• The sun began to set on the town of Rokano, as the gates began to close up for the night. The quiet town hadn't seen much excitement, even during the last war. Yet the Mayor was a cautious man, and assumed that it was better to be safe and close the gates up for the night, then to need them closed and have them wide open. The old gates creaked on there old hinges and were just about to close, when a merchant's caravan pulled up.

    The guard went up to the first wagon, pulling down on the edge of his pie-plate-like helmet to look more intimidating. "I'm sorry but you cannot stop here" He said with an air of authority "We are closing up for the night." The head merchant poked his piggish head out of the wagon. "And just where exactly am I supposed to stop?!?" He shouted furiously, His face becoming red and his bristly moustache flaring out. "The next town is nearly a day away, And what of bandits, or worse, wild Anthropes?". "Now look here Goodsir, I have my orders to carry out." the guard said, a litte taken back at what the merchant said. Yet before the guard could continue he was interrupted by the merchant, who was now stepping down from the wagon. The merchant's stature was short and his uppity mood would easily allow someone's mind to think of him as some small annoying lapdog.

    While the merchant argued with the guard, no-one noticed a cloaked youth sneaking past the guard and enterering the city through the still partialy opened gate. The youth ducked into the narrow alleyway between a bakery and a grocer's. Quickly, he unbuttoned the back of his trousers and pulled his ringed-tail out, wagging it around, streaching out to relieve the stiffness. He lowered his hood and let his ears flop out. He shook his head and let out a sigh of relief as he scratched his ears and ran a paw through his unruly longer, black headfur. Rao hated hiding as a human but it was a necessity. If anyone caught an unacompanied, un-collared anthrope within the city, he would probably be killed with out any question and then skinned. And the young raccoon was quite fond of his pelt being right where it was.

    Rao's stomach growled, bringing with it the sharp pains of starvation. Rao lifted up his tunic, examining his belly with his bright green eyes. His ribs were alot more visible today, reminding him of just exactly how long it had been since he last ate. After rebuckling his belt, Rao held his stomach attempting to quiet the noises and dull the pains. He then noticed one of the day old loaves of bread sitting in a basket on the back step. Drooling, Rao reached out and took hold of a golden loaf. It was food! He sat down, and ate the loaf quickly as if it was going to dissapear on him amid the loaf. It was dry and a bit stale, but it temporarily quieted his stomach.

    A small drop of rain landed on top of Rao's muzzle. Startled at first, Rao shook. Then, He looked up. Dark clouds were forming in the darkening sky. The air grew damp with the anticipation of rain. Rao smiled. He liked it when it rained. Rao stood up and held his arms up to greet the rain as it came down. He closed his eyes and lifted his head, embracing the first cool drops rain fall on his face. And for a slight moment, Rao forgot that he was alone and starving.

    The rain started to came down harder. Rao opened his eyes, lowering his head. his face and headfur were dripping with rainwater. He needed to find a dryer place to hide. Shaking what rainwater he could from his face, Rao climbed the stair to the grocer's. He reached his paw into his purse as he examined the lock, trying to decide on which pick to use. He could easily recognize each pick by touch. For a moment, his fingers rested on his father's prize, a pick fashioned from the bones of a baby dragon's wing. WingBone, as Rao's father called it, was the signature tool of the former locksmith. Nearly any lock could be picked with WingBone, even those that were magically enchanted. Rao thought of digging it out and using it on the lock, but decided to use an iron pick instead. "WingBone would have been overkill." He said as he skillfully put the pick to it's task. Then, twisting the knob, Rao let himself in.

    Rao shook himself as dry as possible and looked around the quiet room, his eyes adjusting to the darker light inside the grocer's. Fruits and
    vegetables were neatly placed on rows of display tables, each covered in a layer of burlap. The scents of fruit, vegetables, burlap and dust blended together in a unique aroma that permeted the walls, hiding the aroma of the aged wood. He took a couple of burlap sacks off of the apples and laid them down as a crude bedroll. He hadn't expect the rain to come, so he left most of his gear inside the hollow of an ancient tree that made up his home. Taking an apple he sat on the floor near his makeshift bedroll. "Well, it's dirty and smells a bit odd," he thought as he bit into the apple "but it's dry." Rao laid down on
    the burlap sacks, munching away on the apple, and waiting for the rain to stop.

    The rain slowly stopped an hour after the sun had fallen. Rao sat up. It was time. He tidyed up the grocer's place, erasing any sing that he had been there. Pulling his hood back on and tucking his tail back into his trousers, He entered back into the alley, locking the door behind him. He snuck out of the alley and started heading for the Winged Badger Inn, taking every precaution to keep from being seen by anyone. Though the Winged Badger was in the center of town and would make for a difficult get away, there was a tree near the inn that grew up to the third story, where the richest people would stay. That's where the payload would come from.

    By the middle watch, Rao was fifty yards from the inn. The tree that grew up to the third floor was near the stables. Rao snuck over as quietly as he could towards the tree. He took off his shoes, it was much easier to climb the tree without them anyways. His claws dug into the bark of the old tree. Paw over paw he went, scaling ever closer to the payoff. He had managed to climb about half way up when he heard the 'shhk shhk shhk' of a groom sweeping the ballast-stone courtyard behind the inn. Rao froze, tightening nearly every muscle of his body. His bright green eyes focused on the youth watching his every move. his ear's twitched and swivveled. Rao's mind raced franticly, "Was I noticed? did he see me? Please, let him not look over here. anywhere but here" The young elf stopped sweeping to streach, he then noticed Rao's shoes laying at the base of the tree. "now that's a bit odd?" the groom thought as he walked towards the tree. "I don't think I;ve ever seen them before?" The groom picked them up and looked around. "Perhaps the innkeeper left them here for me. What luck!" Rao cursed under his breath as the groom began putting Rao's shoes on his bare feet. The elf looked around again. "That's odd. I swore I heard somebody." The young elf shrugged it off. when the elf returned to his sweeping, Rao relaxed and then climbed higher.

    When he was high enough he looked around for a branch close to a window's ledge. There was one! He took a few tender steps on the branch, arms streached out. He then began to wobble, quickly he fell on all four paws and gripped into the bark. Cursing again, Rao unbuttoned the tailhole in his
    trousers and pulled his tail out again. It was so hard for him to ballance without his tail. He wondered how Humans ever managed to be acrobats without them. He slowly released his grip from the bark and stood up. He began to sneak out onto the branch. Just as he about reached the ledge of the third story window, the branch beneath him snapped and his heart stopped beating for amoment.

    Rao caught the edge of the window sill, his heart started to beat hard, making up for lost time. Rao was gasping and swallowing his thickening saliva. He held on to the wood by his fingertips. Rao then heard footsteps running across the courtyard. The groom was comming to investigate the sound. Rao panicked! He was about to be caught. He started to pull himself onto the ledge. He then heard the groom cry out, "There's a Raccoon trying to break in!"
    He had been spotted. The elf ran into the in, no doubt to get the manager. Rao had to get in, and fast. He managed to pull himself up and was now precariously ballanced on the ledge of a third story window. he then unsheathed his hunting knife and slid it between the panes in the window. Footsteps could now be hear comming from the front door. he lifted the latch and the windows swung out. He hadn't expected that. he dropped his knife and was now attempting to get his ballance. "There he is!" cried the groom, just as Rao dove into the room.

    "That was close." Rao said as he let out a sigh of relief. He then felt the blade of a sword rest against his neck followed by a man's voice saying "Yeah,
    wouldn't want to get caught, now would we?"