Tanto

Scroll: "A dragon you once thought your ally lair plans your early demise."


Tanto flew at top speed, trying to get far, far away from the lair he had just robbed. His satchel thumped heavily against his side, the jagged edges of the items inside digging into his scales. He landed amongst the gnarled... trees? They seemed like trees, although they had been horribly warped from their original states. Tanto smirked slightly. He hadn't thought that any living thing would be foolish enough to try to live this close to the bubbling pools of disease, but he had been wrong.

Fortunately wrong, he decided, dumping the contents of his satchel onto the grass(?) around him. Jewelry, silk, herbs, and a truly ridiculous amount of flowers covered a wide swath of ground. Wait. Where was- He shoved his talon into the satchel and immediately relaxed, feeling the smooth outside of his pearl. Alongside the pearl were two other rounded objects, which he pulled out to examine. Nearly identical, they seemed to be eggs. Tanto tapped the side of one of the eggs, examining its pale purple color. This would sell for rather a lot.

A rustling sound emitted from the bushes behind him. Tanto whirled around, shoving the stolen items back into the satchel in one fluid motion. A tiny gray creature tumbled out of the bushes, faceplanting into the grass(?) too quickly for Tanto to see what it was until it sat up, revealing itself as a fae dragon. "Who are you?" the fae asked, its frills flaring. Tanto's claws went to his satchel. "Am I not allowed to wander about near my clan's territory?" A lie. There was no chance that he would be part of a clan that lived in this cesspool. The fae seemed to relax slightly. "Sorry, I didn't know you were from here. The eyes threw me." He gestured to Tanto's pale blue eyes. "Oh, are there no ice dragons in your clan?" "Well. One. But you know, Veilspun creepiness and all." "That's true." The fae started monotoning with more animation, gesturing with his claws and frills. "I mean, I'm not saying that no one else in my clan is creepy. There's this one Mirror, Dusk, who wears bones as jewelry. And Sicarius is an assassin, which is kind of terrifying, honestly. He's not supposed to kill anyone in our clan, but it's a bit hard to trust him. Also-"

The gossipy fae was cut off by a loud crash. A black and blue spiral burst through the rotting foliage, her head snapping back and forth. "Hematite! There you are! What are you-"

Snowflakes. This was the dragon who had been guarding the hoard that Tanto had just robbed. He had hoped that she would remain unconscious for longer. Tanto slowly began edging toward the cover of the twisted trees, hoping that the spiral wouldn't notice him. Unfortunately, she glanced up, bright red eyes catching on his scales. She froze for just a moment, then lunged, her claws outstretched. Tanto tried to dart away, but the spiral's tail looped around his forelegs, knocking him to the ground. "Hematite, did you tell him anything?" The fae went perfectly still. "I... may have told him that Sicarius is an assassin. Is that a problem?" The spiral swore under her breath and, with a sudden movement, slammed Tanto's head against a tree trunk. He crumpled to the ground.



When Tanto woke up, a dark purple mirror was watching him from the other side of a wall of metal bars, clicking her claws against her necklaces. "Good, Gravity didn't kill you." Tanto glowered at the mirror. "Where am I?" "Oh, you're in our prison for, you know, robbing us." The mirror awkwardly pointed finger guns at him before asking, "And taking a freaking ton of flowers. WHICH ARE COMPLETELY USELESS. NOT USEFUL AT ALL." "There were approximately eight million of them, so I assumed they were useful for something."

Judging from the way the mirror rolled her eyes, the flowers were not useful for anything.

Tanto gave her an innocent expression. "Is there any way you might let me out? Perhaps I have some information on a rival clan of yours." "Yeah, no, we don't have any rivals. We keep to ourselves unless, for example, someone STEALS THINGS FROM OUR HOARD. INCLUDING THE NOCTURNE EGGS." Those must be the pale purple objects. "So basically, you're staying here until I let you out, which will probably not be for a while, so goodbye." The mirror smiled before leaving and slamming the door to the prison.

If they keep to themselves, then no one would know if something horrible were to happen to them.