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Lucinder stepped through the portal Gate, and nervously glanced around at her unfamiliar surroundings. It was inherently dangerous, coming to old, forgotten worlds such as this. The Master Mage had briefed her on what little they knew of her strange location, and none of it sounded good. "Here be dragons", he'd warned with a wrinkled frown, before sending her on her merry way.

Her MagiMetre whirred and beeped in her soft, grey-handed grip, and she hoped this would be an easy task to complete for much-needed merit. Her long ears pricked, picking up warbling tree birds and the rustle of leaves in the morning breeze. Thankfully this was a breathable planet, and she didn't have to needlessly deplete her limited source of Power just to function.

A High-Energy spike was far up ahead, judging by the luminous display on her gadget, and with a rolling of her shoulders, and a cricking of her neck to limber herself up, she began to tread.

Her eyes flitted to the nearby rocky outcrops, spying for big-toothed monsters, and to the deep forest behind in case something hungry came a-leaping. Be just her luck to wind up as a snack for some alien beast! Her heart thumped. She wasn't the adventurous sort. The past twelve years had been spent in cosy, sunlit rooms back at the Polytechnic, pondering the source and purpose of Magick, attending lectures and even giving a few of her own, attempting to narrow down the definition of the Universe's most cryptic source of energy and potential.

Magick was her life. She'd known since she was a young cub that this was her calling. She'd run around the local nature park with a crude piece of tree branch that she had dubbed 'Ethemerial', (because all registered amulets, staffs and totems had to have monikers), zapping at her pals, using her imagination to turn them into weird and wonderful creatures, like humans. She'd paid attention in class, when they'd learned about the Institute of Sorcery, and one of their own DemiMages had graced them with their presence - letting them pass around an almost fully depleted charm, touching it and trying it on their wrist, hoping to capture their imagination and plant a seed of fascination in Arcane subjects.

It had worked like, well, a charm, on Lucinder. She'd taken books out of the school library telling the feats and achievements of some of the most powerful sorcerers of her time, and ages past.

It had all lead her to this. A position on the Council of Sorcerers. LayMage. It was entry level, and nowhere near as cushy as she'd like, but you had to start somewhere, didn't you? It was her duty to track down artefacts of Power that weren't registered. Only those trained in the arts should have access to them, and here she was on her first official Retrieval, to bring back a Tri-Horn sceptre that had been causing havoc. Wild, raw, natural magick was unpredictable and dangerous

Like the dragons she'd been warned of.

A shadow upon the ground in front of her nearly sent her diving into a handy, yet spiky, bush.

Collecting herself, she clutched at her necklace and crouched, staring at the circling shape. It was certainly dragon-like! Outstretched wings swooped, and long legs dangled.

She wasn't keen to take on a draconish menace. Not right out of the Gate! They were meant to be rare, and in hiding for the most part. Not just flapping about without a care in the world.

Her mind immediately went to a flee option. She had the Pocket Portal. One click, and she could be at another Gate.

Ah, but the sceptre was so close! To bring it back, and have it put in the safety of the Hold would guarantee her job. As it stood, she was on a temporary placement under performance monitoring.

Trembling slightly, she remained, waiting for the airborne menace to change direction.

Her MagiMetre began shrilling. Hardly surprising, really. Dragons would do that!

Like Magick, dragons weren't completely understood, neither. They were weaved from arcane Power yet appeared to live as organic beings. The rules of the universe did not apply to them. They could flit through time, through space, could alter appearance at will, could control lesser beings like puppets. If there was anything out there that came close to being a God, it would be a dragon. Everything could be bent to their will. Everything.

Yet, they could be killed. What was with that? Scholars could argue until they were blue in the face, there were so many theories about how such a creature could have come into existence. The most popular was that magick could control itself and didn't need a wielder. It chose a form, and that form was reptilian and magnificent. Dragons, it could be said, believed themselves into being. Belief was what magick relied on, after all. You could have the densest high-energy totem ever recorded, but if you didn't believe it could do anything, then it was merely a trinket.

Training in magick wasn't a case of pointing and zapping, like her much younger self thought it was. It was a true discipline of the mind.

The dragon reeled and turned back. Lucinder made very sure it was gone and not thinking of returning before she stood up, smoothed out her regulation bronze-hemmed white robes that indicated her status and zoomed out on her MagiMetre screen. It had two flashing dots upon its radius now, the Sceptre a long way ahead, and the dragon menace close by. She took a guess it had alighted at the wooded copse at the edge of her vision, where the valley began to fall away toward a river.

No time to waste! She cursed the impractical length of her working outfit, bunched up the billowing hem in her grey fists and smartly picked up the pace, soon finding a set of wheel ruts in the dirt accompanied by many boot-prints. Littered junk from a travelling party was scattered around, soon escalating into what was looking like an army on the march ahead of her, as many more heavy wagon trails became apparent, with moon-shaped prints from beasts of burden pulling them.

Worry gnawed at her. An army was a bad sign. Her brief had failed to mention that the current wielder of the Tri-Horn Sceptre was waging war. As far as she'd been aware, the mad rat was a lone fugitive, gone into hiding on a backwater planet full of wild beasts, devoid of other lifeforms of the educated, sentient kind.

No, she told herself, she was letting her imagination get away from her. It was most likely a dragon that had been meddling here, if there was an army of hobgoblins or gnomes or something, they would be under the direction of a Great Scaled One, collecting up precious resources as they were wont to do.

The rat would be hiding out alone in a cave somewhere. Doubtless hadn't a clue what it was he actually had in his scrabbly claws. Oblivious. This mission was going to be a piece of cake. Easy peasy. A doddle. The Master Mage wouldn't have sent her on her own into danger full knowing, of course not. It wasn't like the Institute was incompetent, they just couldn't know everything. And, anyway, she had her shiny new Elevated Grade amulet, 'Chanlon' to protect her. She was going to be a big girl and pull this off, without having to send out a call for backup, or embarrassing herself by depleting her Power before she'd even got around to wrestling the sceptre from the squeaky rodent. She'd got her comfy shoes on, (the ones with the memory foam insoles). She was always telling herself she needed more fresh air and exercise, instead of being cooped up in stuffy academic halls. This was going to be a regular occurrence in her line of work now, so she'd best get used to it. She'd packed snacks and a drink in her belt pouch.

She'd camped out in the garden back home a few times in her youth, when it was summer. Being outdoors was great. Except when it was raining, or cold. Or too hot, even, she'd almost got sunburn once. Aardvark's don't go a healthy shade when they tan like other races, they just get grey-er. It wasn't a desired look. But that wouldn't happen, she had her full robes on, she was going to be fine. She would look back on this short expedition and be proud of herself.

Short expedition.

That had been the promise, at any rate. 'We've got a Gate in close proximity to the target', they'd said. 'You won't need to worry about spending the night', they'd said. 'Pack light', they'd said.

Now it was looking like she'd been stitched up, because she'd been walking hours and that damned flashing spot on her radar was still the same distance away from her. She was hot, and sweaty, and upset. She should have known something like this would happen. Girls didn't usually get into the Council, it was a bunch of miserable old men. The lucky few who did, all stood down from their positions voluntarily after about a year, with no comment or ceremony. Lucinder had vowed that it would be different for her, she was a modern woman who didn't take any crap, and she wouldn't be forced out of her dream job by an outdated belief in gender roles. Yet here she was, alone on an alien planet, single-handedly searching for a rat who'd stolen a Sceptre from under the Council's noses from their high-level security stronghold. Almost like they were hoping to accidentally 'lose' her. She had to do everything by the book if she wanted to succeed. Every use of magick from her amulet should be logged. The rat had to be contained humanely and brought back with her. The sceptre had to be returned in one piece and she was not authorised to use it no matter the circumstances. The Pocket Portal had to have its locator switched on so she could be tracked and spied on, to stop her deviating from her destination. They'd take any excuse they could get to wring their hands and look sad while telling her that her placement had been unsuccessful.

She stopped with a 'humph'. Maybe she should just use her amulet and teleport to the rat's location? They couldn't argue with that, could they? They wanted the Sceptre back, didn't they? It always seemed so odd that the Institute treated magick as a rare resource that should be used sparingly, when her studies had proven it was present in abundance. Were they trying to create a false sense of scarcity for the security and safety of all? To stop untrained wannabe mages looking for magick in the wild? Or were they simply collecting up all of the Power for themselves? Probably that last one.

There was a whistling sound and she flinched as a blue glow surrounded her. A volley of primitive arrows thudded into the soft soil beside her. She spun round, frightened, as curious creatures advanced on her, notching more arrows into their bows, and unsheathing pointed blades.

Her protective sigils had activated, shielding her from harm. They wouldn't last forever, so she had to act quick. The air shimmered as a wave of energy left her grey palm, knocking them back. They'd fired upon her, and lethal force could be authorised in this scenario, but that was a lot of paperwork back in the office.

While they were scrambling to get up, she tried communication, "I am a LayMage from the Council of Sorcerer's and I mean you no harm," she trilled, wobbily. It was a silly thing to say, they wouldn't understand, but that was the line she'd been trained to announce her presence with.

The band of armed animals failed to be impressed, brushed themselves off and rushed her again.

"Stop making me use my magick on you!" she cursed, sending them flying again. "You can't hurt me, I have a ward activated!"

They paused and huddled together, having an urgent discussion.

"You're a mage?" one asked.

Lucinder sighed, "yes, of course! Can't you see the magick around me?"

Evidently, they could not.

"Our Lord is looking for mages to employ in his army. He will pay handsomely."

The others nodded.

"Your Lord? Is he a dragon?"

"No, he's a rat. Lord Nisgarant; bringer of woe, master of terror, wielder of the Tri-Corn Horn Sceptre."

"Ah." Shit. Her fears had been realised. The rat was leading an army.

They raised their weapons once again. "Come with us." It didn't sound like a passive request.

"I'll... think about it?" She said, weaving a net of magick deftly, aiming to collect them up in it as a last resort before having to hurt them. They were clearly going to goad her into using up all her Power otherwise, before slitting her delicate neck, if she didn't come with them. Using magick in combat was a whole other branch that she'd never trained in. Five to one were not good odds.

This was what the Institute was trying to stamp out - needless violence! Magick should be used to create, to heal, to make worlds a better place for all. A world in which everyone had all they needed was a world where nobody needed to fight.

Before she could cast her binding web of power, a thundering black monstrous wild animal burst onto the scene, charging headlong into the path of the rat's soldiers, sending them packing with a toss of its horned nose and the crashing of its mighty hooved feet. It roared and screamed, nipping at their retreating heels before coming to a skidding halt and turning to face Lucinder with blazing eyes.

Still in a panicked state, she let the net go with a whirl and it landed upon the vicious beast, tightening its grip around its muscled bulk, to bring it to a constricted stop. It blinked.

Her heart hammered. What was this bizarre thing? It looked like a horse, and a big one at that, but it had a horn at its nose, and a pair of leathery bat wings jutting from its shoulders. Now she had a good look at it, it reminded her of that dragon she had seen circling in the sky earlier. Well, she had thought it was a dragon. It had the magick flare of one...

Her MagiMetre screen showed two blue flashing dots. The Sceptre still in the far distance, up ahead, and another one. Right behind her.

The 'dragon', or whatever it was, struggled in front.

Her stomach fell away, as she prepared to turn around to face whatever was radiating out the High-Energy signal.