Dragon's Hoard

Lost and found

"Stupid Kong." Arthit muttered to himself as he kicked another pebble. "I'm weak, he said. Such an insensitive... insensitive..." He could not find words to express what he felt.

He finally stopped walking and took several deep breaths as he looked around the woods. He didn't recognize anything.

He was lost. But how could he be lost? This was crazy. Just crazy.

He must have headed the wrong way on Willow Dell and ended up smack in the middle of the BrokenDragon Forest. He'd never been in this part of the woods before. It was insidious and full of traps, baited to catch magical creatures. The trees were thick, and he was crunching through an ever-deepening carpet of fallen leaves.

Yeah, he must have turned right instead of left.

"Damn it." Arthit said to himself.

He must have been too lost in his thoughts to take notice where he was going. How else to explain how he'd gotten so goddamn lost?

His legs felt unsteady, as if they might buckle at any moment. So Arthit stopped walking and tried to get his bearings.

Goblins were not the stronger among magical creatures, but they have survived using guerrilla war tactics, traps, and low-level magic. Dealing with them in their lair was no cakewalk.

He looked up. The trees were so thick that he couldn't see the sky. He just knew it was getting dark. By listening with more attention, he could define, to his great delight, the rushing sound of a running stream. He decided to take the stand on the bank of the river. The next day he would use a tracking spell to return home.

With the fire set, lit and blazing, Arthit could finally sit on a tree trunk and rest.

Kong'd never get over the fact that he was a human, would he?

He sighed. At the end of the day, however, he couldn't really blame him, could he? He was the same. Arthit couldn't get over his enormous crush on him.

He sighed again. Perhaps he had expected too much from their relationship. Instead of always wanting more, he should have been content with the placid platonic relationship they'd managed to build.

A deep breath followed by yet another sigh. He stared at the amulet he had took from the underground city of goblins. It was made of painite, a rare stone capable of regularizing and amplifying magic. A stone that in this moment of danger would have come in very handy.

He hid it back in his backpack, planning his next move. First of all, of course, he had to make sure the village was safe, to get rid of the danger. After that, if Kongpob was willing to continue to be his familiar, he would have to settle for a witch-familiar relationship. That was far better than nothing at all.

Yes, the village and Kong safety were the priority. He could work on the rest later.

-

Standing a few hundred yards back from the witch, Kongpob was particularly angry. It wasn't supposed to go down like that.

The dragon's sixth sense began to vibrate. He just needed that. A pair of goblins emerged from behind a bush. Another dozen followed. They were making what seemed like unintelligible sounds, the only word he could decipher was 'dragon'.

Umps, so they knew what he was?

Goblins were known to be greedy little monsters that hid underground. There was no limit to their ruthlessness or their greed-they tried stealing from Dragons themselves. Obviously, they weren't nearly strong enough to do it themselves, hence they set up special traps, which worked mostly on weak, wounded or young inexperienced Dragons. Kongpob was none of those three things; he was just pissed as hell.