Tales of Vyscher Book 2

Chapter 26

The trip into the goblin lair had not gone quite as smoothly as Fehrys might have hoped. After using his magic to put dozens of goblins to sleep or temporarily paralyze them, he finally found his way to their leader. Unlike his previous goblin visit, this self-styled King of the Goblins didn't seem too keen on helping him search their lair. But his replacement seemed much more receptive after the King was turned into a corpse with a quick swing of the axe.

It was overkill, but it made the desired impression.

The new leader was more than happy to show Fehrys around their lair, past the cowering goblin pups and their protective mothers, the crude forges and the kitchens that he didn't even want to know what was served from. Nowhere was there a tunnel that was at all close to going under the mountain range.

The goblins were thrilled to see him go, and he thought they might follow to try and catch him unawares in the evening, but Kyrian appearing in her draconic form out of thin air while he walked away scattered them like roaches. He needn't fear from them trying to follow him after that.

He had considered just changing his form into that of a goblin for a day if need be. But knowing his luck he would be a goblin asked to do chores or a boss that needed to do things, and he would end up having to go right back to killing the leader anyway. You can never win with goblins.

Once more he found himself stalking through the groves of pine trees prevalent in the foothills, hoping to find what he needed. As he went further north, he knew the trees would thin out as he got closer to the great northern desert. Would he have to go deal with the fierce nomadic goblins of the desert? Their shamans were rumored to be extremely dangerous, though he had never encountered any of them.

He stopped briefly to pull out his hand drawn map, to make sure there had been nothing he missed. Several old mines he had passed were collapsed, and while there were a few more coming up in the next few days there was still nothing really sticking out as a place to head. Even wandering the area, he didn't see anything like a tunnel, and he hadn't seen even a glimpse of a valley. There had to be something harder to access.

Sighing, he slipped the map back into his backpack and set off across the ridge.

The weather was a little cooler in the hills and shade of the trees, and he paused early after catching a pair of rabbits for dinner. Kyrian liked them as well! Magic was useful indeed, though he felt a little guilty using it to trick a rabbit into his snare.

With a crackling fire, a haunch of rabbit, stars overhead, and the scent of pine, the night was pretty pleasant. Casting his senses out, he couldn't detect any rain coming, so he decided to skip the tent and sleep under the stars.

Looking over at Kyrian, in her kitten form, contentedly eating the rest of the rabbit with delicate bites, he felt a surge of pride.

"You did well today, that was a big test. Think you're ready for more?"

She shook herself like a dog shaking water, then shifted into dragon form. "Of course, I'm ready Fehrys!" she answered in a voice like delicate wind chimes.

"Well, we won't rush things, but no more being a kitten unless we're trying to blend in somewhere, ok?"

"Of course! And can we learn more forms soon too please?"

"Sure thing, what would you like to learn?"

"I think an eagle, and perhaps a human like you."

"The eagle should be easy, since you already have the flying part down. The human form we should be able to do as well, but it might be a little harder for you to learn to walk on two legs. We can certainly practice though."