It does take a little bit of work to wrap my head around the path back, but fortunately my sense of direction pulls through and soon enough I’m dashing across our recently-traveled path and back to the tunnel entrance. I could walk, of course, but I figure the longer it takes me to get back the worse things might get for my companions. Besides, my stamina isn’t half-bad even if I do say so myself — certainly better than what it was as a human, though that may just be because I was about as active as your average rock. I almost have to laugh at the swift pitter-patter of my feet against the ground. It makes me think of those lizards who run across water with their mouths wide open, and… God, I hope I don’t look that ridiculous.
Running through the forest is pretty relaxing, oddly. You’d think the danger of being ambushed by some wild animal or the strain of the activity itself would mean the opposite, but the rhythm of it combined with the simple pleasure of moving my body is incredibly satisfying and fulfilling. I’ve heard about this, actually — it’s called a runner’s high, I think? I suppose a little lizard man has to be able to release endorphins and things like that too, so it makes sense.
Without realizing it, my conscious mind takes a backseat to this simple delight, and—
What the hell was that?
I grind to a halt, my claws raking the dirt beneath me. My heart thunders in my chest, and I can’t tell if it’s because of the exercise or fear as I was shaken out of my reverie by a sudden unexpected sensation. For a single moment, I could swear I felt something at the far edge of my senses — a tiny spark that only barely registered in the periphery of my vision, a phantom smell I can’t quite identify, and a noise so faint I can’t place it.
Whatever it was, I either imagined it or it’s gone already. After standing there for a good minute or so in a mixture of fear and lingering excitement from my run, I decide that there’s no use in wasting any more time and continue on through the forest… slower this time, and now much more aware of my surroundings. It was stupid of me to lose myself like that earlier, and I’m lucky that it wasn’t a set of teeth around my neck that broke me out of it.
Luckily, my run was enough to get me near the underground entrance so I still make it there in pretty good time… though I stop once more when I spot some tracks. They trail into the earthen opening from the softer ground just outside of it, and I can even spot a bit of mud and the like for the first few steps onto the solid rock of the tunnel.
I’m no survival expert, but I recognize the shape at once. Footsteps — human, or humanoid at least, and wearing footwear. Didn’t Asz say she’d spotted signs of a no-scale in the area? I’ve more-or-less picked up on that referring to humans from stories the older kobolds tell, so this should be from them. I’d assumed that whoever it was would stick to a trail, not march right through the woods and down into the earth.
Cautiously, I slink into the cavern. They’ve moved further in, that much I can tell at a glance. Either that or they’re very good at hiding. I spot the travois tucked just behind some rocks and move to grab it, but reconsider. I’ve yet to see a human in this life — if they even are humans, that is. They could be elves or something even more out there appearance-wise for all I know, the elder's tales aren't exactly abundant with details of the no-scales' features. It might be smart to get a look at one while I can, especially if it turns out they’re scouting the area for something. Bringing back news of a no-scale scout to the Nest could end up saving us from a surprise raid or something.
In the end, I have to admit it’s more curiosity than my feeble justifications that lead me to follow the no-scale deeper into the tunnels. Just for a while, at least. If they’re further than the river I’ll give up and just settle for telling everyone about the tracks.
It’s easy to follow the tunnel back to the river — even without my tunnel sense, there aren’t any real branching paths to take before then. As I approach, however, I feel whatever that odd sensation was again. This time, however, it’s stronger. If it was just a small spark before, it's now a verdant light that grows brighter with every step, carrying with it a sickly-sweet scent and a soft hissing noise. Weirdly, now that it’s not just a temporary flash I can tell that it’s not something I’m actually detecting with my eyes, nose, or ears. It’s an almost purely mental experience, and despite knowing better I find myself drawn towards it like a moth to flame.
It’s not hard to put together the idea that the no-scale and this weird sensation are probably linked. I know for a fact I didn’t feel anything like this on the trip up, after all, and their presence is the only difference from then to now. I force myself to remain cautious as I stalk through the tunnel — which is harder than it sounds, because the sensation and the draw I feel to its source intensify with every step. The light seems to color everything in the tunnels, the smell is ever-present and irresistible, and the hiss is a sibilant siren song that tugs me forward with an almost physical force.
When I finally poke my head into the cavern it’s all I can do to resist charging full force in for the source that I know is here. All I see is an empty cavern, a river… and a box. My entire being focuses on that box, immediately identifying it as the source of the sensation. A voice in the back of my mind screams at me to wait, to think for a second, that it could be a trap… and I ignore it.
My claws scrabble against stone as I rush towards the object of my desire, wrapping my arms around it as if it were a long lost lover. After a moment, excitement gives way to frustration as the sensation builds to a fever pitch, a blinding emerald light combined with a overpowering sweetness and a deafening hiss that I subconsciously know could be more, could be mine. Will be mine.
Angrily, I strike the box with a clenched claw… to no avail. The damned thing is bigger than it has any right to be, I think, or I’d pick it up and dash it against the stone and… there, on the side. A seam. Shakily, I hook my claws into the seam and attempt to force the box open — then furiously tug and jerk at it when it remains uncooperative. A surge of pain erupts at the tips of my fingers as more than one claw cracks or snaps entirely, but the overwhelming sensation permeating from the box drives the pain from my mind.
It takes me a moment to realize there’s a latch — no, several latches, and I scramble to undo them. Once they’re released, the box pops open of its own volition with a satisfying click, and I see the true source of the sensation. What must be dozens or hundreds of complex-looking gears and mechanisms exist within, but the only one that matters to me is the triangular gem at its center. I snatch it with my claws and hold my prize aloft.
It’s the single most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. The sensation, the glow, the sweetness, the hiss… I stare at it for a moment longer before clutching it to my chest, squeezing it as tightly as I can, so tightly that for a moment I think I’ll force it through my scales and into my heart...
And something just clicks. A dam that I didn’t even know existed breaks, and the sensation flows into me and permeates every cell in my body. The world around me fades as this new feeling monopolizes the entirety of my consciousness. For one beautiful moment there’s nothing but me and the glow, the sweetness, the hiss. I feel like I’ve just brushed against something far greater than myself… and then it’s gone, leaving only a cave, a box, and a river.
I feel as though I’ve spent my entire life up to this point without taking a single breath, then gotten a mouthful of pure, crisp air… only to go back to my breathless existence once more. It’s an emptiness beyond compare, a sudden need I never knew I had that desperately needs to be fulfilled. Frantically, I squeeze the gem to my breast once more, desperately hoping that there’s just one more molecule or fragment or whatever left… but nothing happens. Whimpering, I curl up into a ball, trying to recall the feeling, to relive the ghost of it… and there, in some deep, dark corner within myself, I feel something new.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
A miniscule echo of that great sensation stirs in that corner, wriggling around like a lethargic serpent. I focus on it with all my being and the serpent answers, stirring with sudden vigor at my attention and making its way through my body. A trace of that feeling returns and sparks in my heart only to sputter and die just as swiftly, making my focus waver. The serpent’s slithering ceases and it falls into lethargy once more.
No matter how hard I try I can’t get it to move once again, and with a sigh of resignation I lay my head against the stone floor. Funny, I don’t remember laying down. It’s not a very smart thing to do, honestly, considering I’m right next to the water and the…
The lurker.
Oh shit. Adrenaline courses through my little lizard body as I scramble to my feet and away from the river, heart pounding. What the actual fuck was I thinking? I drop the gem and grab for my spear only to realize I left it behind in my mad dash for the box… but fortunately, no horrible kobold-killing monster drags itself from the river to snatch me up.
Shaking, I look around the cavern for any sign of the thing, just in case. The lures Soh pointed out to me before aren’t there, thank God, so I can only assume it decided to pack up and move… and, looking at the box, I figure I can piece together some of what happened.
The no-scale… human, elf, or whatever they are, must have come across the lurker. Either it got an easy meal and took the corpse with it or they scared it off and ran further into the caves, leaving the box behind — and I’d wager the former is much more likely, just based on what I know of the lurkers. Unless Soh was exaggerating about their size, I don’t think a normal person could hope to take one of those things in a fight even if it hadn’t gotten the drop on them.
Damn it! Soh! I forgot about the travois!
Putting the issue of the lurker, no-scale, and box out of my mind for the moment, I rush back towards the travois and my companions at top speed, hoping I didn’t waste too much time with my little detour… or, at the very least, that Soh will understand my curiosity if I did.
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“What the hell took you so long?” Soh hisses as I return to the site of the deer’s last moments. “You’re lucky the only thing that thought to try for our kill was this mangy old bastard.” He gestures angrily towards the carcass of a starved-looking wolf.
“Sorry.” I gasp, having run the entire way back. Passing the travois over to my clutch-brother — who for his part mostly looks bored — I provide my excuse. “No-scale. In the tunnel.”
Soh blinks in surprise, his anger visibly lessening. “No-scale? You didn’t kill it, did you?”
“No.” I shake my head, still trying to catch my breath. Soh gives me a chance to recover, and I finish my explanation. “I saw tracks when I got back, so I followed them in. There was a…” I hesitate, driven by some selfish instinct, and refrain from telling them about the sensation. “A box, a little ways away from the river, and the lurker was gone. I opened the box, but I don’t know what the stuff in it is.”
That’s not true, technically speaking. I know some of what was in there — the gears, for example — but since I don't know what exactly they were for I figure it’s not as much of a lie as it could be.
Soh scratches at his chin with a claw, gesturing for the two of us to load the deer and wolf onto the travois. “If the lurker is gone, it probably ate the no-scale. Poor bastard.”
“That’s what I thought.” I agree. “But I don’t know for sure. I didn’t see a body, but…”
“You wouldn’t.” He shakes his head. “We’ll take another look on our way back.”
Once Karr and I have the travois loaded we each take one of the arms and begin the lengthy process of dragging it back to the tunnels. It’s not as bad as I feared it would be — once again, the amount of strength our little bodies can muster is surprising — but it’s hardly a walk in the park. Or the forest, in this case. Honestly, what's almost worse than the muscle strain is the throbbing in my splintered claws, which is only made worse by the weight of the travois in my grasp.
Still, we make it back to the tunnels before the sun has completely set, though the ache in our muscles and the overall excitement of the day's events mean I almost wish we could just lie down for the night already.
Soh looks back at the two of us as we pant and drag our kills along, his gray eyes sparkling with amusement. “Come on, boys. And keep your guards up, it’s not like the tunnels are any safer than out here.”
Nothing attacks us on the way to the river, luckily enough. Soh examines the box when we arrive, but he’s as baffled as I am to its purpose. “May as well toss it on the travois, though.” He says cheerfully. “Plenty of shinies in there to add to a hoard.”
The box adds enough weight that I fear the travois will snap, but much to my relief it holds strong. I have no doubt that even without the travois we’d be expected to drag the carcasses back to the Nest, at the very least.
“The lurker's gone, alright.” Soh mutters as he looks over the river. “Come on, we can get a closer look.”
The two of us gratefully set our burden down for a moment to approach the stream. Now that I can actually look into it, I can see that it’s no more than maybe six feet deep at most. Though at the bottom…
“What is that?” Karr asks, pointing towards a leathery thing caught on a stone.
“A boot. No-scales wear them over their feet.” Soh says grimly. “That pretty much confirms it. Probably kicked it off when it stung him, if I had to guess. Wouldn’t be a ton of movement after.”
“Stung…?” I ask, and Soh nods.
“Stung. Hurts like hell… or so I guess. I’ve only ever seen it happen, obviously.”
“Obviously.” Echoes Karr. “Should we get the boot?”
“No.” Soh says. “Well, unless you really want it and don’t mind getting wet.”
Neither Karr nor I are particularly keen on taking a dip in the river that just a few hours ago housed a man-eating monster, so we simply march back to the travois… and I realize something just a little too late.
“We can’t carry the travois across the water.” I say, dreading Soh’s confirmation.
He grins at me, his maw full of teeth looking as gray as the rest of him in my darkvision. “Nope. Hope you liked the long way around, boys.”
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I don’t like the long way around. I don’t like it at all.
By the time we make it back to the Nest I feel like my arms, legs, and back are just one massive ache. Judging from Karr’s grumbling, he agrees entirely. Soh, the absolute prick, spends the entire time cheerfully remarking on how nice it is to have a pair of strong backs to do the grunt work.
He takes mercy on us when we’re finally back in the Nest proper. “Set it down there.” He gestures towards the spot we took our spears from earlier today. “I’ll get someone else to take it from here. You two go rest.”
Once the travois is set down I immediately sag with relief as Karr does the same. “Hey, what about the box?” He asks.
“It’ll be brought to your clutch.” Soh replies. “Zel found it, so it’s technically his. I bet he’s willing to share though, eh?”
Soh gives me a look that says I damn well better be, and I nod. “Yeah. There’s plenty inside it for the clutch.”
“Good. Now get out of here, Karr, Zel. You’ll want to rest up before the celebration.”
Oh, right. Karr had mentioned something about that, when I asked why he thought we were going to the surface. I’d be more curious as to what it’s for, but to be honest at the moment all I’m really concerned about is laying down and not moving for a while.
Karr and I bid Soh farewell and drag ourselves back to our cavern. “Not a bad trip, eh?” Karr asks me, smiling despite himself.
“Not until we headed back at least.” I reply, making him laugh weakly.
“Gonna have to get Soh back for that some day.” He mutters as we pass into our cavern, and I mumble my agreement. Our two clutch-sisters are either out or asleep, so we quiet down just in case. Lum can get downright vicious if you wake her up, and Yan would keep us up all night asking about our trip if she knew we were back.
“Sleep well, brother.” Karr stuffs himself into his hole with what I think is considerably less grace than I do.
“You too.” I whisper back as I slink into my own ‘bedroom,’ wrapping myself tightly in my rags and drifting off to sleep.