The wooden planks beneath Peri's feet were silent as she made her way down the dock toward a seemingly empty stone warehouse. On all four of its sides was an enormous C, painted on sloppily by someone who had places to be. The moon hung full in the sky above her, illuminating the normally shady nooks and crannies Peri prefered when scoping out a meeting place. She wrapped her cloak tighter around her as the wind coming off of the sea threatened to tear it away and stepped closer to the warehouse. She was just wondering how she would get in through the locked door before her when they opened, seemingly of their own accord. They swung wide, revealing boxes stacked up in great piles that reached all the way up to the ceiling way overhead. Someone had cleared away the boxes in the center of the room, leaving an empty space. Empty, that is, except for the man standing there, his face shadowed by the flickering lights of the torches that lined the room. Peri stepped forward into the torchlight, unwilling to go any closer to this strange man.

"Is this our thief?" the man asked, in a voice both cold and rough, reminding her of a grizzly bear. She frowned, wondering who the man was talking to.

"Yes, sir," a voice spoke out of the shadows, and Peri wasn't surprised to recognize the cool voice of the man she'd met in the alley.

"Good. Come here, little girl."

Peri stiffened and had to choke back a biting comment, and strode over to the man, keeping a good distance between the two of them. Now that she was closer, Peri could make out the man's features: he had dark skin and a sharp face, like that of a bird of prey, and his eyes were a steely grey that seemed to cut through your defenses and see right down to your core. His hair, also black, was shaved close to his skull. As she studied him, the man studied her, his eyes travelling up and down her body. After a short moment of silence, the man spoke again.

"Hello, little girl," he said with a smirk, as if he knew that the new nickname grated against Peri's nerves. "I'm sure you're wondering who I am and what I want."

Peri didn't say anything, just nodded her head to acknowledge that she was listening.

"I am called Smoke," the man continued, oblivious to Peri's hostility. "And I want you to get me something."

Peri, her face still shadowed by her hood, rolled her eyes, mouthing 'no, duh'. In a flash, Smoke had closed the distance between them and seized her by the front of her cloak, bringing his face close to hers, close enough that she could see the individual pores on his face.

"Do not disrespect me, little girl," he hissed, his steely eyes blazing with anger. "I can ruin your life with one quick snap of my fingers, and there would be nothing you could do or say to change it. There are things worse than death, little girl, and I can make sure you experience them to the fullest."

Peri tried to swallow past the sudden lump of fear in her throat, something she was unfamiliar with. With all her other clients, she'd always known she'd be able to handle them if things came to a fight, but with this man, Peri knew she wouldn't stand a chance. There was something strange about him, something unnatural that set him apart.

"Do you understand?"

Peri nodded hastily, trying to calm her racing pulse.

"Answer me."

"Y-yes," she stammered, then cleared her throat and answered more strongly. "Yes."

Smoke released her cloak and pushed her back with a shove, but Peri had recovered her wits and didn't stumble. He smoothed out his shirt and took a breath, and just like that he was calm again.

"Now, what I want is very rare and hard to come by," he continued, as if nothing had happened. "And I need the best. Morgan assures me that you are the best, if a bit disrespectful, so I don't think I need to go over the formalities."

Smoke gave her a look that dared her to say otherwise. When she said nothing, he nodded and continued.

"The Riders are coming at dawn with a shipment of dragon eggs, and for one day they will reside here in Dragon's Landing. A very short window of time. The next day they will move on to the next city and I will have to go through the trouble of travelling there, finding another skilled thief, and get in contact with them all in one day, not to mention that they have to get ahold of the item before midnight, when the Riders depart each city. And should you fail, well, things won't go very well for you. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Peri said, realizing where this was going. "You want one of them."

Smoke smiled at her, but it was a cold, predatory smile that made her want to run and hide.

"One of the dragon's eggs, yes."

Peri nodded, spirits sinking. The penalty for stealing a dragon egg was death, if she was caught, and the penalty for refusing this job would most certainly be death as well. Very high stakes for a few measly coins. But Smoke had her trapped, and she couldn't back out now.

"In return for your services, I will grant you riches beyond your wildest dreams, perhaps enough for you to move out of that shack you live in and buy a proper house."

Peri's eyes widened in surprise; she'd been certain that no one had ever seen her enter her house, through the alley or through a break in the walls. Wrong again, Peri, she thought resignedly.

"Do we have a deal?"

Peri returned her gaze to Smoke and mulled over all this in her mind. Seeing no way out now, she nodded and Smoke held out a hand, which she accepted and shook. He snapped his fingers and the man she'd met in the alley, presumably Morgan, was beside in an instant, making no noise to warn Peri of his approach. She had to bite her lip so she didn't jump and give away her knife's position, and she cast a sideways glance at Morgan. He held a piece of parchment in his gloved hand and a quill in the other, which had been dipped in ink. Sighing, Peri picked up the quill and scanned over the parchment, making sure there was nothing Smoke had added that he'd 'forgotten' to mention. Finding nothing that raised any alarm bells, Peri scrawled her loopy signature at the bottom of the paper. Morgan whipped the parchment away, like he was afraid she would undo the ink on the paper- or maybe he just felt like being dramatic. She gave the quill back and glanced at Smoke, who waved her away in dismissal. Eager to get out of the warehouse, Peri hurried to the door and stepped back out onto the docks. While she'd been inside, she hadn't noticed how hot it had gotten inside her cloak, but now that she was outside in the cool ocean air and away from the intimidating presence of Smoke, she practically melted. For once not caring who saw, she ripped her hood away from her face and took a deep, steadying breath, tasting the salt in the air. With a wary glance behind her she started off back towards the city, then stopped, turning back to face the open warehouse doors. Every single torch that had lit the room was quenched, not even smoking like ordinary fires might, and Smoke and Morgan where gone, like they'd vanished into thin air. Shivering, and not from the cold, Peri tugged her hood back up and turned on her heel, starting back towards her home.

"Blasted witchcraft," she muttered as she walked, casting suspicious glances around her. She felt eyes on her, although she couldn't find their owners, and it sent chills running up and down her spine.

She walked all the way back to her secret tunnel and still couldn't shake the feeling. She considered staying somewhere else tonight, in case whoever was watching her was trying to find her lair, but she was just to tired and worn out. It didn't matter anyway. It was probably a spy of Smoke's and he'd already told her that he knew where she stayed. Throwing aside caution, she kicked the board out of the way and disappeared into the tunnel, dragging the board back into place and hurrying home. Too exhausted to change into something to sleep in, she dropped her cloak on the floor and fell into bed still wearing her work clothes and fell asleep instantly, half of her body hanging off the side of the bed, her fingertips brushing the floor. She had the vague sense that she'd forgotten something, something important, but she couldn't remember what. As her eyelids slid closed, her bleary gaze landing on her cloak, crumpled on the floor by the doorway, just like earlier today when she'd… she'd…