FIRST ACT

Chapter 1. The stolen treasure.

In the kingdom of Valle Roble.

Taking advantage of the enormous distraction that King Moal's birthday generated in the town, one of the treasures of Valle Roble was stolen. On the roofs of the houses, three guards were running at full speed trying to catch up with an elusive thief. In the midst of the swaying chase, it was possible to make visual contact with the stolen object, as the neck of the bottle containing the liquid with an enormous market value was showing from the fugitive's hand. The pursuers needed to recover it urgently before it fell into the wrong hands and could cause a significant damage to the kingdom. However, the guards' heavy armor worked against them, as they had to make a greater effort and were gradually running out of air. One of them realized that this would be unsustainable, so he pulled out a knife and threw it hard at the evader's back. They had full authorization to kill the man, the top priority being to return the treasure to the vault where it had been stored. The thief contracted his body to the side and thereby saved himself from a mortal wound, but he soon realized that this first knife was only the foretaste of a rain of sharp daggers headed his way. There was no way to dodge them all, so he dropped his body weight on a roof to collapse it and enter into the house. Once inside, he looked for the nearest window and broke it to get back out. He continued his escape, swinging between pipes and columns.

He was getting farther and farther away from his pursuers, he could feel the success of his mission near. It was no coincidence that this was happening this way, whoever hired him did it thinking of his acrobatic skills and speed. The robber turned a corner where he could finally lose sight of the guards. Then he landed in an alley, where he was able to change his clothes in order to trick them. Subsequently he managed to blend into a crowded street of people excitedly watching the fireworks in the sky for the king's celebrations - a highly novel product, based on the previous creations of the visionary inventor Orsso. It seemed that the robbery was successfully completed.

He walked through the crowd and bragged about his victory, passing by to buy a candy apple from a street stall as a way of celebration. Then he advanced towards the place where the jar was to be delivered, gradually entering narrower streets where the crowds were thinning out. As he rounded a bend, he hit a wall as solid as concrete that sent him to the ground, knocking his celebratory apple to the floor. He had been brought down by the chest of General Haggif, who was waiting for him with his arms folded.

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-The adventure is over, thief. Give me the potion or die this moment.

General Haggif was a man of great size. The silver armor of the kingdom, which usually looked bulky on the rest of the guards, looked tight on his body. It was easy to distinguish him by that corpulence, his abundant eyebrows and a brown mustache that contributed all the hair present on his bald head. His reputation preceded him, everyone in town knew of his great power.

The young fugitive was filled with terror, he never imagined that General Haggif himself would be part of his pursuit. This was beyond his expectations and he could only follow his instincts; running back the same way as he came. He started climbing to the high parts of the houses to escape back over the rooftops, but the problem was that the exit of the kingdom was near, and the buildings there were not very high or robust. When he was able to put his feet on the first roof, he felt how the general detached the base of the building with his arms, getting him off balance and knocking him down.

-I'm going to give you one last chance to save yourself, brat. Give me that flask.

The thief turned his back on him again and tried to run as fast as he could. He leaped over a small dwelling and zigzagged across the rooftops in an effort to elude him. Haggif looked unimpressed by these nimble movements slowed down by the absence of a firm ground to stand on. The wooden slats that covered those poor homes came loose at first contact with the sole of the foot of the person running on them.

-I've seen stunts much more astonishing than that, boy. -commented the general as he continued his trot.

Haggif let the edge of his dagger poke out, preparing it to be used against the thief. When he decided to release it, the weapon flew through the air at an enormous speed. The runner managed to perceive it and contracted his body, but this time he failed to retract it completely to the side. His right arm did not finish the trajectory and the dagger hit the neck of the bottle. The base of the container fell through an opening in the roof and quickly slid into the interior of a small house. The thief and General Haggif only heard in terror the pop of the glass making contact with the floor.