Ch.4

As we walked through the forest all the animals avoided us for various reasons I would guess. Eventually, we reached the ocean which had a huge sandy ground that the waves would wash up on. I stood still on the outskirts of the forest with the four kobolds as we all stared in awe at the sight of the never-ending water. We've heard the stories of the ocean, but seeing it yourself is a whole nother thing.

I ran to the water with the kobolds quickly following behind me as we each jumped into the water. The feeling was not like the lava that felt like I could spend eternity laying in it, this was much different. While the lava made me relaxed and comfortable, this made me very awake due to the cold temperature and restless. Though like any gold dragon, I can breathe underwater so I dived down to see what was under the water. I was disappointed to see nothing but a sandy bottom so I quickly swam a few dozen feet out. Yet even there I saw nothing of interest, so popping my head up out of the water I could see the Kobolds on the beach calling my name.

I dived back down in the water, then propelled myself out so I could fly back to the kobolds. Jumping out of the water, my wings snapped out and I flew back to the waiting kobolds. Once there I told them that I saw nothing under the water and that maybe the ocean isn't as full of life as we all heard it was. We spent the next two hours playing in the ocean, I even flew the kobolds up in the air and dropped them in the water at their request.

Eventually, we all got hungry and decided it was time to hunt and gather some items the clan could always make use of. We all then made our way back into the forest, though this time we all were in hunting mode. As we crept through the woods as silently as possible, smelling and listening to all the surroundings for signs of prey. After finding some fresher prints that look like a small herd of deer, we followed the tracks.

They lead us to a small herd of a dozen or so deer, that were grazing or napping in the woods. The wind was in our favor as any good hunter would make sure of, the kobolds split up to surround the deer so the one hit could not escape easily. They then each threw the spear they carried at a deer surprising the animals as they all jumped up in fright fleeing. Though two of the spears found their marks, one killed the prey instantly while the other struggled on the ground in pain since its one lung was pierced.

Two kobolds ran over to each prey, the dead one was quickly being cleaned of its useless organs, while the other was quickly finished off. I came out once the fighting was over as I can hunt, but did not want to mess with the kobold's synergy. The now two dead deer were quickly cleaned of the inedible organs. I then grabbed the two deer and slung them on my back to carry for the kobolds.

"Golden Prince you do not need to carry them for us, we are strong enough to carry our own prey," the lead kobold says seeing me carry the two deer for them.

"It is fine, plus it will free you all up in case you need to fight," I say with a shrug and began walking back to our home. The kobolds don't argue with my logic and follow behind me.

As we walked back to the cave, the kobolds stopped a few times to grab some mushrooms and herbs they came across. Right before we left the forest and started climbing the mountain to our home, I heard something following us. Snapping my head back I see a giant black tiger jumping out of the woods. Before any of us could react it grabbed the one kobold in the back killing it instantly with a snap of his neck.

The three others jumped into action with angry shouts at their friend being killed. They charged the tiger with their spears, but the tiger jumped away from their reach in time. I shook the two deer off my back and jumped after the tiger. The tiger released the dead kobold so it could dodge my strike, I did not want to use my fire since I was with kobolds and I was taught by my mother that nature is innocent and should be saved if possible. So I also did not want to burn down the forest without a good reason.

The tiger gave a low guttural growl towards me and surprisingly it was slightly larger than the saber-tooth cats found in our old home. I responded in kind with a growl as the one kobold grabbed their dead clan member and the other two rushed over to help fight the tiger. The tiger jumped toward me while aiming to grab my neck with its jaws, I stood up on my hind legs to make the attempt harder. While also swiping with my forelegs attempting to gut the beast mid-air, the two kobolds stabbed out their spears to skewer it.

The tiger managed to bite my shoulder but like any creature that is not magical by nature, it can not pierce my scales. While my one swing missed and the other only cut deeply into its side, plus the two spears pierced into its sides. The tiger let go of my neck quickly from the pain, but before it could jump back I grabbed its neck with my jaws. I easily tore into its flesh and crushed its neck in one bite. The tiger let out a final whimper before death took it.

Dropping the tiger I let out a roar signifying my victory and claiming this area as my domain, just as my mother taught me. Afterward, I grabbed the two deer and now tiger carrying them to our home, while the two hunters carried their clan members. The leader carried the items they gathered from the forest as we all silently made our way back. Once home the leader explained what happened and how I avenged the clan member by killing the beast that killed him.

That night we all feasted on the dead tiger, with me eating it mostly, in memory of the dead hunter. Like that, a few months passed, with me leaving the cave on my own as I no longer wanted the kobolds to babysit me. Rok wanted to refuse, but could not since I was technically their King. A few days after the new month started, the large group of clan members sent out to scout the surrounding areas returned with only a few missing kobolds. Rok and I quickly made our way over to them after they returned to hear what they learned.

"Golden Prince and Clan leader," the leader of the scouting party says bowing his head at our approach.

"What did you see?" I ask and Rok nods his head wanting to hear it.

"Much, the place we reside truly is a volcano and much larger than anything we have heard of before. The volcano looks to be thousands of feet high and ten times that size in length. It took us a month just to get to the other side of the volcano, all around the volcano was a huge forest just like the one below us. I believe we are on the coast or an island, as the ocean was surrounding the west side of us," the leader says while grabbing a drink that one of the hunters handed him.

"Though there is some bad news…," the leader says as Rok and I become slightly worried. The leader paused to take a drink.

"Once we reached the other side of the volcano, we discovered there were hundreds, maybe thousands of drakes nesting in it. Not only that, but humans have made their stone cities below the nests. They appear to be riding these drakes and have tamed them. We even saw a few hunting parties of these humans, some appear to be magic users. Luckily no human or drake spotted us, the members we lost, were on our journey back. As there are more predators in the mountains than we first thought. The beast was almost as big as the drakes but had no wings. I have no idea what it was, it was nothing we have seen or heard tales of before," the leader says as Rok's face becomes grim hearing the news as I think about what my mother told me of humans and drakes.

'She said humans are the most crafty and underhanded beings in existence, willing to do anything to better themselves. While drakes are like us dragons, but much smaller with only two back legs, physically weaker, and less intelligent. Having only slightly more intelligence than your average beast,' I think to myself as Rok finally speaks.

"Then we avoid that side at all costs, we can not afford to fight with humans. Especially ones that tamed drakes, while the Prince is still young," Rok says to me while shaking his head annoyed at learning we have humans nearby.

"For now, we must not let them know we are here. If any come near our side they must all be killed so they do not alert the others. From now on, all humans are to be killed on sight," Rok says and all the hunters nod their heads, some with excited faces as kobolds have always hated humans and races similar to humans.

"Talrit, you need to be extra careful from now on. If any human spots you or drake they will try to kill you on sight. The humans may even try to capture you as they are greedy creatures, much like goblins," Rok says to me with a serious face and I nod my head, as fear enters me at the thought of being killed or captured.

"The other side of the volcano is forbidden to everyone, though I do want lookouts to patrol around our claimed area. They are to alert us to any humans or drakes that come immediately, but horn," Rok says and the hunters nod before several form groups to go watch the key areas around our new home.

"Talrit, just please do not go exploring too far from now on," Rok says once the kobolds all run off to perform their duties.

"I won't…I don't want to lose the last of my family," I say to him and he smiles up at me nodding his head.

Time quickly passes with a few years going by. There have been a few humans that have traveled this far to our side, but luckily the hunters have killed them before they could escape. So far no drake has come to this side, each human killed though appeared to be ragged in appearance, Rok believes that means they are no one important enough for the humans to come searching for in big groups. At this point, I'm no longer considered a wyrmling by my kind. I've grown to the next stage, which is a 'juvenile' and now I'm at least twice the size of an elephant.

As I grew older, my instincts kicked in passing down instinctual knowledge of spells. My mother said true dragon's blood is mostly magic and so our spells are stronger than most beings. The spells I've come to know are very little and not much use to me for now, they are 'Dancing Lights', 'Mending', 'Spare the dying', and 'Command'.

As the names suggest, dancing lights lets me make a few orbs of lights that brighten a small area. Mending lets me fix slightly broken objects, like the huts of the kobolds or the stone weapons they use. Spare the dying is the most important I feel, as it lets me stabilize a fallen creature keeping it from dying but only for an hour. If the creature does not get help or more healing within that time, it will pass on. As command suggests, it lets me force a creature to follow a single command of mine, but only if it has a weaker will or mind than me.