Master of the Hoard - Chapter 27 (Patreon)

As last words went, those were pretty underwhelming. "Salamander Steak." There were so many possibilities too. "Let's put out their fires for good," or maybe... okay, maybe I just ought to admit I was not that good with words. I was also procrastinating. I nodded at the amassed Talpi as I climbed up and passed them by on the platform. Once I passed them, I turned around for a final word. "You know the deal. Stay here and stay behind me until we've sprung the trap. I will go get them riled up and come join you soon. If anything is wrong, just shout. I am right down the corridor."

Moments later, I was back in the cave, staring down at the Salamanders. Nothing at all had changed. In fact, they seemed even more lethargic than earlier. Only two of the twelve creatures were up and moving. The remainder were dozing on a large rock in the middle of the lava stream. It was a long way from the wall where I was, but it would be my initial target. I took a second to gather my confidence and then I got to work.

Digging my hind feet into the ground, I grabbed each side of the tiny opening in the wall and pulled. It came apart in my hands and I clawed frantically on both sides, widening the opening as much as possible. Within seconds, rocks were tumbling everywhere and the opening was large enough for me to put half of my body through. "That'll do." I thought.

I looked out through the opening even as my claws scrabbled near my feet to find a suitable rock among my arsenal. One of the awake Salamanders was looking at the wall below me. Seemed like it had noticed the noise but hadn't seen me yet. It was time to change that. I located a huge boulder- the largest one I'd gathered - and hefted it. "Time to wake up."

In movies, they always hit the important shots. Is it a game-winner? Then, of course, the final, desperate shot is spot on. In real life, it's usually different. Adrenaline, stress and unusual situations rarely result in anything but errors. My own limited experience as a running back in high school attested to the same. The more tense a situation, the more apt you were to screw up. This time, however, I nailed it, despite the tense situation. Angle, speed, strength - everything was perfect. I watched the boulder sail through the open air to impact the center of the island where the Salamanders rested.

The resounding crunch it would have made when it hit the island was sure to be impressive - and certainly enough to wake up every single one of the beasts. Yet it was nothing compared to the racket it actually made when the rock tumbled through the air to impact with the leg of one of the Salamanders and spin onward. The pain-filled roar echoed through the cavern, ensuring that everybody knew something was going on. I made full use of every single moment, lobbing rock after rock down into the cavern below. Every injury I could inflict on them now would mean an easier battle for me later.

Within twenty seconds, the cavern resounded with hisses and roars and the Salamanders milled about aggressively. "Time to make myself known." I thought. It wouldn't do for them to spread out every which way into the tunnel system. I pushed my entire neck through the opening in the rock and roared as loud as my lungs allowed. “Here’s Johnny!” I thought. The sound of my challenge reverberated through the cavern. Within a split second, I had every single one of my enemies staring up at me, hatred and hunger clear in their eyes. Adding insult to injury, I started throwing rocks again. It's easier said than done when you don't have a real hand, but I made do. Gravity was on my side and there were plenty of enemies. This time, however, I hit nothing. The Salamanders decided that enough was enough, and ambled toward the climb leading towards our part of the tunnel system. I waited to see that the last of our enemies was on the way and then made my way back to the Talpi.

We had timed the approach during the construction phase. There was no doubt I would be able to make it to the platform before the first Salamander showed its angry face. Even so, I couldn't help but be nervous, which caused an extra spring in my step as I ran. What if they sniffed out Aelis and Creziel? What if they were able to sprint faster than we expected? Had some secret ability? I reached the platform, watching the ten Talpi nervously assembled and slowed my step, squinting down into the tunnel to see progress. So far so good. The roars in the distance were slowly building in intensity and I could feel the tempers fraying beside me. Around a hundred fifty feet beyond the trap was a break in the tunnel. From our position we were able to observe every step of it as the furious horde of Salamanders rounded the corner and charged towards us in an enraged, growling mass.

It was an intimidating view, to be honest. The beasts looked larger than I had expected, and their claws were fearsome enough, even if we discounted the sheen of fire that pulsed around each and every one of them. The air distorted around them from the heat. Still, if they were angry, they wouldn't stop to look for any ambushers. I hoped. I roared again, making sure that they had spotted me and then prepared a handful of rocks. "Get ready to throw."

They were getting closer now, rolling forward like an indistinguishable mass of teeth, scales, claws and fire. Their infuriated roars were loud enough to deafen and I could see some of the Talpi clamping paws over their ears in pain. I looked back at my minions behind me. Every single one of them looked to be soiling themselves, but they stayed. Nobody ran. That took guts. And in the case of the Crawls, probably a solid fear of the consequences if I managed to catch them afterwards. "Just a moment now," I said, fixing the last of the Salamanders in my sight.

It was going to be close. Too close by far. The hindmost Salamander was the one who had taken a rock to the leg and he was clearly limping and lagging behind. I ground my teeth as my heart sank. Run, damnit! The moment the first Salamander came within range, I released a Weakening Fog attack straight at him. To no effect whatsoever. The moment the mist came close to him, the fires evaporated every bit of it. From the looks of it, it had no impact. Alright, I would need to slow them down a bit. I dug into the pile of rocks we had prepared for this exact situation and emerged with a rock clasped in one clawed hand.

I figured that the Salamanders already hated me. Not true. When I managed to tag the first couple of them with large rocks, collapsing them into a frenzied pile of lizards, that's when things really got heated. Literally, too. Maybe there was a link between their temper and their fiery defense, because flames started shooting out to lick the walls on either side. At this moment, I was not able to think too hard on it. I spent my time rapidly grabbing rocks and lobbing them at anything approaching. Hitting them was easy and I was not the only one throwing. Rocks were flying past me by the dozens, a veritable shower of tiny missiles. It was a futile defense, however. The Salamanders were falling over themselves to close with us and they were tough enough that the rocks didn't put them out of commission, even the large ones I threw. Still, I only needed to slow them down. When the first enemy dodged one of my throws and made it to the final climb, I moved back. Flames erupted in front of me, almost washing over me even as I grabbed two additional rocks. I cautioned my minions. "Get ready to run if this fails." An ugly, scaled head appeared over the edge, and I brained it with a rock. I chanced a glance at the end. Where were they? Was the straggler coming? Had they been spotted?

For the moment, pandemonium reigned, as the monsters below the wall fought the climb and each other in order to get to me and the small, delicious snacks behind me. Then we could hear it. The sound of a different kind of roar - one not created by animals. I grinned in anticipation. Creziel had broken the thin layer of rock in the ceiling that separated the underwater stream from our tunnel. This meant that huge amounts of water were flooding the tunnel, rushing toward the fiery lizards. Right now, the far end was obscured by a mass of water streaming down from the ceiling, thundering our way. Seeing as we'd made the tunnel slope downwards, everything rushed towards our collected enemies. The Salamander with the injured leg tried to go against the stream to escape the water that way, but was swept away with the force of the pressure. I grinned to see the fires surrounding its body dim and disappear. It worked! I was right, damnit!

For just a second, everything was still. Except for the incoming water. Salamanders, Talpi and dragon stood frozen, watching the wave bearing down towards all of us. It looked... larger than I had expected. Maybe even large enough to... I turned towards the assembled Talpi and Crawls. "Run! Now!"

With a collective cry, they turned tail and sprinted away. I set my feet and waited - then the first wave hit. I leaned away from the edge and avoided the massive explosion of superheated mist that escaped from the mass of Salamanders as the water came into contact with them. This was followed by the upper edge of the wave licking the edge of the platform and then wash back into the tunnel. I risked a glance. Below me, panicking Salamanders were paddling furiously with their large paws. They did not look like they enjoyed it. It was probably a couple of hundred degrees too cold for their liking. I slashed out with my claws, attacking a Salamander who was trying to use the buoyancy of the water to help him gain his footing on the platform. I could feel the flesh parting and the shock as I struck his bones. The Salamander fell back down into the water with a pained cry, one limb almost severed, and blood starting to pool outwards from him.

What ensued was a massive King of the Hill session. The Salamanders fought to escape the water, each other and to tear down that massive bastard on top of the only solid platform within viewing distance. I fought economically, only attacking when they got too close to the edge. I also used Weakening Fog liberally, spraying everybody periodically to weaken them even further. The effect was surely diluted, seeing as how only their heads were to be seen above water, but every little bit helped. One fell back with a jugular spurting blood in a fine mist everywhere. Another took a lucky tail strike to the head and was knocked unconscious, I think. I was working on a limited amount of time. The water from that first, massive wave had pooled back, leaving me with about three feet down to the water's edge. It felt like just a minute later, and the waves started lapping at my feet. The remaining Salamanders grew closer. I pulled back a dragon length and waited. I was only going to get one chance to do this properly.

Immediately, three Salamanders clawed their way onto the platform, escaping the hateful waters. A Weakening Fog to the face was their only official welcome. They spent no time gathering themselves, launching their heavy, scaly bodies at me with a vengeance. Nonetheless, even before the first one had taken two steps, I lifted my head in a Deafening Roar and charged. The effect was immediate. Two of them dropped bonelessly to the ground amid violent spasms. The last one struggled forward with twitching legs. I offered no mercy. A sidestep and a jump, and I was on top of the scaly creature, forcing it to the ground with my considerable bulk. The residual heat from its body was negligible, and at best, the monster felt clammy to the touch, like a freshly caught fish slick with algae. My hind legs carved massive furrows in its sides as I held it down, and it took less than ten seconds before the body stilled. I sprang back up and finished the two others with measured, harsh claw strokes before turning back toward the edge.

The waves were now lapping at my ankles. Soon, we would all be fighting in the water on an equal basis, but I intended to make the most of my superior position. Floating a handful of feet from the edge lay two additional Salamanders. One was floating face-down in the water, and the other was thrashing and convulsing, coughing up water. Looked like they had been caught by my Deafening Roar too. The water was still rising fast. I could feel that my footing was slowly becoming less secure. I was also finally able to spot the other end of the tunnel - which had clearly not collapsed. Damnit. With Aelis and Creziel still camouflaged, I had no clue if they were still there or not. It looked like one of the Salamanders had caught wind of their presence, because it was struggling against the stream to get back there..

Usually, I fought to hold back the animalistic tendencies inside my body that thrived on blood and violence. Even so, this time I loosed them on purpose. I jumped into the water with a challenging roar and a singular purpose. To exterminate every single remaining one of the scaly fuckers. This being the first time I'd tried swimming inside my dragon body, I discovered I was not a fan, let me tell you. Fortunately, it wasn't true swimming. The water was only up to my neck, which allowed me to move forward with a certain control. And if I was out of my element, the Salamanders had it even worse. Where the first group of monsters had fought just as much to get at me as they had to escape the water, the remaining four monsters were more focused on survival. This meant that they tried to avoid the water and me both. In my current mood though, I did not let them. The moment I approached the first one, I pushed off of the tunnel floor, leaping claws first at him and pushing him under the water. While I had him underneath my feet, struggling to get back up, another beast tried to swim by me, but I wrapped my tail around him and pulled him closer.

I don't know if it was the residual effect of my Deafening Roar, my casual use of Weakening Fog or the minutes they had spent swimming, but the Salamanders had been horribly weakened. A twist of my heel sent me the sensation of my claws digging deep into flesh of the one underneath the water and the struggles weakened rapidly. The other one, I didn't even bother to drown, rather I simply held it close by means of my tail and a claw. Then, I finished the job with a single bite, reveling in the intoxicating taste of a living creature's life blood. Movement became both harder and easier as I walked up the tunnel toward Aelis and Creziel. Easier, because the water level was getting lower and harder because the incoming water pressure intensified which caused the footing to become more slippery. Almost in passing, I finished off one of the two remaining Salamanders. The final one, however, had fought its way against the stream. With the initial deluge over with, the pressure wasn't as heavy and it was scrabbling its way under the falling stream right now. I released a Weakening Fog, catching the beast in the outermost reach of the attack and it shivered - but fought on. I’m sure it didn’t help that it was basically underwater at this point either. With a deep, hateful rumble erupting from my belly, I leapt, swam and bludgeoned my way up the slippery incline to reach the beast in time.

I pushed my way under the falling stream of water, hearing replaced with a heavy drumming as the water weighed me down and enfolded me in a world of blurry sensation and limited eyesight. I struggled my way to the other side and was met with a stupefying sight. Before me was the Salamander that I was hunting. I moved to attack, except I realized that it wasn’t moving forward. No, it was currently standing still, struggling and hissing and... bleeding? In fact, while I was watching, the bleeding turned into a stream of blood and the monster gave up its struggle. Except, it didn't collapse and fall to the ground. It swayed slightly and then just leaned to the side and gave up its last breath, still standing.

Flabbergasted, I moved forward. The front paws of the animal were sunk down into the hard packed dirt floor of the tunnel. Surely... "Creziel. You crazy little animal. Come out here." I shook my head as I spotted what must have finished the animal. Below the beast stood one of the stone rods intended to spring the trap.

"Milord."

I didn't quite jump when Aelis appeared from out of nowhere. Still, I had to control myself to keep from lashing out. I was still trying to regain control from having loosened the beast. I growled. "Aelis. Not a good idea to surprise a blooded dragon."

"Apologies, Sire." Next to her, Creziel crawled out from their hiding space, his blurred form going through several color changes and making my eyes strain. The emotions ranging from Aelis did not contain a whiff of remorse, however. Plenty of jubilance and pride, though.

Looking at the slain Salamanders, I could understand why. Still... "Why didn’t you collapse the sides of the tunnel? You were lucky that just one of the Salamanders made it back to you."

Aelis looked me straight in the eye and started, "Sire-"

Creziel interrupted her. "It was my call, Onyx."

Oh really? This had better be good. I tapped the floor... "Okay. I am going to listen to your explanation. However, first I am going to catch the bodies of the Salamanders and transport them down the tunnel to where we can skin and quarter them. We don't want them to stay afloat in the water and become bloated and filled with God knows what." I looked at the water-filled room in front of me, filled with corpses, filth and blood and shook my head. "Jump onto my back, I'll bring you to the other side so we can reunite with the others."