The Ghost, His Shadow, and The Adventurer

Neyrelle had spent the better half of (what she was pretty sure was the day) scouting about Atlantis for passageway into the Queen’s treasury. She had made it this far alone and relying on her clever confidence, but now it seemed almost impossible to make it any further without some assistance. At the very least she would need someone to watch her back when she snuck into the treasury to get what she could before the entirety of Atlantis was filled with seawater.. But who could she trust? Approaching any oviraptors, euoplos, and iggies was practically out of the question, but there didn’t seem to be much else exactly down here..That was until she spotted the pale ghostly figure of another utah and a brown crested utah trailing behind him.

She carefully crept up to them, dodging and weaving the many Oviraptors who padded around the place - each of them seeming to be on a mission. She grew closer and closer, until she rounded a corner of a building only to find they had disappeared. It wasn’t until she felt talons dig into her back and push her to the ground that she realized she had also been seen.

“So, do I kill her?” A gruff feminine voice asked.

“No, not yet, I want to know why she’s here.”

‘Great’ Neyrelle thought to herself as she felt the talons threatening to break skin against her back. She came here to try and get into the treasury, and by chasing down a ghost and his shadow she had been caught.. What would an Atlantean do to a surface dweller caught if she admitted to trying to get into the Queen’s treasury? She huffed, rolling her head to the side to get a look at her attacker.. Only to be pleasantly surprised by the brown shadow that had been lurking behind the ghostly figure.

“Oh!” She exclaimed seeming relieved,”-- And here I thought some giant Oviraptor was pinning me down! Now, can you let me up?” Neyrelle asked.

The brown figure looked over at the white who gave a shrug. She seemed to take it as a sign to get off as Neyrelle felt the female’s weight shift off her shoulders, although she didn’t go far.

“I’m Neyrelle,” She said as she got up and puffed out her shuffled plumage to rearrange everything,”Who are you?”

The brown raptor looked again towards the pale male. Her expression seemed uncertain, but his was directed and focused.

“Lucent.” He introduced himself confidently and calmly as he gestured over towards the female with a bare talon,”This is my companion Themis.”

There was something in Lucent’s eyes that Themis wasn’t sure about. It was that look he got when he was concocting a plan.. And while she trusted him whole heartedly, that confident look always meant something fun and or devastating was about to happen. 

“Perfect,” Neyrelle chirped.. She still didn’t trust these two especially after the ‘should I kill’ comment but she was choosing to brush past that for the moment,”I think you two are PERFECT!”

Themis shuffled away now, getting between Neyrelle and Lucent almost instinctively as Neyrelle bounced up and down stomping her talons as she spun in a circle in a little dance. Themis stared, thinking about how fucking weird this female was, but chose not to speak at the moment. She already knew she had messed up with the ‘killing’ comment - something that Lucent had gotten onto her about before - but things seemed to be going well at least for the moment.. Which was also suspicious to her. 

“Perfect for.. ?” Inquired Lucent quizzically before stepping forward, intrigued.

“I’m here because there are rumors about the Queen of Atlantis having a very mighty horde,” Neyrelle said confidently,”I’ve been monitoring their routes for the last day- I just need help actually getting in and having someone stand guard while I get in.” She had a purr to her voice that annoyed Themis even more.

Themis wasn’t exactly thrilled to be working with yet another dinosaur outside of their duo, but she could see Lucent physically perk up as Neyrelle spoke of treasures.. They had not secured any human artifacts from the convoy they had intercepted with that Tapejara flier - Cathedral he was pretty sure was her name - which as his mission was most imperative to him. If priceless human artifacts were to be anywhere.. Would they not be in the Queen’s horde? If she was a dinosaur of any taste, of course. They had already been imprisoned once and escaped, so he didn’t fancy his odds of escaping again, but the temptation proved to be too great. Plus, just like with Cathedral, he didn’t need to stick around.

“We’ll do it on the condition that any human artifacts go to us.” Lucent said as he scanned Neyrelle. 

Neyrelle paused. They actually agreed? She hadn’t entirely expected that to happen.. Now that she had made it this far she was almost nervous to be agreeing to rob a treasury vault with them. She certainly knew she couldn’t trust them, but did she have much choice? She would just have to keep her wits about her and her head on a swivel.

“Alright, follow me.”

[...]

Neyrelle guided both Themis and Lucent to the vault but she made sure that one of them stayed in the lead. Specifically Themis stayed on point- with Neyrelle trying to keep Lucent ahead of her but failing. The pale raptor gave her an unsettling vibe, especially as he stayed behind her out of sight, but from what she could gather he didn’t seem like THAT much of a fighter.. No, he seemed more like the type to get Themis to do his dirty work.. Still, walking between them felt unideal. She knew she didn’t have a choice though when she asked them to sign up. Not to mention there was still a good chance they offed her the moment they got into the vault. 

“There,” Neyrelle gestured as they peeked from behind a corner.

In front of the treasury was two shapes- the large figure of an Iguanadon and the short and stout figure of a Euoplo. Truthfully, the duo was unlike anything she had ever seen. The Iguanadon was dark and smooth-skinned, but bore probably over a dozen knicks and scars across his front limbs as well as one long scar just by his eye. The other Euoplo was also as intimidating- a monochrome colored male who carried bioluminescent metallic gear across his body. Neyrelle assumed it was the “armor” that all the above land dinos were talking about.. It was sort of horrifying seeing in person. She was pretty sure that her sickle claw couldn’t even hope to pierce it.

“Are all the guards like that?” Lucent asked quietly as he examined from a distance.. He seemed to be making the same assessments that Neyrelle found herself making.

“Unfortunately.. Yes,” She said as she sighed,”These two are about at the end of their shift- they’ll get relieved soon, but they’re all scary and armored or torn up. Always an Iguanadon and a Euoplo. Not sure why.” She shrugged,”Euoplos are suppose to be protectors to my knowledge.. But it seems she keeps an Iguanodon around just in case. Maybe it keeps them from getting any ideas.”

The trio snuck as close as they could- close enough that they were able to hear the hushed conversation of the two guards.

“Well, it sounds like the topside mission is running into a bunch of problems.” The Iguanadon said nonchalantly,”I wish Queen Rhys would assign me above ground.. I could be so much more useful there.”

“I’m sure you would make good food to an Acro,” Chuckled the Euoplo,”I am perfectly happy with vault duty.”

“But it gets so boring.” The Iguanadon said,”I didn’t get these scars by standing in front of a cracked door!”

The trio leaned back in to one another as the pair of guards didn’t seem to have any worthwhile information. 

“We’re going to have to get them to move away from the vault door.” Neyrelle said as she frowned before turning to look back over her shoulder,”The Euo has some sort of armor over his head. I swear I think it helps him spot dinosaurs going up or movement or something. He might just have wicked eyesight, but I’m sure that visor plays some sort of role in it.” She said before she turned her gaze back to the other two,”The Iguanadon I’m not sure about.. But obviously hes like.. Five times our size and then some, so we’ll have to be careful-”

“Themis.” Lucent’s voice was calm and demanding,”Go lure them away for us so that we can get into the vault.”

Neyrelle stared at him with a shocked expression. He couldn’t seriously be asking the Utahraptor to be pursued by two of the guards, was he? She blinked, opening her mouth to respond when she saw Themis start to stand.

“... You can’t be serious,” Neyrelle said as she watched Themis step forward not even hesitating.

“I would do anything for you.” Themis said turning to look her gaze at Lucent.

Neyrelle stared. Yeah, these two were definitely creepy. She watched as the brown Utahraptor charged forward closing the distance between her and the guards. Neyrelle turned to look back at Lucent who’s expression was that of utter calm and contentedness. Neyrelle blinked in surprise before turning her gaze back to the departing Themis.

“Hey! You! Stop!” Ordered the Euoplo as Themis got nearer before skidding to a stop,”Your kind isn’t supposed to be down here!” He spat as he stood and slammed his club down into the ground.

“Let alone this close to the treasury. Lay down and part your claws and we’ll go easy on you.” The scarred Iguanadon said as he stood up -  his eyes seemed to be begging Themis to run.

So, when she did, the Iguanadon was quick to charge forward like a stampeding cow. With a quickness that seemed deliberate to keep them on her tail, Themis turned and started to run in the opposite direction of Lucent and her. The Euoplo was slower to chase, but still moved a considerable way from the entrance.

“Now is our chance.” Lucent said as he got up from their hiding place and began to charge forward - hugging the wall as he did so. Neyrelle wasn’t thrilled about this plan - or how rushed it was - but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. She had gone too far to let that stop her.

She charged forward alongside Lucent. She could see in the distance the black Iguanadon still hot on Themis’ tail while the Euo waddle-ran behind. She was fairly certain they were going to make it to the vault door when she saw the Euo - already panting - come to a stop. She felt the feathers on the back of her neck tingle as she kicked it into high gear and slammed into Themis sending them both flying through the entrance of the vault. They tumbled into the dark, until the lowlight of faint orange hues of old bulbs illuminated their surroundings.

“What was that about?” Lucent snapped as he stood up ready to fight Neyrelle to the death then and there.

“The Euo was about to turn around and look at us.” She said as she got up and dusted off her feathers,”You were starting to slow down.”

Lucent stared at her for a second before letting out an indignant huff and lowering his guard. They were both where they needed to be now - they had no use for each other - but still. Lucent went straight to digging through the treasury, but Neyrelle hesitated.

“Will Themis be okay… ?” She eventually asked as she started to sort through some of the treasury. They would have to bring anything back out by talon which meant quite possibly running past the guards again.. But it would be easier if Themis kept them entertained.

“Themis is the most useful Utahraptor I’ve ever met.” Lucent remarked - Neyrelle would of taken the comment as endearing if his tone and expression wasn’t completely dead cold.. Almost as though Themis’ only worth to him was this.

“Right.. ” Neyrelle said as she found a goblet and began to fill it with gold pieces.

The duo scrounged for only a couple of seconds - they didn’t have a ton of time. During the scrounging she kept her eye on Lucent and she knew he kept his on her. It wasn’t until Neyrelle heard footsteps again that she knew her time was up. She knew those footsteps were not of the guards - but of Themis who had likely escaped the guards and come to collect her share as well. Neyrelle did not trust them - and when she saw Lucent’s head perk up at the footsteps she took his brief lapse in focus to scurry up a wall stealthily and jam herself into a crevice above them. She was well hidden and had spotted it earlier during their scrounging but made sure not to draw too much attention to it. When Themis returned, she barely seemed to break a sweat as she immediately glided over to Lucent.

“Where is she?” Themis said in an annoyed tone.

Lucent twisted his head around to look in the place where she had been. He paused, and from what Neyrelle could tell seemed to have the most amount of emotion she had seen cross the pale raptor’s face. Shock. He was not use to being caught off guard like this. 

He blinked, before turning his head back to Themis.

“We don’t have time to find her.” He stated bluntly, but his eyes were weary and Neyrelle tucked her head when his eyes scanned even the ceiling,”Just grab what you can and keep an eye out if she ambushes us.”

Themis let out a bit of a ‘tsk’ before she went to grab a pile of human-like artifacts that Lucent had set aside for her. 

“We robbed the Queen’s vault and I didn’t even get to kill someone.” She said unenthusiastically as Lucent grabbed his pile and the duo began to walk cautiously towards the exit.

“Its not too late.” Lucent said as he gave a cautious glance over his shoulder,”If someone were to follow us and ambush us we could certainly fix that.” 

Neyrelle frowned at Lucent’s not so subtle warning. Message received.. Don’t follow them. 

After she was certain they had cleared the vault Neyrelle quickly dropped down and began to gather what she could. She didn’t have much time now - certainly not much at all - before the guards came back so she had to grab what she could. Enthusiastically she reached and gripped balancing chains around her neck and rings on her talons. Once she was certain she could carry no more she approached the vault entrance and - after listening carefully first - peeked her head out to see that the guards had not yet returned. While she fought the urge to turn back and get more, she stepped out and began to make her trek to the surface.

She just hoped not to run into that strange duo again.