As the Kobolds screamed and charged across the cavern toward Axel, Ember took advantage of the chaos to streak through the air, soaring high above the Kobolds’ heads as her wriggling charge attempted to free himself from her taloned grip.
Knowing that Ember was likely holding back an impatient screech or other noise at Stuart’s panic, Axel wished her luck and patience as he focused on the rest of the Kobold tribe that was bearing down on the two challengers foolish enough to invade their home.
Howling in answer to their challenging cries, Drago leapt forward and began to savage one of the unarmed Kobolds in front of them. Growling and snarling in concert with one another the Rockwolf and the Kobold tussled and rolled across the ground, wrestling for dominance over the other and tripping many of the other Kobolds.
Desperately wanting to help his companion, Axel reached for his spell and formed more sharp needles of rock that rose from the floor and bit into the scaled feet of the Kobolds.
Hissing in annoyance, the Kobolds kicked and stomped savagely on the ground and largely ignored the rock needles as they attempted to get closer to the Wolfman that had invaded their cavern.
“Come get some!” Axel yelled at them as he raised his fists and prepared himself for the fighting to come. Screaming and hissing in rage, the Kobolds were only too happy to meet his challenge as they charged him.
Grinning savagely and letting out a lupine growl, Axel sent his fists crashing heavily into the Kobolds around him as he fought crudely and wounded many of them as Drago finally proved himself the winner of his own match and rejoined the fight, making sure to stay closer to Axel than he had before, rock flowing from the ground around them to armor the Rockwolf against the claws and eventual spears from the Kobolds.
Screeching in wild joy, Ember made herself known as she streaked through the air, blazing like a comet and ripping large gashes in several Kobolds’ faces as she offered support to Axel and Drago.
Feeling the crunch of his opponents bones beneath his fists, Axel tried not to flinch away from the fighting as it continued on. Using his Manipulate Earth spell, he formed sudden holes in the ground under his opponents and skewered more than one with a long rocky needle that sprang from the ground at his will.
On and on the Beastman, Rockwolf, and Hawk fought with the Kobold tribe as hours seemed to pass. Gasping for breath and exhausted, Axel forced himself to stay standing and pay attention to the reaching spears from the Kobolds. Finally, just before he was ready to lay down and give up, the noise he’d been listening for reached him.
A roar reverberated through the cavern, ending the fighting that had slowly pushed the three intruders closer to the opening that led to the surface of the cave system. With heavy, echoing thuds, the crude logs that had formed the walls of the cage fell away and the bear trapped inside rose to stand on its hindlegs, towering nearly twenty feet into the air.
With a rage-filled look around itself, the bear fell heavily to stand on its four feet and let out another bellowing roar at the Kobolds that had tormented it.
“Let’s get to it!” Axel yelled savagely as he felt renewed by the beast’s roars and he led his two companions to attack the Kobolds that were now desperately trying to push past them and flee the raging bear.
Snapping and screeching, Drago and Ember renewed their own attacks as they slaughtered Kobold after Kobold. Though even together, the three of them were no match for the effectiveness of the bear.
Roaring, the bear charged the Kobolds as the braver and more foolish ones leveled their spears and challenged the enraged creature. With contemptuous ease, the bear shattered the spears with a casual swipe of one of its massive paws as it crashed through the mass of Kobolds and began to lay about it with great sweeping swipes of its razor sharp claws and heavy crushing bites of its jaw. Before long most of the Kobolds brave enough to challenge the bear lay dead and the rest were still desperately attempting to run away.
As the bear lumbered toward the melee that Axel and Drago had forced at the surface passageway, Axel finally realized the folly of his plan.
“I really hope it doesn’t mistake us for Kobolds!” he yelled to Drago as he punched another Kobold and one of his rock spikes broke off from his glove, impaling the Kobold’s throat. Offering nothing more than a growl, Drago snapped his iron teeth at a new Kobold that challenged them, now that the one he’d been shredding with his claws was dead. Giving a screech of her own, Ember was only too happy to slice her talons across the Kobold’s face and force the monster back, screaming in pain and blind.
Trying to keep an eye on the living tank that they’d freed proved difficult for Axel and so he focused his efforts on the Kobolds and attempting to keep his tamed creatures alive as they killed the remainder of the Kobold tribe.
Finally, as the last Kobold fell, dead and silent, upon the ground, Axel was able to spare the effort to look at the bear that had sat heavily on the ground as it looked at him, eyes bright and strangely curious.
“I hope you’re not planning how to eat me,” Axel said with a gasp as he attempted to catch his breath. “I wouldn’t taste too good.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
With a chuff as though amused, the bear lowered itself to rest more comfortably on the ground.
“Worry not, Little Pup, I have no taste for a Son of the Moon,” a female voice rang out in Axel’s head. “You have my thanks for freeing me. What boon would you be so bold to demand from a Mountain Matriarch?”
“Is that you?” Axel asked carefully as he tried not to freak out from the sudden sound of a woman in his head.
“Yes,” the voice answered as the bear’s eyes shone with a mischievous twinkle. “You have much to learn of the Wilds, Little Pup.”
“I, uh, I had no idea that you could talk to me,” Axel said as Drago finally finished his own inspection of the cavern and returned to Axel’s side with Ember nestled on his back. “I didn’t even think it was possible.”
“For some of us,” the Matriarch said. “For children such as those you surround yourself with, it is not. Not yet.”
“You mean that Drago and Ember and Stuart will be able to talk with me like this?” Axel asked excitedly, his wariness falling away as his tail began to wag hopefully.
“Perhaps,” the Matriarch said. “Perhaps you will speak to them. It is a matter of how good you become at listening to the wisdom of the Wilds. And a matter of how good they become at making themselves known in ways you can understand.”
“Are there other Mountain Matriarchs?” Axel asked. “I think it would be really cool to meet them!”
“There are others who can match my claim,” the Matriarch said as Axel stepped closer to her, hesitantly reaching out a hand. “You have met one of them. A King of the Skies. A Patriarch of Cliffs. You bring his child with you, boldly leading her into battle. Even now, you carry a measure of his scent about you, marking you as friend to the Wilds. Though there is something deeper, older, which marks you as well. I have not felt such peace in many winters.”
“Is that good?” Axel asked as the Matriarch gave his reaching hand a cursory sniff and allowed him to reach out further and sink his hand into her oddly soft and springy fur as a smell, familiar and distant, tickled his nose.
“To be marked as such? Always,” the Matriarch said as she wrapped one of her powerful arms around Axel in a gentle hug. Enveloped as he was, the smell grew stronger and Axel breathed deeply as warmth grew in his chest. Memories flooded him as tears began to fall thickly into the Matriarch’s warm, soft fur. Memories of happy days spent with his mother and father. Days running around with his sister and friends as he grew up. All of them though, seemed to be days that focused on when he wrapped his mother in the biggest hugs he was able to and held her close, happy and safe in her arms.
“I am here, Little Pup,” the Matriarch’s warm voice rang in his mind as he was filled with the overwhelming desire to see his mother. “I am here, my Child.”
Whining at seeing his friend in sudden distress, Drago stepped closer to Axel and butted him with his head, prompting Axel to reach out and hold him closer. For several minutes they stayed that way before Axel was able to pull himself together long enough to step back from the Matriarch of the Mountain.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he wiped his eyes. “I didn’t mean to-”
“Peace, Little Pup,” the Matriarch assured him. “It is alright. I know the effect that I can have on Children of the Wilds such as you. I would be a poor mother to them and to you if I grew angry at every touch of Children seeking comfort from me, just as the Patriarch you met would be a poor father if he refused to lend aid and protection to the Children of the Wilds that seek him out.”
“Thank you,” Axel said as he reached toward Drago and scratched behind his ears. “I know that this isn’t something that we should focus on right now, but do you know where the shaman of this tribe is? I need to make sure he’s dead and take his headdress for something I’m doing.”
“Unfortunately, I can tell you that he is not here,” the Matriarch said. “That vile creature is the reason I was caged by these pitiful things. Without him, I would have cleansed them by myself. I must find him and stop him. He makes use of foul magics from the Outsiders, those who would corrupt us. I must stop him, such is my duty as Matriarch of the Mountain.”
“Are you talking about the Fae?” Axel asked as dread and anger filled him to match the anger in the Matriarch’s words. “I’ll help you. If you can destroy the source of whatever he’s drawing power from, I can kill him. I’ve done it before. I helped a Mystic of Nature and King Burny destroy a source of corruption already. I don’t want to see that kind of corruption spread further in the world.”
“Aid would be most appreciated,” the Matriarch said. “I will be able to destroy the source of the corruption the shaman draws power from, or I will be able to kill him. I cannot do both. If you are able to remove the shaman, I will remove the corruption.”
“Then let’s go!” Axel said. “The faster we move with this, the better right?”
“Do not be hasty, Little Pup,” the Matriarch warned Axel. “We have been through a most challenging battle. Let us rest and recover our strength. Bind your wounds, see to your companions, and ready your magic. The coming fight will be something that we cannot afford to lose.”
“Yes, Matriarch,” Axel said respectfully as he listened to the wisdom the Matriarch offered to him.
“Excellent, Little Pup,” the Matriarch said as she settled herself on the ground, heedless of the gore that surrounded them. “When I wake, we will go.”
“A nap sounds pretty great,” Axel agreed as he noticed Stuart making his way toward him, squeaking fearfully at the scents of blood and death around them. “I could use one of them myself. How about you guys, Drago? Ember?”