Cache

"Midnight's gone. What took you so long?"

"Had to wait for that dragon's familiar to fall asleep. It's like he has insomnia or something."

Cache is a thief, and he takes pride in being the best there is. Except for his sister, no one knows he exists. This is why no one can ever accuse him of thievery - his victims never know he's even there.

The siblings slither up the island beach in the dull light of a quarter moon and dash into the sheltering darkness the trees offer. Looking around and seeing no dragons, his sister lets out a hissing laugh. "This will be amazing, brother," she whispers. "The clans here won't know who to accuse when we leave."

Cache gives a sinister grin in the silvery shadows as he agrees, "They'll probably accuse each other of taking what we're after!"

Anticipating great fun at other dragons' expenses, the siblings make their way to the very center of the floating island and split up.

Cache blends into the trees as he wends his way through the thick woods to the nameless clan that resides at the western side of the floating island. As he moves, he listens for any sound of dragons ahead of him, but hears nothing. Warm anticipation of an easy job slithers across his skin as he grins silently in the darkness and he grows excited about what items he'll find.

It doesn't take long before the caves and huts of the nameless clan are visible in a small clearing and Cache takes a long moment to cautiously weigh his safest course of action. As he watches, he notices there are no dragons moving through the night before him. No dragons, no familiars, nothing. All he sees are statues gleaming in the moonlight, great stone shapes standing watch in the middle of the clan lands.

The arrogant Bogsneak brother gloats in the shadows, "Such an easy job!" Then he ducks away from an oily voice at his ear saying, "Is it? Is this job as easy as you think, youngling?" Cache stands frozen in fear as he looks around for the owner of the scary voice, but movement from the corner of his eye brings his attention back to the moonlit clearing, where he sees the head of every statue turn and stare at him. That's when his last nerve breaks and he runs back towards the beach. As he crashes through the darkness beneath the trees, he hears whooping laughter give chase.

His sister breaks from the treeline before him the very second he arrives at the crystal waterfall, and the siblings share a moment of terror before their pursuers catch up to them. Then, side by side, they run for the beach where Stash dives under the waves. Seeing his sister reach safety, Cache takes to the skies and flies to where their little boat is anchored just past the reef that floats with the strange island. When he lands and pulls up the anchor, he turns to see a sturdy Boran Alpha staring at him, waiting for them to return to the boat. Sensing the familiar is the less dangerous foe at the moment, the Bogsneak helps his sister over the railing and turns the bow toward the distant land.

To this day, the Boran Alpha follows Cache around, determined to keep the youth from a life of crime.

by mxlplyx