In which Kendria meets a dragon, and something precious is stolen.

From the sound of the person's footsteps, which were barely audible in the first place, they were not a prince or knight. If they were, they would be wearing armor, which would be making lots of noise. This mean that whoever they were, they were not here to rescue her.

Kendria reached for the nightstand to light the lamp, but noticed something else. Her crown was missing. She realized who was in her room.

"Stop! Thief!" she cried, moving to jump out of bed.

The thief was faster and moved to hold her down, covering her mouth to prevent her screaming again. She struggled against him, managing to kick in hard in the chest. He staggered back, clutching his stomach.

"You're one of them Jack fellows!" she exclaimed. "A petty thief! I'll see that Dobbilan eats you!"

"I am not!" coughed the thief. "A petty thief, sniveling princess!"

"Oh really?" sneered Kendria, "Then what's your name?"

The man paused before answering.

"Jack…" he finally said, Kendria snorted. "But that is pure coincidence! Those pathetic Englishmen don't know the first thing about stealing! They come here and win the sympathy of the giantess then run off in the night! Where is the challenge in that!?"

"You're sneaking in here at night, avoiding all contact with the giants! You are no better than them."

"I am much better than them! I am the youngest Master Thief in the land! No one should know that I was here until I am long gone!"

"Why should a master thief be bothered with giants?"

"This giant currently possesses something the guild wants, and I was assigned to retrieve it."

Kendria was about to say something but Jack cut her off.

"They are fully aware of the irony in sending me here. I imagine they are having a good laugh back at headquarters."

"How did you even get in here? This place is enchanted to the foundations! There is a reason the Jacks use the front door."

"Thief magic is special," he said, smiling in the dark, " We don't tend to enchant things or ourselves, but learn to manipulate the spells of others. Not a lot, just enough for us to slip past any traps or protections."

"I guess that makes sense," said Kendria.

A loud thumbing suddenly reached them. That could only mean one thing.

"You foolish princess, look what you've done! You've woken it!" Jack cursed.

"Yeah, well now you'll get what's coming to you- HEY!" exclaimed the princess as Jack grabbed her.

She was not skilled in any sort of fighting, but Jack was. He put her in a hold, and drew a dagger, placing it against her throat.

"You make a sound, and you die!" he ordered, "I'm not going to let myself be giant food!"

Kendria nodded, but had to work hard to resist. Tears were came to her eyes as the cold blade pressed against her skin.

He pulled her along with him out of her chamber. It just as dark everywhere else, but Jack seemed to be able to move confidently. She could try and use magic to escape, but he might get mad and kill her anyway. She wasn't confident enough in her skills to fight against him.

They made slow progress, going through each massive room. Kendria did not ask where they were headed.

"Please let me go, I won't scream!" pleaded Kendria, trying to stay quiet.

"You can't fool me princess."

"What do I have to gain by your death!?" she managed.

Jack sighed, "You are slowing me down, but don't you dare run off! I still don't trust you."

He released her and she fell to the ground, sobbing and wheezing quietly. She looked around, now that she could.

They were in the kitchen, right next to the cauldron of plenty. Jack was looking at it, like it scared him somehow.

"What in the gods names is that!?" he asked.

"It's just a cauldron!" gasped Kendria.

"A cauldron that could explode the moment someone tries to cook in it! It may go off even if it's left alone!"

"What? No, I just fixed it!" said Kendria.

"It's got an infinity matrix! But it's badly inverted, and overloaded!"

"I did not realize. Can you do something?" asked Kendria

"Why should I?"

"I'll scream if you don't!" she threatened.

"You wouldn't! You promised!"

Kendria stared him down, and he conceded.

"Fine!"

It only took him a few minutes, and the use of something from his bag. When he finished he came right up to her. He was taller than she was, and looked down seriously.

"You owe me some key magical ingredients there, princess," he hissed.

"If you survive this, I'll see to it that they are replaced," she assured him, as they moved on to the next room.

Eventually they made it to a long hallway with magnificent doors on either side. Jack seemed to forget about her now, and started behaving like she wasn't there. He crouched down, moving with such silence that, if she hadn't been with him, she wouldn't have known he was even there.

She just stood and stared. He had been telling the truth, he wasn't just some random Jack, sent by his impoverished mother to gain fame and fortune; he was a real thief, a trained thief. Sometimes she lost him in the shadows, it was so dark in here.

Then, he disappeared under a doorway.

"Hey!" she called, and followed him.

It was a storeroom; full of common, and uncommon items. Each corner was filled, and every shelf was nearly toppling over with the amount of items it was being forced to carry. She suspected they were reinforced with magic.

He was ignoring the gold, magic swords, rings, and amulets; climbing up one of the piles of items to get onto a shelf. Kendria lifted her nightgown enough to let her struggle up after him.

As she pulled herself up, she saw him stuff something in his bag. Then the door handle rattled.

Jack turned to her.

"What did you do!?" he cried.

And he kicked her off the shelf.

She was caught in strong hands, giant hands. Dobbilan had arrived. He placed her back on the shelf, and lit a lamp, casting shadows around the room. The light hit his face, making it look menacing, even in his nightcap. He breathed out and in, in a celebrate fashion. Jack backed away. So did Kendria.

"Fe Fi Fo Fum," He bellowed. "I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread."

His voice had dropped an entire octave, and Kendria almost cried in fear. Jack, on the other hand, seemed unimpressed at the musing of a being a over three times his size.

"Shows what you know! I'm not English!" he shouted.

Dobbilan raised an eyebrow. "Then what is your purpose here, human? I doubt you are here for my dear princess. Though, it concerns me that she is with you."

"I'm not here for your stupid girl! I have my own business!"

"It seems like that business it mine as well, since this is my house!" Dobbilan growled, "And I do not think you should call anything that is mine, stupid."

He was right, Kendria had since forgotten her fear, and was now annoyed. Jack had insulted her too many times. It was time to do something about him.

"What do you think should be done with him Kendria?"

"He is not English, so it would be improper for you to grind his bones. I think I should just banish him. He may die anyways, I'm not that good with spells," she suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea,"

Jack was now looking at her with fear in his eyes. She raised her hands, muttering the spell that would send him far away. Then he leaped at her, just as she finished casting.

"You didn't think getting rid of me would be that easy!?" he said.

But she had finished the spell; only he had done something to it. His cursed thief magic, he had modified it! She felt herself being transported away, still attached to him.

When they landed, it was in a place just as dark, but much warmer. They were surrounded by smooth, warm stones. In fact, they were glowing softly. Where were they?

"Princess?" whispered Jack, "we have to get out of here. Now."

"Where are we?" she asked, not whispering.

"Be quiet!" he hushed, taking her hand and leading her away from the stones into the cold cavern.

Something moved behind them. Kendria turned around. Above the stones, on a rocky outcrop, was a dragon. They were in a dragon's cave! In a dragon's nest! The dragon opened its eyes, which gleamed softly. It smiled, revealing sharp, white fangs.

"Why did you take us here!?" demanded Kendria.

"I didn't! Your spell was meant for one person, I made it take two. We're lucky we didn't end up in the rock wall!" he said, "But we need to go now! Either run, or transport us again!"

The dragon was moving.

"THIEEEEVESSSSSSS" it hissed, crawling down to get in-between them and the eggs. Its tail flicked madly about.

"My apologies, dragon!" cried Kendria, "A simple, transportation accident, we did not mean to come here. We did not come to steal from you."

"Then what is he doing with THAT!" demanded the dragon.
Kendria instinctively looked at Jack.

He had just put an egg into that blasted bag of his. It must be a bag of holding! Realized Kendria. But that wasn't the issue, he had just stolen a dragon's egg. They were ash for sure.

"And you called me stupid!" she bellowed. They started running through the caves. She was so mad she would have hit him until the end of his days, but she was a little preoccupied with not being burnt to a crisp.

"Still not stupid, princess, Kendria was it?" he said thoughtfully. "I have you with me, and you can still get us out of here. Just cast another spell."

"You think it's that simple do you!? I'm not some mage who performs on command! And you didn't have to steal the egg!"

"Oh yes I did! I didn't get what I wanted from the giant, thanks to you. This egg will assure I am made a Master Thief!"

"I thought you said you were," she breathed, it was hard to shout at him while running from a fire-breathing dragon. " 'The youngest Master Thief in the land!' As I recall."

"Well, if I completed my mission I would be. This is just as good though, I am sure committee won't mind it not being exactly what they requested."

Somehow the made it out of the caves, and began running down the mountain side. It was much brighter outside, due to moonlight, but they were still being followed by the dragon.

Then more roaring could be heard, though very distant. More dragons! There was no way they could run fast enough to avoid them all. The first one, once it exited the cave, had taken to the air, and began to breath fire down upon them.

Kendria threw up a simple ward, but it was taken down quickly. Her magic was no match for dragon fire. Jack was right, she had to use magic to get them away, not to fight.

They dived behind a large bolder. She took his hands in hers, glaring into his eyes. He knew that if she could, she would leave him here.

She muttered some words, this time keeping in mind that she wasn't transporting alone.

They vanished.