The Serpent's Treasure

Sunrise stared at the tower looming in the distance. The early-morning mist settled around the mountains, casting a mystical aura upon them. The sun gave the trees a goldish glow and made her blue and gold dragon scales sparkle. Her friend, Melody, was sitting beside her.

“So we go there,” she said. “Remind me why we’re sneaking into a random dragons tower like stalkerish weirdos?”

  “Because,” Sunrise explained. “They have something we need.”

“To save our friends.” Melody finished. “And get away unharmed.”

The Mountain Dragons had captured them a few days back. Melody and Sunrise got away, because they were the fastest, but the Queen of the Mountain Dragons threatened to kill their friends if they didn’t get the treasure. The worst part: they only had three days to get it. They spent two days flying across the forests and meadows, stopping so Melody and Sunrise could rest, although Sunrise had to rest less often because of her strong wings and lungs.

Sunrise took a deep breath and looked up. The mist was gone now and the tower was above the clouds. The leaves were spring green and gold and the wind thrust them around, making them fly in circles for her amusement. Sunrise imagined painting those leaves and how she would make them look just as alive as they were in reality. It was the perfect day for flying and the strong wind would hide their scent from the dragon that lived in the tower.

Melody and Sunrise lifted off into the sky, their wings beating against the wind as they soared higher and higher into the atmosphere.

They flew past the forest with its towering trees.

  “It looks like it goes on forever.” melody said tiredly, gliding on her four wings, two smaller than the others. “Will it ever end?”

Sunrise didn’t answer. She scanned the ground with sharp eyes, looking for danger. 

Suddenly she spotted them but it was too late. Nets spun towards them ensnaring both of their wings and pulling them towards the ground.

Melody managed to break her fall with her wings but she was shot with sleeping darts and fell, landing beside Sunrise.

Sunrise woke up. Where was Melody? What had they done with her friend?

She heard voices speaking in a language she didn’t know and approaching her. Sunrise shot up, making her head spin. Her capturers were HUMANS! And not just any humans, dragon hunters! She wasn’t chained up so she could still use her fire and spines.

  They must be stupid! She thought, stretching out her neck and wings.

“Calm,” The smallest one, a female, hissed in very weak dragon tongue. “Calm.”

Sunrise knew a bit of human although she was just as bad as the young girl. “No,” She said firmly, smoke rising out of her nostrils.

  “Get back hideous creature!” An older boy shouted in surprisingly good dragon tongue.

Sunrise spotted Melody. She was being poked at with spears.

“This will be my first kill!” The same boy said, brandishing a sword at Sunrise making the other hunters gasp. That did it.

She shot a bolt of fire at the humans around Melody. It exploded once it hit the ground in front of them. Melody knocked the dragon hunters over with her tail. Then Sunrise looked at the hunam boy, glowering at him with her blue-gray eyes.

“Get back,” the girl warned. “She’ll pierce you with those spines!”

The young hunter looked at her tail and the retractable spines. He met her eyes and spoke. “Cal- AHH!” Sunrise scooped him up with her tail, spines out.

“Aesir!” The girl screamed, throwing him a spear. Aesir caught the spear and threw it at Sunrise. It sunk into the soft spot between her leg and body. She roared in pain and threw him down, glaring at all of them.

Melody stepped on a human. “You ok?” She asked.

  Sunrise didn’t answer. She pulled the spear out and snapped it in half with her jaws. She beckoned for Melody and they flew away, leaving as quickly as they got there.

“Humans are scary.” Melody said as they continued on their flight towards the tower. “I mean, they could’ve killed us!”

Sunrises arm hurt but it didn’t stop her flying. She wanted to find that treasure so she could burn the dragon hunters as soon as possible. 

When they arrived at the tower the sun was high in the sky and the air was frigid. Sunrise's fire kept her warm but Melody didn’t have anything to help her. So, as her best friend, Sunrise laughed at her while she froze. That was their friendship. Instead of saving the last slice of chicken, one would eat it and laugh in the others face.

Sunrise's scales did provide warmth though and she was starting to feel bad for the shivering Light Dragon so Sunrise finally let her stand beside of her to keep warm.

The door was unlocked and they slithered in unnoticed.

“Ok,” Sunrise said. “According to this poorly drawn map this lousy dragon's hoard should be at the top of the tower. So let’s climb.”

They cautiously climbed the spiral stairs up the tower. The main floor had some dusty old books that Sunrise put in the pouches strapped to her chest and forelegs and Melody found a pile of dragon bones that no one wanted to see.

The second floor had a library that they didn’t have time to explore and a map of some other continent on it. 

After a few minutes of climbing in silence they heard something slither across the floor.

  “Hello,” Melody said. “Anybody there?”

“Yes.” Two voices answered. “Welcome to our tower.”

  The two friends spun around. Behind them were two snakes- well, one snake with two heads. One head was orange and the other was purple. They both faded into green at the base. 

“I’m Alfrothful,” the orange one hissed, licking his lips. “And I’m Solveig!” the purple, more cheery one said. “Welcome to our tower,” they said in unison, one more threatening than the other, “what is it that you seek?”

  “Your treasure.” Sunrise said she was very bad at lying so she didn’t even try.

“Well you’ll have to get past us first,” Alfrothful hissed. He sunk his fangs into the spot that Sunrise was standing. Melody pulled her out of the way just in time. Alfrothful’s fangs got stuck in the floor of the tower. 

“Get back here!” Solveig cried. She tried to follow them but Alfrothful was stuck in the wooden floor. 

  Alfrothful shrieked with rage and jerked up, taking some floor with him. “Get back here blasted dragonesses! You won’t get away with this!”

“That is the cheesiest line I’ve ever heard a villain say!” Sunrise shouted back as her and Melody ran up the stairs and to the top floor of the tower.

Melody gasped and skidded to a halt. There were jewels everywhere. Jewels and gold and metals! The snakes took everything from everywhere. There were gold, silver, and copper coins, armor from every different dragon race, treasure from the Water Dragons that were hardly seen (the only one that Melody had ever seen was their friends River), and countless precious stones and gems. 

The thing that really stood out was a golden spear in the center of the room.

  “What’s that?” Melody asked, astonished.

“The sapphire spear,” Sunrise said. “The thing that we came for.”

  “Grab it then!” Melody said excitedly.

“I can’t just grab it, we have to replace it with something of equal weight.”

  “Really?”

“No that’s stupid.”

  Melody laughed. “Of course!”

Sunrise picked up the spear, it cast a blue glow on the stone walls. She shoved it through a strap on her back. “Let’s grab as much treasure as we can and get outta here!”

  Melody nodded and started grabbing jewels and coins. They were too busy to notice the serpentine figure that slid up behind them. And they were too busy to notice when it breathed its toxic gas that made them nauseous. Sunrise turned around, dizzy. 

“Melody, FLY!” 

  Melody turned around and saw it. She grabbed some remaining jewels and with Sunrise's help, they lifted off into the sky flying farther and farther from the tower. They flew past the forest and towards the Mountain Dragons. They flew until the tower was out of their sight.

“Teamwork!” Melody exclaimed. “Wasn’t that fun?”

  “Yup,” Sunrise said. “But I think I’m ready to go home now.”

Melody nodded in agreement and they flew into the mountains.