(A/N: Can you believe it? I'm back. Don't even bother to answer that… I can't believe I'm back, either! I told myself I was going to quit. That I was going to work on my novels and not fanfiction. But here I am… like an addict of a drug, wanting more. ((hits self repeatedly on head)) I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm doing this! And I know that the moment this is up all of the Phantom Phiction Phans are going to be on my back. Wonderful. Though, if it pleases them any, I'm actually continuing that one, too. Because I'm a sap who can't refuse puppy eyes even when I can't see them. -- Oh well… here's the story! Still.

Last time on Spying for Dragons:

"That's great! My father has an armory full of them—most of them ceremonial, you understand—if you want to go and take a look at them."

I nodded vigorously. Thank you, Daystar, for making my life just a little bit easier.

Not a lot easier, of course… I still had to steal a fake sword, take it to the wizards, pretend that I was pretending to tell the king that the dragons stole the sword, and then start a war that wasn't really a war.

No problem. No problem at all.

Chapter Seven: Stealthily Stealing Shiny Sham Swords

I followed Daystar down the twisting hallways, eyes on the ground. (I didn't bother to keep track of how to get there…trying to do so last time had only given me a headache.) After what seemed like ages, we stopped before a great, heavy wooden door.

"This is the armory." Daystar told me "My father keeps his most valuable swords here. Particularly the magical type."

Okay… he didn't actually think I was that stupid, did he? …Did he? I decided to let that drop and focus on the task at hand. I swallowed, wiping my sweaty palms on my pant legs. "Oh… great."

I even sounded pathetic to my ears. By now, my legs were visibly shaking. How was I supposed to know which sword was which? Teli—whatshisface said that I would know… but how! And what if the wizards knew it wasn't the right one!

"So… we will go in now." Daystar told me slowly. This was starting to grate on my nerves. I might not be the brightest in the bunch, but I wasn't this much of an idiot. Really!

"O…K…" I replied equally slowly, just to get back at him. He gave me a decidedly odd look, and I thought I heard him whisper something to Shiara that sounded suspiciously like, "He doesn't think we're talking in code, does he?"

I saw Shiara smirk, but to my surprise she didn't make a witty response. I suppose she was worried that the wizards would hear her and find out about our plan. That was fine with me. Not the wizards finding out, I mean, but her not making nasty comments about me. It was an improvement.

Shiara glanced back over her shoulder and said nonchalantly, "So, Samiel, did you do something to make your hair stand on end like that, or is it natural?"

Nevermind.

Shiara only smirked more when I glared at her, and I saw Daystar step on her foot. "You have to be polite remember? Or else your magic won't work."

Shiara just smiled and blinked innocently. "Oh, I know… I can be polite… just not to him." Daystar sighed and pushed open the armory door.

I followed behind him, resisting the temptation to step on the hem of Shiara's dress. I could just make it look like an accident… After a moment, I decided against it. Chances were I'd end up tripping myself and crashing into a stone wall.

"So…uhh…" I looked around carefully, suddenly feeling slightly sick. "There are… a lot of swords…" There were. Hundreds. How was I supposed to tell which one to steal! Luckily, though, Daystar stopped beside two swords at the back of the room. They were both beautiful… and they were identical.

"One of these two swords is the most important sword in the entire kingdom. It is the sword of the enchanted forest… the other one is a decoy. There is a riddle that my father made up to tell which is which… do you want to hear it?"

I didn't. I so totally didn't. I wanted him to tell me which was which so that I could pick the right one. Having it told to me…me… in a riddle…well, it just wasn't the best idea.

"Okay…the riddle goes like this:

Two swords shining in the sun

But which of them is the real one?

Right and left, they look the same

They both cause equal physical pain

But one of two controls the wood

One works as well as the other should

Look closely now and you will find

That one has a delicate, silver shine

The other, however, has a muted glow

It is not magical, you should know

So here is how you can tell the fake

Choose wisely, there's no room for mistake."

Daystar finished and smiled hopefully at me. I realized how painfully simple they had made the riddle… so simple, it was almost dangerous if the wizards had heard. I stepped forward and peered at the two swords. I was looking for the one with the delicate shine… no! No, that was the real one. I wanted the one with the muted glow. I think.

I looked carefully, and for a moment they both looked exactly the same. Then, just faintly, I thought I could tell the difference between the blades. Maybe. They were extremely alike looking, but I thought that the one on the left had more of a muted glow, and the one on the right had more of a shine to it. So… which one was it again?

I thought. I thought really, really hard. But for all that thinking, I definitely couldn't remember which was which in the poem. I was about to ask Daystar to recite it again, but he said, "Well, Shiara, we're late for a meeting with my father…we should probably get going. Samiel, I trust that you will be okay on your own?"

I nodded, but then realized that now was the time to ask him again. Before I could even open my mouth, he was passed me. Shiara was about to leave too, when she stopped. I could see her studying me, and I put on the best pleading face I could. Did I need to take the one with the silver shine, or the one with the muted glow?

I could tell Shiara was resisting the urge to roll her eyes at me. "It would be absolutely horrible if someone stole the sword on the left."

I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at her. Right… I turned to face the two swords, and reached for the one on the left. Then I froze.

Wait… did she mean that I should take the one on the left? Maybe she'd meant that I shouldn't take that one, and it would be terrible if I did! I spun back around, but Shiara had left by then. Now I was alone in the sword room, alone to figure out which was which. The one on the left—the one I was about to take—was the one that I thought had a muted glow. What rhymed with glow? Flow, tow, know, show? But for the life of me I couldn't remember what the line was.

So I went to the one with the silver shine. Shine? I couldn't think of anything that rhymed with it but mine, and I knew that wasn't right. I took a deep breath.

Shiara said it would be horrible if someone took the sword on the left. So I steeled myself, closed my eyes…

…and grabbed the sword on the right.

"Do you think he figured out my riddle?" Daystar asked Shiara hopefully as they made their way to the throne room.

"I think he had to… it was almost painfully easy. Still, I gave him another hint on the way out. He had to have known to take the one on the left. He's not that much of an idiot."

Daystar nodded in agreement. "You're right…"

I stepped out of the throne room with the sword wrapped up in a cloth that I had brought. I was confident by now that I had the right one. Thank goodness for Shiara… I would never have figured it out without her.

Abruptly, I realized that I had no idea where to go now. I started to panic, when I saw the signs. There were huge canvases stuck to the walls. The writing on them all read the same thing: DOOR OUTSIDE THIS WAY! Then there were huge red arrows pointing in the same direction.

I smiled happily. Wonderful… they had marked the way out for me! Everything was going to be okay… I was actually going to pull this off!

I hummed to myself as I made my way out. The sword wasn't even that heavy… a good thing, too, or it would have taken much more time to get outside. Finally, I was in the entrance hall. I sprinted across the rest of the way and pushed open the doors.

One of the wizards would be waiting for me by now… they had probably seen me take the sword from the throne room, and were beginning to make their evil plans. Too bad for them it wasn't the real sword! I smiled brightly and made my way into the forest.

I had only taken two steps when a wizard stepped out from a nearby bush. Perfect. I thought that I recognized him… he had a weird name, something like Arachnid… wait, that was a spider, wasn't it? I shrugged inwardly and handed him the sword.

'Arachnid' grabbed it from my hands and pulled the cloth off it. He was examining it closely, and I was worried for a moment that he would be able to tell that it wasn't the right one. Then, at last, he gave me one more suspicious look, and disappeared. I was relieved…

For once in my life, I had actually done something right.

(A/N: Poor Samiel. He's not exactly stupid… he just definitely has some memory problems. Oh well… I'll update as soon as I finish updating all of my other stories! (There really aren't that many, and I'm home sick today, so I should be able to finish updating a lot of the other ones.)

Hilary