One might wonder what a dragon knew about throwing rocks. Quite a lot, actually. As a creature predisposed toward flight, at least before, Ruth had a great deal of respect for how fast and dangerous things hurtling through the air could be. He was also keenly aware that dropping heavy things from high above could have some very amusing results on the unsuspecting below.

Ruth straightened in the water, a sneer crossing his face as he realized that both Goblins seemed to martial their cowardice quite quickly. It was infuriating that they weren’t prostrating themselves into submission and were actively meeting his gaze. They began to separate slightly, their meter long spears comprised of simple wood with a sharp pointy rock haphazardly tied to the ends looking comically inadequate to him.

It didn’t matter. He wanted to see what the little coward that he didn’t immediately obliterate thought about his friend exploding into a fine blood mist right next to him. Probably just have a heart attack and die on the spot.

Of course, there is knowing quite a bit of something about throwing rocks, and there is the practicality of trying to throw a rock with any sort of accuracy in a body you just arrived in earlier this morning.

Ruth may have misjudged his current strength, the heft and weight of the rock, the way that Goblin had heroically walked right into his line of fire without dodging as Ruth had expected him to, the rate of the soft wind through the trees, and also forgotten the fact that it had actually taken him about fourteen rocks to hit a slow-moving fish in a cold stream from less than a meter away earlier.

It was far more likely, Ruth considered as he watched the rock ricochet off a tree in the distance, that this Goblin was just a tricky bastard. The rock had flown with an appropriately satisfying amount of force and then drifted past the Goblin by a wide-margin of safety on the left. Ruth may have just had the misfortune, he considered, of coming across a Goblin that was some sort of hero to his people and was favored by a god of luck.

His eyes narrowed as he remembered.

Not just one. Two of them.

↢↦

“So, like, should we be saving it?” Arathan asked Tamara after they both watched the spectacle of Ruth confidently throwing a rock that couldn’t have found its target even if it flew back around the world and got a second shot.

“If he dies, he dies,” Tamara said indifferently. While there was no pity in her vocal tones, Arathan noted that her right hand had flexed into a fist.

“What did his soul look like when he was a dragon?” Arathan asked conversationally. They were both watching the two Goblins encircle Ruth now, who was still reeling from the devastating blow to his pride.

“Just like it does now. It wasn’t going to awaken the way things were, so I gave it a nudge.”

“You couldn’t just make him a dragon again, or a hatchling, or something?”

“He struggled most of his life to reach where he was as a dragon, and his soul form didn’t wake up. This new body has affinities that I made just for him. All things considered, I think he is learning very fast.” Tamara tilted her head slightly to the side so she could look at Arathan for a moment while they talked. The only thing she was missing now was Ruth getting poked with two of the sorriest excuses for spears she could recall seeing.

“Well,” Arathan kept her eyes on the window trying to think of something to say. “I hope you didn’t spend too much time on it.”

Tamara looked back and pursed her lips together. An infuriated look crossed her features very briefly. “Some.”

“Sorry,” Arathan apologized realizing that Tamara must have put in some real bean work for that body.

“Yeah,” Tamara was sulking a little now.

“Oh! Well, that’s promising. Our little murder kitten woke up.”

Cruelty played across Tamara’s face for a moment as she also noted the change. She smiled, and Arathan shivered.

↢↦

Ruth had just been trying to figure out whether he should get another rock or not when the Goblin on his right waded forward and jabbed its spear into his leg. Sort of into his leg, at any rate. Ruth’s legs were actually pretty fit and thick for a creature his size that wasn’t a dragon.

Ruth gloated for a moment, lips peeling back in an aggressive teeth-baring sort of way. The pain was inconsequential to him and his immediate thought was that his hide was actually thick enough after all. It probably had more to do with the spear being a piece of crap though, if we’re being honest.

The Goblin withdrew the spear and noted the small cut on his leg as it stepped back before Ruth could swing a hand down at it. In the old days, he would have just turned and let old tail take care of this thing.

Or sat on it.

Or breathed fire on it.

Stepped on it.

Exploded it with his mind.

Used it to pick his teeth.

Dropped trees on it.

Before he could continue thinking about all the ways this Goblin hero duo would perish under his righteous dragon rage, another prickling pain sensation from the back of his right leg alerted him to the fact that the other one had circled around behind him and stabbed him with its flimsy spear.

He started to turn his attention toward it when another sharp sting came from the first Goblin, or the Goblin in front.

HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Sanity, questionable though it had been to begin with, began to fade into the background as Ruth started hissing at the Goblin in front of him. The noise served no purpose other than to alleviate the frustration that had begun to slowly build in Ruth. The Goblin, who had always been taking him seriously, regarded him warily as this new sound emerged but stepped forward and boldly took another stab at the same leg he’d jabbed twice already. An answering pain sensation from behind and Ruth jerked his head back glaring fiercely at that second Hero Goblin.

Hero Goblins or not. Enough was enough. He wasn’t a dragon and couldn’t dragon them to death? Fine! He couldn’t figure out his mana pathways so he couldn’t magic them to death? Fine! He couldn’t fucking kill them with rocks? Fine.

He would kill them with his face because that’s what snakes did, wasn’t it? Fine!

Ruth took a giant step toward the Goblin and stretched out his hand. His whole plan now revolved around grabbing this highly skilled elite Goblin King and biting down on it until it stopped moving. He may even have venom, he doesn’t know, who cares?!

The Goblin behind him had stabbed him in the back of the leg again, but he was beyond that now. A part of his mind had just stopped working and now there was only the madness and the anger at the helm as he surged forward. Surprised, the Goblin he was approaching stabbed at the hand which was approaching palm up. Ruth grabbed the spear point ruthlessly, ignoring the sharp pain that began appearing as the shoddy stone cut deeply, grabbed and pulled and threw and then took another giant step before the shocked Goblin could get over being suddenly disarmed.

The Goblin behind him must have been panicking because Ruth could hear the splashing sound getting louder in his ears. Then that infuriating pricking sensation on the back of his legs several times in a row.

Ruth had picked up the other Goblin with the full intent of just burying his face into it but the stabbing pains coming from the back of his body necessitated a different sort of violence. The Goblin was struggling greatly in his grasp even as Ruth turned, wielding him like he was a club, and swung with all the force of his body.

The Goblin being swung came into contact, face first, with the spear being poked at Ruth. The spear point mercilessly penetrated the ugly green face and the force of the two objects meeting made a snapping noise before the wooden spear did just that. Following through with his swing, the Goblin smacked the other Goblin in the face and another large cracking noise reverberated into the forest.

The second Goblin fell butt first into the water, the water line coming up to its neck in a seated position. It stared straight up as its eyes rolled back in its head and then it seemed to faint. The gentle current started to carry the unconscious Goblin slowly down the river.

Ruth didn’t witness this part. After he had made contact with his Goblin club, he had started turning in a circle, mashing the Goblin up and down and smacking it as hard as he could into the river. This continued for five or six blows until the Goblin no longer gave satisfying squish noises.

A quick look revealed the location of the other Goblin still floating serenely downriver. Ruth tossed the surprisingly light bag of squished Goblin Hero the dozen or so meters to the shore and stomped through the water after the remaining one…

↢↦

“At least now he can figure out a few things.” Arathan sighed. “It’s too bad his soul form didn’t wake up.”

“They were just ordinary Goblins,” Tamara said casually. They both watched in silence as he forded through the river and brought the second one to shore near the first one. Ruth left it for a moment to go into the trees, prompting Arathan to tilt her head quizzically.

“Oh. He is … just that petty isn’t he? Caw-caw-caw-caw.” Arathan laughed and Tamara smiled again.

He had gone to retrieve the rock he had thrown and missed with. He brought it back and brained the unconscious Goblin one last time before collapsing in a heap next to the two corpses. He was filthy, covered in blood, still bleeding from several wounds, and naked.

↢↦

Ruth didn’t stay still for long.

He noticed something immediately after he had finished the second Goblin Hero.

The first thing he noticed was that his mana pathways had lit up and were greedily sucking in mana from the two corpses.

The second thing was that this wasn’t how snakes eat or get mana. Conclusion, it was the slightest bit possible that he wasn’t a snake.

Ruth, exulting in his victory and completely oblivious to the horrendous amount of blood sticking to his body, got up and moved to the Goblin duo. He quickly took off their tunics and set them side by side, giving them a long look of consideration. They had obviously not been in good shape to begin with and then he had, perhaps a little, lost his temper.

Setting the questionable garments aside he leaned down and sniffed.

Nope. Not gonna eat that, he decided with some reluctance. It was a waste of good meat but there was just something about the smell that put him off. He was thinking maybe they had some sort of illness or something.

He was feeling less hungry now that he was gathering the mana essence from the corpses anyway. The mana was a feeble amount but still pushed through his body, seemingly jumpstarting his mana circulation. He was now gathering mana from the environment as well as the corpses like he should have been all along. He sighed in relief and smiled coldly.

He was not a snake and he was not a dragon. It also seemed he was unskilled at physical confrontation. Well, there were ways around that sort of thing, and now he finally possessed one.

Magic was back on the menu.

After a short nap or fainting spell. Whichever was happening right this moment.