2 Chapter 1

"Get back here kid!" A skinny guard with a mop of dirt brown hair yelled at me between pants, sweat ran down him in streams. It looked as if he had been swimming, that's what the sun does I guess.

In Key Town the summer sun was unrelenting. Beating down on the people all day with unimaginable heat until it looked like everyone had been swimming and the town stank of body odour.

That's the first reason I was an outcast in this town of mine. Every single person here was extremely tanned and had black or brown hair. Unlike them my skin never tanned, always remaining extremely pale. My hair was ice white with single strip of black running down the side of it and I've never died my hair. Luckily for me this town contained around a thousand people and not too many knew of me.

I pushed faster, I won't get caught today, I will pass the test. "Stop right now!" I hear the guard yell once more. How to get away, while I'm faster then Otter, the guard that is following me, I'm not allowed to use my speed completely.

Countless Otter has has chased me for stealing when I was younger, basically he was my arch nemesis in this town when I was five. When I was younger every time he caught me was an extremely painful experience so I learned to run faster then the adults quickly.

That was until Mrs Annabelle and Mr Leon turned up when I was five. They were each run always and married, I suspect they were of noble birth as they were both well acquainted with fighting and swordplay. I smile just remembering the day I met them.

.. 4 years ago ..

I hadn't had a meal and three days, I was to young to run fast enough to get away and to hungry to care anymore. Usually I would steal and then hide somewhere a person can't fit but still I was starving and it seemed common sense had left me. In broad daylight, I saw two people in dirty brown commoners cloaks with a three apples in a bag hanging from the one on the rights hand who I would later learned turned out to be Mr Leon. I just ran and snatched the bag of juicy red apples out of hand which dropped on the ground. The apples had a bit of dirt and dust on them but I didn't care, I snatched two up shoved one straight in my mouth threw the other at the mans face turned and fled. Of course me being young and uncoordinated just had to trip over my feet... so I wouldn't say it was much of a challenge to catch me.

Terror filled me when this giant bulky man reached down and picked me up by the scruff of my neck and I desperately tried to get away. Scratching, turning and twisting his grip was iron and he didn't do anything just held me further from his face so I wouldn't scratch his eyeballs. After having struggled futilely for a few minutes I fell limp my five year old self hoping he would loosen his grip and I could get away. So you could image the grin on my face when that's exactly what happened, he loosened his grip, I managed to get out of his hold and fell to the ground my knees dragging uncomfortably on the dirt getting numerous scrapes which I didn't care about at that moment to high on success. I didn't even turn to look where I was running before moving backwards and away from the man.

Unluckily for me I had forgotten about Mrs Annabelle. As I had ran backwards I hit a pair of sturdy legs concealed by a rough and itchy material. My last hope for my five year old self was to play the innocent protect me card. Of course I knew that had about a one percent chance of working because of how I looked. But still i ran behind the ladies leg clutching onto her itchy cloak with my small hands and peaked my head out so I could see a smiling laides face looking down at me. She had clear pale skin with no visible blemished and flaming red hair that framed her face.

"Please save me Mrs," I whimpered putting on my best scared, innocent child act, even though the scared part was completely real. She laughed at that an pulled me into her arms giving me hug before picking me up like baby.

"Leon, you've scared the boy!" She exclaimed still laughing.

"Oops..." the giant bulky man said looking at his feet and scratching the back of his head. The only word which could describe him at that moment would be sheepish. As he glanced at me again I obscurely gave him the finger making sure the lady holding me couldn't see. Unexpectedly he fell to the ground laughing at this. That day they took me to the tavern they were staying let me shower and fed me. Up till now they've been teaching me to fight, but they've made me promise I will not attack anyone at the town unless the situation is dire.

..

I grinned when I thought of the perfect way to get Otter off my back. Running towards the nearest hut I quickly scaled the wall. The roof was straw but there were wooden beams used to support the roof which I could walk across.

Standing on the roof I saw Otter standing there looking slightly stunned before he started running at me again.

"Good day Otter, but I believe it's time to take my leave," I taunted with a flamboyant bow and sly grin. Laughing I ran over the roofs of many huts jumping from roof to roof with great leap easily loosing Otter. This had all been a test, Mr Leon had said I had to get away from a guard without just outrunning them or stopping them with physical means. He had been watching the whole things from the shadows and I bet I just passed with flying colours.

As I arrived at the house that I lived at with mr Leon and Mrs Annabelle I entered with a grin on my face.

"You're improving," Leon said in a monotone voice. When he was fighting or training and assessing my skills he was cold, hard and brutal but when he was just doing normal things he was a happy and jolly man. Really a scary sight the first time I saw him go from smiling to serious in a second, but by now I was used to it.

Annabelle snacked Leon on the cheek then ran over to me and lifted me off the ground smiling swinging me around all the while singing praises. Don't be deceived, Annabelle was much scarier then Leon when it came to training me herself but every other second she acted like a stand in mother.

"Let me down Annabelle," I whined, but she just pinched my cheek to which I glared at. After all I was a nine year old boy!