Races of the Dragon.pdf - The Techno Jesus

CHAPTER 3
KOBOLDS
38
Illus. by C. Frank
spending this much time aboveground, but no subterranean
passageways led from Ixen’s homeland to the sacred mine,
and failing to undertake the pilgrimage was unthinkable.
Dragon wrought kobolds have to be raised aboveground, where
they can learn to soar through the sky if they have functional
wings. The mountain temple was an ideal place.
The group set out at dusk, Svent riding Kurik up front,
Aurix and Ixen beside each other, and Gix and Oth
bringing up the rear. They were a night’s journey away
from the mountain temple now, and everybody was alert.
The sacred mine had been cut off from kobold lands by
a gnome army assisted by their dwarf cousins—gnomes
could be encountered anywhere in the area.
Gix and Oth were irritable, having been rebuffed by
Ixen once too often on this trip. In the hours before dawn,
the two taunted one another until a brawl fi nally erupted.
Svent and Ixen stopped to wait, knowing the frustrated
younglings needed to get this out of their systems.
Just as Gix let out a yelp of pain, Svent raised his hand
for silence. A noise echoed from below them.
Oth and Gix immediately recovered their weapons and
crawled over to a rock shelf from where they could peer
into the draw below them. Svent slid from his mount to
join them, and Ixen moved up afterward. The four lay close
enough together to whisper among themselves.
A gnome patrol approached, no doubt trying to keep
kobolds from reaching their sacred mine, but the gnomes
didn’t seem to be aware of Ixen and her companions. The
two groups might have walked right into each other, had
the kobolds not paused before descending into the gully.
At this distance, they could either fl ee, easily getting away,
or they could lie in wait to waylay the patrol.
Everyone agreed to an ambush. These were gnomes,
after all, and the world could use fewer of them.
Ixen stood back as the warriors readied themselves. She
hissed and tensed her body, rubbing some hairs from a
bull between her hands. A second later, she touched
Svent, fortifying his muscle and sinew to lend
power to his blows.
A mounted kobold hunts for gnomes
The four kobolds then silently took up positions in the
rocks, ordering the weasels to lie low.
When the gnomes were just past Ixen’s hiding spot, an
explosion rocked their ranks. In the wake of the fi re, several
smoking corpses sprawled on the trail. All the surviving
gnomes were frozen in shock.
Oth and Gix threw spears while Svent rapidly fi red arrows
from his shortbow. One gnome fell to this onslaught.
Ixen wasted no time, drawing a wand and discharging
two darts of force against the largest warrior, dropping
him with one volley. Most of the enemy now lay dead or
dying. Ixen and her band pressed forward.
Svent identifi ed the leader and sent Kurik to harry him
while simultaneously charging a gnome already wounded
by an arrow. Oth and Gix each drew a sword and fl anked
another gnome who was already reeling from the initial
attack. Ixen launched two more missiles from her outstretched
wand. Another gnome fell.
The kobold warriors quickly dispatched their wounded
adversaries. But the lone gnome leader kept Kurik at bay with
wild swings of a small axe and used a free moment to raise
a horn to his lips. A trilling blast echoed across the land.
Oth and Gix fl inched, but Svent snarled and charged. Ixen’s
ray of fl ame was faster. The horn’s wielder was blown from his
feet by the impact. A second ray stole his life. Svent took up
the gnome’s horn from where it had fallen in the dust.
Oth and Gix stripped the corpses while Svent scouted
the high ground to see if any reinforcements were coming.
He knew warbands of this size did not travel far from aid,
and the horn’s call would bring more gnomes soon.
The group doubled up on the backs of their dire weasels
and rode with abandon, no longer trying to pass through
the territory undetected. The nearest kobold-controlled
territory was only two leagues away, well within reach of
a sprint. Svent and Ixen pushed their steeds for the entire
distance, and Svent sounded the gnomish horn once they
passed into kobold lands.
The signal worked. A kobold patrol arrived, expecting a
gnome force. Instead, it found Ixen and her party,
welcomed them, and escorted them the remaining
distance to the sacred mine.
Within the temple, Oth and Gix collapsed
in a room set aside
for special visitors. Ixen
and Svent rushed into
the temple’s depths to
the upper levels of the
sacred mine, handing Ixen’s
egg over to the
elders there. Her task
done, Ixen crumpled
to the fl oor,
overwhelmed by
exhaustion.
Svent bowed to
the astonished elders
and carried Ixen’s
spent body back
to the chamber
where Oth and
Gix already slept.