Building a Kingdom as a Kobold

"Splitjaw!!!"

If there's one thing you learn as a kobold commander, it's that nothing ever holds as long as you want it to. That goes double for walls, triple for plans. I pressed my back to the east parapet, ducked a flying rock, and bellowed, "That's the last one of you that gets to throw things! I mean it!"

They never listen. Monsters boiled at the base of the wall—some climbing, some pounding, some just banging their heads like the sheer noise might crack stone. Everything smelled of moss and sweat and churned mud. Kobolds jabbed down with sharpened poles, boots slipping on mud. Stonealign's voice rose through the chaos—"Support to the joinery! If that brace slips, we all die here!"

I moved, shoved a trembling kobold into position, kept my axe swinging. Every few seconds, a mossbeast made it up—claws scrabbling, eyes glassy with something almost like hunger, almost like purpose. The closest one hauled itself over, mouth open wide. I chopped down hard, sent it toppling back, another scrambling over its corpse.

Glare was already on the ramparts, out of position, wild-eyed, his sword flashing with every lunge. "Here! On me!" he shouted, drawing three of them at once. He never waited, never checked for orders. Half my job tonight was keeping him alive.

A Gen-2 shrieked—a monster had gotten its claws on the edge of the ladder. Stonealign moved without hesitation, slamming the thing's fingers with a hammer until it let go, then shouted for the others to drag the broken ladder away. Another tried to rally, clambering up the nearest crate to reach a pike that was slipping free. I grabbed the weapon and handed it over, locking eyes with the kid for a heartbeat—panic, then resolve. Good enough.

The wall trembled under us. I felt every vibration through the soles of my feet. Farther down, something hit the base hard enough to rattle my teeth. The monsters were stacking debris, using corpses for footing. Smarter, meaner—like someone had told them what to do.

"Ladders up! Pikes out!" I roared. "Anyone not bleeding holds the line! If the wall buckles, fall back to the second post—do not break formation!"

A cluster of kobolds, barely more than kits, jammed together in a gap where a plank had shattered. They held, two bracing a shield, one thrusting with a lance. One of them, Jask, looked to me with wide eyes. "Boss Splitjaw—are we losing?"

"We're standing," I snapped. "Standing! Keep that shield up. Don't let them climb."

Stonealign scrambled past me, a length of rope between his teeth, trailing blood from a scalp wound. "Brace there!" he shouted, pointing to a sagging beam. Two kobolds moved, tying off the rope, looping it around a splintering post. The wood groaned, but the brace held. For now.

A relay stone flickered and spat static at my feet—cut off from the main hall. No system, no Sovereign, just the east wall and whatever we could claw together.

The next beast was on me before I could think. Fur, jaws wide, claws like razors. I blocked with my axe, shoved it sideways, felt hot breath on my cheek. For a split second its eyes met mine.

It lunged. I braced, twisted, brought my axe up in a two-handed swing. The edge bit deep, sent a gout of green-black blood spraying across my arms. The beast tumbled back, another scrambling up in its place. I barely had time to breathe.

Glare—lunatic, glorious Glare—was halfway down the steps, baiting the enemy, yelling insults that sounded like half-prayer, half suicide wish. He vaulted over two beasts, drew their attention away from the weakest spot in the line, and grinned at me, teeth bared.

"Let me pull them away from the breach!" he shouted over the din. "You hold, I'll draw them off!"

I hated the idea, but there was no time to argue. He was already moving, feet sure even as he bled from a fresh cut down his arm.

"Fine! Don't get killed, Glare!" I barked. "If you fall, you fall back to me!"

He just winked and was gone, five enormous monsters right behind him. The line wavered. I slammed the butt of my axe on the parapet. "Hold steady! On me! They come up, they go down! Ashring doesn't break tonight!"

For a minute it was pure chaos—beasts howling, kobolds screaming, the stink of blood and dust and old sweat. I fought without thinking, only feeling the line behind me, the rhythm of axe and shield and shouting orders. Stonealign was everywhere at once, plugging gaps, barking at the Gen-2s to stay low, keep their heads down, brace the planks and don't you dare give ground. He swung his hammer with wild precision, every blow a promise that the wall would hold if only by his will.

Another plank gave. I yanked a terrified kobold back, pushed a Gen-2 into the space, covered them while they hammered nails in with the butt of a spear.

A monster made it over—right in front of me. Bigger than the rest, a brute with scars down its snout. It lunged, claws swiping for my throat. I ducked, brought my axe up under its jaw, heard the crunch as bone shattered. It kept coming, wild with rage and pain. I locked arms with it, wrestled it back toward the parapet, felt claws tear into my shoulder. It tried to drag me down with it. Not tonight. I twisted, using its momentum to hurl it over the side. Both of us crashed to the ground below. For a second, all I could hear was the roar of blood in my ears.

I forced myself up, teeth gritted against the pain. The wall loomed above me—kobolds shouting, monsters climbing, Glare's voice a distant rallying cry. I scrambled up a ladder, yanked myself over the edge just as another beast tried to follow. I didn't let myself think. No time for that. Orders, movement, keep the line. We fought for every inch—Gen-2s covering the wounded, Stonealign holding the left brace, Glare somewhere in the dark below, a streak of noise and defiance drawing monsters away from the breach. Every moment was a gamble. Every heartbeat a question. Would the wall hold? Would I?

Didn't matter. I was Splitjaw. I was commander. If Ashring needed a wall, I'd be the last stone in it.

I barely had time to check for blood before the monsters hit again, this time with numbers—at least a dozen mossbeasts, pushing, climbing, using each other's bodies to scale the wall faster than we could shove them down. The Gen-2s to my right were flagging, one with a bleeding ear, another with their knuckles white on a pike that was more splinters than wood.

"Rotate!" I shouted, grabbing the back of the nearest kid's collar and hauling her to the rear. "You—fresh legs, here! On me! Don't break the line, even if it breaks you."

Stonealign's arms were shaking, sweat streaking the blood already matted in his fur. He threw a plank at a monster's head and bellowed, "Right brace is slipping! If we lose this post—"

"We don't lose the post!" I snapped, planting my feet, swinging my axe down in an arc that split a mossbeast's skull. The recoil left my hands numb, but the gap it bought us mattered. "Jask! Rope! Brace that beam with whatever you can find—if you have to, use my tail!"

The monsters found a new trick—two grabbed a fallen ladder and, instead of using it themselves, shoved it upright as a battering ram. The first hit bounced. The second left a crack running up the joinery. Debris rained down.

Some of us started to waver. One started sobbing, panic nearly infectious. I didn't have time to comfort them. I barked, "Cry later! Right now, swing!" and grabbed their trembling hands, guided their grip on the pike, pushed them back into formation.

Somewhere in the chaos, Glare's voice punched through, half a laugh, half a war cry—he was below the wall now, taunting, leaping over barrels, pelting monsters with thrown stones, doing everything possible to pull them away from our breach. The beasts turned—three, then five, then most of the ones attacking the brace.

"Stonealign! They're breaking off! Hold for ten more breaths!" I called, forcing my back into the shaking planks.

Stonealign nodded once, wiped blood from his brow. "Just need ten. Don't let them flank us."

A few monsters stayed, smarter than the rest, watching, calculating. I saw one mark the wall with its claw, a deliberate X over the spot where our post had nearly broken. The wall shook again, but this time we held. We shoved the last of the beasts back with shields and a bench someone dragged up from the yard. For a split second, the noise faded—a strange silence in the night, broken only by Glare's howls and the quick breaths of my squad.

The relay stone beside me flickered, died for good. Cut off from the rest. I didn't let it shake me. Didn't let them see fear.

"All right! You two—back to the inner stairs, watch for a breach. Jask, keep that brace steady, don't let go no matter what. The rest of you—if you have to bite, bite hard."

Down below, Glare was now surrounded, a swirl of mossbeasts lunging as he darted through their ranks, taunting them away from the wall. He saw me watching, flashed a lopsided, wild grin, and then disappeared into the dark, a pack of monsters right on his heels.

I cursed under my breath, clenched my jaw so hard it hurt. "Fool," I muttered. "Brave, reckless fool."

The wall was battered, battered but standing. The squad pressed in tight, sweat and blood and the faint scent of panic mixing in the night air. Stonealign's hands shook as he tied off the last knot, but he met my gaze, a hard nod passing between us. We'd done it, for now.

[Alert: Defensive Position Stabilized. Reinforcements Unavailable.]

I didn't care about the system. I cared about the tired faces all looking to me. I did what I always did—counted heads, checked wounds, and forced myself to stand tall.

"We hold until we're relieved. If Glare makes it, we owe him. If he doesn't, we make it count."

For now, we were still Ashring's east wall. If it was going to break, it would have to do it over our bones.

The quiet lasted only a moment. Far off, the sound of another breach, another alarm, another call for help. The fight was still everywhere. But for now, for one breath, we were still holding.

I gripped my axe, set my feet, and stared into the dark. Next wave, next plan, next order. I was Splitjaw—commander, wall, and promise all in one.

And I wasn't done yet.