elizabeth_oswald

Lucky Rabbit Chapter Nineteen - Grinding

Once Lian left with the mysterious Augustus - much to Thaniel’s dismay - Pandy no longer had to worry about the older boy catching her moving around at night. She spent that night trying to figure out why her skills worked sometimes, but not others.

<Hop! Bite! Scratch!> she thought as hard as she could. Then, in desperation and because she had at some point sprouted a new tail, she tried, <Minor Heal!> None of it worked, even when she tried adding a polite, <Please,>...

Chapter Three hundred eleven

The city consisted of the same lacquered streets and glittering buildings as before, all still covered in the red glow of ki-crystals. The feeling of it was entirely different, however. It was like Kaz had gone from a tribe like his own, where everyone was quietly and desperately obedient, simply trying not to draw too much attention to themselves, to a tribe like the Copperstrikers, filled with worry and hope all at once.

The biggest change, however, was the kinds of people he saw hurr...

Chapter Three hundred ten

Once they reached the Nine - the central levels in the entire mountain, where the mosui city had been built - Kaz and Li saw an instant change. There were guards standing at the bottom of the stairs, and all around them, the stones were marked with the dark marks left by fire. Someone had definitely been working hard to clear away the remnants of the fulan. Was it only the presence of the shiyan that had prevented them from continuing upward?

When Ka...

Chapter Three hundred nine

Kaz had had to deal with far too many of these shiyan by now. For the first one, Chi Yincang had cut a hole in the body so Kaz could reach and crush the core. He had torn Litz’s misshapen core from her body, killing her.

When faced with Ehlan, the chief of the Redmanes, however, he had been able to cut away the core she had eaten, salvaging her own core, however damaged it was. The last one had been a truly monstrous thing that looked like a dragon that hadn’t yet fig...

Chapter Three hundred eight

Kaz bent over, peering into the cavern at the end of the long, low tunnel. The last time he’d seen it, it held several huts and the remaining males from the Sharpjaw tribe. The fulan had taken its toll on the females of their tribe, and even though they all knew it was likely that the females were dead, they had refused to leave them behind entirely.

Their leader, Zyle, sent several of the younger warriors with Kaz and the humans, in hopes that they, at least, would surv...

Chapter Three hundred seven (Kyla)

Kaz had been gone for almost three days, and it felt like three years. Kyla lay on her belly, staring into the cozy space she’d made for Mei, using grass and branches. The fuergar had immediately vanished into it, only to reemerge a few moments later to begin gathering more grass and anything else soft she could find. She had even plucked some of Kyla’s loose fur while she was sleeping! Now, the rotund rodent spent all of her time in the tiny hut, while Kyla brought her wate...

Chapter Three hundred six

Kaz looked down, but his view was blocked by the stone on which he stood. The sound of scratching heralded a hand, then a wary face that peered up over the carved muzzle, looking ready to leap up or drop back down at the first sign of movement. It was Bek, and his teeth were visible beneath his wary eyes. Those eyes skimmed over Kaz and Li, where they stood, covered by Li’s power.

“Nothing,” Bek barked, but he didn’t climb back down. Instead, he pulled himself to his paws, then ...

Happy birthday, Broken Knife!

Someone on Patreon noticed that Broken Knife is a year old now, so here's Li with cake! I did her new coloring, and find that I don't love the black nose (it started out larger and I kept making it smaller) so I may go back and change that. Maybe just red horns and the blue over her heart?

New tier names!

I've been working on my fuergar images whenever I got a chance, and finally finished them! I wanted to share the full size images. (Also, whiskers are really hard to capture against a clear background.) Thank you all very much for supporting me and Broken Knife 😊

2024-11-28 02:58:20 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter Three hundred five

There was a dragon carved into the stone around the stairs. The last time Kaz saw it, he’d guessed, but now he was certain. Four guards paced back and forth near the dragon’s gaping maw. They each bore a club made from a single thick bone, with copper fuergar teeth embedded in jagged rows up and down the length of the weapon. One of them was Bek, his squat, powerful body practically vibrating with readiness, in spite of the gray that speckled his dark fur.

<Are you ...

Chapter Three hundred four - Li

Li was worried. Ever since Kaz spoke to the Nadi female, he’d been all but silent. She’d tried sending him images of himself as various creatures, including a blue fuergar and a particularly amusing image of a hairy lopo, but got back only a half-hearted image of herself as a tiny dragon being grabbed by the Kaz-lopo’s tongue.

<We’re nearly back to the mid-levels, aren’t we?> she asked. She knew they were, because he’d told her when they...

Chapter Three hundred three

Nadi, the den-mother of the Stoneborn tribe, was sitting on one side of a circle of puppies, teaching a howl about the difference between yumao and duyu. When Rega taught this one, she always looked slightly worried, and emphasized how ill duyu could make even an adult. She had always insisted upon inspecting the yumao before it was cooked, even after the gatherers were experienced enough to know the difference.

Nadi, however, made a ga...

Lucky Rabbit Chapter Eighteen - Peacocks And Hummus

Everyone except Lian and Clara gathered to eat. Clara was at a friend’s house again, while Thaniel’s brother claimed he needed to pack, even though as far as Pandy knew, the vast majority of his possessions were books and identical white shirts and black pants. Still, it was obvious to her - and doubtless to everyone else over the age of eight - that Lian didn’t want to socialize with the Reedsleys, and no one tried to force the matter.

Rather than being relegated to Thaniel’s l...

Chapter Three hundred two

Kaz continued to follow the same path he’d used with the humans, stopping only briefly to rest and eat. He didn’t even feel tired, but Li wasn’t used to walking so much, and she still insisted upon walking so his hands would be free, as were her claws. Only after he’d built a small fire from firemoss did she curl up beside him, staring into the flickering orange flames. The fire produced a lot of smoke, which was why kobolds made and used the clean-burning oil that they squeezed from ...

Chapter Three hundred one

By the time Kaz finished speaking, the light around the door had dimmed. The females of the tribe had doused most of the lights, leaving only a few to allow the guards to see and members of the tribe to reach the waste crevice. Li was dozing in Kaz’s lap, only occasionally opening her eyes to make sure Katri was still keeping her distance.

Katri was. In fact, she’d taken a place at the far side of the hut, leaning against one of the long bones that supported the wall. She watched Ka...

Chapter Three hundred - The Truth

Katri seemed unwilling to begin, so with Li’s reassuring weight in his arms, Kaz drew in a deep breath and spoke. “When I was young, Father took me out to teach me to hunt. The Woodblades had just been killed. His whole family, his tribe, everyone was gone, and I’m sure he was worried about what was going to happen to us, so he wanted me to be strong enough to protect myself. He left me to face a fuergar alone, and I wasn’t ready. It hurt me, badly. I was dying.”

Chapter Two hundred ninety-nine

Someone had torn out several pages from the front of the book. The ragged edges protruded like the stumps of old, worn teeth. The damage looked old, so he suspected Oda had done it herself, and for a moment, Kaz just touched them, wondering what had been going through her mind. The Magmablades treasured the books left by their chiefs, and he suspected that damaging one - even if it was your own - would have been frowned upon. And to tear out these first, early pages…wasn’t that like destr...

Chapter Two hundred ninety-eight

While there had been little doubt that the Broken Knives’ den would still be where he’d left it, essentially untouched, Kaz wasn’t as certain about the Longtooths - or rather, the Longknife tribe, now that the two were combined. It was possible that Katri would have had them move, if only to start fresh, together.

But when Kaz arrived at the outskirts of the former Longtooth territory, he found that it was still clearly marked. The totems had changed slightly, with the long teeth ...

Lucky Rabbit Chapter Seventeen - Air Elementals Are Flighty

For a moment, Pandy felt like she was floating, and then she was surrounded by light and a high-pitched shrieking. Whoever was making that noise really needed to stop, but Pandy couldn’t do anything about it right now - not that she actually would, because that would probably just upset the shrieker even more - because she was desperately trying to cling to whatever she was standing on.

Opening her mouth, Pandy bit down on the brown object in front of her, which tasted like dirty old ...

Purely for entertainment value...

I really don't like my tier titles. I've been trying to think of better ones, and the best I've got is:

$1 - Background Character

$3 - Supporting Character

$10 - Main Character Energy

Obviously, there's a reason I haven't changed them yet 😅 Do you guys have any suggestions? I could go with something specific, like fuergar, kobolds, and dragons, but then I'd almost have to change it again when I switch over to Lucky Rabbit 🤔 Better to come up with something I can ...

Chapter Two hundred ninety-seven

Entering the abandoned den was as eerie as he’d expected it to be. The huts remained where they’d been abandoned, the tattered leather and tied-together bones looking even sadder now that he’d seen dens from the heights to the Deep. There were only twelve huts left, and even though some of the kobolds who’d lived in them were still alive, it was obvious that no one had bothered to return and attempt to retrieve them. Not that that was terribly surprising, given that as far as they kne...

Chapter Two hundred ninety-six

As Kaz started to put his paw through the crevice, he paused, glancing back around at a particularly dense patch of shadow. “Are you coming, Heishe?” he asked.

The serpent slithered out with a slightly amused hiss. She was in her second smallest shape, about two feet long, with a pure black-scaled body and no hood. <i wondered if you would forget.>

He snorted softly. “How could I, with you lurking like that?”

Heishe hissed again, thoughtfully this time. <you...

Chapter Sixteen - The Universe is Surprisingly Flexible

Pandy whipped around, desperately trying to look like anything except for a possessed undead rabbit who had been about to smack a suspiciously smoking magical button. Which wasn’t difficult, really, because that was a pretty specific thing to look like.

Honestly, she’d never expected to see the person - being? - standing behind her again, so it took her a few seconds to process his appearance. The god wasn’t buff, handsome, with rippling pecs and a spotless toga anymore. No, this ...

Chapter Two hundred ninety-five

The flight up the mountain was both cold and utterly glorious. Kaz used his ki to keep himself from freezing, as well as protecting his eyes from the whipping winds. Li flew just beyond the tip of Yanshi’s wing, and together they watched as grass and trees gave way to stone, with only a few tenacious shrubs clinging to the steep mountainside.

There were a few lakes, as deeply blue as the sky, but so clear he could see through to the bottom. Li wanted to fly down and dive into them, bu...

Chapter Two hundred ninety-four

Everyone stared at Kaz, and he half-wished that he still felt comfortable just leaving without saying anything. He’d promised Lianhua, however, and it wasn’t like they wouldn’t understand soon enough.

“Li can tell where other dragons are, at least familiar ones,” he told them, “and she’s been sensing one since an hour or so ago. He’ll be able to take us to the cave.” Well, Li would probably insist on flying herself, even though she was still small enough to cling to Ya...

Chapter Two hundred ninety-three

Lianhua took her grandmother into her tent to bathe her. Yingtao went as well, but Elder Long and Chi Yincang stood outside the entrance to the tent, waiting. Raff went ahead and started cooking another meal, even though it hadn’t been that long since breakfast, at least according to the movement of the sun. Kyla sat by the new fire, stroking Mei, with a contemplative look on her face.

When the three human females emerged, all clean and wearing fresh robes, Elder Long immediately went...

Chapter Two hundred ninety-two

Elder Long’s fingers immediately closed around the small figure, and he drew his hand back. “What?”

<Release her,> Li insisted, staring after the statue hungrily. <She’s mine.>

Kaz didn’t know what was going on, but he recognized that tone of voice. He couldn’t see what Li was seeing, not this time, but she - or whatever she was speaking for - did, and that was enough. It had never led them wrong, and had probably saved their lives more than once.

“...

Chapter Two hundred ninety-one

Kaz spent that night in the hammock Raff had given him. He found a spot near a ledge where he could attach it by cutting away some of the stone with his claws, then tying the ropes to the freshly carved protrusions. It was almost disturbing how easy it was, but when he was stretched out in the hammock with Li sleeping on the nearby ledge, he fell asleep quickly and easily, not lingering on what might happen the following day.

He woke to find Li’s head resting on his chest, her neck st...

Chapter Two hundred ninety

Now that Elder Long had joined them, there was no question of continuing on, much to Kyla and Li’s disappointment. Li sulked, refusing to come down from her tree, but Kyla had an oddly calculating look on her face when she looked at the old male, and Kaz wondered if she was trying to decide whether she should talk to him about trading with the Deep. Admittedly, it was unlikely, given how long it took to reach the mountain from the Sheng Empire, but his cousin was taking her new role as liai...

Chapter Two hundred eighty-nine

<Kaz?>

<Kaz!>

Li dove down, the tip of her wing just brushing the top of Kaz’s ear. The closer they got to the mountain, the more he found it difficult to look away, or even think of anything else. It was like he was being called by something he had known even longer than he had known Li, and his dragon didn’t like it.

“What?” he asked absently, looking up at her. It was just growing dark, with gray shadows softening the edges of everything, and for a mom...