Arwin of Rutland's Tale

Written by Josh Stinson

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Arwin had rich parents that were a part of the council that governed their village in Rutland. He lived well until the age of 9.

That gloomy day was one that will stick with him for the rest of his life.  His parents had a disagreement with the Head of the Council after they found out he was using the people's taxes for their own well being.

After Arwin's parents confronted the corrupt bureaucrat, they were thrown in jail and were tortured until their last breathes left their bodies.

After Arwin was thrown into an orphanage and used as a slave, he vowed to seek revenge on is parents' killer.  He was taught how to be a thief by the other orphans, in order to survive.  

Once he was 18, he was thrown out to fend for himself.  That very night he went to sneak into the corrupt bureaucrat's house.  He would try his luck at taking him out.

As he crouched through the wide open window, he felt an eerie feeling in his stomach...then he saw him!  Or her!?  Who ever they were, they were trying to steal the man's valuables.  

The unknown figure lunged at him and caught him by surprise with a blade.  It felt like fire as it went into his stomach.  In a flash his eyes blurred with tears as he felt the hot pumping blood that drained from the wound.

Without a second thought he pulled the figure closer, to stop him or her from making another stab wound with the blade.  AS he pulled him closer, he wrapped his leg around the other's legs, and threw him to the ground.

With the mystery figure knocked out on the floor he started to relax and finally realized that the corrupted bureaucrat was standing at the top of the stairs.

After Arwin stopped the mysterious figure in the Council Head's house, he was hailed as a hero after they discovered that the intruder was an assassin sent from another village, after the Head of the Council had cheated them.

Arwin became a folk hero over night, despite the irony that he was secretly planning to do the same thing for which the assassin was sent.  For the next 5 years he fell into a depressed state from not being able to avenge his parents..

One day, he stumbled into his most visited place, the tavern.  As his eyes got used to the tavern's dim light, he saw him.  The corrupt bureaucrat sitting there with his two guards, black-out drunk and trying to put more down his gullet.

Arwin knew that the bureaucrat would have to drain the snake after his last gulp, so he waited by the exit.  When the bureaucrat finally stumbling toward the door, Arwin followed suit.  Arwin used all the skills he learned over the years, and when the man was peeing he snuck around the guards and jabbed his knife into the man's ribs.

Arwin wasn't sure why he didn't just cut the man's throat, but suspected that in the back of his mind he wanted the man's death to be painful.  By stabbing him in the ribs, he was able to hear the man scream before he became unconscious.

The guards were alerted and Arwin had to make a run for it.  After living in his village for his whole life, he was forced to leave, in order to escape the blade that was now "pointed" at his back.

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