Today had started out just like any other, with me going through my daily routine, talking to everyone in the den about their day. After any complaints had been noted down, I brought them before the chief to be heard, and then back out again to help him do what needed to be done for the day.
At least, until it was time to teach the dragon.
A curious thing, really. We had never seen of a dragon hatchling, only our oldest had even seen any dragon, and this one not being able to speak had surprised everyone. As the chief's closest advisor, I had been chosen as the one to teach her to speak, despite not knowing a thing about teaching anyone anything.
I guess no one here really does. But Dances-with-Rocks was the one that gave me the most useful advice out of everyone. She would have surely been the better choice in this role.
I made my way over to the dragon's cave, having accepted my responsibility to one of the greatest creatures known to kobolds. We still didn't know Her name, as she likely didn't have one yet, and wouldn't until she could speak properly. Not that that's going to be long at this rate. I don't think anyone expected Her to learn this quickly, but that just shows the greatness of dragons.
Climbing up the last few tail-lengths up to Her claimed home, I finalized my plans for today's lesson. I wanted to see if I could finally start Her talking in complete sentences, instead of the broken speech she had right now.
“No speak now.” She said, before I had even bowed to Her.
Is she upset? Did yesterday's food not please her? “You want be alone?”
“No. Want go fly. Want go … find.” She said it like it wasn't quite the word she was looking for.
“Find what?”
“Find things. Big things, small things.”
“Explore?” Please say no.
“Yes, want explore.”
Is she possessed? Does she not know what's out there? If what the Stonemason says is true, she won't have any way to defend or hide herself if she finds monsters. “Is dangerous. Big things eat small things. You small thing there.”
“I careful. They not see me. They not hear me. They not eat me.” She said while slowly walking around, crouched low to the ground.
How do I explain to her that it's not as easy to survive out there as moving slowly? She's not even that quiet. I just resorted to shaking my head, saying “Is dangerous. Bring kobold. Bring Shadowclaw.” She seemed confused at the unfamiliar word. At Her request I explained “Is special kobold. Can make sound not sound. Make light lot light. Is safe there, with big things.”
I was relieved when she finally said “Bring Shadowclaw.” Especially with how long she seemed to consider it. Now, who should we send with her to make sure she comes back safe?
I went through all the possible options on the way down and back to the den. Of the 4 Shadowclaws we had, only 2 were able to go out, currently. Speaks-with-Authority, of course, was the chief, and couldn't just leave the den, not even to accompany Her. And Plays-with-Shadows, though close in strength to the chief, was still recovering from mana-burn.
Stalks-the-Silence was likely the better option of the other two, because he had the keener hearing, but he's also the weakest of the four. Hmm, she's not the most disciplined, but Chases-after-Boys was learning magic under Speaks-with-Authority, until Plays-with-Shadows turned out to be the stronger of the two. She is the quickest with runes, even more so than the chief.
I decided to talk to Stalks-the-Silence and Chases-after-Boys and get their opinions as well. Of course, the chief also needs to be told about this. Not that even he can deny a dragon their right to go where ever they want.
“I will not go out if I'm the only Manascale out there. I can barely keep up the hiding spell when I'm surrounded by Masons. And I doubt Chases-after-Boys would be able to hide herself and the dragon for more than a few hundred breaths, either.”
“Speaks-with-Authority might not be able to prevent Her going out, but he won't let Her go out alone, either. And risking all of our able bodied Shadowclaws is just madness.”
“What if we include some Masons as well? That should give either me or Stalks-the-Silence enough mana to call on to hide for hundreds of breaths. And I know that many aren't doing anything right now.”
“Hmm, that might work, I'll have to talk to Speaks-with-Authority first. It's his decision who goes, in the end.”
“Well, if there's going to be Masons going as well, I won't refuse to go, but only then.”
“I'll see what I can do, but the chief has rarely made a bad decision.” With that, I moved on to the grand burrow, where the chief usually is around this time. Chases-after-Boys made a good point, but that might make Her feel like we're trying to control her.
The chief was speaking with Shaper-of-Stone, as was often the case these days. Most kobolds in the village expected them to be a mated pair next season, but they had been denying the possibility for many cycles now.
As I was getting closer to them, I could hear them talking about one of the hatchlings that had recently taken a name. A male of one and a half seasons, who had, early this cycle, discovered that he was a Shadowclaw as well. I'm glad for Chases-after-Boys. I'll have to congratulate her later. “Umm, chief, do you have time to talk right now?”
“Hmm? Of course! What's the matter? You're back quite early, is everything all right? And you know to call me by my name, friend.” He was just as energetic as always, when talking.
“Well, I'm back early because ... the dragon wants to go out to explore the Deep Dark. I managed to convince Her to wait for a Shadowclaw at the Great Mouth.” I told him of my conversation with Chases-after-Boys and Stalks-the-Shadows, as well as the latter's reluctance to go alone.
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“That is a difficult situation. I do not believe Shaper-of-Stone can spare any Masons right now.” He looked over to her, at which she confirmed.
“The masons have just started working on the burrows for next mating season. I cannot spare more than a few right now, and then only the weakest. I believe that would do more harm than good.”
“So, Chases-after-Boys will go out alone with the dragon?”
“That is the only choice left, yes. Do tell her to be careful. We can barely afford another Shadowclaw to get mana-burn, much less get injured.”
“I think she knows that all too well, Speaks-with-Authority.”
Chases-after-Boys wasn't thrilled to be told the chief's decision, but she accepted it. As I watched her go up the path to the Great Mouth, I was left to find something else to do for almost half a cycle. Maybe I can go help the Masons, then? Even my meagre strength should be able to help.
Everything seemed to be going well, until there was a commotion over by the burrows close to the path. There was a loud cry of pain, then, a few hundred breaths later, the sound of rocks being thrown.
I extracted myself from what I had been doing since Chases-after-Boys went out, wanting to see what was going on.
What I saw nearly made my heart stop. On the floor, scratched up and with what looked like a broken tail, was the very kobold I had sent out with Her. And, while the dragon in question was nowhere to be seen, the walls and floor were missing some material.
“What happened here?” I asked after I had gotten closer. Chases-after-Boys showed all the signs of severe mana-burn, meaning the two of them had likely found or been found by something dangerous.
“The dragon nearly killed her!” One of the assembled kobolds said.
“That dragon better not come back, or we'll show it what for!”
“I told you not driving the dragon away when we first found it was a bad idea!”
“How are we supposed to feel safe with something like that living so close to us?”
I was disheartened by what I was hearing. Did the dragon really intend this? She always seemed like such a nice girl, despite getting frustrated over pronouncing difficult words. “Can someone tell me what exactly happened? And has someone already sent for Cares-for-Everyone?”
“Yes, she we've sent Runs-like-the-Wind to go get her.”
“I told you, the dragon nearly killed her! What more do you need to know?”
“I want to know exactly what happened, so I can tell the chief as soon as possible. If we act rashly, we might lose more than just a Shadowclaw for a dozen cycles.”
“You think that dragon has any value? It's just sucking up resources! That's the last thing we need this close to mating season! Not like it matters anyway, with how it ran away with its tail between its legs.”
“It's a hatchling, Sculpts-the Rock! Of course it's not that useful right now! The chief has talked about this many times before. If we get the dragon to think of this as it's territory, we'll be safe once it becomes strong enough to work magic! Now tell me what happened, or I'll bring this to the chief himself!” Sculpts-the-Rock has always been a firm opponent of every decision Speaks-with-Authority has made. I think it's high time the chief did something about him, but he never does.
“Fine. The lizard came flying in at high speed, then dropped her after she struggled to get out of its grip. Everyone who saw it can confirm that.” there were some non-committal clicks, as well as one firm confirmation. ”Chases-after-Boys must have tried to use her magic during the struggle for her to be so burned out. After Some of us came closer to make sure she was still alive, the thing stalked closer, probably to finish what it had started. That's when I called for everyone to start pelting it with rocks, making it flee in fear.”
I just stood there, trying to understand why the dragon would do this. Did Chases-after-Boys offend Her in some way? What would it take to apologize for whatever it was? And for how we defended ourselves? Or might it really be too dangerous to keep Her around? I didn't want to accept the last option, simply because I had grown fond of Her, despite it only having been less than 20 cycles.
“Is... is this true? Did you all see the same?”
There was a short silence, then Talks-Rarely surprised everyone by answering “Well, to me it didn't look like the drop was intentional, or even the result of a struggle. It sounded like the dragon hit the ground just as hard, if not harder than Chases-after-boys.”
“And the dragon wasn't stalking towards us, it was more like limping, like it had hurt one of it's legs!”
“Shut it you two! You were just imagining things!” Sculpts-the-Rock snapped at the two others, obviously displeased that someone disagreed with him.
I frowned, now seriously doubting everything bad he had said about Her. Is he trying to make Her look worse so the chief decides to cut ties with Her? If that's true, He'll be lucky if we don't throw him out of the den entirely. “We'll wait for Chases-after-Boys to wake up, then we will ask her directly. Until then, I need to speak with the chief.”
Cares-for-Everyone had arrived and taken over the injured kobold's care from Talks-Rarely. They were getting ready to move her to her home, where she would be able to rest properly.
“The fool, he might cost us the security of our den if he continues like this!” To say the chief wasn't thrilled at the news would be an understatement. “You are the closest to the dragon, Likes-to-talk. What is your assessment of this?”
“From what I can tell of Her personality, this doesn't seem like something she would do Intentionally. I think we should wait for the Shadowclaw to wake up before we make a decision on what to do.”
“That might not be soon enough, if we need to make reparations to the dragon.” Speaks-with-Authority was pacing back and forth in his personal burrow, where we had gone to discuss this. It was bigger than everyone else's, but still only fit 5 kobolds at most.
“I... could try and find Her? Try and talk to Her? She still isn't able to form complete sentences, but it might be enough to get an idea of what happened.”
He paused for a moment, but then shook his head “Too dangerous. If Sculpts-the-Rock turns out to be correct, you showing up without tribute before an angry dragon might be a death sentence. … But, if you are confident that isn't the case, I won't stop you.”
I nodded, gauging my own confidence in my assessment. “I will go and find Her. I will, however, take some gems with me. Just in case.”
“Good luck, then. May the World protect you.”
“And you.”
I managed to convince two kobolds to let me have a few of the more impressive stones they had found in the last season. It wasn't much, but should have been enough to placate the dragon, even if she was angry at her treatment.
After That, I made my way to the path. From what the kobolds that saw her flee had said, she ran past it and somewhere into the chasm. Unless she flew out at some point, it was likely that she was still somewhere close. There weren't many exits out of here on ground level, after all.
It took me over a thousand breaths to finally get to where she was resting. I had Just barely gotten within a dozen tail lengths, when Her head snapped to me, with an expression I hadn't expected; fear. Why fear? Not expecting an apology? No outrage? Not even anger.
Her face quickly morphed from fear to surprise, then back to fear. Then came the reaction I had expected. Her posture, while still lying down, became tense and ready for a fight. Her teeth were slightly bared and there was a low rumble emanating from Her chest.
I stopped a few tail lengths away from her, then offered the gems I had brought. One was a crystal with many edges and faces, that had likely once been a light crystal. The others were a set of rocks that had all sorts of gems embedded on one side. The kobold I had traded it from said it was just a few parts of a bigger rock, but he wouldn't say any more than that.
“Apologies, dragon. Please forgive.” I made sure to pronounce the words clearly, for Her benefit, and didn't bother with grammar, as it would have only lead to confusion. I also bowed to show my respect, which did seem to have the desired effect.
“R- Rise!” She said after a few moments of silence. “Why apologies?” The question struck me as odd, or at least it would have been odd if Sculpts-the-Rock had been correct.
“We disrespect you. We apologize.” When I looked up from my bow, I could tell that she wasn't as confident as she had looked earlier, when she told me she wanted to go out to explore. Now, she avoided my gaze and seemed to be trying to curl into as tight a ball as she could.
“You not disrespect me. I hurt Chases-after-Boys.” She mispronounced the kobold's name slightly, but the meaning was clear. By her posture when she said it, however, I could tell she hadn't meant for that to happen.
“What happened?”
The dragon was quiet for a little while, likely to gather her thoughts and find a way to put them into the small amount of language she knew.
“I fly down hill many times. Chases-after-Boys run away. I follow. Chases-after-Boys hide us. Then there was big thing. Long thing. Bright thing. It go away. We safe. Chases-after-Boys not safe. Chases-after-Boys weak. I run here with Chases-after-Boys. We fly down. We fall.” At the last words, I could feel the remorse in her words. It was clearly an accident.
What had gotten my attention though, was how she had described the monster they cam across. “Bright thing? Bright like crystals?”
The question made her pause for a moment, before she answered. “No. Bright like you and Chases-after-Boys.”