In the not-too-distant past...

Cairo

I sat back on the reclining couch, waiting. It would only be a matter of days before my payment would arrive... and then this entire mess would be worth it.

I had encountered a  rather disgusting realm a few years back. Filled with dragons to the brim. They seemed to be surviving everywhere. Swamps, icelands, deserts... floating isles.... The faeries there seemed oppressed, having little land of their own, but still served the dragons. The Marians— they were nonexistant. There was only one creature over there that wasn't playing slave to the dragons.

A character named 'Gnasty Gnorc'. Rather nice fellow, if you happened to go for frogs that look like males on performance drugs. He was interested in magic, and not just any magic— he wanted the kind that would allow him to take over the dragon kingdom. He needed a way to imprison dragons, and a way to get soldiers on his side, as he was the last creature of his kind.

I helped him a bit... gave him a way to crystallize the dragons, which was a fairly easy spell. I'd been using it ever since I'd started my collection. The second spell I gave him would allow him to take gems and transform them into whatever he wanted. I watched him learn to master the two spells I'd given him... and they worked beautifully.

I wasn't going to help him beyond that, as I explained to him, but I wanted payment. He and I made an agreement of sorts. There was a clutch of dragon eggs in the 'Magic Crafter' realm— about twelve, according to a count given by one soldier— and he would let a platoon of my thieves go around the dragon kingdom and bring the eggs to me, without his soldiers intervening. I agreed to it, and sent twelve of my best thieves out to go capture the eggs. I also allowed a few more to go along and make themselves useful in the realm, stealing whatever else they could take as well. He did say that he would let them go about unchallenged, so why not exploit the opprotunity?

I grinned, waiting. By the time the thieves came back, it was nighttime, and I had just woken up. In a hurry, I cast a few fire spells to light the torches in the room. I turned to the thieves, grinning... and then gaping.

They were limping, hurt. Their clothes were burnt and tattered, in some cases just plain missing. Not a single one had any sign of loot— no gold keys, no gems, and worst of all, no EGGS!

"I thought I sent you fools out to go fetch twelve eggs! Twelve miserable stinkin' little dragon eggs! And the rest of you were to rob Gnasty blind! [And then some!]" I growled at them. "Did our little partner retract his promise?"

One of the thieves in better health stepped forward, speaking up. "Y-y'see, ma'am, we did do what we were s'poss'd t' do— we got the eggs! We got all the eggs we could find, and then we also grabbed some gems and things. We done real good, ma'am."

"You done real good?" I hissed, almost wincing at his poor grammar. "[Idiot.] Let me get this straight: You stole some things... you grabbed some gems... and then you got every single egg you could find."

He was starting to tremble in his legs. I could see it through his dress. "Yes, ma'am. That's what I said."

"Then WHERE ARE THEY?! [Yeah, you stupid shi-] [Watch your language!]" I shouted.

"We were about to leave the Dragon Kingdom wit' all our loot, when, alluva sudden, this scary dragon pops out, chases us down, and then hits us all right in the ass! We end up droppin' the loot and can't get it back from 'im. We 'ad to come back em'ty handed."

"Impossible! [Not really...] " I jumped up, landing on the stone floor. "That spell I taught Gnasty should have immobilized all of the dragons. [Obviously, it didn't.] How could one have escaped?"

"We... we don't know, ma'am. All we know's that he was there, and then we got hit in the ass and had to drop our loot."

"Hmm." I mused. "He must've missed one. No matter. Describe him for me and I'll go back there myself to get this dragon so you can have your revenge. [By herself?] [You know she's speaking to the idiots... so stop nitpicking.]"

"Don't... don't you need a sketchpad? And a pencil?" One of the other thieves spoke up. I concentrated for a few moments, and soon twenty of my 'sister' shadows were standing there, armed with sketchpads and pencils.

I glared at the thief. "Relax. Now... sisters? Pick any thief and have him describe this 'wonder dragon' to you. Get all the details you need, right down to the claws. Do it. Quickly!"

The room was filled with the sounds of scratching lead and rubbing erasers, alternately, as the investigation went on.

"...and he was this tall, with BIG horns, and this hot breath..."

"...he had this deep, royal purple all over him, and these gleaming yellow..."

"...he was real clever; didn't even touch me! He just flamed a big fan, and then the fan flew right for my 'ead..."

"...I didn't know what he was gonna do 'til I teased him, 'cause I had nowhere to run, and then Spyro just laughed and..."

"STOP!" I shouted, halting the noise. I looked at the thief who had been burnt so badly he was using his hat as a cover. "Did you say 'Spyro'? Was that his name?"

"Y-yes, ma'am."

"Hmm... 'Spyro', eh?" I smirked. "Return to what you were doing." The air filled once again with noise, as the investigation continued.Within twenty minutes of my interruption, all of the sister shadows had finished their sketchwork, returning the same basic sketch of Spyro: some had color, some didn't, some were proportionate, some exaggerated, etc.

I picked up one of the better drawn sketches with color, and showed it to the thieves. "Is this the dragon?" A collective yes rang through them. "Do you realize that this is one of the dragons native to that planet?" Again, they responded positively. "Good. Now... Do you realize that, by this drawing, I can peg his age at about eleven years old?!"

That last question got them to shake their heads, backing away from me. I saw my sister shadows frowning at them, picking up on my thoughts and translating them with the same amount of venom I was using.  I continued to speak. "You do realize, my dear theives, that it is written in our code that any member who cannot dispatch a simple hatchling is to be dispatched themselves?"

They backed up further. Ten of the artists transformed their pencils into wands, their wrists cocked and ready to cast a spell. By now, the artists were surrounding the thieves, leaving no escape for those incompetent fools. The thieves shook their heads again, all trembling, some praying. "Well, I bet you do now. And I don't think that Tahla can hear your pleas down here... not in the 'Clensing Chambers', where all fiends meet their fate..."

"Please!" One shouted, trying to escape. "We can go back there... we can attack as a mob and—"

"Silence! If I want him, I'll do it myself." I hissed angrily, growing tired of their failure. They had given me information. They would help me find this 'Spyro the Dragon' they described. But they had failed to bring back what I ordered.