The Worst Kobold Chapter 23: Chapter 18 - The Patron Saint of Explosives

Read chapter 23 of The Worst Kobold by Thalaas on NovelPedia.

Fluke slowly circled the orb. He didn’t know what was inside of the device. Only that the Ashen Kingdom was willing to force him, a dragon, to open it. A dragon… He thought with an internal laugh. He still wasn’t sure how to feel about it. For the first while, after that mage Morcant slunk off into the tunnel? He had just paced. Everything was new to him now. His entire life replayed in his mind, only now? Instead of the weak, simpering, clumsy Fluke? There was a mighty dragon in his place. Someone had stolen that from him, somehow. Made him believe he was kobold. One in a horde of many. The whole ordeal was ludicrous. Why would someone do it? A dragon was a leader, a protector, an unstoppable force. And someone, something, tricked him into believing he was just a fluke. Just a fluke… No… He thought angrily. I am Fluke. He thought of Grassweaver, whose left-half of her body was so weak she could hardly stand, yet she still contributed and worked hard. He thought of Potbelly, the kindly cook who always kept him fed and never talked down to him. Many of his co-workers. Tasque was a good taskmaster. The two young kobolds who worked to tie him to logs, Hitch and Lash. He thought of other kobolds who treated him kindly back home. Brute, Coal, Brokenhorn... and he thought of his best friend Griffon. Griffon... She had protected him even when she didn’t have to. She really didn’t have to! He laughed out loud this time. He saw that Slithroat Pete, holding a dagger to his throat. He was terrified at the time for his life. Now it was so comical. And there was Griffon, ready to kill for him, and then putting down her sword to save him. If he was raised as a proper dragon? In the deepest part of their colony? He’d have never met any of them. Kobold would be servants, not friends. Maybe… just maybe? Maybe some good came of this. “Excuse me, Fluke?” Morcant called cautiously from the hall. She did not want to interrupt the massive ruby-scaled beast. He had gone through a traumatic breakthrough and had spent the last thirty minutes growling, chuckling, laughing, or just staring into space. But her king was anxious with the prize so close. “I was wondering if you could hurry…" Fluke’s head snapped to the front of the cave. All the breath left Morcant as she just stood there. Her form seemed to flicker as her illusionary self blinked for a mere moment, before she regained her composure. Fluke cocked his head slightly to the right as he regarded Morcant. It amazed him how just by the sheer length of his neck, he could move his head dozens of feet to a new target. He now glared down at the terrified women. Pure fear. He moved his head back to a level position. He had seen that before recently. Where have I seen… It dawned on him. Ember. When she had confronted them in the camp? She was panic-stricken. He thought it was, logically, due to Griffon. But no, she had the drop on them. Ember knew… she knew I was a dragon! That’s why she called me a dragon! Seems obvious now. But how? ! His mind raced, then he remembered how he knew he was a dragon now. The cowering mage had done something with those fancy goggles and blew weird dust in his face. The goggles. Ember was wearing them when she stumbled on us. They let her see me for… me. No wonder the goblin had been so terrified. Then a more horrifying thought crept down his tail. He had seen that look of horror at least one other time. After the bandit attack? Griffon was angry that he had almost been killed by Slithroat Pete. Which Fluke now saw wasn’t even slightly possible. Then she went for a ‘girl stuff’ talk behind a boulder. When she came back, she was… different. Scared. She had been more scared than when she fought the thugs. More scared than when she fought those royal soldiers. What could possibly frighten the fearless Griffon? Me… Griffon shivered. She was… scared of me. That thought sickened him. And she knows… she knows I’m a dragon now. Ember must’ve given those goggles to Griffon. That w