Sorry about chapter length, this will soon change!
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Chapter 2
Morning on the Road
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As soon as the four travelers left the city behind Drek threw off his cloak, wiping grime off his rusty scales. "Ugh…filthy, filthy." He muttered. "Why must Drek wear cloak?"
"Because if you don't you'll be gutted by the first human that sees you." Mick said, a smile tugging at his lips. The kobold shivered and kicked the cloak into the trees.
"Well no more! I hates smelly cloak!" He shivered and regained his composure, motioning for them to follow him. "Drek was with last trade wagon…he sees how mino' do it. He stand in road, taunting kobolds to attack, and when we do, he kills us with great axe! But Drek and cousin Mecca sees trap, and we runs back to master!"
"What does the minotaur do with the stuff in the wagons?" Erik asked, following the little kobold through the trees.
"Me no knows…eats food perhaps?" Drek shrugged, strapping a short sword to his thin waist. "You not likes Drek…why?" He asked, turning to Mana. She looked away and remained silent. "Me just wants to know… keeping things in hurt you deep. You keep it in for too long…it could kill you." Mana had to smile at his statement
"You are very wise for a kobold." Drek turned his head, blushing.
"Erm…thank yous."
"My…my family was killed when I was little…by kobolds." Mana said quietly. Drek looked up at her in surprise.
"What they after?"
"They just wanted to kill humans for the fun of it." Mana growled. Drek shook his head.
"No, no…kobolds only raid humans when master say so, and master only say so when humans have something he want."
Mana shook her head. "My family had nothing of value."
"Thatyou know of…" Drek hissed.
"What?"
"Families keep secrets." Drek said quietly. "Drek's family always did…and now Drek must keep them safe."
"…my family wouldn't keep secrets from me." Man threw her hood up as the noon sun beat down on them, and this ended the discussion.
After some time, the group came upon a strange sight. A human woman was trapped by the double blades of an axe, pinned to a tree trunk. She wore only rags, just enough to hide her form. If she moved at all in any way, she would be cut. Her golden hair was drenched in sweat, and her head snapped up as they approached.
"A little help would be appreciated…" She muttered, looking down at the axe.
"Let me guess…minotaur?" Erik said, gripping the axe near the blades.
"Read my mind, didn't you? Yes, the foul beast attacked me without warning." She waited while Erik yanked on the handle, but it took several tries to get it out. "My thanks. I might want to get away from here before he decides to finish the job."
"You could help us kill him." Mana suggested.
"I'd prefer getting far away from here…but good luck." The woman looked down at the axe in disgust, striding away.
"What, a thank you and you walk off?" Mick blurted. The woman was gone. "Why did you help her, Erik? We should have asked for payment!"
"It's always something that needs payment with you." Mana said with a scowl. "Can't you do something out of the goodness of your heart for once?"
"Let me think…no, I don't think I can. Come on, Erik, we have a bull to slaughter." The halfling walked away quickly, and Erik was forced to follow.
"Short one greedier than master!" Drek said, following Mana through the trees. "Something strange about that human…she very familiar, somehow…"
"Why do you say that?" Erik asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Female smell funny…it no matter." Drek ran ahead of the others, hopping up and down impatiently. "Come! Come! Drek hungry and we waste time!"
Mana tugged on Erik's sleeve. "Why do we trust this creature?"
"He was told to lead us by our employer." Erik explained. "We have to, or we don't get paid."
"I don't trust him…something is fishy about all of this." Man licked her lower lip. "That man that hired us…did you see his eyes?"
"They glowed, I know. He was a powerful mage."
"I just don't understand…if he was a powerful mage with a horde of kobolds in his service, he would have more of a chance than us." Mana let out a long breath. "I think that he might be leading us into a trap…"
"Mana, you say that about everything." Erik almost laughed. "It's always a trick or a trap…I have a feeling that this isn't. The only problem is finding the minotaur…"
"…before it finds us." Mana finished. "We need to find the place where his caravan was attacked, and start from there."
"I think we already found it…" Erik muttered under his breath.
Drek was standing in the road, staring at the deep ruts cut into the ground. There was nothing around but forest and a small clearing off to the right. "What?! I swear this is place where wagon gots attacked!" Drek wailed. "Where they go?"
"How big were the wagons?" Erik asked, looking at the ruts. They were very deep.
"Reallyreally big!" Drek cried, looking around frantically. "Big as old master!"
"As big as a dragon?"
"Uh-huh!" Drek chattered his teeth together. "Where wagon go? They not just walk away!"
"Or maybe they did." Mick said. The four gathered around something that looked a lot like huge footprints, right where the ruts of the wagons ended. The footprints were deep as well, and led off into the forest. "Looks like those wagons sprouted legs to me!"
"This just keeps getting stranger and stranger." Erik sighed.
"I have a feeling that trend will not stop yet." Mick said, jumping into the footprint, which was so deep it came up to his knee. "What were those things filled with? Metal? Rock?"
"They had…oh, master tells me not to say." Drek trailed off. "We must follow, come on!" The three ran after the kobold, which had taken off into the trees.
