“Well, Stuart,” Axel told his newest tamed creature, “looks like you’ll get a chance to put that nose of yours to use. Do me proud, buddy.”
Squeaking in affirmation, the Seeker Mouse poked his head out from Axel’s clothes and studied the vaguely round hole in the side of the mountain that the Kobold’s desperate flight had led them to. Perched on Axel’s shoulder, Ember cocked her head from side to side, as though trying to see deeper into the cave, while her taloned feet dug unhappily into Axel’s shoulder and shredded his shirt even further than before.
“I know, Ember,” Axel assured her as he reached upward and gently stroked her feathers in an attempt to calm her. “It is looking really cramped in there, huh?”
Cooing, uncharacteristically, Ember offered her own agreement to his words and broke off her unhappy study of the cave to return to her favorite pastime, preening her beautiful, fiery feathers.
“Let’s go guys,” Axel finally said after studying the tribal totems and other detritus and garbage that lay strewn across the ground in front of the cave’s entrance. “Drago, I want you to lead. Stuart, climb onto Drago and keep a nose out for traps, ambushes, and wherever the Kobolds are gathering. Ember, I want you to stay close to me, you won’t be able to fly as easily in this cave. Everyone understand?”
None of his tamed companions offered any complaints or noise about Axel’s orders and with a bounding leap that forced Axel to fight laughter from the ticklish feeling, Stuart jumped over to Drago and quickly made himself at home in the black wolf’s thick fur. Ready to go, Axel called his status sheet up once more to examine his newest Creature Perk.
Seeker Mouse: Prey’s Vigilance: You know your place in the natural order as food for larger, stronger creatures. You must always maintain a lookout for hunters seeking to end you and fill their bellies. Moderate chance to see through mundane stealth effects. Small chance to see through magical stealth effects. Your own stealth attempts are more likely to succeed.
“Looks like I’m about to put this new Perk through its paces,” Axel muttered to himself as he followed after the Ironclawed Rockwolf that padded lightly into the darkened cave, preparing for the hunt ahead.
As they moved deeper into the dark, Axel focused his mind on the sensations that another of his Perks gave him.
Ironclawed Rockwolf: Earthsense: Attune yourself to the mana in the earth and detect vibrations, openings, dirt, and stones.
Through his Earthsense, the cave around Axel was turned from a dark, imposing maw that promised pain and torment, to a scattered collection of stones, dirt, and pathways winding through stalagmites that spiked through the ground and led deeper into the earth.
As Drago led the way deeper into the cave, Axel relied on his sharp hearing to listen for Stuart’s squeaking, while attempting to maintain his balance without forcing Ember to leave his shoulder. On and on, they followed the cave’s passage, the way lined by bones, carved into totems and tribal charms, and Kobold markings along the walls, rising to rest eye-level with Axel’s 6’4 height before they stopped. As they passed the carvings, Axel wondered if they were anything like the cave paintings found on Earth. Records of the tribe’s hunts and disasters survived through the years they’d been living in these mountains. Or maybe they were there before the Kobolds settled this cave.
Finally, after nearly thirty minutes of walking through the winding cave, through his Earthsense, Axel felt the earth around them open into a large cavern that easily spanned beyond the limits of his Perk. As his Party of beasts, led by Drago, entered the cavern, Axel focused further on his Earthsense and his hearing in an effort to find any lurking Kobolds preparing to ambush the intruders that had chased one of them across the rocky, gravel-strewn mountains they called home.
In the center of the cavern Axel stopped and breathed deeply, instantly regretting doing so when a stench of filth and unwashed bodies assaulted his sensitive nose. Coughing and trying not to retch, Axel sent a silent apology to Drago and Stuart; their noses were far sharper than his after all.
Recovered, Axel returned his attention to finding the limits of the cavern and discovered that there were multiple pathways they could take, some offering cool, fresh breezes and promises of clean air, sunlight, and freedom from the oppressive feeling of the mountains above them. Others were not so kind in their promises; deeper blackness, heavier rock, and stronger stenches all but oozed from these passages. It was no surprise to Axel when Stuart pointed them toward one of the passages that led deeper into the mountain.
“Of course, the cave-dwelling Kobolds would make their home deeper in a mountain’s cave,” Axel muttered unhappily. “Come on guys. Drago, you’re in front again. Stuart, keep your nose going. We’ll be done with this soon, I promise.”
Offering an unhappy squeak, Stuart disappeared into Drago’s black fur as the Rockwolf sneezed in displeasure. With no further complaints, Drago began walking down the passage Stuart had indicated, ears and nose strained for hiding guards preparing to ambush them as they moved further into the mountain.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
As they moved deeper into the passage, Axel’s Earthsense alerted him to small pockets of ore embedded in the passage walls, often with scratch marks around them as though the Kobolds or something else had attempted to mine the walls before. Lost in his own thoughts as he was, Axel nearly ran into Drago as the Rockwolf stopped moving and Stuart ran along his back to jump into Axel’s clothes. Hidden once more in his master’s clothing, Stuart began squeaking in warning.
“Something ahead?” Axel asked the Seeker Mouse. “Or is it someone?”
Answering as best he could Stuart continued squeaking.
“Okay buddy, calm down,” Axel said, resting a hand gently over where the mouse huddled close to Axel’s bare skin. “We’ll be fine. It’s okay. Drago, step back. Let me get a look at what’s going on.”
Obeying easily, Drago moved around Axel and allowed him to take the lead in their small procession. As he passed by, Ember took the chance to jump from Axel’s shoulder to Drago’s back.
Shaking his head at Ember’s movement, Axel stepped forward and knelt down, focusing once more on his Earthsense as he searched for whatever had caused them to stop moving.
“What are these?” Axel muttered curiously as his Earthsense alerted him to several deep, long grooves in the passage’s walls and floor. Running his hands over the grooves, he thought that they might have been spaced fairly evenly in groups of five.
“Claw marks of some kind,” Axel decided. “Whatever made them was big too. Easily as tall as me, maybe bigger. Was it a bear? Do they have bears in these mountains?”
Giving a curious sniff of the air, Axel smelled something under the filth and rot that reminded him of something familiar.
“What is that?” he asked himself as he took a deeper sniff. “I’ll figure it out later I guess. Come on guys. If we’re lucky then, whatever made these is friendly to us. Or dead.”
Satisfied with Axel’s decision, though still clearly wary, Drago stepped forward and took the lead once more as Ember nested unhappily in the Rockwolf’s fur and Stuart climbed through Axel’s clothes to poke his head out the collar of his shirt.
As they moved deeper into the passage, the familiar smell grew stronger, as did the overall stench the Kobolds were likely responsible for. Focusing more on his Earthsense and trying to put thoughts about the smell out of his mind, Axel searched for any movement, forks, or traps that might have been left in the passage they followed.
Soon enough Drago came to a stop again and, this time, Axel was prepared for it. Voices, reptilian in nature, hissed and screamed at one another in a chamber that lay ahead of them. Echoing harshly off the walls around them, Axel worried they were close by, but after several minutes of waiting, when nothing appeared and the voices never wavered in volume, he decided they could continue.
Moving slower than before, Drago stepped lightly as he moved further down the passage with Axel on his heels as they took a turn and a light began to flicker along the wall. With the voices coming much louder and the light from fires bathing the wall ahead of them, Axel motioned for Drago to stay where he was while Axel moved closer to the turn that opened the passageway into a much larger cavern the Kobold’s were gathering in.
Peering around the corner, Axel looked through the cavern and counted the many Kobolds that were gathered around several fires, crudely roasting meat, dancing, fighting, and arguing.
“That’s a few more than I thought there would be,” Axel muttered. “I’m not seeing any of them on guard, but they all have those wicked-looking claws, most of them have spears, and there’s at least the one shaman somewhere in that mess, so who knows what sort of stuff he can do.”
Turning back to Drago and Ember that waited patiently for Axel’s orders, Axel settled himself in to wait as he tried to think of a plan to deal with the Kobolds in front of them. As he worked through various ideas, few of them serious enough for the fight ahead, a great roar sounded from the cavern and the Kobolds’ yelling and screaming voices rose higher and laughter rang out from several of them as Axel all but dashed to the opening to look into the cavern once more.
Caged with thick logs bound by crude rope, was a massive brown bear that was being cruelly jabbed by the Kobolds as they shoved the sharp points of their spears through the gaps in the cage. Bloodied and clearly tired, the bear roared its pain and displeasure at the Kobolds as they screamed and cackled in sadistic glee.
“New plan,” Axel muttered to himself as he felt his heart break at the bear’s pain. “Free the bear, destroy the Kobold tribe, kill the shaman.”
Course decided, Axel waved Drago and Ember close to him and gave them their marching orders.
“Ember, this cavern looks pretty big, pretty high. I think you can fly without too many problems, just be careful of the smoke. No telling how well ventilated this place is. Drago, you and I are going to charge out there and start cracking skulls and ripping throats. Stick close to me so we can watch each other’s backs. Ember, you’re going to carry Stuart toward that cage in the center of the cavern and drop him. Once you’ve done that, I want you to start making your way back toward Drago and I. Watch out for the Kobolds attacking you. Stuart, you have the most important mission. I want you to chew through the ropes that bind that cage together and free the bear inside. Once you’ve done that, hide. I’m pretty sure that he’ll be super pissed and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Plan explained, Axel readied himself for the coming fight by tightening his studded gloves and readying his Manipulate Earth spell as he formed the rock around him into armor on his chest and groin. Enlarging his glove’s studs into rock spikes, Axel gave the command to his Menagerie.
“Sic,” he ordered, charging around the corner and driving his spiked fist into the unprotected, fleshy scales covering the stomach of the first Kobold he saw. Distantly, he recognized the scrapes on its arms that marked it as the one that had led them to the tribe’s home.
Unwilling to focus his mind on just one Kobold, Axel pushed the dying monster away and reached out with his spell to form a mass of needle-sharp spikes that shot from the ground and crashed into the Kobolds that hadn’t noticed him yet, piercing deeply into the monsters' soft guts and pushing under the creatures' scales to deal significant damage to most of them.
Howling at the scent of blood and the promise of carnage, Drago dashed forward and snapped his jaws menacingly as his iron-coated claws ripped out and slashed multiple Kobolds around him.
Now alerted to the enemies attacking them, the Kobolds at the far end of the cavern screamed shrilly and reached for their crude weapons while the ones closer to the opening Axel had burst through sprang up and went on the attack with their claws flashing and their needle-like teeth gnashing.