Zemira

You could hear the footsteps going through the halls, fast and loud, seemingly without a true purpose. The thief ran to their escape, however, as they finally see the door to the streets after what seemed like hours of their hectic chase, the guards block their path and with more guards closing in on them from behind they are forced to take a sharp turn to the left. As the thief runs once again through the shiny corridors they leave a trail of dirt with their shoes all over the polished floor, leaving a clear trail for the guards to follow and making it impossible for the thief to lose them without abandoning their shoes. The thief keeps running, up and down stairs all over the Museum where the precious Crown Jewels were stored, the royal family having put them up for exhibit just for the day as it is the 75th anniversary of the Great War against the Kaira kingdom. As it was the first time displaying the Crown jewels in such a way the royal family had contacted many sorcerers and even one Arekai in their efforts to secure the jewels and only after numerous security measures and protections were place around them were they displayed for the kingdom to see. The Crown Jewels were not only guarded by Sorcery but also by the best knights they had and over fifty guards spread all around the museum with many destined to be near the jewels at all time Unfortunately for the thief, they are soon caught up by guards and surrounded by at least twenty of them with Sir Hiraya up front with his sword pointing directly at them, furious that they had managed to evade them for this long. The thief looks down from the balcony that they are trapped against, they look at the city and down at the dirty streets of Zemira that are underneath until they finally turn around and show their face to the knight. "We really have to stop meeting like this Sir Hiraya, its getting rather old. Don´t you think?" Flirts the thief as their kinky black hair runs wild in the front of their face thanks to wind coming through the window. "Perhaps if you stopped stealing from the crown we wouldn´t have to meet under these circumstances. Don´t you think, Witherstone?" Sir Hiraya answers back sarcastically slightly out of breath. "But don´t worry, today we put an end to these petty meeting of ours. After all, there is nowhere for you to run now, you are going to prison." "If you really think that Sir Hiraya, then you don´t know me at all. Do you really think that you have me now?" The thief smiles as they say those words, their golden eyes twinkling in mirth as they look at the knight and their confidence unnerving the guards causing them to shift in position in clear preparation for what is undoubtedly impossible, the thief escaping with the jewels. "Hand over the jewels!" Exclaims the Head of Security at the museum as he pushes his way up to the font of the guards boldly. The thief holds up a velvet purple bag with the jewels and says while smiling. "These ones? Never." "Drop the bag" Screams the Head of Security furious that the thief is not cooperating while at the same time Sir Hiraya exclaims. "You´re under arrest for theft and burglary, drop the bag or we will shoot you" They soon realize their mistake as the thief drops the bag backwards and out of the balcony and to the streets as they say with a wicked smile "As you wish." The men scream and scramble in their efforts to catch the jewels before the bag hits the ground and shatters the Crown jewels beyond repair even knowing it impossible to catch them. The thief avoids the men silently and in a matter of seconds have moved past the mob of desperate men pilling at the balcony. In the mist of the chaos to catch the jewels they fail to realize that the thief has moved away and is now silently moving towards the balcony across the room which gives out the view to the restaurants and bars across the street of the museum and with the main exposition having been at that side of the museum the streets are full of people. The thief easily manages to get to the other side of the room and up the rail surrounding the balcony, it would have been great for them to have escaped without attracting any attention but at the final moment one of the buckles in their long brown cape with the dark blue curtains causing a noisy tear in the fabric of the curtains. One of the guards up the back manages to hear the noise despite the ruckus the other men are causing and yells at them. "They are trying to escape!! Witherstone is on the other balcony!!" As the men start turning around and going towards they other balcony they are slowed down by the sheer amount of people that had wanted to see the jewels. The men run towards the other side yelling for their arrest angrily, however, it is too late. The thief gives them a wicked smile and with their right and they touch their lips and blow a kiss, in the process smearing their dark lipstick as they stand tall on the rail and jump backwards. They tried to stop the thief to what would surely be their bitter end as they fall from the third floor and crash against the rocks of the street underneath the balcony, only to see them running for the restaurants and bar and losing them in the crowd. The people at the plaza look at the thief as they run across the street away from the museum but it is only time until someone recognizes them and calls the guards. Unfortunately for the thief someone recognizes the long coat and call for the guards and the chase continues as they go after the thief. The thief curses under their breath as the guards start to gain on them and takes sharp turns in various streets in their effort to lose the men chasing them. As the take another sharp turn to the left, they see a carriage a few streets away that is looking to cross the streets, they pick up their running and hope to reach the carriage in order to slow down Sir Hiraya as he is quickly gaining on them. The thief manages to move around the carriage before it starts crossing the street and slowing down the people after them and upon realizing that it is one of the official royal carriages they quickly turn around for just a second then exclaim. "Sorry Your Majesty! Its nice to meet you!" Then continues running after that sarcastic response while the knight and his men have to avoid the carriage and apologize to the Queen for the inconvenience and assure the Queen that they will find the thief and return the jewels to the royal family. The thief continues running and as they start getting ahead of the knight they take a quick turn towards the back alley of a restaurant and them to the left of the alley managing to temporarily lose them as they see the perfect dark alley to hide for a moment. The thief rips the bottom part of their cape and throws that part towards a nearby trashcan, they turn the now jacket inside out to reveal a velvet black interior, they take a strip of ribbon and tie their hair up before putting the white banana that was previously tied around their waist around their hair, effectively hiding key characteristics of their previous look. The thief walks out of the alley and goes the other way that the men went, and as they see a small shop with hats on sale due to the Anniversary celebration,} they wait until the woman selling them is distracted before they grab a black fedora and put it on their head as they quickly walk away towards the docks. The thief keeps walking towards the docks as the sun starts to go down, they still have to dodge quite a few guards that are wandering around the streets looking for her or just enjoying the festivities but those also know what the look like as Sir Hiraya and the Head of Security of the museum, without taking into account the guards that have seen her throughout the day have surely told others they look the thief sported. As they keep walking through the streets of Zemira, they start getting closer to the meeting point with their partner, the sun goes down between the clouds that meet the sea and as the thief is plunged into darkness they finally see the restaurant were they would meet and although the thief is quite late their partner is still waiting for them. As the thief enters the restaurant they see their partner waiting for them in a secluded table towards the back left of the restaurant just sipping on a translucent red drink with a salt border. "What took you so long?" Their partner ask as they take sip of their drink and gesture to the table with their left hand towards the table, inviting the thief to take a seat. "They chased me all through town and besides I got slightly lost on the way here" Answers the thief jokingly as they take a seat at the other side of the table and gestures towards the drink. "Are you going to finish that?" "By all means, its yours" They have not even finished their words before the thief takes the drink and downs it in seconds, their throat bobbing as they finish the drink and set it down on the table with a small smile and a quiet sigh. "Are you alright? I heard that you jump out of a balcony." The thief gets asked with exasperation as their partner starts taking out coins to pay for the drink. "Don´t you trust me? Besides, I am perfectly fine so don´t worry your pretty little head about it." "I always worry, especially if it has to do with you." "What did I do this time?" Asks the thief with fake indignation as a seemingly innocent smile appears on their face. "You always get into trouble, so don´t you try to act Innocent with me." They put the money for the drink down on the table and offer the thief their hand to get up and as the thief takes their hand they smile coyly and don´t let go once they are up. The both of them leave the table hand in hand and walk out of the restaurant together towards the horses that were awaiting for them to get away form Zemira and to the forest. The thief with the help of their partner climb onto the horse and wait for the other and once they are up they gallop towards the forest with their loyal horses. Truthfully the forest isn't that far away form the restaurant, still their final destination is a long journey away and as they begin their journey they cant help but to wander of what the future holds, after all they had just become the most wanted people of all of Zemira. At the other side of the kingdom the discouraged guards, after their search was determined fruitless they return to the museum to tell the royal family the news and get them back the now probably destroyed jewels, after being thrown out of a third floor balcony. As they get near the museum they see the purple bag laying on the ground with what seems like small pieces of glass spilling out of it and as Sir Hiraya picks it up and opens it his jaw drops in horror. As Sir Hiraya is surrounded by the others in confusion over his reaction and thinking of the worst, Sir Hiraya sticks his hand in the bag and brigs out a single piece of whats inside. It is now that the rest of the people present manage to see what is left of the Crown jewels, what Sir Hiraya had just pulled was a small piece of sapphire, the jewel that used to be on the top of the prince crown and as such they can only assume the worst happened to the rest of the jewelry. The knight discouraged and angry climbs his horse and glumly makes his way up to the castle to meet with the king and Queen and give them the terrible news about the jewels. The knights that surround the palace are confused and anxious when they let the drawbridge down at the call of their leader only to see their usually proud leader return looking angry and somber. The knight gets down from his horse and slowly makes his way inside as his comrades move the horse to the stables to be fed and groomed after the long day and while usually Sir Hiraya takes care of the horse himself they know that with that with whatever happened he won´t have the time. As Sir Hiraya gets closer and closer to the Great Hall to meet with the king he get more anxious and by the time he knocks in the door in order to get announced to the king he is shaking. The doors open and he is invited inside, he walks up to the top of the room all the while observing the kings and queens expressions as they looks at him from their thrones covered in gold and fine robes. Sir Hiraya kneels in front of his king and announces his failure. "My King, I have failed you." "Rise Sir Hiraya. You are a great knight and you and your family have protected the royal family for many years. You do not need to kneel before us." Says the King Anhur and Sir Hiraya rises. "My king as I´m sure you have heard, the crown jewels were stolen and thrown out of the third floor. My men and I were unable to capture the thief and although parts of their cape were found in a back alley there have been no sightings. The Jewels that have been recovered we fear are damaged permanently." Sir Hiraya pulls out a small piece of what looks like a ruby out of the bag and show it to the king who after looking at it critically call for for two servants to bring table immediately in order to see the damage done to the jewels. Once the table has been set down in front of them, Sir Hiraya opens completely the velvet bag and pours out its contents over at the table where King Anhur can access the damage. Despite the knights words the king did not expect for the jewels to be in such a state of distress and through his own shock he could hear Queen Cassiopeia shocked gasp as she sees the family jewels utterly destroyed. As the king pick up a small piece of sapphire form the pile his expressions changes to curiosity causing her wife to look at him surprised when he puts it down in a hurry breaking off another piece of the jewel. King Anhur quickly picks out another piece of a jewel that has the color of an emerald and after looking at it for a few seconds against the light coming from the candles up in the chandelier throws it angrily towards the table making Queen Cassiopeia and Sir Hiraya jump in surprise. "These are fake!" Screams the King as he throws half of the pieces on the table to the ground and breathes rapidly. "My King!?" The king picks up another small jewel that looks like a diamond and shoves towards Sir Hiraya. "Look at it, it doesn´t have the shine that a real diamond would have and they shatter far too easily for them to be real. This is a scam! They were exchanged with fake jewels!" The king looks out the window in anger and promises that the thief will pay with their life for the crimes committed against the crown and tells Sir Hiraya to put up posters all over the Kingdom and offer a reward. However in despite of all the chaos that the thief has incited in Zemira they quite peacefully continue to gather firewood to cook and stay warm during the night as their partner hunts for some squirrels or rabbits to put in the fire that will serve as a meal for the night and morning to come. Quickly enough they finish gathering enough firewood for all the night and return to the tree where they had decided to set up camp for the night where their partner now waits for them. "What took you so long?" The hunter asked as the thief sets down the firewood. "It was only a few minutes tho, so stop being dramatic." Answers back the thief as they light up the fire with rocks. The hunter laughs and begins setting up two of the few bunnies they have hunted up in the fire to eat and after a long pause they ask the thief the question they have been dying to know. "What did you do with the jewels, I heard that you threw them out the window and then escaped another way? I'm guessing those were the fake jewels´we made but I'd still like the whole story" "Our plan worked perfectly, they thought that bag filled with colorful glass were the real jewels and fell right for it, it allowed me to escape to the balcony across the room and jump out..."