DRAGON TREASURE

Chapter 1

Our story starts in a mansion up in the Black Soul Mountains, where the Silver Eyed Bandits lived, with their head boss Tetra Dirk. It seemed to be an ordinary night until "BOOM!" the side of the roof blew up. From inside the mansion, down the west wing, two people are running away from a mob of bandits who were armed to the teeth. The bandits were all different shapes and sizes. Some were short, others were burly. Their skin was either green or grey. Most had horns, some just had pointed ears. They all had piercings anyplace you could see skin. Their clothing was brown or green shirts, the pants either grey or green, the boots were just black. All had silver eyes. Most of the bandits strung up their bows and let the arrows fly, others threw spears at the intruders.

The tall one is a male with cerulean eyes shaped like a dragon. His skin is lightly tanned. His hair, which is red with red-orange, maroon, and burgundy highlights in it, is tied back in a loose thong. He's wearing a long brown trench coat with no shirt underneath leaving his chest bare, which is a well defined flat stomach, sculpted like marble. He has pointed ears, and on the right ear has two pierced earrings. Around his throat, on a choker, is a soft purple amethyst. His pants are a navy blue with black pirate boots. On his right cheek there are four scars. His name is Rowin.

The small curvier one is a female with light green cat eyes. Her hair, which is light sky blue, is past below her waist. Her corset is shaped like a bodice in the front, but the back is long like a coat, ending to her ankles. It is light brown with black swirls. The inside is maroon. The shirt is grey with long sleeves, which stops above her navel. Her pants are loose and black with a light blue belt. The boots she wears are brown pirate boots that end right below her knees. Her skin is pale white. Her ears are half pointed, with three piercings in both ears. She wears a light green cat collar with a cat bell. In her hair there are three beads weaved into her bangs. She has a medium size bust, and on her left upper arm is a brand that was left on her. Her name is Kazely.

"You idiot! I told you not to touch it, but noooo, you just had to touch it!" screamed Kazely.

"I couldn't help myself! It was soooo shiny. I had to have it!" said Rowin who was trying to defend himself…again.

"And because of YOU, we're running for our lives again!" yelled Kazely.

Rowin mumbled a curse, but Kazely didn't comment on it since she was busy coming up with a plan to save their asses again.

Stupid dragon. Never can take him anywhere without getting into trouble, she thought angrily.

She told him not to touch the pendent that was around Tetra's neck, because she knew it was going to turn ugly. As soon as Rowin touched it, Tetra woke up and started yelling for help. It took Rowin a second to realize what was happening before he started running, while Kazely running already ahead of him. Now they were running for their lives for the hundredth time and it was always up to Kazely to protect their necks, because Rowin always wanted to have more jewelry or things that sparkled.

Men,she thought, I'll never understand them no matter what species they are.

As they were running down the hall, Kazely saw a huge crystal chandelier overhead.

"Rowin! The chandelier! Bring it down!" demanded Kazely.

Rowin looked up and saw the crystal chandelier. He didn't understand why she wanted to bring down the chandelier, but Kazely's plans always got them out of trouble. And by the sound of her voice she was not happy… not one bit. While he was still running Rowin got out a little dagger that was hidden underneath his jacket, bent his knees and jumped to cut the cord that was holding the chandelier. With one strong swipe with his left arm he cut the cord.

Kazely was about to run underneath the crystal chandelier, when she felt a burning sensation in her right shoulder. One of the arrows had struck Kazely. With a yelp she went crashing to the floor, while the chandelier was coming down on top of her.

"Kazely!" roared Rowin.

Without even thinking Rowin ripped off his coat and his yellow, harvest-gold dragon wings came out. Faster than anyone could see Rowin dived underneath the chandelier, picked Kazely up into his arms right before the chandelier crashed into the marble floor. There were shouts and curses from the bandits when the chandelier splintered into a million pieces, which forced them to stop.

When Kazely opened her eyes she was cradled against a hard chest and looked up and saw Rowins blue worried eyes watching her. She realized she was cradled in Rowins arms and was floating in the air. She smiled a soft smile.

"That didn't work out as I planned," she whispered so low that Rowin had to strain to hear her, which wasn't a good thing since dragons had great hearing. The pain started to rip down from her right arm into her body. Rowin could feel her muscles tighten and saw the pain in her eyes. For that alone he wanted to destroy the bandits for hurting her.

Kazely was wracked with pain and couldn't bare it anymore. Her eyelids started to droop. She could hear Rowin calling her name over and over again, but she couldn't answer back or lift up her eyelashes. The pain hit her again, than darkness claimed her.

When she woke up with the sun in her eyes she realized something was different. The walls were a warm wooden color with a window on the opposite wall where the sun was coming through, instead of marble and brick like the mansion was. Then she realized she was in a bed…her bed. She saw the color of her blankets, which was white with purple, silver, and blue designs.

What the hell. How did I end up here? She thought confusedly. The last thing I remember was getting hit in the shoulder…

She jerked upright in bed and winced when pain shot down her right arm. She realized she was in her nightshirt and there were bandages wrapped around her shoulder. All of a sudden it came back to her. The running, the mob of bandits, the chandelier, the arrow, the pain, Rowin.

Rowin, she thought. Where is he?

As soon as that thought left her mind her door opened and it was Rowin himself. He was only wearing blue cotton pants. When Rowin saw Kazely sitting up in her bed relief seeped throughout his entire body. Kazely saw the relief in his eyes and blinked in confusion.

" Hey Sleeping Beauty. You finally up?" he joked leaning against the door frame, but Kazely could see the circles underneath his eyes and knew he hadn't slept.

"Yeah." she said, still a little confused. "What happened, and why are we home?"

Rowin looked a little uncomfortable and started shifting his feet. Finally after a minute or so he said, "Do you remember what happen?" When she nodded he continued, "The arrow that hit you was poisoned with solaris." When he saw nothing register he let out a sigh and said gravely, "Kaz, you've been out for five days. By all means you should be dead."

Now his anger mixed with his concern were coming up to the surface when he saw Kazely go still and go even paler, while her light green eyes got bigger by the news and he saw the horror seeping threw, even though she was desperately trying to hide it.

He swore under his breath, "Fuku, the way you looked lying in bed, I swear I thought you were dead. I felt helpless that I couldn't do anything to help you."

He wasn't going to tell her that when she was sleeping she looked pale as a ghost, had a high fever, and half the time she was moaning and twisting on the bed saying one name over and over again, while all he was able to do was stay with her all night, not leaving her side, and making sure she didn't hurt herself. He didn't know the name she kept saying, but it sounded like a guy's name, and Rowin had to admit to himself he felt a pang of jealousy when she said the name over and over again.

Why couldn't she have said my name instead, he thought sullenly.

While Rowin was sulking over the unknown name, Kazely was still digesting all that Rowin had said.

I should be dead, but I'm not. Why? She thought.

"Why?" she whispered and started shaking.

When Rowin heard the little whisper he snapped back to reality and saw Kazely shaking in bed. Immediately he went straight to her, sat down on her bed, pulled her into his arms and held her tight, rocking back and forth.

"I should be dead. No one can survive solaris, not even the strongest warriors. Why did I…" she shuddered burrowing into Rowins chest.

Rowin held her even tighter. He put his chin on top of her head and said "It's alright. You just need more sleep. We'll figure it all out when you get better." He assured her, but he wasn't so sure how to explain it either.

She was right about the poison though. No one could survive it. Solaris is a deadly poison that renders the victim helpless, paralyzing them, while the poison runs through the bloodstream towards the heart. The body becomes unbearably hot, fatigue, nausea, seizures, and finally death.

It's a mystery why she had survived, just like she herself was a mystery. When she started to stop shaking, he lowered himself down on Kazely bed with her still in his arms making sure he didn't hit her right shoulder. Kazely moved to lay on Rowin's left shoulder, while Rowin moved his arms around her waist. They were silent for a minute, taking in each others comfort when Kazely looked up at Rowin and asked, "What happened at the mansion when I passed out?"

Rowin's eyes grew large when he looked at Kazely. A faint blush crept into his cheeks and he laughed nervously. Kazely narrowed her eyes, "What did you do." she said in a low voice, almost saying it in a hiss. He moved nervously and seeing she wasn't going to let up he sighed and confessed, "I torched the place."

And that was the short version. When he saw Kazely black out he went into a rage. He lost complete control of himself. Without thinking he took his dragon form and destroyed the bandits that were closest to him with one swipe with his tail. When he saw there were more he swiped them with his claws. He saw the one that shot Kazely and went straight at him. The bandit started shooting more arrows, but since dragons are armored plated with scales it didn't affect Rowin. He pinned the bandit under his clawed foot and started eating him. With that grueling task done he started torching the place with his fire.

When Rowin was finally calming down he saw what he had done and transformed back to his human form. He picked up Kazely and got the hell out of there.

Kazely just looked at Rowin stunned. She had no words to say, which was a first. She just stared at him in complete shock.

Oh great, he thought. Here comes the lecture again.

He was expecting for the lecture, but when Kazely started laughing out loud he was shocked.

Ok. That was unexpected. He thought still in shock.

When Kazely calmed down and looked at Rowin she smiled. When he said he torched the place he had such a straight and serious face. It was rare for Rowin to act serious or even have a straight face, but combined it just never happens.

"I'm sorry I laughed, but you were so serious, I couldn't help it." she said, still smiling.

Rowin just looked at her, then all of a sudden a grin formed around his mouth. "You're right. It's very rare that I'm serious," he said, laughing a little.

"But you do realize what you did was wrong." she said, sobering up.

Rowin sighed, "I know it was wrong." Rowin was silent for a minute, then finally said, "Kazely?" he whispered.

"Hmm?" she murmured, starting to fall asleep.

"Don't ever get hurt like that again." he whispered fiercely, "My heart couldn't take it." he confessed.

Kazely stirred in his arms and looked up at him and whispered, "I'll try not to get hurt again, but I can't promise anything."

Right after saying that, she fell asleep in Rowin's arms. Rowin knew that was the best answer he was going to get, even though that wasn't what he wanted. To exhausted to get up and seeing how comfortable Kazely was, he settled into Kazely's bed and closed his eyes with Kazely in his arms and knowing full well when she woke up he was going to be dead meat.

Oh well, he thought, smiling to himself, It'll be worth it. And with that passing thought he fell into a deep sleep.