Forum Thread

Bring Down the Prince of Shadows

The thief who hated the elites and the aristocrat who despised the lower class. The woman with no home who strove to protect the weak and the man who made his own and worked tirelessly to increase the strength of the powerful. The fierce outcast who thought she was impervious to the damage words could cause and the stoic official who turned his speech into a weapon and attacked her with cold calculation. Certain people could never join forces, lest they strive vainly against the very fiber of their beings. Lizzie and Paradox ought to be among this number.

But the world is dying. The middle class parties in the streets, but children sob in the shadows, alone and starving. An illegitimate tyrant rules from the throne of Wolfshire, and none know the true evil behind his deeds. Lord Ezan, however, made a critical mistake; when he made it his goal to capture the bold Emerald Fox, the most skilled larcenist in the city, he aroused the long-dead sympathy of his former best friend towards her, unintentionally bringing the thief and the aristocrat together as the two most unlikely of allies, united under one goal. If Lord Ezan is the disease affecting their world, then he and all his poison must be removed.

And perhaps, in the process, that alliance might just find itself deepening a bit further than either party ever intended.

---

Title: Lizzie

Lizzie thought she was clever. After all, she could swipe everything from the most paranoid of merchants, find a tail in a crowd within seconds, and she'd once charmed a man into giving her the very cloak from his back. She'd fooled every town guard and mayor who tired endlessly to stop her. But this? The events over the past few days? They stumped her to no end. Lizzie caught the reflection, in a hanging piece of glass meant to keep the birds away, of the richie behind her, following her rather apprehensively. He'd shown up and now everything was complicated. Questions buzzed through Lizzie's head like mayflies on a summer day. Why Ezan's new-kindled obsession with catching her? Why was she trusting this aristocrat? Why was she constantantly thinking about him, after all, there was no reason to overthink this, he'd be in hot water if he tried to turn her in, considering he'd warned the thief about the ambush, so why-Stop, Lizzie thought firmly. Not the time. She risked one glance at him before speeding up a little. Time for more important matters.

Lizzie crossed well-worn and crowded streets, tiny alleyways bricked up and now crumbling, and market squares that were far shadier than the one that the two unlikely allies had met in. The Emerald Fox figured after an hour or so of walking they'd probablly lost the ambushers, but she was still feeling a little petty, so Lizzie kept going until she was sure that the aristocrat would be lost without her. She realized after awhile that her feet were taking her to a well-remembered path the thief had taken countless times, the one place she came closest to calling home. Suddenly, Lizzie stopped in the middle of an entrance to road clumped with houses, without warning and quite suddenly. Was this a good idea? Lizzie eyes were fixed, despite her best efforts, on a tiny gray house leaning on its neighbor a bit, run down and overgrown. No one would suspect anything...But something might happen to those poor people. After a bit of consideration, she picked up the pace again. "You are, under no circumstances, to speak of this place to anyone. Understand?"