Chapter 96 Brokenhorn

The small figure before him looked like a kobold, but it was considerably larger than the one Raymond had rescued. Its orange-red eyes had slit pupils and a bright golden sheen. Two short horns rose from its head, one of them broken. A slender tail swayed gently behind it.

A broken horn?

Raymond stared at the horn. Its position and the shape of the break were just as he remembered. “Is it really you?” he asked uncertainly.

“Ray! Ray!” The kobold cried out happily, making puppy-like sounds.

Henk caught up with them. He seemed to recognize the kobold too and reached out to stop Mara, who still held her shortsword.

“You've changed so much. I almost didn't recognize you!” Raymond said happily, patting its head.

Its once-scrawny torso had filled out, its shoulders and back had broadened, and its chest was no longer sunken. There was now a clear outline of muscle along its slender limbs. It was still lightly built, however, with its neck extended slightly forward and its legs bent a little as it stood.

Fine scales still covered its body, but they had grown darker. Those on its shoulders, back, the sides of its neck, and the outsides of its forearms were nearly black and noticeably thicker than the scales elsewhere.

“I'm always hungry. I never get enough to eat,” the kobold said.

Raymond smiled. “You're bigger now. Of course you need more food. What are you doing here?”

The kobold began pacing anxiously in circles. “I want to rescue my people, but they're all locked up. The gnolls have blocked the paths up the mountains. I'm afraid to go up, so I've been wandering around out here.”

“Wait, wait.” Raymond interrupted it at once, speaking slowly and clearly. “Are you saying you've been into the Blackstone Mountains?”

“Huh? You mean there? Those are called the Blackstone Mountains?” The kobold pointed at the towering range in the distance. “Of course I've been there. Lots of times.”

Raymond could not help pressing further. “Did anything unusual happen?”

The kobold thought for a long while, then shook its head. “No. It's just that the gnolls have blocked so many paths. I'm afraid to go up. Oh, but I saw some gnolls on this road before. They were hauling lots of ore. The same ore we dug out of the caves. I didn't dare get too close, but the last time I saw them, they took it all back again.”

Raymond and Henk exchanged a glance. These must have been the gnolls who had come down to trade last month. No one had met them, so they had taken the ore back.

“So you've been staying around here?” Raymond asked.

The kobold's tail lashed. It too had grown thicker and stronger, enough to make a swishing sound as it whipped through the air.

“Yes. I want to rescue them, but I don't know how. So I wait here, but I don't know what to do.”

“I see.” Then something occurred to Raymond. “You wouldn't happen to be the one who stole the chicken from the village, would you?”

“Stole?” The kobold looked puzzled. “I did eat a few chickens, I think. But I was so hungry.”

Raymond laughed. “Have you been living out here all this time? Blackpine Forest isn't exactly safe.”

The kobold gave a few happy barks. “I found a cave. I killed a bear too. I live in its den!”

“You killed a bear?” Raymond was surprised. “Is it far from here? Show me.”

“Yes! Yes!” the kobold yipped happily. “Not far. Very close!”

It cheerfully led Raymond away.

Mara and Henk followed behind. Mara could not help asking him, “Do you know this little thing? It actually gets along with humans?”

Henk nodded. “I know it, but not well. Raymond bought it in Brightwater.”

“Oh!” Mara suddenly remembered something. “It's that one!”

“What?”

“I remember now. When the slavers had me locked up, there was a kobold beside me.” She stared at the creature leading the way. “They all look alike, though. If it weren't for the broken horn, I wouldn't have remembered. What did you feed it? How did it grow so fast?”

On NovelPhoenix, the author publishes this chapter; its appearance here without permission does not change that the source supports them.

“Raymond let it go soon afterward,” Henk answered plainly.

Mara looked surprised. “Let it go? Then why buy it?”

Henk did not want to say more. He merely shook his head. “I don't know.”

Before long, the three reached a small cave. A heavy smell of blood came from within. Bones left over from meals lay everywhere, along with pelts already giving off the stench of rot. Black scorch marks covered the stone walls.

Raymond stood outside, frowning. The smell was so strong that he had no desire to enter.

Henk and Mara went in, however, and examined everything closely.

Henk lightly touched the black scorch marks on the wall and gave the kobold a puzzled look. “What's this...?”

“I did that with fire,” the kobold answered plainly. “I like roasted meat.”

“Oh? You know how to start a fire?” Raymond was interested. Looking at its claws, he could hardly imagine how it had learned to do that.

“Start a fire? What's that?” The kobold was baffled.

“Then where did the fire come from? How did you roast the meat?” Raymond asked, equally puzzled.

The kobold picked up a piece of meat that had already begun to stink and set it on the ground. It opened its mouth toward the meat, and a small burst of flame shot out. The meat immediately began to sizzle, fat bubbling from it. The flames burned on the dirt for a short while, then quickly went out.

Raymond's eyes widened. Henk stared at the kobold in surprise.

Mara rubbed her eyes hard. “What? Did I really see that? Did you see it? Did you just see that?”

“How did you do that?” Raymond asked, swallowing.

The kobold looked puzzled. “I don't know. I just found I could do it. It feels like something I was always meant to be able to do.”

Raymond studied it closely, his gaze settling on the scales that had turned black. “Don't tell me you're a Dragonblood Kobold too?” he asked in disbelief.

The kobold scratched its head with a claw. “I've changed a lot lately. I eat more, I'm stronger, and I've learned to breathe fire. I think I might have awakened my dragon blood, like Rotpaw.”

“Dragon blood?” Mara asked curiously. “What dragon blood?”

“Probably a black dragon's bloodline,” Raymond said, rubbing his chin.

He approached the kobold and examined it, clicking his tongue in wonder. “I never expected you to change like this too. Do you know what caused it? How strange. First a Dragonblood Goblin, then a Dragonblood Gnoll, and now a Dragonblood Kobold.”

“A black dragon? A dragon?” Mara's eyes widened. “Aren't those just things from fairy tales? Do dragons really exist?”

Raymond glanced at her. “Orcs, goblins, gnolls, kobolds, even fishfolk exist. Why couldn't dragons?”

“Why?” Mara looked blank.

Raymond paused, then caught himself. Because of his previous life, he readily associated dragons with things like orcs and elves. Henk and Mara clearly did not make those connections as naturally as he did. To them, orcs might simply be orcs, with no relation to magical creatures such as dragons or griffins.

He had no intention of answering Mara, however. He did not know how to explain it. For the first time, he had met a Dragonblood creature he could talk to, and he was excited.

“Does magic really exist in this world?” he asked the kobold. “How did your dragon blood awaken? Why you? Are you any different from Rotpaw and that goblin?”

“I only know that we're the dragons' servants,” the kobold said. “Our ancestors followed dragons. Rotpaw could awaken its dragon blood because it has our blood in it too. I don't know about the goblin.”

“Can you teach me?” Raymond asked hopefully.

“Teach you what?” The kobold looked at him with wide eyes. “To breathe fire?”

“Er...”

Raymond fell silent. After a long while, he sighed and tried another question. “What about your people? Have any of them awakened like you?”

The kobold shook its head. “No. I'm the first. But I've heard that long ago, some of us could awaken our dragon blood. They became chiefs and had the honor of serving dragons.”

“Honor?” Mara asked scornfully.

Raymond glared at her, then turned back to the kobold. “What were you planning to do here?”

“I want to become a hero, like you!” Its eyes shone gold. “I want to rescue my people!”

Raymond thought for a moment. “How many times have you been up into the Blackstone Mountains? Is anything different from before? And what is that mist? Do you know?”

The kobold shook its head. “I don't know. They say the mist makes people lose their way. The elders never let us go into it. But at some point, there started to be less mist. Then Rotpaw appeared. It brought the gnolls and locked us all up, making us dig in the mines. Later, I escaped and ran down the mountains, but some humans caught me.”

The mist?

Its words connected several things Raymond had noticed before. The mist seemed to be the key. When he had entered Blackpine Forest with Captain Carter, he had already heard the captain remark on how much thinner it seemed.

He did not know about the Dragonblood Gnoll, but both the Dragonblood Goblin and the kobold before him seemed to have begun awakening only recently. Awakening their dragon blood had brought major changes, which also seemed closely connected to the thinning mist.

At the very least, the mist covering the Blackstone Mountains was no longer as thick as it had once been. The gnolls could come and go freely, and this kobold had gone up several times. That made Raymond think the old stories about the mountains might no longer be enough to judge the situation there now.

“Do you still know the way into the Blackstone Mountains?” Raymond asked seriously. “And how to find your people there?”

“Of course! Of course I do!” The kobold jumped as it spoke. “But there are too many gnolls. I'm afraid to go.”

Raymond frowned. “Surely they haven't occupied the entire mountain range? Have you tried another way?”

“Another way?” The kobold paused. “I've never been anywhere else. I'm afraid to. The sages said we mustn't wander.”

“That was a long time ago, wasn't it?”

“Yes.” It nodded.

“I see.” Raymond smiled at it. “You're a Dragonblood Kobold now. In the old days, that would have made you a chief, wouldn't it? Do you have a name?”

“A name?” Its eyes widened. “A name? I don't have one. I want a name. I want a name.”

Raymond looked at the broken horn on its head. “Then how about Brokenhorn? Would you like that?”

“Brokenhorn?” The kobold immediately grinned. “I have a name! I have a name!”