Road to Ruisea

❆ ❆ I. JAE ❆ ❆

present day

Jae's done some pretty stupid things before, but this is about to take the cake.

He saunters through the bazaar, spinning his little dagger, smiling amiably at passersby and a few of the friendlier merchants. He waves at those who recognize him, and laughs inwardly at the fact that they have no idea what he'll soon be up to.

Jae is a thief, a street rat, a common criminal. He's heard these things be said about him but not only does he take it in stride he takes it with pride.

He just wishes more people would recognize his good intentions.

Those who don't know him — visitors from another kingdom no doubt, who came to see the famed Cevalon marketplace, maybe to find a trinket to bring back home — immediately stare at the birthmark on his arm. The symbol is strange, three blue rings nested within each other... It's been there as long as he can remember, but even he doesn't know what it is.

He doesn't mind stares. He likes attention.

But not tonight...

Tonight, attention will only ruin his plans.

He needs to be invisible.

The plan should remain simple — climb up, climb in, find the map.

In and out, easy-peasy.

He's got strong arms and legs, he's nimble and agile. Living in the — clean, he admits — streets of Cevalon has trained him to be quick. He can climb the wall no problem...

And the guards are clearly not focused on keeping people out.

They're focused on keeping somebody in.

Cevalon's Princess, no doubt — if she even exists.

Nobody in Cevalon has seen that girl in the sixteen years since she's been born, which means she's never been seen. As far as Jae knows she's under a sleeping spell, dead maybe, or just really ugly.

But that's not the reason he's breaking in.

He doesn't care about the Princess.

What he cares about is a map.

There are maps in the marketplace, Jae knows that. He just now passes by a stand filled with illustrated scrolls of different sizes.

But those maps are wrong. He doesn't want maps that are wrong.

Suddenly, as he's pacing through the bazaar, considering buying (or stealing) an apple, a man grabs him and pins him to the ground with his heavy boot.

Jae coughs, "Hey! What gives!"

"You," the man bends down and pokes Jae in the chest. "Owe me money."

"For what?" Jae demands. "I've never bought anything from you."

"The dagger, brat."

"Oh," Jae looks at his knife. "It's still true. Never did buy it, just stole it fair and square."

"Why you little—!"

But before the man can finish, Jae takes the knife and stabs him in the shoulder with it. He roars in pain and pulls away from Jae to tug on the dagger lodged in his skin while the boy bolts through the bazaar.

"You can have your dagger back!" Jae calls as he makes a break for it. "It's too dirty for me to keep using now!"

People cheer for Jae, because he didn't dare to stab just any merchant. No no — this man was a dishonest man, a greedy pig, always threatening people and taking advantage of them.