The White King

North

Slowly, so as not to blind himself, Donn opens his eyes to the world. It was bright, as expected, but only because his particularly keen eyes caught the glare of the sun off the snow around him.

Donn let's out a yawn, casually stretching his limbs. It was just turning morning, and he had a busy day of work after he stole breakfast.

So, without even a moment spent grooming his hair or tail, he makes his way into town.

Well, a town. Being a career thief, you had to move pretty often to evade your crimes. Bright orange fox ears and tail weren't exactly subtle, especially with how few people lived in each village around here.

With a loaf of bread already in hand from a nearby stall, he walks up to the local tavern.

Career thief though he may be, he was still only seventeen years of age; it'd be another few months before he was allowed to drink.

Not that he wanted to, though. He came for a different reason.

Turning left just past the door, he examines the local to do list. Gnawing his way through the loaf in his right hand, he locates exactly the kind of job he's looking for.

CARAVAN STOLEN!

GOLD REWARD!

LAST SEEN HEADING SOUTHWEST!

Perfect.

He spares a moment to smooth out his slacks and t-shirt, but is out the door before anyone even noted that he'd entered the establishment.

~~~~~

Soft footsteps became buried in the white behind him, yet the harsh gale and chilling snow brought little discomfort. On top of being raised in the cold, a fox Pan was highly resistant to temperature drops.

Not so much when he got hotter, though.

Nonetheless, his steady progress across the tundras of the North finally brought him to the border of the land of snow.

He could see the caravan from here.

Despite being able to, he doesn't slink off into the group to handle things stealthily. After all, it didn't matter if they saw him before they lost.

The only thing that mattered was victory.

Donn takes a moment to crack the bones throughout his body and stretch. Being a fox had it's downsides, such as getting stiff quite rapidly in the snow, but he had the time to prepare from the distance he was at.

Once assured that he was ready, Donn leans forward and sprints.

He speeds across the distance, covering the more than fifty meter distance within seconds. While more than a few bandits clearly saw him, there wasn't enough time to react before he landed the first blow.

He clotheslines two of them, the force of his arms slamming into their necks at high speed more than enough to knock them to the ground.

The remaining eight all draw their weapons, various kinds of swords ranging from a longsword to daggers.

Fun.

Since Donn was visibly unarmed, they sneer at him. After all, they were both armed and light armored.

Being a Pan was only an innate advantage over humans, and they didn't exist anymore. A simple glance would reveal that these were mostly bulls, but one was a wolf and another a lizard of some kind.

Lovely, all of them.

Despite the obvious disadvantage, Donn smiles at them. Because of where he had sprinted towards, all of them were in front of him.

Donn reaches into his pocket and pulls out a ice shard, one not even comparable in size to a quartz crystal yet heavier than it had any right to be. It strained his arm slightly to move as quickly as he did, at least in this state, but he makes do regardless.

They charge, letting out a battle cry that might have actually intimidated him if he didn't have his weapon.

Once they entered a range he knew they couldn't dodge, he throws it like a baseball pitcher.

Within half a second of leaving his palm, the ice crystal had blown apart into far more water than it could logically hold, shooting forward and slamming into the first person in the way.

Normally, a few gallons of water splashing on you would be a basically worthless attack.

Not when it's given the viscosity of dried concrete.

The 'water' blasts them back, the splatter caused by the initial contact creating a spray which catches them all like a very painful net.

Donn takes his sweet time walking over, looking down at them with a smirk.

"Why'd you steal the caravan?" Donn asks the group, obviously content in his victory. After all, being able to magically alter the properties of a ball of water to basically anything physically feasible made him a difficult person to fight.

They don't respond right away, but their unnatural bindings held them both to one another and the floor despite their attempts to struggle.

"They stole something from us!" one finally blurts out, although the rest don't deny it in any way. Donn's lanky frame and unkempt form might not be intimidating on it's own, but with the sun framed behind him and a unbreakable binding holding you defenseless...

Let's just say it helps.

"And what did they steal?" Donn acts through his mirth, his hand coming forward to cup the speakers chin.

"We come from-."

"I don't care about your past. What did they steal?" he interjects.

The man sighs, looking up at the sun as if it would free him.

"Giovanni... He took our money, our food, everything. He doesn't even own the town, like many others, but he just came and took it anyway. This caravan holds what he took from a few of the others."

Donn's smile had been gone since the name Giovanni was mentioned, but a mischievous one replaced it when an idea came to him.

"Where are you headed?" he asks, visibly confusing the man.

"We're... We're headed southwest, obviously. We live just a few days travel from here."

Donn takes a step back, the clear fluid holding them in place splashing harmlessly against the ground below.

"You're free to go, but you'll take me there."

There's a bit of confusion among them, but a few sidelong glances gives silent confirmation.

"We're keeping the caravan, right?" he questions.

Donn smiles, glancing back at the two lying upon the ground a few feet away.

"I suppose it's only fair."