Between the cold and distant stars and the grey and broken terrain, a dark wind stirred at the passage of Chicken. He was carried aloft on ethereal wings, but the night and things it contained did not concern him. What should have been a peaceful flight was full of muttering which only he could hear.

　　"Who does he think he is, demanding more from me?"

　　He is presumptuous.

　　"Like I don`t have enough to worry about."

　　The realm needs a ruler.

　　"He can get someone else."

　　There is no room here for his like.

　　Chicken`s tone shifted at this thought, pivoting at the thought of their friendship.

　　"But&I don`t want him to leave."

　　There was only the sound of the wind as Chicken flapped idly. He banked a turn before flying too far from the entrance to the underground. Off in the distance, there was a tell-tale shape of a geyser. He could not hear it at this distance, but could barely make out its shape in the night.

　　"There`s room for him here. I just can`t do what he wants me to do."

　　He sows discontent.

　　"It was just a bad time for him to ask," he said, chuckling nervously.

　　Subjects don`t request. Subjects beg. Requests breed familiarity. Familiarity blossoms into disrespect.

　　"Disrespect?"

　　He seeks to undermine authority.

　　Chicken scoffed. "He wouldn`t. He`s my friend. He`s not even a kobold. What could he want to rule us for?"

　　We must eliminate him. Send a message to all who would attempt.

　　The thought made Chicken numb. He couldn`t feel the wind on his face, much less whipping against his body.

　　"Eliminate&?" He started looking for a place to land.

　　The patrol is not complete.

　　"No, no. I need to process this, and I can`t think while I`m hurtling through the air. What`s your reasoning for-& You mean eliminate him?"

　　The wings, broad, glowing blue, and not unlike a bat`s wings, refused to cooperate.

　　"What`s your problem? I need to be on the ground."

　　"The patrol is not complete. The realm is not secure." Chicken`s eyes grew blue as the words were spoken through his mouth.

　　"I am not eliminating my friend!" he shouted when he regained control.

　　"We will not hesitate to eliminate any threat to our power," his mouth hissed. "Mortals are meant to be ruled. Mortals need to show due respect. Domination is the only worthy goal, and we will not stop at the mere subjugation of these drakelings, these pitiful kobolds. My dominion will be absolute!"

　　Chicken couldn`t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.

　　"You-.." he started, but the force of the revelation killed the statement. He tried again.

　　"You don`t want to help my tribe." His words were almost lost in the force of the wind. "You want to own them." The sheer indignity at the thought spurred him. "You were never my friend! You want to use me!"

　　"If I have to rule through you, then I will do so," the voice snapped.

　　Chicken began struggling against the wings that were no longer his own.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

　　"I won`t have it! You don`t get to treat me this way, and you don`t get to treat my people this way!"

　　The enemy in his head let out a roar and an arc of blue flames. The fire illuminated the night.

　　"I get what is mine! It`s what I deserve! These drakelings will seed my new territory, and it will span all of creation! Nothing will escape my reach this time!"

　　****

　　The plume of flame caught the attention of Justafar`s party at once.

　　"Sire, look!" one orc said. Justafar spared a moment to catalog the useless comment, then held up a hand.

　　"Prepare arms!" his second in command barked. The troop readied their weapons.

　　Justafar paced in front of them.

　　"This is the thing that took our territory," he said slowly, loudly. "This is the thing that made fools of the least of us."

　　Another plume of blue lit up in the distance.

　　"This is the thing that will not have a chance to make fools of us again."

　　Chuckles permeated the crowd. A few orcs shifted the coils of rope they carried.

　　"We will net the flamebeast! We will prevent it from breathing fire! We will subjugate this new thing to our will!"

　　He punctuated each sentence with a stab upwards with his spear. Each time, the crowd followed suit with the same with a wordless shout of agreement.

　　"For the glory of Ogg and his orcs!"

　　The crowd shouted again, and Justafar led them in a charge. The raucous battle cries came together and shattered the relative silence of the night. It was just the thing to grab the unwary beast`s attention. It turned on them and flamed again in a defiant display before diving for them. It swooped down low over the heads of the orcs, releasing blue fire.

　　"Squad! Evasive action! First pass!"

　　At the command, the orcs parted for the flames. It clung to the stones, burning like wood.

　　"Put those flames out!" came a command.

　　Orcs who were wearing thick leather cloaks pulled them off and began smothering the fires. Justafar watched in anticipation.

　　"It`s working!" one of the fire-beaters shouted, and Justafar grinned.

　　"Ropes! Ready for the second pass! I want this monster grounded!"

　　The beast had wheeled in the light of the moon, obviously readying for another assault like the first.

　　"C`mon," Justafar growled. His rope-orcs were preparing their lassos to throw.

　　In the middle of another swooping dive, the beast flailed its wings and halted, screeching. Justafar`s eyes widened.

　　"Evasion! More flame coming! It`s-" but he was cut off as the thing spouted more heat out of range of the throwers.

　　The orcs scattered. Some of the cloaks were abandoned, themselves catching fire on their top side.

　　"Put those fires out now you lazy maggots!" Justafar`s second in command shouted. But the cloak orcs were moving sluggishly. The effects of the magical fire were starting, making the air unbreathable. There was no concealing smog, and the smoke wasn`t thick yet, but it was as if the fire sucked the virtue from the air and exuded foul toxin.

　　"Sire, the cloaked orcs are moving more sluggish-" his second in command started saying, but Justafar put up a hand.

　　"Bring me a grapple and rope," he said.

　　One of the rope orcs surrendered theirs to him. Justafar weighed the iron claw in his hand.

　　"Split the force. Flank the beast. It`s afraid to skim us again, so it`s staying out of reach. I want one squad under each wing."

　　Before his second in command could turn to dispense the command, Justafar grabbed his shoulder.

　　"Who was that who gave me this grapple?"

　　The underling nervously replied, "That would be Valorant, sire."

　　Justafar nodded and allowed the orc to carry out his duty. He watched the monster hover with powerful loping wingbeats. It eyed the orcs as the command moved out to the troops. As the force widened the gap, the beast tried to split its attention.

　　"Flames!" cried the left wing group.

　　They scurried wider, following the hovering flamebeast as it tried to keep its vantage of both parties.

　　"Get me a second grapple," Justafar told his second in command.

　　"A second-&?" he started to ask, but the look on Justafar`s face halted his tongue and he scurried away.

　　Justafar unsheathed his knife, measured a length of the rope and cut it a few feet from the end tied to the grapple. His second in command reappeared, his search successful.

　　To the underling`s horror, he did the same thing with this rope.

　　"But sire, we`ll lose two rope orcs if we-&" but swallowed the rest of his sentence.

　　Justafar began tying the two shortened ropes together, stretching no more than a couple of feet altogether, with a grapple at both ends. He stalked off moving behind the beast.

　　****

　　Ashley was furious.

　　Kill them!

　　Chicken struggled against the alien presence in his head.

　　"We need run away!"

　　These on the left are getting close with their ropes!

　　Ashley loosed another volley of fire at the ground.

　　"We can`t take them, they`re too organized!"

　　They are nothing!

　　As they hovered uncertainly, arguing over a course of action, they were suddenly hit in the back.

　　Vengeance!

　　"Aaaagh!"

　　A rope tangled one of Chicken`s wings and his arms. It wrapped around him, binding the limbs together. Ashley tried to pull against it, but it wasn`t anchored to the ground. Their wings could flap no longer. The ground was coming eagerly to meet them.

　　****

　　The beast hit the ground hard. Justafar`s bolas had worked.

　　"Secure the beast`s mouth! No more fire!" someone shouted. The squads reconvened over the fallen beast.

　　A roar escaped, and a trickle of blue fire was cut short by an orc wrapping its muzzle.

　　"Very good, sire," his second in command said, awed.

　　"I don`t want mistakes," Justafar said, gesturing to the flamebeast struggling against its bonds and a dogpile of orcs.

　　"No, sire. I`ll make sure-" but he was cut off by Justafar saying, "So I`m demoting you. Report to Illundor for messenger duty. Bring me Valorant. He will take over as my second in command." He left the stunned orc there as he strode towards his prize.