The Trickster's Christmas

This is a story that took place a long time ago, long before Peggy Lau first set foot in a certain vampire's coffee shop.

Winter had come once more to the town of Featherkeep, part of the Ariela Kingdom. And with winter, a holiday that many called Christmas fast approached. Every rooftop and much of the roads were already covered in thick white blankets of snow, but more continued to drift down from the black sky.

Although night had long since fallen, a lone, little girl in a tattered dress wandered the streets while trying to sell the flowers she carried in a big, old basket. Her stained blue cloak was poor protection against the cold. But despite being chilled to the bone, she soldiered on, holding up a flower with a quivering hand while asking if anyone would buy it with a forced smile.

There were not a lot of people in the area she did business. Most have probably gathered at the town square. For what, the girl wasn't sure. Featherkeep had always been a town of festivals, but it was still not yet time for the next one. Christmas was soon, but still a couple of days away.

Unable to contain her curiosity for much longer, the little girl called out, "Excuse me, Miss?"

The lady with long, long ears stopped. She was an elf and probably as old as the little girl's mother would be.

"Yes?" the elf lady asked. Her eyes rolled to the girl's basket and darkened. "If you need some money, then, I - !"

The little girl cut the elf off and said, "Oh, no. That's not it. I just wanted to ask if you knew what all the people are doing at the town square."

The elf looked at the girl in surprise. "You don't know?"

"The guards shooed me away before I could find out," the little girl explained.

The elf sighed. "I see. Well, actually . . ."

**********

"Hello and good evening, everyone! We're live in front of the Royal Castle here at the Royal Capital City where a huge crowd of people have gathered."

Up on a building's rooftop, while holding a microphone, a pig folk (part-pig) lady spoke to her own reflection in a large mirror held by a young, human man. Her image appeared in other mirrors all over the city, floating over the streets, held in people's hands, and mounted on the walls of people's homes.

Magical mirrors are pretty much the TV and smartphones of the magical world of Emeron, and the pig lady was a news reporter.

"Look at all those people," she said, stepping aside to give her audience a view of the crowd below. "Now some folks at home might be wondering why there's so much people out on a winter night like this, even though the festivals don't start until another couple of days. But if you've seen the morning news like all these other folks have, then you'll know that earlier today, several greeting cards were discovered by royal knights on patrol. And these aren't normal greeting cards, folks. These are greeting cards signed by none other than the infamous Trickster of Ariela!

"As you know, the Trickster is a notorious criminal who enjoyed breaking into the homes of the kingdom's rich and powerful, snatching away their greatest treasures only to return them the next day, with his real prize being the embarrassment of his victims and their guards. Because of who he targeted, high class nobles, the richest of merchants, and even relatives of the Royal Family, there are many in the kingdom who view the Trickster as a sort of hero. No surprise given the troubles the kingdom had gone through in recent years, i.e. the Shadow Civil War, where powerful people and groups try to sabotage each other with crimes. Because of these crimes, lots of unrelated, innocent people got hurt and suffered in the crossfire. But let's put that aside for now.

"The Trickster's tricks, as lots of people call them, used to be a regular thing. But then, he suddenly stopped. It's been over a year since his last one, and many thought that he might have died. That was, until today."

She held up a small, white card next to her head.

"I have here one of several greeting cards left lying around the Royal Plaza. It reads: 'Salutations. I, the handsomest thief in all the land, the Trickster of Ariela, will show up here tonight at midnight.' That is all. And don't worry folks. This reporter here always checks the facts and with expert help, we made sure that this card is the real deal.

"But that's not all. Reports are coming in that several cities and towns have also gotten greeting cards from the Trickster, saying that he will make an appearance tonight. What could this mean? Is he saying he's going to show up at every town in Ariela at the same time? How? This reporter cannot wait to find out."

In the office of the king, one knight sniffed indignantly. "Hmph! What nonsense! It's obviously just a distraction to split our forces apart. But I will not be fooled. He will definitely show up here and nowhere else. And when he does, I will capture him. My plan is foolproof! This, I swear, Your Majesty!"

As far as knights go, he was a bit on the scrawnier side, dressed in an expensive, but ill-fitting suit and cape.

The green-skinned man with bat-wing shaped ears called "Your Majesty", paid the knight no attention and simply stared at the simple greeting card over and over again while wearing a deep frown. He was a goblin and the King of Ariela.

Noticing this, a large man known as the Royal Captain and the king's bodyguard, bent down and whispered, "Is something the matter, Your Majesty?"

"It's nothing," the King said. "I was just wondering what the Trickster wanted. What is his goal?"

"Isn't it to cause trouble like he always does?" his bodyguard asked.

The King, however, shook his head. "I don't know. Tonight is different from all his other escapades. For one thing, every one of his last greeting cards clearly say what he plans to take. But this time, he's only said he was going to show up."

"Could it be a fake, then?"

Again, the King shook his head. "You heard the news reporter. The cards have been checked. They're definitely from him. We can take that loud knight's word for it. Out of everyone in the kingdom, he's battled the Trickster the most, second only the the Hero of Light."

At the mention of a certain hero, the King's face suddenly twisted in pain. But he quickly recovered and went, "Ahem! Anyway, we'll find out soon enough what this is all about."

The loud knight glared daggers at the grandfather clock sitting at the side of the room which tracked the time until the Trickster's planned appearance.

Blast it, boy, he seethed to himself. You don't show over a year, and now you say you're going to be in hundreds of places at once? Just what are you up to?

There was just ten seconds left until the promised time. Nine . . . Eight . . . Five . . . Four . . . Three . . . Two . . . One.

BOOM!

All heads turned to the source of a loud explosion. One rooftop had huge clouds of blue smoke drifting upward. And out from that smoke, a lone figure in a black cape and top hat stepped out and walked all the way to the edge.

The figure was a tall, slender man in a tuxedo. He gave a small salute and the crowd below went wild.

Unable to contain her excitement, the news reporter shrieked into her microphone, "It's him! It's really him! Folks, as you can see, the Trickster is on the roof of the department store where he detonated a smoke bomb! And it looks like he's holding something up in his hands. Is that . . . a necklace? No, wait! That's not just any necklace, folks. That looks like the diamond necklace of Duchess Summerfield!"

"WHAT!?" screamed the loud knight, throwing himself onto the large mirror. His nose pressed against the glass as he got a good, long look at the treasure the caped figure held high over his head. "HOW? That thing should be locked up in the royal treasure vault!"

"I don't know, sir!" said one of the loud knight's underlings. "None of the guards reported anything amiss. Shall I have them go check for themselves?"

"No! Wait, don't!" barked the loud knight. "This could be a trick just to get us to open the vault! Leave it for now!"

And then he pulled out his own small mirror and shouted, "Squad One will chase after him! Squads Two and up, stay in position! Don't let anyone get past you! And whatever you do, make sure that vault stays shut!"

"YES, SIR!"

After dishing out his orders, the loud knight stuffed his mirror back into his pocket and glared at the bigger mirror showing him his rival's image on the rooftop. Half the Trickster's face was hidden beneath his top hat, but the knight could tell he was grinning.

The Trickster gave a bow to the crowd below and then turned around with a swish of his cape before walking away. The way he behaved so casually made the loud knight's blood boil. And the way the people below cheered for the villain helped matters none.

"EXCUSE ME!" He screamed at the King and then ran out of the office. All his underlings followed after him. And then it was just the King and his bodyguards.

The Royal Captain whispered to the King, "Your Majesty, isn't the diamond necklace of Duchess Summerfield supposed to be . . ."

The King cut the Royal Captain off and said, "I know. The Duchess' granddaughter took back the necklace ages ago before going on her trip to the Nihon Empire. I gave it to her myself."

"Should we tell them?" the Royal Captain asked.

"No," said the King. "Let's just wait and see what happens."

They turned their eyes back on the mirror as the news reporter continued to do her job with gusto.

"This just in, folks!" she said. "It looks like the Trickster's making good on his promise. I'm getting reports of him appearing at Featherkeep, New Bakersfield Town, Bushford City, and so on! He's really at every town and city at the same time. And like here at the Royal Capital, he's already got his hands on some treasure. How did he do it? Knights, guards, mercenaries and bounty hunters are all chasing after him, all of him as I speak. And you will see it all from the magic mirrors behind me through the magic mirrors we've deployed with the help of our little friends here."

The news reporter gestured to a flock of owls and bats, all clutching hand mirrors in their talons. They spread out over the city, following the knights as they pursued the Trickster down narrow alleys. Leading the knights was the loud one.

"Wow, he's fast," the King said, speaking of the loud knight.

"He always was pretty good at marathon racing," said the Royal Captain. "I guess all those times chasing the Trickster really paid off."

Down roads and dark alleys, the loud knight and his men ran, chasing after the coattails of the Trickster.

"STOP RIGHT THERE! STOP RIGHT THERE, I SAY!" the loud knight screamed.

Of course, the Trickster didn't stop. But neither did the knights. They kept running and running, and running, turning left, right, left, left, right, left, right, etcetera and etcetera. Over their heads were owls and bats holding mirrors that served as eyes for the news reporter's audience.

The knights were a stubborn bunch, but they had limits just like everyone else and soon grew too tired to keep running.

The loud knight stopped, leaned against a brick wall while wheezing. He wiped sweat off his brow and swore, thinking that he once more failed to catch his rival. But then, when he looked up, he was stunned to see the Trickster just standing ahead, staring back at him.

Was the Trickster taunting him? The loud knight wondered. Is he trying to say even if he gave the knights a break, they still wouldn't catch him?

"Curse you, Trickster!" the loud knight yelled angrily. "Don't you dare look down on us! AFTER HIM! AFTER HIM!"

Fury ignited in the knights thinking the Trickster was insulting them by waiting for them to catch their breaths and they resumed the chase.

In another town, at another office, a blond, human woman in an elegant dress sat behind a table while watching the Trickster run down a dirty alley while holding a red jewel in his right hand. Unlike the Trickster at the Royal Capital, no one was chasing this one except for the reporter's mirror-bearing rats.

"Hmph!" the woman sniffed. "Did the Trickster really think I would be fooled by such an obvious fake?"

"But my lady Baroness, he is still a criminal," said the butler, a man part-tabby cat. "Are you sure we should not give chase?"

"I'm sure," said the woman who was also a baroness. "Going along with his immature games is a waste of time and effort. Still, I am curious why he would show himself again like this after so long. I never believed he really died, but I expected him to grow tired of these antics. Especially after the Hero of Light sacrificed herself to end some larger villain's scheme."

Suddenly, the Baroness's maid, a fellow human, spoke up and said, "Perhaps it's because of the Hero of Light that he's doing this."

"Pardon? What do you mean by that?" asked the Baroness.

"Forgive me, My Lady," the maid said, bowing her head. "I spoke out of turn."

Annoyed, the Baroness icily said, "That is not what I asked. Answer my question."

The maid hesitated and then said, "Well, My Lady, don't you see where he's going? It looks like he's headed for the orphanage."

Back at the Royal Capital, the knights continued to chase their Trickster.

"Sir!" one knight shouted to the loud one. "He's headed for the slums!"

The loud knight laughed. "Ha! He thinks we'll stop chasing him just because the place is a little dirty? DON'T UNDERESTIMATE US, CRIMINAL! WE KNIGHTS HAVE BEEN THROUGH FAR WORSE THAN SOME DINGY SLUMS!"

From within the shadows of dark alleys and through broken windows, the filth-covered residents watched as clean soldiers of the king rushed down the street full of nothing but dilapidated houses. The knights ignored the residents, or at least tried to. 

"There!" the loud knight shouted. "He's gone into that house! The fool! He's trapped himself!"

There is now nowhere for the Trickster to run now, he thought with a wicked grin.

He kicked the door open and marched in to the sound of shrill screams.

"I have you now, Trickster!" the knight shouted.

The caped man turned around. But to the loud knight's shock, instead of a young, blue-skinned vampire, the man standing in front of him wasn't even alive. It was a faceless wood doll. And that doll, clothes and all, melted into a puddle of water that sank into the floor and disappeared, leaving behind the "stolen" goods with a card pinned beneath.

The doll also melted to reveal a group of wolf children in dirty, ragged clothes lingering at the back of the room, four in all. One lied on bed, sweating, breathing heavily and coughing. Two huddled with him, while the last, the oldest and a girl, stood her ground in front of the others, with her fangs bared while growling.

The knights stared at the children and the children stared back, clearly frightened.

Outside, they could still clearly hear the news reporter's voice as she relayed events to the public as seen through the magic mirror held by the owls and bats that followed the knights the whole time.

"Folks at home, are you all seeing this? The knights have chased the Trickster into a house in the slums used by a group of small wolf folk children. But it turns out the Trickster the knights were chasing was a fake all along. It was a golem! A magic puppet that can be controlled remotely or programmed to move on its own. 

"The golem melted into water and disappeared, leaving behind both the diamond necklace and a card. What could be on it?"

The loud knight frowned at the mirrors being pointed at him and then went, "Hmph!"

He slowly walked up to necklace and card. Now that he saw it up close, he realized that the necklace was a fake. Thanks to all those times handling treasure swiped by the Trickster, the loud knight got to know A LOT about jewels and such.

Next, and most important, was the card. It had all the telltale signs that it was the Trickster's.

The news reporter could see the card and read it aloud.

"The Shadow Civil War is over, but behold the damage that lingers. The Hero is gone, but what would she do? What will YOU do?

"I'm getting reports that Trickster copies in other towns and cities are also just golem. They've led knights, guards and mercenaries to places like slums, the hideouts of homeless children and orphanages suffering money problems. The golem all melted away and disappeared, leaving behind cards with the same message.

The knight looked over the card at the children who made this rundown house their home. The child on the bed was clearly in bad shape.

"You, wolf girl, where are your parents?"

At the loud knight's question, the little werewolf glared at him.

"Gone forever," she snapped. "It's just me and my brothers now. We got no one else."

"I see," the loud knight said softly. "That's a nasty fever, one of your brothers got there. Has he seen a doctor? Or got any medicine?"

The wolf girl shook her head. "Don't got any money, and we need that for those."

"Not today you don't," said the loud knight. And then he turned to the others. "Get the medics here!"

The other knights were surprised. But they all quickly recovered, smiled and snapped salutes.

"YES, SIR!"

Back at the castle, sitting in his office, the King chuckled as he watched the knights go retrieve a doctor for the wolf child.

"So that's his game," he said, stroking his chin. "Fine. You win this time, Trickster."

And then he stood up. 

"Come, my loyal subjects. We have much work to do left. So that all people in the kingdom live well and happy, let us go!"

The Baroness at her own office also got on her feet. She stared coldly into the mirror and the image it showed of children at the dinner table in a modest orphanage that she had been sending lots of money too, or so she thought.

The children's dinner plates held barely any scraps of food. The plates a single haggard man had not hand out yet were equally scarce of food.

They were all bewildered when a person suddenly burst into their abode and then melted into a puddle of water in front of them, leaving behind what looked like a huge ruby and a white card.

"Prepare a carriage," the Baroness asked. "I will go collect my ruby myself."

Confused, the butler said, "I'm sorry, my lady? But I thought you said that ruby was a fake?"

"Don't be ridiculous," the Baroness said. "That ruby is clearly mine. And it makes sense that I go get it back. The faster the better. But if I go, I'm afraid I will not be back in time for dinner. In that case, I will just have to bring dinner with me as well. I'm feeling rather peckish this evening, so have the cooks make extra. Maybe enough to serve twenty to forty people. If I can't finish it all, I will just give it away."

Finally understanding, the butler bowed and said, "As you wish, my lady."

He turned to go away, but the Baroness stopped him

"Oh, and one more thing," she said. "I need to have a word with someone who got his name on Santa's naughty list. Bring him to me. In chains."

"With pleasure."

Back at the Royal Capital, the news reporter continued to do her job.

"This is amazing, folks! I am seeing live on magic mirrors knights, guards, mercenaries, nobles, the rich and the powerful all taking action to help people in the slums and children on the streets get the medicine they need and food in their bellies. I'm also getting word that the King, himself, is calling for action to help the poor and those without family or home. But it's not just them.

"No longer is this night about the long-awaited return of the Trickster. Tonight, this is all about good people doing good things. And I am loving every moment of it. Good night. Merry Christmas to all. And to all a happy new year! Back to you, Josh."

Back at Featherkeep, the little girl and the elf lady finished watching the news and were now on their way home. The elf had bought all the girl's flowers and was holding the basket. On the way, they talked about the girl's parents who were no longer around and the debts they left behind. Secretly, the elf planned to speak of the girl and her debt to a certain teacher who always wore a suit of armor and was more than enough to take down a group of loan sharks.

The girl's name, by the way, was Daisy.

Meanwhile, the news reporter at the Royal Capital handed the microphone to the mirror handler and the left the rooftop. She went down the stairs all the way to the bottom floor and went outside through the back door.

As she walked down a dark, empty alley, strips of her skin peeled off and transformed into colorful confetti paper. Gone was the pig folk lady. Instead, beneath all that confetti flying away was a slender teenage boy in a black tuxedo and cape. A mask covered the top half of his face, but his blue skin gave away his vampire nature. After dusting the last of the confetti off his sleeves, he put on a top hat.

He stopped to look out at a statue of a preteen girl with a broomstick and pointed hat at an empty plaza. The statue's base stand was decorated with a large green wreath with a red bow. 

The boy tipped his hat to the statue and whispered, "Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you, my hero."

And then, with a flutter of his cape, he turned away and disappeared into the darkness of the alley.