A Quest for a Pebble

Prologue

Sometimes there were notable advantages to being a rat. One such was not being spotted by an enormous dragon while hiding in its own cavern. A dragon was never something to get on the wrong side of, and this would be the worst of places to accrue that status.

The rodent in question was currently scampering along a rock passageway, keeping to one wall and in the darkness away from the torches flickering on the wall so as to avoid detection. The corridor was empty, luckily, and though narrow by human standards was quite roomy for its current occupant.

The little spy soon passed through the hallway and entered a larger cavern. A cavern it did not look to be, at first glance. It more closely resembled an orchard, excepting its absence of fruit. The ground was fertile, rich black earth scuffing under the rat's scaly toes, and the entire place was filled with countless plants, unlike any the trespassing beast had ever seen before.

The plants were somewhere between a young tree and a bush in appearance, with numerous tendrils branching off near the base and two thick branches splitting off higher up. Each was perhaps a foot or so taller than the average human, and was covered with dark green buds instead of leaves. They grew close together, in a wild, untamed fashion. However, the observing rat saw something else, rising high above the mass of plants. A mass of scales, claws and leathery wings, all various shades of a dark slate grey, rose and fell as a dragon, the dragon he was most and least interested in seeing at the moment, breathed steadily.

The rat plunged into the mass of plants, keeping low to the ground as he made his way towards the center. Finally, he could see, through the poking tendrils of the surrounding foliage, the beast he was looking for. The dragon was sleeping, luckily, its giant nostrils blowing out great gusts of warm steam at each breath. From the few yards

The small rodent rubbed its whiskers. Ever since that day in the woods everything had gone horribly wrong. Being turned into a rodent was only the beginning. Now he was stuck here, spying on a dragon for some overconfident lordling who couldn't leave well enough alone. He was going to reverse this curse, and he would get back at that scheming little magic-user if it was the last thing he did. Though that would be incredibly difficult, from the fact the magic-user had been able to transform him at all, with none of the typical side effects associated with such a complex transformation. The ability to handle magic at that level of complexity meant a master mage, someone who had been studying and practicing the Art for at least fifty years.

The crouching intruder was startled out of his reverie by the notice of an attendant at the mouth of the towering cave entrance. So too was the dragon awoken from its slumber. Great eyelids rolled open, revealing eyes of the most brilliant shade of blue, and the towering body of the beast came into clear view as the creature turned towards the servant at the entrance.

The eavesdropping rat looked on with open eyes as the newcomer entered with a low bow. It was a bird-human thing, likely some twisted creation of the dragon's powerful magic. The myths of this particular dragon always surrounded it by hosts of unimaginably strange creatures, no two of them alike. This certainly met that description. Scaled from the knees down and feathered above, with large wings folded onto its back, and human arms folded onto its chest, it was a gruesome creature. Brown feathers, principally, though punctuated here and there with iron-grey. The head was that of a hawk, golden eyes glaring.

"Yes, Nuhei? What news have you for me about our latest jaunt through the art of controlling the human mind?" The dragon's voice was harsh and guttural, but more wry than commanding in its intonations, hardly the usual speech from a lord to its underling.

The creature below gave another deep bow. "We are ready, Master. As you have ordered, everything has been done." This creature's voice was rather raspy, but still much less terrible than its master's.

"All of them are ready upon command? Every last one of the rest of the shifters in their place and ready to act?" At the messenger's nod, the dragon laughed. As the harsh grating sound reverberated through the cave, causing the plants to shiver somewhat, the little interloper of a rodent covered its ears in horror. "Good, good. We shall have fun with this little heist. I haven't played on this intricate and large a scale for three centuries." The creature chuckled again, though the thought of a dragon, that most fearsome of beasts, chuckling, struck the small spy as ludicrous. "Tell them to begin at the first of the month, and then come back here. You'll get an excellent view of the proceedings."

The twisted servant bowed deeply for the third time, and backed out of the chamber. The spy watched him exit, then involuntarily squeaked in terror as the deep blue eyes of the dragon suddenly turned directly on him. "Now my young impudent rodent, what am I going to have to do to teach you that being a rat does not give you the right to eavesdrop on other people's conversations?"