Mushroom Cave
#2 of The Adventures of Tik Tik
In a story from her younger years, Tik Tik and her nestmate Tikana explore deep beyond the Queen's territories and get into trouble!
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"Tik Tiiiik, what's taking you so long!" The little kobold scurries up over the rocky outcropping of the glowshroom cavern. With a mushroom nestled into her crown, little Tikana can see perfectly well, even with her diminished eyesight.
"C-coming, Nestmate!" Tik Tik squeaks, scurrying up over the crumbling rocks herself and standing next to her.
Together, the whelps stare at the bright luminescent world before them. Tik Tik rubs her eyes while Tikana stares in awe at the sight. "It's almost like a treasure trove!" Tikana says.
Tik Tik grumbles, squinting at the sight of the glowing fungi. "Oh, but it's so bright, nestmate. Why are we here?"
Tikana puffs out her chest and stomps a clawed foot upon a rock with her hands on her hips. "Because I am to be the queen of the Dragon's Heir, and I wish to survey my land and let them all know that this all shall be mi-hick!"
The tiny kobold belches a ball of flame, making her stumble, and ultimately dislodging the rocks under her feet. She slips, trying to hold her balance, but finally falls down the slope.
Her poor companion is no better than her, losing her own grip upon the rocks before tumbling down alongside her nestmate.
Hatched together, Tik Tik and Tikana were bound to each other for their entire childhood. They were responsible for each other's well-being, for many young kobolds have the pride and intelligence of the most industrious of minds. Still, they also have the wisdom of the dumbest of idiots.
Soon, the two gals find themselves tumbling on the ground, rolling amidst the mushrooms, which send up warning spores. As they lay upon the ground, the two watch the bright flickers of light that now dot the ceiling, each watching in sore wonder.
"You know," Tik Tik says, "I've heard that up above, there is no ceiling and that there are sights even prettier. But the big burny circle is up there, as well."
"Bah, I fear no burny circle!" Tikana says, pushing herself up, so her head peeks out over the mushrooms. "I fear nothing because I am a dragon!"
Tik Tik scrambles up, but her head is stuck underneath the caps. "Tikana," she whines. "I can't see you."
"I'm over here," Tikana waves over toward the shuddering shrooms.
Tik Tik finally finds a smaller mushroom and scrambles up upon it. Standing on this toadstool, she peeks her head up from over the mushrooms, Tikana's back to her.
The little pink kobold grabs the taller one, pulling her back down over the mushrooms with a yelping yeep.
Tikana struggles, but when their blue eyes meet each other, the royal kobold goes silent, realizing the implications now and shifting her gaze up toward the space between the shrooms...
A dark figure shuffles and sighs from among the growths, breaking through the caps and sniffing the air. The creature's body is thicker than the thickest of mushroom stems, and yet, it has the same fibrous form and large-cap as any other mushroom.
Its face, for it has one, scans the scene. Its arms grope around, grabbing up vast swaths of fungus, making more spores shoot up and fill the air, spilling down and covering the kobolds head-to-toe in the powdery substance.
It gets everywhere-in their eyes, in their ears, filling their mouths with its bitter taste. But Tik Tik's nose tickles when it gets into her nostrils and her eyes water as she fights back the urge to... to...
"ACHOO!"
Tik Tik might have held back, but Tikana cannot. A sneeze of firey expulsion fills the room a moment, catching on the spores in the air and lighting up the entire chamber. The mushroom man groans and stumbles back, crashing into the field. It reaches up into the air, letting out low and pathetic whines, its cries filling the chamber.
Sniffling, The kobolds peek their heads up over the mushrooms. Looking at one another, they giggle and scurry off back the way they came. They climb back up the rocks and away from the room, glowing with both the light of the glowshrooms and the burning of the fire in their wake.
When Tik Tik and Tikana return home to the den of the Dragon's Heir, the matron scolds the smaller kobold for letting the queen get so far away without an entourage.
"But, Tik TIk's my nestmate," Tikana whimpers, grabbing Tik Tik by the arm. "And we protect each other!"
Wrapping her arms around Tikana, Tik Tik stares up at the matron with wide, sparkling eyes, the two kobolds in sync in their groveling and pleading.
With a wave, the matron dismisses them but mutters under her breath how the two of them will be trouble for the tribe, no doubt...
Some time passes before the mushroom people find the burned mushroom cavern, the ponderous caretaker knocked over and left for dead. He's quickly brought back to the mushroom city, the massive metropolis underneath the tiny kobold kingdom above them when he is brought before their leader.
The mushroom queen sits upon her throne, her cap covering one eye as mycelium rolls down over her shoulders in straight sheets. Crossing one stalky leg over the other, she narrows her visible eye, frowning.
"So, you say it was those bothersome little reptiles above us that caused our crop to be destroyed?"
The mushroom man whimpers, nodding his head.
One of her advisors straightens out his cap and rolls his shoulders. "Hey boss, you want I should send them lizards a message?"
The queen shakes her head. "There's no need for that. After all, that farmer hadn't paid our protection money this cycle." She smirks. "If those tiny little trespassers find their way down into my turf, we can pin the blame on them, easy enough, and reap a hefty profit."