The area right outside the illusory wall had changed a bit, since the last time I had seen it. There were a few gashes in the wall opposite the opening, and some chunks missing right next to the illusion.
“This isn't good. Their territories have moved again. Fears-the-Dark, make sure nothing sneaks up on us. I will hide us. Thrower-of-Rocks, if I need more mana you will be the first to support me.” Plays-with-Shadows seemed to be the leader type, by how confidently she gave commands.
“What about me?” I distractedly asked a few moments later, as I finished gawking at the glaring signs of some colossal battle. None of them were glowing at least, so the battle had likely taken place some time ago.
I think I broke her concentration on the spell she was drawing out around us, as the shadowy lines that had formed vanished in an instant. “You will please be quiet, Great Dragon, so we may do what we have to.” her pronunciation was a bit more hissy than I'm used to from Speaks-with-Everyone. I get the feeling she doesn't like me.
I nodded anyway, and stepped a bit closer to the others. I didn't know anything about how much mana this spell would actually cost her, but I didn't want her to strain needlessly, in case the cost went up the more area or distance she had to encompass.
I saw an opportunity to find out how to actually give my mana to someone, so I leaned over to Thrower-of-Rocks and asked “How would I support someone's magic if it comes to that?” She didn't answer at first, and I thought she was deliberating on how to tell me, but when I actually looked at her, she was frozen stiff. “What is it?” I asked, concerned and slightly confused. She only bowed slightly, then took a trembling step back from me.
Is she... scared of me? The realization struck me like a bag of bricks. Of course they're scared of me! I almost killed one of them. I mentally groaned in frustration. They must think I'm some sort of monster. I thought back to when I asked Speaks-with-Everyone to have me sent out with a group to scavenge. He was so reluctant. I thought it was concern for me. He was afraid I'd actually kill someone, this time.
The thought wrenched my heart, and my bearing turned a lot less confident. Maybe going out here really was a bad idea. I thought of all the ways that my presence would make things more difficult. I would be a distraction, what they perceived as a loose cannon in their midst. If I don't know how to lend mana, I won't be able to help Plays-with-Shadows. What use would I be, then?
I can still go back. Me going back to the kobolds wouldn't change anything about the current situation, though. I could leave altogether. They might be fine, if they don't have to feed a dead weight. I looked back at their thin bodies. I had only noted it in passing before, but under close inspection, I could see that their bones were very pronounced. Even Plays-with-Shadows was like that, but to a lesser extent. I looked down at myself, and saw a healthy body, not a bone to be seen.
How long can I survive, on my own? What magic I can do would hardly protect me, if I come across something that wants to eat me by surprise.
Further thoughts were interrupted by Plays-with-Shadows finishing the spell, a massive circle 3 meters in diameter with 23 runes. As she did, the world flashed blue for a brief moment, then went back to normal, albeit with the faint echoes I had never consciously noticed before being silenced. Now that this background noise was gone, and left with only the quiet breathing of the kobolds, the silence was almost deafening.
I hadn't been observing the runes as they formed, but they vanished with the flash. The only sign that magic was still in effect was a faint, almost imperceptible line connecting Plays-with-Shadows to everyone else, myself included.
This was another thing about magic that had surprised me. Once certain spells were activated, one didn't need to stay close to runes anymore. They seemed to become self-perpetuating as soon as the were activated, until the caster stopped supplying mana.
I briefly wondered if that was how the illusory wall stayed up, but was once again interrupted in my contemplation by Plays-with-Shadows giving more orders.
She pointed in the direction with the least damage to the tunnel walls and lead the way. My theory about greater distance making her use more mana must have been at least somewhat correct, as everyone basically glued themselves to her, staying within a meter of her. Either that, or they want to stay close to each other in case they need to 'defend' themselves against me.
I looked back to the illusory wall, then in the direction Plays-with-Shadows had decided not to go, and then to the small group of kobolds waiting for me. Three choices. I didn't feel like resigning myself to exile would be the right choice, but I didn't want the kobolds to die because of me, either. The only way I saw for that not to happen, was to step up and do more to help than to hinder them out here. Somehow.
I set my jaw, made my posture as confident as possible, and stepped closer to the kobolds. I will not let fear control me. I moved to the left of the group to decrease my distance to them as much as possible without them feeling threatened by my proximity. The last part failed, but I decided to look past that. It was their right to be apprehensive.
I licked the air, but all the smells I got were of the kobolds next to me. I thought one of their smells was very similar to one I've smelled before, but couldn't remember where or who that might have been.
As we walked along the winding tunnel, the signs of battle further diminished. Plays-with-Shadows said something about territories. I wonder who 'they' are. Maybe the lion-thing I saw eating that giant goat? It seemed likely enough, though that left the question of what the other one is. Assuming it is only one other.
A few minutes after we passed the last obvious signs of a battle, Fears-the-Dark whispered “There is something in that direction.” while pointing ahead and slightly to the right.
“Can you tell what it is? Is it getting closer?” came the response from Thrower-of-Rocks. Despite their names, Thrower-of-Rocks seemed to be a lot more distressed by this expedition than Fears-the-Dark. I found that quite funny, somehow.
“It is getting closer, but very slowly. It is not very big. Soft steps, but many feet. More than one.”
How does he know that? Is he- oh. On closer inspection, there was a very soft blue glow around his ears, only barely distinguishable from the glow coming from the rest of his body. He must be using some sort of spell. Probably the tremor-sense one Speak-with-Everyone showed me.
“We will follow them.” Plays-with-Shadows declared. So far, the only things I had seen were the kobolds, and three thing much bigger than myself, so I was very interested to see what these 'not very big' things were. And whether I could somehow help them take down whatever it was. I still didn't quite know how feasible it was for me to scratch out the rune I'd need for the 'Rock Missile' spell before or during a battle, but an ambush should be fine.
Over the last few days I had gotten a handle on aiming and firing the thing, so it shouldn't be a problem to smash something's face in, given ample time to aim.
Shortly after the decision to pursue whatever it was that Fears-the-Dark had found, we came to a very familiar intersection. As before, the walls were pockmarked with holes, some smooth like someone had cut out a sphere of material, and others were uneven, more craters than anything else. They were full of rocks and even some small bones I couldn't identify.
Fears-the-Dark pointed in the direction he thought our targets were, and we continued that way without paying any mind to what must have been another battlefield. To be fair, this has been here since before I joined the kobolds. They probably knew about this already.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I didn't quite remember which way I had come from all that time ago, but I thought we were going back to the lake where I hatched. The flora wasn't getting denser as we walked, though, so I was likely wrong.
“Wait. Something is happening.” the 'lookout' said. Everyone was immediately tense again.
“More creatures?” Plays-with-Shadows asked tersely.
“Yes. They seem to be fighting. No earth magic.” He must have been concentrating very hard, because his words came out slowly and deliberately, more so than before.
“How many, now?”
“Impossible to say. Too much going on. More than us.”
Plays-with-Shadows made a click of annoyance, deliberating for a few seconds. “We go closer. When they stop fighting, there must be dead or injured creatures. Easy pickings.”
So I won't be of any help after all. My confidence from earlier deflated slightly, but I didn't let myself get disheartened. Even if they didn't need my help today, I would, eventually, prove my intentions to them.
Even despite slowing down even further, now that we were apparently close to our targets, we soon came close enough for Plays-with-Shadows' taste, as she had us stop. Even from where we stood, we were witness to a spectacle of red and white flashes. Normally, the climate down here was as constant as the amount sunlight it got, but I could definitely feel the heat rising. It wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest, yet, at least for me, but the kobolds seemed to be questioning the decision to get this close.
I still couldn't hear anything, due to the spell still in effect, and my sense of smell was similarly hamstrung, so I craned my neck as far as I could to catch a glimpse of our targets. Unfortunately, I only saw a glowing red snake-like tail and couldn't even make out the mana glow over the normal light. I was reasonably sure magic was involved here, in some way, though.
Plays-with-Shadows gave a short hiss when I was about to go even closer, my curiosity getting the better of me. “We wait here. They will tire themselves out.” She said something else, but even from this close, I couldn't make it out.
I impatiently sat down next to Likes-to-Dig, though he didn't seem to appreciate it. At the very least, he didn't move to wait somewhere else. I wanted to ask why we didn't just surprise them, but the reason seemed obvious enough. If these things could heat up the surroundings this much, we'd likely get fried before we took out whatever was around the corner. I held my tongue, so as to not seem like an idiot on top of everything they were already thinking of me.
I wondered if we should at least set some defenses, in case something came running, but the others seemed content to just sit and keep watch in both directions. I decided to do my own thing and started scratching the runes for the rock missile spell, just so there was something I could do in the event that something came at us.
It took me about two minutes, in which time the temperature increased even more, slowly getting unbearable even for me. A minute after I had finished and found a few sizable rocks for ammo, the group shakily got to their feet at Plays-with-Shadows' command. It appeared that they did not want to risk heatstroke here, when it was unlikely that they'd have food at the end. I didn't know what that meant, but it was probably to do with the red flashes.
It's probably some sort of fire magic.
The light show was still going, albeit with less white flashes than it had started with. But it seems like there's at least one winner in this confrontation.
The runes were scratched and wouldn't go anywhere, so if I ever came back to this exact part of the tunnels, I'd have some defenses set up already.
Plays-with-Shadows' mana-glow had diminished noticeably by now, though not nearly as much as Chases-after-Boys' had after just a minute and a half of whatever she had done. Either the former had a lot more mana that the latter, or it was a question of efficiency. Then again, I have no idea if they even used the same spell. With how close we were to that snake, she might have been using something different, or she put in more power than strictly necessary.
It still infuriated me that I knew so little about magic and the world in general. All I had seen so far was rocks, stone, some crystals, some monsters that likely wouldn't think twice about eating me, and the kobolds. In all, that really wasn't much life experience to call on for anything.
Maybe I should go, after all? Explore the world? I did want to see the sun again, and feel a real breeze under my wings. I wanted to smell something other than stale rocks and the ever-present note of kobold I had become accustomed to. But even going through it in my head, I knew I wouldn't make it far. I didn't know which way to go to the closest exit to this cave-system. I didn't know how far it would be to get there, I didn't even know how deep below the earth I was. One day. I really couldn't promise myself more than that.
While I just absentmindedly followed the others, we had made it back to the pockmarked tunnel section from before. I fully admitted to myself that I had no idea which way would lead back to the kobold's lair, once more showing that I had no chance of finding my own way out to the surface.
This time, Plays-with-Shadows chose the direction. All four of the kobolds had recovered from the heat, for the most part. They were still panting, but didn't look like they would fall over at the slightest touch, any more.
We spent the next 10 minutes walking in silence, before we found something else. There was a pile of charred bones, surrounded by scorch-marked rock walls and large cracks all around. The bones themselves, the ones that were left anyway, were from something huge. The skull alone was almost as big as one of the kobolds, and by the look of the teeth, it was definitely a predator.
The bones were spread out over a few meters, and I didn't know enough about bones and anatomy to say exactly what came from where, so I couldn't really say more about what this might have been.
The kobolds didn't comment, and we just moved on. I wonder if this was done by the same things we saw back there? Definitely a good choice not to pursue them, in that case. I was starting to question if we would actually find anything to eat out here that wasn't already decayed or picked clean. There seemed to be a lot of things that made trouble in that regard.
We had been on this path long enough for me to say that this was definitely not a tunnel I had been in before. Discounting the pile of bones, we should have made it to the first marks of battle, had we gone back to the kobolds, and the flora should have expanded had we gone towards the lake.
And that was ignoring the fact that this tunnel went primarily upwards, rather than down. In the direction we were going, at least. It still meandered up and down somewhat, but the downward slopes were a lot shorter and less steep than the ones going up. If I ever did try to find my own way to the surface, this was likely the best tunnel to start following.
Alas, before we had gotten too much further, Fears-the-Dark called out again. “Something coming closer. Fast.”
Naturally, everyone froze for a second, before Plays-with-Shadows managed to ask “What is it?”
“Something big. Hard steps. Slow but long. There is something else, as well.” Plays-with-Shadows started to call for everyone to run, at least I assumed so be the panicked look in her eyes, but Froze at the next call from Fears-the-Dark. “Claws. I think we found Walking-Death.”
While I was a bit confused at the fear in Fears-the-Dark's voice, the kobolds didn't need any further instruction and took off in a mad dash away from the direction he had indicated. The panic quickly sprung over to me, and I was only a few seconds late in starting to run. Fortunately, I remembered that I had wings and only wasted about ten seconds running instead of flying.
Wanting to carry Fears-the-Dark further down with me, I was about to grab him, but thought better of it. I might have been confident in my own flying at this point, but I didn't want a repeat of the last time I tried this.
I was seriously frustrated that I couldn't really do anything in this situation. How can I fucking help, if every time the opportunity comes up, everything I can do is more likely to make things worse!?
I didn't know what it even was, that Fears-the-Dark had noticed, just 'hard steps' and 'claws'. That one seemed to be known by the kobolds at least, given the ominous sounding name they have for it, but that's about it. The latter was obviously a predator of some kind, hunting some prey it had found. The image of the lion and the goat came back to mind, but it seemed unlikely to me to find that same combo twice, by random chance. Then again, who was I to say what one was likely to find down here. Again, I had very little in the way of knowledge.
Ohh! Maybe if I fly ahead of the group and start scratching that spell again? I considered how I could make that work. I'd have to go far enough to gain the time to do so, in the first place. Then I'd have to hope the kobolds would reach me first, or whatever I can manage would be wasted anyway. Then I'd need ammo, and be lucky enough to take out whatever it was with one shot, each. Given I didn't know how resilient anything is compared to what I could do with that spell, that meant I'd have to dump as much mana into each shot as I could, and not miss either one. Well, at least not the second one.
I was almost confident that whatever was running away from this 'Walking-Death' would just run past, without paying us any heed, but I gulped at the prospect of failure to kill or at least maim Walking-Death.
Well, outpacing the big things turned out to be the least of my issues, as I had already picked up a lot of speed just gliding down the tunnel and trying to follow it's snaking curves. I just needed to get the distance right and hurry with the runes. Here's to hoping.