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— Chapter 69 —

— Okraz — 

The cold embrace of the water was comforting as she propelled herself forward. She was now easily the largest thing around in the water and to prove that point she had recently snacked on a Cave Crocodilian that was lurking in the shallows. She once used to hide and scurry away as they neared but the tables had turned and she felt amazing. 

The Great Onyx had met with the egg guardian of her youth and apparently he was going to be summoned in front of the Great Mother again. Okraz, thankfully, avoided being binded again but apparently Onyx wasn't so lucky. Emerald had told her that he couldn’t refuse the visit because of her mother’s influence so she understood. The world bestowed luck upon its creatures seemingly at random and Onyx had not been one of them this time. 

Nevertheless Onyx acted with a foresight that baffled Okraz. That foresight had her searching the deep underwater rivers of the vast mountains. Her swim-wings pump hard and fast in coordination with her new tail and back legs. Her forelimbs were curled around a tightly packed ball of earth where her precious Emerald resided. Emerald was critical to the final part of the grand plan and her mastery over the earth itself was the most important part. 

As the surface neared Okraz shot upwards and out of the water. She landed with a thud in pitch blackness and quickly set the large ball of heavy stone down. One, two, three taps and a spin of the orb and it soon dissolved. 

“Close! The air was getting thin! Phew!” Declared Emerald as she looked around curiously. 

Okraz simply grinned as she rumbled and pointed at a far wall, “This wall here acts as a barrier between us and the Underway.” 

Emerald looks up high, “Are you certain, Master Okraz?” 

Okraz gave her a look and a huff, “Yes. Master Onyx’s plan worked well. See I have marked the wall.” 

Okraz and Emerald had approached Onyx with a problem and he had solved it effortlessly. Their goal involved connecting these water passages to the Underway and they both had difficulty being certain if they were going to dig in the right direction. Emerald’s affinity storage was tiny and limited in comparison to herself and Onyx so precision would be best. Onyx had pondered the problem with only a few follow-up questions before he ordered that the clan line the great Underway and repeat a rhythmic knock upon the walls using tools for two days. 

When she was little she had acquired her most precious adaptation, or trait as Onyx had called it, her acute hearing. She had acquired the ability to hear like no other creature in both water and land. The subtle knocks were only something she could only barely hear with her special ears. Sound traveled through water, air and rock all differently and Okraz had spent many years mastering that understanding. So Okraz had dashed from every hole that met the requirements and when she heard the knock she had marked the wall. 

Emerald grinned back up at Okraz, “Of course Master Okraz. Let me make the connection.” 

Okraz bobbed her head in excitement as she watched Emerald step forward and press her tiny paws against the cold stone. The little kobold’s affinity flared and the stone melted. She pressed forward with a steady walk and molded a long tunnel into the rock. Okraz estimated it was at least one and a half of Emerald’s body lengths long before she broke through into the other side. She then shifted her focus on expanding the tunnel to accommodate larger creatures. 

Okraz nodded her head in approval as the smoothed and heavily walked floor of the Underway came into sight. The floor was flattened and even in some places special bricks were laid to elevate the floor above pools of water. The Underway was clan Onyx’s prize but not one they can claim to have made by themselves. Over the many, many generations of these mountains tunnels have been expanded, dug and redug by all manner of creatures. Their clan under the direction of Onyx had looked to organize, repair and map them all. The task, as she understood it, was not something that could be completed fully anytime soon but they had mapped enough to establish many key routes that stretched deep into her Mother’s mountains. 

Emerald finally declared she was done as she stepped back into the Underway. She quickly melted a symbol into the wall so it could be identified, “Done! The others can finish the rest.” 

Okraz stood tall and smiled, “Well done. The first is done now, we must hurry and do the others.” 

Emerald nodded and quickly reactivated her armor and formed it into a solid ball. Okraz curled her arms around it and turned to dive back into the nearby water source. She carried the isolated Emerald back through the entrance they entered through and turned towards the next one. Okraz rumbled in thought as her elegant body launched her through the water like a bird flying through the air. She hoped they would have enough time to prepare enough before Onyx had his meeting. 

— Siks — 

She breathed heavily as her arms lashed forward to smash a cluster of hard stones. Her mouth and face had changed and she was now able to chew, grind and force herself through the ground. She was flanked further back on either side by Crusher Moles but they were cumbersome and their animalistic minds caused them to get distracted easily. She was an intelligent mind that could probe, scout and survey the underground far ahead of the rest of her clan. 

The Underway had been pushed further and further and now could be walked for weeks on end. Every half day they probed upwards in search of connections. Matriarch Blue and Sister Emerald had done some estimates and concluded that Siks was needed here. She had dug upwards for days now without finding anything besides more tunnels or isolated pockets of caves. 

With so many days of constant digging and finding nothing exciting it took her a moment to realize that she had actually finally found something important when she did. Her mouth had drilled into a massive, dark chamber which had such a putrid smell of filth that it made her flinch back in surprise. Her nose, which had shrunk and moved, was still sensitive enough to recognize the source of that filth. Siks quickly retreated back into her hole and when she dropped into the chamber underneath where kin waited she gasped for breath.

“We have found it. It is worse than Master Onyx has said. Uncleaned flesh and excrement.” She snarled out in pure disgust. She motioned at the Crusher Moles nearby and their handlers as she continued, “Start the expansion and send the news back to the clan!”

The young kobolds around her quickly acknowledged her words and scattered quickly to attend to their tasks. Siks nodded her oddly shaped head and looked straight up at the hole she had dug. Master Onyx will be happy and another key part of his plan would be in place, Siks happily concluded. 

She turned and returned to her work. They only had a limited amount of time and needed everything to be perfect for Master’s sake. 

— Wuja'bath — 

Her feet dug deep into the ground as they propelled her body forward with a flex of her muscles. The wind crashed against her face as she rocketed across the long plateau before effortlessly leaping over a deep valley between mountains. Her claws dug into the stone of the mountain on the other side and she kept going. She glanced back briefly to make sure that Munch was still clinging on tight before increasing her speed even more. 

She bounded up and over a mountain range and gained even more speed as she charged down the opposite side. Munch chirped something as the heavy bags tied to Wuja’bath’s rear shook and threatened to fly free. Munch was tied onto her backside firmly with special material the clan produced. Munch was also armed with metal like the other kobolds now and while he was not the greatest fighter his keen eyes and sense of direction made them a natural pair. 

Finally she made a final ascent and circled around the mountain top until she found the spot. She quickly slipped into a small cave and turned to settle down with a big huff. Her long body and long legs let her cover distances at an incredible rate and it gave her quite the thrill. Moving out of the forest had proved interesting and the new terrain challenged her in all kinds of different ways. 

Munch quickly freed himself and began to pull containers and bags free from her back, “Master! Good spot, yes?” 

Wuja’bath rumbled lightly and gave the kobold a soft smile, “Yes. We remain here and watch.” 

Munch nodded as he stacked and organized the supplies one by one. He chirped happily as he worked, pulling free rations, supplies and extra weapons in case of an emergency. Wuja’bath and Munch had enough supplies to last many, many cycles but were hopeful that it wouldn’t come to that. 

Her long body and head poked out of the small cave and stared down at the colossal plateau below. Wuja’bath shivered as she recalled her previous visit to this dreadful place. She was still small and surrounded by her siblings and rivals. They numbered far more than she could count and she felt the tension in the air at the time as so many angry dragons were prepared to tear each other apart. 

Her mother was horrific when she showed up and towered above everyone else. She was bloated with eggs and had a form that she had never seen anywhere else. Onyx had called her an Elder and the word spoke of age and power. Wuja’bath was conflicted and had no desire to attempt to fight her but she had made a promise. Munch had already found companions and others were going to ask to join her soon. She huffed a bit as she considered that the benefits had been significant so far and so a bit of risk to repay that debt was in order.

Those long weeks of forced work after the plateau meeting had been enlightening to her and she had lost many comrades during that time too. She was bundled with others of her same size and yet the moving living bodies devastated them. The lesser hydra in charge of her wyrm group had simply ignored them and their struggles. The multi-headed monster had rampaged forward and left them to die. Wuja’bath’s bond at the time kept her in the fight but it was her speed alone that kept her alive. She had bounded from place to place for what felt like endless days and torn apart whatever mindless moving corpse she could find. One day she was informed by a lesser Wyvern that the war had ended and her bond had been fulfilled. She huffed and shook her head as she drove the foul memories from her mind.

She focused now on the plateau below and watched as the Queen’s wyverns and dragons slipped in and out from various tunnels. Periodically she would catch the small, miserable forms of kobolds emerge to deposit bones, waste or drag more food into the tunnels depths. Munch frowned as he laid at her side and they both hunkered down for the long wait. 

Wuja’bath rumbled lightly down at Munch in a comforting tone, “We will be fine, Munch. Dodging the forest folk was far more difficult than this will be.”

Munch nodded as they stared back down at the plateau, “Yes Master. Hope so.”

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