Craylen's Theft

Craylen1

The castle stood out from the rest of the night. It was a dark, deep night. With the torches ablaze, and the guards in there posts, nothing was going to get into it. King Judas’s castle was the most heavily guarded of all castles in the land. Especially during these times, when two men were out trying to kill him. All was still on this night, except for a shadow that sprinted across the field toward the castle. The figure could barely be made out, because of his black clothes. 2

He crept up to the side of the castle, and then threw a grappling hook up to the first ledge. It caught onto the edge of the wall. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any guards in the roof for some time. This man had studied the guard patterns for the past two nights, to get the routine, but to his misfortune, the routine was never the same, so the mission became riskier. He waited a few minutes to make sure that no one heard the clatter of the hook, and waited for guards to come from up top or out the window he was under. 3

After being sure that no one was coming out, he climbed up the rope and crouched down into the window frame. Getting as low as possible, he slithered down from the window onto the floor, where he prostrated himself, and waited to let his eyes adjust to the torch light. He came up to a prone position, and then crouched and crept through the room. A guard passed by and the man quickly got against the wall. The guard continued on, and the thief snuck in. 4

This room was a great corridor, with a large ceiling, and white marble walls. A statues of King Judas, was stood tall and proud in a recess of the wall. A guard strolled down the hallway, torch in hand. The thief slipped into the crack between the wall and statue. The guard walked on by, whistling a tune that he probably learned in a brothel somewhere. The thief slipped out, and continued on keeping close to the wall. He finally reached the end of the corridor, and peeked out. Nothing in this hallway. Finally a peaceful hallway. 5

“Well my friend, all I can say is that it’s true,” a voice said. 6

“Great,” thought the thief. He moved across the large hallway and slipped into a room. Two guards walked by. The thief looked around this room, and found a bed, a lit fireplace, and a woman. She hadn’t seen him enter, and was undressing. The thief looked away, even for a thief he has morals. As he was looking away, a glint of metal caught his eye. A key was strung around the woman neck form a chain. Carefully keeping his eyes from wandering to far down he eyed the key. It was a skeleton key, and it was old. The woman redressed and tucked herself into her bed and soon fell asleep. After finally waiting for a few more minutes, the thief stepped out of the shadows to reveal himself. 7

He had brilliant, bold, blonde, hair, and light blue eyes. His eyes lit up at the key, it was odd. He was careful not to grope the woman, he had a wife, and he picked up the key. He then set it down to the side of the woman, as he reached behind the woman to unhook the chain. When he looked down at her, her eyes were open, staring into his eyes. He jumped back in shock. She sat up quickly, and pulled the covers up around her.8

“Now now, don’t scream,” the thief said, “we don’t need any trouble.”9

“Your eyes, I know you,” said the woman, “your Craylen, a fruit seller.” 10

“Shhh. Shhh. You can’t say anything, Naocide, what can I do to keep you quiet?”11

“You can give me a kiss.”12

“You know very well that I am a married man, and can’t do that.”13

“You will or I’ll squeal.”14

“What extortion!”15

“Do it.”16

“Fine”17

Craylen bent down to the servant lady Naocide and kissed her. 18

“What are you after anyway?”19

“I am looking for something of the kings, that I think you just gave to me.”20

“A key? That’s not of any value”21

“I know, but now I have what it takes to get what I am looking for. You got your kiss now, I am going to go on my way, trust me you’ll get the key back.”22

“Ok, then.”23

With that Craylen slipped out of the room, and climbed up a flight of stairs. He quickly wiped his mouth off, and recalling the run in, and then stepped into the next room. It was the armory. Swords, and shields, and full suits of armor hung about on racks or on the wall. This room was tiny, but held a lot of items in it. Continuing onward, he found another room, that was guarded. Craylen had found what he was looking for. One of the guards was asleep next to the torch and the other was keeping watch. Craylen took the chain off of the key and slid it to where the awake guard was. He then drew his knife as the guard bent down to pick up the chain, and brought the knife down onto the man’s head. 24

He then turned to slit the next guard’s throat. The man fell down, and Craylen picked up the chain and reattached it to the key. He then cracked open the king’s door. He slipped in and closed it again. The king was asleep, and was dreaming happily. Craylen creaked over to the far wall, and started looking for a safe. He had an assumption growing in his mind, and if this worked then he would be correct. He found a safe hidden behind a tapestry, and put the key in, and turned it. The safe opened up and he found many priceless items hidden in there. One of which was half of a seashell covered in something brown and copper colored.25

He pocketed it, and closed the safe as the kings began to toss and turn from a nightmare. Caylen took the key out, and snuck out of the room and went to go visit Naocide. He returned the key, and as he was leaving she stopped him. 26

“Come here Craylen, stay longer, I would like to have you as mine.”27

“Sorry, as I have said, I am married. I try not to lie with a serpent or a succubus. It has proven to have ill outcomes, as you will soon see.”28

“What?” she said. 29

He gave her no further reply, and left the room. He snuck back out through the window and left the grappling hook there. 30

The next day, Craylen was selling his fruit. Pears, apples, oranges, lemons, limes filled his rack. A procession followed down the street, and soldiers, drug a woman down the road. They went to middle of the town square. Then they read aloud “Naocide Servant to the lord King Judas, you are hereby sentenced to death, for the murder of two royal guards, breaking into and entering into the kings chambers at night, theft of the kings personal effects, and with the accusation of trying to get the king to succumb to do favors with a servant.”31

“I didn’t do it! I’ve been set up!” The soldier raised his sword. “It was all Cray-” The noose tightened around her neck and her neck snapped killing her instantly. 32

Craylen looked at the spectacle, with no remorse in his eyes. He had been tempted twice, denied it once, and set up the woman, with the assumption that the king would only give someone he trusted his key. Someone that would sleep with him… like a servant lady.33