Last night had been somewhat easy for Teo; unfortunately, he had never been caught. Unfortunate because on the one hand, Teo wanted to make something of himself other than merely a robber and lode star wanderer. He had lost his tribe many years ago. And for another reason, it was lonely at night, eating stolen fruits and vegetables. His old tribe were "wolf riders", and occasionally, he would see a beautiful black wolf. But the black wolf came to him in dreams, and usually accusatory as if stealing was extremely bad karma. He didn't like it.<br/><br/>So, three nights in a row he had been successful in stealing food. Every night, he brought a satchel that was bigger than the one before, to carry more "inventory" for the local merchants.<br/><br/>This evening was different; Teo smelled the air. It was unusually fresh; the silence was quieter than normal. He closed his eyes and remembered being wrapped in his mother's arms as an elfing. All was at peace, as eerily as it appeared to be last night.<a class="postlink" href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4f/81/3a/4f813a08d8d853e2aa4c595be32e4cbf.jpg">https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4f/81/3a/4f813a08d8d853e2aa4c595be32e4cbf.jpg</a><br/><br/>He had noticed in his morning walk that people were collecting this food; tonight might be difficult. There could be a lot gone; the tree of many fruits, which was all he knew how to call it, was easy pickings and he could exit very safely. But he knew to turn around the money, he would need to get the vegetables. He began to get cocky, looking around, and hearing no one, he strutted to the vegetable patch. He knew the way now, he didn't need a torch or candle light.<br/><br/>He placed again squash, tomatoes, carrots, perhaps some lettuce in his bag. He thought to himself; this is too easy. Maybe just a couple more nights and he would have enough that he could stop thieving. Who was he kidding; he was a thief and was always going to be a thief. He knew no other way.<br/><br/>"What?" he said outloud, looking around and not thinking anyone was there. His exasperated shout was due to a very peculiar and uneasy problem ... he could not exit the garden. He walked to where he knew there was an exit, but some sort of wall ... an invisible transparent wall maybe ... something stopped him. Using a flint and steel, he hurriedly started a fire on a broken piece of branch. Of course, that would not last long ... but it lasted long enough that he realized ... he was a mouse caught in a trap. Some sort of occult magic ... his mommy warned him of the dangers of occult magic. Anyone who knew how to perform it were devil worshipers ... they would eat your soul ... well, that is what the wolfriders convinced themselves of anyways.<br/><br/>He touched his ears again, wondering what might happen next. He was trapped here, no where to go. Whoever was responsible for this must have caught on to what he was doing. With the satchel in his head, he circled around himself like a wounded animal ... how would he get out of this? He stopped for a moment ... the wheels in his head turning ... turning.<br/><br/>He figured it out. He moved to the entrance/exit of the vegetable fields, but deliberately dropped the satchel, allowing vegetables and fruits to spill out onto the ground. Next, he looked for some of the higher corn stalks to hide behind. He didn't know when or if someone would come to look for the scene. But when he did, he would make up a story that he had followed the thief through to this section of the complex; that he was trying to chase him away and that whatever weird force field had stopped him, the thief somehow had gotten through, leaving the bag of goods behind. Ever since then, Teo would reason, he had been hiding in the corn stalks, not knowing how to get out. Since most criminals were humans, as long as he sold his story well ... this would just be a misunderstanding. He was sure of it ...