AUTHORS NOTES:
Natalie Moreland: Thanks for the favourite and follow!
Greengiant503: Thanks for the favourites! I hope you follow also, to keep up to date with new chapters!
Archer1eye: I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's got a little bit of action and a little bit of warm and fluffy feelings. It might not answer all of your questions, but the actions in this chapter will play an important part in events later on in the story.
Slyksylva: Thanks for the review! It might still be a while before Shard gets back, although I plan on doing a couple more multi-day chapters to get to that point quicker. I miss Shard almost as much as Sharein does ;-)
Chapter 4029th Day of Early Spring 768 n.c
I got back up and got dressed, as quietly as I could. I checked on Illith and Kara to ensure that they were still asleep when I silently closed the door.
I crept out of the house and in the moonlight, made my way firstly to Shard's altar. The forest was still and quiet, not even an owl hoot. I hoped that the wargs would not be out tonight, but at least I now had means to defend myself from them, should they attack.
"Shard, my love," I said aloud when I reached the altar, "the townsfolk plan on coming here tomorrow and slaughtering the kobolds that have been praying here. I can't let that happen, there are mostly only females and children left. If anything should happen to me, just know that I love you."
I felt a chill wrap around me, as if she were holding me in her cold arms.
"I love you too," I heard her whisper behind my ear.
I whipped my head around, but she was not there, not physically. A little disappointed, I headed out in the direction that Malkarov had indicated that their hill lay. I noticed the small track that led from the altar, I had ignored it in the past believing it to have been created by an animal. As soon as I started on the path, I cast a Shield spell over myself but did not cast Dancing Lights or any such spell as I believed it to be better not to give any indication of my approach. I debated whether or not to cast Invisibility, but decided that if I did come across a kobold, I didn't want to just suddenly appear out of thin air. Honestly, I didn't exactly know how I would go about convincing them to leave, I just hoped that I could convince them without resorting to killing any of them.
Eventually, I noticed the ground inclining a little and through the trees, in the darkness I thought I saw the hill ahead. Near the base of the hill the trees thinned out and the path curved around to lead into a large cave mouth. I stood there at the edge of the clearing for a few moments, wondering what to do.
I cast Dancing Lights and spread them out on either side of me towards the cave mouth and recast Shield (it didn't last very long and I had already had to recast it many times as I walked through the forest). I wished that I had been able to cast Malkarov's Tongues spell but that was, for now, beyond me.
A small kobold came out of the cave and stopped in shock at my floating lights, it was holding a small wooden toy of some sort. It looked around, its attention consumed by the oddities in front of it before it actually noticed me. It dropped the toy suddenly and ran back inside the cave. Very soon nine male kobolds rushed out of the cave carrying knives and clubs. They skidded to a stop in a line in front of the cave and brandished their weapons menacingly. They did not advance any closer and were obviously standing in such a way as to defend their cave from attack. Other shapes huddled around in the darkness of the cave behind them, possibly the female kobolds in another line to defend their children. The crowd of kobolds parted and a larger kobold strode through the gap. I heard a crack as it stepped, uncaring, on the wooden toy abandoned in the dirt. It carried a wooden spear with a steel tip which it used to point at me and used its other hand to point back towards the town. It hissed at me in its language; words that sounded very threatening.
I waited for it to finish and then tried to get my own message through to them.
I pointed at them and pointed towards my family's farm, then used two fingers to indicate horns and let out a loud 'moo'. I shook my head 'no' and slashed my arm down violently.
I pointed at them again and then pointed towards the town, then slashed my arm down violently again. Lastly I pointed to a few of them then gestured to all of them with a sweeping hand and then pointed to the south, towards the mountains. I did that again to hammer home the message, they had attacked the farm and attacked the town and now they must go. This was to be their only chance.
The large kobold hissed at the kobold warrior standing next to him and gestured at me with his spear. The kobold hissed quickly back and then began running straight at me!
I cast Elemental Bolt at the creature and it collapsed mid stride, falling down into the dirt close to me, it's dagger skittering along the ground to rest at my feet. The kobolds already looked hungry, but the effects of my seeming made this one appear starved and emaciated. The kobolds all hissed in fear. I gestured to them and pointed violently to the south.
The kobold leader growled and ran at me, stopping suddenly and letting fly it's spear. I watched it's sharpened point come closer and closer. It was a good throw, the kobold had good aim. The spear was coming straight for me. Just as it was about to skewer me, it hit my shield and ricocheted away behind me to thud into a tree. The kobold leader did not slow down however, it had already drawn it's dagger and had just about reached the body of the slain kobold warrior. I recalled the feeling of magic for the Magic Missile spell, pushing as much power into it as I could and summoned six glowing arrows around me. I raised my hand to point at the kobold leader, who stumbled a little with its eyes going so wide in knowledge of the horror that was about to befall it. The six glowing arrows sped unerringly towards the kobold, coming close together and spinning around each other leaving behind sparks of light that drifted down to the ground like white embers. The arrows of magic struck the large kobold dead in the chest, ripping straight through and out the other side. They hit with such ferocity that it's movement was halted in mid air and it was sent flying backwards a few feet, landing on the ground with a thud next to the other dead kobold.
I looked up at the kobolds in front of the cave. They reflexively took a step backwards in fear. Once more I gestured to them and then pointed to the south.
I felt my Shield spell end and silently cast it once more, just in case.
One of the kobolds in the line raised it's club up and took a hesitant step forward.
I prepared for its charge, ready to slaughter another of them.
Suddenly, it collapsed in a heap! In surprise I stood up a little straighter. The other warrior kobolds all turned around slightly to look behind them. One of the kobolds from the cave strode forward past the line of warriors and turned around to put its back towards me. I'd guess that it was a female kobold, it's scales were a slightly lighter colour and it had a different style of markings than the warriors. It was holding a large stone in its hand. It hissed loudly, clicking and hissing angrily at the kobolds both in the cave and in front of it. Periodically it made gestures at the two dead kobolds in front of me, or at me. After a few moments of, what to them, appeared to be yelling; the kobold stopped and the males lowered their weapons. As they disappeared back inside the cave, the lone female approached me slowly with its hands held out so that it's claws all pointed out the ground. Its head was lowered and it stopped just short of the two kobold corpses. Slowly it moved its hands to point to its own chest, then half turned to point at the cave. Then it gestured towards the south and raised its head a little to look up at me. It was a look that I knew well, a look that I had seen many times before. The kobold looked like a dog that had been caught doing something wrong or that had been shown the evidence of it's misdeeds. It was a look of contrition, a look of guilt.
I myself pointed towards the south and nodded at the kobold. Then I copied its gesture by holding my hands such that my fingers pointed downwards.
Its eyes widened a little and I hoped that I had not made a mistake by doing that, that it would not be interpreted as me backing down at all.
The female kobold walked backwards, towards the cave, so that it was still facing me. It stopped near the cave mouth and turned its head to hiss back inside.
Presently a large band of kobolds walked out of the cave in a long double line towards the south. Some were walking by themselves carrying fur bundles, others were allowing older slower kobolds to lean on them and yet others were carrying small baby kobolds. Many female kobolds were carrying large coppery coloured eggs in leather and fur harnesses. One small kobold, half the size of the average adult broke from the line and ran up towards the lone female. It stopped and bent down to pick up something from the dirt, letting out a mournful mew. The last of the kobolds appeared to have left the cave and the lone female gently pushed the child towards the end of the line as it went to join the tail also. I walked slowly towards them and they froze where they were. I kept walking slowly towards them and the little kobold hid behind the older ones legs, the adult standing stock still and staring at me warily. I crouched down once I got close and held out my hand, palm up. The older kobold reached behind to pull out the younger one, which looked up at it questioningly. The older one nodded and the younger held out it's clawed hand to gently drop the broken toy onto my palm. It was a crude thing, roughly carved into the shape of a kobold. Its tail and one of its legs were snapped off. I held the pieces together and cast a couple of Mending's. When I handed the toy back to the little lizard creature it's entire face brightened instantly. There was no more wariness, no more fear. It rushed towards me and the older one made a failed desperate attempt to grab hold of it. The little creature wrapped its arms around my arm and nuzzled at my chest in what seemed to be the kobold equivalent of a hug. The older kobold stepped back in surprise, bringing up its hand over its chest in an all too human gesture. After a moment the older kobold stepped closer to us and (keeping its hands pointed downwards in its non-threatening gesture) slowly pried the little kobold away from me. They both hurried to catch up to the tail end of the kobold refugees, but before they disappeared into the forest they both turned around to look at me one last time.
A few moments after the kobolds had disappeared into the forest, I turned around and sent my Dancing Lights ahead of me into the forest. Movement caught my eye and I sent one of the lights over towards it.
What that light illuminated was the last thing I expected to see.
