The Worst Kobold Chapter 21: Chapter 16 - I'm a Dragon

Read chapter 21 of The Worst Kobold by Thalaas on NovelPedia.

Monster Dice was a common game for kids, gamblers, and bored jailers. It involved being dealt a number of cards from a deck to each player. Each card had a random creature on it. Then one would roll a set of five dice with monster symbols on them. You then would pick a player, declare a monster, and that player would discard any of those he had in his deck, up to the number of matching dice. So, if you rolled three hydras, and pointed to an opponent and declared hydras? They’d have to discard up to three of the creatures. It wasn’t terribly complex, so was favored by young ones, or those on their fourth stein of beer. There was still some strategy. Like remembering who discarded what, deciding who to target, how many of each monster was in the discard pile, and what monster to pick as a target. “All right…,” Captain Tandor eyed the last opponent. A small pile of bronze coins was stacked in four neat piles between them. The younger, freckled faced guard only had one guard left. The Captain shook the dice in his palm and let them fall to the ground. He mentally ran through what had been played. He looked at the crude figures on the dice, and settled on the most likely one. The side profile of a half lion, half eagle creature stood in a dark silhouette. “Griff…,” the game died mid-sentence as a large explosion filled the room sending all three guards falling to the old winery floor. The blast echoed several times in the small confines as the contents of the table went scattering on the stone ground. The copper coins bounced and rolled over the floor with a light tingling melody. Smoke filled from the half hanging metal door where the prisoners were kept. It was still standing, but the upper left portion was blown inwards leaving a small hole. Too small for an adult human to fit through. But not an adult kobold. Griffon leapt through and landed on the first guard. He landed on his back with a grunt with the heavy weight of the prisoner on his back. She grabbed his hair on either side of the head and slammed his face on the thick stone. A solid thud and he was knocked out. “Sound the alarm!” Captain Tandor shouted as grabbed his thick club and moved as the freckled youth rushed to the thick rope to sound the alarm. Griffon grabbed the first guard’s club from his hand and scurried forward. She dropped to all fours as Captain Tandor swung his fist over her. They weren’t as elite as the wardens by any means, but they were far from pushovers. Griffon, though, had been ready and prepared for this. The blow missed her as she was so low to the ground it threw off his aim. The kobold kept going and jumped on the table once and leapt off it. A few of the playing cards went flying as she soared through the air. She struck the third guard on the side of the head with her bludgeoning weapon seconds before he could raise the alarm. His hand was just outstretched to grasp the rope that would have summoned reinforcements. Even as she landed she turned just in time just to parry the next attack. “Gonna be nice and drop that for me?” “Don’t want to hurt you, just put the club down!” That was the truth. Even now, Captain Tandor remembered the Prince’s words as they were not to be harmed. He hoped a blow from his club wouldn’t be too frowned upon. “Neither do I,” Griffon admitted as she stepped into the next blow. Tandor had overextended when he reached down, and she had caught his weapon under her armpit and held fast. She knew he was stronger, but her weight was enough to pin it as she brought her own weapon to his face. Tandor moved fast though, training catching up as he brought his other arm up to block the kobold’s wrist. Griffon however just arched her head back, and CRACK! Headbutted the poor bald man with a solid whack. He hung there for a moment, before slumping down in a heap. “Doesn’t mean I won’t.” “Do you practice one-liners like that in front of a mirror?” Ember was crawling out of the hole in a far less graceful manner than Griffon di