[Trade] Shiny things

Royal makes his way through the low grass. He flows against his belly. It is clear that a big heard of herbivores has passed through the area, the grass looks all eaten up, and hoofprints are still stuck in the mud. The last few days have been rainy, leaving puddles on the ground and muddy surfaces to walk over. 

Royal scoffs and keeps his tail up, so it will not touch the mud. He grumbles softly when he steps into a puddle he did not see on time. He ignores his now with mud decorated paw and continues on. He looks around at the giant mountaintops that surround him on every side. Only half a hour ago he was still climbing over one. The mountains are steep here, and tricky to climb, so he prefers to partly fly over them, but not to high. He might miss a nice catch or item laying on the ground if he flies too high. 

The mist still clings to the ground, and he is able to make out a small rainbow hanging above the grass. It sparkles a bit and shows him pretty colors. He walks right through it and walks on. After a moment a bright light seems to shine right into his eyes, blinding him. It comes from below the mountain he assumes. Slowly he makes his way over there. The blinding light in his face makes it hard to see anything in front of him, but he is still careful to walk around puddles and mud. With his tail still held high he walks to the light source. Only when he is right in front of a cave entrance does it shine around him, and he is able to look forward again.

In front of him lies a small golden object on the ground. He bends forward and grabs it to take a better look at it. It shines brightly when the sun reflects on it. It must have been the object that was blinding him. Only when he looks forward, he sees more of them, a whole trail leading into the cave. He stands up straight again and steps inside the cave, even though his instincts tell him to turn around and run away from it. 

The cave is dark, only a few candles are lit that lead his way through the tunnel he entered. Golden objects shine from the candlelight. They create bright patches of light on the ceiling and walls. Royal can not seem to remember soft candlelight shining hard enough to create an effect like that. 

After walking for a little while longer he starts to notice the small bright stones in the walls, shining in different colors. There are no more candles this far in, only the bright colored stones that he sees more and more of when he continues. At one point he tries to take one from the wall, but it does not budge. It pulls a little harder, but the thing is truly stuck in there. He sighs and gives up.

He walks further with his tail swooshing softly from side to side behind him. Its his sign that he is getting a bit on edge. The feeling completely disappears though, when he enters a big open space, filled to the brim with shining objects. This must be the hoard of a scavenger. Years must have been put into gathering this many shining objects. He tries not to think too much about what must be living down here and walks on. He grabs a few thing from the ground and stashes them away.

Things in every color possible are littered through the cave. It makes Royals mouth water. If he could he would have taken everything with him, but that thought quickly vanishes when he hears soft growling behind him.

His eyes widen and he slowly looks over his shoulder to the direction where the sound came from. He sees a big pitch black creature, with talons that could do him some serious damage scraping over the gold underneath it. He does not know what it is, but is looks terrifying with its teeth bared, and bright red eyes staring right at him. 

Royal quickly decides that this is his moment to leave. He slowly backs up and frantically looks around for the exit. He spots a bright spot of light shining inside. When he looks up he notices a big hole in the ceiling, leading to outside. He looks back at the creature that is slowly walking towards him, and he quickly jumps in the air to avoid getting eaten.

The creature starts to run toward him and snaps in his direction. It misses him by a hair. He flies up further and through the hole in the ceiling. The sun blinds him when he exits the cave and he has to blink a few times to readjust. 

He looks at the bounty he gathered and grins. It almost ended badly, but he gathered some really nice stuff.