Thief in the Night (Ari, Zilyr)

[Zilyr Armia & Smokewisp]

Zilyr held on tight as Smokewisp prepared to land silently behind the targeted house. This was the house he would raid tonight. He hadn't been into th village to do so in over a week and he was itching to. It had become his addiction- for pleasure- as well as part of his life source -for food. It was a dark moonless night with barely any stars- just the way he liked it. He could have stood it if there were no stars at all, but a night vacant of any lights in the sky was a rare occurrence in deed, not something one could wish for every night.

He felt the massive black dragon beneath him as he landed, dropping through the air to land gently on the ground without a single sound. The dark haired male slid off his dragon fluidly Amd landed on his feet. He turned around and looked at the house he was soon to enter. He knew this house- it was the home of the healer, they always had good food and tonight prOvisions is what he would seek out. He slipped towards the door in the side of the structure taking a glance behind him before expertly pulling the door open without a single creak or groan. Without a noise he stepped into the home.

The room Zilyr had entered was deathly silent. He could sense sleeping people in the house. The theif would make quick work of this- he wasn't searching for valuable things so there wouldn't be a great deal Of searching involved. He came for food, as much as he could take, and nothing else. It was then that he realized he was already in the room in which these people kept their provisions. He grinned to himself- what luck!

The dark form swiftly began to swipe The edible morsels. He barley even took a second look at what he grabbed he did it with such speed. There was so much bounty here too- he was glad he had chosen this house. That was when Zilyr made a mistake. He dropped a piece of fruit, and cringed as it made a dull thud on the floor. He cursed under his breath to himself. He was such a damn idiot. For some reason his mind froze and didn't function again until he heard footsteps and a voice. He made a dash for the door.

Before he could reach the exit, the man who resided in the house threw an object at the ajar door, slamming it shut. Now he was stuck- there was no way out. But there HAD to be! He couldn't get caught- he couldn't be taken! He WOULDN'T be taken. He hated be forced and trapped like this. His eyes darted around- trying to find something to help him out, but finding it unsuccessful. He listened to what the man who had emerged said. In reply Zilyr said menacingly "you want to try and make me not move?". there was No way he was getting captured. Not here- not now- not ever! He would rebel and fight to the end- he wasn't going down easy either. But why, oh why had he left his sword with his night fury?

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Smokewisp waited just outside the house his rider had entered, just as he always did. This is how it always went- Zilyr would go in and in a few minutes he would come out with some stuff and they would leave and go home. The Male night fury stood guard for his master, awaiting his return. His job was easy- most of the time.

The black dragon's gray eyes scanned the area, his human had been in there longer than usual. Not a good sign, especilly with the noise he thought he had heard a couple moments before. The dragon took notice that his master's weapon was left hanging on the packs that were held on around him with a thick leather adjustable stap. These reasonably large pouches were where Zilyr placed his stolen goods for the flight back. But the young man had left his sword on them expecting a quick easy job- the dragon hoped that was what he was getting. Neither of them wanted trouble. But Smokewisp knew he was to leave his rider be when he was working like this- he had been severely punished the one time he had attempted to assist his master.

So the dark-scaled dragon stood steadfastly in anticipation of Zilyr so that when he exited the structure they could get away as clean and as fast as physically possible, for even the dragon knew being in the house for this length of time was NOT A good sign.

[Ari]

Ari smiled at the bravado that the man pulled out and he knew one thing. ”I can’t and I won’t make you not move.” He made a gesture to his leg, “I’m not able enough to. I won’t stop you from running, but if you do, or try and attack me, I’ll just whack that chest” His finger pointed to the chest by his feet, “And the whole world will know that you exist. You know what a Squealer is, right?” [Note: Squealers are a small, slug like dragon from the books. They’re basically used by vikings as alarms because they give ear-piercing screams...a thief will know about Squealers.]

He could see in the thief’s eyes such a mixture of thoughts, but one made Ari smile was the one that a part of him was asking himself. ‘Why haven’t I done that already?’ The awnser was simple. This man was good, very good. He knew this to be true because he’d been the only one to notice him so far. But it had only a matter of time before he got sloppy from complacancy...he should be praising his gods that he slipped up in the one house that he might be just let out of. “I want to give you an offer,” he said, “I need help with things, things that I’m too old to do by myself. I will let you leave now, with half of what you currently holding that’s mine. I will make sure that people keep blaming the disappearances on what we’ve been blaming it on so far, outcasts and wild dragons. I will make sure that any traces of your existence are removed if you will help me when I ask for it. I will not ask very often, and you will be rewarded each time.”

He was taking a risk doing this, if Zilyr was ever caught, Ari could lose everything and outcast. But with his help, he douted Zilyr ever would. “What do you say?”

[Zilyr Armia & Smokewisp]

[[OOC: I'm listening to a song that's making me feel like crying so for some reason I have muse now!!!! YAY ME!!!]]

Zilyr rather begrudgingly stayed and listened to what this man had to say. He was about to make a run for it when he mentioned there being a squealer he could use and alarm people of his presence. His heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened at such a notion. Being brought down in such shame as that would be extraordinarily humiliating- he didn't want that. His eyes narrowed and shifted at the man before making his stance more passive and waiting to hear what he had to say. Almost anything was better than capture!

He listened intently, considering his options carefully. He wouldn't make any rash choices. How did he even know he could trust this man? They had never met and knew nothing of each other. Why wasn't he turning him in to start with anyways? That seemed a little fishy to Zilyr. But actually letting him keep part of what he was going to steal? Helping keep his cover? And a reward every time? It seemed like a pretty good offer on the surface, but Zilyr being a man of connivery knew there were ins and outs to everything. This man must think him a fool if he were to accept such an offer without a bit of interrogation regarding the deal. He began to speak in his gruff, croaky tone, so unaccustomed to speaking to those of his own kind.

"Well....It would depend on what the nature these "things" you would have me do be." he paused before adding "and what I would get from it!" he pursed his lips before saying "and how the hell do I know I can trust you?! You might let me go and follow me, You might tell everyone about me anyways! You might send he off on some ludicrous mission and give me nothing in return! This entire thing might be a trap to lure me in. Tell me now- what is your word worth?! he hurriedly added onto the end "and I want more than half of this!" he said regarding the foods in his arms.

As he waited for this stranger-man to reply he mulled this over in his head a bit longer. Zilyr didn't often make deals, much less deals with villagers! This was crazy but although he seemed skeptical to accept his plan, he was smart enough to know a chance of him having a good word was better than certain capture, so either way he was most likely going to have to go with this. As much as Zilyr hated the idea of being like some sort of indentured servant or slave to the healer, The theif did not see another feesable option. He gritted his teeth and awaited the reply to his questions from the man who seemed so confident in his own cleverness.


[[OOC:please exude the ridiculously short length of this post- there wasn't much I could write without an answer from Ari]]

[Kenna & Fenrir]

(OOC: will reply later, just thought I'm mention that that's not short. short is 250 words and under.)

[Ari]

Ari stifled a laugh at the last part of his replies, “No, I can only afford to give up half of it, more than that I’ll need to get more supplies from the village, making it hard to keep the theft unnoticed. Anyway, while your right to ask ‘why should I trust you’ I should remind you one thing, I’ve just offered a deal to a thief. If you get caught you could tell everyone that fact,” I might be able to talk my way out of it, he thought to himself, but there’s no way anyone would trust me “And as far as rewards and traps are concerned, I’ll want you for more than one thing, so not paying would be pointless way of keeping you in toe…”

Ari shrugged in an ‘I’m just saying’ kind of way. He smiled slightly as his dog went up to and started to sniff at him, “Don’t worry about him, he’s just confused by us waking him, As far as the ‘things’ are conserned, it’ll be things like thefts small items, getting infomation. Little, but important things.”

As he finally got the reply Ari smiled to himself, “I think that you’d better get moving, I get the feeling your dragon will be leaving soon, if it hasn’t already.” He chuckled at the look he got, “Come on, of course you’ve got a dragon, how else have you been surviving so long unnoticed? A dragon with you is a good cover.”

Once he’d left, Ari moved back into the bedroom, where his wife was sitting up, looking at him, “looks like I’ve got a new hand.”

[Zilyr Armia & Smokewisp]

The Thief listened to the arguements of the aging healer. He was right, and Zilyr knew it. He wanted to make arguments- but none would be valid. So the young man sighed and in a rather begrudging manner, agreed to the man's terms. Great. Now he was this guy's lap dog. In irony, as he thought that a dog approached him. Zilyr practaically jumped out of his skin. As a man of stealth, a loud dog was his worst enemy. Even when the other man assured him it was okay- he was still wary of the animal.

The man, seemingly happy that he had gotten his way, suggested that Zilyr get going Amd mentioned his dragon. Zilyr gave him a bit of a dirty, accusatory stare at it. How would he know that?! But what he said next kind of made him feel stupid. He gave him one more look before dropping half of the items in his arms on the ground- as requested. He didn't bother to pick any of it up- he hadn't been told what to do with the stuff he wasn't allowed to keep- if that guy didnt want a mess he should have been more specific. He kicked some of it across the floor before fleeing the house as fast as possible and returning to his mount.

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Smokewisp had begun to be anxious after the elongated absence of his rider. He gave a low rumble when the young man finally darted out the door and over to him. The night fury stood still while the human placed what smelled like food in the pouches strapped around his body. The young man clambered speedily onto his back. And urgently signaled for him to take off. The jet black dragon obediently did so with the upmost speed and stealth.

The dragon sometimes wished he and his rider could converse like some dragons and humans could. It would be nice to be able to ask now, what had taken him so long, for instance. Oh well, it was the just the way things were. Smokewisp sped up a little and brought his human backto where they lived. For some reason Smokewisp had the feeling they would be back to that house again.