(originally published June 19, 2015)
Fan fiction
can be a touchy topic. Some authors fiercely protect the worlds and characters
they create, while others endorse fan works inspired by them. Hugh Howey
happily promotes some fan fiction based on the Wool series. Several years ago, a person
who loved my first novel contacted me about writing fan fiction about it. Why
not? After all, Vlad Dracula and his family were not of my making. Sure, I took
some artistic license in how I portrayed them, but anyone has free reign to
write about historical figures.
While some
of my earliest unpublished works are strongly influenced by other books or
video games, I can’t say I’ve really indulged in fanfic—until now. I feel odd
delving into a copyrighted world, even if the creators of the world don’t mind.
Knowing 50 Shades of Grey began as
fanfic based on the Twilight series
doesn’t make me feel any better.
There are
many sources of inspiration. People who know me well may guess if I were to
dive into fanfic, it may be the Elder Scrolls games or George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire. However, there is
only one story that captures me like no other: Thief.
In 1998, I
pulled the box off the shelf at a store, enchanted by the graphics and
description. I wasn’t prepared for how much I’d come to love this world. Every
game in the series has been amazing. I’d actually have it share the number one
spot in gaming experiences alongside the beloved Elder Scrolls series. The
Elder Scrolls has inspired me with its worldbuilding as well, but it was Thief
that inspired me to put pen to paper.
In short,
the world of Thief had (until the recent 4th installment) two factions of
faith. The solemn and technology-driven Hammerites, and the pagans who worshipped nature. Both religions were replaced in the latest 2014 release. I
miss the old gods, but look forward to seeing where this new lore may be taking
us. It’s always been gloomy world—the City is ancient—one layer built on top of
another, with eras of secrets and artifacts. Garrett, a pickpocketing youth, was
taken in by a secret organization called the Keepers. Though he leaves them in
favor of becoming a master thief, he’s continuously manipulated by the Keepers
through the end of the third game.
The revamped
version of the story is gorgeously gritty and dark. Yes, the longtime voice
actor who played Garrett is gone, and the change upset me for a bit, but after
20 minutes of gameplay I was so deep in the storyline I didn’t care. And I want
more.
While there
have been consistent elements of the story throughout, there is plenty of
mystery. The kind of mystery that tantalizes a writer.
In Thief 4,
there are several sets of collectible items Garrett saves for his home in a
broken clock tower. The paintings are cool, but it was the little snippets that
threaded together the collection known as “The Pinned Castinets” that lured me
in enough to write fan fiction.
With each
pin discovered, a piece of the story is revealed:
- It was written that the Castinet daughters were married to lords of the highest standing, all to enrich the family reputation.
- Perhaps some of Castinet’s daughters found love. Others knew only the shame of a cold bed and an empty facade.
- But his youngest was lucky enough to find freedom from her family’s expectations.
- “I will show them all!” she wrote in her diary. “I will show them what true freedom looks like!”
- They said her broken body was found at the foot of The City’s walls, and all Dayport wept.
- And every summer for years afterwards, pale butterflies would flock to the site, then scatter.
Granted,
it’s always the haunting and slightly morbid stories that light my imagination
on fire and summon the Muses. You should see my list of novels in progress.
After
recently finishing the game for a second time, I was unable to let this story
go. I initially refused to write about it. It’s not my world, after all! But
then I checked in to one of my favorite flash fiction sites, Describli, and one
of the images used for a writing prompt caught my eye. It may as well have come
right out of the City where Garrett dwelled. And the prompt involved a visit to
a witch. Suddenly, I knew what happened to the youngest daughter of the
Castinet family, and I wrote the following story:
The Butterfly Girl
The girl was crumpled by the hearth in an endless fit of weeping. Her red gown and velvet cloak caused a stir when she rushed down the City's wharf to get to the witch’s house. She didn't care. Consumed in her own anguish, she only sought a cure to her problem.“I won’t marry him!” Sofia said for the twelfth time. “They can’t make me. I'll run away. All I’ve ever wanted was my freedom!”
“You’re a long way from home, sweetness,” Agatha said, petting the girl’s head like she was a pet. She admired the comb in the girl’s coal-black hair. Shaped like a butterfly, jewels of pink, lavender, and pale blue sparkled in the fire’s light.
The girl looked up at her, confused. “But I’m from Dayport.”
Agatha smiled. “Indeed you are. So knows every thief, pimp, and lowlife in the South Quarter. A little discretion would do you a lot of good.”
“I have to leave the City.” Tears streamed down her face.
“And where do you plan to go?”
“Anywhere…a place where I can be free to live the life I want. To be an explorer, maybe. Do you think one of the sea captains will hire me? I can read, draw well, and can keep things orderly.”
Agatha suppressed a laugh. “My dear girl, women are not allowed on ships for a reason. Imagine one woman on a ship full of men, out to sea for months at a time. You haven’t thought this through.”
“What can you do to help me?” The last words were choked in a sob.
“How much coin do you have?”
Sofia held up her purse. Agatha weighed it in her hand. It was too light to do anything meaningful. The petted the girl’s hair again. “This hair pin will do.
”
The girl unpinned it and handed it to the witch without a thought. Agatha expected more of a fight. Some are too easy, she thought.
Agatha stood and went to the window. The hearth’s bright flame played on the dusty windows. In the grimy South Quarter, it was a futile effort to keep the glass clean. The City seemed endless. Superstitious folk who never left their own neighborhoods believed it was endless—and that nothing lay beyond it—no pastures or farms, no meadows or vast forests. That the zealous builders devoured all of nature in their plan to obliterate the pagan faith. In the darkest of nights, when the rain was driving and the hearth’s flame threatened to be blown out from the winds that spiraled down the chimney, Agatha wondered too. Maybe it does go on forever.
“There aren’t many of us left,” the witch said. “All but driven to the ends of the earth. A few communities remain. I know an honest captain who can take you to the sunny coast of Illyria. I’ll write you up a letter, and you can be an apprentice of the witches until you can maintain a shrine of your own.”
A smile broke through Sofia’s tears. “That sounds wonderful. When can I leave?”
“Whenever you wish.”
“Now, if you please. I need naught but the clothes on my back.”
“You can sleep in the attic until I make the arrangements. Shouldn’t be but a day or two.”
As a humble host in the poorest region in the City, Agatha fed her guest well. She shielded her from prying neighbors, who came to this relatively peaceful section of the wharf wanting to know about the pretty girl in the red dress.
The South Quarter factories churned in the distance, filling the sky with smoke and soot. Tradesmen and merchants filed in a never-ending procession down the Baron’s Road, on their way to buy and sell goods, and drink their fill in the mangiest of taverns. The girl watched the City in fascination from the attic window. This was nothing like the luxury of Dayport.
Soon enough, Sofia embarked on a ship and cried tears of joy at the prospect of freedom. She vowed to become the best witch in the land. Agatha waved and walked back to her house on the dock.
A torrential storm hit that night. As if summoned by magic, it rose up and smashed the ships heading out. The storm continued for days.
“The gods are angry again,” Agatha said. “There’s no pleasing them.”
When the news came, the witch endured her creaking knees and sore back to go down to the shore where the shipwrecks lay. The girl’s broken body lay by the city wall. The unusual sight of people from Dayport astonished the residents of South Quarter. Her red dress was sodden like blood and oil.
Pity flickered in the witch’s heart. She stayed until the bodies were cleared, and walked to the spot where the girl’s body had lain. She pulled the butterfly hair pin from her pocket and cupped it in her hand. She whispered a brief spell, and a spirit in the shape of a butterfly emerged from the jeweled piece.
A glittering display of pink, lavender, and pale blue, the butterfly spirit hovered in a circle. With each turn around the spot, another butterfly came to be, until there was a cloud of them.
“We all have to make sacrifices,” the witch said. “But you finally have your precious freedom.”
And from then on, on each anniversary of the girl’s death, a flurry of ghostly butterflies appeared and lit up that dark corner of the wharf for the night.
