The night was chill, and the guard's cuirass, though light in make and metal, weighed on him. He looked out over the unmoving roofs and streets of the cantry. Here and there a wretch or an urching would be thrown from an alley and scurry to some other warm place for the night, but this held not the guard's attention. Occasionally he would gaze to the north and heavenward where the constellation of the Lady Astra shined brightly surrounded by the seven stars that foretold the coming of her chosen. However, this did little to comfort the guard with the moon as it was. The the light of the moon was silver and pale as ever it had been upon it's face was an ominous marking as of a red flame that seemed to flicker to and fro.
"These be hard times, and harder still to come. Mark my words the tear of the Fire Lord marks the moon and no good shall come of this year, nor mayhaps the next," The guard lowered his head and shook it. His faith in the stars of the seven were shaken to the core.
"Have more faith in the light that shines in dark places," another voice said beside him. Another guard had come off his rounds and had climbed to the perch to help pass the time till morning.
"I'd have more faith in the bottle this night for the air is chill and unfeeling," The first guard glared again at the moon and it's flickering mark. Shortly though a bottle was held to him by the other man.
"If the bottle holds your faith then take heart for I was given two this very evening by the Canter himself," The first guard took this offering gladly as the other continued to speak, " 'Share these, Samuel,' he says to me, 'Naught good can come of you driving back the chill only to drown your wits.'"
"So his lordship believes the rumor?" The first guard asks after having imbided a bit from the bottle proferred to him.
"These tales of the a Thieving Fiend come from the Fire Lord's dominion to make off with all the treasure of the land?" The second guard asks, "I asked him that very thing and he says to me, 'There's no harm in caution at the stories you hear,' I can't rightly stand by the tales myself but the Canter is a sly one no doubts there. He takes account for the habit of making a story bigger than what it is so it seems grander. Though in this case it's more so them what was stole from sound less foolish."
"Aye I suppose you're right," The two then sat in silence that lasted no more than half a minute.
A splash of shadow in the night between them, a sense of movement, a figure falling to the roofs below the wall, a glint of gold and red stone, and the image of a man-like figure with what seemed a great long tail trailing behind it's back as it ran. Across the rooftops it bounded at a high speed. It was only afterward that they realized while they witnessed this that their master had ordered the release of the hounds to follow this culprit, whatever his crime and all along thereafter they had heard the baying of those same hounds.
"Perhaps twas not cautious enough," said the first guard.
~~~
A man ran through the cobblestone courtyard of the Canter's palace. All stalwart stone and steel relieved only by glass stained with depictions of bloody worship. Off behind a call rang against the stones of the keep.
"RELEASE THE HOUNDS!!!"
"Dammit, I hate it when they release the hounds," The figure muttered as he reached the wall. As though he were a spider or some other insect he quickly scaled the wall arms and legs moving naturally from grip to grip. He reached the top of the wall. sprang between the two guards, and leapt from it's other side onto the high roofs below and kept running.
Things had gone so well. He'd approached the wall unhindered and unseen. It had been no trouble at all to sneak up the wall and past the muttering, chattering fool at it's peak and down into the grounds. He'd not been sighted entering the keep by the kitchen entrance to which he had acquired a key. It had seemed so easy. He had not counted on, of all things, magic. He had found the trophy he saught. An amulet made of gold and set with a red gem reported to be the very eye of the dragon whose blood had set the foundation for this cantry.
Upon removing it from the neck of the bust that held it the statue had erupted in a deep red flame. It should have been obvious to him that a Canter's treasure would be warded with a spell. It would be long months or long journey before he could sell it now. However, this did not trouble him at the moment. He was fortunate that such a ward did not strike him dead on the spot.
"I'll have to get checked out for curses and the like," he spoke quietly to himself as he ran to elude the hounds. He could outrun them with ease now but their baying drove him mad and when hounds were released it tended to prevent him from popping in for a late pint or taking to a room in one of the inns.
This lot of cannines seemed not to be as eager as some may have been. They let of the chase rather quickly. His mind relaxed after that and he soon found a likely spot to drop from the roof to the streets below.
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