Far to the north in a small nameless village of animal skin tents built by lowly kobolds, forty-nine invading ogres were killing for sport and food.

“This dumb.” One ogre complained to another as they looked for prey hidden in the tents. “Too small for play. No taste good.”

“Eat anyway.” His companion grunted back, shoving his fat, filthy hand into a tent like it was a lunch pail.

“Ouch.” Said the second ogre, withdrawing its hand to see a crude knife fashioned from bone sticking from its middle finger. “Splinter.”

The second time he reached into the tent, a scream that sounded more like a squeak sounded from inside as he grabbed the hiding kobold by one of its tiny legs.

The three foot tall humanoid had features reminiscent of both rats and lizardmen. Its face was certainly rodentlike with large furry ears, whiskers, dark eyes, and a twitching nose. Its body had a mix of both fur and scales, most notably on its thick lizard like tail.

The kobold, scratched, bit, and thrashed for its life but it was a futile struggle. The ogre grabbed its other leg with its free hand.

“Pull in half! Make noise!” The first ogre encouraged with a laugh.

The ogre holding the kobold grinned wickedly and began to pull the legs apart. The tortured kobold started to scream. Then with no warning the ogre was no longer holding the kobold. The brute wouldn’t hold anything ever again for it no longer had hands once Coralia’s sword took both of them above the wrist.

Before the first drop of blood could even begin to spray from the stumps on his forearms, the ogre felt a hot sensation dragging across its big belly.

“Eh?” Was the only sound it could manage before the third slash sent its head tumbling to join its severed hands and steaming pile of innards in the dirt.

The initial ogre saw the blurring attack and knew its doom. It meant to shout a warning to its brethren. It meant to flee back to the higher mountains. Before those frantic impulses could escape its primitive brain, the notched and gore splattered blade of Coralia’s bastard sword sheared through the top of its skull. The ogre crumbled into a contorted heap, and Coralia was long gone, hunting down the next target.

A group of ten ogres had backed a hundred or so kobolds into a large cellar dug beneath a huge boulder and were trying to start a fire to smoke them out.

“Not enough tree!” One grunted.

“More hair!” Another added.

“Not enough brain!” Coralia grunted in her best ogre voice, speaking low common.

“Brain?” The ogres muttered back as they turned to see the small fur clad human.

“Devil!” One ogre screeched, stumbling and pointing at Coralia.

“Go!” Another agreed, and all ten ogres began to scatter.

“No one ever wants to play anymore.” Coralia lamented.

A few seconds later, all of the ten ogres were dead or mortally wounded. One trapped kobold poked his rodent like head out curiously and saw the carnage just as Coralia disappeared.

“Dead ogres.” It reported back to the darkness filled with large frightened eyes.

By the time the kobolds mustered the courage to leave the cellar, the last ogre was breathing its last rattling breath.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The mysterious fur clad figure was walking away back toward the mountains.

“Wait!” A female kobold, still holding her baby yelled at her back.

Coralia stopped. She turned and recognized the very first kobold she had rescued from an attacking ogre.

“Ally! Payment!” The kobold said, searching for better words for its feelings. Low common didn’t have words for friend or gratitude.

The rest of the nearly two hundred kobolds had also come out of hiding to view their strange savior.

“Ally?” Many were muttering cautiously. There was almost never such good fortune in this land of monsters.

Coralia walked up to the crowd, not sure how to proceed but glad to exchange words outside of battle for the first time in several years.

“Satisfied to fight.” She said, the closest she could get to ‘happy’ and ‘help’ in the crude language. She just hoped her body language and tone would put them at ease. “Ally.” She finally confirmed.

“Ally! Strong Ally!” The crowd erupted into cheers.

Coralia was swept up in the sudden celebration. The kobolds raided their hidden food caches, bringing woven baskets of berries and starting a big fire to roast several meaty ground squirrels. Coralia went with it. She was curious about the docile kobolds, this was the first time she had ever seen such a community within the the monster kingdom.

Perhaps it was the decade of no contact with humans, but Coralia found them cute. The dozens of infant kobolds were especially adorable with chubby mouse cheeks and soft fuzz all over. After infant though it seemed there were just smaller versions of adults.

She accepted the berries but declined the roasted ground squirrel. Rodent meat always gave her terrible indigestion.

One of the kobolds, an elder by the look of him shuffled over with the support of a younger female kobold.

“Leader. Peyo” The young kobold announced to Coralia in introduction, gesturing to the old kobold. She then pointed to herself. “Daughter. Laz.”

Coralia stood and gave a bow to each of them respectively.

“Traveler. Coralia.” She copied the method of introduction as best she could.

The girl kobold known as Laz shuffled uncomfortably, trying to think of a way to word the question she had been tasked by her father with asking.

“Coralia strong. Coralia teach kobolds?” She asked, frustrated that she couldn’t simply use the much more refined kobold dialect with the woman that had saved them.

Coralia understood. They were asking her to train them to fight. She had saved them from the ogres, but what good would that be the next time a pack of monsters showed up. How had they survived this long on the surface? To her knowledge kobolds were primarily cave dwelling and nocturnal trappers and foragers.

“Kobolds safe underground?” Coralia inquired.

All of the kobolds looked at the ground as she asked, many shaking their heads or tearing up at the memory.

“Demons underground. Fire underground. Death underground.” The old leader Peyo said in a faltering voice.

So they were driven out by an invading force from the lower planes. Coralia thought to herself. Taking on a couple hundred kobold pupils certainly hadn’t been part of her plan, but what had been her plan anyways?

She had been hunting the region under the reasoning that the more monsters she slew here, the less could make it back to the human kingdom. The reality was that she was lost. Navigating the vast monster territory was practically impossible. Unscalable volcanic ranges, ash clouds that obscured the sun for weeks at a time, and constant peril from monsters created a surreal nightmare landscape that blended the months and years together.

Perhaps with native allies, particularly ones that could navigate the underground network of caves and lava tunnels she could eventually make her way back home. It was a long shot, but Coralia was happy to take it. After all, the alternative was likely another decade of wandering and killing in solitude.

“Coralia teach kobolds.” She nodded her agreement as she spoke.

“Coralia leader!” The elder kobold proclaimed, removing the braided vine circlet from his head before handing it to Coralia. All of the two hundred kobolds took up the cheer.

“Coralia! Coralia!” The whole community chanted in unison.

“Oh. Shit.” Coralia sighed.

“Oh shit! Oh shit!” The kobolds echoed back, not understanding the words. Coralia began to giggle uncontrollably at the new chant and decided that kobolds were definitely worth saving after all.

The celebration continued until dusk. The kobolds then brought their best pelts and piled them inside their largest tent along with a full basket of fresh mountain berries.

“Leader home. Leader guards” Laz explained to Coralia as she pointed at the tent and the two serious faced kobolds wielding bone tipped spears guarding it.

Coralia of course didn’t need the guards but decided not to be rude. She accepted the accommodations and decided to take the rest of the evening to begin planning her unexpected reign as leader of the kobolds.

She slept surprisingly well on the mound of furs with a stomach full of berries and woke with a firm sense of resolve.

“Kobolds gather here.” She ordered one of her guards, whom scampered away with a deep bow.

Several minutes later, nearly all of the kobolds had gathered in front of Coralia’s tent.

Coralia had a clear objective but describing it wouldn’t be so easy. She wanted to move the village from the canyon which was a terrible location both defensively and in terms of resources to a lake two days away.

She decided to illustrate the idea with a map drawn in the dirt.

“Kobolds.” She pointed at the ‘x’ marked in the crudely drawn canyon. She then pointed to the lake she had drawn which was a rough circle with squiggles to indicate water. “Big water.”

“Kobolds move big water?” Peyo guessed the riddle faster than Coralia expected.

“Yes!” She congratulated the former leader with a nod.

“Home move big water.” Laz concluded, staring at the map intently. “Big danger big water.” She offered cautiously.

Coralia nodded, it was true that fresh water sources were a gathering place for all types of creatures, some very dangerous.

“Protect kobolds.” Coralia promised. “Teach kobolds.” She added.

“Oh shit!” The crowd cheered.

“Oh shit!” Coralia cheered back with a snorting laugh, absolutely in love with her people’s chosen slogan.

With little direction the kobolds began efficiently taking down their tents, packing them on long sleds between two poles which several kobolds could carry easily. By the morning of the next day, two hundred kobolds led by Coralia Balfonse were winding their way through the mountains.