"This wasn`t done by ordinary fire." The orc held up a cinder for Justafar to see. "This looks like it was burned from the inside out."

　　They had arrived at the new territory where the flying beast had attacked. The scene was already days old. He had his orcs fan out for clues about what had done this and where it went.

　　Goblins and lizardfolk busied themselves in rooting through the burned remains of the encampment, supervised by the orcs of the troop, restless for the challenge posed by this mystery flamebeast.

　　He took the bit of charcoal and sniffed it. It smelled putrid. There was something more to the burned leather, like the smell of bile.

　　"It stuck to what it was burning," he said. He let the piece fall to the ground and he surveyed the wreckage again.

　　There was where they had recovered the unconscious orcs. When they had come around, they had reported a strange sensation of not being able to breathe amidst the burning camp. It wasn`t for all the smoke, either.

　　The flames, the blue flames which had started eating the camp, emitted much less smoke than fire of that intensity and diet usually did. It was the sensation of pure burning, something wholly apart from merely being set on fire.

　　There hadn`t been smoke until the beast`s flames had ignited real fire. Normal fire. The blue flames clung and burned, and nearby fuel erupted in mundane fire from the intense heat, much like how an artist good enough at their trade spawns forfeiters and imitators.

　　"And these rocks are melted," the orc pointed out. "You can see where the beast`s flames hit, and where the real fire picked up from the intensity. The beast`s flames didn`t spread, neither. They just clung to what they hit and filled it with heat. That ain`t right or proper, sire." The orc make a sucking sound through his teeth, feeling pensive from the weirdness.

　　Justafar scanned the skies before asking, "Where did the village dwellers go?"

　　The orc was on more stable ground here.

　　"There`s a huge mess of footprints all around, but we were able to find two trails. One ends just over there," and here he pointed at a large rock that would make decent cover from the sun, "and the other trail heads toward the city, sire."

　　Justafar begrudgingly saw the wisdom of having an expert around. This orc - Killbrute, he remembered - wasn`t much good in a fight. He could hold his own, but Justafar didn`t think he was worth a spot on the team for it. But he saw things the others didn`t. It was a special kind of tenacity, Justafar decided, that allowed him to pursue a target without getting turned around, confused, or otherwise thwarted.

　　"Bring me the ones responsible for this operation."

　　Moments after saying this, two orcs were tossed bodily on the ground in front of Justafar. They squirmed to reorient themselves, but stayed prostrated in the dirt.

　　"A Bloodboil and a Marrowcrack? No wonder. I`m only surprised snakes and pigs hadn`t fallen from the sky. I don`t know what Lord Kairon is even doing." He shook his head piteously. "Name enemies your friends and you only find yourself surrounded. How have you not killed each other yet?"

　　"Rigorous and I-" one of them said, but was kicked by the other with a stark hiss, so he shut up.

　　"Your punishment will be your continued&cooperation," Justafar said ominously. "Your charges have escaped, but we know what direction they have gone."

　　Silence reigned, so Justafar continued.

　　"You took them once, so you can do it again. Killbrute here will fill you in on the details."

　　"Yes, sire," they both said. Justafar almost smiled. He had watched Marrowcrack and Bloodboil tear each other`s throats out. Now, here were two specimens beholden to him, working in unison.

　　Is this the same sick pleasure that Kairon feels? he wondered briefly.

　　"I will be bringing in the flying flamebeast. Where would you say it had gone?"

　　The orc again acted hastily. "It was a great gold thing, all magic and fire," he said, impassioned.

　　"It wasn`t that big, idiot," the other scolded.

　　"It was! It was high off the ground, too. A few of us flung our spears and called on the goblin slingers, but it dodged all attacks."

　　"You just missed, is all. It really wasn`t as big as all that. He`s just making excuses."

　　The first one growled. "Say it again, you filthy-"

　　Justafar watched them struggle on the ground for a bit, thinking, Nothing truly changes. Before they could kill each other, he ordered them to stop. They froze. One had an arm snaked around the other`s neck, and that one was reaching up behind him, trying to gouge his attacker`s eyes.

　　"What did it look like? What was the beast?"

　　The one in he headlock shrugged, and the other said, "It looked like all the others, to be honest, sire." Justafar probed further, intrigued anew.

　　"The others? The other flamebeasts? There was only the one."

　　"It was only one beast, sire," the Bloodboil affirmed.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

　　"The others can`t do it, I don`t think," the Marrowcrack added.

　　Justafar picked up on the implication. "You mean it was one of these kobold creatures I`ve been hearing so much about? It looked like one of them?"

　　"I think it was one of them," the Marrowcrack said, scratching his head.

　　"If it was one of them, why don`t the others do it?" the Bloodboil asked sarcastically. "Think before you speak, dolt. I saw it full-on and it was big and mean and nasty. It definitely wasn`t a kobold, sire."

　　Justafar looked contemplative. "It is yet to be seen if the beast is related to these kobolds. Perhaps they are in league. Either way, we will kill it and reclaim this land for Hurraggh."

　　He stood up and announced, "We follow the tracks that head to Hurraggh. Prepare to leave."

　　To the two orcs he said, "Change of plans. You will stay here and work together to make this land a suitable stead." The two orcs complained in unison.

　　"But it was slow going even with the slaves we had before the attack. Respectfully, sire, I don`t want to use goblins. They made a muckery of the-" the Bloodboil started to say. Justafar gave him a cutting look and he was silenced.

　　"You`re in luck. I`m taking these slaves with me. You`ll have no goblins to get in your way."

　　****

　　"But that`s not fair!"

　　The kobolds had moved underground, beneath the fossilized remains of Ashley. The kobolds had set up an even simpler camp down here, and there were fires going. The smell of food was faint, as a few of the community had started preparing a meal in a bid to return to normalcy despite the circumstances.

　　"He might have brought it, but that`s a community jug. It belongs to all of us, not just him."

　　Chicken listened to the dispute over the water jug that someone had brought, and which someone else had thought they had a right to drink from. As their unofficial guardian, the matter was brought to him to arbitrate.

　　"You`re right. I did bring it. I carried it the whole way here without help. It`s my water, and I don`t have to share it."

　　There were a few leather tents going up, but not many. Chicken wondered if there was any kind of weather down here.

　　"If I shared it, it`d be empty. Considering there`s still water in it," and here he wobbled the thing, which came up to his waist, and it made a hearty gurgle, "I want to hold onto it. Maybe if you`re nice I`ll give you a little."

　　From his tone, Chicken didn`t think that was very likely. He looked at the waterless kobold.

　　"There`s pools and things around here. Why don`t you go draw from them?"

　　"Outside the camp, in the dark?" the kobold said, horrified.

　　"Yes, in the dark. It`s dark in the caves. We`re all going to have to get used to it," Chicken said.

　　"That was all well and good on the way here, when there were more of us, but what`s out there in the dark? Maybe it eats kobolds!"

　　Even the kobold with the jug looked pensive. He clutched his water a little tighter.

　　It`s not either of their water.

　　The thought appeared in his head. Ashley.

　　Explain, he told the voice in his head.

　　It`s YOUR water.

　　No it isn`t. It`s a community jug. It`s either everyone`s water, or it belongs to whoever brought it here.

　　Who fought the orcs for it? Who gave the carrier safe passage?

　　He thought about her point. It had some merit to it. He did lose much in freeing them from the orcs.

　　Take the water, the voice said. It will stop them quibbling at least. They can go find more.

　　To the anxious kobolds, he said, "If you two are going to fight over this water, then neither of you will have it."

　　This made them both equally upset, and they began to talk at once, each pushing their arguments again. Chicken couldn`t find a way to butt in. They were fussing at him now, and then started yelling over each other. He wanted to retreat.

　　"Enough!"

　　The command reverberated through the dark cavern. It sounded like it came from everywhere at once.

　　A few kobolds looked up at the fossil, the Great Kobold as some had taken to calling it. It was dark as dust.

　　They looked at Chicken. His eyes were glowing blue.

　　"I command you to take this water to my tent. When you have done that, go forth and collect more. Fill the jugs and store them among my holdings."

　　It was Ashley. She was speaking through him.

　　"If you do not do as I command, I will leave you to the darkness and your enemies. You will be consumed."

　　The kobolds scurried hesitantly away to comply.

　　When he was alone, the light faded from his eyes and he sagged like a discarded sock puppet.

　　Command them. Do not leave room for questions. You are the authority, the voice said in his head again. It sounded disgusted.

　　"But they deserve to have water. I was going to use it for Auntie. There wasn`t much left, and she`s still unwell."

　　They deserve nothing but what you provide.

　　The thought chilled him. It didn`t sound right. He thought of Salander and how he would have settled the issue over the water. Probably not like that, despite his distaste for the kobold.

　　He felt alone, despite the kobolds milling about the refuge. Through their averted glances, he felt them judging him.

　　****

　　Amerigo sat next to the rock pool he had set up in the kobold refuge. It was the best use of the divot he had found, and with a little engineering, he managed to make it into a sealed bowl. Finding water to fill it had been slightly challenging, but he had managed.

　　He deposited Fen into the small pool.

　　The small crab scrabbled cautiously among the rocks jutting out of the water. With no present threat, he found an interesting mineral deposit and seemed to relax.

　　Amerigo sat next to him and took stock.

　　It had been an arduous journey from the remnants of the kobold encampment to this underground cavern to which Chicken had led them. After a brief respite, things were busy again.

　　He watched as they worked, organizing what little resources they had fled with.

　　While they had carried jugs and packs, Amerigo had been laden with Chicken`s Auntie, who had been stricken unconscious by means unknown. She now lay in one of the lean-to`s that had been erected from the salvaged material. He didn`t see the point of a roof while they were in an enclosed cave, but it seemed to make the kobolds feel better.

　　He watched Fen encounter a bug in the water. The crab disappeared into his smoking pipe he was using for a shell.

　　Not for the first time since Chicken`s transformation, he thought about his quest for the one Stormhaegen had described. Chicken fit the bill, alright.

　　But what next?

　　His goal had been to only to find. Beyond that, there had been no other direction.

　　Fen had evaded the threat, as the bug had scrambled out of the water and into the dark. He emerged and found some tasty mold.

　　Amerigo would have never considered Stormhaegen sending him on a quest he would be unable to complete. His faith was stronger than the terror, dehydration, and threat of slavery.

　　Instead, he resorted to his own judgement.

　　Move the right piece to the right place at the right time.

　　Chicken had to come home with him. If he did, everything would be made clear.

　　He watched the kobolds milling about their refuge. It almost reminded him of a coral reef. Less civilized, but the comparison was there.

　　A cloud of kobolds hung around Chicken, keeping his attention on their problems.

　　Would it be right to take away this reef`s anchor to defend another?

　　The thought sparked the gardener in him. He could see the kobold "vine" being replanted in foreign soil, twined desperately around a Chicken-shaped trellis. Could he take that away for the sake of a threatened part of the garden?

　　As far as he could tell, Chicken was chafing under the attention. Kobolds were dismissed with a wave of a hand before they had a chance to present a problem. He seemed frustrated.

　　Amerigo couldn`t hear from across the distance, but he could see the variety of terse expressions wrinkling Chicken`s face.

　　Amerigo thought perhaps the vines clung too tightly.