Note: This chapter is dedicated to my elder sister who at first named the black dragon as "Carbon".

Chapter Two
He Speaks

Khansama awoke to the small ochredrake dragon pouncing on the feathers of her left wing. She had stretched her wings out in the middle of her sleep, it seemed. She winced at the tiny claws on the ochredrake's paws scratching into her, and gently flexed her wings. With an excited trill, the ochredrake rolled off her and to the ground. She breathed a sigh at being awake; her whole body seemed to ache, and she felt tired beyond belief.

She moved her limbs beneath her, and then gave a stretch, her tail rising into the air with a curl, her wings elongating to their fullest extent. She detected several bones cracking as she did so, more than likely due to sleeping on the stone. She moved her neck around to look at the black dragon still sleeping on his hoard. She dropped her tail with a loud, satisfying slap on the ground while sitting down and pulling in her wings as the ochredrake came over to her, once more seeking attention. It pushed its head against her claws on the ground, rubbing its horns against her leg.

Khansama snorted out in amusement, then raised her right paw to run her claws across its scales. It trilled with delight, its wings fluttering as it turned around in a circle like a cat. She hummed softly.

"I see you've met Raf'tarn." Khansama jumped, whirling around to see the black dragon was awake as well, his green eyes gazing at her unblinkingly. He had moved from his hoard to sitting on the ground, so silently that she hadn't heard him.

"He's- he's a nice ochredrake," she replied, her eyes darting from his face to the ground. Raf'tarn skittered past Khansama to the black dragon, winding himself in between the black dragon's front paws, and looking up at the larger dragon adoringly.

He couldn't be so bad if his ochredrake looked at him like that, could he? Khansama looked up at him again as he pushed Raf'tarn off to the side. The little brown dragon, undeterred, pounced on a golden feather, apparently fallen from one of Khansama's wings.

"Annoying at times," the black dragon replied in his rumbling voice.

After a moment, Khansama worked up the courage to ask him her more pressing questions. "Who are you? Why did you kidnap me?"

The black dragon captivated her gaze as she looked up at him again. "Karone." He got smoothly to his feet, turning away. "I'm going out."

Khansama blinked. "And just- just leave me here?" She asked, almost insulted. He was doing it again- kidnapping her, and then just ignoring her.

He stalked to the edge of the ledge outside his cave, and Khansama watched him. "Yes," he replied while raising his wings and pushing off with powerful hind legs. Raf'tarn whined at the receding form of Karone, skittering back and forth in front of the barrier that kept Khansama inside.

She let out a huff of irritated air, looking around the cave. What was she to do now? She paced to the very back of the cave, which wasn't actually all that far, and then back to the front. She sat, testing the barrier with a paw. It wouldn't budge. She sighed, resting her head against it. Freedom was so close, yet so far away.

She sat up, narrowing her eyes at the barrier. She reached down inside herself, pulling at her magic. If she had to describe it, it would be like flexing a muscle located near her heart, and it filled her with warmth when she exercised it. When she closed her eyes, she could see it like a shining, beautiful white light in the dark, with tendrils feeling outwards from it. She pulled on a few threads, and opened her eyes, which could now see the bright green magic from the barrier, spreading across the whole cave opening. Taking the white threads, she pushed them against the barrier, with the intent to break through.

A moment later, she found herself rolling backwards as if attacked by something. Using her wings to stop her from rolling further, she scrambled to her feet, heart racing as she scanned across the barrier. She wasn't using her magic sight anymore; her concentration wasn't good enough to keep it through such excitement. She narrowed her eyes at the barrier, huffing out in frustration. Raf'tarn watched her curiously as she returned to it, sitting down again as she repeated the process.

She gave a growl of frustration as she hit the ground again at her use of magic on the barrier, returning to her feet. She ruffled her wings her wings in irritation, pacing around in a circle for a moment before settling down, laying her head on her paws while glaring balefully at the only entrance and exit to the cave.

Boredom set in quickly, and she stood up again, pacing back and forth. She glanced at Karone's treasure hoard, and she crept towards it. She had never seen an actual hoard before; the dragons she grew up around didn't need one. That was to say, White, Daydream and Soulpeace dragons didn't need one. Actually, she heard that most dragons didn't need one; just some species seemed to have a greater longing for one.

She pawed at the gold coins at the edge of it. They were so... shiny. She poked her nose into it, nuzzling away coins to find interesting things. There was a crown, sheathed swords, all sorts of human jewelry, silver armor, big colorful gems, chalices, plates... there was all sorts of stuff. For some reason, Khansama found great joy in sorting through the hoard. It was just all so pretty. She climbed up on top of the pile, raking her paws through it curiously. She hummed with delight as she found a human book, and she carefully picked it up out of the pile with her teeth. She dropped it on top of the pile, delicately flipping it open to the first page.

She'd seen a human book before; she even knew how to read common. Her father taught her how to when she was younger. Knowledge was valued greatly among her kind- even that of the humans whom dragons tended to have very little interaction with. Humans didn't often venture into dragon territory, and when they did... it didn't always go well for them. Often they came for things called 'quests', or for great treasure from dragon hoards such as the one Khansama laid on top of.

Often it didn't go over well when dragons entered into human territory either, come to think of it. It certainly seemed better to keep the two races separate.

The tales of Glynn Porter, she read, slowly. She knew how to read, but she wasn't very proficient at it. Chapter one. It seemed to be a fiction book about a young human girl. She curled up around it, continuing to read it. She sighed with content.

"What are you doing?" Khansama startled awake, gold coins shifting beneath her, like a cascade of water. She saw Karone had returned, right before she tipped off his hoard, tumbling until she came to a stop right in front of him.

"I was j-just reading a b-book," she stammered as he loomed over her, scrambling to get her feet beneath her as she backed up into his pile, coins sliding beneath her. "I've never s-s-seen such a large hoard before."

"Never seen any, I take it," Karone said, moving off to the side to climb on top of the hoard. She watched him, turning with jerking motions as he looked down at the book she'd been reading. "Glynn Porter. Not the smartest human I've read about." He looked up at her, sliding back down the gold coins. He padded slowly to the barrier, no doubt examining it. He could probably the place of her feeble break-through attempt. "Good to see you found something to keep you entertained."

"Where did you go?" She asked from behind him, encouraged by the fact that he wasn't angry at her for being on his hoard. Or at least, he didn't *sound* angry.

"To see someone." He raised his black, white-taloned paw, tapping the barrier. "Healing magic is your forte, not breaking other magic spells."

She ducked her head in embarrassment. "I wasn't exactly raised to break free of a kidnapper's clutches," she muttered.

His ears twitched in amusement, but as he turned his eyes on her, his manner was clearly sober and deadly serious. "You shouldn't try to escape. It will only bring... consequences."

Her wings quivered slightly at the underlying threat in his tone. "What s-sort of consequences?"

Raf'tarn suddenly decided to land on Karone's head, interrupting the bigger dragon's hard gaze on Khansama. The black dragon started, shaking the little ochredrake off of his head, and Khansama hummed quietly in a stuttering way, which, you see, would be synonymous to a human giggling. Karone's tail twitched as he detached his ochredrake from his head, setting him on the ground with a single paw. The little brown dragon bounced happily over to Khansama, chirping at her as if to tell her what he just did. She stroked down his spine, her eyes filled with mirth.

Karone glared at the small dragon from across the cave. "Just don't, and you won't have to find out," he replied to Khansama.

"So what am I suppose to do all day then?" She questioned.

"Stay in the cave. Don't try to escape. Don't think about suicide either. And eat." He flicked his tail, motioning to a pile of green plants and bright fruits that Khansama hadn't noticed before, piled just within. "As I'm sure you're hungry by now."

"What if I get bored?"

Karone's ears twitched again. "I think that's the least of your concerns."

Khansama's tail drooped in disappointment, her gaze finding its way to the floor. "I see."

He considered her for a moment, then looked towards his hoard. "I have some books I could find for you."

She perked up, eyes brightening. "Really?"

"Yes. Glynn Porter is one of the few books I have. Eat your breakfast and I shall find them for you."

Karone watched her as she crept over to the pile of comestibles as if it might bite her, then went to do as he had told her.