A dragon slept soundly in the storm.

The sounds of the wind and rain outside were soothing music to her sleeping ears, the pounding of rain on the shutters a hypnotic, sleep-inducing symphony in the midst of nearly total darkness. Her breaths rose and fell in a steady, peaceful rhythm; a blanket made from camel skins and thick wool kept her insulated.

She was trapped in a deep, inescapable slumber, one arm wrapped around a tremendously beautiful scepter, a scepter of solid silver.

She was so deep in sleep that she didn't even hear an intruder sneaking into her bedchamber.

Her bedchamber was expansive (big enough for an intruder), so large, in fact, that at least twenty dragons could stand in it quite comfortably. The whole room, from floor to ceiling, was covered in gold, which shone vibrantly in the lightning-flashes which blasted through the windows. A bowl of the finest whale oil, imported from the Sea Kingdom, sat atop a carven, gilded stone vanity. A suit of golden chainmail hung from a dummy next to the vanity, sparkling along with the room.

There wasn't one spot of the room that was not golden, from the chamber pot to the chandelier.

And it was from this gilded chandelier in this gilded room in this enormous palace that an intruder suspended himself over the sleeping dragoness.

The dragon, a SandWing, wrapped his tail around the chandelier's chain. The light from the tiny candles flickered across his scales and wreathed his face in a halo of quivering flame.

He stared down at the sleeping dragoness. He couldn't believe that he was able to sneak into the bedchamber of Queen Scarlet of the SkyWings and still be alive. Other dragons had tried in the past, and the results had not been pretty.

Of course, if anyone tried to stop him, they'd be dead in seconds from the poison in his tail barb.

But it was not the sleeping queen he was interested in—it was the silver staff under her wings.

The staff's head was shaped like that of a falcon, the most common bird of prey in the Sky Kingdom. Below that, a pair of angular, stylized wings stuck out like handles. The rest of the staff was covered in golden vines, which in turn were covered in golden thorns.

But, set into the top of the falcon's head, was a massive ruby that sparkled in the golden light.

That was what he really wanted.

"Oh, Queen Scarlet," he whispered, his voice husky and barely audible, "You claim to have vast amounts of heavily guarded treasure, but you leave real prizes completely unattended."

Scarlet didn't answer; she just mumbled something about killing someone and claiming it was "thrilling." Typical of the psychopathic leader of the SkyWings.

"You know what's even more thrilling?" the SandWing asked, smiling deviously. "What I have planned for that staff. I'm not going to bore you with the details; you're probably too busy thinking about your oil baths and butchering other dragons. Besides, it's so much bigger than your twisted brain could ever imagine."

He smiled ominously as he let himself hang further from the chandelier, until he was less than a body-length away from the slumbering queen.

She muttered something that he wouldn't dare repeat in mixed company as she snuggled up further to the scepter.

"That's it, Queen Bloodyclaws," he whispered, "sleep deeply. As far as you're concerned, I was never, ever here."

As the SandWing climbed his way back up the chandelier, he cast a look at the queen's bowl full of oil.

For a second, he was tempted to set the oil on fire. But he knew that doing so would probably light the palace on fire—the curtains and silks in Scarlet's bedchamber were quite flammable, after all. He also knew that his latest client was meeting him in the next day or two here, and he couldn't afford to destroy their meeting place.

Not with so much at stake.

As he stealthily slipped back out of Queen Scarlet's room, he smiled with satisfaction.

He knew now just what he had to do next, and he was going to enjoy it.

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SofiTheWriter HERE IS THE BEGINNING OF MY MASTERPIECE!