Lyra

The black furred cat ran down the streets and through the market, dodging by stands and jumping carts, looking for a way to escape the dogged pursuit the guards were putting her through. She looked over her shoulder and growled, they were catching up, despite the maces and chainmail. She turned back to running and narrowly leaped over a handcart, tucking into a roll as she landed to keep her momentum going forward. The guards were shouting at her to halt and turn herself in, and something about the swirling rock currently inhabiting a pouch on her belt. She thought she had it easy and could get away clean, it was a simple job. Now she was probably the most wanted person in the city.

* * * * * * *

Lyra had just gotten into the basement, the vault was there just as her contact said it would be. She hid in the shadows just outside the flickering of torchlight, watching the two guards by the vault door. She fingered her pouch of flash-stones, she only had two left and they are not cheap. She waited a few seconds longer, he tail twitching in anticipation. She bolted straight for the two guards, the both let out a yelp of surprise as her arm flicked forward. Lyra pulled her free hand in front of her eyes and shut them tightly, half a second later there was a loud snap and another shout from the guards. She pulled her hand back and jumped, snap kicking the first guard in the chest and flattening him against to wall to crumple in a heap. She landed lightly and struck out with the back of her fist, her knuckles digging into the second guards jaw, sending him spinning. She rushed in not giving an inch, landing blow after blow until the only thing holding him up was her constant striking. She stopped and cocked an ear to the side growling in frustration. "I hope I didn't kill him, I hate it when I lose control like that." She quickly checked the guards pulses and breathing, pocketed both of their coin purses, and then began examining the vault door.

The vault was a monstrous contraption of solid steel, the vault door was large enough for two men to walk through it and still have room to draw their weapons. The front lock was a giant quad-pin system each bar about 2 inches in diameter. It had a single combination knob on it, hopefully her contact had given her the right info. She checked it up and down, examining it for traps or alarms. She couldn't find any traps on the outside, but that didn't mean the vault was devoid of them. Lyra let out a deep breath and checked her surrounding one more time, making sure she was alone other than the two incapacitated guards lying by the vault door. She knelt down and pulled out a scrap of parchment, unrolled it and held it against the safe door, proceeding to turn the lock until with an audible click, the latch came loose. She grabbed the handle and cranked down on it, she growled softly as she put all of her strength into it, then the locking bars slid back into the door and it swung outward on greased hinges.

The inside of the vault was covered in shelves loaded to bear with jewels, gold, and other items of various quality. Armor stands in the back had two suits of plate mail, one burnished in gold the other silver, both adorned with sapphires and rubies inlaid into some long forgotten family crest. There were shelves of dagger, swords, maces, and axes, all ranging from common to extravagant. And there, in the middle of the room in a glass case sat the dragons stone. The large stone sat there swirling in a miasma of colors, shifting from crimson red to blazing yellow, bright white to onyx black, and everything in between. She stepped into the vault and the whole world went dark. Lyra dropped to a crouch and stood still as a statue, her ears twisting around and listening for any noise at all. She lifted a paw in front of her face, she knew it was there but she could not see it, the only sound she heard was the thumping of her heart. As she reached for her daggers a bright white light appeared and coalesced into a spectral fox.

"Ah, there you are. We have been looking for you." It said in a cold, otherworldly, voice that seemed to emanate from the ground itself. It looked her up and down and grinned, "Yes, you will do nicely." She barred her fangs and rested her paw on the hilt of her dagger. She asked, "What do you want with me? Where have you taken me? I was in the middle of something... important." The specter chuckled, "Oh no doubt your amateurish bumbling to get the dragon's egg is 'important.' Oh don't look at me that way, your skills are lacking, but that can be easily amended. More on that later, right now your only concern is too meat up with a gray wolf named Zachariah, he's traveling down from the woods to the north.

Meet up with him and we shall be in contact again soon." As he said this an image appeared of a gray wolf sitting in an old cabin tracing his claws around some old table. She stood there dumbfounded, as the specter turned and walked away. It looked over it's should and flashed a quick grin saying "Oh and by the way, you might want to start running." Then the vault appeared suddenly, a loud commotion coming from the stairs she entered from. She spat out a curse and turned back for the stone, drawing her dagger and smashing the case with the pommel, all semblance of caution blown away. Lyra grabbed the stone and shoved it in a belt pouch then beat a hasty retreat to the backup escape route.

* * * * * * *

Lyra was still running her breath misting in the cool winter air, trying to find any way to escape those blasted guards. Jumping over carts, through stalls and dodging assorted people she barreled her way through the market. She reached into a pouch as she ran fumbling for a small canister. “Hopefully this will slow them down,” she thought as she popped the lid off and tossed out the caltrops behind her. She glanced back and grinned as a couple of guards faltered and stumbled, one falling head first into a snowbank. She turned back just in time to see a particularly quick guard in leather armor emerging from an alley. Lyra growled and charged ahead, hopping on the corner of the building beside the guard and catching him square in the face with her elbow as she flew past him. The built up momentum from her leap spinning the poor wolf in place before he collapsed, his jaw broken and unconscious. She landed and rolled, gaining more momentum and charging down the nearest alleyway.

Lyra took the corner too fast, loosing her grip in the snow cover muck in the alley and bouncing off the wall, falling to the ground and rubbing her bruised shoulder. She looked up at the alley entrance to see a small host of guards men with spears and maces. The spearmen blocked off the entrance while the others, armed with maces advanced, slowly as Lyra climbed to her feet. A gruff looking badger stepped forward dropping his mace into his palm and said, “Just hand over the Dragonstone miss and we can all jus' go home. Well, 'cept for you, yer gonna get to stay in a nice nine by nine cell for a long while.” Lyra flattened her ears and smirked, crouching back and edging closer to the wall. She extended her claws and said, “Come and get it then you overgrown weasel. I won't even use my weapons.” The badger glared at her “Well a'ight then miss, you're askin' for a beatin',” he snarled before charging in with an overhead swing of his mace.

Lyra pressed herself back against the wall, biding her time as he rushed headlong while the other four guards stood behind watching. As soon as he started his downward stroke Lyra charged, running inside his arm and grabbing it, turning and using his own momentum to slam the badger into the wall and disarming him with a deft twist of her wrist. She popped the badger on the rear with the mace before tossing it away. He spun around and growled, wiping the blood from his busted lip, “Tha' hurt miss, now you's gonna pay for that. Get 'er lads!” With that the other four guards charged her, Lyra grabbed the badger by his mail and tossed him at the group. The badger took out two guards, all three of them landing in a tangled heap in the mud. The first guard, a lean arctic fox, came around with a wide swing, while the second guard, a black panther, moved in behind the fox's swing.

Lyra ducked the swing and rolled to the side keeping the fox between her and the panther. The fox came on relentlessly, keeping Lyra on the defensive, never giving her a chance to find her footing, all the while the panther circled around trying to flank her. Lyra was getting desperate, she stumbled after dodging a nasty overhand chop, the fox changing his momentum easily and catching her in the shoulder. She rolled with the hit and dropped to one knee, using the momentum to hook her foot under the foxes knee, bringing him down. She sprang back up as the panther moved in with a side swing to her ribs, she stepped into the swing and caught his arm against her waist, turning and elbowing him in the face and cranking upward on his elbow until it inverted with a loud pop. The panther screamed and dropped his weapon, crying out as he fell to the ground roaring in pain.

Lyra flexed and clenched her fingers, her arm starting to go numb from the hit the fox landed on her. The fox was still clambering to his feet as Lyra rolled in and planted a knee into his face before running off toward the end of the alley. She gained speed, running as fast as she could before jumping up at the wall. She planted her feet and sprang using her momentum to force herself higher and to the left. Lyra grabbed the edge of the roof and pulled herself up. She looked down as the badger and two other guards ran under the place she had sprang up. She rested her paw on the bag, ensuring that the stone was still there and nodding before turning and running north across the snow covered rooftops. “Hopefully I can wolf and he can help me.” she thought as she charged off, holding her left arm close as she charged off.

-Mordie