19 A Dragon's Hoard

While the bone tribe below had prepared to set out and fight for their territory, the lair above had become somewhat quiet. With Destorianaxe tossing the griffin head to the tribe she had offended Stares at Skies Vast who had wanted to make a trophy out of the thing for the Goddess. Seeing her initial efforts summarily tossed into the waste hole greatly upset her. While the kobold was not so foolish as to yell at Destorianaxe in her anger and sadness she did close herself off, refusing to speak to the dragon, often using Talian as an intermediary if she really needed to make Destorianaxe aware of something.

Poor Talian was stuck in the middle. On one hand DG had brought him to educate Destorianaxe in worldly matters, yet while not his charge, Stares at Skies Vast was closer to a friend as neither he nor the kobold could easily leave Destorianaxe's lair. While making friends with a kobold was as odd as it was to befriend a black dragon, there was little option in such a situation. Being a scholar, he was rather use to focusing on solitary pursuits for long periods of time but even he had to admit he appreciated the kobolds presence when the dragon was in one of her "moods".

Glancing to where Destorianaxe was curled up and sleeping, Talian sighed in exasperation. With these two fighting the oppressive air of the lair had become thick and uncomfortable. Looking to the kobold who was mopping around her little clutch of eggs. Walking over he settled on one of the stones that served as their chairs, he did not sit too close as he found out one day earlier, as much as Stares at Skies Vast considered him a friend, she was almost blindly aggressive in order to safe guard her clutch. "This can't go on you know?"

Stares at Skies Vast looked to the elf and shrugged helplessly, "This one knows friend Talian speaks truth. Yet cannot overlook that Goddess treats her Stares at Skies Vast like beast. Work hard have I to improve Goddess' place, thanks I expect not, Goddess she is, outcast this one is. Still, to so discard this ones efforts? Hurts it does. Maybe think too much, maybe learned too much from friend Talian. Not same as I was."

Glancing to the trio of eggs beside her, she rubbed a clawed hand over each leathery exterior, "Worry for them I am most. When time mine is done, will they slave to uncaring Goddess? Or will Goddess cherish my young? Tell friend Talian? Might be have been better to face judgement of tribe?"

The elf shook his head giving her a helpless shrug, "I cannot say, I know nothing of your tribe. I do think that Destorianaxe will cherish your young... in as much a capacity as she can. To what degree that is... she is a black dragon, Goddess you call her, but everything my people have come to know of her kind is that family and loved ones is an alien concept to them. Maybe, and I emphasize this, maybe in time under our guidance she'll grow to be a more worthy Goddess for you... but is a little too early to expect such."

Stares at Skies Vast nodded softly, glancing past the elf to look where Destorianaxe was twitching in her sleep. The Goddess never seemed to rest well, for all the time she knew her the Goddess had never enjoyed a peaceful sleep. What tormented her mortals could not know or understand but the kobold knew it was likely what lead the Goddess to act in the ways she did. "Friend Talian, when time mine ends, look after my clutch can you? At least until Goddess ready to cherish?"

As Talian was finding the words to refute the kobold, Destorianaxe shifted on her slab. Her body ached but unlike the others believed, she was actually awake. While the pair spoke in hushed tones, she could hear their talk quite thoroughly. She wanted to growl and rage at the kobold but ultimately couldn't refute her view. Destorianaxe would call herself a liar if she claimed to truly cherish those eggs, despite them being the result of her first friend and that less than trustworthy DG, she really had no connection to them.

As her body shifted, an eye cracked open watching elf and kobold talk. Anger radiated from the yellow orb as the pair tried to talk behind her back. While she could not deny their concerns she still felt angry and betrayed. Her gaze settled on Stares at Skies Vast's eggs, so tiny and frail, so unlike the egg she herself emerged from, yet at the same time a sense of familiarity was there. Small and frail they were but draconic blood flowed through each hatchling just waiting to burst free. A vague sense of connection existed but the thread felt very thin, the draconic blood running through the unborn kobolds was thicker than their mother but compared to her own bloodline it may all have been naught but water.

Sighing under her breath, Destorianaxe resolved herself to reclaiming her "gift" after the pair went to sleep... or that trance thing Talian did. A few days under his poultice remedy had done wonders for her injuries. While they were far from being sealed completely at least light movements wouldn't risk her tearing them open and spilling her blood all over the floor again. Shifting how she laid upon the slab, she discreetly looked to the pit, hopefully the kobolds kin hadn't stripped the griffin head or eaten it or whatever they did with whatever else she'd tossed their way. Were it destroyed there'd be no living with the kobold.

Time ticked by slowly, eventually the pair separated to rest giving the dragon a chance to creep down from where she had been laying. Her muscles and joints protested most aggrievously having lain for the better part of the past few days. Every time a joint cracked her body stiffened and glanced around. At one point her eyes drifted to her teacher and she felt like throwing herself in the hole. Talian sat watching her, a wry smile on his angular face. That smug look made her want to growl and throw something at him but she dared not disturb the kobold lest she give into her pride and forsake her initial effort to salvage the situation.

Gritting her jaws, Destorianaxe slunk over the edge, finding the familiar claw holds she had dug into the side of the pit. She held her breath as she crept into the dark chute, desperately telling herself not to inhale through her nostrils. Down here was the waste pit after all, rot and decay coated the angled side of the passage with a thick miasma, to breath it in would cause even her to be sick. At some times when she checked the kobolds she felt she should clean it out, just make it a secret exit to their temple... yet the disgusting air ensured any curious kobold finding the hole above the temple pool would think twice about invading the domain of their God of Bone if the entry was so thick with decay and death.

As the chute leveled out, she climbed over the large boulder that served as an initial brake between her domain and the temple. The reverse had been scraped and angled so large things would continue down to the temple, while a ditch at its base served as a makeshift moat to stop the sludge from trickling down in any great amount. The smell was even more ripe here, a reservoir of waste was building up and threatening to over flow. Just how much did those two expell up there? Admittedly they could not relieve themselves outside like she could but wasn't this a bit too much waste from an elf and a kobold?

Shaking her head, vowing to think up a better situation she crawled on down the sloped passage, while the air was improving it still held a faint odor. The blood pool of the temple was literally a pool of blood after all, the stench off it would be thick up here yet for some reason the air was alot more clear than normal. Destorianaxe sniffed at the scents finding the over powering stench of blood was distinctly milder today. Could they have finally decided that worshipping the coppery tasting fluid was not such a hot idea?

Her puzzlement only grew as she approached the exit. Usually the temple was brightly lit with torches, yet this time the room beyond was dark. Never since she had first found this connected temple could she ever recall a time when the kobold temple was left unlit. Poking her head out, a low growl rumbled in her throat, the devastation of the temple was complete. The walls once adorned with countless skulls were now bare, shards of bone littering the floor. The blood pools side had been broken open, the thick fluid having flowed out over the temple stairs and into whatever laid beyond.

As she emerged into the room, an act that had not happened since she claimed the life of that old keeper her displeasure increased. The altar was broken, the tortured body of the high shaman was still strapped across it. Gingerly ascending the stairs she rested her claw upon the kobolds hollow chest, willing the release of its spirit. As the energy passed through her she felt its final moments. Terror, sadness, betrayal. The war had not only been lost but the tribe had been betrayed.

Turning her gaze to the pool, the multitude of bones in the basin spoke of just how many creatures had met their end in the bloody bowl. A trio of somewhat fresher kobold corpses laid atop the bones making the dragon shake her head and focus on the last body. Carefully stepping on the sticky, blood coated floor she looked down at the last dead kobold before the doors, the feral look of madness on its face, its torn throat and the bloody bone knife in its hand spoke of the insanity that had gripped it before it died.

Like the shaman, Destorianaxe rested her hand on its chest to free its spirit. A shock traveled up her fore claw as a ghostly outline manifested above the corpse, the ghostly kobold cackled madly its hollow eyes blazing with hatred as its words spoke to the dragons soul, "ON YOUR HEAD IT BE! FALSE GOD! BEAST OF DEATH! CLAIM YOU HAVE MY KIN, DENY YOU MORE BLOOD AND BONE I HAVE! TRIBE GONE. BLOOD, GONE. GO BEAST OF DEATH DIE WITH MY KIN YOU CAN!"

The enraged spectre charged at Destorianaxe passing through her with an icy chill. Her neck swiveled as the ghostly kobold charged to the pool, snatching up a trio of souls from the corpses in the broken pool before slamming through the wall and vanishing. The dragon's heart beat wildly, just what was that?! Was that the madness DG feared could be done to these kobolds or was this something more? Shaking her head, fearing the worst she burst through the entrance of the temple, the short passage lead to a ledge overlooking the tribe proper.

Or at least, the remains of the tribe. Smashed huts, burned bodies. The tribe that lived in her waste pit was gone... a slow fire burned in her breast as she looked towards the forest. She might have been a false goddess, but this tribe she had claimed... well been handed. Someone had stolen from her... she would make the thieves, whomever they might be, cough up her property!