Tales of the Cooper Clan - Sir Galleth

Chapter 1

The sun was shining brightly on England that day, screams of someone crying out that there was a thief filled the air. A gray raccoon with a black beard, wearing a red tunic, silver armor, a blue mask, and brown pants ran across the rooftops of buildings. In one hand he had a lance that instead of the end pointing straight up; it was curved in the shape of a c. In his other hand he had a huge bag of gold. This raccoon was none other than Sir Galleth Cooper. He had just stolen money from a wicked tax collector that was charging so much taxes that the villagers could barely make it. Galleth grinned when he glanced back behind him to see some owl guards chasing him. Quickly he jumped off of the roof and ran up to the village wall. His brown eyes swiftly searched the wall until finally he spotted a silver ring on the wall. He grinned at this as he hooked the curved end of his lance onto the ring. Before the guards could grab him he pulled his body back and catapulted himself to the top of the wall.

"Aha you have once again failed to capture I, Sir Galleth!" he proclaimed before jumping off on the other side of the wall.

Once on the other side of the wall he climbed up on his horse and took off. He grinned in victory as he rode off farther and farther from the village. He was proud that he had managed to pull another successful heist. Galleth actually came from a long line of thieves, but his family line were thieves of honor, only stealing from other thieves. Even his father was a great thief who had pulled of great feats, but unfortunately he was killed in battle by a mysterious enemy. Galleth's mother died a few months after his father's death; she had died of grief. He kept riding until he reached a small town that was ruled by a kind yet stern king, this town was his home. He made his horse stop next to the local tavern. He figured he could reward himself for a successful heist with a nice, refreshing drink. He slowly opened the door to the tavern, noticing the other local eating and drinking.

Galleth sat down at one of the tables, removing his helmet to reveal his slightly shaggy hair. He tapped his brown-gloved fingers on the table as he awaited one of the tavern wenches to come serve him. His ears twitched when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him. He turned to look at this figure and to his shock he saw a gray female raccoon with black hair and brown eyes, wearing a green dress and brown shoes.

"So what shalleth you want?" she asked.

Galleth was so stunned by the female raccoon's appearance that he nearly forgotten what he was there. He blinked his brown eyes a few times and shook his head as he snapped back into reality.

"I shall have the usual drinks thou serveth around here." he replied.

The female raccoon nodded before leaving and coming back with a mug of beer.
Galleth took the mug from her and took a small drink from it, feeling the refreshing liquid run down his throat. Before the tavern wench could leave to serve someone else Galleth stopped her by coughing loudly to get her attention.

"If I may be so bold my fair maiden, might I ask for your name?" he said.

The female raccoon was taken back by this, but she replied "My name is Nicola."

"Nicola, such a lovely name. Well I thanketh thee for the service." Galleth said as he gave her some gold coins.

Nicola was surprised that the male raccoon had given her more gold coins that was needed for the price of the drink. Before she could ask him why he had already left the tavern. She stared down at the gold coins in her hand that Galleth had given her and closed her fingers over them; she wouldn't forget the male raccoon in shining armor anytime soon.

Galleth closed the door to the tavern behind him. As he put his helmet back on his head, he had to wonder what caused him to give the tavern wench more money than she needed. He supposed he did it because it was the honorable thing to do. He started to walk away from the tavern until he spotted a male skunk with slightly shaggy hair with a white stripe in it, green eyes, wearing a green tunic, yellow pants, brown boots and gloves, and a red belt. The skunk's name was Eric Le Paradox.
In Eric's hands he held a bow and arrow, his fingers tightly grasped the end of the arrow, one his green eyes were squeezed shut to get a good aim at a wooden sign he intended to shoot at. The male skunk took in a deep breath before releasing the arrow, he watched as it flew through the air and completely miss his target, instead the arrow had hit a passerby's foot.
The villager screamed in pain as he hopped around, holding his foot that had been injured by the arrow.

Eric first stared in shock at what had happened before clenching his teeth in anger and throwing his bow to the ground. Galleth never understood why the male skunk was so bitter, especially toward him. It made him curious why Eric acted like their rivalry between them lasted for hundreds of years. Eric leaned his head toward the ground, letting out an annoyed sigh at his failed shot. When he turned to grab another arrow, he spotted Galleth causing him to narrow his eyes in hatred.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the almighty thief, Sir Galleth. Did thou decide to drop in to mock us less fortunate?" Eric snarled as he grabbed an arrow off of the ground.

"Eric you and I both know I'm not like that. I have no idea what would giveth you that assumption." Galleth replied in a calm tone.

The male skunk snorted in disgust as he got ready to aim another arrow at the wooden sign.
As Eric was doing this Galleth had noticed that the male skunk's posture was off. The male raccoon only knew a little bit about archery since as a knight he favored swordplay over archery, but he knew just enough to know that your posture had to be near perfect when you're aiming otherwise you will miss your target.
Eric released the arrow once more, watching as it flew through the air, it missed the sign once again except instead of hitting someone in the foot, it had hit a villager in the rear, causing the villager to yelp in pain. The male skunk stared dumbfound that he had managed to miss his target again.

"Perhaps if I may hath give you some help, you will be able to finally hit the intended target." Galleth suggested.

Eric shook his head, snapping back to reality. He sharply turned toward the male raccoon, glaring at him with his green eyes.

"I need no help! Especially not from you!" he yelled before he picked up his bow and arrows and stormed off.

Once the male skunk was gone, Galleth sighed and shook his head, he could never understand the mysterious hatred that Eric harbored for him. Deciding to push the thoughts aside the gray raccoon in armor headed for the castle where there was someone he was dying to see.

Inside the castle Galleth had his helmet removed once as he walked down the long hallway covered in an elegant red carpet and lovely stain-glass windows covering the wall. He kept walking until he reached two large wooden doors at the end of the hallway, these doors were the entrance to the throne room. Galleth quickly checked his reflection that was shown on the suit of armor next to him, he wanted to make sure he looked appropriate before he entered. Once he was finished checking to see he looked alright, he faced the doors and took in a deep breath before entering. Inside he saw the king who was a brown fox with a black beard and brown eyes, wearing a red cape, blue robe,a gold crown, black pant and boots. The king sitting upon his throne grinned, glad to see his most faithful knight, but the king isn't what had Galleth's attention. Sitting next to the king in her own throne was the princess named Angelica. She was an orange fox with blue hair and brown eyes, wearing a long blue dress, a gold tiara, and black slippers.

"Greeting my king and most lovely princess." Galleth said as he kneeled upon the ground.

Upon hearing this Angelica rolled her eyes. For years Galleth had sought after her heart but she did not feel the same way. Unlike her father she actually knows about the male raccoon's life as a thief ever since the day she spotted him sneaking into the village with the jewels he had stolen from a corrupt queen. The king never did find out about Galleth's life as a thief, he only assumed the male raccoon to be a simple knight that eventually became very loyal to him. The reason why Angelica never returned Galleth's feelings is because she wants to uphold the law when she becomes Queen and she refuses to have a relationship with a thief to avoid betraying her policy. She did admit she found him slightly attractive, but she could never picture herself in a relationship with him. In fact she laughed at the very idea of a thief being in a relationship with someone who upholds the law, she believed it to be impossible. The female fox leaned on her hand as she listened to Galleth ramble on about how he single-handed protected the kingdom from any intruders. She knew if he kept that up he would easily get captured by an enemy.

"Very good, Sir Galleth! Ha with thou around I have no needth for the other knights!" the king laughed.

Angelica shot up from her position and exclaimed "Father that's suicide! We can't leave all our protection up to Sir Galleth!"

"Calm my daughter, I was merely joking about the matter. I would never get rid of all the royal knights." the king explained.

The female fox sat back down in her throne and muttered "Perhaps you should leaveth the royal jester to make the jokes. Which I am not surprised Sir Galleth is not a jester himself."

Galleth glanced out at the window, noticing the setting sun, he knew it was his time to go.

"I'm afraid I must bid thee farewell. I wish thou a good evening my king and most beautiful princess." Galleth said as he bowed once more.

Angelica silently scoffed at Galleth's words as the male raccoon left the throne room.

Later that night while the entire village slept, a dark figure silently snuck through the town. The figure climbed up one of the castle's wall, silently running past the sleeping guards. The figure made it up to a closed window which lead to the princess' room. He pulled out a knife from his bag on his belt and carefully unlocked the window's lock. Once the window was open the figure crept inside. He quietly made his way over to the bed where Angelica slept peacefully. Very carefully the figure reached in his bag and pulled out a cloth. He walked over to the princess' bed, examining her sleeping form for a moment. Finally he slammed his brown-gloved hand down on her mussel to prevent her from screaming.
Angelica's eyes snapped wide open as she struggled underneath the figure's grip, trying to scream for help. She kicked her legs like crazy, trying to hit the figure in the head but every single one of her kicks missed the mysterious intruder.
The figure finally managed to tie the gag over Angelica's mouth, causing her screams for help to be muffled.

The next thing the figure did was flip the princess on her stomach and pin her arms behind her back. Very swiftly he pulled out some rope and tied the female fox's wrists together so she wouldn't be able to move them. Once that was done the figure left a note on the bed before throwing Angelica onto his shoulder.
Angelica kicked around her legs and tried getting her gag off by shaking her head; she needed to alert the guards that she was being kidnapped. Though no matter how much she tried she wasn't able to stop the figure from jumping out the window with her and landing safely on the castle wall.
The figure ran at full speed, he knew despite the fact that he had gagged the female fox, the guard's would still probably hear her sounds of her struggling. He ran past the sleeping guards once more, noticing some of them snorting and their ears twitching when they had heard the sounds of the struggle. The figure jumped off of the wall, landing next to a black horse that was waiting for him. Angelica was thrown on the front of the saddle before the figure climbed on after her.
The figure sat behind the female fox and made it where his arms were wrapped around her as he grabbed the reins to keep her from jumping off. As the figure rode off on his horse, Angelica continued trying to scream for help as she watched the village grow smaller and smaller in the distance.

The next day sounds of panic filled the castle, one of the knight's quickly ran to the throne room with the note the figure had left behind clenched in his hand.
In the throne room the king was pacing the room back and forth, growing more worried for his missing daughter. His ears twitched to the sound of the knight slamming the door open.
The knight ran up to the king and with a shaky hand he gave him the note.
The male fox took the note from his knight and as he began reading his eyes widened in shock. With a stern expression he turned toward the knight. He was enraged at what he had just read and wanted to take immediate action.

"Bring me Sir Galleth now!" he commanded.

The knight nodded in understanding before running out of the throne room. The king look down at the note in his hand once more before clenching his fists in anger.

Galleth was confused why he was being summoned so early in the morning, though he figured it had to be important based on how panicked the knight sent to fetch him looked. Upon entering the throne room the male raccoon noticed the look of grief on the king's face, which was when he knew something terrible must had happened. He slowly took off his helmet and approached the male fox.
The king lifted his head when he saw the male raccoon now in the room.

"Ah, Sir Galleth I am glad thou has come for I have terrible news." the king said.

Galleth looked around the throne room and that was when he noticed that Princess Angelica was nowhere to be seen.

"Beg your pardon my king, but where is thy daughter?" the male raccoon.

The king's face saddened upon hearing his daughter be mentioned. He took in a deep sigh, remembering why he had summoned Galleth in the first place.

"That is why you are here, Sir Galleth. My daughter Angelica has been taken by Eric Le Paradox." the king said.

Galleth nearly stopped breathing when he heard this, he couldn't believe Eric Le Paradox who was the worst archer in the village managed to actual kidnap the princess and not get caught.

"He left behind this note with his demands." the male fox said as he handed Galleth the note.

The male raccoon took the note and began reading it, seeing how it told that Eric was indeed the one that kidnapped Angelica. On the note Eric had demanded for only one knight to be sent after him and that knight was none other than Galleth himself. The deal was for Galleth to track down the male skunk and duel him, if he won he can take back the princess, if he lost the king would have to pay a huge ransom in order to get his daughter back.

"So that's what kind of game he wants to play." Galleth muttered as he crumbled up the letter.

"Please Sir Galleth, I beg of thee to bring back my daughter safely. I would ignoreth these demands, but I'm afraid of what that scoundrel of a skunk will do to my daughter if I do so." the king begged.

Galleth nodded and he placed back on his helmet.

"Do not worry my king. I sweareth upon my life I shall bring thy daughter back safely! I shall not let Eric Le Paradox even lay on finger on her!" Galleth said before leaving the throne room.

The king let out a deep sigh and turned toward the glass stained window, fear of what was happening to his daughter filled his heart more and more by the second. He just couldn't understand why Eric had kidnapped Angelica when all the male skunk was concerned about was becoming a great archer. His brown eyes glanced down to see Galleth walking across the drawbridge. He hoped his most faithful knight would stay true to his word.

"May fate be with you Sir Galleth Cooper." he said quietly.