The story behind the Legend
Written by Natasha
This is a story based off the story of "Fable". It takes place throughout the hero's life in a "behind the scenes" sort of way. In this story, you will see through the eyes what it is really like to grow up and live the way he did. You will see the relationships he had with his friends, teachers, and enemies. You now get to see how he grew up.
I am going to put my own little twist into the story, and I will add a couple things of my own. One instance is the name of our hero.
Chapter one
Pupil of the guild of heroes
The boy ran as fast as he could to the trader that was just about to set foot out of Oakvale. He grabbed the corner of his robe and tugged it tightly until the tall man turned around. He had a long mustache that reached to either sides of his cheeks and a tall pointy hat. He smiled and looked down at the little boy who was panting his heart out.
"Please!" he held up four gold pieces to the trader who took it and examined it carefully. "Is that enough to buy some chocolates?"
The trader leaned over with a grin and out of his pocket he took a small red box of chocolates. "I believe it is." Beaming, the boy snatched it out of his hands and ran as quickly as he could to the small pasture just on the edge of the town. He could see his older sister, Theresa, dancing under the trees in her new birthday dress. She saw him running to her from a long way off and ran to meet him as well.
The two children met under the scarecrow and the little boy handed her the red box.
"Happy birthday!" he muttered quietly, hoping she would like it.
"I love it! And I am so glad you remembered!" she reached out and embraced him in a tight hug. "It's so funny!" she laughed. "This is just like the dream I had last night!"
Theresa was always talking about her dreams, he was used to it, so he practically ignored the last statement. They both sat down in the grass together and talked for a bit. It didn't take long until dusk came, and they two children heard the town guard announcing that the shops were closing.
"Come on, little brother!" she stood up and took his hand that was wrapped in an old glove. She laughed and squeezed his hand. "Maybe when your birthday comes, I can get you some clothes that actually fit you!" and the started walking out of the pasture. She was right, his clothes were too small. His pants stopped just below the knees, his suspenders couldn't even reach over his shoulders, and his shirt stopped just above his belly button. He was growing fast. He smiled lovingly back at his sister and his dark black hair just barely covered his eyes.
"Wait…" Theresa suddenly stopped at the exit from the pasture onto the road. "There's something wrong!"
The boy, a little confused scratched his head. There didn't seem anything different about the town, it was just as calm and peaceful as usual. Theresa didn't agree. She quickly grabbed her little brother and threw him underneath a bush that was next to the wooden fence. He almost got out, but there was a sudden shout and a villager came running into the town crying, "Bandits!" He ran right past them and fell to the ground as an arrow pierced his back. Theresa screamed and ran off but her little brother went no where. In total fear, he hid there under the fence and watched as the entire town was filled with bandits. He heard screams all over the town and the air grew hot as buildings went up on fire. His town was destroyed.
Hours later, the boy popped his head out of the bush. He had finally worked up enough courage to come out. After all, he was only eleven years old! The town he once new as home as up in flames.
Mother! Father! His mind went wild as he ran as fast as his feet could carry him over the bride and over to his house. Once he had reached his small house (that was now burning in flames) he saw a man lying at the bottom of the steps. He knelt down beside the man and laid his head on his father's chest. Tears streaked down his cheeks. How could something like this happen so quickly… So suddenly? And just before something could get worse, he heard a cry and as he turned around he saw a bandit come charging at him with a sword. He closed his eyes tightly and wrapped his arms around his father. But to his surprise, he opened them once more to see the bandit fall on the ground, dead. Standing above him was a tall man with white hair and blue markings on his face. He was wearing a mage-looking robe and was holding a large sword.
"Come with me if you want to live." He held out his hand to the little boy who recoiled for a minute. "There's nothing left for you here." The old but strong looking man shook his head. "They were going to kill you too, and they will." His hand remained where it was; in front of the little boy. Without another moment wasted, the boy took his hand and they vanished out of the burning Oakvale with a flash of blue light.
The two of them appeared momentarily just outside a large wooden fortress. With all the horror and excitement of his family dying and traveling so abruptly, the boy leaned forward and coughed up his lunch.
"Well I thought you'd have more of a stomach than that." The man shook his head. "My name is Maze. In case you didn't notice, I just saved your life." He crossed his arms. The boy didn't say anything but stared up at the tall mage. "I have brought you to the hero's guild. It will be your new home, and you will train to become a hero for all of Albion. Maze put his hand on the boy's back and led him through the tall doors of the guild and they walked up some stairs where an old, gray man was standing with his hands folded. He looked like the kind, grandfather, sort of person and his eyes looking welcoming to the boy. He smiled down at the boy.
"This is the guildmaster." Maze introduced him. "He will be your new teacher."
"Hello." The boy choked out a word.
"I don't know what Maze sees in you." He knelt down to speak. "But you'll give it a shot, eh?"
The boy, still unsure of himself, nodded his head. With that, Maze left and the Guildmaster led him up a long flight of stairs that was decorated with a dark red carpet. The whole inside of the building was magnificent and he felt more out of place than ever before. Through a door and around a corner, he was led into a large room with bookshelves completely covering the walls. He has never seen so many books! Next to the wall were two beds tightly made.
"You will be staying in this room with Whisper, one of our brightest young pupils." The Guildmaster smiled and showed him to his bed. The boy climbed on and sat on it. "She's playing in the woods right now, but you'll see her in the morning. You've had a long night, why don't you get some sleep?" he then nodded his head to the boy and walked out of the room.
The little boy sat there silently. He had no idea what to even think. His father, mother, and beloved Sister were all dead, and everything he knew what torn away. All he could do was drop his head in his hands and weep.
The boy was woken the next morning by a shake on the shoulder.
"Hey!" he heard a girl's voice above him. Looking up he saw a tall dark-skinned girl about his age standing next to his bed with her hands on her hips. "You must be the farm boy the guildmaster was talking about."
"I—…"
"I had this room to myself before you came, but oh well." She shrugged. "I guess it'll be nice to have some company. It gets pretty boring." She paused and looked at him up and down. "You're shorter than I expected."
He sat up and rubbed his eyes, a little annoyed with her last comment. "What's your name?" he opened them again and looked at her.
"I'm Whisper. Thunder is my older brother, surely you've heard of him!" she brushed some leaves off of her sleeves onto the floor.
"No…" he shook his head. He had never heard of Thunder, or anyone else there for that matter.
"Well, you better hurry, the guildmaster is waiting in the fighting ring to see if you have any talent in you." She raised her eyebrows at him. "Follow me."
Whisper didn't give him mush room to talk in, so he followed her. He was still in shock, but overcoming things quickly was a part of his character. He followed whisper through the Guild and out a door to the back yard. There was a river running through it with some bridges over it and a large garden covered the entire place. Beauty was an understatement. He followed her over the bridge and over to a small fighting ring where the Guildmaster was waiting.
"A little late…" he warned. "This isn't usually tolerated, but I think you have a good excuse." He smiled at the boy. Whisper rolled her eyes. "Now let's see what you've got." He walked over and opened the gate into the ring. The boy stepped in, a little nervous. Inside was a straw dummy. He chuckled a little bit; this was going to be easy! He beat up bullies and such all the time in Oakvale, so one little straw dummy wasn't going to be a problem. "I want you to hit that dummy as hard as you can."
The Guildmaster watched carefully as the boy hit it several times. His hits were strong, and well directed. He nodded to himself.
"Alright." He stopped him. "You aren't making much of an impact there, are you?" he chuckled and handed him a wooden stick. "Try that."
The boy frowned and took the stick in hand. "Can't I start with a sword? Or some kind of weapon?" Whisper, standing outside of the ring giggled to herself. She was holding a spear.
"The stick will work for now." The Guildmaster pointed at the dummy. "Hit it."
He trained all day and listened closely to every bit of advice the Guildmaster had to give. As the day grew late, he got tired and the Guildmaster sent him off.
"You can go to bed if you wish, or you can play around the guild with Whisper." He patted his back softly. "Good job."
The boy slowly started walking back to the Guild building. He was tired and wanted to sleep. Whisper ran up from behind to join him.
"Hey! Farm boy!" she slapped his back. "You did okay in the ring!" she complimented almost sarcastically.
"That isn't my name." He grumbled.
"Oh don't be sour." She laughed. "You're lucky to be training to be a hero, I'm just surprised that they are actually taking you in to train you."
"Yeah…" he scratched his head. "The guildmaster and Maze seem to know more about me and I do!"
"Perhaps it's true!" she nudged him.
"Hyeah…" he yawned and walked up the stairs to his room Whisper followed. They both sat on their beds across from each other. Whisper pulled a book of the shelf and started looking at it.
"You should read some of these books." She commented after a moment of silence. "They are very interesting!"
The boy looked away, totally ignoring her. There was nothing in the building that brought back anything from home. Suddenly, he heard something clucking and turned his head swiftly to see a chicken walking through the room.
"Look!" He pointed at it and stood up hurriedly.
"What?" she laughed. "It's just a chicken!"
"In the building…" he looked at her as if she were stupid.
"They are all over." She shrugged and looked back at her book.
The boy wouldn't let it slip past him. He was a bit excited, chickens used to be his favorite thing to tease back at home; and old hobby of his was seeing how far he could kick them. A glow lit up on his face and he walked up to the thing and kicked it out the window. Whisper jerked her head up and started at him.
"Did you just do what I think you did?" she stared at him wide-eyed. He shrugged and then ran down the steps the find the chicken again. "Farm boy!" she couldn't help but laugh and run after him to see if he would do it again.
The boy ran around the guild for hours chasing around the chicken and then kicking it as far as he could as soon as he caught up with it. Whisper couldn't contain herself. They entire time, she sat on the bridge laughing her head off like she had never laughed before. The boy, a little excited that he was making her laugh, kicked it more and more, every once in a while putting in a funny little dance before he kicked it into the fighting ring and out. This made Whisper laugh even harder. Apprentices about the guild with their hoods draped over their heads stopped to look or chuckle at the two kids. These were going to grow up and be heroes?
Benjamin, one of the hooded apprentices walked up to Whisper and sat beside her.
"So who's the chicken chaser?" he crossed his legs and leaned back to watch him kick the chicken.
"He's the farm boy that Maze brought in." Whisper answered through her laughs.
"He's quite a character." Benjamin chuckled. "I think he'll bring in a new sort of light to the guild, it's always so gloomy and serious."
"He's a clown." She pointed at him and laughed again harder as he did a little Russian dance before kicking the chicken into a tree. Somehow, the chicken was still alive and well. It wasn't long until at least a dozen apprentices were surrounding the boy and laughing. Soon, the commotion was interrupted.
"What is all this mess?" the guildmaster stepped out and crossed his arms. There were feathers everywhere, and no one was doing what they were supposed to. The boy gulped and looked down guiltily. "Now I don't mind you having a bit of fun, but please leave the chickens alone?" he sighed and walked back to his room. Whisper got up and walked over to him as all the rest of the people dispersed.
"No one's going to forget that!" she nudged him. "You are permanently labeled." She winked.
"Oh well." He shrugged.
The two of them walked over to their room, still laughing. Once they had climbed into their beds, Whisper opened a book to read. She read a bit, but seemed uninterested and put it back on the shelf.
"Hey chicken chaser." She whispered over to him.
"I have a name besides that." He rolled over in his bed and looked at her.
She laid her head on her pillow and yawned. "Heroes go by title names, and yours is now chicken chaser." She winked.
"What's your real name?" he set up on his elbow.
Whisper paused a moment then giggled. "Whisper. You see, my father was a hero, so he named me and my brother hero names."
"Oh." He looked down."
"Well what is your real name?" she set up on her elbow.
"It's…" he interrupted himself with a wide yawn. "Joel."
well, this is my firt "fable story" I started writing it for my sister who ran away to college!! (Well, not really) but she is at college, and she has this huge thing for fable. haha. I have a couple more chapters written in advance, so I will post those shortly. Just let me know what you think!
TD