Welcome everybody!!! First fic for your little artemis.

You have to thank my great beta Flattered By Mockery or I'd probably never posted it.

Disclaimer: I think it's obvious enough that I don't owe DGM, but I write it anyway… ah and the title is from a book of Orhan Pamuk.

Warning: in this fic there is Yaoi. You all know well enough what it means, so if you don't like, don't read, it's simple.

THE WHITE CASTLE

Prologue

XIII Century. Venice was ready to become the richest and most powerful of all the Maritime Republics.

Her fleet of war ships had never lost a battle, and her commercial empire controlled the entire east Mediterranean Sea, also starting to take some areas on the western routes of her rivals, like Genoa.

Her dominance of the east waters was uncontested. Almost. The attacks of Arab pirate ships became more and more frequent as the expansion of Muslim territory began, with the conquest of Jerusalem from Saladin, and their targets were mainly the commercial ships from Venice which sailed the Mediterranean Sea.

But those little attacks, although annoying, couldn't decrease the power of Venice. Her rich and prosperous city was the middle groundbetween East and West; between North Europe and Mediterranean Country; even between Arab and Christian land. In fact, although still faithful to the Papacy, Venice had picked up the vastest collection of religions and cultures of the epoch.

It was a city where fortunes were easily made and even more easily lost. A city where one could find merchandise and people from all over the world.

But Venice, more than anything else, was a harbor, from which one could leave for a voyage that could change a life forever.

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His breath came out with fatigue, and the sword in his hand seemed to have the weight of a rock, while he prepared himself to face his next adversary. He cursed quietly; he had not succeeded in avoiding entirely the cut of a sword, and the stab had hit him with a graze on the forehead. Now his brilliant green eyes were fogged by a veil of blood, whose colour matched the one of his hair, which made it difficult to see clearly. But he didn't miss his hit. His adversary lay dead on the deck, eyes open in a stunned expression.

This didn't mean that he was safe; when one was on a ship in the middle of the sea being attacked by Arabian pirates, and about to be sunk, the adjective 'safe' became totally nonsensical.

Two more pirates quickly drew near to attack him together. But he wasn't a amateur with the sword, despite his young age. He blocked the stab of the first enemy, succeeded in throwing him off balance and keeping him busy, and then dodged the hit of the second. After that he counter-attacked. He cut one of them on the thigh and, when the other retaliated, he struck him in the chest, making him fall dead.

Suddenly he heard a soft rumor behind his shoulders. He quickly turned back, just in time to block a stab from a scimitar aimed directly at his head. His sword banged loudly against the adversary's. This started a play of block-and-lunge that finished quickly enough. A fast feint of the red-head, and the pirate found himself with his hand clawed onto his stomach, trying to stop the blood.

Despite this, when he looked up to meet the boy's green eyes, he smiled.

The red-head realized that the pirate he'd previously struck to the thigh was still standing, and was attacking him. He dodged quickly, but not enough so.

The sword tip hit him on his face, in connectionof his right eye. The pain slashed fast through his skull, but the boy tried to remain focused.

He blocked the second hit, his blade sliding down the other to hit the arm of his opponent. The man cried out for pain and let go of the sword. The boy caught this chance, and finished him with a quickstab.

Now four corpses lay around him, and the other pirates that had arrived looked at him with a mixture of suspicion and admiration. He knew very well that he couldn't continue this battle for very long, more so if the enemies attacked together. The ship was burning; the merchandise that was meant to be transported had been passed onto the pirate ship; and the cadavers of the sailors were thrown into the sea.

Despite this, he smiled; he'd probably die, but he wouldn't give his enemies the satisfaction of surrendering and begging for his life. His character wouldn't allow him to.

He held his sword tighter and looked bravely at the enemies in front of him, challenging them with his eyes. After a little hesitation, they attacked together, their scimitars high to strike him.

He dodged two stabs and blocked the third, successfully cutting some of them. But then, a pirate took advantage of the blind side from the wound to his right eye and hit his head hard with the hilt of the blade.

Before slipping unconscious he could only think that he'd never see Venice again, and that he would never return to all the people waiting for him.

Hi everybody. This is my first fic, so I don't really know how it came out ^_^

I know this is really short, but it's only the prologue. I'll try to write the first chapter ASAP, but, you know, I'm a very busy and very lazy person. Obviously it's a Lucky fic, but you have to wait a little for it. I can't take the characters and throw them into a situation without an introduction (maybe I'm too perfectionist…)

Anyway I hope you'll enjoy it. Review aren't recommended, they are ESSENTIAL for me to understand if I'm doing well.

So PLEASE REVIEW!!! _

PS: I'll post this fic also in Italian. If you want to go and read it, I'll be flattered.