The Wurm King (PT7)

a large mystic circle had been drawn with chalk on the ground. Auren marveled at the strange runes, he had never seen their like anywhere before as the little magic typhus had shown him as a child used runes that were rudimentary by comparison.

 "when you step inside make sure you don't disturb the chalk lines. The result would be unpleasant I assure you." Saveed's tone was dead Serious.

Auren's eyes scanned the room for a moment.  "where's Ahnya? I wanted to see her before I went through with this."

  Saveed sighed "she was called to the upper levels due to a minor disturbance. You can see her after the ritual" Saveed attempted to push Auren towards the circle a feat that was beyond one of his stature.

 "alright fine, lets just get this over with then" Auren carefully walked to the center of the circle. "now what?" he exclaimed. "just stand there and be quiet." Saveed said as he started a low chant in a language that sounded like a more sophisticated version of the kobold's language.

   "when will this start working" Auren thought to himself for a moment before a bright flash brought his consciousness to a place outside of his own body. Distorted Images from his life flashed before him as if it were a fever dream. Then as quickly as it had come it was gone. He found him self lying on the ground with Saveed next to him.

 he looked up at Saveed and said, "did it work?" with a laugh. "no not really." Saveed sighed "we'll have to try again I guess". Auren sat up "huh?" he pulled his shirt open. "their gone, Saveed the scales are gone" Auren said feeling his chest before standing up.

"wait what did the old one tell you while you were meditating?" "he said I was an old one and that the ritual would let me transform, I guess I should have mentioned that a little sooner." Auren said as he rubbed his head.

Saveed was frozen with a look of surprise on his face for a moment before regaining his composure. "this is good news this is very good news we need to let Ahnya know immediately. Quickly now."

 "Saveed wait a minute." "what?" "I'm going to need a torch" "oh yeah forgot about that, luckily I have a few on me" Saveed pulled a torch from his bag and lit it with a small flash of fire from his hands. "here now let's hurry."

 The pair ran through the caverns until they reached the main level. As they ran Auren noticed that everything looked brighter than it had before. As they reached the top of the elevator they found Ahnya and a large group of armed kobolds hold up behind a make shift stockade.

 "what's going on?" Auren said as he and Saveed ducked behind the barrier. "humans many humans" "how many?" "a lot" "how many is a lot?" Saveed began to talk to Ahnya in kobold. "she says there's about ten left"

 "great what do we do now?" Auren said poking his head over but quickly ducking back down after an arrow hit the wood table he was behind.

 "if you had transformed into a Wurm this would be an easy problem to solve." Saveed said with arms crossed as he sat with his back to the table.

 "its not my fault it was that Girion guy. He said I would be able to after the ritual."  Auren said as he took another peek over the table before ducking down again.

 "it not matter we need to get rid of humans now!" Ahnya exclaimed as she fired and arrow over the table before ducking back down.

"wait, Saveed you're a shaman, you must know a few spells or something right?" Auren turned to look at him.

"I'm a shaman not a mage I only know a couple and there not any thing that powerful either." "well what can you cast?" "uh... ember, gust, mist, and feather fall."

 "your over three hundred years old and you only know four spells?" "I'm not a mage damnit. most of what I do is alchemy and religious rituals"

 "hang on I have an idea if its only humans we could blow their torches out with gust and then make a counter attack"

"what about ren?" Ahnya chimed in. "I'll think of something. Even if I cant attack blinding them should be more than enough."  Saveed started speaking in kobold "alright then on three one two threeee!" he popped up from behind the table and unleashed a mighty wind that caused the tunnel to go dark.

 When the torches went out Auren was surprised to find that he could still see. He quickly jumped from behind the table with the rest of the group and charged the enemy.

 Ahnya and a few Kobolds captured one of the hunters off to the side as another hunter fled, Auren tackled the man wrestled him to the ground and knocked him out with a flurry of punches.

 When the battel was over Auren and the group had captured two out of the ten invaders and killed five, the rest had escaped.

"Ahnya not know ren could see in dark?" "I didn't ether, must have been an effect of the ritual" "what should we do with humans?" Ahnya said as she looked at the two men bound at the hands and feet with rope.

 Auren put a hand on one's shoulder "maybe we should eat them" as he laughed they started to screamed "noo!!" and "Heeellp!!".

"that not nice we not eat you, ren need to be nicer to humans." Ahnya chuckled. "I'm just kidding. alright then who sent your group here?" Auren said as he crouched down to look at their faces, the two men remained silent. Auren sighed.

 "you know the mines here are full of horrible monsters if you want we could put you to use as bait. Think about it ending up in some beast's stomach is a lot worse than telling me who sent you.."

One of the two men spoke up "how do we know you wont feed us to the kobolds afterward?" "you have my word that I won't let the kobolds eat you" "and you won't let the monsters eat us either deal?" "I promise I will not purposefully allow you to be eaten by anything if you will just tell me who sent you."

 "Garid I will personally kick you in the nuts if you tell them" "it was a merchant something about a man named Snake and a band of kobolds that robed his wife and daughter's carriage. Now just let us go already."

"alright, good.  what do you want to do with them Ahnya?" she turned to the pair of humans and then looked at the kobold guards who were either standing around or looting the dead then she said something in kobold. the guards who were standing around led the pair away.

 "where are you taking us" "fuckin lizards I'll kill every last one of you" the pair screamed as they we're loaded onto the lift and taken down into the base.

 Auren turned to Ahnya "where are they going?" "they gonna work for Izza now" "shit, I'd take getting eaten by monsters over that any day." Auren said laughing as the two walked toward the lift.

"so veed's ritual fail then?" "no, it worked its just slow acting I guess?" "bet he real happy bout that." the pair stepped onto the lift and began to ride it down. "it's not important. Right now, I'm more worried about what we're going to do about future raids from the hunters." "who?" "the humans"

 "ah we was gonna wait till we had more miners but we gonna have to start diging early." "so what's the plan?" "more tunnels, more traps" "ah I think I know what you have in mind. So what's for-" as the lift reached the bottom of the shaft a large group of kobolds were waiting for the pair.

"what's going on?" Auren stepped off the lift as Saveed stepped out of the crowd. He turned around and addressed the crowd in kobold before walking over to Auren and Ahnya.

"I told them that you are a Wurm an-" "which means what exactly?" Auren interjected.

 Saveed pulled Auren to the side "Wurms are like gods to most kobolds if the surrounding burrows hear that the red claw clan has a Wurm we could become the most powerful clan in the region."

 "and what does that mean for me?" "it means your going to be king" "but I can't transform what are they gonna do when they find out." "we'll figure it out just play along until we can consult the elder again and you can ask him what went wrong it'll be fine trust me." Auren thought for a second be for pointing a finger at him and saying "fine but if things go south I'm gonna kill you"

"so ren gonna be king then?" Ahnya had been stand next to them listening intently. "Ahnya!" Auren jumped a little "yeah I guess." Auren said rubing the back of his head as he shifted his weight to the side.

"so, Ren was old one then, can't beliv-" Saveed interrupted her "you two can talk later right now he needs to address the crowd"

 Saveed started shoving Auren towards the crowd of kobolds Auren stopped and loudly whispered. "what the hell am I supposed to say to them?" "just say some word and I'll fill in the gaps when I translate it to them. Most of them won't know what you're saying anyway."

"uh... I am Auren your new king" Auren's speech was shaky as he attempted to regain composure as the crowd stared at him. "I hope to serve you all well and build a happy future for everyone" he looked over to Saveed and nervously said "how was that?... am I done?"

Saveed sighed  "yes you did well I'll repeat it to them for you. Now-"

Ahnya beckoned Auren from a side tunnel. "great I'm going to call it a day then" Auren left before Saveed could stop him.

"hay Ahnya wait up" "so ren was an old one all along huh?" "hey, hey I didn't know until today, alright." he said laughing.

 "well ren gonna have make it up to Ahnya then" "for what?" his laughter continued. "for being wrong"

 "and how do you want me to make it up to you then?" "ren not whine when Ahnya not give him pri-vaty from now on" she said with a smirk and tinge of superiority.

 "fine, I won't complain when you invade my privacy anymore, so do you forgive me then?" "hmmmmm" she pretended to think for a moment before replying "yes"

"great I'm going to bed then"

 "ren tired already?" "yeah, finding out that you're going to be king does that to a guy" he began to walk off when his stomach started to growl.

 "aww ren hungry" "yeah just a bit." "ren wait in room Ahnya get some food." "great you can help me brush up on my kobold while we eat then" Auren laughed as he headed towards his room.

After a few minutes of waiting Ahnya came in with a large plate of food for the pair to share. "that looks great Ahnya" the plate was covered with rat steaks with mushrooms and gravy. "so ren gonna be king then" Ahnya said through a mouth full of steak.

 Auren swallowed his food and replied. "yeah looks like it" he sighed " I don't know if I'm cut out to be a king I mean two weeks ago I was a slave"

 "ren was good slave, make good king too." the pair laughed for a moment "good to know you have faith in me then." Auren said trying to fight his laughter. "Well if I'm going to be king ill need to speak my people's language, would you mind teaching me every day I until I can speak kobold?" "Ahnya love too" she said as she stuck a claw into another steak.  "great let's start then"

And so, the pair ate dinner and practiced for the next few hours. Eventually there was a knock at the door. Ahnya sighed. "I'll get it" Auren opened the door to see Saveed standing there

"I just wanted to tell you to meet me at the old one's chamber tomorrow, so you can consult with him. we need you to transform as soon as possible so make sure you get a good night's rest." "alright I'll be there good night" "good nig-" Auren closed the door on him.

"Humans" Saveed scoffed as he walked away.

 he turned around and yawned "man I'm tired" "Ahnya tired too" she gathered the plate and her things "night ren" "good night Ahnya" before she left she checked out side the door looking both ways before closing it back.

 "ren keep eye on Veed not sure what he up to but don't like it" "don't worry he means well he's just doing what he thinks is best for the clan, how he goes about it, eeeh That's the issue" "ren just keep eye on him, ok?" "ok, I will good night Ahnya" "night".

As he waited for sleep to come he pondered the past few days what hadn't Geralt told him? why didn't Geralt tell him what he was? did he even know? it didn't matter at this point.  he was going to be king weather he liked it or not. so, he would be the best king he could.

 Trying to sleep was strange when you could see in the dark he had never given it much thought before now. "how do they sleep like this?" he muttered, thinking about Ahnya and the other kobolds.

 he put his head under the pillow and pulled the small blanket he had taken from the caravan over his head. Shortly thereafter he finally drifted off to sleep.

"night" Ahnya said as she closed Auren's bedroom door "now to find Veed" she had a pretty good idea of where he'd be. She descended to the old one's crypt. Where Saveed was meditating on an animal pelt in front of the ancient Wurms bones.

 As she approached him his posture changed to one of annoyance as he pretended he didn't know she was there. "you know why I'm here Veed" Ahnya crossed her arms as the claws on her feet taped the floor rhythmically.

"ah chief Ahnya to what do I owe the pleasure" Saveed said with a shrug and sight as he continued meditation.

"why would you tell them about him being a Wurm? What are we gonna do if the humans find out?"

"we need more soldiers, when the other clans hear that there's a Wurm here we'll be the strongest clan in the region"

"and the humans?"

"what are they going to do? Ask a kobold where the Wurm is? Ha." Saveed shrugged with a laugh again before getting up. "what? are you angry that you won't get to play chief anymore? May-"

 Ahnya grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up "I don't care about being chief, if he gets hurt because of yo-" Saveed interrupted her  "nothing will happen to him you have my word. We shamans are bound to the service of the Wurms after all. What would the counsel do if I let a Wurm die while under my protection." his uneasy smile was relieved when Ahnya set him down with a sigh.

"if harm comes to him because of you... let's just say the counsel will have to punish what little's left of you when I get through." Ahnya turned and left. "stupid Red scales" Saveed mumbled under his breath as he rubbed his throat before returning to his meditation.

"so how many are in there?" Durris leaned in as the camp fire illuminated half of his face.

 "I couldn't tell we made it through most of the traps but then they barricaded them selves in and used some kind of magic to blow the torches out."

 Mira scoffed "are you sure the wind didn't snuff them out?"

"I've never had my torch blown out that deep in a cave before it was magic of some sort I'm sure." The man took another sip of ale before continuing "and I heard someone speaking in ohhmen behind that barricade I never saw him, but I assume it was the ring leader they call snake."

"so, this snake guy is a mage big deal magic doesn't make you immune to a good stabbing, does it?" Mira laughed spilling her drink on her own leg. She mumbled "shit" while trying to wipe it off.

"why didn't you just seal the entrance and let them suffocate then why even enter the mine in the first place?" Durris took a sip of ale as he awaited an answer.

"kobolds always have more then one entrance to their burrow, you close one off they use the other. then they dig another escape tunnel.

"huh. Good to know. but if that's true why did you try to charge down their front door? Why didn't you just use one of their escape tunnels?"

"good luck fitting through one" the man laughed as he took another sip.

"thanks for the information, we usually don't hunt kobolds we're artifact hunter by trade so dealing with bandits and kobolds isn't our specialty."

 "no problem happy hunting kid I'm heading back to Gerona" "see ya". "hey one more thing"

"yeah?" Durris replied. "kill a few of those filthy lizards for me. I lost some good friends in that hell hole, I don't want to hear that you two died in there too ya hear?" the man said before taking another swig.

 "trust me we won't" Durris held up his fist. "alright I'll hold ya to it then. The hunter said as he walked away.

Durris waved the man good bye and looked over to Mira who was sprawled out on the log she had been setting on. "so, what's the plan?" she asked setting back up. "we'll head back to Gerona and find the person who posted the bounty for this snake guy." "and then?" "then we find some hunters to help us and we get revenge for Elgis.

"ah young one you have returned" Girion's voice was still as bombastic as ever. "yeah I'm back. I was going to ask why I haven't turned into a sixty-foot-tall lizard yet?"

"we can talk about that later, have you found my treasure by chance?"

"no I haven't found your treasure now can you tell me how to transform please?"

Girion sighed. "children are so impatient now, back when I was alive we knew the meaning of patience. What do you need to transform so early for anyway?"

"the burrow may come under attack I need to be able to protect the kobolds when it does"

"kobolds? Ah was never found of kobolds, when it came to minions I was partial to goblins. but to each their own. That reminds me of an old tale abou-"

"please I need you help I can't do it alone and you're the only Wurm I know." Auren pleaded

"alright child no need to beg, all you have to do is concentrate on transforming one part of your body at a time after that start adding more parts to the transformation. Once you've mastered your true form I would recommend a bird next nothing more fun than spying on others as a bird ha-ha I used t-"

"thank you anything else I should know?"

"when you can transform at least a third of your body come back and I'll teach you how to use your innate magic."

"a third of my body? What do you mean"

"it will take at least a year to learn to transform your whole body."

"seriously?!?"

"of course, did you think it would be easy? Your what ten years old or something right? your skipping forty years' worth of growth of course it would be hard for your body to get used to transforming."

Auren sighed "I guess I'd better get to practicing. And I already told you, I'm seventeen."

"oh, I could never tell with humans, either way come back and visit me again lad it's not like I'm going anywhere!" Auren had to cover his ears to block out Girion's laughing.

When Auren awoke from his meditation he started training to change his body immediately he started with just his index finger "just focus on transforming one part at a time" he sighed "easier said than done I guess"

Four hours later he noticed that his index finger felt odd, almost like it was asleep. Then his finger nail turned a black color and started elongating until it formed a claw then his skin changed to scales as it crept down his finger it stopped at the base of the finger.

"great now to reverse it... How in the hell do I reverse it!" he thought for a second. He started concentrating on how his finger originally looked and soon the scales started slowly changing back to flesh as the claw shortened back to the finger nail it had originally been.

After finishing his training, he went looking for Ahnya. The burrow felt different now that he could see in the dark. It felt homier than before. The strange murals, graffiti and patterns that had been scratched into the walls, The make shift furniture, the signs he had place on the walls to help him navigate, he saw it all in a new light now.

The kobolds acted differently now, they would often stare at him from a distance when they thought he wasn't looking which was annoying, but he had dealt being stared at his whole life.
he knew they didn't meant anything by it, they probably didn't know what to think of him now.

He sighed "why'd Saveed have to go running his big mouth" he muttered quietly under his breath. As he passed a group of kobolds carrying bundles of wood.

Auren notice that there was a lot of commotion in the base today. Just then two kobolds passed by with a barrel full of petrum.

 "how odd" he thought. They were going the wrong way if they were headed for the mines. so he followed them to the lift where he saw Ahnya and Hyak talking about something standing over a map that was drawn in the dirt.

"hey Ahnya! What's going on?" as Auren studied the map Ahnya responded. "gonna dig more tunnels Humans never make it through now" she said with pride as she pointed something out on the map to Hyak with the stick they had been using to draw it. What she pointed out was a bit flat thing with spikes on one side.

"anything I can do to help?" "no" "are you sure I could help dig, or I could carr-" another kobold interrupted the conversation pulling Ahnya's attention away. Auren sighed "guess I'll have to find something to do around here myself then"

He wondered the base until eventually he came across the armory or what passed for an armory.
many of the weapons were dull and crude they had taken human longswords and broken them off three quarters of the way up to shorten them for their own use. And the tips? fastened or otherwise attached to the ends of sticks or poles to make spears and pikes.

The armor was made of bits of human armor. A helmet used as a large puldron, metal pans beaten into the shape of a breast plate, or a pot lid or pan made into a shield.

As best he could surmise kobolds didn't smelt their own metal and ore and only used what they could scavenge or steal from humans. he would have to find a way to teach them smelting in the feature but for now he had found something to do.

 He got to work sharpening the weapons as well as organizing the clutter that the room had been left in. as he was finishing up he looked at one of the shields and had a thought.

Saveed had said the Wurm claws could pierce armor maybe it was time to test that theory. After concentrating on his right hand for a few minutes the tips of Auren's fingers had grown black claws.

 "time to test these out " he slashed at the cast iron pot lid and placed a shallow gash across it's surface. "well... it not what I had in mind. Let try again." This time he jabbed the lid. With much better results, or so he thought. His fingers had gone all the way through past his claws and to the base of his fingers.

"shit" he waved his hand for a minute trying to get it off. "fuck, it won't come off!"  he rushed out of the armory hiding his hand in his shirt. He ran back to where he had seen Ahnya and Hyak earlier.

Ahnya was talking to another kobold but not one he wanted to see it was Izza. "great I can't let her see my hand I'd die of embarrassment"

Auren approached the pair "Ahnya can I barrow you for a minute? I need some help with... uh... a... rat! A uhh rat is loose in the burrow and I need you to help me kill it" he let out a sight of relief.

"why ren bother me with rat go ask Rahka for help" "ren still slacking off I see." Izza laughed. "yeah. Hahah" "wish I'd slacked off a bit more and let you get eaten." He mumbled under his breath as he turned back to Ahnya.  "seriously thought I really need you help it's a really big rat."

"fine but Ren let me work after, ok?" "deal"

 Izza noticed Auren's hand in his coat "why ren gotta pot lid in his shirt" she asked pointing at the noticeable bulge in his shirt.

"oh. That's for protection" Auren replied in a panic "ah, might have to get one too then" Izza said rolling her eyes.

"alright nice catching up Izza, now if you'll excuse us me and Ahnya have a rat to kill." "is that human euphemism for something?" Izza asked Ahnya in kobold.

 all Auren understood was the word human and something about the color blue. Maybe they were talking about Saveed. Since he was one of the few blue kobolds in the burrow.

"I don't know. met me at the top of the life in an hour I'm going to see what he needs real quick."

Ahnya said in kobold as she waved Auren to follow her.

After the pair were in a side tunnel away from prying eyes Ahnya asked "so where this rat?" "huh no rat I just needed to you to help me get this thing of my fingers" Auren replied as he pulled the pot lid out of his shirt.

 Ahnya just stared at him for a moment... before she fell to the floor and started laughing. "its not funny, it hurts like hell. Now help me figure out how to get it off."

Ahnya picked her self up off the floor and grabbed the pot lid and started yanking.

 Auren was dragged along as he screamed "ow ow stop that hurts" "wait, got an idea follow" Ahnya said as she rushed down the hall "huh wait up" he followed her to the kitchen where the kobold chef was sharpening his knife.

Ahnya started talking to him in kobold. then the chef stabbed the knife into the wooden table and gestured for Auren lay his hand near it. "what's the plan here Ahnya?" Auren said with an uneasy laugh. Ahnya turned and said with a smile "he gonna chop ya fingers off" the chef motioned to the table and knife.

"yeah... on second thought I think I'll go ask Rahka for help bye." As Auren tried to walk out of the room the chef grabbed him by the hand and held it to the table as he raised the knife and stabbed it... right next to Auren's hand.

As Auren fell on his back in surprise. The chef and Ahnya both stated laughing.  before Auren could reply the chef grabbed the pot lid, smeared something on his fingers and yanked it off setting it on the table.

Auren rubbed his fingers for a second. "what the hell?" "just messin with ya Ren can't believe ya though he was gonna chop ya fingers. Hahah" "yeah, I guess I wasn't giving you two enough credit. What was that stuff anyway?" "rat lard" she smiled.

"huh, wish I'd thought of that. Tell the chef I said thanks." "his name Mohreg and I'll tell em."  she passed his thanks along in kobold to the chef who gave Auren a nod.

"bye Ren remember no more rats today" she said with a wave. Auren sighed "I'm done for today" he went back to his room where he spent the rest of the night reading and practicing changing his hand back and forth.

Auren would spend the next four days training his Wurm form and learning kobold from Ahnya.