Chapter Three
The Human

A small scuffle from the cave entrance drew Khansama out of the book she was reading, and she was about to look at the source of the noise when a thought ran into her head. Her back was to the cave entrance, resting her head on her paws as she laid curled up in a small nest of gold treasures. It was separate to Karone's main hoard- she had decided on the third day that she wouldn't be sleeping on the ground again, and then siphoned off some of his trove, creating a nest for herself. It amused Karone to see her sleeping upon part of his treasure when he returned to the cavern.

Khansama continued to lie motionless; it would appear as if she were sleeping to an observer from the cave entrance. Karone was always silent when he did anything- whoever it was attempting to sneak into the cave, it wasn't him. Her small, yellow ears twitched as she became aware of the sounds of soft footsteps creeping inside. It sounded bipedal- possibly a wyvern?

Raf'tarn made his move before Khansama did, chirping with excitement as he skittered across the cave floor. There was a yelp, and Raf'tarn trilled in excitement. Something metal fell sliding against the ground, followed by a body hitting the floor. "Oof- agh, get off of me!" Khansama heard someone exclaim, the sound echoing in the cave. Dragons didn't speak like that, but rather through telepathy instead of orally spoken.

With some amount of confusion, Khansama raised herself, turning to examine the source of her curiosity and confusion. What she saw shocked her.

Beneath the small brown dragon laid something only slightly larger, a being with four flailing limbs- a human. She stared in shock for a moment as the human maneuvered out from beneath the ochredrake, pushing the trilling dragon away. It got up- she couldn't discern if it was male or female-, and laid eyes on Khansama.

The first human Khansama had ever seen was standing before her now. It was maybe five and a half feet tall, with long brown hair pulled away from its face. Its eyes were wide, white showing around blue irises with small pupils in the middle. Some sort of cloth covered its torso and legs, a leathery substance on its feet. Its arms were bare and the same color as its face, a paw attached to the end of each one, five slender appendages growing out from each one. They were empty of claws, only capped partially with clear, shiny nails. It was a bit curvaceous, the torso rounding out next to its upper arms, proceeding to turn in, then another outward curve, and then down its legs.

It stumbled back, and went to retrieve a shining sword lying just beyond the barrier. It gave another yelp as it ran into the barrier, and it stumbled back, holding its head.

Khansama reached out to find the human's mind. Since it spoke out loud, she assumed that it didn't use telepathy. She found the small source of life, and sent her speech towards the human. Khansama found with surprise that it was actually a female. "There's a barrier," Khansama said to the human, watching her with bright eyes as she jumped in shock and whirled towards Khansama at the sound inside her head.

"Let me out!" She demanded of Khansama, pressing closer to the barrier, her voice wavering a bit.

Khansama settled back down on the gold coins, eyes sweeping over the human female. "You were not wise in entering this cave."

"You can't keep me here," the human said, a small tremble starting up in her. Raf'tarn pushed his head against her hand, and she jumped away from the contact, eyes wild.

"I can't. Karone can," Khansama replied with a sigh, lowering her head on her paws. With the prolonged telepathic communication, Khansama could detect that the young woman was young. She didn't know what 'young' equated to in years for a human, though.

"What do you mean?" The girl asked, her hands flattened against the barrier. "Who's Karone?"

"The dragon that kidnapped me five days ago," Khansama said. "You are in no danger from me. Or Raf'tarn," she added as the ochredrake attempted once more to make friends. The girl looked down hesitantly at Raf'tarn, then raised a hand to pet his head in between his horns. He chirped happily, sitting down as his tail swept back and forth across the ground.

"Where is this Karone?" The girl asked, glancing around the cave.

"Out," Khansama replied with another sigh. "He goes 'out' for most of the day everyday."

"And just... leaves you here?" She asked, her tone laced with both fear, suspicion, and sympathy. She continued to stroke Raf'tarn.

"Exactly what I said." Khansama shifted, then introduced herself. "My name is Khansama."

The girl's lips pressed together for a minute, then she said, "I'm Rowan."

Khansama noticed some discolored lines on Rowan's forearms. "Let me see your arms," she said to the human. Rowan looked confused, but complied, raising her free arm (the other being occupied keeping Raf'tarn appeased), showing the red lines more clearly. There were also places of black and yellowish discoloration. "Are those wounds?"

Rowan nodded slowly. "Why?"

Khansama got to her feet, starting to pad to the girl. Rowan tensed, her feet shifting beneath her as she watched Khansama warily. "Do not be afraid," Khansama said soothingly as she approached. Rowan allowed her to come near, craning her neck to keep watch of Khansama's face.

"What are you doing?" Rowan asked as Khansama bent her head down to touch the top of Rowan's head with her muzzle.

Khansama didn't reply as she closed her eyes, pulling at her pure white magic. She opened her eyes again, this time seeing the magic dimension. The green glow from the barrier was bright in her sight as she looked down at Rowan's wounds. She willed her magic to tendril around the wounds, and they slowly closed up and disappeared, along with the bruising.

Khansama lifted her head when she was done, and Rowan looked down at her arms in amazement. "How did you..." she started, looking up with wonder.

"Magic," Khansama replied, amused.