Introduction

         "Fresh fruits, here!" A voice sang out in the midst of many others.
         Voices yelling similar things clashed with people making deals and trades with others. The Bazaar District of Khat Morabia was always flooded with people from the West, North, South, East, and even the city itself. This was a famous district in a large city in the desert of Khat, and this particular district was famous internationally for trading and selling rare and common items. It was quite hectic for Morabians to do simple grocery shopping, for food and the famous trading items were placed in the same district to be sold. However, Morabians managed because they loved the beautiful city dearly. Not many people around the world, did, though, because of Khat Morabia's location. It was just too difficult and frightening to live on the edge of a large, dangerous desert. It was a place to love or loathe.
          All sorts of trader's stands paved the walls surrouding the Bazaar. They were on the left and right walls, anyway, for the Bazaar was nothing more than a long, wide rode in the center of the city. At the ends of this "road" were large entrances to the City District, which had various houses and businesses such as a school, palace, jail, and plenty more, and on the other end, an entrance to the Residence District, which was a collection of houses and apartments for the citizens of Khat Morabia to live in. The City District and Residence District completely surrounded the Bazaar District, so that you could get to any district from any other district. It was much more convenient that way.
         Among the people pushing each other in the Bazaar's crowd, there was a teenaged boy wearing a torn-up, brown cloak, hiding his face. He seemed to be keeping his eyes on guards that stood on balconies jetting out of the Bazaar's surrounding walls. Eventually, however, the boy saw his target just up ahead through the crowd. It was a small stand on the left wall, the fruit stand selling only the ripest and juiciest of fruits. The boy pulled an empty sack from somewhere in his cloak and opened it with one hand. He ran up to the stand and knocked some fruits in, immediately running away as he clung to the now full sack.
         "Guards! That little maggot stole my fruits!" The standkeeper yelled, pointing in the boy's direction.
         A couple of guards on a nearby balcony drew their attention to the boy, hopping off the balcony to run after him. They drew their sabres. However, the boy didn't take long to escape into the City District. He looked left and right, breathing heavily, trying to find somewhere to escape to. He ran past a line of buildings, hoping to find an empty one, when someone reached out and pulled him into an alley between a couple of buildings.
         The boy knew the guards didn't see him be yanked into the alley, because the second he was, he heard the guards run into the district.
         "Where'd the little thief run off to?" One said, angrily.
         In the alley, the boy's cloak fell off to reveal his face. He had messy black hair and abnormally red eyes. The man that pulled him into the alley was a tall man with long, brown hair that was pulled back. The man stared down at the red-eyed boy as he clung to his bag of fruits, catching his breath.
          "No apology necessary, I save people all the time." The tall man joked sarcastically.
         The boy still said nothing, sitting quietly.
          "What's your name, kid?"
          "What do you care, why do you want to know?" The boy said, seeming a bit upset by the question.
          "Alright, well I'm going to call you Kiza. I can tell you have no parents or home, right?" The man's eyes seemed to flash. "Well, generous as I am I'll take you in, on one condition." The man grinned. "You have potential. I can see it already." There was that eye-flash again. "If I take you in, you have to let me train your robbing and stealthy skills."
          "Who said I want to be taken in?" The boy grumbled stubbornly.
          "Just think about it for a second. I know you'll make the right decision." And, of course, his eyes flashed again.
          The boy stared up at the man. He actually participated in the man's orders this time. He really didn't want to stay with a bandit, but what better to society was he? A vagrant child, robbing to stay alive. What if he didn't stay with him? More hiding on the street, risky as it is? It would also be good to have somewhere to stay until Morabian authority calmed down. The boy sighed.
          "I accept."
          "Wonderful. I am Rishuda, the infamous bandit of Khat Morabia."
          "So... wait, you mean you've stolen from other places in Khat Morabia and never got caught?"
          "Yeah. It's simple, mostly. Just be stealthy and steal what you need."
         The man waved his hand at Kiza to hush him. They heard the guards talking to the standskeeper just outside the City District's entrance.
          "So what'd he take, an apple?" A guard laughed.
          "I'll have you know I get these right from unrecorded oasises in the Desert of Khat!" The standskeeper complained.
          "Alright, alright, we'll keep an eye out for the kid, but he's not on the top of our list right now... we're watching for a bandit who hits similar spots. He only steals food and water, but a bandit nonetheless." Another guard told the man.
          The guards and standskeeper walked back into the Bazaar District, returning to their posts.
          Rishuda helped Kiza up. They walked past building after building of small businesses, until they came to an abandoned building.
         "This is where we'll be living for a while, Kiza... I hope you find it homely. It's too risky to live in the Residence District." Rishuda said, lifting a board covering the door, and they both walked in.
          Soon, Kiza's training would begin. It would last ten long years, robbing, training, snatching, thieving, and living with Rishuda the Bandit. In secret, Kiza kept a private stash of stealings until he could afford an apartment. He then left Rishuda's company as a lone bandit in peace, stealing without getting caught whenever necessary. One day, though, a wealthy and famous icon of the West came to visit Khat Morabia's Emperor to discuss an... unknown subject. Seeing his chance, Kiza hopes to steal enough to not have to for some time from this man, but little does he know how much trouble he will really fall into, and a great secret society was not meant to know.


KIZA THE BANDIT