Fantasy Children of a Moonlit Night

[Ellensouler]

Under the shadow of the moon, two children were born from the same womb.
One was nimble, the other quick and both of them were full of tricks.
They reaped their spoils, in the midst of toil,
washing their paws in dirty soil.

They were simple, they survived, while others less witty lived deprived.
But these two children of the womb, lived other children of the moon.
They stole, they lied, they killed two.
All to live as others do.

These children, these shadows, of the moon.

"Brother wake up, wake up, wake up!" the voice of a modest and happy voice rang in his sibling's ear. He couldn't help but jostle him over and over until he grunted and awoke, swatting at the fox in a flurry of annoyance as he coughed a few times then sat up with heavy eyes, "Do you have to do this every morning..." the other animal scoffed at him with one tooth hanging off of his lips. "It was your idea and you always have good ideas! I got a little excited though..." he smiled at his brother, his brother looking back with a blank expression that turned sour which refected a frown from the fox. "What did you do..." he grabbed his dagger and bag standing up in a hurry.

"I scouted ahead..." he tried to smile again.

"Without me....again? You fucking id-...." he had to stop himself for the love of his brother, "Were you seen?" he glared at him.

"Well I..."

"God damn it were you seen!" he gave him a slap over the face and a few shakes, oddly enough his brother didn't seem to mind being struck as he smiled once more, "A-a little, by a knight! I've never seen one up close...I want to be a knight Ronon," he grinned as he pulled out a sack of gold that was clearly not theirs.

"Knights don't steal..." he took the bag of gold, not proud of him in the slightest. "Why the fuck did you steal from him! Without me! That's when we make mis-" he paused and heard the thundering boom of hooves in the distance. He grabbed his dagger as his paw shook in fear, "You're going to get us killed! This is your fault! Your fault!" he grabbed him by the paw and hide in their small cave they dug out days ago. "But broth-"

"Shhh.." he vanished into the cave with a paw over his excited brother's maw as they watched a knight approach.

 

[PSi]

Behind the knight trailed another row of guardsmen, their purple fleeces tied to the napes of their neck indicated a standing to the Royal Guardsmen, nobles in their own right. This division was pure by species; only a certain breed could even dare to take the opportunity to defend the ruler of the land himself. Those who were incompetent or showed a threat to the king himself had their heads sliced off instantly with no hesitation by their own peers.

One jet black ram with curly horns and a snowy complexion tapped his hooves along the ground, chasing along with the steps of one of the armor-clad soldiers tugging at his cape gently. Only to be pushed back by one of the former, bearing similar traits on his fur.

"Eli, I told you to back off while I was on duty. Are you deaf or something, child?!"

The ram, frowning, tugged at his father's sheathed blade, wanting to take a look at it for a brief moment, to gaze the razor-sharp steel at least once more for the day. "Please father, I won't bother you any longer! I'll run back home if you let me see it again, promise!"

The guardsman sighed heavily with an irritable tone exhaling at the top of his lungs, swiping away the sweat off his silk grey pelt from the hot sun, which was made worse with all the armor. They were left behind as he started to slide away from the weapon off its leather encasing, holding it by the hilt and blade at Eli's eye level. "I'll give this to you someday, and frankly, I'd need to train you as well. One of these days you're gonna take my place. Now go, run off!"

Eli appreciated the craftsmanship of whoever made the steel ornament, nodding his head at his father's words as he ran back, passing near the cave. His long ears perked up, however, hearing a slight whisper pierce through the silence of the woods. This got the ram curious.

 

[Ellensouler]

With watchful and observing eyes one of the brothers kept a keen gaze on the situation from the damp and dark caves where they hid, "Brother, the big one loo-" as soon as the fox opened his muzzle his brother dove over to him and hugged his face with both arms, almost choking him half to death, "Mpph!!"

"Quiet!"

His brother muffed under his arm mumbled something incoherent and was smiling under those arms the entire time, he was just so excited all the time even when danger was staring them in the face. His tail slowly wagged as his brother rolled his eyes. He started to conceive a plan, he needed to act. His brother stole the wealth of the kingdom, from royals, they'd be hunted for months or at least have the local guard aware of the presence of thieves. Or they could keep the gold....and run, but such poor animals would be suspicious with so much wealth.

"Damn it...." his brow lowered until they sprang up, seeing a lone goat that wandered too far from home. "Who is that goat?" he shook his brother a little as the fox poked his muzzle out just enough to whisper, "I'm not sure brother...but he does look like that-"

"Big one....right..." he thought even longer. The children of the moon were not ransom holders....but...

"Follow my lead...we need him to trust us...or at least you..." he whispered something into his ear, the foxes eyes went wide, "But I-" he gasped out in pain with a feral cry, his brother's dagger piercing the thick flesh of his leg. He fell to the ground holding his bleeding leg as he looked in shock at his wound, "H-help!" he grimaced and looked over to the small goat as he cried and his paws shook a bit.

 

[PSi]

The cave was dimly lit, specks of gold traversing the rocks just barely through the entrance that was narrow enough, not even an adult could fit in at all. Eli just met the minimum requirements to pass through, only able to bypass by carefully guiding his horns through tight crevices on the stone carved walls.

As soon as he entered the cave, a scream of desperation, clamoring and hurt rang through an echo across the entire width of the cave. This sound bounced onto the ram's ears. "W-where are you! What's wrong?!" Eli's voice cracked the barriers of silence, bouncing onto the fox's location. The sound of hooves clapping up dirt and dust around were distant, seemingly approaching the stab site.

Just there, Eli came into a vision to whichever of the brothers was slit on the leg. A small yet robust dagger dug deep into the muscle of his thigh with cascading blood all around his orange-tinted fur. "Oh my fuck..."

The ram dashed forward and onto the ground, gently holding the vulpine's leg below the stab wound, extracting some medicinal herbs from the satchel hanging around his neck. "Stay still, the plant should take effect at any moment now. Got any good looks at your attacker?"

 

[Ellensouler]

His voice quivered when he spoke, but the fox managed to speak through his pain, the dagger still stuck deep inside his leg, "O-of course I did hahaha.." he laughed in a surprising mannerism given the dagger in his flesh. The look in his eyes wasn't of a victim, but of someone who seemed fine, it was almost unnerving. "He's my brother and I would do anything for my brother..." he licked his lips and pulled the dagger out of his leg, the pointed end gleaming from the little light that made its way into the cave. He quickly fell to his knee in pain however with a yelp as he held his knee.

Before Eli could react a pair of strong arms grabbed him by the neck, the sharp edge of a chilled blade pressed against his throat as he heard a voice behind him, "Anything except finishing the job..." the other animal barked as his brother frowned.

"Lost are we," the raccoon laughed in his ear and kicked his knee in from the back so he would fall forward, all Eli could see now was a sack of gold and the gentle face of a fox who waved at him in an odd way, as if through the events taking place he was giving him his salutations.

"You see, this is the problem with you kingdom folk...you think we're so stupid. You came to the aid of someone in need but it was just my stupid brother...that's right I stabbed him myself, it needed to be convincing. Did you like our act? I certainly did." he chuckled in his ear again.

"Scream or call for help and I cut you and feast...we haven't eaten for days anyway, understand?" he held Eli tighter to make sure he couldn't move.

"Hi, my names Angelo," the fox smiled and waved again as his brother sighed and shook his head.

"Stop talking!! Now he knows your name!" he yelled.

"But Ronan..."

"Damn it Angelo!"