The adventurer stands before the throne of the sorceress. Her features are obscured by the shadows of the chamber. Yet, even though he cannot see her, her presence is so immense that he trembles, falling to his knees.
"Very good," the voice of the sorceress coos. "You know when to properly serve your true queen. Now, then," she says, the sound of fabric shifting around in the darkness hints at her movement. "If you wish to live, you must serve. Now, say it."
The adventurer trembles before her power. Yet, he takes a deep breath and pushes himself up to his feet. "I'll work for you," he growls,"but only in exchange for my life and freedom."
"Oh?" The sorceress says with a chuckle, "Then, I must give you a properly challenging task."
He grits his teeth. "Just let it out, already, monster," he says. "I'll do it and be done with you."
"We'll see, we'll see. Now then, close your eyes, and accept your task."
"Don't see why I have to do that, I'm already blind in-"
She shuts him up by sealing her lips around his. He grunts and stumbles back, completely taken aback by the sudden gesture. The sensation is like a shock trailing down his body. His eyes roll back and he groans, stumbling away from her. "What... what did you...?"
  "Go," she orders in a breathy voice. "Go, and find the kobolden campment. Find for me their secret treasure. Once you find out what it is, I will know. I will see what you see, feel what you feel. Make sure to give me a good show."
The adventurer claps his head, his mind swimming before himself. The sorceress's silhouette stands before him, though she flips from side to side and upside down until suddenly spiraling into nothingness.
He awakes with a start with the sounds of chirping birds and a babbling brook nearby. The adventurer rubs the back of his head and groans as the pounding headache comes to him. "Nnngh... w-where am I?"
"Just outside the caves where the kobolds live, my dear," a voice coos in his mind.
He jumps up to his feet, grabbing his rapier, and twirling around to face his foe. "Where are you? Show yourself!"
"Now, now, my dear bard," the sorceress's voice exclaims. "You have much more to worry about than that. In fact, I would find shelter soon, if I were you. The outside could be quite dangerous, especially now."
  He looks up to the sky, squinting slightly in the sunlight."There's not a cloud in the sky. What could possibly be of concern he-" 
He rears back with a hiss and stumbles, falling onto his rear. He rubs his eyes, trying to get the burning out. "By the gods!" he curses."What trickery is this?"
"Oh, it's already beginning," the voice chuckles. "I'll just sit back and watch, then. I hope you don't mind, pet."
"Enjoy what?" He snaps, and opens his eyes, though he can only do so half-way. The brightness of the sun is so remarkable that his eyes water. Before he can figure out what's wrong, a pain shoots up in his jaw, and he rubs at it. When he does, he finds it oddly rough, yet not at all unpleasant. He shakes his head and pushes himself up. Standing, he feels rather wobbly and sticks his hands out, waving his arms for balance, but falling over. His legs grow weak, and he stumbles like a toddler learning his first steps. He crawls over to the nearby stream and peers at the clear water. With a gasp, he sees his eyes, large and green with reptilian slits for irises. He reaches up, his finger already rough and nails pointed. He hooks that sharp thing at his cheek, pulling it back. He watches as each of his teeth sharpen. He gasps and flips onto his back. His toes, they tingle so... so strangely. He grabs one of his boots and yanks it off, only to see that his toes fused together into three larger talons. His new eyes widen,
  that his toes fused together into three larger talons. His new eyes widen, and he yanks his other foot free, which comes out without any problems, though the scaly, three-toed thing disappears into his pants. He whines, his voice higher in pitch, sounding alien. Hair falls from his head and he grabs at his scalp, feeling bony protrusions erupt into small, dainty frills. He shakes his head, shuddering. The sensation...it's... it's so strange, so, so magical! He has to roll up his sleeves now just to see his arms and sees his light blue claws now poking out where his hands had once been. With a sudden sting, he yelps and clasps his butt. Rolling around, he sticks it up in the air, squeezing his eyes shut once more, a low moan escaping his higher-pitched voice. From the folds of the now-too-large pants and shirt, something pokes out just above his widened hips. He looks over his shoulder, panting, eyes half-lidded as he sees the tail emerge, shining in the sun in its newfound glory. It flicks back and forth, not on its own accord, but as if he had it his entire life. His snout, curls up in a smile as he sees it and he reaches back, stroking at the new appendage. When his palm touches the tail, he shudders, feeling a very pleasant situation. If he isn't careful, he might get aroused! That's when he realizes something. He frowns and then burrows into the pile of cloth that was once his clothing, the sun poking through with enough light for the new little creature to see himself, or make that herself. Blue scales, a small snout, frills and horns on his head, along, sensuous tail, wide hips, and a moist, puffy slit between her legs... she has transformed, wholly from Alex the human bard, to a petite, cute, and female kobold! The tranquil sounds of the forest cease as the loud, squealing scream of a terrified kobold fills the air. For truly, there is no terror for a man than losing his manhood... that is, as far as he knows!
In her tower, the sorceress watches his plight, a sly smile upon her face, her fingers stroking slowly along her thigh in anticipation..."This is going to be good."
The world is enormous to a tiny little kobold girl. The trees rise up to gargantuan heights as silent giants that witnessed Alex's stunning transformation. The former bard had grabbed his old traveler's tunic and put it over his frilled head. As he pulls it over himself, a horn snags on the collar. He tugs in frustration, a loud rip filling the forest air. He pops his head through, his scaled fingers running along his back to feel the damage. A long, jagged tear goes down from the back of his collar down the top a few inches. 
Just great.
He looks down at himself, the short sleeves of his shirt now go down the length of his arms, ending in enormous bells. The tunic itself drops down to his knees, those strange, bent things now. He grabs his belt and wraps the thing tightly around his waist. His new waist is so tiny that his belt had no place to fasten. Begrudgingly, he loops the belt into the buckle, but leaves it unfastened. There should be no need to refit the thing. He doesn't plan to stay in this female form forever.
  The march begins. He needs to find the kobold lair and find for the sorceress the kobold's secret treasure. He ponders what that could be when he steps out into the sunlight. The brightness hits his new kobold eyes like a spell from a leaping wizard. He hisses and stumbles back, only to trip over something. His new scaled body feels things differently, but the feeling of rope on his heel is unmistakable. He falls, hitting the grass, and falling through the facade. The bard tumbles and crashes, down, down, down, until all is black.
When he finally awakens, his head pounds. Groaning, he gropes around, grabbing a claw full of the of a furry substance. He blinks, his eyes adjusting to the dark with alarming speed. Around him, he sees clawed feet. He gasps, but the squeaky feminine voice that emerges is still alien to him. He hops to his knees and sees just what stands before him. The kobold male is large, his scaled body rippling with muscles. His arms are upon his hips as he looks down to Alex, his only clothing a stitch of cloth draped between his legs. His snout curls into a a crooked smile as his yellow eyes glow in the darkness of the cave.
  "Nice to see you awake," he growls.
"W... who are you?" the bard squeaks. "W... where am I?"
"Name's Krick," he says, taking a step up toward him. "And you are in the breeding chamber, my dear.”
"The bard gulps, his tiny female kobold body quivering as he crawls back on the bed of moss. "B... breeding chamber? There has to be a mistake!"
"No mistake," the male says, stepping up to him, his tail swishing back and forth. "The dark lady sent her regards."
"Dark l... The sorceress!? I-" But as he spoke, a lump filled in his throat. He croaks, unable to say anymore. 
Immediately, a voice fills his mind. The sorceress's taunting laugh echoing, as if everywhere. "Tut, tut, tut. Can't have you spoiling your mission. Yes, you're still on it. You're just going, heh, deep undercover."
The voice departs him, and Alex blinks, returning to the present. Before him, Krick unties his loincloth, the thing falling to his ankles. Alex's eyes widen as the kobold stands before him completely unadorned with a pink, glistening dick rising to attention through a slit in his scales. The thing quivers as it is exposed, slick with moisture, the tapered point pointed straight toward Alex. 
  The bard squeaks and crawls back, but Krick is quick, grabbing the kobold's belt and yanking it, letting the thing clatter to the floor. The male is on top of the transformed kobold, claws grabbing at his traveler's tunic and tearing it away, exposing the soft blue scales underneath. Any pretense of being a man is gone as the blue kobold lays before Krick, her smaller frame and wider hips the perfect size for a breeder. 
Her snout trembles as she looks up to him, but for some reason,she cannot fight back, as if something in the back of her mind, moving closer to the front, is telling her that this is how things should be.
"There you are, my dear," Krick says, his voice less commanding, more demanding, more alluring. He leans in, opening his jagged-toothed maw and rolling out a reptilian tongue. He runs it along the scales on her neck. 
She shudders, a soft squeak emerging from her throat. Why does this not bother her as much as it should? Sure, there's a voice in her head, screaming to fight back, to move away, but as the kobold licks over her scales, she cannot help but feel that this is somehow right. Her toes twitch and her heels brush over the mossy floor, spreading in subservience and need. A breeder, is she? That's what she would be and that's what she has to be. And if this kobold continued to be so nice to her, perhaps life as one wouldn't be a problem.
  "Good..." Krick hissed as he pulled his tongue in, depriving her of the tantalizing touch. "I think you're good and ready for your first breeding. You'll make a fine mother, and the tribe will be your child's father."
"The... tribe?" she asks, half-aware.
He places two fingers in his maw and whistles, sending the signal through the walls of the tunnels. Soon, more sets of yellow eyes emerge from the darkness, and all around the two nude kobolds stand more males, each of them dressed in loincloths, each of them breathing heavily, licking their lips.
"Mother of the child of the tribe," Krick muses. "That's what we'll call you... Daskdi."
Alex was once a proud adventurer. He was a bardic genius who traveled the land, telling great tales at inns and creating great ones of his own as he vanquished tyrants, slain beasts, and captured the hearts of fair maids and aspiring heroes. Those days flash before the eyes of the kobold maiden that lays on her back on the heap of moss at the bottom of the cave. Daskdi is the name that the kobolds all around her know her by, for she is claimed to be the mother of the tribe's children. Daskdi's eyes widen as kobold after kobold steps into her limited view of the dark world, each of them dressed in threadbare and easily removed clothing. Their leader, the strong and masculine Krick, had already done the honors of removing his cloth, showing off the draconic cock that would make even great wyrms nod in respect to his genetics.
From their red scales, Daskdi knows who they are. This kobold nation, the Dragonblood tribe, prides itself in its tribal unity and its heritage. Perhaps, she can use this to her advantage. She squeaks, her voice higher pitched and less audible than she would hope, and says. "You surely do not want me as the mother of the tribe's children. After all, I am not of your glorious bloodline, oh great Dragonbloods!"
  The kobolds around her snicker at that protest. Krick smiles so wide that Daskdi can count every last one of his sharp and, surprisingly clean, teeth. "You really are a kobold from far away, aren't you? Didn't you know that we've been breeding only the best kobolds, and the one who gifted you to us assures your stock is quite magical, indeed! You are a spellcaster, are you not?"
Daskdi gulps at this and nods in assent. "That's true, but my skill is from study and talent, not from any magical bloodline I have. Surely you won't get any magic from siring a child through me."
The snickering only increases as she gulps once more, her frills seeming to droop as her despair only increases. "Sorry, lovely," Krick says, "But the sorceress assured us that you would lie about that to try and get out of your duty. She said you were quite skilled with your tongue. Well, these boys see past your tricks and are ready, are you?"
Her eyes latch on to the hardened member that stands at attention before her and gulps. Sheepishly, she squeaks a quick. "I've never done this before."
  "You'll be a quick learner," he says, stepping up to her with his legs on either side of her. He presses the tip of his kobold cock to the edge of her maw, making her kiss the thing involuntarily. Though, after feeling the flesh upon her mouth, Daskdi immediately opens her maw, much to her surprise.
Krick gives her no time to even think about why she would open up so quickly and shoves his length inside. She grunts, feeling his dick press against the roof of her mouth. She slides and adjusts herself so he doesn't shove his dick down her throat, her tongue lashing over the length,thinking back to the barmaids Alex had picked up in another life. She closes her eyes, her hand reaching out to stroke at the back of his length to coax him to finishing up, so that she may move on from this embarrassment.
As she works on his length, a strong hand grabs her tail. She gasps and looks over her shoulder, only to see as a second Dragonblood lifts up the appendage, his own cloth removed, and his smaller, spiky cock ready to push in. He chitters in joy, lewdly holding a finger up and licking over it before he brings it down along her scales and presses the slick digit to her tail hole.
  Daskdi's mouth opens wide at that and she groans, but not for long, as Krick's dick pushes itself deep into her maw. Her eyes roll back and she shudders, standing on her tip-toes now as she is spit-roasted by the two kobold men.
A third, smaller, male slithers underneath his leader and the kobold girl, chuckling as he holds his length straight up, aiming at her as he barks to his fellows to "drop her in. I want first dibs!" The two comply, getting down onto their knees in coordinated
The two comply, getting down onto their knees in coordinated actions. Her newly formed kobold hips spread for the third participant. She never even saw his face, and yet his warm pointed kobold cock slides into her. She feels the pressure as it pushes against her resistance, and gasps, her eyes widening as she feels it break through it.
"Hey, waitaminute!" The kobold snaps, reaching down between her legs and pulling fingers over her sensitive flesh. When he brings his hands up to his face, his fingers glisten with blood. "She was tellin' the truth about not laying no eggs before!
  The other two kobolds stop immediately and pull out from her, letting her fall to her hands and knees and pant. "What kind of joke is this?" The second kobold snaps. "I thought we were supposed to get a real mother type! Look at her. She doesn't look like she's before egg-age, but she's got her womb-shield still!"
Daskdi rubs her throat and slithers free, crawling on her belly as the three kobolds bicker and argue about it. "Where did this so-called 'breeder' even come from?"
"Can't we just keep her to use for some fun?"
"If she can't breed, she doesn't deserve any of the tribe's resources!"
Daskdi crawls away, going further and further to the darkness, before suddenly she stops as a figure appears before her. Standing in the cave is the voluptuous form of the very sorceress who cursed her to begin with. "My, my, little one. I think you need more motivation to play your part. If it's an egg-layer they want..." she coos, kneeling down in front of the kobold. "It's one they shall get!" With that, she presses two fingers to the kobold's forehead, and Daskdi yelps as a shock of electricity courses through her. Her groans are so loud that the kobolds all turn around to see her, their eyes all widening at the sight.
Daskdi lays upon the ground upon her back, legs spread out and her heels pressed into the earth. She supports herself on her hands and elbows, and reclines back, her mouth agape and eyes widening as her body seemed to present itself on autopilot. The other kobolds gather around her, each of them murmuring to themselves as they look upon her with questioning looks. Daskdi blinks and forces out a "W... what are you looking at...?" which comes off much weaker than she would have hoped.
Soon, though, Krick steps up and kneels down before her, scooping something up from between her legs. Daskdi pushes herself up, trying to see just what the Dragonblood carries, and she scoots back with a gasp at the sight.
There, in the hands of the leader of the breeders, is a small egg, slick with blood and other fluids. Daskdi shakes her head, not sure how to comprehend the thing just appearing there.
"A simple enchantment, dear," comes the dulcet voice of the sorceress. Her warm breath brushes over the kobold's ear. It is as if she really is here. 
  Daskdi blinks and flips over once more, only to see the sorceress standing before her. "You... you're really here? How? What's going on!?"
"These kobolds proceeded a bit faster than I anticipated, and they're much more observant than I thought. Don't worry, a modified memory will allow you to integrate with them much bet6ater..." With that, the image of the sorceress disappears before Daskdi could understand what she meant.
"This is surely a sign," Krick said. "That she is not an infertile creature!" A growl rises up in his voice as he steps back. "My brethren, continue as you were, and make her carry an egg of our own and not of some other tribe."
The wall of other kobold males envelope around Krick, leaving Daskdi alone amidst a sea of hungry, pulsating cocks. Soon, the kobolds fall upon her and she cries to the heavens, but only the lustful sounds of the male kobolds rise from the pile of scales and thrusting. They cared not for actually impregnating her as opposed to filling their own lusts, for the males pushed up against her from all directions. Draconic tips prod her cheeks as others slide against her thighs, fighting among themselves for the rights to take her. The writhing kobold bodies even crawl up under her, as hands and claws clung to her scales and held her up for the others to find. Soon, the males grab onto her thighs, spreading them apart, and giving them full access to her sex.
  She thrashes around, trying desperately to fight against the kobolds and their lust. Soon, the two lengths that tried to enter her smashup against each other, pushing past her lips. Unable to hold back a cry, she opens her mouth in a shocked expression as the twin cocks push up into her still-fresh sex. Sensing new means of egress, two more kobolds slide into her mouth, filling her up with the musky poles that eagerly battled among each other in the arena of her tongue.
With at least four phalluses in her body, Daskdi is completely under the sway of the men who would use her body as a breeding machine. She gropes for some means to escape, but soon finds that her fingers wraparound more needing lengths. As if on instinct, she rubs the tapered tips along her palms, feeling their male milk slick over her fingers. The sensation of being so wanted, of being able to get these creatures to bring all their attention to her, there is something oddly hypnotic about it. It is much simpler to dive away from the weight of multiple males upon her, to disappear from this cave, and to drift away into a world of complacency and peace. As Daskdi imagines herself sinking down into the recesses of her mind, she sees not herself, but a kobold floating in the void. But wait... she is a kobold!
  NO... no, she isn't. She's not a kobold, she's not even she! Alex cannot fall to complacency. He has to fight back. He may not have his dick,but he certainly has the body of a kobold for the time being!
Snapping out of her stupor, Daskdi opens her mouth wide, saliva dripping from her mouth as she primes her pointed kobold teeth for the ultimate act of revenge. The resulting confusion would allow her to use her skills to escape this pile and scurry out to the upper lands with little problem All she had to do was chomp down and--
Her planning comes to a halt when thick globs of goo shoot from the mouth-fucking kobolds and trail down her throat. She coughs, gagging on the jizz and thrashing wildly in surprise. Meanwhile, she realizes the immense raw pounding of a single kobold inside her, her lower lips burning as if chapped from overuse, but how could that be? AS she lays on the cold floor,she ponders where the second cock went, when she realizes that there is no one left under her. Her hands wobble and waver as she tries to crawl away, but a strong hand pushes her down. "Oh no, you don't," growls Krick. "You let everyone else have you. I need my turn, now."
  Her whole body aches. Her arms and legs are sore trying to kick and pull away. Her stomach is lined with slight scratches, and the stink of spunk cakes her scales. Defeated, she collapses to the ground, feeling the sloshing of seed inside her belly. When she had given in, she had lost herself for a greater time than she realized, and saved herself from a world of pain. With a groan, the female slowly nods and lets out a soft "continue... please..." before she falls back into her oblivion.
I have been through many adventures in my time outside of the Dragon's Heir tribe. I have made friends, discovered arcane secrets, and conquered enemies along the way. What I did not ever expect to happen when I returned home, however, was to be confronted with the old truths that tie together both my past and my current misfortune. To discover that this very book I write in was hand-picked for me by those who would not know I would even be born is a fundamental disconnect of what I believed to be my destiny.
As I have yet to master the words to speak these truths in the common tongue, I have taken it upon a storyteller to write down this and many of my other revelations into a story that would be better read, but the context I shall provide here and now.
I had begun my journey, only thinking that I would be learning the mating rituals of other beings. Little did I know just how much I would enjoy the close bonds that passion provides between myself and my partners. I would also find out the hold it has to those addicted to its charms or those harmed by the addictions of others. It, like magic, is a powerful tool that must be harnessed, and this lesson is one that I had to learn for myself.
 
Upon my return to the tribe, I confronted the people with some of the knowledge I had gained. The truths I had gathered about the origins of the Dragon's Heir and the knowledge of sex for the pleasure of it had me question the my Queen's authority. 
I must confess, though, that the previous chapters of this journal have been lacking in the details about my home and my relationships there. When I first started writing, I was but an excited adventurer, not a truly studied mage. I hope that in these next few volumes, I shall remedy that problem so that future eroarcanists may know the full context and understand the truth of the ways of my people. But to understand that myself, I had to go find out the truth myself.
When our beloved Queen gave me leave to share my knowledge with the planners and designers of the tribe, I took the opportunity afforded by both her and the skills I had developed to gather as much information that I could. What follows is an account of the generation before my own and some secrets have discovered from sources of which I have but the scantest of understandings. If future scholars should read this work, let it be known that I bare no ill will towards my elders or forebears. A wizard's greatest strength is the disconnect that she has to things outside her control. For, it is through understanding something that we may gain that control, and I fear that there is much I still do not understand. Such blanks in knowledge can, and has, led me to ruin. I must be careful. That is why I keep my next update for when I confirm for myself. I go now, to ask the toughest question.
 
-Tik Tik Dragonsheir
Eroarcanist
The caller runs through the tunnels of the warrens, proclaiming the good news throughout the land. "Victory for the Dragon's Heir Tribe! Glory to the tribe's warriors! The Dragonbloods have fallen by the might of our ferocious kobold might!"
Kobold after kobold poke out their heads from their chambers as the runner spreads the news, culminating in his arrival to the royal chambers. Standing at the curtain before the audience chamber, the runner proclaims, "our ancient enemies tremble before our mighty warriors, and their survivors pledge fealty to you, oh great king of the kobolds!"
A booming voice erupts from beyond the veil, shaking the stones beneath the runner's feet. "Bring the survivors and our champions to the grand meeting hall. Let us see if they are loyal, or if they only fear for their lives."
The runner dashes back, past the halls of murmuring kobolds, up towards the upper chambers where the warriors will return.
Crouched in a corner, tinkering with a squeaky hinge, is a trapmaker kobold who watches the runner with awe and jealousy. To be so close to the warriors and to see new lands, there must be no greater honor and skill than that for a runt.
 
Of course, there is more honor to be had with the returning heroes--young kobolds who just made their way to maturity and trained all their lives for combat and conquest. Their armor shines with precious metals and their weapons are honed to a sharper bite than even the most pointed of teeth. Dented and damaged, their enemies must have been strong, indeed. Despite the missing tails and the bleeding eyes, the warriors do not limp. They do not complain. They only bark and bellow the song of their victory as they march their way down the tunnels of their home.
At their front is a shining example of their kind, Kurkkledurk. Though his scales are dyed crimson by the blood of his enemies, he leads the procession and bellows the loudest.
The train of the victorious is followed by the line of the defeated. Kobolds, all of them, but the trapmaker knows they are not of the Dragon's Heir. He growls and barks as weak kobolds are brought in, possibly to beg for mercy. But there is one among them, a breeder by her look, whose head is held high, despite her lowly position as a captured female. Her stomach swells, showing the signs of being with egg. No doubt if she is allowed to live, the child will be considered a Dragon's Heir and prime breeding age in the trapmaker's early adult years. The idea makes hm shudder, and he returns to his work, for an idea forms in his young mind at that moment.
 
"Tikit!" an angry voice growls. "Stop gawking at the procession and make sure that door trap is still workin'!"
"Yes, Master!" the little kobold pup says, and he hurriedly gets back to work, deciding that he would rather not face the trapmaster's ire this day.
The procession arrives at the grand chamber, where Kurkkledurk yanks on the chains of his captives, bending them down to a forced knee before the veiled presentation of their king. "When you see those curtains," he says, pointing to the draped entryway beyond them. "Know that you are in the presence of our king! No one is to see him, for if they do, surely, they will face death itself!"
A blast of air escapes from the curtains, fluttering the veil apart. The warriors of the Dragon's Heir bend their heads in reverence to their sovereign, but the captives stare in awe at the display.
The voice of the booming kobold king fills the halls. "Dragonbloods!" The king says, "you have the audacity to claim communion with the divine through your bloodline, when it is us, The Dragon's Heirs, who have that birthright. As king of kobold-kind, I ask this simple question of you. By what right shall I spare your lives? What law have I forgotten that says I cannot strike you down right here and now?"
 
The defeated tribe falls to its hands, kowtowing to the shroud, all of them, besides the breeder. She stands up, holding her head high. 
Kurkkledurk steps in, snarling with his blood-drenched teeth on full display. "You dare disrespect our king!?"
"I dare." She replies. "I am not originally of the Dragonblood, nor am I familiar with the Dragon's Heir, but what I do know is that I have been taken from my life and made a slave for many years, and bore many children. There is one more within me, and I ask that you allow this egg to survive, no matter what else you do, for it is not fully of the Dragonblood tribe."
"A bold request, breeder," the warrior says, grasping his hand upon the hilt of his weapon. "One that is worthy of removal of your tongue."
"Go ahead," she says. "I've left behind my silver tongue years ago. I have no need for this one, either."
Kurkkledurk grabs her by the shoulder and pulls out his blade, only for the king to shout. "Hold!"
"Sire...?"
"This one has a strong heart, unlike those cowards of the Dragonblood. Perhaps, they have stumbled upon a good, strong breed there on accident. Yes, we shall protect your egg once you lay it. But after that, you will come in to my chambers."
 
Kurkkledurk's demeanor changes, his eyes shaking, his grasp tightening on the sword. "Your... your highness?"
"My word is law," the king bellows. "Now, then, breeder of the Dragonblood. Tell me your name so that we may bestow upon your progeny a title that is worthy of your legacy."
She steps forward, past Kurkkledurk, and says. "My name is-" she stops, as if the word is caught in her throat. She chuckles. "Sorry, my liege. I was just remembering my old life. For years, the kobolds of the Dragonblood have called me one name, and that is the name that shall continue my legacy."
The Dragon's Heir takes great pride in their breeders. To be able to take the seed from many of the tribe's greatest males and provide new workers and warriors is an honor that many female kobolds hope to have, yet only a small percent can ever make it to the level.
Dee is one such kobold, watching with awe at the large, steam-clouded room where the grunts of rutting breeders and sires fill the halls with their almost religious duty. Though, if any god is behind the ritual, no one among the tribe truly knows. The Grand Matron, a wizened kobold, and potentially mother or grandmother to many of the breeders, steps up behind the light blue kobold, holding out her walking stick. "Something bothers Dee?" she asks, her nearly blind eyes seeming to peer right into her soul.
 
Dee stands prepared for the ritual, lines painted over her body to denote her important task. Her fingers grip at the tiny cloth covering her loins. "There... there are so many..." she says. "I.. How can I handle them?"
The Grand Matron chuckles, patting her on the shoulder. "There are many challenges we kobolds face, but you were chosen because we know you can give us eggs. To survive the trials of breeding is to be a dedicated egg-layer. I, too, was nervous my first day, you know..."
Dee's eyes widen. "How did you get over it, Grand Matron?"
The elder whispers to her a quick maxim before slapping her on the back, knocking her off of their elevated position into the mossy bed of the moist cavern.
A slender kobold lays on her side, eyeing Dee as she lays there on the moss, her face planted into the plant. The female brings a clump of moss to her mouth and sucks the moisture from it, still gazing as the newcomer yanks her face out and gasps.
"Newcomer, eh? Name's Takaka. What did the Grand Fuddy Duddy have to say to you?"
 
Dee glances around. The shrouded forms of breeders fill her vision.
"Hey, I asked a question," Takaka says, tossing her moss clump at the kobold.
Dee yelps and wipes it off, finally noticing the other kobold. "Are... are you a breeder?"
"No, I'm the queen," she says, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, right... well. She told me to 'have fun."
Takaka barks. "Well, depending on your mindset, you'll either find plenty of it, or none at all." 
"What are you doing?" Dee replies, trying to distract herself from that statement.
"I'm takin' a break. Thinking I might have an egg coming along by the end of the day, so they let me off easy. Can't really say that's appreciated by Kurkkledurk, though."
"Kurkleduuur!?" Dee yelps, as something grabs her tail, lifting her up in the air. She falls over, gripping the moss and looking over her shoulder, her jaw dropping at the sight of the old war veteran, an impressively large kobold with some scales missing or scarred and a gash over his eye. "Kurkkledurk!? You... you're-!?"
"The one and only!" he says. "Now, let's breed the tribe some more warriors to carry on my legacy!" With that, he reaches forward, grabbing the cloth and tearing it off of her. She gasps and covers her mouth, not wanting to sound unappreciative, but the size of that spear of his is like a weapon more than a tool! The cock slides deep into her slit, spreading her out, filling her in such a way that her body was designed for, trained for. With the force of his thrust, he pushes her forward, his hands moving up and pushing her shoulders down, grinding her face against the moss, leaving her to look up to the other kobold laying there. "Havin' fun yet?" Takaka says, leaning on her elbows, her feet kicked up in the air as she smiles a smug smile. Dee grits her teeth and grips the ground, pushing herself up against his thrusts, staring the other kobold in the eyes. Even though each push into her spreads her apart wider. "I... got picked!" she hisses, "by the greatest warrior... as my first...!" she says, chuckling through her teeth. "Of course I fuckin' love it!"  
"That's the spirit!" Takaka barks, patting the new breeder on the head. "Keep it up, and you could be Grand Matron one day!
Kurkledurk puffs as he reaches around Dee, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her up against his strong, muscled body. He bounces her over and over again on his rod, her legs spread out, a mix of the force and her willingness to show how she can take this trunk battering into her slit over and over again. She moves her hands up along is head, gripping onto his horns, making sure she could never, ever let go of him.
With a hiss, the warrior lets out his seed, shooting it deep up into the kobold's sacred center. Even after he finishes and falls back, exhausted, she continues bouncing on him, curling her toes into the moss, holding onto her knees with her hands, and letting her tail slap against his chest.
Takaka smirks, sitting up for a better view, and the other kobolds stop their own breeding to see how this nervous newcomer excels at her trial, a ready breeder far more eager than any other in recent history.
 
And the two provide them a show. Over and over again, the breeder milks the warrior for his seed, letting him take her over and over again until he drops the breeder and stomps on off to recharge for his next conquest.
Dee grips onto the moss and pushes herself up, sitting on her knees. She runs a hand over her frill and shakes her head, smirking towards the other breeder. "Ha... how's that, 'your highness'?
Takaka claps her hands and stands up. "Very good. We need breeders like you to make sure our tribe continues. Now, if you excuse me, I must be off." Takaka places her finger and thumb into her mouth and blows a loud whistle. At her beckoning, two males approach her and lace their fingers together, creating a hammock for the kobold. Takaka falls back into their grip, holding onto their shoulders for support. "Enjoy the rest of your first day, Dee. I'd love to hear more about it tonight, perhaps in my dining hall?"
Dee's jaw drops and her legs wobble from a mix of her rough ride and the truth that had been dropped on her. "You're... you're the queen!?" she asks.
 
Takaka rolls her eyes once again. "What? Didn't believe me? I gotta work on not sounding so sarcastic. But that face of yours... it's totally worth it. Oh hey," she says, nodding over towards a corner. Looks like there's someone over there that could use your attention.
A thin male leans at the corner, his arms folded across his chest. When the two females look over toward him, he turns away, coughing.
"That's Tikit, the trapmaster," Takaka says. "They got great brains and keep our people safe. But they lack the drive to take our better breeders. Why don't you do us all a service and give him a place to send his bloodline down the line, hm?"
"What about Kurkledurk?" Dee asks
"Well, if his progeny is meant to grow within you, then it will, but breeders don't always get fertile eggs on the first try... Or the second or even third."
"Right..." Dee says. "Fine. Uh, have a great day, my queen."
"Please, just call me 'Takaka'. We're all just breeders down here." She snaps her fingers and points, and the two carriers lift her up and stomp on past the moss bed of the breeding grounds, until she disappears into the mist.
 
Left to her own, Dee pushes herself up and dusts some of the moss off of her knees before sauntering over towards the lone kobold.
Tikit glances back to her, blinks, looks around, and then stands up from the wall, one hand pressed against the stone, the other on his hip as he crosses one leg over the other. "How you doing?" he asks, making his voice unnaturally deep.
Dee giggles and grabs his wrist on his hip, and pulls him close to her. "I'm doing just fine," she says in a husky voice. "How are you?"
"T... this is m-my first time! Tikit blurts, then curses under his breath. "Damn it all. I sound like some stupid hatchling. And, I'm older than you are, I'm sure!"
Dee pulls her body up against the male, pressing him against the wall. "That's fine. I'm sure you were just too busy to come down here before today. Her hand slides down along his body, scratching at the scales of his naked chest and underbelly. "How can it be your first time, when you have such a mature, rugged look."
"M... mature!?" Tikit barks. "I was hatched maybe two years before you!"
 
"Is that so?" she asks.
"Yes!" he nods, his hands moving to her shoulders now and rolling her over, pinning her to the wall.
Dee spreads her legs for him once she feels his length emerging from between his legs, poking at her stomach.
"That's right," He says, a growl in the back of his throat. He leans in and whispers to her. "In fact, I was there when they brought the Dragonblood out of their home through conquest. I saw your mother and I said to myself that I must know what happens to her egg. I have to see if that kobold would ruin our tribe."
Dee's heart beats faster as his hands move up along her body, up to her collar, her shoulders, her neck. "A... and what do you think of me, now?"
"I think..." he says "You're a wonderful vessel for my genius to continue on." With that, his hands move back to her shoulders, and he thrusts forward, his length penetrating inside her, slipping in through the lubed up slit.
She gasps and lifts her legs, wrapping them around the male. He grips hard onto her shoulders, pressing his forehead to hers. As he ruts into her body, he continues to whisper to her. "I have great pride in my tribe," he says. "But I could never, ever, breed with any of the others here. I knew that it had to be you. If you were going to follow the profession of that breeder from the Dragonblood, then I knew I had to be the one to take you and make you lay many, many eggs."
 
Dee squeals and holds onto his back, her own claws sinking into his scales. "T... Tikit..." she breathes, her voice getting higher and higher with each of his thrusts. "I don't know... I... that's the most... the most romantic thing anyone has said to me!"
"I'm just getting started!" he says. "Whenever some stud comes along and plugs you up, I'll be there to fill you up nice and good until you're bursting with my material. How does that sound?"
"I just want to do my best!" the breeder says. "If that means taking you over and over again, then I'll happily do it!"
"G... Goood!" Tikit growls, throwing his head back as he unleashes into her, the combined male within her spilling out and onto the ground as her belly swells slightly with the increased amounts of cum inside her, her screams the purest form of excitement
Dee screams in the purest form of pain, clutching the hand of the Grand Matron. Takaka pats the breeder's head, petting her to keep her calm in her time of distress. Other breeders have already added their eggs to the communal nest, but with this being Dee's first time with a fertile egg, complications arose.
 
"Breathe, child," the Grand Matron speaks. "Our most enthusiastic breeder has to be able to lay eggs. You will be a great asset to our people."
"Don't worry about that, Dee," Takaka whispers. "I had trouble my first time, too. But your body is made for this. It's not going to be a problem. You'll be mother to some of our greatest-"
"Majesty," the Grand Matron says, narrowing her eyes at Takaka. "I would ask you not to make light of such a serious matter."
Dee puffs, feeling that pressure swell up inside of her before tears form in her eyes as she feels something stretch and slide. A few attendants help to hold her down as she screams into the cavern.
"Just a bit more," Takaka says, her eyes glancing with worry down to Dee's motherhood.
The Grand Matron shakes her head.
Dee doesn't notice as she pants with relief. "T... the pain... it's... it's better now. It... it tickles," she sighs, collapsing into unconsciousness. Her motherhood is damaged and bloody, but down on the moss lays a small, lumpy egg with a gentle crack upon its side.The Grand Matron turns to one of the attendants and says, "Dispose of this tiny, damaged thing."
 
"No," Takaka says, standing tall. "As your queen, I demand that you let this one live," she says, casting a desperate eye over toward the resting Dee. "Her life as a breeder is over. Let it not be in vain."
The Grand Matron straightens up her hunched back, her own hazy eyes staring straight at Takaka. "You may lead our people, but I ensure their survival. You have no sway over me. This will only bring trouble and weakness to our cause." She grips onto her pole with a tight hand and raises it high over her head. "This must be done!"
Takaka throws herself in the way just as the Grand Matron swings, the blow striking her on the head. The other matrons gasp at the violence, and the elder kobold casts a grim frown upon the scene, lifting her staff to see the blood that drips from it. "Fine, that egg will live, for now. But, it is not to be treated as anything other than any ordinary egg. Take our queen to her people," She growls, turning and hobbling off into the darkness. "Let the healers have her.
The other matrons cast doubting eyes at each other, but scoop up Takaka, dragging her off away from the scene.
 
Dee awakens, only to watch the tail end of the kobolds getting rid of the limp form, too weak to move after her harrowing laying. She croaks from the back of her throat, her fingers twitching, seeking her companion, only to slump back, her energy completely depleted.
Dee lays on the bedding in her chamber, her lower body covered with furs, though her legs do not feel cold. She spends her time staring up at the ceiling, while her ears pick up the distant sounds of the breeders performing their duty for the tribe. She scratches at the stones beneath her bed, her tail hanging limply off to the side.
"There's nothing more we can do," the healer says. "Our potions can only do so much." He turned around and speaks, in whispers, to his colleague. "I'm surprised that you were even allowed to be a breeder. Those hips of hers are much too small."
"It was a royal mandate," he says to the healer." Her mother proved herself to the old king before she was born."
"Wait, is she royalty?"
"No, no, nothing like that. She's the only child of the Dragonbloods to be brought here. Her mother was holding her egg when we attacked."
"Special treatment for the Dragonblood, eh?" the healer says, shaking his head. "I should have known."
"I'm right here," Dee speaks up in a croak. "If there's anything else you want to say behind my back, you should pay attention and do it elsewhere."
The two look at each other and pick up their things, the healer turning back to her and saying. "Again, I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Dee says. "It's the old king's."
"You shouldn't speak traitorous things like that."'
"Didn't stop you."
"But I'm a Dragon's Heir."
"And so am I!" Dee snaps. "Now, get out of my room!" Her finger catches a pebble as she scratches, and she scoops it up, chucking it to the side until it crashes into the wall by the healer's face. He yelps and runs out to join with his assistant.
 
Another kobold steps into the room, but Dee turn her head to look away. "And what do you want?" she asks. "To gloat over how you can move, or to berate me for my heritage. I'm the only kobold here whose parentage seems to matter. I just wish my mother would have smashed my egg so I wouldn't have this life."
"Then, you wouldn't have had all of the fun times together," Tikit says.
She turns her head, dumbfounded by his appearance. "Ti... Tikit. What are you doing here? You should be in the breeding grounds."
"Perhaps," he says, stepping up to her with his hands behind his back. "But then again, I plan on having plenty of years to spread my brains around to the next generation. You, on the other hand, need to have something else to do."
"There's nothing for me, now," Dee says, gripping the blanket. "They put this over me not because I'm cold. I can't feel the warmth anymore down there."
"May I see?" he asks.
She winces. "It would not do for you to see the breeder you once so admired so low."
He grips the blanket and yanks it away from her. She grasps for it, but it is too late--he already sees the damage.
 
Growling, he tosses the blanket aside and gets down onto his knees. "They butchered you."
"I told you not to look..."
"They are afraid of what you represent. They don't want our tribe 'ruined' by the Dragonblood that flows within you. Well, we'll show them!"
"What do you mean?"
Tikit produces a length of string. He holds it out to her, pressing it against her body and pulling it out down to the tip of her toe. "Yes, yes, that much. "Hm... a bit short in the tail, but you were always different than the others.
"Did I really feel that good compared to the others you've had?"
"Others?" he asks, blinking. "Dee, I saved all my energy for you. I made a promise, remember. That the egg you would bare would be mine. That's why I saved all I had just for you."
"Well... that promise can't be kept, now. I only remember bits of it, but that egg belongs to the queen... or it did."
"Let's not talk about her," he says, standing up. "I've made all the appropriate measurements, now. I should be going. I'll be back, but it might take awhile. I need to work on this in my spare time. The Trapmaster is getting old, so I must learn from him and pick up his slack." He turns around, but she grabs him by the tail.
 
"Wait."
He stops, looking over his shoulder,
"Come to me..." she says."
Tikit drops everything and immediately disrobes, climbing on top of her with his desire. He finds his way to her, but she grits her teeth as he enters. His tongue lashes at her throat, and she tilts it, trying not to cry out. When he goes inside her, the dullness that she feels is nothing, yet just above, her body burns. Though she cannot feel it, she knows he goes to her with all the passion he once had, and soon, when he groans out in his broken cries and rolls off of her, she can't help it but let out her own cry, her tear-filled shock of pan.
Tikit pushes himself up, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Dee?"
She claps his shoulder and looks to him, smiling. "One last time... for you, before I was totally worthless."
"So, you really can't produce anymore eggs," he says, rubbing his skull. "That's... I just... why did we?"
"You enjoyed it, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but... but that can't be right. It's a waste. It would have been as productive to shoot it off into a cave."
 
"Would it have been as enjoyable?" she asks.
He gulps, then pushes himself up. "I... I really should be going. I only have a little bit of time to work on my project for you."
"Thank you," she says, sighing and laying back, closing her eyes to drift off to sleep.
-- 
The outcast kobold squeaks past the long-abandoned corridor. Generations ago, the kobolds of the Dragon's Heir actually had use for these places as a land of devotion to a long-forgotten deity. The mechanism that allows her to scoot along the uneven ground without the use of her dead legs makes these dangerous roads a trifle. Even with this last effort of her favored partner, she was never truly welcome in the warrens ever again.
No healthy kobold would ever make the journey, but there is nothing for her up above. Tikit moved on to his position of trapmaster. They would never except him wasting his bloodline. Without Takaka in charge, no one would take her in or even pity her. There is only the down below, for she would never endure higher above in the lands of the burning fire and the endless sky. So, her life consists of her foraging, for she is far too weak to do anything else for herself.
While picking a particularly tasty-looking mushroom, Her sharp ears catch something strange. Sniffing the air, she realizes the danger--something alien: something from outside. 
She hooks her fingers around the spokes of her wheels, turning them with the utmost stealth as she approaches the sound, only to hear the frustrated ramblings of something in a language she never heard before. She pokes her head around the corner, only to hiss and withdraw as light, terrible light, burns her eyes.
The voice stops and the kobold curses herself, wheeling back as fast as she can, the speed of her escape much more important than the stealth now that she has been discovered.
Down the winding tunnel, she hastens her escape, panting as she pumps her arms with more force than she had ever needed. But no matter what she does, she can't escape the sound of some thing approaching her, chasing her down, hunting her.
Her seat isn't made for such fast travel. So, when her wheel hits a rock that she is too scared to notice, the seat pops into the air and topples, leaving her to spill out of it and roll along the ground, her useless legs sprawled limply as she lays on her back, groaning.
 
The bootsteps that had been chasing her slow down now, only for the wide, toned form to look down at her. Its face is smooth, with a large round nose and a strong jaw. On top of its smooth skin is long, straight fur, no, hair, that is braided like some kind of rope down over its back. It wears a strapped piece of clothing, wrapping around two mounds upon its underbelly. Large strong hands are covered in leather, fingerless gloves, showing off the decidedly un-clawed features. She knows exactly what it is, though Dee would have never thought she would run into a dwarf in these lands.
"What do we have here? A crippled kobold? All the way down in these tunnels? I never thought I'd live to see the day!" The dwarf says, grinning with flat white teeth underneath thick pink lips.
Dee hisses, though she knows full well that her current predicament is an inescapable one. The dwarf only laughs at her display and reaches down for the kobold's cart by her useless lower body. Dee closes her eyes, resigning herself to a terrible fate, only to open them again when the dwarf rights her on her seat and pats her on the head. "There we go, lass, good as new."
 
"Wait... you speak the dragon tongue?"
"Well, it only makes sense that I do," says the dwarf with a wink, "after all, I'm an heir to a dragon. Not the same dragon as you lot, mind you, but one all the same. Come on over to my tent, lass, and we can talk a bit about our similarities in the comforts of my abode."
The dwarf turns and heads back down the corridor, leaving Dee to sit there, alone, wondering what her next move should be. Whatever foulness the dwarf might have had in mind for her, could it be any worse than the uselessness she has right now? Resolving herself to her fate, she wheels her way over to the tent, seeing her gracious host holding the flap open to her.
Dee winces at the sight of the light, but the dwarf snaps her fingers, and the lamp extinguishes in a heartbeat. "Ah, there you go. Don't want you to be too uncomfortable. Don't see us doing very much reading together, anyway."
Dee wheels herself inside, finding the place to be furnished with more wood that she had ever seen in one place, with a bed, and a table, and even a chair. "You have such luxury down here..." she says. "These materials would make for great traps, but you spend them on comforts?"
 
"I've grown accustomed to the creature comforts," the dwarf responds. "Ah, but where are my manners? I invite a lass into my tent without introducing myself. You may call me Straiesha. I doubt that name has any meaning this far underground, though"
Dee shakes her head.
"Ah, good, good. Just as I hoped." The dwarf walks over towards her writing desk and closes a book she had placed on it. "So, judging by your looks, I'd say you were an outcast yourself. Finding yourself without a purpose, and cast out from your home when your singular purpose was suddenly no longer something you could do."
Hesitantly, Dee nods. 
"Complications from egg-laying, I'd take it?" she asks. "You don't have the body of a breeder, but your injuries look like poor surgical techniques, rather than the work of some accident."
Dee nods again. "It was what I was raised to be."
"Well, someone didn't like you very much, putting you in that position," Straiesha says, collapsing onto her bed. "But, It just so happens that I have the perfect solution to your problem. It requires you giving up a big part of yourself to do it. If it works, both of us will have a new lease on life, in a manner of speaking."
 
Dee wheels herself closer to the bed, tilting her head. "What could an outsider possibly do for me?" she asks. "I am broken, unwanted. My only... friends," she feels a shudder in her spine when she says that, "have moved on or died. I didn't even get to see her when she faded."
The dwarf only smiles when she hears that and holds out her hand. "It requires a lot of magic, and a little bit of sacrifice, but you, my friend, will have a second chance. They all will."
The two work together, the kobold helping the dwarf to gather up ingredients for the spell. Dee doesn't know just what the dwarf has planned, but she doesn't care. Any state of being would be better than what she has to deal with now. Her legacy is only the broken egg she laid, whose fate she shudders to think about after Takaka's demise.
Soon, all the materials are complete, and the dwarven woman sits upon her knees inside the circle she drew specifically for this spell. She looks to the kobold with a nod and says. "Once we go through with this, there will be no turning back. You and I will shed this life and all the pretenses that come along with it." She lifts up two bowls, muttering words of enchantment into them, and then hands one to the kobold. "May this magic help in some way for the future to have the life both of us were barred from having."
Dee nods and brings the drink up to her mouth, pouring the liquid down her throat. Meanwhile, Straiesha does the same, but as she does, her skin darkens, becoming black as midnight. Her lips changing to a more familiar snout, and her back sprouts two wings, large and at one point majestic, but torn and broken.
 
Dee coughs up a bit, spilling some of the drink. "You are a dragon!?" Dee asks, falling onto her hands and bowing her head. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
The dragon looks down to the kobold and her snout curls in a smile. "I told you I was heir to a dragon. Neither me nor my sister is fully dragon, but with this, I am closer than ever before to my forebears, and it is all thanks to you. Now... I sleep..." With that, the dragon falls back onto her bed, her essence disappearing into the ether.
Dee blinks, feeling a tingling moving up along her body, down from where she couldn't feel anything before. When she looks, she sees that she, too, will disappear forever. Though she may be broken, she will still be of some use, and she feels that now as her being disappears into the magic that she consumed. When she closes her eyes, she feels the peace wash over her, as if she returns to the solid care of her egg.
Up above, Takaka, Queen of the Kobolds, lays upon a bed made from the skins of deep-dwelling beasts. Ever since her injury, the Queen sleeps most of her day, tended physically by the healers of the tribe, but none can bring her back to full lucidity. Most of her time is spent within the realm of sleep. Mostly, it is a dreamless state, but something this day changes, and she gasps, her eyes fluttering open. She rubs her eyes and pushes herself up. Reaching her hand behind her horns, Takaka feels where the throbbing comes from, but flinches when she finds not the cracked skull, but a head that is fully healed.
 
"Surprised? I certainly was when I found out you were still alive."
"Dee...?"
The kobold stands before the queen, her scales marked with the breeder's paint, as she was when the two first met. "In a manner of speaking," she says. "I was broken, much like you," she says, sliding onto the bed, and sitting next to the Queen. "But, I have been given a greater purpose through the use of magic."
"What purpose is that?" Takaka asks.
Dee's fingers run up along Takaka's thigh, and the Queen gasps at the feeling of her touch. "W... what are you...?"
"Shhh...," Dee quiets her, a finger upon her snout. "This is the power of the magic," she whispers, leaning in, pressing her snout to her queen's.
Takaka's hands twitch, but she doesn't lift them, not to protest, and not to acquiesce. She just leans back, and sighs.
Dee presses her tongue against the queen's neck, gently licking up to her jaw and back toward her ear. With another whisper, she says. "A greater destiny lies ahead of both of us. But your trials are not yet over."
 
The Queen giggles, her fingers finding her bed, grasping the skins that make it up, lifting herself up as Dee's tongue slides back down and under her chin.
The breeder climbs on top of her partner, her lover, and wraps her arms around her, pressing fingers to her back and holding her in close. "Thank you for protecting my egg with your life. It is a gift I thought I could never repay.
"I just... wanted your life to... not be in vain," she responds in a breathy voice.
Dee's fingers trail down along Takaka's side, her teeth grazing over the scales of her shoulders. "It's more than that. Now, we'll be able to get justice."
Takaka's eyes flutter at the touches. They are unlike anything she had felt before. "What is this, Dee...? How can you be so good?"
"This is the future, Takaka," Dee says, "and I'm not the prodigy of a breeder that you used to know. I am something much more."
"W... wha...?"
Dee sits up as fingers brush over the queen's slit, making her squeak in a nervous strain, unused to the touch of a female. But as those fingers play there and even push past the threshold, making the queen gasp in her surprise and delight, Dee shows off her new self.
 
From her back emerge wings, great and scaled. Her blue body darkens until her scales become a deep midnight black. Her eyes flash with a crimson glow, and her mouth curls up into a wide grin.
The queen gasps and pushes herself up, but with one hand, Dee pushes her back down upon the bed. Her mouth opens and she presses their mouths together in a powerful kiss.
Somehow, the queen knows what she is doing, and she melts into it, her whole body filling with the warmth of the dragon's affection. When they break their kiss, Takaka asks. "Wh... what are you?"
Dee chuckles and licks Takaka's cheek and whispers to her. "I am all that's left, and I'm giving you my all. Your soul may be trapped within a broken mind--too useless to control your body. But your soul is still strong. Let us use that soul to create something new--something far greater than we could ever be, even in our prime."
Takaka nods to that, licking the fused spirit upon the cheek. "Yes," she whispers. "Let's do it..."
Outside, the healers look over their groaning queen, baffled by the sounds of passion that emerges from her. When her cries reach a fever pitch and her body rises up in climax, they all step back, waiting for her to collapse back upon the ground, panting, then falling back to full and complete sleep.
"That's it..." Dee says. "Our tribe wouldn't ever allow us to express our love for one another as we have today," Her dark form disappears, her original self hugs her lover close, snuggling up against her. "Our story is over," she says "before it even began. "But, we are going to give the next chapter something that they would never have otherwise--a chance to free themselves from the likes of the Grand Matron and any who might follow after her.
 
"How long has it been since the Queen has awoken?" asks the matron.
"Not since her strange spasms when she seemed like she... well..."
"When she reached a phantom euphoria, yes..." The matron says, stroking her chin. "The Grand Matron would have been quite surprised to have heard of that and even more surprised to see this. Even if she was still alive, I doubt we'd be able to make sense of this behavior."
Takaka's peaceful form remains on the bed, but she swells with the burden of an egg.
"She shows the sign. It'll be soon. Shall we prepare for the laying?"
"Of course," The matron says. "Our Queen is giving us a new gift, after all."
As the healers and the matron work on her, the Queen's body gives to them an egg of great magnificence. Its shine is like no other and its size much larger. Yet, as she lays it, she shows no exerton on her face. The serenity of it having the healers look to each other and to the matron in worry.
The matron stands tall and holds the egg up high. "In the absence of a Grand Matron," she says, "I declare this to be a grand egg--to be set apart from the others and to help usher our people into a new age!"
 
Later, The matrons of the tribe organize the eggs based on which will hatch soon. One of them tends to a nest, only to stop and see that two eggs set aside by the new Grand Matron stir to life much quicker than anticipated. She scoops them up and quickly makes her way to the hatching ceremony, knowing the bad omen that would befall these hatchlings should they come into the world outside of the Grand Matron's care. Such premature hatching can only mean two things: an omen, or a supreme danger...
The various matrons, as well as the leaders of each of the kobold guilds, gather around to watch the hatching ceremony commence. The newly elected Grand Matron stands in the middle of the hatching chamber, where she raises her hands up, reciting the ancient rites of their people. "For generations, the Dragon's Heir Tribe have had but one goal. We are to increase our numbers and spread throughout these tunnels, and to that end, all of our lives have been shaped. The diggers expand our warrens to fit in our booming population. Our guards protect the lives of their charges with tooth and claw. Our trapmakers keep the world of the outsiders clear of our home with their amazing creations. Our breeders produce the eggs that will bolster our numbers, and the matrons see that the hatchlings are brought into this life to go to their leaders when the time is right. Now, before us, the eggs are sorted by their shape, their size, their coloration, and their time of laying--all sure signs as to what their duties will entail once the hatchlings inside emerge, from the lowliest speckleds to the one lone grand egg, which shows the signs of hatching far sooner than any egg recorded in our history."
 
Tikit leans in next to Kakat of the miner's guild and whispers. "Notice how she doesn't mention the royal class."
Kakat chuckles, "Well, that's a sore subject, I'm sure. How often is a queen's reign ended by an old woman?"
"How often is it ended because she doubled up as a breeder?" Tikit says, disdain in his voice.
Kakat growls at him, saying, "I didn't see you complaining when you were plowing her!"
"Who cares what I wanted to stick my dick into! She was just bad at her job! Even before she became an invalid." Tikit snarls, standing up and clenching his fist. When she could have stopped them from-"
"Leaders, leaders, please!" The Grand Matron says. "Our queen's condition was the result of an accident, and our ways have rules for such occurrences. Let us not speak ill of our appointed leader, but look forward to the future, for, perhaps, our next queen or king could be born among these eggs today."
The matron tending to the premature eggs scampers into the room, calling out. "Grand Matron, Grand Matron! The eggs you set aside--they're ready to hatch!"
 
Tikit slowly sits back down, his attention turned toward this new development, as others murmur to each other about the two, particularly, the fractured thing that the matron holds.
"How magnificent. The gray one will fit well with the matrons' stock, I'd wager. Place it in the nest."
"And what of the queen's chosen egg?" the matron asks.
"It matters not. Just use your best judgment. Just so it isn't born without a caste."
"How about this one over here?" the matron says, walking off to the corner.
"There you go," the matron chirps, patting the egg. "Right next to this lonely one."
"Lonely one...?" the Grand Matron turns around, then shouts. "You idiot. Not next to the grand egg! Pick it up before it hatches!"
The poor rushing matron quickly reaches to scoop up the egg, only to stop when she sees the crack forming along the larger Grand Egg. "Oooh boy..." she says. "This one's hatching now."
The Grand Matron Hobbles on over toward her, but stops when a tiny face emerges from the shell, coated in the natal fluid, and crying in a proud roar. Pink scales show off sharp teeth, and when its eyes open, the bright blues scan along the room.
In response to the birth of this new kobold, all the other eggs begin to shake and stir, cracking open to reveal the hatchlings.
"Grand matron, what is this!?" One of the matrons cries out.
"It... it must be some omen," she says, staring dumbfounded. "I have never seen a simultaneous hatching before!"
 
Tikit snaps and pushes himself up. "How are we supposed to call on the new ones, if they all come out at once!"
Kakat pushes him aside and rushes past more of the kobolds. "I call that pink one. It's got a dig boss's presence!"
Waves of kobolds stumble over each other, looking to take for themselves the newly-born creature, but the Grand Matron raises her staff and shouts in a commanding voice. "No one shall stand in this sacred ground, or they shall face my staff!"
Everyone stops right on their tracks, Katat balancing on his toes as he threatens to trip right into the hatching grounds.
The kobold chick's hands reach up, breaking through the rest of the shell and spilling out, falling onto its stomach. The matrons all crowd around this one and gasp when it spreads its wings out, only for them to collapse upon its back once more.
"This one has the touch of a dragon," they whisper. 
The Grand Matron growls as she looks to the shattered egg, a sense of relief coming out of her as she sees it has not hatched. "Ah, so we don't have to worry about this wonderful specimen being nestmates with a stunted creature. Now, to determine her path in life..."
 
"Look, Grand Mistress. The egg moves!"
"What!?"
Sure enough, the little egg rolls back and forth, tumbling next to the little half-dragon. The winged kobold whines, crawling up beside the egg, watching it with eyes that strain to see.
The smaller egg breaks open, tiny pink kobold head pops out, squeaking with a much less impressive cry, but it tumbles on out from its fragile shell, bumping into the more impressive kobold, who falls onto her back, kicking and crying, their pink scales blending them together on the floor.
"Nest mates...! They are nest mates!" one of the matrons say, clapping her hands together.
"Yes... so they are..." the Grand Matron says, scooping up the half dragon. "So, it seems fate has entwined these two very different creatures. Let's see just how far luck will let them flourish. Though, I have great things in mind for you, magnificent one."
The matron who had carried the egg in scoops up the runt and walks on over towards the group of leaders, presenting her to them. None would take the tiny creature, but when the hatchling opens her eyes, those bright baby blues rest squarely upon Tikit.
 
Snorting, the male shakes his head. "Might as well be with me. I could use her to crawl into holes or something."
"Very well, Tikit. Then, you shall take this young one and raise her into the ways of the trapmaker. Apprentice of Tikit," she says, looking down to the little one, the little squirming hatchling, "You shall continue his legacy and his name. This is the beginning of your life adventure, Tik Tik."
How odd it is that only after a short time away from the trapmakers' chambers, it had felt as if it had a different lifetime. Master Tikit had disagreed with my leaving. He considered it a waste of resources, but I had been doing some research before I entered into his workshop, and I saw him now with new eyes.
He was busy, as always, tinkering with this or that, but his hands shook with the effects of age. I approached his workbench and offered my hand, tightening up a squeaky hinge for him. We worked that way in silence for long enough, as if time had never moved. The first things that came from my mouth was the compliments on the traps I had to bypass on my way here. Apparently, my old rival Quiquan had grown a bit better in her trapmaking with my absence. I suppose she had to step up her game if she was to survive in this deadly environment.
 
When we had sufficiently caught up on the workings of mechanics, I sat my aging master down and placed my hand upon his shoulder and I spoke to him, telling him everything that I had found out about the world, about myself, and about the previous owner of this book. I knew the information would overwhelm him, but I had not foreseen all the details he would add to the story. I made quick note of them, for I had little time to speak to him, as my next mission was to confront the queen with the secrets I had learned, for the fate of all of our kind, nay, the world, hung on the charade that was perpetrated here under the ground.
What I did not expect from my old master was for him to grab onto my hand and hold onto it for the time that he did. In that moment, I knew what he wanted to say to me, but knew that he was too ingrained in his ways to ever say it out loud, so I pressed my snout to his forehead and whispered to him a quick thanks. After all, my story would have never begun if it weren't for his actions, his passion, his donation.
 
It is one of my goals to change how our society works--to show them that there can be love and kindness and companionship between kobolds beyond the childish notion of the nestmate. It is perhaps because we cling so closely to our need to be adults that we shun the truth we as hatchlings and pups know all-too-well to be the natural state of things. A tribe is only as strong as its working parts, yet each part is an individual. They are a free-thinking, talented being that can be many things. Lover or friend, nestmate, sibling, or maybe, as my suspicions lead me to be, father and child.
-Tik Tik Tikitsdottir
-Heir to the Trapmaker's legacy.
Dragons are the most fascinating species to have ever graced this planet. I do not write these words simply because of my racial bias, nor because of the claim my people have in regards to kinship to these mighty wyrms. The truth of the matter is that out of all the myriad species capable of having pleasurable encounters in their mating rituals, dragons are, by far, the most prolific. With their magical abilities, they can take on the form of any creature they desire, and, for those of the draconic race who desire to consort with lesser mortals, their charisma is simply unavoidable.
The fecundity of dragonkind is legendary in its own right, to the point where the goddess of fertility herself takes on the form reminiscent of a dragon. So potent is their seed that they are able to breed almost true with any race they desire. Because of this, sorcerers with the power of dragons in their bloodline are especially common in the magical community, yet they are not the most coveted nor feared of draconic descendants.
 
The most potent of draconic progeny outside of their own true descendants are the half-dragons, beings who resemble the races of both of their parents. When a dragon decides to sire or birth a child with another creature, it brings into this world a powerful being unlike it or its mate, yet to not call this creature a dragon would be a disservice to their power and majesty.
I have thus far only seen one creature that could be considered a true 'half-dragon,' yet I initially saw no way she could ever possess the criteria necessary for being one. After all, there was never any indication that there was ever a dragon among the Dragon's Heir tribe in the generation preceding ours. Yet, Tikana, the Kobold Queen, shows every sign of her draconic heritage. I didn't consider the implications back then, but the more I researched mating and lovemaking, the more troubled I became. After all, it was by her leave that I was sent off to the wilds of the world above to study all I could about outsiders and their mating habits. I didn't know why at first, but after startling revelations, it came much too clear to me that Tikana the Kobold Queen was just as interested in her past as I was in the future of our tribe.
 
I have already written on what I've learned about the generation before us. It was the discovery of that knowledge that made me feel content to come back home and fill in the blanks with Master Tikit's insight to the matter. All that was left was discussing with the Queen herself the matter of our origins. But, before I make it to that, I must fill in the details new readers must face in order to understand the exact nature of myself and my Queen. To explain our most intimate and my most cherished memories feels much more humiliating than any act I've tried in the past..
-Tik Tik
Years after the hatching ceremony that saw a whole generation of kobold young brought into this world at the same time, Trapmaster Tikit walks through the line of his apprentices, each tinkering on traps of their own design. "Good, good Jalacdo. An outsider won't be able to run after that bites them! Tighten up you screws, Quiquan. You'll be the death of us all one day. Shape up, Bratto. We have to make sure those parts are all compatible before we attach them to a bigger mechanism."
 
His form looms over the final apprentice--the little pink kobold with bright blue eyes, who has her tongue sticking out to her side as she tinkers with a block of wood.
"And just what are you making, Tik Tik?" the older kobold says, clenching the block in his claws and lifting it up.
The little Tik Tik gasps and holds her hands up, whining, "gimmie, gimmie!"
Tikit examines the block, a frown forming on his muzzle. "There isn't a damn thing going on in here!" he shouts. "What the hells have you been wasting your time on?"
Those big blue eyes waver as she looks up to her master, sniffling.
"Oh, no. None of that, now, or I'll have you sent to the mines."
Her demeanor shifts instantly, scoffing at how easily he saw past her ruse. "Look!" Tik Tik says, pointing to the underside of the block.
Tikit turns it around and narrows his eyes. "Hm... what's this...? 'Made by Tik Tik Dragonsheir.' "Oh, so, you're putting your vanity over the rest of your people, are you? What was the first thing I told you about trap design?"
 
"It doesn't matter who makes the trap. It matters that it works!" Tik Tik had repeated that mantra many times before. "But, I thought if someone knew who made it, they could ask. Kobolds make things differently. We all work together, but we're all different, too. If someone tries to improve my trap, then they can ask me about it. It makes repair more efficient."
Tikit snorts. "Any kobold worth her salt will be able to know exactly how a trap works just by lookin' at it. And if that kobold is too dang slow to figure it out in time, then they're too slow to not get sliced by an outsider's sword. Look how quickly the others have made functional material. Yet, here you are, playing arts and crafts! Get out, and think about it while you miss out on supper tonight!"
Tik Tik hangs her head low, whimpering a little bit at the demand, but she does as she is told and slips out of the apprentice trapmaker's chambers into the warrens beyond.
As Tik Tik sulks in the tunnels, a light emerges from one of its off-shoots. Squinting and covering her eyes, Tik Tik groans at the inevitable encounter.
 
Poking her head out of the hole is her nestmate, Tikana. Red spots speckle her pink scales, and nestled in her crown-shaped ridge is a tiny little miner's hat she uses to shine light around the area. "Hey, Little One!" she says, a giggle on her voice.
Every kobold in the chamber bows before their new leader, but when Tikana looks down, smoke streaming out of her nostrils, she sees Tik Tik and scowls, before she looks to the rest of her subjects and proclaims. "For too long, the Dragon's Heir tribe has been without a dragon. Today, you have crowned one as your queen. Any kobold here who would seek to see your queen as the old kobold that stood here before you today shall be punished by my will. She, like your previous queen, is dead. Now that I, a great dragon, am your queen, I shall declare unto you my first decree: our tribe shall entice outsiders to come to our lands and pillage our treasures. We shall crush them as they dare set foot here, and we will take their riches and add them to our queen's magnificent horde. From that, you will earn the respect of a true dragon.
All of the kobolds in the room, save for Tik Tik, bark in appreciation for their new leader.
The queen, who sits down on her newly-constructed throne, crosses one leg over the other and stares at the lone kobold standing among the sea of subjects, saying, "There is none who is equal to me within in this tribe."
 
Immediately, the kobolds set off to make their lands more enticing for invading adventurers. Tik Tik, of course, remains stunned as her mind races at the implications of this new mandate. So, against the sea of exiting kobolds, Tik Tik wades forward, her eyes squarely upon the new queen.
But before she can get up to the raised platform, two guards jump in her way, each of them carrying spears as they snort and show off their larger size.
But the apprentice trapmaker is undeterred, and she barks up. "Tikana! This is stupid! Why are you acting this way!?"
"You dare speak to your queen--your dragon, like that?" The Grand Matron shouts, her claws digging into her old gnarled staff. "I should expect that. You've been trouble since the day you were hatched..."
The Kobold Queen holds her hand up to silence her, and she stands tall, looking down to Tik Tik. "You want to know what's spurred this on? I suppose I can give you a small hint from my generosity. After all, I am going to be a fair ruler." The draconic kobold chuckles as her wings drape around her back like a cape. "You, Little One, are perhaps the most selfish among the kobolds here. Truly, that is a testament, as you do not have the blood of dragons running through you." She finishes the statement as she runs her fingers down along one of her red-splotch patterns."
 
"Tik Tik is selfish!?" She shouts. "What about you, Tikana!? The moment you put on that crown, you've become a different kobold!"
"Am I so different, Little One?" The queen says, sitting on the edge of the raised platform, crossing her legs once more, bouncing one over the other. "After all, I've always afforded myself the rare and elusive gold and treasure. Now, I don't need to find it on my own. I have the power to have the miners find it for me. I have the command to bring outsiders here faster than ever before. I have the lust to have those beneath my concern fear me."
"You'll kill us all!" Tik Tik says.
"On the contrary," she says, hopping down off of the platform. She nods, and the two guards grip Tik Tik's shoulder and force her down onto her knees. The Queen sways her way towards her former nestmate, her grin growing to levels of smug far beyond any kobold should have. "I have the best trapmaker in the Dragon's Heir tribe working for me. No one will get through to us, and if they did, then our combat specialists will take care of the issue with no issue."
 
"You promised... you promised we'd work together to make things better for everyone here! You said I'd be your adviser"
"I did promise we'd make things great for the different... and I'm not going back on that promise..." The Queen says, standing up, crossing her arms over her chest. "I've just figured a more mature and intelligent way to go about things. You are little, both in body and in mind, Tik Tik. Grow up, and maybe I'll reconsider putting you among my closest confidants. But, I have no need for someone who would throw their life away just to try and preach at me. Now, you have traps to make and outsiders to kill, do you not?" She turns her back away from her former friend and heads out of the chamber.
"You've changed, Tikana..." Tik Tik says, a growl in her voice.
"A little," she says, "but perhaps, you haven't awakened fully? Wake up. Grow up. I expect great things from you." 
She snaps her fingers, and the guards hoist Tik Tik up, dragging her away from their Queen's presence. 
---
The Kobold Queen lays upon the bed of gold, created from the rewards dug from the earth and stripped from unwary travelers. The warmth of the sun light that master Tikit constructed for her sends her off into her own bliss, but such pleasures are fleeting.
 
Kishke, the captain of the guard, approaches, placing a hand upon her chest and kneeling down before the relaxing queen. "Your greatness," she begins, keeping her good eye down upon the floor, to avoid being blinded by the radiance of her queen's bed. "She has returned."
"Has she, now?" The queen asks, scooping her coins into the palm of her hand and drizzling them over herself. "I suppose you can send her in."
"Alone with you? But your majesty, her behavior at the coronation-"
"You do not question my decisions. You only seek out the best ways to carry out my commands. Now, go."
"Very well, my queen." The captain says. "It will be done."
Only a few moments later, Tik Tik comes stomping into the chambers. "Tikana. Now that we're alone, you're going to have to explain to me everything about your outburst."
"Look at you, making demands of me," The Queen says, sitting up and letting the jewels roll down off of her royal robes. "Perhaps, I didn't make myself clear earlier when I told you about your shortcomings, Tik Tik. Hm... when was the last time you went to bed? You look horrible."
"The last time I had my nestmate to watch over me," she responds earnestly.
"There are traditions for when nestmates are lost."
"You're not lost," Tik Tik says. "You're right here."
"And I don't need a kobold who is so... so different being associated with the first dragon this tribe has had in generations.
"You're not a dragon!" Tik Tik snaps. "You're... half a dragon, at best. And that doesn't even make sense."
The Kobold Queen rises, sauntering over toward Tik Tik with her narrowed gaze. "Such lies spread about your queen, Little One? I could destroy you right now for your impudence.
 
"You wouldn't dare," Tik Tik says, clenching her teeth and her fists, staring up at the taller, more imposing kobold.
The Queen stares her down, smoke rising up from her nostrils, her claws twitching a bit as blue eyes meet blue eyes.
And then she wraps her arms around Tik Tik, pulling her in close, her voice coming through, soft, meek, and wavering. "I'm sorry."
Tik Tik thrashes a moment, but stops immediately upon hearing her voice. "W... what?"
"There's just so much that I can't tell you," she continues. "As the Queen, as a true Heir of a Dragon."
Tik Tik nips the queen's arm, which makes her stumble back, rubbing the spot. "Tik?"
"You do not get to be two-faced!" Tik Tik snaps, an accusatory point straight up against her snoot. "We are closest that kobolds can be--nest mates. In an army of endless parts in our machine, you are the only one I know so closely, and this is not you!"
The Queen keeps her head held high as the remaining tears glisten in her eyes. "That may be so, but the ways of our tribe means that we must be far apart. To even have you here right now jeopardizes you."
 
"Start making sense, Tikana!" Tik Tik says, "Or... or I'll leave!"
She takes a deep breath, and turns to face away from Tik Tik, her hands behind her back. "I've been trained to be the Queen my entire life and told that I was special because of my draconic heritage. That may be true, but what I didn't know was that our people, the Dragon's Heir, have a special connection to the magic of this world, and a duty, even a sacred one. I cannot tell anyone, as that is the mandate of our kind."
"You closed me off to keep a secret?" Tik Tik says. "Is this secret so important?"
The Queen sighs, turning her head down low. "You were always the smart one, Tik Tik," The Queen says, "But I have a responsibility now that's bigger than you. You need to drop what we used to have and respect my position as the Queen of our tribe."
"Did you have to humiliate me in front of everyone as the first thing you did?"
"Only because you made such a huge deal about it."
"What about this...?" Tik Tik asks, her, scooping her hand into the bed of gold.
 
The Queen grabs her wrist, squeezing it, forcing her former nestmate to drop all of her precious gold. "I cannot allow you to disrespect my position in the tribe, Little One. I can only protect you so much. Stop being so selfish."
"Is it really selfish?" Tik Tik asks "to want to be with my nestmate?"
"It's selfish, and it is childish. When a dragon graces our tribe, it must not follow the conventions of kobold kind. That is the normal way."
Tik Tik is stuck there, unable to pull herself away from Tikana's strong grip. She doesn't respond to her, but instead just stares her down.
"Listen," The Queen says, brushing her fingers over Tik Tik's wrist. "I can do what I can to make your time here happy, but you need to fall within the natural order of our tribe. If you get in trouble, I will help you. If you are unhappy, I will see that you're given what you need, but you cannot share my bed with me, and our talks have to stop. You need to grow, Tik Tik, and this is the only way."
Tik Tik rubs her wrist. "Fine," she says. "I'll go now. So... goodbye, Tikana, I mean..." She turns to face her again, but does not look into her eyes. Kneeling down upon one leg, she bows her head and says. "I shall go and do these things, by your leave, your majesty."
 
The Queen shivers, but she sits back onto her bed and says. "You may go, Tik Tik. Go and develop the greatest of traps. Spill the blood of the outsiders and expand the reach of our people"
Tik Tik nods and silently exits the room, but Tikana's last words to her are "Make me proud, Little One."
"Something seems to be troubling you," Tikit says. "Your latest trap slipped up. The Cavern Crackers were able to find a way through half a minute quicker than the last one."
Tik Tik puts her tools down, staring at the components, but not really seeing. "Is this really what Tik Tik is supposed to do, really what I'm supposed to do?"
Tikit sighs and scoots on over to sit next to her. "You are a gift, Tik Tik. When I picked you as an apprentice on your hatching day, I thought you were no good to me because you came out of a broken egg, kept alive only by royal decree, but you are special, indeed. You're the best trapmaker we've ever had, and I cannot imagine you anywhere else."
"Tik Tik is only alive because of some mercy?" asks the trapmaker. "That's against the normal way."
"Yes, I suppose that is. Your egg would have been splattered flat if the old queen didn't have her say in the matter. It's certainly unorthodox, but so are your traps."
"Master Tikit," Tik Tik says. "Do you think there's some way out there... do you think I'm selfish for wanting to improve us all, even at the cost of my place in the tribe?"
 
"Ha, yes, of course you are!" He shouts, standing up, but patting her on the back. "But what makes you great is that you go against that and you stick to it. Just... get through this phase of yours and get back to work stumping them crackers. After all, we got ourselves a huge haul the other day. Quite a few adventurers came in. Seems like someone tipped them off on some hidden treasure even beyond the queen's reach."
"Oh, that's why they're digging down deep."
"Yep. Prakibak's really cracking the whip down in the mines. Just be glad you didn't get picked by that lot when you were hatched. Nothing but thankless, mindless, back-breaking work down there."