One of the goblin king’s attacks came from over his head and crashed into the dirt. Sphiel took a step and lunged at the king. He brought his sword up and knocked hers away, but this move brought his sword above his head and opened up his body. The elf dropped to a knee and thrust at the opening. The king blocked it with his shield but the force of the strike sent him back.
He swung down at Sphiel but she launched herself forward and slashed at his arm. The blow connected and buried into his wrist. The king dropped his sword and held his shield over his face.
Sphiel stood and pointed her sword at the goblin king. “Yield, asshole,” she snarled.
The king lowered his shield. He looked at his subjects watching at the doorway and they ducked into the hall. He scowled up at her. “You win elf bitch, do what you will.”
Your skill with One Handed Swords has grown to 17!
You’ve made it to level 12! Good job!
“Give me your crown, you are not fit to rule.”
The goblin threw his crown at her feet. Sphiel winced as she picked it up and placed it on her head. The goblins watching this saw this action and bowed. “All hail uh, what do you want us to call you?” One of them said.
“Sphiel is fine. Now, arrest this wicked king and throw him in the dungeon.”
“We don’t have one of those.”
“Then put him in a room and stand guard. I don’t want this coward to escape.”
Two goblins came forward and took the king by the shoulders. They led him out of the throne room. After they left Sphiel limped over to the throne and dropped herself on it.
Everything hurt. Her stomach did a summersault and Sphiel held a hand over her mouth. She felt sick.
“Are you alright, Queen Sphiel?” a gravelly voice said.
Sphiel looked up and expected to see a goblin, but instead it was Shiva. She stood in the doorway, grinning. The other goblins slowly backed away from her. The troll walked toward the throne and took a knee. “Congratulations, I see you’ve dethroned the king. Where did you toss his dead carcass?”
Sphiel gawped. “How did you get into the village?”
Shiva chuckled. “I led the goblins on a merry little chase in the woods after you made it inside the village. After I ambushed about twenty of them, they decided it would be unwise to continue and scattered throughout the woods. Now where’s Gulpgulp’s body?”
“He’s not dead. He’s currently being held prisoner. I disarmed him in combat and he yielded.”
Shiva sighed and slapped her forehead. “Never, ever let a monarch live. Now he might to rally support.”
Sphiel shook her head. “No, he won’t. After my body doesn’t hurt so much, I have a special plan for him.”
TWENTY SEVEN
“Are you absolutely sure this is what you want?” Shiva said.
Sphiel smiled with a touch of wickedness as she walked behind the small cart filled with gold and jewels. “Most definitely.”
Harnessed to the cart with leather straps over his shoulders was the defeated goblin king. He’d been stripped of his royal regalia, save for his crown, and was left in his dirty, sackcloth underwear. He carried a sign in one hand that said “I am a murderous jackass, please throw rotten food at me and laugh.”
Many goblins gleefully did this, throwing a sundry of expired produce and other things found in the backs of their pantries. When they began their march from the castle, the king was relatively clean. They’d been going for about half an hour, and now the king was covered in gooey yellow, green, and orange slime.
The small goblins steps in front of the cart holding tomatoes and greenish eggs. Gulpgulp stopped and the three goblins hurled guttural insults at him and threw their disgusting ammunition. New splotches of red and puke green splattered on the former king’s chest before the goblins spit at him and went about their business.
Sphiel gleaned from a few of the goblins that Gulpgulp wasn’t very beloved by the people he lorded over. He was a tyrant that ruled them with an iron fist and subjected them to a variety of horrible tortures if they even thought about defying his rule, or just whenever he was bored. The latter case had become more common, so his subjects had learned to fear the tyrant king and obey him without question.
When the news of his defeat spread, many goblins came out to celebrate. Those goblins that’d tried to kill Sphiel before now congratulated her and thanked her for freeing them.
A procession of goblins walked behind Sphiel and Shiva and called out to the others. “Free gold, enjoy the bounty of our former wicked ruler’s conquests. Free gold!”
Many groups gathered around with their hands out. When a certain number gathered, Sphiel stopped the cart and ordered the goblins to pass out a few gold coins to each of them. At the beginning, a few greedy goblins rushed the cart, hoping to get first dibs on the gold. However, after receiving a brutal thrashing from Shiva, the rest of the goblins of the village approached the carts in an orderly fashion, under the watchful eye of the troll.
The march went on for two hours. Gulpgulp stopped many times and complained about how heavy the cart was, but a sharp backhand from Sphiel and a few threats of mutilation kept him moving.
The group handed out most of the gold when they stopped in front of the first house Sphiel had come to when she first snuck into the city.
“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? A lot of players would kill, literally, to become a queen, even if it is of a goblin village.” Shiva said as the goblins unfastened the king’s reigns from the cart.
Sphiel nodded. “I know, but I don’t want to be a queen. It doesn’t seem like it would be any fun. Besides, I feel this is the right thing to do.”
The troll shrugged. Sphiel took the reigns strapped around Gulpgulp’s shoulders and led him into the house.
Much of the furniture was still overturned and broken plates and wooden silverware littered the floor. The goblin woman and her two children worked together to clean up the mess Sphiel helped cause during her fight in the house. They looked up at the elf as she held the humiliated, grime covered monarch. The goblin woman’s eyes widened as she looked at Gulpgulp, then at the elf. “What is this?”
Sphiel motioned to Gulpgulp and he glowered up at her. Sphiel put a hand on her sword and gave the former king a nasty look. “If you don’t tell her what I told you to tell her, I’ll cut your tongue out and feed it to you. Now, do it.”
The elf’s final words were harsh. Gulpgulp flinched and slowly turned to the woman. “Good lady, I am Gulpgulp, the stupid, evil, smelly, coward that was your former ruler. I was deposed by the beautiful and powerful sorceress spell singer Sphiel. To say she’s sorry for wrecking your house, she’d decided to confer upon you rulership of the goblin tribe until a leader is elected.” The former king’s words were as deflated as the goblin who said them.
The confused goblin woman looked up at Sphiel. The elf bowed and explained why she was there in the village and what transpired during her fight with Gulpgulp.
“When I won the fight, the goblin guards began calling me queen, but I have no desire to rule you or your people. You all should have the opportunity to rule yourselves and choose your own leader. I don’t want to influence the process, so I want to give the power to another one of your people while the decision was being made. You’re the first person I thought of. Do you accept?”
The small woman looked at her children and at the rest of the goblins, not sure what to say.
“Just say yes,” Shiva said. “We’ll hang around and help you if you have any trouble.
The goblin woman straightened. She thought quietly for a few moments before nodding. “Okay, I accept.”
Gulpgulp dejectedly took the silver circlet he wore and placed it on the female’s head. The other goblins fell to their knee. The former king was hesitant to kneel, but a yank on his reins from Sphiel coerced him and he followed suit.
The goblin woman, Hantaptia, immediately ordered Gulpgulp to be cast out of the tribe f
or his crimes against them and for Sphiel and Shiva to be given “the best room in the royal palace,” which equated to sleeping bags on a dirt floor, after the elf helped her finish cleaning up the mess in her home.
The new goblin queen took to her role with gusto, ordering the beginning of building projects that would create cabins made of wood instead of dirt hovels the goblins lived in and the creation of farms to increase food production. She opened relations with two goblin tribes in the area and created a defensive pact with them and began the construction of a palisade around the village to protect it from future invaders.
It took two weeks for the election for a new monarch to be set up. By this time the goblins saw how capable their temporary ruler was, and elected her to the throne unanimously.
Sphiel and Shiva left the tribe when they were sure things were stable and the new queen offered them a good portion of Gulpgulp’s remaining gold that hadn’t been given to the citizens as a thank you, but they only took a few pouches of coins and gems.
Elf and troll left the village victoriously with promises to return and made their way back toward the clearing. Sphiel grinned as she walked through the forest with a lively bounce in her step. Her wounds were completely healed and she’d been given a few potions by a goblin witch doctor that filled her with a lively vitality.
She looked up at all of the tall trees of the Wilderwood, their thick branches looming ominously dark overhead. When she first started playing the game, being in such a place would’ve thrown her into fits. Now, she felt at home among the wood. Eventually she wanted to take a camping trip in the real world to spend time in an actual forest.
When they reached the clearing, both women gasped. Lush grasses grew across the clearing. The little pond was full of sparkling water and teeming with fish. The rock that Sphiel used to meditate on was had a smooth sheen that gleamed in the sunlight.
Sphiel walked over to Balanos’s tree. It’d doubled in size since they left and was now a good fifteen feet tall. Many silver leaves cast glittering sparkles over the entirety of the clearing. The totem Shiva gave her wasn’t there. This didn’t bother the elf. She looked at the vibrant plant life in the clearing and felt his memory would be preserved.
“This place looks amazing,” Shiva said as she took a seat beneath the large white tree.
“I know, right. You think the game designers did this for us?” Sphiel said.
“More likely they did it for you. Since you didn’t want Balanos back, they probably wanted to do something nice for you.”
“They didn’t have to, but I appreciate the gesture. So, what now?”
“What else? We’re adventurers, so we adventure.”
“I don’t know if I’m up to another adventure, I think I’m adventured out for now. How about you?”
“I’m always up to adventure. I took part in this beta test because I was tired of looking at the same four walls and wanted to see other places. After I rest up for a bit I’m gonna head north. There’s supposedly an entire area filled with monster villages and I want to see it.”
“What are you going to do while you’re there?”
Shiva shrugged. “I don’t know, cause general mischief. I’m curious to see what the other monsters are like in this game. It might be fun, want to come along?”
Sphiel looked at her knees for a long moment and shook her head. “Not right now. I want to see more of the forest. I haven’t found any other elves and I want to see what other kinds of fey creatures they programmed into the game. I’ll come up and visit you, but for now, I just want to explore the forest. Maybe I’ll depose another goblin king and become an evil despot queen.”
Shiva laughed. “Don’t do it. I don’t doubt that you could become a queen, but I don’t think you’d like it much. Your subjects would end up loving you but you’d have to endlessly deal with people trying to take your throne, if this game is as realistic as it seems to be. You’d end up spending as much time warding off assassination attempts as you would taking care of your people. That’s why I’m glad you chose not to be a queen. I wouldn’t relish spending all of my time protecting you from other stupid ambitious goblins who’d try to take your throne.”
Sphiel looked up at Shiva. “You’d stick around to make sure I was safe?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
The elf smiled and leaned back against the tree. “Thanks for that, and everything. You really helped me a lot.”
“Just don’t let it get around. If everyone knew I was as beautiful on the inside as I am on the out, then everyone would want my help.”
Sphiel chuckled and smiled at the clear blue sky above. A few hawks circled high underneath the brilliant yellow sun and a gentle wind caressed her cheeks.
TWENTY EIGHT
Later Shiva went into the woods and brought back the treasures both of them had accumulated. The amount was substantial, at least it was according to the troll; Sphiel still had no idea what “a lot” was according to the game’s economy.
Shiva left almost all of it with Sphiel, despite the elf’s protests. The troll didn’t want to carry “all that glittery junk” with her. The troll helped Sphiel build a hut and dig a hole to bury the wealth before heading off on another adventure in the north.
Sphiel spent the rest of that play session setting up her new dwelling before logging off.
Mandy took off the VR band and walked into the living room where her sister and father were watching television. They made room for her on the couch and she plopped down and told them about her session.
After she defeated Gulpgulp, Mandy had been making regular forays into the living room to spend time with her family. Her father and sister encouraged this by spending most of their time there as well. They would all sit together paying little attention to what was on the television screen while they talked about Mandy’s game and whatever other topics happened to come up.
Mandy also had taken up cooking. She wasn’t very partial toward the task, but it gave her an excuse to leave her room. Her father and sister were amazed at how little time she spent in her room, and she was as well. There were evenings she didn’t want to go back into her room, so she camped out on the couch and watched TV while she drifted off to sleep.
Whenever she was in her room, Mandy spent an inordinate amount of time looking out of her window. She could actively imagine herself walking down the street, basking in the sunlight while she headed toward whatever destination she could think up.
These exercises brought back memories of her time in high school. These thoughts of her past didn’t hurt anymore. They were just thoughts of a different time, things that she did when she was younger. She yearned for these times, and she figured she always would, but to her, they were just events that happened on the long road that lay ahead of her.
Mandy’s spirits were lifted considerably when Natalie told her Qualmore College was still interested in recruiting her and offered her a scholarship. Since Mandy didn’t need so much supervision during the day, this freed her sister up to go to practice more. Natalie regained her starting position as a striker and distinguished herself on the field enough to garner the recruiter’s interest.
Mandy awoke on that Saturday morning happier than she’d been in a long time. She got ready, went back to her room, and turned on the computer. It was time for her weekly psychiatric meeting with Dr. Braun. Doctors Braun and Thames were ecstatic with her progress. Dr. Thames published his preliminary findings and used Mandy as the primary selling point of his experimental hypothesis. According to Dr. Braun, the psychiatric community as a whole was intrigued and more tests like hers were planned in the future.
Dr. Braun’s face came upon the screen. He smiled at Mandy and straightened his thick glasses on his nose. “Hello Mandy, how are you this fine morning?”
Mandy smiled. “I’m good.” She surprised herself with her enthusiasm.
“I’m glad to hear. So I spoke with Dr. Thames this morning about your progress. After so
me consideration, we’ve come to the conclusion that you’re ready for the final phase.”
“What would that be?”
“Instead of conducting your weekly meeting here, what would you think of coming to my office?”
Mandy’s head tilted. “You mean like, your physical office?”
“Yes. My colleague and I believe that you’re showing a great deal of confidence in your surroundings and that you’re ready to you’re ready for limited public contact.”
Fear flared up in Mandy’s gut. “How limited?”
“Just me and your family. You’ve progressed by leaps and bounds, but I don’t think you’re ready for full public contact yet.”
Mandy chewed her lips. “I don’t think I am either. I don’t even know if I’m ready for this. Have you spoke to my dad about it?”
“Yes, and your sister. Both are eager for you to take this next step, but only if you’re ready.”
Mandy looked away from her computer screen and sighed. “When did you want to do this?”
“I was hoping we could try today, but we can put it off until later.”
Fear oozed around Mandy’s stomach. She was queasy. She looked up at her computer screen with determination etched in her face. “I can do today.”
“Are you sure?”
Mandy nodded.
“Okay. I don’t have any guests in my office so you shouldn’t feel uncomfortable coming in. However, at the first sign of pressure, I want you to head straight home.”
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary, sir.”
“Alright then. I look forward to meeting with you at my office. If plans change, just call me.”
The computer screen blinked off. Mandy’s legs were shaky as she stood up from the chair. Her muscles tightened and she walked over to the door to her room. When she opened it her sister was there, dressed in her nicest black T-shirt and pants.
Mandy frowned. “You’ve been waiting on me, haven't you.”
Sphiel's Song (A GameLit Virtual Fantasy Adventure) Page 17