8 Kobolds

Reaching the top of the shaft Destorianaxe let the bloodied body in her jaws fall upon the stones. Eating it below was too risky and she was not big enough just yet to crush it in one bite. Thus after biting through its slender throat and tasting its life blood, the wyrmling had dragged the body home. Looking at the dead old keeper more closely Destorianaxe tilted her head. Watching from on high she could tell this species of vermin were reptilian but on closer inspection it reminded her of the draconic man thing. Was he less dragon and more vermin?

"Thoughts like those hurt, Destorianaxe."

Tilting her head she spied the draconic man thing casually sat against her bed slab, her eyes narrowing. Had he slipped in when she was below or was this more of his rubbish powers? Grumbling she turned to him, this time being sure not to take her gaze off him lest he vanish and reappear on her blindside as usual, "Greetings my... hrm. In thought I know not what to call you, on one claw I owe you my life, on another I owe you a favor but I think you're a tad early to collect on the eight hundred year time frame..."

The draconic man thing sighed, "Still on that? Fine, if you absolutely must you can call me DG."

"Dee Gee?"

Shaking his head he spoke slower, "D, G."

"That's what I said Dee Gee."

Grumbling seeing the teasing look in her eyes he face palmed, rubbing the bridge of his muzzle, "Fine."

Looking smug upon him Destorianaxe tilted her head, "So what do I owe this visit DG?"

Hearing her get the inflection right this time he felt like cursing, breathing slow to calm himself he looked past the wyrmling and pointed to the corpse behind her, "I'm actually here for her."

"The vermin?"

This time his head did snap up, his eyes taking on a reddish hue as he stared into her own yellow gaze, she felt a shiver crawl down her back that made her slink back a bit even though she was bigger than him. "They are not vermin." His voice was colder than a winter wind, which it almost felt like that chilled her body to the core, "They are my children, well... one variation of them. The actual name is kobold by the way."

"Kobold? But they live in my waste pit."

DG sighed in exasperation, "It's only a waste pit because you never bothered to explore the lair I prepared for you."

Destorianaxe sat back on her haunches looking at DG, "YOU prepared this place for me? I found this on my own, how could you even begin to guess I'd come here? Why not the mountains by where you dropped me?"

DG shrugged, "Those mountains are home to the children of my friend. Sadly our kids don't particularly mesh well so it was vastly unlikely they'd let you stay there. They tend to believe all dragons are only interested in expanding their hoards."

"Hoards? What is that?"

DG chuckled, "I think Zee mixed a little too much raven into the equation, you'll feel the compulsion a little later when you spy something shiny and valuable, you'll just get this urge to collect it and sleep amongst it."

Destorianaxe stared at the draconic man thing and coughed, "Do any of you actually have names? D, G and now a Z, I surmise existence has heard of names beyond a single letter right? How about it?"

DG sighed and walked past laying his hand on the kobold's chest, his fingers glowed lightly and a wisp of something escaped the kobold's corpse and into his hand, "I will ask you to remember, most draconic creatures owe their superior cousins everything. Your little god game is actually literal for them. When you slay a lesser childe you trap their soul in their earthly remains until either the remains turn to dust or you release it. If you have no intentionmof doing so I will ask you never slay them out of hand. Being trapped in their mortal coil could drive them insane."

Destorianaxe looked between the two with doubt, she was powerful and she did get a twinge of enjoyment from being a focus of their worship but having a literal control over their soul? Pull the other tail! She was about to voice her doubts when that red gaze fell on her again, a pressure beyond even her sires slammed into her back driving her to the floor of the cave, her yellow eyes narrowed in anger looking at DG standing over her. "Well? What say you Destorianaxe the Black? Will you heed my request, or do you force me to save my children from you? I will accept no bargain on this matter wyrmling."

"What do I say? I say I traded one overbearing bastard for another!" Destorianaxe glared at DG from where she laid on the floor, pressed there by some unknown force, "You want to protect your precious kobolds, while hedging your bargain with me as well. The great entity. I want to eat a human, it's fine as long as I do so quietly. I want to eat a kobold I have to jump through your hoops? Go to hell DG. Send me back to my family, least my sires have the right to bully me. You, I'll rot in hell before I let a sketchy bastard like you dictate what I will or will not do, so screw your eight hundred year favor, deals off."

DG blinked at the out burst looking down at the fuming wyrmling, even as he exerted his energy to force her down, the young dragon seemed to do everything but submit. Stroking g his chin he watched her snarl and claw at the force pushing back against the tangible yet intangible power that pinned her down. Sighing softly he reached up rubbing the bridge of his muzzle, "Deals not off Destorianaxe, I will apologize for my hypocrisy."

Waving away the power her face was instantly before his, those yellow eyes filled with rage and indignation, it was only a shred of gratitude that kept her from snapping that frustrating face between her jaws. Her breath blasted over him in great angry gusts as she tried to calm a bit but only felt her blood rising further. Narrowing her gaze she walked past him to her slab and curled up. "I will keep in mind your words DG. As for no bargain... no, there indeed shall be one. I need a guide. I'm stumbling around and surviving but I know nothing, since you saw fit to dump me here I need a teacher, someone to guide me as my sires were going to teach, as well as the things they were going to with hold. Is that acceptable?"

DG turned looking at her and nodded, "I can get you a teacher, but are you sure that is what you need?"

Destorianaxe lifted her head, her eyes blazed on anger and distrust but she did not shy away from his questioning gaze, "I need knowledge, I am a child in a world I know nothing about. My instincts demand one thing, you ask another. I need to know what I should heed. And don't say your words, your little display has killed whatever trust I had in you, you are no better than my mother. Plenty of rewards to be had as long as I'm your good little pet, but just as quick to... entertain... me with your violence if I stand on my own."

Lowering her head she shut her eyes, "I do not trust you DG, I need someone I can." Silence answered her words and cracking an eye she noted the creature gone. She exhaled and shifted on her slab, paying little heed to the dead kobold in the room, her earlier temptation lost. Sure the thing had been released but now the thrill of the kill had left a sour taste in her maw. She would have to get rid of it later. While she felt an instinct to spite DG, she also saw it as petty, had the bastard explained half of this when she arrived instead of swaggering around things could have continued.

But he had not.

Sighing to herself she settled in to sleep, she'd figure things out later. For a change her slumber went undisturbed, when she awoke and looked to the keeper who they had played hide and seek with for a handful of years, she, for once, felt a bit of guilt. Not only for killing the kobold at the end but also co suffering doing the same for its replacement down the line. Thinking on it, it seemed a cruel game to show one her presence, to tease the tribe with it and in the end reveal the truth, that their god thing was just a hungry wyrmling.

Turning she moved close to the pit, she couldn't throw it back but instead she started digging at the wall, digging out an alcove close to the floor before turning and carefully taking the corpse in her jaws to place it in the rough alcove, reaching out to arrange the corpse as if it were sleeping. Perhaps this might be a better alternative for what could be considered a friend rather than a pile of bones tossed down the mountainside. Sitting back on her haunches the wyrmling sighed and closed her eyes, "I'm sorry DG, you annoy me with your mystery and vague crap, but I also refuse to be pushed around without knowing why. You are powerful, but if you need a favor from me I refuse to be pushed around for eight hundred years."

The soft sigh from behind ade her tense up, seems her guess was right. "I'm sorry too, I've often forgotten what it is like to be young to revel in existence, I should not have did that to you. But you have to understand Destorianaxe that I guard all my children jealously, likewise she truly believed in you, even as you ended her life she thought of it as returning to what she believed in, and in a sense such is what death is. I just ask, if you insist on killing them that at least give them the freedom I gave you, don't trap them."

Destorianaxe nodded lightly looking to the alcove, "Then my demand still stands. I need a guide, I need to learn about the world around me and no longer wallow in instinct and ignorance."

DG nodded, "Your guide should arrive in a few weeks, it will take some time for him to find you."

Destorianaxe chuckled finally looking to DG who sat on her bed slab easily, "Can't just wiggle your fingers and poof him here?"

DG shook his head, "He's on loan from a companion, please try not to eat him."

Destorianaxe laughed turning and sitting on her haunches, "So who is he?"

DG gave a helpless shrug, "No clue, all I know is he's coming from the north, so expect him in the plains of the long grass in about a month, you'll have to fetch him. My children and my consorts children will likely react badly to him."

Destorianaxe narrowed her eyes, "You seem to be on friendly, not friendly, terms with an awful lot of people."

DG chuckled sadly, "Comes with being the youngest in a big family, the older ones worry I'm gonna steal their crap when they aren't looking, even when I'm content with what I have."

Destorianaxe chuckled, "So this favor has nothing to do with one upping your family?"

DG shifted uncomfortably, "I can't say, they like to watch and I don't want to spoil the celebration."

Nodding her head Destorianaxe closed her eyes and sighed, looking to her bed she was colored unsurprised that DG was again gone. She wondered to herself if the annoying bastard should ever use her front entrance...

A whisper on the silent darkness tickled the young dragon's ear...

"Nope."