Rules of Old

“Is it Fredrick or Steven perhaps?”

“No! No! No! Princess my name is none of those and low and behold the sun rises and your Childs fate is mine!” The little mankin chuckled out in giddily jumping about in his glee.

“Please, oh please don’t take my only child away. I couldn’t bear to live without him.” The princess began to plead.

“But without me and my weaving you would not have a head to bear this burden for you, and surely three days is enough time for a chance freely given to keep your son. And lo I call for recompose to be made and the child to be mine!” The small mankin shouted with an evident gleam of pleasure in his eyes.

“No! I wouldn’t let you take my baby away from me!” The princess yelled back at the mankin and began to scream for the guards of the castle.

“Rules older than you and I my pretty keep our covenant in check, and the choice is no longer yours to make!” Upon uttering these words the midget mankin jumped across the room snatching the infant from his cradle. With no more than a hip and hop the creature flew through the window and into the night with the child lightly tucked away under his arm. The only pursuit that dared to follow the man were the desperate cries of the wailing mother as the night engulfed the mankin and his new child.

In a room recently emptied the princess hung her head weeping softly. From here weeping a few soft words escaped her lips. “Come back to me son.”

“NO NO NO!!!!! We’ve trained better than that Gestapo!” the Mankin screamed at a young man who was presently crumpled over in pain.

“I’m sorry Rumple I didn’t see the third one coming.” Gestapo said as he slowly regained his feet. “I can do better, again!” He said gazing into the foreign green pupils of Rumpelstiltskin with his own deep auburn eyes. Gestapo stood to his full height of 6 feet and readied himself for the next assault.

With a wrinkling of his nose Rumpelstiltskin disappeared and in his place stood an armored knight geared out in the deadliest of weaponry. Without a moment of hesitation Gestapo ran towards the knight eyes closed focusing on the energy forming in his hand. With a leap of his muscled body Gestapo transversed the gap between himself and the knight and with an overhead slash pierced the knight straightway through the length of the knight’s body which promptly disappeared in a puff of green smoke.

Straightening into a combat crouch Gestapo scanned the tree line for his next opponent as his sword of solid green energy transposed itself fully into this realm and into the palm of his hand. Gestapo turned towards a rustling in the brush just as another knight erupted forth. Taking up a defensive stance Gestapo set his sword at a slant across his body. The knight rushed at him with the full weight of his armor dragging along with him. Gestapo was focused on the charging knight which was now but a few yards away from him. So focused that he didn’t hear the second knight until the impact hit him squarely in the back.

Immediately appearing over his pupil covered in the green smoke of the disintegrating knights Rumpelstiltskin dusted Gestapo off and began another lecture. “You’ll never win the tournament like that. You have to be agile and open your mind up to all your surroundings! The sun is going down so we are done for today, but come first light we will start again! The tournament is fast approaching and it is your destiny is to win!” Finally finishing his energetic tirade the mankin sprung through the surrounding woodland creating a path through the undergrowth for Gestapo to fall.

It was a short walk back to Rumpelstiltskin’s deceptive cabin in the depths of the woods. To any outsider it would appear as a run-down cabin that would hardly be able to serve as a resting place for the meanest of hermits. Inside however the magic of the mankin changed that reality into a fabrication. A rusted and creeping front door opened up into a sprawling hallway fit for a prince.

Gestapo had only ever known this life; Hard training from sun up until sundown a virtual prisoner of his father, Rumpelstiltskin. Ranging from the knights that he fought on a daily basis to practicing the arcane arts in the dark damp cavern that served as the cabin’s basement. Gestapo however was happy. Rumpelstiltskin fed him, clothed him, and sickness was but a myth that never sought to plague his life. It was all that Gestapo knew and it was all that he thought he needed, but there were still those nights when he lay in his bed looking up through his transparent rooftop at the stars that he would think of people. Others like him someone that he could talk to and feel understood, but that was a dream for another time in his life.

All of Gestapo’s training and the entirety of his life was leading up to one critical moment that was soon approaching. The Tournament. It was a gathering of all the creatures of the realm to fight for glory and honor. Well that’s what Gestapo would receive anyway. There was a prize that went to the winner a very special prize that Rumpelstiltskin dearly wanted and he would have it if there was anything that Gestapo could do about it.

So the days passed as they always have for Gestapo full of training and magic. The only change was the growing excitement that filled Gestapo’s being, and the growing agitation that Rumpelstiltskin had at the training of his son. This irritation grew and grew but it didn’t get out of control. Rumpelstiltskin couldn’t afford to lose this chance. This human that he had raised to win him his prize, his destiny! Azura’s Star!

Gestapo rushed into the coliseum his mind swirling with the things that he had just seen. People beyond count gathered together to watch the spectacle of the tournament. Race was not a factor in a place like this either the goblins mixed with the trolls and the moonkin ran freely around darting between the legs of the giant slithering Kashara. Gestapo had even seen other humans roaming through the crowd trying not to be trampled underneath the feet of the many other races that made up this once in a lifetime marriage.

The thoughts of humans we pushed from Gestapo’s mind as a swishing axe crashed down toward him. Dodging only by reflex the axe came close enough to Gestapo’s hair that he would need a new hair cut to make up the difference after the fight. The orc behind the axe lumbered forward intent on squishing his prey with his huge meaty hands. Gestapo stepped inside the orc’s guard past his grasping hands and brought up his materializing sword into the orc’s gut in the space of a second.

Then the real danger set in. The orc’s body crumpled onto Gestapo crushing him in a literal full body death grip. The air in Gestapo’s lungs flew away from him on impact with the ground, and the orc’s knife hilt dug into Gestapo’s chest crushing him all the further. Looking upward Gestapo could see his father running toward him with an outstretched hand. A hand that spat forth a ball of green fire. The fire engulfed the body of the orc and left Gestapo free to breath freely again released from that tremendous weight.

Without a word Rumpelstiltskin helped the boy up and pointed him toward the exit trying to rush him off the floor. Still catching his breath though the progress was slow and the next match wouldn’t wait for them. As such they were passed by one of the next contestants. He was a human, or he appeared too appeared to be at the very least. Which was surprising to Gestapo Rumpelstiltskin has told him the he was the only human alive that would be strong enough and brave enough to show his face inside a ring of this caliber.

The man strode forward unrelentingly with a gait that would put any thyrian to shame. He was clad in the armor of the holy paladins of Sharadon god of truth and justice. So enthralled was I by this newcomers appearance that I didn’t heard the charging of the giant kashara. It’s four heads snapping in an alternating pattern yearing for the flesh of the young paladin. One swing. That’s all it took for the paladin to fell the beast. With a mace the size of a small child and the speed that no eye could follow the paladin smashed through the remaining heads of the beast. It was only a matter of second but the battle was already over and the paladin was striding straight towards me.

Stunningly he knelt at my feet “Prince Thelio the gods have gifted me with a vision of your highness and this place I knew it was only a matter of time before I found you.” What was this man saying? “Your parents have been searching for you ever since the day of your kidnapping and I have been sent to….” A ball of green fire hit the paladin squarely in the chest engulfing him in a inferno that completely covered his form. Rumpelstiltskin hopped into my vision next to the ball of still burning green fire.

“Silly little humans always making up stories! I’m glad I trained you well enough to not fall for such mindless blabbering! There was no way that the mankin ever saw the mace coming. With a thud he hit the ground a splattering of his former self, and in his place stood the paladin unharmed. Engulfed in a shining shield of light that must have warded off the mankin’s magic. I was stocked with the turn of events and my body locked up against my will.

My training fled my mind as the paladin picked me up like a bag of corn and threw me over his shoulder. “Your safe now I’ll take you to your parents straight way.” My mind couldn’t even follow his logic. I was being abducted by the man that had just killed my father! He was taking me to a strange place to meet “my parents”. I hated him and I could feel my hate rising for my so called parents. Rumpelstiltskin had taught me well and I would have his revenge