Black waves lapped at a weathered dock, the surface of the bay constantly moving and the bright reflection of the moon distorted to look more like a streak of lightning. A large merchant ship had been tied up at the docks earlier that day, and only now were the sailors unpacking the last piece of cargo which was a box the height of a man, the length of a gondola and the width of a large crate. The longer sides of the box were barred with wood, and the box itself rested on thick poles which extended away from the main body. Four men struggled with the heavy load, and three others watched apprehensively as it was lowered to the smelly floor. Heavy snarling and spitting noises came from within the crate, and a large black claw suddenly sprouted from the darkness inside. They all jumped away from the box in fright, but after a few seconds of terrified silence, the leader of the men snorted and gestured sharply at his heavyset fellows.
"Stolti! Prendere questa bestia al suo comandante, o sarà la testa!" he shouted, and made a big show of shoving his comrades towards the crate while laughing dismissively. The thick breathing of whatever was inside was still frightening to the superstitious seamen, but they obeyed their orders without question. Four men heaved the poles onto their shoulders, and set off into a deserted street, followed by an escort of the rest of the men.
The city was nearly deserted this late at night, though a few beggars attempted to beg some coins from their fat purses. They recieved nothing but a laugh in the face for their efforts, and a snarl from the wooden cage made the poor people jump and run away in terror. Now the night was silent apart from the heavy breathing of those that carried the cage and the occasional angry snarls from within their burden. Silhouetted against the starry sky, archers kept a keen eye on the streets below, occasionally glancing over the roofs to make sure the citizens were behaving themselves and not throwing parties on top of their houses. A group of thin, scrawny men and one woman scrambled over handholds and disappeared from sight, disturbed by the sailors walking past what looked like a dead body they had been looting, but the men didn't really want to know if it was a dead body or not.
The men were frightened, eyes darting from one shadow to the next. They had been promised a slightly larger pay than normal for carrying this cage to its owner, but so little hardly seemed fair anymore; what was inside? Could it be some exotic pet from far away? From the terrifying sounds it made, they doubted that idea. Perhaps it was a demon? No animal had claws that were purely black, after all, as well as that deep, throaty growl that made the hair on the back of their necks stand on end. One of the men carrying the crate stumbled in a deep, muddy puddle, full of who-knows-what, and the rest of them held their breath until he gained his feet again. They shouted insults at him, infuriated that they had shown fear in front of their fellows, and he cowered nder the weight of their voices. Eventually the shouts petered out, but no-one had moved forward a single step. They all glanced sideways at each other.
At that moment, a shape appeared and leapt from the roof at the same time, landing directly on the crate with a shoulder-cape billowing behind his body almost like the wings of an eagle. The sudden, great weight made all of the sailors drop the crate with yelps of varying volume, and the man simply leaped forward again, running as fast as he could away until his black robes blended with the shadows of a tower up ahead. The sailors warily edged towards the crate again, hoping it hadn't been damaged, but before they could touch it what looked like a small army of irate archers landed on the crate as well in a quick succession, two of them breaking their legs and screeching their heads off while the others merely grunted before chasing their elusive quarry.
The walls of the cage were built to withstand considerable force, but only from within; the pressure and weight on the weaker roof caused the sides of the crate to crack and splinter, something which did not escape the attention of the imprisoned creature. It had been excited by the scent of fear and adrenalin, and the drumming of feet on its roof made it start slamming into the walls of its prison enthusiastically. Being weakened, it easily broke down a hole wide enough to crawl through, which it did. The sailors were too distracted to look, craning their necks to see if the running man had been caught (by the sounds of the courtyard, he had been, but was still putting up a fight) and so the animal easily escaped without being followed.
One of the sailors turned back to the crate with a worried expression on his face, and frowned at the splintered hole in the crate's side. "Poi ? Oh no! Egregio Signore, sia sfuggito! Attendere... è che lassù?" he yelped, pointing a shaking finger at the roof of a house to their left. All of the sailors spun around to look up with wide eyes.
A whirlwind of black and white, and their screams welcomed the new day.