The Characterisation of Annabelle le Roux

Chapter Five: Young boys providing back story

Ferne' Brave, the character that James had step up to be a sidekick to Phoenix, came from a well-to-do family in Zilby. That was until one-by-one family members could not work. He watched his uncle drop down dead, his father mortgage the house to pay for his little sister's gum repair and eventually he saw his mother lose her radiant looks as her skin grew dark and her hair fell out. His sadness at his mother's loss only added to the weight of hatred that he felt in his heart towards the Mamlish.

Ferne' met Phoenix, while he was out on the town drinking. "Young man," said Phoenix "If you wanted to throw up, you should rather have drunk the water."

Ferne' grew strong by imitating Phoenix in everything that he did. When Phoenix left the house and ran a kilometre, Ferne' ran two.

There was one way in which Ferne' was remarkably different from Phoenix and that was that Ferne' loved to read. Ferne' had read every piece of Zilby literature there was, and he even had a grudging respect for Mamlish Poetry. The hairs on his back rose every time that he thought about Arthur.

Now Arthur was a great Mamlish love epic that started when a boy was denied his rightful place as heir of the desert kingdom. He had been born after his father's death. His sister floated him on a reed basket into the sea. She did this because her uncle had murdered his brother before marrying his pregnant sister-in-law. He now ruled supreme in all the land, but the land rejected him and there was a severe famine wherever he went. People, therefore, said that the land itself cried out for its rightful king. But nobody knew who the rightful king was.

Now the king's older sister, the very same one who had put him onto the reed basket and set him out off to sea, had been given a protective amulet at the time that she had cast her brother away. She had kept the one half and her brother the other. A drop of his blood had been used to seal it.

The wizard who made it, made it so that only those whose blood had been used in the making of the amulet would be able to retrieve it. His sister stored her amulet on the top of a high mountain, surrounded by the crown jewels, the crown and the king's long sword.

The route was clearly laid out on a map, but the mountain path was so treacherous that the corrupt would fall off it. There were so many trolls on the mountain that the greedy were sure to be eaten by them. The nights were so cold that the cruel froze to death in them. Only the true of heart could reach the treasure chest.

Meanwhile, the false king searched for the boy. The false king heard of a village where there a boy more beautiful than any other was said to live. The boy lived with some fisherfolk. Both the man and the woman he lived with, were incredibly ugly. The man had a round face with square hands. He had hair so unkept that there was seaweed spread amongst its strands.

The wife was fat and squat. She was missing half of her teeth and the remaining half had visible holes in them. Only the boy believed that they were his parents and he loved them. He loved them like a puppy loves his master.

The boy, Arthur, didn't notice the strange looks that passers-byes gave them. He didn't see his parents as ugly. He knew that he loved them and that was enough for him.

The false king decided to come to Arthur's village. He stood at door of Arthur's home and knocked. "I am looking for a squire" the false king said to the man with the round face. "A fit young man to carry my sword and ride ahead of me in the forest."

The squat woman just nodded her head politely before the false king went on. "I will send you as the guardians of this boy, more money than you can dream of." The couple just looked from side to side while the king continued to speak. "I will build you a mansion, far, far away from the sea, and it will have a stable filled with horses. You needn't ever see another fish again if you don't want to."