The Endless Forest

One week later…

In the hourly hours of predawn night, a storm blew in. It howled, it roared, it threw its tantrum for all those asleep to miss. But not all slept, not all missed what the storm said.

No, people saw and they heeded the warning. Action was being taken.

As the storm tired out, it gave a final plea…

Like tears, rain fell down upon the world.

Rain came down hard during the predawn hours of the morning. It fought viciously just to make it through the canopy and on towards the ground. There, it pooled and puddled, waiting to be sucked into the ground and be used by the plants.

The life of a single drop of rain was quick and depressing…

Thankfully, Solanna wasn’t a drop of rain, she was an elf. An elf who had long since grown used to being soaked and covered in mud. All it did was add to the thrill.

She and Tracker were laying still, only daring to move to the sound of distant thunder. They were on the hunt, searching for an elk that had managed to elude them for far too long.

The beast, and it was definitely a beast, was of higher intelligence. It had grown large and cunning, all thanks to the unstable region of the forest they were currently in.

Everything that called this spot home was truly monstrous in its own right. They had hunted a number of the beasts in the past week, and they were not like the game that Solanna was used to. Even some of the local birds were dangerous, able to swoop down and gouge out one's eyes if one were not careful…

There was the faint sound of rustling coming from the brush nearby. Both Solanna and Tracker sank deeper into the mud, using it to mask both themselves and their scents. Neither spoke as they prepared their bows, already knowing exactly what the other was going to do.

Here it comes, Solanna thought and slowed her breathing. The bow and arrow she held were practically singing to her, eager to be used.

For a brief moment, it reminded her of the eggs, of how hers had called out to her. It wanted her, it needed her.

She wanted it, she needed–

A flash of lightning lit up the sky, large portions of the ground became day while the shadows became night. It was at this moment they found their prey.

Focus! She chastised herself.

The massive elk was nearly as tall as Zira or Kyrith, and maybe half the mass of Zira herself. It was big. It was frighteningly big.

Solanna felt the call of the hunt. It was time.

In one swift and fluid motion, both she and Tracker rose. They nocked their arrows and pulled back the strings of their bows.

In an instant, Solanna felt her arrow guide her aim–

With the thwack of her bow, she sent the arrow flying…

***

By the time they made it out of the forest and back into the clearing the sun was peeking through the clouds. The rain had stopped not long after dawn but by then, it had washed them clean. They dragged the dead elk while a team of kobolds pushed from behind.

Slowing their pace, they made it to the safety of the manor and came to a stop near the kitchen door. With their hands full, Tracker reached out with her foot and kicked at it several times and waited…

“OPEN! HAVE MEAT!”

Yedril was humming a lullaby as he worked on kneading a large batch of dough. It was a song that his mother used to sing to him when he was just a small boy…

The short time in the kitchen had been enough for him to learn the very basics of cooking. At least, he learned enough to not have Chef standing over him every moment.

With the little freedom he earned, he was put to task mastering the art of bread-making. Thankfully, he found he rather enjoyed it.

Mixing flour and yeast, kneading the dough, and shaping the loafs were normally tedious. However, for him? It was quite calming, even within the chaos that was the kitchen.

Yedril let his mind wander…

I want to see the egg. It’s unfair that the others have gotten to see theirs, why can’t I? He wasn’t angry, just upset. I want to see it and hatch it… Is that wrong? I know we will be good friends. I’ll take care of them and they will take care of me–

He felt something ache deep within himself, reminding him of his affliction. Is that why? Do they all believe I will die? Does Felix believe I will die– am I only here because of his pity? Or was he being genuine and only waiting until he found a proper solution?

If I hatch that egg and then… I would leave the baby dragon alone.

That last thought made him shudder. He didn’t want to do something like that. Perhaps it is for the best then. I should talk to Felix, tell him I’m okay with the others going on ahead and hatching their eggs. Then, either when Felix finds a solution or I–

“NO GOOD!” Chef yelled, suddenly smacking Yedril’s hand with a wooden spoon. “Master kneed too much! It bad!”

Wincing and shaking his hand, Yedril quickly bowed to the kobold. “Y-yes Chef!”

“Toss it! Master start again with new batch!”

“Yes Chef!” he repeated, cursing to himself for his mistake. Working under the kobold was an exercise in frustration at the best of times. Still, Yedril couldn’t help but be thankful.

Through it all, Chef never once took pity on him. Look down at him? Sure. A little abusive at times? Absolutely. But the kobold never showed an ounce of pity towards him.

He was grateful for that.

Yedril tossed the dough into a refuse bin, and made his way over to the furthest corner away from the hallway’s entrance.

Flexing his hand, he leaned down and took hold of a small latch built into the floor. Pulling hard, the floor suddenly lifted up and revealed a small staircase.

Carefully, he crouched and descended, entering into what was the storeroom.

The room itself was situated directly underneath the kitchen. Its overall appearance was that of a well kept basement, equipped with the same magical lights that were used throughout the manor.

The walls were lined with shelves, enchanted to preserve anything stored on them. They could even be used to keep food either hot or cold, depending on the need…

In the center of the storeroom was where most of the bulk storage was kept. Various crates, sacks, and non-perishable items were stored there. Meanwhile, hanging from the ceiling were hooks, meant specifically to hang large chunks of meat for curing or carving.

Overall, the storeroom was well stocked. How the kobolds managed that, and kept it rather orderly and clean, was a mystery that he did not want to delve into. Especially after some of the things Noria said…

Shaking the thought away, Yedril spotted what he was looking for. A large bowl sitting upon one of the shelves. There you are–

Just as he was about to make his way over to it, he heard yelling from upstairs.

“SICK MASTER COME! MEAT NEED PREP!”

With a sigh, Yedril crawled back up the stairs.

“Yes Chef?” he asked, before stopping half-way up. Taking up most of the space within the kitchen, was a dead elk…

Noria let out a sigh, the growling was becoming annoying more than anything else. It drowned out all other noises, including the light pelting of the rain hitting the roof. Still, she had a job to do.

She was in a makeshift barn, filled with dire wolves. And one of those wolves was pregnant, heavily so, and needed constant attention. However, it wasn’t her that was growling… No, it was her mate.

‘Growls,’ as the kobolds called him, was extremely protective of his mate. It wasn’t too surprising either, dire wolves mated for life and would fight for one another.

Especially when their mate is pregnant with their pups, she thought. It’s sort of sweet–

The growling grew louder, Growls would not be ignored.

Her eye twitched in annoyance. “Oh hush! Can’t you see I am making sure she and the pups are healthy? Do you want her to miscarry?” Noria looked up and over the female wolf to glare at Growls.

He narrowed his eyes, looking as if he was processing what she was saying. With a huff, he suddenly looked away from her dismissively.

“That’s what I thought. Now please, let me work in peace and then you can see her.” Noria lowered her head and went back to checking the female wolf, Silla.

That was the name she had given the wolf. The one the kobolds had come up with was rather crude…

Noria reached down and carefully petted the surprisingly docile beast. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. From what I understand, the females are more intelligent. She probably knows that, by playing nice, she and her pups will be safe.

Whatever the case, Noria preferred dealing with Silla over the others. At least with this wolf, she wasn’t nearly as worried about being mauled to death. Except when food is concerned, she’s worse than Growls then…

She went back to work, letting her mind drift slightly as she inspected Silla. And there was a lot for her to think about.

Her first thought drifted to the obvious, the dragon eggs. When will we hatch them? It’s been a week…and I can honestly say I’m more anxious now more than ever. Just walking by the hatchery makes me want to sneak inside–

She shook that thought away, it only made her actually consider it.

There’s those notes… Yarnel’s, if Ithea is to be believed. The things in there are absolutely crazy! From the stuff I can read anyways.

The tome of notes she was referring to was filled with concepts and magic she had never heard of. The only problem was, whoever this Yarnel was, they had worse handwriting than her mother.

Still, she saw it as a challenge and had spent a good deal of her free time working on deciphering it. She was barely through the first quarter of the tome, but already she had learned a vast amount of knowledge from it…

Rediscovered lost knowledge, she corrected herself. It was definitely old, it referenced things like ‘essence.’ Something that hardly anyone knew about, save for maybe Master Aluin…

A whimper pulled her back into the present. It was Silla, and the wolf was throwing glances back towards Growls’s pen.

Noria took a deep breath and stood up. “Alright, I understand… Everything looks good, I see nothing wrong and I think you have another week or two before you give birth.” She didn’t know why she was saying all this to the wolf, but Silla seemed to cock her head before nodding.

Scary…but adorable, she thought as she gestured to the pen. “Let’s get you back with your mate, shall we?”

Silla waddled over to Growls’s pen and waited. Noria quickly followed, eyeing the male wolf as she approached. And once he saw his mate, he started whining.

Seeing he was entirely focused on Silla, Noria quickly opened the pen and waited until the female wolf entered.

She promptly closed it before Growls could even think about escaping, going so far as to make sure it was properly locked by giving it a few tugs.

With a sigh of relief, she turned back towards the entrance and froze. There were ten pens in total, but only four were currently being used. Six pairs of eyes were staring out from three of them, all focused on her.

Her relief turned into hesitation.

With a gulp, she started slowly and cautiously walking towards the barn doors. All the while, the eyes followed her…

Noria made it to the entrance and quickly bolted out, slamming the doors closed behind her. She leaned against them and let out a shaky breath. She hadn’t even noticed that it had stopped raining…

Gods, this is not what I envisioned when I volunteered! Indeed, she had been thrust into this position. Something that she was not happy about, especially when she had been lied to.

This was supposed to be simple! I was looking forward to working with animals, not dire wolves!

Movement caught her eye and she looked up to find the kobold responsible for her current predicament. Tamer…

The blue kobold was covered in scars, but that wasn’t all. He was an oddity, even compared to the other kobolds. He hardly spoke to anyone, preferring to live and work alone.

Yet, it was he who asked for her assistance. Apparently, he was one who had asked for a healer when the dire wolves were first brought in. And like a fool, I agreed to help!

She mentally kicked herself as he came to a stop before her.

“New Master done?” Tamer asked, looking at her questioningly.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

“Good.” He pulled out a bucket and held it out to her. “Clean hog pen.”

Noria felt her eye twitch again as she forced a smile.

“Sure thing…”

Lorem was having a blast. He and Gern were sparring, trading pointers and blows despite the size difference.

He’s good, really good, he thought, deflecting the kobold’s wooden sword. Lorem had made them a pair of training swords for this exact purpose.

He threw the kobold back and pressed his advantage, swiping his sword across Gern’s chest. But I'm not bad either…

They quickly reset, this time he would attack first. Though, I wish I had my spear…

He charged and feinted to the left, hoping to confuse the kobold. It didn’t work. Instead, Gern leaped back before thrusting forward.

Lorem felt the pain in his chest from where the wooden sword ‘pierced’ him…

They had been going at this for a while now, not even realizing the rain had long since stopped. Both he and Gern were entirely focused on their match, on the thrill of having good training partners.

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? he thought, realizing that he hadn’t properly trained in months. His eyes quickly glanced down to his foot.

Lorem had lied to Noria when he met her back in the village. He had broken his leg, not sprained it, and for something stupid too.

For as big and strong as he was, falling out of a sky tree was no joke… Still, he regretted lying to her, but he didn’t want to worry her. Especially now that we are together…

That was another thing he was still adjusting to. They had recently became a couple, but they hadn’t had a lot of time alone together. That was something he wanted to fix but…

She’s been engrossed in that tome. I might need to just talk with her about that– Oh, maybe I can help her in some way? I just want to spend time with her before we hatch those eggs…

The memory of them struggling to control themselves flashed through his mind. It wasn’t something he felt entirely comfortable about, being controlled like that. Yet, I can’t help but want to go back there right now…

“Skill Master okay?” Gern asked, pulling Lorem back to the present.

“Hmm– Oh, sorry. Do you want to go again?” he asked, lifting his sword up.

The kobold eyed him before speaking up. “Gern done. Gern want check on mate, clutch hatch soon.”

“Oh? Congratulations! I wasn’t aware… When will they hatch?” He put on a big smile as he spoke.

“Gern not sure, maybe week, maybe two… Gern think three.”

“You’re not sure?” he genuinely asked. He would have thought the kobolds had a good idea how long it would take their eggs to hatch.

“It no simple, egg need right con-di-tions…” The kobold smiled after managing the difficult word. “Some eggs show cracks, but too soon. Need more time.”

Interesting, I didn’t know that about kobolds. I wonder if that is similar to other types of eggs like…dragon eggs. The memory and the urge came back, but he was more ready this time and stopped it.

“I see. Well, I won’t keep you. Oh, but let me know when they are about to hatch. I would love to be there– If that is alright, I mean.” He caught himself, almost not realizing that it might be a private affair.

Gern matched his smile. “Gern love Skill Master to come! Will tell Skill Master when eggs hatch!”

With that, they departed and went their separate ways…

Now that his sparring was over with, Lorem decided to go look for Noria. He hoped she wasn’t having too many problems, but she hadn’t been very quiet about her distaste for Tamer.

His first thought was to check the makeshift barn where the kobolds were keeping the dire wolves. However, that turned out to not be necessary…

He smelled Noria well before he actually saw her. The scent of hog pen was unmistakable, and there were only two people he could think who would go anywhere near it.

His suspicion was confirmed after he crested a small hill. Below him was Noria and several kobolds, they were taking bucket after bucket and dumping water on her. All the while, they looked like they were holding their breath.

Lorem grimaced, both at the sight of her and the smell. Still, he would not let that stop him.

He sucked in a lung-full of air and approached, making sure to keep up his smile.

“Bad day?” he asked, keeping a few feet away from her.

Noria groaned.

“You could say that…”