Day 4Deebus awoke in the cave and walked out into the dawn. Last night he hadn't set watch fires, because the old wives said that evil spirits never bothered those who stayed underground. In the grey hours of the morning he began creeping eastward. He thought that perhaps, now being north of the dread mountains, he could go around and see what was on the other side.
Shortly after sunrise he found himself in a thickly wooded and densely snow-covered country. Here he found packs of dingos, the cousins of the wolves that often stalked unfortunate kobolds. These he crept past as they slept, not wishing to be overwhelmed by an entire frenzied pack. Further on he found a few turkeys, and decided to refill his pack by bagging one. Sneaking up carefully behind a hen, he speared it in the skull and killed her before she even knew he was there. He also managed to kill a nearby gobbler, but this was loud enough for the others to notice him and they all fled.
He shot another one of the gobblers and then finished it with his spear. The other turkeys were gone now, though, but these three, scrawny though they were, would together provide an ample supply of meat and bones.
Deebus crossed over a frozen brook into a frozen swampland. Passing further eastward, he swam across a stream into a non-frozen swamp. Further eastward he came to a small waterfall in an adjacent swamp valley, where a brook fell into a stream. He wondered about where to cross, whether the greatest danger came from falling over or getting sucked under. After a few minutes of thought, Deebus decided to go for the lower.
After that, up and down wooded hills he went, going ever eastward. The countryside reminded him of his home. All the trees, the animals, and the stone seemed familiar. Suddenly, he came upon something that made his heart leap.
Home.
The stonecrafter Tlikibrildus saw him approach. At first he was fightened at seeing a figure, covered in bones and pelts with what looked like a horse skull coming out of a bear's mouth for a head. Then he saw the spear and recognized it. That spear had gone missing from the hoard 4 days ago, along with a nearly grown kobold. Deebus.
He ran up to greet him, scarcely believing that he was alive. Deebus had few that had been close to him, but in the general closeness of kobold tribes any loss of one so young was felt bitterly. They greeted each other and Tlikibrildus asked him what happened. Deebus told him. He began with his taking the shield and spear and leaving, and the horrible storm. As Deebus told his tale, other kobolds heard the news and came out to listen. He told of the three monsters he had killed, of the daring theft from Murime, of the horses and the bears and the surprising rabbit. Some of them were incredulous, but then he produced the drum and the crown, and showed them his bow. The horse skull and bearskin were self evident.
Now knowing his tales to be true, his small audience ran back into the cave, into the depths and shouted the news. Deebus was swept off his feet by a crowd of his fellow kobolds and carried into the cave. He expected everything to be different, but was surprised to find everything as he remembered. Those four days had felt like such a long time, with everything that happened in them.
Deebus was glad to be home at last, celebrating and talking with the people he knew. There was a big feast, supplemented by the large amount of delicious meat he had acquired on his journey. Afterwards, he settled down on the cave floor for a night of well-earned rest. Home at last. He could go back to... doing what he did before? What to do now? He was a hero, and going back to doing small tasks for his elders didn't seem so comfortable an idea anymore. Not that they would want him too, though. What was there to do, when one was a hero?
Little did he know, Deebus's journey was only just beginning.
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Topic: The journey of Deebus, a kobold story. (Read 193825 times)