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Karifki's Begining: Part One


by hottie_score06

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The streets of Neovia were quiet and cold. It was dark too, but it was always dark in Neovia. A green Aisha dressed in black, dirty, holey clothes made his way through the darker alleys, moving quieter than the Shadow Usul herself (or so he liked to think). He was on his way to a job. He was a thief after all and a thief has to steal to make a living. He used to steal for himself and only himself and only enough to keep himself alive, but Xavier had other plans for him.

     Xavier is a UC Mutant Draik who has bullied and killed his way up the Thieves Guild ladder and is now the head of all thieves in Neovia.

     Karifki (for that was our young Aisha’s name) had been caught by another thief in the middle of a heist and was taken to Xavier who was more than welcoming of a new thief in the guild... until Karifki told him, ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’ That’s when Xavier threatened to kill him if Karifki didn’t turn over half his earnings to him. Karifki, being only seven at the time, had no other choice but to do as the overly powerful Draik said.

     That was six years ago, and Karifki was thirteen now. He was quickly making his way to the target’s abode, a wealthy Neopian’s mansion on the very edge of Neovia. Closer to the Haunted Woods than Neovia, but anyways, he was almost there. After this heist, he was planning to ask Xavier for his freedom. He had been stealing for him for a long time and he wanted to leave this place. Maybe if he got a truly expensive item and gave it to Xavier, he’d let him go.

     Karifki reached the outskirts of the property. There had been rumors that the owner of the land had a ‘Sword of Skardsen’. It would be the most expensive item Karifki had ever stolen for Xavier. Karifki quickly found the tree that was close enough to the brick wall that surrounded the property to get him to the other side.

     He had done his research on this place. He didn’t want to go in blind like he did on almost all his missions. This place would have the top security possible and Karifki wasn’t going to take any unnecessary chances.

     He quickly climbed the tree and walked stealthily along the branch that would take him about five feet away from the wall, till he came to the end. He braced himself for the jump, took a breath, and leapt onto the two foot ledge of the wall.

     He steadied himself and looked around the property. His informant hadn’t said anything about Petpets on guard, but it wouldn’t be the first time his informant had ‘forgotten’ about some important piece of information. And it always turned out to be pretty important, important enough that it usually gave him a new scar.

     "Mental note: Find new informant," he thought.

     His bright green eyes were very well accustomed to the dark and he let them trail along the landscape for any abnormalities.

     There. His eyes locked onto a small black blur on the landscape. Then one became two and two became four, till the whole landscape was full of black blurs with red eyes. Karifki’s eyes widened and he muttered a curse under his breath. Mutant Puppyblews. Dozens of them. Probably one of the scariest things Karifki had ever seen.

     "Just what I need. Who even has this much money anyway?" he thought to himself and sighed. "Well, at least they’re not Meepits," he thought optimistically, then shuddered at the thought.

     He grabbed his satchel full of useful things and dug around in it for a minute. He brought out a Tomato Striped Hot Dog, a Deluxe Elephante Burger, and a Maple Crepe with Cream. He unwrapped his lunch and began to rip it all up into bits. Except the Maple Crepe with Cream. That he stuffed all the way into his mouth and chewed while he worked on his ripping up the other food.

     The evil looking Puppyblews were slowly making their way toward him and he worked quickly, before they started to bark and wake everyone up and alert the guards. He dumped half of the pieces over the edge of the wall just as the first Puppyblew reached him. It quickly forgot all about him and started scarfing down the food. The other 'blews saw what happened and ran toward the first. Karifki poured a little more food over the edge then pulled out his secret weapon, a bottle of Slumberberry Potion (You can guess how he acquired that).

     He poured a bit into his cupped palm. The sweet potent smell wafted into his nose and he wanted to drink up the whole bottle right then and there, but he restrained himself and instead poured what was in his hand into the mass of Puppyblews at his feet. His heart ached to have to waste it like that. "But it’s not a waste..." he reasoned with himself. "It’s keeping me from turning into a chew toy."

     The effect was immediate. As the ones in front fell dead-asleep the ones in back began to climb over them to get to the pile of food. And as they licked it up they too fell dead asleep. Karifki waited a moment then poured a little more out for good measure. He put the bottle away then scampered along the wall till he was at the place closest to the mansion. He looked around then dropped down to the grass silently.

     "Phase one complete."

     Then there was nowhere to go but straight to the mansion. So, with one last look around, he bolted for the edge of the garden, where the nearest bush was. Just as he was coming up on the bush a light flicked on illuminating the back porch and some of the garden. The white silk curtains in the floor to ceiling glass doors began to part and Karifki launched himself at the bush and rolled and slid into it just as the door slid open.

     “GAH! The nerve! I cannot believe he did that!” yelled a female voice.

     “What did you expect? You called him immature! I’m sure that you would have done the same thing,” said a male voice.

     Karifki kept his long ears down and peeked through the holes in the bush to see what was happening. A royalgirl Xweetok had walked over to the porch railing and was glaring up at the sky. Most of her jewelry and make-up had been taken off and she seemed to be wearing a robe instead of her normal gown. The other one who had spoken was an island Chomby. He too didn’t have all his accessories on; he looked really tired on top of it.

     “I would NOT have torn up his favorite painting! That painting cost more than your paintbrush! He is such a brat!”

     “He doesn’t like art, so you wouldn’t tear up his favorite painting, no. BUT you would tear up his favorite book. You’ve done it before.”

     “Well... yes, but he totally deserved it!”

     “A 1.5 million neopoint book NEVER deserves to be torn up!” the Chomby said, stamping his fore foot.

     “Oh, what would you know anyway?!” she yelled and stomped back toward the house. “I’m going to bed!”

     “Hey! We are not finished!” he called following her back into the house.

     Karifki could not believe his four ears!

     "1.5 million Neopoints?! Who were these people?!" He shook his head sadly and curled up into a ball. Time to wait till all the house lights were off and people were really asleep.

     He waited for a good two hours before making his way inside. It wasn’t that hard. The Chomby and Xweetok had left the door open about an inch and by extension didn’t set the alarm. Karifki pulled the door almost closed behind him, then pulled out the blueprints to the place out of his bag. He examined them closely in the moonlight filtering in through the curtains. He examined the prints, then the room he was in.

     Looks like I’m in the living room. So then I’ll need to go upstairs and it should be in the first room on the right, he thought as he made his way silently across the rug clad marble floor. These rugs looked pretty expensive, probably imported straight from the Lost Desert. He should just grab one of these and go. Something in the pit of his stomach told him he shouldn’t go upstairs. Then again, he always had that feeling whenever he was doing a job for Xavier. But no! His prize was just a few more meters away and he was not going to give up just yet.

     He crept up the stairs and down the ornate hall. He saw the door just ahead and glided up next to it. He tried the knob. Locked. Figures.

     He rolled his eyes mentally, but knew better than to sigh as he dug out his lockpicking kit. His long black bangs fell into his eyes as he gently fiddled with the lock. He puffed them out of his face just as the lock clicked open. He gently turned the handle and the door opened silently.

     The inside looked like a dungeon/weapon room. It had all kinds of expensive weapons all over the place. They even had a clear freezer for snowballs and ice weapons.

     “Good grief,” Karifki whispered. He then began to search around for the Sword of Skardsen. So many good weapons he passed up while looking, he finally couldn’t stand it any longer and took one of two Yo-Yos of Death. He stuffed it into his bag, then saw the sword in a vase with a bunch of other swords. He grabbed it quickly and pulled it out of its sheath in one swift movement, looking it up and down to make sure it was the one he was after. Yup. Same design. He put it back into its sheath and strode toward the door.

     He closed the door behind him and ran silently to the stairs.

     “Hey... who are you?” said a sleepy voice behind him. Karifki stopped dead, his heart jumping into his throat.

     “Uhh...” said Karifki, thinking quickly. “SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED!” he said, loud enough that it startled the baby Shoyru that had come up behind him, but not loud enough so that anyone else could hear.

     “The Shadow Usul snuck into your home in the middle of the night and stole your Yo-Yo of Death! Aw, shucks. You should put better locks on the windows for next time.” Karifki spun and began trotting down the stairs quickly.

     “Look, man,” said the Shoyru trotting right behind him, “I might be a baby and I might still be sleepy, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid. You aren’t the Shadow Usul. You aren’t even a Usul. And you have my big brother's new sword in your hands. He’s going to be mad.”

     Karifki stopped again and turned around.

     “Are you gonna rat me out?” he asked plainly, because in his experience the person who found him usually was screaming for an older sibling or his owner by now.

     The Shoyru thought about it. “I’ll give you a head start of ten seconds,” he said.

     When Karifki gave him a questioning look he said, “My brother and I had an argument today and he deserves this.”

     Karifki shrugged. “Works for me. Thanks, kid!” And he was down the stairs and out the door in a flash.

     He ran with all his might away from that place and in what seemed like a lot less than ten seconds there were guards on their way after him. He was making his way to a tree a few feet away from the wall and a good two-hundred yards away from him. Suddenly, there were more than just guards after him. The Puppyblews were also on his tail. Literally hanging off his tail.

     Karifki yipped as another one latched on, slowing him down. He hit them off with the sword without stopping his pace.

     Suddenly, an arrow flew past his head and imbedded itself in the ground ahead of him.

     “Dung, Dung, DUNG!!” Karifki shouted as more flew past.

     He was almost at the tree when another arrow hit his side and sent him flying. “OW!” Karifki yelled as he went sprawling. He felt half of his six hit points leak out of him and he rolled over and glanced at his wound, but thankfully the arrow had just grazed him. Deeply, but not sticking out of him.

     "Which is always a plus," he thought as he picked himself up and ran quickly the rest of the way to the tree.

     Without slowing his pace, he ran past the tree and ran up the wall. He was almost ten feet off the ground (the wall was fifteen feet high) before he felt himself losing momentum. He then pushed himself off the wall, back flipped and landed on a branch of the tree. He wobbled in place for a moment, but quickly regained his balance and jumped up to the next branch. From there he leapt to the wall.

     He was about to jump off the wall to the other side, but stopped himself just in time, for it seemed that this side of the wall was the side of the property that was on the edge of a cliff.

     “Oh, for the love of...” Karifki muttered as he quickly looked to see which side was closer to solid ground. He picked the right and ran along the wall. An arrow flew past him again and he cursed under his breath for the second time that night.

     In the corner of his eye, he saw the guard aiming his arrow and it looked to be dead on. At the last second Karifki lunged forward, did a very dangerous cartwheel and a hand spring like a gymnast. The arrow flew past, missing him completely. The other guard fired and Karifki flipped over it gracefully, silently wishing there was someone there to watch him doing all this. He must look so cool!

     He couldn’t help but let out a ‘w00t!!’ as he made it to the other side of the wall. He took five seconds to catch his breath then proceeded to run all the way back to Neovia, clutching his aching wound, but not needing to stop thanks to all the adrenaline pumping in his veins.

To be continued...

 
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