Snatcher

The dragon walked alone through the Hewn City. She glanced to see mothers pulling their hatchlings back into their dens, and a feeling of tension through the air. She was going to the marketplace.

Most of her clan were bright, cheery dragons who welcomed newcomers. No. She was a Rogue, welcomed by nobody. However, they insisted upon letting her sleep for a day or so.

Unfortunately, the marketplace was only open during the day, so she had to keep a cowl over her face, in case any dragon recognized her. They would surely send her to the gallows.

She walked slowly. She knew this was a disguise, who would believe that a creepy, dark dragon came only to buy items? The dragon took the hood off, revealing a long, deadly scar across her eye. A few dragons by the side of the road came up to her. "Doctor, doctor!" they pleaded.

The dragon smiled at them and continued their way. Her herb pouch gave a clue that she was a medic, coming for herbs and such. Ah, how wrong they were, how wrong.

She continued her way till she reached the market. Dragons yelled to her, "Doctor, some medicine for your patients? 50% off!" The dragon shook her head and continued through the crowd. Everybody was squeezing through, bumping and pushing were not uncommon in such a jumbled place.

She noticed a very rich looking, young male Wildclaw. She stared at him in awe. He had the same range of colors as her - a Night dragon, and he was being treated as a prince? Sure, he has gem genes, the Skydancer thought.

No, it is not the time to stare at males, her mind told her. She noticed that he was standing at an herb stand. Perfect! Slowly, trying not to get trampled by the wild crowd, she started to edge towards the herb stand.

"Ah!" Said the fat Bogsneak there. "You wish for some herbs?" The dragon nods. "Do you...have saffron?" Some of the dragons had taught her about saffron, but she had no idea what it's worth was valued at.

The Wildclaw glanced at her with surprise. Uh oh. The fat Bogsneak stared at her as well. "Madam, might I ask you... where you come from?"

She had screwed up. She could tell the Wildclaw was also listening, pretending to check the dried lavender. "Excuse me, but that is none of your business."

The fat bogsneak raised his eyebrow. "Surely, doctor, are you from...no, nevermind. Well, we do not have Saffron, it would be worth a couple hundred gems."

"Ah, and you do not think I am rich enough to afford it?" As the dragon argued with the Bogsneak, her tail slowly reached for the pendant around the Wilclaw's neck.

The Bogsneak's temper was rising, and he lashed out to smack her. As he did so, she stumbled to the side and smacked the Wildclaw "on accident", snatching the pendant from around his neck.

"Sir! My apologies. I merely wished to get out of the way of this dragon!" The Wildclaw nodded. "Accidents happen, dearest. Madam, may I speak to you in private?"

She nodded, trying not to bite her tongue. He could have found out about the necklace that was now safely stored in her cloak.

"Madam, I wish to have my pendent back, as well as the leather pouch full of gems." Her eyes widened, and she attempted to smack her tail in his face. He grabbed it when it was merely inches away from his cheek.

He grinned. "I am a thief as well, how about you give me Madam Buttercup's pendant back?"

He reached for her bag. Before she could think, she flew up into the air. The Wildclaw followed her, but she made it safely into the Hewn City and into a hollow, nearly crumbled marble pillar. She hid in the wide pillar, her bones aching.

The dragon heard the flapping of wings as it stop near the edge of the city. She slowly slid out of the pillar, and saw the Wildclaw staring at her, hissing at the border.

"It's surprising that a dragon with such an evil soul as yours can make it through Light's territory." He spat, eyes brimming with hatred. Wearing a subtle grin, Snatcher sauntered up to the border to face him.

"This isn't the Lightweaver's domain. This is the Hewn City." she snarled, staring into the eyes of her fellow thief.





Between the her ill-fated encounter in the realms of the light, Snatcher had slipped into and out of other clans. It was in the Starfall Isles that Snatcher next had an encounter which had her flattening her wings to her back in fear.

A stream of dragons went into the clan of Chaitan and Chatura, which was situated on one of the many levels of the strangely tiered Focal Point of the Starfall Islands, and Snatcher slipped among them, assuming she would go unremarked. Indeed, no dragon bothered her.

She had always been fascinated by the magenta eyed followers of the Arcanist. She thought she understood a little the curiosity that drove them. The dragons were all going to the same place, so with the goal of fitting in, Snatcher followed. She longed to dash into a shadow, dig into one of the bulging purses she saw that hung without much care off of any of the clan dragons near, but didn't dare avoid the welcome speech and draw attention to herself.

The dragons arrayed themselves in front of two fierce looking females. After a pause as everyone got settled, a smokey red-winged pearlcatcher, whose fashion tended toward spiky armor and leather bands, yelled out suddenly and loudly.

"WELCOME NEW RECRUITS! I SEE WE HAVE A GOOD BATCH OF ACOLYTES OF THE ARCANIST TODAY! YOU MIGHT ASK ME, XENA, Why can't I just be exalted to join the Arcanist in his study? THE ARCANIST DOESN'T WANT YOU. THAT'S WHY."

Affronted, the group started muttering. Snatcher curled her brow in confusion. She had no intention of being exalted - it hadn't ever been on her list of life goals, and certainly, she had no specific loyalty to the Arcanist of all the Eleven.

"The Arcanist wants dragons who know something - otherwise you can't help him learn things up there in his Observatory and all, and the best way to know something is to experience it. That is why every dragon who wishes to go serve the Arcanist must first test themselves in the Coliseum."

A few dragons looked nervous, and Snatcher was verging on panic.

"Don't worry - Gab and I will protect you from anything too dangerous. But this won't be no bed of roses either!"


Snatcher fainted dead away at the first slash from a Venomous Toridae. Everything after that was a blur. It was during a fight with a terrible Molten Wartoad that Snatcher was able to sneak away from the watchful gaze of the trainers.

She found herself within the clan halls. Many of the clan had dark and purple coloring so she found that she didn't stick out at all. She made haste to leave the clan as fast as possible, but managed to slip some purses and other items as she did so. She figured it was the least she could do after all the trouble they had put her through.


Snatcher wandered across borders, pilfering minor amounts of items while looking for her next big score. She was having a rough time of it- Plague and Earth had both been rocked by an earthquake recently, and instead of meaning that she could scavenge more treasures while everyone was distracted, it seemed that many clans had been buried under instead, sealing them from her grasp. She wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet (she was already almost all of the way across Plague anyway), so she trekked on, hoping that luck would win out.

When she approached an encampment, she thought that her luck really had held sway- a caravan! Mayhaps wealthy merchants or well-off uppercrusts traveling with their funds. ....in truth, it was none of these. Another clan ravaged by the earthquakes, it was a simple stand of temporary shelters as the clan attempted to dig out and recover resources or fallen members. Snatcher stayed nearby a day or two, keeping an eye out for anything of value, but none caught her eye. The clan had next to nothing- just a few remaining members huddling in the mucky Plague soil as they tried to recover.

What did catch her eye was a dragon who strode into their camp on the second day- a bold, ornery, striped female imperial. An imperial she recognized. It was Tornado! While not particularly fond of the brash youngster and her 'vengeance', Snatcher still felt a pang of amusement at running into a clanmate all the way out here. Her obnoxious personality was an amazing cover and baffle for distracting dragons. And her muscle! This young one had grown in her time of travel. This could work. When the youngster settled down for the night at the edge of the camp, she snuck over to her. With a capricious smile, she greeted the old clanmate, and with honeyed words, she convinced her of working together- for a time. With a savage snarl, the imperial agreed- for now.


The two journeyed onwards and found themselves stuck in the middle of the Reedcleft Ascent. In the middle of the day, a large lair seemed to appear in the land out of nowhere. Curious, and wondering what loot could lay inside, Snatcher snuck in, followed reluctantly by her companion. Dragons milled around this way and that, chattering in hushed voices, and Snatcher was able to pick a few trinkets off of a few of them. "Ah. Travelers, I presume?" asked a bartender, pouring the two a few drinks. Neither of the two made much conversation with the Ridgeback, and before long, they were nested in a lair that was made for travelers.

Suddenly, there were murmurings outside of the lair. "One of 'em stole my herbs," murmured an alchemist in a low tone, followed by clamorings of a couple other dragons who'd had their stuff stolen. Snatcher woke up and made a confused face. "I never stole any of your stuff," she murmured, emptying out her satchel of stolen stuff in the dark out onto the Imperial. Luckily, nobody saw her do it.

She walked out of the lair with empty claws, but in no trouble. Not yet. Should the two meet again, there would be hell in store. But she doubted she'd see her again.


Even though originally she had no worries of being followed while leaving the lair she has left previously, she found her paranoia increasing as she walked away.

There was no way! Absolutely no way that anyone could follow her right? But now that she thought about it, the stalk of bamboo to her left could be big enough to hide a young fae, or more than one fae if they were stacked upon each other. The grass of to her left could just be enough to camouflage a small green snapper.

But it was due to her nervous thoughts that she did not-or loathe she to admit it, could not- stop herself from falling into the hollow in front of her that had previously been hidden by long grass. With a swish of her tail and a crack of her wings, she fell.

“Ugh. Where in the name of the Icewarden am I?”

She swore aloud, jumping lightly at the sudden voice left her left

“Now, now. We don't swear by the Icewarden here. We swear by the Windsinger. Oh! And also Seaweed. She's our minor deity, or high priest if you would— … Oh, I'm rambling again aren't I? I… tend to do that.”

Snatcher finally turned her head to find her gaze met with a pale, gem-encrusted green fae.

“No disrespect, but… where exactly am I?”

“You’re the CloudDancer clan. We have another name, but it sounds too formal for everyday use. We only use that when the clans of the Reedcliff Ascent meet up, which hasn't happened in... I don't know how long. Did you know I came from a different wind clan? Cloudchaser— that's our leader— took me in from my old clan. Said something about my attitude being perfect for greeting… oh, uh, something like that. I also have a bad memory. Did I tell you that?”

“Yeah, no… You never did.”

Snatcher could feel a headache coming on as the Fae started speaking again.

“Whoops, I forgot again… So, welcome to our clan! My name is Lennon. The clan of CloudCha—”

Lennon begun what sounded like a pre-memorized speech. Being in no mood the make her headache worsen, even though she knew she was being rude, Snatcher cut her off with a look. She could apologize later.

“Hold on… I want to show you something!”

She said with a smile while performing something— Snatcher would later learn to call Shushin— but for now would only call that a headache-worsening, vomit-inducing, eye-hurting swirl of color.

And for the rest of her somewhat long time in the residence of the CloudDancer clan, her days continued like that with Lennon introducing her to the rest of the clan and its way of life.

Finally, it was the day to leave. Snatcher found that she had come to enjoy the presence of the other fae and was actually a little… sad, to leave.

“Well. This is it I guess... But, don’t think of it as goodbye...”

Lennon flunge herself at Snatcher with a wet sniffle, and proceeded to bawl out her eyes.

“You'll visit again right?”

Snatcher promised… even though she knew that it would not likely happen.

“As you wind dragons say...”

“I'll go where the wind takes me.” DemonHearts
the wind took me to a small clan, Twilight, an interesting name. A fae walked up to me and we started to talk about our journeys, Fog... I have met him before, he was a little baby and he was chasing his pet, and he thought that his pet somehow turned into a dragon. His parents saw, and join us. We talked for hours without more than 3 seconds of silence, it was amazing that I am visiting a friend of mine and his family... Or at least I thought that I was, Fog suddenly asked me to stay, make this my home. The shock from his question hit me, but then i agreed to make this my home.

After I settled down, a handsome fellow came and wanted to see how i was doing. Dark Gray, and light gray, he was much smaller than me, but he was more nervous than Fog and his parents. I wondered if he was alright, since it looked like he was either already crying or was about to cry.

"Hi, are you ok?"

He hid, but I was able to find him due to his muffled crying, I felt bad and knew that right now I wouldn't be much help, so I went to find Fog.

"Fog, I think somethings wrong with another member," I still felt bad, "he's crying and I didn't know how to help, so I came looking for you."
"Oh? Can you bring me to him?"

Fog was one of the types that could help anyone easily. It was like magic; sad because someone passed away, you get hugs, cookies, and a Daisy crown... Got ambushed, he will definitely make the attackers pay for a long, long time.

Anyhow, it turned out that the other fae was heartbroken because his guppy passed away. I decided to leave so the two could talk more, I went to a town near by and couldn't help but see if I can snatch something... And there was a pet store. I entered and the owner was busy with three other dragons who where upset because their pets weren't up to expectations. I looked around and found guppies! I looked around the store, no cameras anywhere, perfect.

I took a few males and a few females and put them in my water bottles, when I was leaving the store owner asked why my hand was wet, I lied and said that I accidentally dropped my water bottle cap in, he believed me and I left.

Once out of view, I flew home and put the guppies into the sad fae's tank, thankfully they were all ok, but I wasn't able to leave the room before being seen.

"What are you doing in my room?"
"Oh, I got you some new guppies, I thought that they would make you happy."
"Really! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

~~who knows how long later~~

Time came, where she was driven to travel again. She promises everyone she'll come back someday, and hopefully soon. She takes off and sees where the wind takes her again.

The wind led to her getting lost, figures, she isn't used to being away from home anymore. Wondering around she trips on a current and nos dives through the roof of what could be a make-shift inn.

"Oh my! Are you ok!"

Snatcher looks up and sees a coatl of reds, blacks, and blues. she stands up and shakes her head to regain focus.

"Yeah... tripped on a current"

"Ah, don't worry about the roof as well... I'm waiting for a friend to help me change it."

"I can h-"

"Oh no you need to rest, after all you just crash!"

The coatl dragged me to a room, and starts to head out.

"Stay here, I'll get your things!"

"I... I don't have anything"

We stare at each other, and she disappeared. I was confused, but I lay down. This room looked better than the main room... even if you ignored my mess. She comes back with a brown cloth.

"Here, it's not alot... but it's something to carry with you"

I put it on and smiled, bandanas in my mind is one of the best things to have on you... fairly universal... mask, rag, aid in water filtration, carry some food in it... all very good.

"Thank you"

Her friend comes, and she goes to replace the roof with them. I lay down and drift off to sleep, I do wish I could help though.

After some time others came and went, including a dancer who was giving a performance. During this is where I see a familiar face, the pirate that inspired my work! I was fairly hesitant when introducing myself, and expressing my admiration of her work. She gave an interest advice, one that she which she was told before learning the hard way.

"Surviving a heist is a much bigger success than getting anything from it."