Prologue

Robbery

 

 

        "Someone has robbed the vault!"

        

        A cacophony of murmurs, gossip, and wild accusations echoed through the streets of the small village of Yamshere as the most recent trouble to plague their town rocked them to their core: someone had dared to rob the town vault, swiping the savings and livelihoods of dozens upon hundreds of residents in this small mountain town of 5000.

        Outside of the bank was a large crowd, all wondering to see just what in the world the local constabulary was gonna do about it. Dressed in all black from head to shoulder, with a spotless and pressed pocketed tunic and a stylish cape over it, cleanly pressed trousers that went down to his freshly-shined leather, and a brand new custodial helmet, Yamshere's leading sheriff- the newly promoted Daventhor Trunsor, or Daven for short- a young slender human male of 25- along with several of his underlings, were looking at the crime scene. 

        "Hmm..." He went, rubbing a finger against his peach-fuzz of a beard. There was little to no evidence to be found- whoever did this was a professional who knew what they were doing. The security guard couldn't provide much clues as he had been knocked unconscious in the raid.

        "Oh, this is bad, this is bad." The bank's manager whimpered as she bit her fingernails. The Parasaurolophus wore a simple green gown with puffed-up shoulders and white satin gloves- a simple attire for a bank manager, but serviceable. "The tythe to the King and Queen is due tomorrow and it's all gone- i'm gonna get beheaded, or worse!"

        "Calm yourself, Ms. Flutersvy." Daven said to her. "We'll find the missing money, don't worry."

        "Of course you'd say that- it's not your head on the chopping block!"

        "I'm sure their majesties will understand if ours arrive late if we explain we were robbed."

        "A rrrrrrobbery, you say?" A voice from the crowd asked. Daven slumped over, already feeling his sanity slipping away. The crowd, once buzzing with chatter, silently spread to allow the Royal Inspector through. Tall, pompous, and eloquent to a fault, this royal boob strode on into the crime scene with the air of smugness about him. Dressed with a red trenchcoat, equally red pants, and a fake wig that isn't fooling anyone, the arrogant Archaeopteryx tapped a pencil on his notepad as he looked at what he viewed as failures of police officers failing to find evidence of the thieves. "Oh... a rrrobbery here, at a vault you..." He tapped the eraser of his pencil of Flutters nose. "... called secure. Tsk tsk tsk." He wrote that down on his report. "That will not do."

        "Come off it, Haversham." Daven demanded. "We've only just started our investigation and we're all just waking up- we're not going to find anything that soon. And as I have explained to Flutersvy, i'm sure the King and Queen will understand the delay of our tythe if we explained that we were robbed."

        Haversham lightly laughed. "Oh. Oh, you're serious. Hehehe... no. No, my dear Daventhor, they will not understand for their Majesties are quite tenacious when it comes to the funds that run out great country, so a tythe running late- well, it would send a bad precedence to the rest of the regions, now wouldn't it?" 

        One of his underlings- a young chap barely out of his teenage years- approached him from his investigations. "Apologies sir, but we're having damnall of bad luck- we cannot seem to find anything that could lead us to the identity or location of these robbers. However they planned this, it was professional." The bank keeper whimpered in fear as she bit her right hands fingers and tore through her hair with her left. "Sorry, Flutersvy."

        "I'm gonna die, i'm gonna die, i'm gonna die..." She eventually got out of her fearful stupor and realized that she may have a way to solve the crime. "Wait... waitwaitwaitwaitwaitWAIT! What about Hegelion!?!"

        "Who?" The Inspector asked before remembering, "Ah, right, him... Yamshere's friend, their savior; your own little pet and mascot."

        "He's not a pet." Daven huffed.

        "Then the thief then- you know what their kind are like. He probably stole the money to store in his horde."

        The head constable shook his head. "Afraid you're wrong on that. Hegelion is many things, but he does not love money."

        The Inspector scoffed. "Impossible."

        "No, it's true." The lad responded in place of the chief. "They've helped us before and all they ask for in return for their aide is either food or books. The small amount of money he has he uses to pay for essentials."

        The Inspector found this hard to believe, tapping his pencil on the notepad with twisted lips. "... yyyyyeah, I... honestly doubt that."

        "We'll prove it to you then." Flutersvy boasted to the raptor's face before heading out the building, grabbing a gaslight torch from the racks on the way out.

        "Where is she going?" The inspector demanded to know. "We're in the middle of a serious investigation."

        Daven leaned back on a wooden pillar with his arms crossed in front of him. "And she is going to get the one creature that can solve this little cunnumdrum." 

 

        Surrounding the lush green valley that housed the small town of Yamshere is a mountain range: the Letelish Alps, a range of snow-capped peaks the span the entire length of the continent from north to south. At the top of one such peak lay a cave, a cave large enough for several giant creatures to inhabit. 

        It was this cave that Flutersvy entered, lighting her way with her gaslight lantern. "Mr. Hegelion?" She called out, her voice echoing through the cavernous maw. "Mr. Hegelion." The Parasaurolophus called again. When no response came, she twisted her lips. "Where is he? I know he didn't leave- we would've seen him."

        As she went further in, something stirred in the darkness. She felt it the further in she went; it was getting warmer. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something slither in the darkness, passing behind several stalagmites. 

        Some time later, she reached the main chamber of the cave, which opened up immensely; the entire population of Yamshere could fit in here and then some- they could put in a multi-story hotel in here for tourists and hikers. In one distant corner was a lit fire in a fireplace, with shelves of books, a coffee table with a tea set, two red satin armchairs, and a radio. She saw something slithering by the fireplace as well... something large and thick. 

        A tail...

        The tail shifted around before retreating into the darkness. Her eyes followed the tail as it retreated behind a horde of gold and jewels, and behind it was its master. Rising up from behind with a rumble in its throat was a mighty beast of legend:

        A Dragon.

        A massive one, emerald green in color and one as big as the bank itself. Flutservy stood her ground as the Dragon lowered its head towards her, a guttural growl echoing from its throat. It got right in front of her face and puffed air out of its nostrils. "Why come into my lair?" It spoke with a deep, booming, and commanding voice.

        "Hello to you too, Hegelion." She spoke candidly. "You sound grumpy today."

        "You would be too if your the recent book in your favorite series ended in a cliffhanger."

        "Oooof. Those suck."

        Getting up from behind its horde, he moved to head behind; behind his twin tails were shelves upon shelves upon shelves of books, containing hundreds if not thousands of books. The gold horde was just one  small pile compared to other Dragon hordes that would fill up a cave like this to the ceiling. "And let me guess why you are here..." He said as he rotated around her. "... you need my help. Again."

        She nodded. "Yes.... i do, but it is a big one."

        He softly scoffed. "It better be after the last one..."

        "The bank has been robbed, and we don't know who did it. To make matters worse; the Royal Inspector is here to investigate all of the stories and claims about you, and on top of all that the tythe to the Royal Family is tomorrow and if i don't have the money by then, i'm dead."

        Hegelion stopped in front of a painting on the walls; a painting about a medieval knight in shining armor piercing a green dragon with a lance. "That... is an issue." He turned back to look at her. He stayed silent for a long moment, which was a bit nerve-wracking for her. "Very well. I will help."

        Relieved, she lightly laughed to herself; this may actually save her hide. "Oh, thank you thank you thank yoooooooooou!" He headed towards the exit to the cave. "You have NO idea how much I appreciate this."

        "And my payment?"

        "Oh, right. Um... hmm..." She thought for a moment, patting a finger against her lips, before snapping her fingers when she remembered, "Oh, i think Hooper got a new Sherlock Holmes in."

        He got up in her face again, but this one with a bit of elation. "You better not be toying with me, woman."

        "No, i'm not. I think it's called... The Hound of the Baskervilles?"

        That's a new title. Brand new as he had never heard of it before. "I don't have that one." One of his twin tails reached back to his horde and pulled out a couple gold pieces, dropping them into her hands. "I hope he still has it in." His movements had quickened at the aspects of getting his new book. 

        Flutersvy lightly sighed as she slowly shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Trust me... nobody likes books like you." 

 

 

        She is not wrong.

        Ever since I was a hatchling, i've always been a oddity among Dragons.

        Gold never interested me- the pile i have, I inherited and only keep to pay for the essentials. I don't hunt, I don't pillage, I don't plunder. I'm a far cry from being a traditional Dragon in the world. If i could, I would hide away in my cave and read my books until the end of the world... and given the news i've heard of what's been happening outside our valley, it probably won't be that far off.

        Ever since  my hatchling days, i've been fascinated by books: all genres have caught my eye, but the ones i'm truly interested in are Mysteries: where logic and brainpower are needed throughout to figure out who is the culprit. I won't lie, i've often wanted to become a detective like good ol' Sherlock Holmes. Imagine my surprised when it... actually happened.

        You have surely noticed so I know you must be asking: why is a small village ripe for plundering by other members of my kind asking for help from a Dragon in a crime such as this? Those two things should not correlate, right?

        Well.... thinking about where it all went topsy-turvy, it all started two years ago when a pair of nincompoops thought it would be funny to steal from me...

 

        
        "I'm telling you, he's a big pushover!" One of two young boys snickered as they entered the cave. Both were barely at the age of 10, with the snickering boy- a young Parasaurolophus- having bruises upon his body from too much roughhousing. 

        "I don't know..." The other boy- a red fox with a vest, shorts, and a cap, whimpered, getting really bad feelings about being in the lair of a raging fire-breathing beast. 

        "Oh, trust me, Douglas!" The parasaur cheered as he patted his friend on the back. "That thing can't stop the both of us."

        "Are you kidding me!?" Douglas shouted. "We're tiny- we're ants compared to that thing; it can easily stop both of us!" He shook his head. "No, no, this is too much Saika." He threw up his hands and headed for the exit. "I'm getting out of here while the getting is good."

        Saika ran in front of his friend and stopped him from going. "No no no no." He pushed him back in. "We're not leaving until we can get some treasure."

        Douglas got out of his grip. "Unlike you, i don't have a death wish!"

        "It's not a death wish if we don't get caught! And we won't be- that old coot is too slow."

        "Did you forget where we are?! And what he is? We--"

        A sudden gust of warm air stopped the argument before it began as the two boys froze in place. Sloooowly turning their heads, they looked to see the head of the mighty beast right next to them... with his jaw right at head level. The two were frozen in fear, unable to move or breath or do anything except look and pray it's not hungry. 

        "Get lost." Hegelion demanded of them, snarling through his teeth. 

        With terrified screams of terror, the two boys zipped for the exit. The dragon watched as they left and puffed out another gust of air. "Mortals... Annoying Pests..." He grumbled as he walked back to his horde of books. It slumped down and curled up, returning back to its slumber, annoyed that they won't leave him alone- it's been centuries of this and it's annoying every time. The only solace he took is that nobody tried to kill him in the past 120 or so years. 

 

 

        Who am I? I'm just....

 

 

A Dragon who likes Mysteries