will become fat, lazy, slow drunks like yourself!"

"Why you little-"

"Enough."

It was a single word, yet it stopped all noise in the room. It seemed like even the mice had stopped to listen.The man who had spoken stood up slowly. He was the oldest guard of all. He was the most respected and admired. Anything he said was the final law for the guards.

​"The boy has made a mistake and needs some form of punishment. However, he does not need something taken away. He needs an extra chance. The boy will follow the thief's trail and when, if, he catches the thief he will return and be made a full guard. If not, he will never return. Does anyone object?" No one moved. "It has been settled."

"Excuse me, sir. When will I leave?" I asked.

"Now."

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HEY GUYS. SORRY IF THIS WASNT AS LONG AS YOU HOPED ITD BE. CHAPTERS REALLY VARY IN LENGTH DEPENDING ON HOW INTO THE STORY I WAS AND HOW DEEPLY I WAS FEELING THE CHARACTERS EMOTIONS. THERE WASNT MUCH TO BE TOLD JUST YET, BUT DONT WORRY THIS IS JUST A TEENY BIT OF BACKSTORY YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE I INTRODUCE OUR LOVE INTREST. PLUS ITS 4:27AM AND IM TIRED. WHATD YOU GUYS THINK OF PHILLIP? GOOD GUY, BAD GUY, JUST TRYING TO GET BY, OR TOO SOON TO TELL? BYE AND ILL POST SOMEMORE NEXT WEEK BUT SCHOOL STARTS WEDNESDAY SO I CANT PROMISE ITLL BE RIGHT ON TIME. BYE FOR NOW MY FANS!