A Lizard-Man's Tale of Thievery 2

Settling dust veils the laboratory. Hagrtich stands at the black altar, the angular relic clenched in one clawed hand, while blue ward-fire spits across the only clear route to the exit.

The vizier advances through the haze, crimson robes dragging over powdered stone. His uncovered eye fixes on the relic, while the black-veiled side of his face remains unreadable.

Behind him, the surviving attendant, a young adult man with a lean build, short brown hair, and a soot-streaked face beneath a tan utility coat, grips the chains with both hands. His companion lies buried beneath the fallen shelves, and jars continue breaking around the motionless mound.

Within the widening breach, the chained prisoner strains again. A vast black limb presses against the opening, and the remaining links shriek as blue fire crawls over them.

The relic stays cold against Hagrtich’s palm, but its silence deepens. Between him and the exit, broken wards spit and flare, leaving only brief gaps in the burning path.

Hagrtich stuffs the angular relic into a deep compartment of his layered leather backpack and snaps its worn clasp shut. Then he drops onto all fours.

His immense grey-brown form surges across the altar stones. The vizier recoils from the charging claws and tail, stumbling aside as the creature’s momentum scatters ash and broken ward-fire.

Hagrtich does not slow. He slams shoulder-first into the cracked wall beside the breach, widening the opening with a thunderous collapse. Stone tears his left shoulder, drawing a hot line of blood.

Dust boils through the new gap. Hagrtich claws into the opening, dragging his backpack and long tail after him as rubble crashes behind, sealing the vizier’s direct pursuit.

The relic is secured, and the Waking World’s cold air reaches me through the broken wall.

Hagrtich crawls through the jagged breach into open air. Cold wind washes dust from his scales as moonlight catches the relic’s hidden weight beneath his cloak and pack.

He twists on the rubble-strewn ground and whips his long patterned tail through the broken wall. Stones tumble inward, packing tightly against the torn opening.

A final sweep of his tail drives loose masonry into a thick mound. The passage seals beneath a grinding collapse, leaving no body-sized gap between the laboratory and the night.

From beyond the rubble, the surviving attendant drops the chains and claws at the stones. The chained prisoner’s vast limb thrashes behind him, while blue fire gutters across the buried laboratory.

Outside, Hagrtich remains crouched in the cold open air, separated from the vizier and attendant by the reinforced mound. The relic is secured, and pursuit cannot follow immediately.