https://padlet.com/binkydelaelf/spm47gndc5is The Art of Thievery en-us 2018-12-07 15:30:25 UTC 2018-12-07 15:30:26 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Rocket.png binkydelaelf https://padlet.com/binkydelaelf/spm47gndc5is/wish/312270045 The Art of Thievery 
      Part 1

     Jared was a wiry lad of fourteen years. Quick witted and observant,  useful skills in a town of thousands, he often walked the streets looking for opportunity.  His family were by no means well off, they made a meager living from father's repair business.  Clothing,  tools, and sometimes people's houses, were deftly made new again by Father's able hands and sage mind. Even so, most of what he brought home was taken in taxes.
  Jared and his family lived in the Barony of Fairfield,  a misnomer,  Fairfield was anything but fair. 
  The Barony was run by the Rottweiler family bloodline. For centuries the Rottweilers ruled with grace and wisdom,  until the family patriarch,  William the Elder,  died in the great fire that took his house thirty years before Jared was born.  William's grandson,  Burgess Rottweiler,  has been Baron ever since.
    Over the decades of his rule, his lifestyle has become more decadent and secretive.  Rumors tell a tale of orgies and intrigue,  and hint at a young courtesan possibly starting a fire a long time ago.

      Jared had grown up in near poverty, his needs have been supplemented over the years by his mother's odd jobs and his daily 'opportunity' walks.  
   Not that he would knowingly take what wasn't his, his morals and intent were in the right place, he considered himself a scavenger.  The coin from someone's pocket ?  No.  An unattended thing of potential value to the hands of a repairman...
Or gardens sentried only by scarecrows...
And one Garden with a soldier sentry.
   This garden had the lushest greenery,  the largest fruits, and the fattest pigs. Having plenty of time to squander,  he lingered just far enough away to see and not be seen.  He noticed the guard's path when he patrolled, he took note on when he sat or ate, and when the guard changed. Jared repeated this observation the next few days before seeing an 'opportunity'.

    One early morning while the guard was busy with a substantial breakfast,  Jared decided to act.
  "Such a large garden, they won't miss a few fruits if I'm quick and quiet about it. " he reasoned.  "I'll tell my family I found them by the roadside. "
   Jared was a deft dodger. He stooped and crept behind bushes and hedges, kept eye and ear open for the guard's interventions,  gathered rewards while eyeing the scene,  tiptoed through flowers and got away clean.
   The fruits he brought home were large enough to split one for a three person family,  with a portion of oats each it made for a very nice breakfast.  Jared was proud of himself. So proud he would attempt a similar feat the next day, and the next...
   Soon he had the guard's weekly schedule memorized, he could maximize his time and take greater bounty as his skill in sneaking grew also.  
   What Jared did not know, or have concern for, was whose Grand Garden he was pillaging,  and also the guards' schedule was changed every month for security reasons. 
    So fate would have it that one crescent moonlit night Jared's supplemental shopping spree came to an end due to a noisy piglet and a guard's good hearing.  He was nabbed, manacled,  and pushed into a barred and stony cell. 
  "You'll stay here till the Baron can sort this out." the guard grumbled. 
Four days later , after meals of gruel and no contact from Mother and Father ,  a different looking soldier strode into the small windowless cages room where Jared was sitting against a stone wall, still shackled.
   The Officer eyed him from atop his nose for a bit and dryly said "Come along, boy."
  Jared was pulled up and marched through a many doored hallway, up stairs and across a courtyard,  into a large building that from his point of view could only be called a Palace.
He was brought before the Baron Burgess Rottweiler and pushed to his knees.  Jared noticed his father, hat in hand, off to the side of the grandiose 'court'room .
   A dark clad minister whispers to the Baron as he considers the dirty boy before him.
   " A poacher? " said Baron Burgess incredulously,  "He must be made an example of!"
  Jared was pushed back to the jail cell and locked in until the next morning.

Daybreak comes and Jared is awoken by the squeal of an iron door. His manacles are removed and replaced with a short leather lash to keep his hands at his back. He's shoved down the many doored hallway,  up the stairs, and into the courtyard. 
  The gates were open to let the townspeople view the public spectacle about to take place. Many were there including Jared's Father,  who managed to say "Keep your knees together, son."  Jared took it as words of encouragement for his upcoming punishment before he was yanked forward towards the Baron and his Court,  seated quite comfortably at the top of a wooden dais erected in front of the palatial manor.  Several yards in front of the dais is a tall tree, a horse, and a dangling noose.

 The Baron , Burgess of the Family Rottweiler,  rises to speak...
   
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