I jumped to my feet and held my hammer at the ready. Kiszo grabbed the older Kobold and tossed him with such force to the ground. I could hear a few of his bones snapping. The Kobolds began pushing their way into the small space. Kiszo started yelling at the top of her lungs, “Guards!” The Kobolds seemed to go into a frenzy as they moved forward. Luin dodged their outstretched hands and ran under Kiszo’s bed.

I didn’t want to harm these people, but I wouldn’t stand idly by as they did us harm. I swung the hammer, breaking the arm of the young Kobold holding a dagger in front of me. Flash. The next went down with a shattered shoulder. Flash. The third Kobold was not as lucky, neither were the few directly behind him. His entire torso turned into a pink mist with a bright flash, along with parts of those behind him. Kiszo’s home wall didn’t fare any better as a meter diameter hole was punched through it.

Everyone stopped moving and stared at the bloody carnage of those who had pushed toward me. Then everyone watched as the bodies of their clanmates began to turn into green dust. Their clothes and weapons had fallen to the floor. Four green gems now lay in the center of the house. Seeing this, the Kobolds began yelling for blood, but sharp whistles outside drowned them out, and then tons of armored Beastkin surrounded the rest of the Kobolds and house.

“What in the realms is going on here?” Yelled someone with a deep voice outside.

“The Kobolds attacked us!” replied Kiszo.

“Everyone lay down your weapons! Even the Kobold guards! Anyone brandishing a weapon in the next three seconds will be dealt with harshly!”

I watched as all the Kobolds began to flatten their ears and comply. The younger of them seemed to yield far faster than the older generation. Then they began to leave the domicile and were lined up outside.

A massive Tiger Beastkin stepped inside the house. Eyed me, Kiszo, the wheezing white Kobold on the floor, and the large hole in the side of Kiszo’s house. “Can you explain what started this infernal fight, Kiszo?”

‘Something to do with her,” Kiszo pointed to Luin, who was licking her paw on Kiszo’s bed, seemingly uninterested in the happenings around her.

“People are dead over a… what is that?”

“She’s a young Kobold. They said something about her being a Priestess of Gna’zanth and demanded we hand her over. When this,” Kiszo pointed to the collapsed Kobold,” gave the order to kill Zeal over something called Bond Magic.”

“Is this the truth, Ka’mun?” The tiger asked the still wheezing Kobold.

Ka’mun stared hatred towards me and didn’t answer the guard. The guard shook his head and called for a healer. He eyed the clothes and weapons on the ground. “What of these three? No four. Did they leave here naked?”

Kiszo leaned close to the Beastkin and whispered into his ear. The tiger immediately looked at me and then bowed. “My apologies, Zeal. You have done our kind, and those who tried have you killed, a huge service. My niece was one of those you saved last year, and I thank you on behalf of and my family me from the bottom of my heart. I welcome you back to our lands.”

A few minutes later, two young teenage Beastkin came running into the hut. On seeing the hurt Kobold, one bent down and looked him over. The older of the two said something to the Kobold before puling on his right arm. I could hear the bone snap into place before the old Kobold cried out in pain. Then a soft glow surrounded his body, and his breathing began to slow.

“Good, now you two take him to the cells. He will answer for this crime,” he said to two of the guards standing near the door. When the guards and healers left with the Ka’mum, the tiger turned back to me and pointed to the hole in the wall, then the clothing. “What kind of spell kills leaving nothing behind and can make a perfect hole in the wall?

“None,” I said as I lifted my hammer to show him.

The tiger looked at the stone hammer a moment before extending his hand towards me. I dropped the hammer into his palm, and his feet immediately gave way as he went straight to the floor. If the hammer had not fallen with the handle pointing up, I’m afraid he may have broken something.

As he scrambled to his feet, he looked around. Probably to make sure no one saw what just happened. “Soulbound. I have only seen two other magic weapons like this in my time.”

“Yes. About that. What does that mean, Soulbound?”

“Magical or enchanted weapons are said to choose their owners. They take something from their owner. No one knows if it’s magic or a part of their soul, but everyone says they feel something leaving them and going into the weapon. It’s known only the owner can wield a soulbound weapon, and even if they lose it, somehow it finds its way back to the owner,” explained the Tiger Beastkin.

“Thank you. I found it next to the body of a child on my journey.”

“A child? That hammer? Was this child yay wide?” The tiger used his hands to show double his girth.”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“That was no child, Zeal. That was the body of a Dwarf. I haven’t heard of any Dwarves around these parts in generations. That hammer is quite the find. While on the topic of another race, what are you, Zeal? You kinda look like a human from the far western lands, but too slender and tall, and those ears.”

“I am an Elefvian. Most call us Elves or Elf.”

“Your people must be hail from far away. Again, I thank you for what you did for us last year. I will have two of my guards follow you until this mess with the Kobold’s priest is dealt with. Take care, Zeal. Kiszo.”

As soon as he left, Kiszo turned to me and smacked me over my head. “I can’t believe you put a wall in my damn house. You have any idea how cold it gets at night with the constant frozen rain falling?”

“Snow? The frozen rain is called snow, and I’m sorry. It was that, or they sent me on another year-long trip!”

She deflated and went to look at the hole in her wall. She grabbed a blanket from a pile in the corner and draped it over the hole using what looked like pins. We went outside to find two armored Beastkin standing near the door and talking. The site of us killing the conversation. “We’ve been ordered to follow you around until ordered otherwise.”

“That’s alright. Thank you,” said Kiszo.

A yipping from behind turned me around to find Luin at the edge of Kiszo’s door. Looking down at the slightly muddy ground and then back up to me. What a spoiled brat. I picked her up, and she climbed to my shoulder and around my neck, almost like a blue scarf. Settled down, she licked my face and began looking around.

“Let’s go to the chief, let him know you have returned, and go from there,” said Kizso.

I followed Kiszo and the two guards following behind Luin and me. Scanning the town, I could see Kolbolds looking at Luin with something akin to pride or reverence. Then some seemed to grow angry seeing Luin on my shoulders. I wish I knew more of what Luin was to these people.

Kiszo led us to the center of the village, where a large building stood. Many people were coming and going through the main doors. It seemed to be a town hall of sorts. Once inside, we snaked our way through some tables and up to a bar. Nope, not the town hall, the tavern. Kiszo spoke with the small barmaid and was directed to a quieter corner at the far end.

At the table sat a slender Mink, or Ferret Beastkin flipping thought paperwork. As we drew closer, he raised his head to eye Kiszo, then myself. His eyes settled on the Luin on my shoulders. “I presume our great savior has returned to us in our great time of need while bringing us new troubles?” said the ferret.

“I wouldn’t call me a great savior. I just did what needed to be done. I just wished I could have saved more, and what do you mean, the great time of need and new troubles?”

He waved away my statement and looked down to his pile of papers, shuffling them till he found what he was looking for. “Our dungeon seems to be spawning stronger creatures for one. Our lower level miners can’t enter, and the stronger of them are now in the copper levels.

Second, the threat of these new Gnits seems to be pushing the border of the forest and prairie. Our scouts have reported seeing them at the forest’s edge for the first time but retreating soon after.

Third, the tension between the Beastkin and Kobolds has been rising, and with this latest report has even resulted in the death of Kobolds by your very hands.”

“I was defending myself. How do you expect me to solve your first two problems? I’m not as strong nor powerful as you may have heard.”

The bastard waved away my comment again as he began to read another paper handed to him by a small Beastkin before they ran away. “That’s what the report says. How do you want to handle Ka’mun? He ordered you attacked and killed. By Ray’tha Rise’s Charter, you can have him sentenced to death. In doing so, the conflict will only grow between the two races. He is their head priest, after all. Yet you walk around the village with the very image of Gna’zanth upon your shoulders.” The ferret shook his head before looking up at me.

Well damnit. He was telling me in not so many words. It was my choice, which could bring significant problems to the village. “Can you put him on house arrest or something for a while?

“Splendid idea!” he said before writing a note upon a blank piece of paper and snapping his finger. A small Lizard Beastkin child appeared out of nowhere. The ferret handed him the message and told him to hand it to the captain of the guard. With that, the child was gone through a small hidden side door in the wall.

“Can you explain what you know about her?” I asked, pointing to Luin.

The ferret set his papers down and leaned back in his chair. “Well, the Kobolds believe their god Gna’zanth gets reincarnated every generation. This reincarnation is called ‘The Priestess of Gna’zanth,’ and is said to have the ability to evolve and allow the Kobolds to rise and conquer the surface. Legends say this blue and gold market baby, the one on your very shoulders, has the chance of becoming the earth-bound reincarnation of their god, Gna’zanth.

The only reports the Beastkin have of such a Kobold in this area was from over three hundred years ago. When a large blue and gold market serpent humanoid lead the Kobolds on an attack of a human kingdom. The ‘Lamia,’ as they called it, was quickly killed and Kobolds slaughtered. This is the only text I’ve ever read on such a creature.

The Kobolds will do just about anything to get her away from you and stash her away to raise her for their goals. I would think long and hard about trying to keep such a symbol to their people as a mere pet, as they would be willing to go to war over her.”

“Well, that’s going to be a problem. Do you know anything on Bond magic?”

The ferret’s chair fell backward, sending him into a roll before crashing into the wall behind him. Getting up, he began bushing himself off and collecting himself. “Please explain to me first why you are asking, and I pray to the divine it’s not what I’m dreading.”