《Blood and Iron》


 Waking

    My body ached as I laid on the cold floor. Even mybreathingcausedtwinge of pain in my chest. The fucking yipping wasn''t helping the headache either.


    What happened? Did someone hit me in the back of the head?


    I slowly lifted myself of the floor bone''s cracking as I got up and that was when I realized everything waswrong.


    The bright cafeteria of my school was gone replaced with dim lit caverns filled with a hoard of Kobold''s staring at me.


    I knew what they were at the sight of them with their scales glinting in the torch light. I played morethanenough Pathfindercampaignsto knowthese bastards. ButbeforeI could react in any way one of theKobold''sran up to where I was layingdressed in a black rob withpurplesymbolsembroidered along the bottom.


    He raised his hands and shouted at the hoard. "Theprophesyheld true! TheWyrmBetween has been summoned to lead us to conquest and our rightful place!"


    It was then Inoticedmyself, mynewself.


    Blackish grey scales covered my arms and "hands" and continued along the rest of my followed suit. Panic and excitement warred in me, my body was changed and taken from me I was taken from my home.


    But on the other hand, I was adragon.


    My attention was drawn back to the kobold near my feet who it seemed was finishinghisspeech "Praise the new God!" With that the whole cavern erupted with cheers and the sounds of stomping feet and banging shields.


    Oh, they mean me, don¡¯t they?


    Thiswasn''ta dream I could tell that, and I like to thinkI''veseen and played morethananime and table top games to know whattodo. Play along till I got more info and come up with a real plan.


    "what isyourname servant?" My new voice was deep and radiated power but still sounded feminine...ithink.


    "I am KutTakking of the Bone Breakers tribe,yourtribeyourmagnificence" behind him the cheering was turning in to a real party with even more Kobold''srushingincarryinggold,jewelsand food.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    "Tell me of this world yousummonedme too KutTak."


    And as the-myservant''s where piling a small hill oftreasuresnext to me Kut regaled me with his knowledge of the world.


    He gave me jack shit.


    Ok that¡¯s not fair he gave what he knew and it was actually a lot of useful information it just wasn''t as much as I wanted or hoped.


    Everything he said pointed at this being a generic fantasy world the kind found in Pathfinder or D&D. But he couldn''treally give me much on the magical side of things orthe nation''s or civilizations of the world. The geography of this region prevented most outside contact and the closest thing to civilization was rural villages and townships.


    The area was surrounded by a large mountainchain to the east and north which was filled with beasts and marauding orc tribes of all kinds that made travel hard at the best of times. The south wasn''t any better. Apparently, the forest that covered the opening between the mountains was being torn apart in a war between a hag coven and a lich. The west was a total unknown to the Kobold''s.


    "Well that¡¯s just great." I sighed, I wasn¡¯t sure if I was beingsarcasticor not. There were a lot of shitty thing''s in this region but itwasn''tall bad, the Orc''skeptthere raiding to theother sideof themountain''s where there were a "greatmanykingdoms" ofcoursehe didn¡¯t have any info onthemthat would beconvenient.


    "Indeed,great one. Themountainsareanexcellentbufferagainstthe eastern realms and while adventurepartiesare attracted to the orcs for the plunder they take few if any truly cross themountainsnone ofwhichcould be a threat to you great one."


    Adventurers of course there would be adventurescan''thave a good fantasy worldwithoutthem. It was all making sense now.


    Prophetic dreams of conquest, ritualisticsummoning''s, a myth of a "wyrmbetween."


    I''mthe bad guy.


    the only questions are,amI amid-bossor the Big Bad Evil Guy.


    And who are the Hero''s?

 Thoughts

    Two days.


    I was stuck in this stupid cave for two days'' while my Kobold''s worked to expand the tunnels enough for me to move through them. I had tried polymorphing since some fantasy worlds had that as an ability for dragons but I had no luck.


    I could feel something when I tried but it just left me cold and tired but the more I tried the stronger that feeling got so maybe I was on to something


    Or I was going to blow myself up, but with how things were going I''d accept either.


    I finished counting my hoard of treasure for the third time half way through the second day, I did try sleeping but couldn''t stay down for very long.


    So, I laid there on my back atop my pile of gold and jewel''s looking at a single piece of gold I had in my claws. It had a stylized picture of a man in a crown generic really but what held my interest was the shape of the coin.


    It was in the shape of an hour glass, the only time I saw a gold piece like that was in the fifth edition player handbook for Dungeons and Dragons. Not all the gold coins where in that shape some where the normal circles and even some triangles.


    It could have been coincidence but I wasn''t so sure, I hoped not at least. It would help get me some grounding especially if it was the Forgotten Realms or another setting I knew.


    Kia Fur the Captain of my "Divine Guard" as they named themselves ran in "Great One the workers have finished expanding the tunnels I-" Kia had to duck as the speed and force of me jumping to my feet sent parts of my treasure flying in all direction''s including her head.


    I completely ignored my guards calls to wait for me as I rushed to the cavern entrance with the workers swiftly moving out of my way.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    I was a bit concernedabout how quickly I got to the cave entrance it couldn''t have been more than a hundred feet. Any old monster or adventure party could have just wandered up to me in my sleep, Granted the Kobolds would have woken me but I wasn''t looking to fight anything or one.


    The cold night air brushing against my scales fest great compared to the stuffiness of the cave and I finally saw the outside.


    The cave mouth sat at the base of a mountain almost completely unhidden save for a few bushes, a short way down the slope was a forest edge with a river flowing into it.


    Kur tak told me about the other two warrens both could be found by following the river one in the forest it was hidden under a ruined watch tower the second under some hill''s where the river fed into a lake.


    My guards quickly caught up to me their rough iron armor clanking as they ran.


    "Divine one we-" I silenced whatever she was about to say with a raised claw. The sight of this vale had given me...thoughts.


    In that cave I had more wealth then I ever thought I could have at once, with it alone I could pay off my mom''s debt to the IRS and buy my grandparents'' house so they could stop paying rent and more. But as I looked at this vale I realized I could do more.


    Why buy my grandparents'' house when I could give them a mansion? Why pay off mom''s IRS debs when I could give her lands with wealth and a title to go with it? She deserved it for all the shit she put up with from me alone not to mention her job.


    I was already imagining it. A city at the base of this mountain near the river and forest with a palace trade coming in from the eastern kingdom''s and hidden under the best guard I could get would be a portal to Earth giving me all comforts of the modern world that I could also sell to the locals for absurd prices.


    Capitalism ho! Recette would be proud.


    I know I''m getting ahead of myself. Some of these things might not even be possible. But plans are good plans keep me focused and give me a goal to work towards. And I at least know dimensional travel has to be a thing.


    The Kobold''s wanted me to conquer the world in some crazy prophecy of theirs. But I think I''ll be fine with just this vale for my family and me.


    I turned to Captain Kia "Tell me, how many warriors can the warrens raise?"


    The smile on her face was adorable.

 Bloodletting

    I looked down at the Orc tribe that called this mountain pass home with growing disgust.


    When I decided to take this vale as my own I knew I''d have to do some fighting, I hoped that I could just intimidate the locals with my army of Kobold''s and the fact I was a big scary dragon but I wasn''t going to bet on it.


    And what better group to practice on then these things.


    They didn¡¯t even deserve to be called people.


    When I first sat on the cliff edge watching them I was doubting myself they seemed so normal so human. Children playing, conversations, joking, food cooking, normal.


    Then I had heard a yelp of pain, a short way''s outside the tribe''s walls was a group I didn¡¯t see before being too focused on the larger village. They were made up of five orc''s and about seven humans with three dwarves all chained and looked filthy with tattered clothing.


    One of the orcs had taken a whip to one of the slaves leaving a horrid gash and torn flesh on his back.


    At that I took a second look at the tribes below and I started to feel cold disgust build.


    A human leg roasting over a fire, a orc child beating another bloody while his mother laughed as her son brutalized another. And it went on and on.


    The only thing stopping me from rushing down there and freeing the slaves was waiting for my Kobolds to get in to position.


    Slowly my raiding party made its way into position down the mountain side, already the archers were ready it was just the spearmen that needed to get ready.


    The plan was rather simple, the archers would fire on to the camp below cutting down the unsuspecting orcs while the spearmen held their ground on the slope holding back any attempt at retaliation while the archers did the killing. The area we were attacking from was steep so I doubted any of the orcs would get up here but better safe than sorry.


    I heard another shrike of pain from where the slaves were working.


    Aw fuck it. By the time any orcs do make it up the slope the spearmen will be in position.


    "Kia order the archer to attack." Before she could give any response, I lifted myself in to the air and started my dive towards my first target and I knew exactly who that was.


    The slave driver''s last sight was of me crushing under one of my front claws. Two of the slave guards were shredded with a single swipe of my free claw.


    Of the two remaining guards one tried to attack me, his spear glancing off my scales while the second and probably smarter orc ran as fast as he could to the exit of the valley where he could use the forest to hide.


    The one that attacked me was dealt with easily a quick back hand sent him flying head first in to a boulder snapping his neck and creaking his head.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    The shouts and cries of pain behind me drew my attention, the orc village was under a hail of arrows from my archers, it had taken an hour of anxiety inducing flying to ferry that many Kobold''s on to the mountain side for this but it was clearly worth it.


    Over a hundred archers firing from surprise in an area the orcs had believed un traversable should be having a devastating effect.


    I glanced at the slaves, most were cowering one of the dwarfs had his pickaxe ready as a weapon glaring at me the other two were busy hacking at their leg chains.


    I decided to ignore them for now either they would get free on their own or i could just free them when this was over either way worked for me. I walked up to the wooden wall and gate the orcs constructed to close of this side of the valley.


    It was crude but I kind of liked that about it, regardless I could just smash my way through but I wanted to try something.


    These past days id been itching to try out my breath weapon and this was the first good opportunity.


    I took a great inhale of breath and tried to focus on what I wanted, my attempts at polymorphing myself gave some idea of what I needed to do...i think.


    Oh god I was going to look like such a dork if this didn¡¯t work.


    Thankfully when I exhaled a vicious burning bubbling purple liquid flew out of my mouth coating the gate burning and melting it away at a rapid pace turning the gate and parts of the wall to a putrid light purple sludge.


    "Well that''s a... thing." I was expecting the acid breath, everything till now was shouting pathfinder and such at me but seeing it was cool, I guess.


    I moved through the now burned and disintegrated gateway in to the village. And It was a massacre, orc corpses were everywhere peppered with arrows. Several however were still alive the warriors who had been armed had formed a shield wall and bunkered down.


    When the beast''s saw me, I expected them to run or be paralyzed with fear and most were save for one.


    He was massive and covered in furs with a great axe he took one look at me and instead of running or cowering like his underling he roared a challenge and charged at me.


    I tried to swipe at him but he spun around my claw''s and used the momentum to swing upwards with his axe unlike the other orc weapons that glanced off without me really noticing this blade sliced deep in to my scales like they weren''t really there.


    I let loose a roar of pain and backed away looking at the gash on my right arm but the orc chief wasn''t going to give me that time. Already he was coming at me again but I had idea.


    I sent a stream of acid at the bastard forcing him to dodge out of the way.


    Right in to my claws.


    He let out a scream of pain as he skid back, while I missed my mark I did tear off the assholes left arm and leave a nasty looking wound on his side.


    Before either of us could make our nest moves we were interrupted by a hoard of Kobold''s swarming over the chief with screams of hate and rage, hacking clawing and even biting at him.


    He never stood a chance.


    I had been so focused on him I ignored what else was happing. The Kobold''s had become enraged at the sight of my injury with a level of hate and fury only a zealot could reach. They abandoned their position on the mountain side sliding down the slope and swarmed them with sheer numbers and fury.


    What was left of the orcs was being hacked and torn to pieces.


    Kia came running up to me falling onto all four''s


    "Great One forgive us! We have failed in our duty''s! Kia only asks that you eat her in exchange of punishing rest of the Guard!"


    "Rise, this isn''t your fault now station a guard and have the rest start looting this place and bring me that orcs axe."


    "y-yes Great one Kia will do so. " With that she was off trying the organize the still raging Kobold''s into something resembling a real watch and looting teams.


    I glanced behind me catching a glimpse of the slaves fleeing in to the forest at the mouth of the valley and smiled.


    At least I wouldn''t have to come up with some reason to let them go.


    A random Kobold ran up to me with a big grin. "Great One we clamed orc brood slaves for you!"


    What?


    From behind a few of the huts lead at spear point was a group of four sobbing and crying women with torn clothing and covered in bruises.


    ...shit.