The Other Side of the Story: The Treasure Thief

Chapter 1

"Kite! Kite!"

Kite was startled out of her scroll by somebody shouting her name.

"Who's there?" she called.

"It's me, Avalanche!" the dragon shouted. Avalanche was Kite's niece. 

"What is it?" Kite asked.

"It's-. It's-," Avalanche stammered. That was odd, Avalanche was never panicked, yet she sounded like she was.

"It's Dad!" she finally burst out, "he's sick. Really sick. None of the healers know what it is. I'm scared he might die." Now that she began to speak, everything tumbled out of her in a rush.

"He went to sleep and he was healthy. When I woke up he was terribly sick. He looks terrible. I don't know what to do so I went to get you."

"First of all, how many healers did you ask?" Kite said cautiously.

"Both of them within half an hour's flying distance," the red dragon replied. Inside, Kite cursed Queen Scarlet, not for the first time, for closing the SkyWing School of Medicine, but outside she said, "Some of the other's further away might know what it is.

"What are the symptoms?" Kite asked her brother's daughter.

"His scales have something gray on them, which doesn't wash off, and he has a fever," Avalanche explained. "He's also really weak."

"Maybe you could get him some fever medicine," Kite suggested.

"Good idea." Kite watched her fly away. She had a feeling that it wasn't going to be that easy.

Sickness doesn't come on like that, at least none that I know of, she thought. Something's off here, but maybe I can save him if I do something extremely risky and very dangerous.

She'd do anything for Treeline, so she was going to try.