Burdenus soared through the afternoon sky, his wings dancing with the wind. Cygnus had one arm wrapped around the dragon’s claw while the other frantically waved his mage-stick. While they flew the goblin chief shouted words that Burdenus couldn’t bother to listen to.

  If he could help it, Burdenus would still be laying down in his lair, possibly daydreaming about the wonderful things he could do with magic. Unfortunately, the promise of endless goat lunch was an offer too tempting for him to pass up. So, he accepted spending his entire afternoon on this.

  Cygnus had told him about a much larger goblin tribe, one which Aves Tribe had originally splintered off from. From what the goblin chief explained, this was the main stronghold for goblins in the region. It also meant they had access to plenty of curse-magicks, alongside a nice pile of treasure for Burdenus to enjoy.

  By the time Cygnus signaled for Burdenus to drop, the mountains he called home had become nothing more than hills in the distance. The distance was immense, and Burdenus struggled to imagine someone making such a journey on land. It was horrendous to travel on the ground, especially for long distances. Maybe these goblins deserved some respect. Maybe.

  The two of them landed in the middle of the plains, no signs of civilization in sight. Burdenus managed to only bury half of his body, keeping an arm raised so as to avoid burying Cygnus. If he killed the goblin before getting his gold and goats then the entire journey would’ve been a waste. While he worked on digging himself out, the goblin chief happily explained the situation to him.

  “We are here, near the Avia Ree!” The goblin said while excitedly gesturing. “This is where many-all goblins come from; It is where we are made! Then we leave and go make more tribes, and sometimes those tribes make more goblins!”

  “That’s nice,” Burdenus said while struggling to pull out his hind leg. “So, there’s plenty of gold here?”

  “Yes, there is much gold-treasure inside. But we must be careful lord biggun, this is very dangerous burrow. Goblins are weak, maybe, but they are very tricky. There will be many kill-traps.”

  “Sounds good, just show me where to go,” Burdenus responded, finally managing to free himself from the dirt.

  “Yes, yes, follow me lord biggun of flame,” Cygnus said before running forward.

  Luckily the speed at which a goblin runs is very similar to the speed a dragon casually strolls at. Burdenus followed Cygnus for a handful of minutes until the goblin chief slowed his sprint into a walk.

  The two of them stopped just outside of a small patch of forest, practically a blemish against the smooth plains surrounding them. Since they had landed far away, Burdenus had assumed it was unrelated to the Avia Ree. He looked down at Cygnus, as the goblin chief whispered the plan to him.

  “Up ahead is a secret entrance to the Avia Ree,” Cygnus whispered, despite there seemingly being no one around. “Once we are in, they will be quick to respond. We must get the gold-treasure before they hide it somewhere else.”

  “Do you know where it is?” asked Burdenus.

  “No! But if they hide it somewhere else, then I won’t know where it is even more.”

  “That would be bad.”

  With their game plan set… Wait, no, there was no plan. Burdenus would simply go in, destroy anything that wasn’t interesting, and have any surviving goblins bring him whatever valuables they could find. Worst case scenario, Cygnus would have to bring him the valuables. Even worster case scenario, he would eat Cygnus and go back to sleep.

  No matter what happened, Burdenus felt confident he would have a good time of things. Burdenus walked into the small patch forest, with Cygnus trailing behind him as he did. The few sparse trees were easily tossed aside, as he eventually came upon a notable clearing in the center of the woody patch.

  There were no plants growing from the massive patch of grass, which was just barely wide enough to accommodate Burdenus. On the edges of the circle, it seemed that dirt had been upturned, as if it was pinning down a massive sheet. Also notable was the fact that the circle of grass was a painfully vibrant green while the surrounding grass was more muted. But it was mostly the other things that Burdenus had spotted.

  With the entrance found, he crawled on top of it, hearing the sound of creaking wood come from below him. He raised one of his front legs, slamming it into the wooden cover, turning it into a storm of wood chips which rained into the hole below.

  Burdenus saw it drop down a small distance, ladder rungs embedded in the dirt, before the hole led into a slope which escaped the dragon’s sight. With nowhere else to go, Burdenus climbed down, entering the underground cave system known as the Avia Ree, home of goblins.

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  His body sank lower into the tunnel, until he finally made progress down the slope. Compacted earth surrounded him on every side, with just enough space that he could barely wiggle forward. The dragon crawled through the entrance, coming upon the first goblin trap less than a minute in.

  Burdenus’s left claw collapsed the top of a spike trap, slamming it against the wooden stakes littering the bottom. Each one was reduced to splinters. The dragon simply pulled out his claw and continued to move forward.

  He had a few more seconds of peace before another trap went off, his body activating a mechanism built into the ceiling. Dozens of sharpened spears fell from the above, bouncing off of his scales before harmlessly falling to the side.

  Burdenus opted to give no mind to their defenses, only focused on going deeper within the goblin capital. As he crawled down the main shaft, the slope eventually leveled out, as it suddenly twisted into a hard ninety-degree angle. His body struggled to squirm through, but he eventually rounded the corner.

  As he turned into the new path, Burdenus found himself face to face with a massive horde of goblins. Dozens of goblins were on the ground in front of him, armed with all manner of clubs and daggers, donned in scraps of leather and metal.

  Wooden platforms had been shoved into the sides of the walls, each one teeming with goblins armed with slings and stones. The horde of goblins roared at Burdenus’s presence, riling themselvs into an endless onslaught of insults and jeers directed at the dragon.

  Before he could act, Burdenus found his attention drawn to the goblins at the center of the crowd. There were three of them in total, a small space around them as if the other goblins were afraid to get too close. Two of them had burlap sacks thrown over their heads, with chains binding their hands and legs.

  The third was wearing an elaborate wooden mask, with shards of gold embedded across the surface. In one hand was what appeared to be a piece of mossy bark. In the other was a massive wooden mage-stick, similar to the one Cygnus wielded, except that a severed goblin head decorated the top of it.

  The masked goblin tapped their mage-stick against their head, a burst of bright blue energy leaking from the severed head’s eyes. “Dragon!” Shouted the goblin, their voice booming with a magical level of intensity. It drowned out the other goblins in an instant, and the nearest ones collapsed from the force of the shout.

  “Why do you attack the Avia Ree? The old dragon of these lands promised us safety, do you betray-break his promise?”

  Burdenus had no idea that another dragon had ruled over the plains before him. His instincts told him that there were no other dragons in his territory, but they said nothing about the dragons who’d been there previously. Still, that news didn’t really change things for Burdenus.

  He didn’t really care about whatever deals these goblins had made, because they made the mistake of having something that he wants. The only struggle was the mage in the center of the horde. Cygnus had asked him to not burn any mages, since that would mean he couldn’t learn their curse-magicks. This meant he couldn’t just incinerate the horde and move on, unless he was willing to risk his free goats.

  “Because I want your gold, also your spells. I mean, I want your curse-magicks,” Burdenus responded, attempting to shift into a more comfortable position while half of his body was still stuck in the bend.

  “We can give you one thousand gold coins to leave!” said the mage. “In trade-exchange, you cannot attack the Avia Ree. This is the best deal-offer we can give.”

  The offer wasn’t bad, and it would save him the hassle of continuing to deal with these goblins. “What about magic? I also want your magic spell knowledge.”

  “That cannot be done! Our goblin secrets are more important than anything, no mage gives up their curse-magicks!”

  “Alright, back to the original plan,” Burdenus said with a sigh.

  He launched forward, his open jaw snapping shut on a dozen of the nearest goblins. From inside his mouth, they did their best to attack with pathetic flails, before finding themselves quickly being swallowed. The rest of the army was quick to act, as their main force charged at Burdenus.

  Dozens of goblins beat at his front legs, their blades chipping and clubs snapping against Burdenus’s scales. From above, a hailstorm of stones, arrows, and all manner of garbage was thrown at Burdenus’s head. They tumbled down the dragon’s snout, before crashing onto the ground and hitting their own allies below.

  Once he finished his first bite, Burdenus dipped his head down and snatched another meal from the horde. The goblins had a rancid taste to them, like tangy meat which had been left out for a few too many days. But while the meat was bad, it was still an all you could eat buffet.

  While Burdenus happily ate his way through the army, the goblin mage had stayed behind the main force. She looked on at the ineffective attacks being launched against the dragon, her own people being nothing more than an easy meal to the beast. If things kept at this pace, then none of them would survive to see the next hour.

  “Okay, slave-prisoners, it is time to earn your freedom,” she told the two chained goblins who had collapsed. “If you kill the dragon, then we will also give you many gold-treasures as a reward.”

  The two goblins on the ground writhed around in response, only barely able to understand what had been said. But, as they felt the noose of magic wrapping around their throats, they knew it was past the time to beg for their lives.

  The goblin mage read from the piece of bark in her hands, a bark tome of the most cursed curse-magick in her possession. Not only did it require actively reading from the curse tome, but it also needed a minimum of two sacrifices. If they had known it was a dragon who set off the traps, then they would have given her a hundred goblins to use. Unfortunately, it was too late to do so.

  Her curse-words were like acid, tightening the grip around the two goblin’s necks as they felt themselves being dragged towards each other. When their bodies made contact, they could do little more than scream, as their green flesh melded together into that of one being.

  Their muscles fused together, as magic pumped them full of vitality and adrenaline. They were worth far more than the sum of their parts, as they continued to grow in size while the goblin mage chanted the curse-words of her dark curse-magick.

  By the time her magic came to a stop, the beast stood at more than five times her height. It was a hulking mass of muscles, barely recognizable as a humanoid. The mage pointed at the dragon, who was in the process of slaughtering another flank of loyal soldiers.

  “Kill it,” she ordered.