Baik's success satisfied him, yet nothing could compare to the results when he returned. Utilizing wet ashes to stick or coat an opponent may have been a dirty trick akin to slinging mud, but at his size, it was necessary to properly conquer a creature like a wolf or a boar in one-on-one combat. The other three were shocked when he dragged the boar into camp but set to work processing it immediately. Its meat would feed them long-term after smoking, its bones for building and more ashes, and its pelt for furnishing. The prince decided to use the smaller kills for feeding them in the meantime while providing the material for more clothing.
Time ticked on despite the awkwardness between him and the trio; although the girls eventually calmed enough to merely avoid him, Ango came to sit and eat with him before the end of the first month. Surviving the trials may have meant different things for the pair of them but the outcome was the same. Baik would become the hunter and Ango would use his position at the tower to repair and work on the building itself. The girls had skills for day-to-day but without him feeding the group and a proper place to reside, their talents would go to waste. Compared to most groups that may have found their way home, the danger and Baik's trial pushed them further from known lands. So the only way that he could return to Bailaka and his tribe — with the others — involved not only figuring out where they were within the forest's landmarks but staying prosperous enough to eventually make the trek.
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Baik set his wooden cup down, looking at Ango's confused and concerned frown.
"Do you disagree with my logic?" Baik watched him, hoping to convey his seriousness with a furrowed brow.
"No," the boy answered. He sat his hands flat atop the table, tail settling low over the stool's edge. "But an entire year out here, at a minimum? Can we... do that?"
I don't blame his disbelief; given losing Leik and the few food thinnings we've gone through to keep building our stockpiles, this month alone must have felt impossible.
Baik's ears rose ever slightly in-sync with his chest, breathing deep before nodding. "I believe so. While it's possible we might wander into a village, there's no way to know which it is. It'd be bad if we waded into an enemy's territory... but it'd be far worse if we ended up on the outskirts of the forest or in the sights of the humans."
Ango unsurprisingly didn't argue; although they hadn't seen a sign of the masked humans since that day Baik looted the corpse, it was foolish to write off their threat. Among the woods' many surrounding threats, countless enemies saw kobolds as blade fodder or slaves.
We haven't even encountered any of the demon patrols yet. While those masked people may be part of their forces, it's unlikely... demons are supposed to be less humanoid on average, save for their elites who share form similarities. Aggel mentioned that it was perhaps a similar phenomenon for why the Kobold Prince took a more upright stance and taller posture. After all, kobolds once served beneath the demons... it makes sense that our race probably has demonic lineage at some point since we're compatible with females from most species.
Baik settled that thought away for another day, though. There was another reason for getting Ango's agreement in this plan. Trials took kobolds on the cusp of growth and put them to the grinder; although they had survived initially, it was up to them to continue upholding the laws. So the prince cleared his throat and resolved himself, bringing his hands together and interweaving his clawed fingers.
"For that reason, I think we should prepare for winter. So you'll become Hanaya's promised."
The green kobold justifiably half-fell off his seat whilst Baik stood up. Despite the prince moving away from the table to the stick-rack holding his gear, footfalls tracked behind him whilst Ango pursued.
"What!?" The kobold's face was a rosy shade of red. "B-But that means I'd become her mate when we pass the trial!"
"I know that."
Ango's jaw dropped but Baik didn't humor the young kobold's initial confusion. While they were young, making mating pairs at a young age was a very promising aspect for kobold warriors. It was often reserved for the most elite warriors to arrange marriages, as they could often get their children paired with another elite if they were born at roughly the same time. Kobold genetics being strong meant that the outdated practice was a common part of their culture. Unlike humanity, however, kobolds also separated from their mates either due to violent death or kidnappings. It was rare to see a potential couple that got along knowing that their goal was merely to produce strong heirs before such events happened.
Their survival becoming longer-oriented was beneficial for coupling between Ango, who was intelligent but lacked great survival training, and Hanaya who covered his flaws. In the time since occupying the tower, Baik's presence was often ignored to a point; despite their attempts to hide it, Baik had caught both of the kobolds worrying or watching the other.
It's part of my duty, too... but taking a mate now would mean making Nehlka do such a thing. Her brother and Hanaya might have crushes on each other but I'm not foolish enough to think Nehlka cares about me like that. Of course, another part of it is that I think she'd do better with a life away from violence; being at the side of a Kobold Prince means you could be killed for a plethora of reasons.
Baik hoisted his bag of equipment and pushed past Ango, leaving the flustered kobold scowling at his back.
"I will not do it! Even if it's for the Laws!"
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"Together! Now!"
The bushes erupted into flying leaves around either side of a young boar, its tail hiking up seconds before slung ash blinded both of its eyes. Although it couldn't see, the creature squealed and rushed forward only to crash into a bone-reinforced, leather-and-wood shield. The kobold behind it thrust the shield upward, deflecting the momentum and weight upward to avoid being trampled. A kobold woman stood behind him, pushing his back and keeping his balance.
"Ango," she hissed. "You really couldn't just use our normal strategy?"
Ango — now about at the average four-foot height of a kobold male in their prime — shook his thick-mane of fur. He slipped his old pike off of its carrying strap on his hip, driving its newer bone-protected obsidian head through the boar's neck. Compared to most runts, growing up to be both intelligent from survival and strong was a blessing. With his furry head of hair drawn back into a ponytail twisted tight around a boar tusk, Ango could have rightly passed as a hunter among the kobolds. In a year, he had grown and begun his part in their culture.
"No, Hanaya!" Ango released his weapon and grabbed the rim of his shield. "Today, I want the kill!"
With a twist of its rim, he manipulated the boar off-track and past the pair of them. Hanaya lowered her hands from his back, letting Ango go wide-eyed and tumble into the dirt.
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Now a woman herself, Hanaya would have put the stereotype of female kobolds not being warriors to shame; her hair was drawn into braids with similar tusks at the ends of each one. Although four inches shorter than Ango, she wore more fur and bindings to help hide the muscle she'd built from working just as hard as the males. Even though her hips had widened, her stocky genetics had come forward and widened her shoulders. Where she lacked the raw strength of a fit male, her body's posture was perfect for supporting other kobolds.
She grabbed the stock on her left hip and tore it upward, setting her crossbow in an instant and snap-firing it. The bolt hits its mark as it had countless times before; although the weapon was made of mostly easy-to-find material, some of their precious iron had reinforced it to make a dependable close-range weapon. With its bonehead bolts, one of the boar's rear legs was skewered in an instant. The quiver shuffled forward now that the crossbow was removed, but she reached to her right side and pulled free one of the edged rocks instead of reloading. The boar squealed and tried getting up, the girl pacing around and hurling the stone at just the right moment to strike it behind the ear.
Keep it paralyzed; if it can't think or move, it doesn't matter how fast it is.
"We can kill it," the girl barked. "No time for greed when we need the meat!"
Ango rolled over, kicking up and chasing after the pair with a grumble. "I know. Just because we're promised doesn't mean you can treat me like your mate!"
The pair shared a moment of eye contact before the pair of kobolds fully turned their attention from playing onto killing. Ango surged forward and raised his shield like a guillotine, bringing it down in both hands so the massive weapon struck the boar's neck from above. It stumbled and tried to turn away, only for another stone to strike its snout. Whilst Hanaya withdrew another stone, the male kobold jumped over the boar's back; his tail coiled tight around the base of the boar's, mere moments before Ango swung his arm and struck the boar with his shield. His attack didn't stop, relentlessly driving his back into the beast to send it rearing and pin it against a nearby tree.
"Bailaka boar can be so fucking dumb," he laughed. Ango brought his shield down on one of the boar's kicking forelegs, reaching out and grabbing the good rear leg to lift it clear of the ground. "If it can't touch the ground, how can it run away?"
The playful nature he was handling the boar, however, ensured he didn't get the kill; Hanaya walked up alongside the bragging male, pulling free her bone knife and instantly driving it through the boar's throat. She twisted and gutted the pig with a precise enough motion to minimize blood splattering on her, looking at the now-grumpy kobold with a smirk.
"If you're busy bragging, how can you possibly claim your kill? For my promised, you're almost as thick-skulled as Leik was; how can you call yourself intelligent?"
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The pair made their way back to their familiar clearing with Ango pulling the boar in a handcart uneventfully, the sun still fairly high for the day. Although the tower had been old and abandoned, its outside was now patched of its holes; an earthen wall had been raised against its weakest side to give it more of a subterranean look. Scaffolding was partially wrapping it and a new wooden door occupied its doorway, giving it an air of legacy and crowding that most kobolds grew up with.
"At least you can take pride in something," Hanaya teased. "It always looks good in the morning. What do you think you're going to do with the wooden parts again?"
"Paint the tower."
Hanaya laughed, but Ango didn't; the pair of them slowed down and focused their attention on his sister, stumbling her way outside. Although she had aged, she'd only grown to around three-and-a-half feet tall with wider hips. Her chest had grown in a bit more appropriately, however, with her now bearing what'd be comparable to C-cups for a kobold of her height. Unlike the pair of hunters, however, she had adopted a new role: druidess. Her outfit had been replaced with a dress of chimera and wolf fur, accented with a necklace-bound feather charm.
"I don't like it one bit," Ango grumbled. "Why do I have to paint it?"
"Because I'm not tall enough!" His sister's anger bubbled, yet she eventually turned to look at the tower.
Hanaya sat her hands on her hips, rolling her eyes whilst the brother hoisted the boar down. "Are you still scared of Baik, even after he made you a druidess? The only thing more honorable is if you learn enough to be blessed with the role of shaman. Our trial is supposed to end soon and this might very well become our home if the village rejects us; don't you realize he did what he needed to do two years ago?"
Even after two years, Nehlka flinched at the mention of the chimera incident. All of them had eventually been sat down by Baik last year for the full truth, however, she couldn't move past it. Hanaya and Ango could with their focus shifting from the full-time scavenging to hunting when Baik stopped... yet she had been stuck there learning from him every day. She ran a hand through her hair, brushing over the ponytail and her second feather charm. Both of them had been gifts for her trials: to become a kobold and to become a Druidess.
"I... I know he did what he had to... but... sometimes I worry that Baik isn't... who we think he is. I mean... we never met our Prince, yet he-"
Ango stopped in his tracks and Hanaya's tail snapped against the dirt. Nehlka paled at the realization of what she said, quickly raising her hands.
"N-Not that I mean to say we don't follow him! I-I just... he is our prince now, but haven't either of you worried about what might happen if he's from another tribe?"
The huntress didn't answer but did look to Ango to do so in her stead. Nehlka hastily did the same, forcing the boar-dragger to groan. Ango stood upright, reaching around his back to remove his shield and set it in the cart to alleviate some of the weight on his back to stand upright properly.
"Even if he is, we are part of his tribe now. We've lived with him and hunted with him for the last two years. Baik told me to trust him and so far he hasn't betrayed it."
It was rare for the male to get serious and speak up, but his words did help calm Nehlka somewhat. She tentatively pressed her palms together and gazed up the tower wall, bringing her tail up to shade her eyes from the sun. Both of the other kobolds ignored her and focused on moving the boar for butchering, letting her bask up at the outline of Baik on the tower's top. Nehlka knew that she needed to trust him... but it was harder for her, after seeing how close her brother came to death.
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The druidess made her way up the cozy tower interior and the replacement ladder, eventually peeking out of the hole at the prince.
All three of them had been confused at first but Baik's growth wasn't entirely out of the norm; he had grown to almost five feet tall in the last two years. His tail ridging had grown more intense and his feathery ears often needed plucking every few weeks from the growth hormones in him. Normal princes didn't start molting until they were done with their trials, so it was strange when Baik approached her to help trim them. As much as he had grown, his toga had eventually been replaced with fur and leather clothing. Now the prince's birth blanket was worn around his waist like a sash, billowing in the breezy morning's winds with almost four feet of slack.
"Don't worry," Baik sighed. Vocally, they sounded akin to human teens whilst he sounded like a teen on the cusp of adulthood. "I'm not angry. I do wish you all would remember I can hear better than you, though."
Nehlka shamefully lowered her head... but clenched her fingers tightly around the ladder, forcing herself to look up and finish climbing up. The view from the top of the ladder opened up around them, letting them gaze out across the treetops. Normal kobolds often never rose this high off the ground unless they came from a massive tribe or were elites. The druidess carefully approached his side, following his gaze whilst recovering her wooden, reinforced staff from the floor.
"I know I've worked hard, Prince Baik, but... if we go back, will they accept us? We've been gone so long."
Baik nodded, turning his gaze down onto the smaller kobold.
As scared of me as you are, I doubt they can frighten you as you are now.
The prince shifted his attention back to the horizon, specifically at a looming hillside-affixed building. To the others, all they could see was its top. But Baik could see the entirety of it, recalling the walls of Bai's home with ease. They had rebuilt the ladder at the end of the first year, but he had only seen it a few months ago with another growth spurt. Today's hunting had been pushed off so he could chart and prepare the path.
"Tomorrow, we shall find out." Baik felt the wind shift from their back and across their face, forcing his grown-out hair and exposed chest tuft to shake.
"If they don't, then we will escape and uphold the laws just as we always have."