The Goblin and the Empire

by JD Cole

  Returning to Valentine’s room, he addressed her. “Alright, then, we are agreed. I take you outside and show you the landscape, you help me and the sprites.”

  “Yes. Unless the landscape I see outside looks like Earth, in which case you are a liar and we renegotiate.”

  “Fair enough, Dejah, though if you think the Faery Realm looks familiar to anything you’re used to, I’m moving to your neighborhood when we get back to Earth.”

  ~

  Humans were immune to necromancy, and Dufangen could not think of a legitimate reason not to use the prisoners for the queen’s benefit, uneasy as she was with their presence in the realm. Derek’s plan required a moderately powerful looking glass, with its larger lens removed. The sprites procured an instrument modified to suit his needs.

  Armored sprite guards stood now at the entrances to the balcony, which was large enough for a block party, the humans all thought. Colonel Marc Tritt and Doctor Cynthia Valentine stood at the balcony’s edge, unable to fully process what they were seeing. As the Hood had warned them, it looked nothing like Earth. They were over a mile above the ground, with a spectacular view of the realm. It looked like a fantasy painting come to life. Even the plants were as alien to the humans as the faeries were, the staggering variety of countless species adorning the mountain around them --they learned this castle was literally carved into a mountain-- and the beautifully colored trees of the forest that surrounded the mountain. The evening sky was an orange-tinted blue, clear as crystal with clouds of white hovering on the horizon where distant, tiny mountain peaks could be seen. Several little villages could be seen in the distance, some within the forest, others far outside of it.

  “How...” Dr. Valentine stuttered. “How can we not see this from Earth? We’re on Mars, you say, but the sky looks exactly as it does outside my house! Where are we? Exactly?”

  Derek lifted a finely finished scope, roughly the length of his arm. A navigational aid, almost protractor-like, was mounted near the eye piece. The brass trim and knobs made it look like something straight out of a steam-punk anime. “Ready, Undine?”

  “Indeed, Hood.”

  He held the scope up to his eye, making a show of scanning the upward in search of something, when in reality he was silently fine-tuning his intentions to the elemental. Then he handed the instrument to the doctor, pointing to a spot in the sky. “Look there.”

  Valentine did so, completely unaware that the objective lens was a disc of water created by Undine. The elemental now created an illusion in the water, coached in real-time by Derek who granted her permission to feed images to his mind of what was being shown to Valentine. Guided by her master’s instruction, Undine manipulated the water molecules to refract light such that they created faint stars, arranged by rapidly calculating solutions to where the stars seen from Earth would be located if seen instead from somewhere north of the Olympus Mons on Mars. It was, of course, nowhere near an exact representation, but it didn’t need to be. It just needed to be good enough.

  “That star,” Dr. Valentine observed. Undine had created a bright, fuzzy orb exactly where Derek told her to.

  “That’s the Earth,” Derek lied.

  Valentine lowered the scope from her eyes, a blank look on her face. She handed the telescope back to the Hood, her hand visibly trembling. Marc’s hand closed over her shoulder. “Hey, what’s wrong? Doctor?”

  “You win,” she said softly, as the vigilante took the tampered prop from her. She looked up at Marc. “He wasn’t lying, Colonel. Somehow... we’re not on Earth. They really took us to Mars. These beings are capable of interplanetary travel, and if they can do that...”

  Marc sucked in a deep breath, taking another look at the realm sprawled out before him, then looked at Dufangen and the Hood. “So what is it we’re supposed to do? What did you bring us here for?”

  The Hood shook his head. “You just happened to be captured at a really bad time. The queen would probably have sent you home after interrogating you and warning you to leave me alone. Unfortunately, now she’s not in a position to see you, let alone help you.” He turned to the mystic. “Would it be alright to bring the rest of the prisoners here? It’ll be easier to explain the situation after everyone’s had some time to absorb the shock.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  The human prisoners reacted far more calmly to his deception than Derek had thought they would. It was true that apart from Dr. Valentine, they were all highly trained combat veterans, but he had expected the revelation of being stuck on Mars to warrant a response beyond “is the Martian chow any good?”

  After a quick confab on the balcony to allow everyone the chance to see the realm, and peer through the altered looking glass if they wished, the prisoners were now all back in their holding rooms enjoying some “Martian” chow.

  Lumina and Brevha were now at Tirapan to see if any help was to be had from the Paladins. Derek slowly paced the balcony, awaiting the arrival of faery military planners to begin putting together ideas for rescuing the Queen’s father, and Derek decided that he would work under the assumption that Tirapan would not help. If that changed, it should only make things easier, so it was better to plan for a more difficult path.

  As he paced, Derek noted the design of the balcony railing; apart from the obvious artistic beauty, he realized there was a functionality to it, as well. The railing was tall enough for sprites to lean on, but the railings were halved at a height that was suitable for humans to lean on, then halved again at a height that looked about right for mystics and elves. At each halving, the gap between railing posts shrank as well; there was plenty of room for Derek to lean out between the gaps at his level with the sprite-level rail arched well above his head, and down near his thighs the gap was only wide enough for a smaller faery to lean out. Below that, it appeared the gaps were only wide enough for mystics to put their feet through. Derek decided it must be a headache designing architecture suited to creatures of such varying size.

  Undine had manifested herself as the White Hood and was leaning against a railing nearby, confident that her master would have need of her. She did not have to wait long.

  “Undine, help me understand what the Goblin King is doing. How can he use Kelli’s father to hurt her?” Derek’s visor was deactivated; no faux eyes were illuminated under the mask, and the mask itself was not mimicking his brow’s expressions.

  Undine gazed up at the mountain peaks. “Typically, blood element is understood as the medium required for healing skills. In actuality, it is a transference and enhancement of energy from other elements into energy that can be used by your life-force. Often times for healing, but it can be used in many other ways related to your... biology is the term you are familiar with. Enhancing your strength or stamina, allowing you to breathe underwater, temporary immunization from poisons, things like that.” Undine pushed off from the railing to pace in front of Derek, continuing.

  “Necromancy, however, is a perversion of blood element. There is an event that is not completely understood, at least here in Windham, when a faery expires. At the moment of death, the faery releases a burst of magic, a pulse that is more powerful than all the magic the creature ever possessed in life. The pulse fades quicker than most sorcerers are able to detect, let alone grab hold of to manipulate. Well, ‘fades’ is perhaps the wrong term. The energy released at death is quickly absorbed by the other elements, typically earth and ether, or, in the case of drowning, water.

  “Capturing that release is extremely difficult to do, and Ercianodhon was the first we know of to ever accomplish it. Not only was he the first to master this skill, he has become the embodiment of its power. He developed the ‘dark element’, a facsimile of blood element which he uses to create goblins. The old legends say that he was once a sorcerer obsessed with immortality, and his experiments resulted in his cursed magic. He cannot approach any faery without killing them and translating their blood element, their end-of-life energy pulse, into the magic that sustains his
immortality. Now, whether that origin is true, I cannot say, but what I’ve told you about his power and immortality is undisputed fact.”

  “Okay, so he’s a walking induction coil. What will he do to Kelli’s dad?”

  “Being so closely related, they share a blood-element link. This can be exploited by sorcerers skilled in blood element as well as necromancy in any number of ways. Ercianodhon can cast spells against Kelli by using her father as a conduit to deliver the magic.”

  “He’s going to use Kelli’s dad like a voodoo doll?”

  “Voodoo doll?”

  Derek sighed. “You may view my thoughts on voodoo to gain an understanding.”

  “Thank you, Hood.” She stared at him for half a moment. “I see. Yes, that concept is superstition for humans, but very much a possibility for necromancers. He will not need to harm the Queen’s father, though he may out of pure spite. The blood element is a delivery mechanism. The sprites and mystics have a powerful shield over the Queen right now, but that blood connection will make it much easier for the King to find a way to defeat or circumvent that shield.”

  “And that,” came a voice from the balcony entrance, “is why we must retrieve Her Majesty’s father at once.”

  Derek turned to see several sprites, mystics, elves, and vampyres joining them. Undine evaporated with a silent wave of the hand from the Hood. The vampyre who had spoken, obviously through someone’s language spell, stepped up to Derek and held out his hand. When Derek responded in kind, the vampyre grasped Derek’s forearm in greeting. “It is an honor to meet you, Master Hood. I am Meshrah Torulu’vin. I am one of the war council’s pembruh, an advisor, if you like.”

  “Um, hello, honored to meet you, as well,” Derek replied. The vampyre had an obvious reaction to Derek’s auto-tuned voice, but quickly composed himself. The Hood decided to keep his visor deactivated; there was no need to unsettle his allies unnecessarily.

  Meshrah was the first vampyre Derek had ever met. Dressed in a lightweight armor ensemble, he was proportioned like a human, roughly eight inches taller than Derek, but his ears were pointy, and so were his teeth. Meshrah’s hair was jet-black, and his skin was a milky-gray. Most jarringly, his smoky blue eyes had no pupils.

  Meshrah gestured to his group. “Allow me to introduce you to our tacticians.”

  Derek nodded to each individual as they were named. Most of them appeared to be military and militia-types, except for the mystics who were there representing magic support from the council.

  Following introductions, the group moved to one of the several tables available on the balcony. “You are the first human I have ever met,” Meshra began, “but it was my understanding that this planning group would involve the humans brought here by the queen?”

  “I thought it would be best to get a handle on what we’re dealing with before I bring in the rest of them,” Derek replied. “Until a few hours ago, they had no idea faeries or this realm existed. It can be a lot to process.”

  “Indeed,” Meshrah agreed. “I must admit, I am curious as to how or why you humans would help us. This rescue will be difficult in the extreme, but I believe our forces are up to the task, as long as we can maintain the element of surprise. Still, the council has mandated working cooperatively with the humans on this. Also, I apologize if this is rude, but do you humans normally mask yourselves? I much prefer to look a potential friend... or foe... in the eye.”

  “Sorry,” Derek spread his hands disarmingly, “when I’m on mission, the mask stays on.”

  “I meant no offense,” the vampyre replied.

  Derek leaned forward. “There was none taken. So, can I ask how we’re going to get the queen’s father back?”

  “How familiar are you with the realm?”

  “Not at all, I’m afraid.”

  “Again, no disrespect, but I fail to see how you could be of aid.” Derek felt Undine bristling at the minor slight, and realized he was, as well. Meshrah nodded to one of the mystics, who lifted his small staff and murmured a spell. Instantly, the entire balcony space was overlaid with an almost holographic map of the Faery Realm. Meshrah stood and began pointing out areas of interest.

  “We are here, at Windham,” he pointed at the large mountain at the center of the topographical illusion, which lacked detail apart from blobby shapes and basic colors. Derek would have preferred a photorealistic 3D render, but such was magic, he supposed. Maybe greater detail took more exertion than the spell-caster deemed necessary for this task? “The Goblin King has the Queen’s father in his fortress,” Meshrah took a few steps away from the table and pointed all the way to the edge of the balcony, where a mirror image of Windham Castle was cut into the Faery Realm’s crater wall. “All the way out there... Gedaschen Castle. We are suggesting a small party infiltrate Gedaschen by traversing the high slopes, where detection is least likely, and secretly entering the castle at its upper levels.

  “Unfortunately, traveling by ethergate into the Shadowlands would immediately alert the Goblin King and his forces to our presence. This is currently our primary obstacle. Navigating the Shadowlands undetected will take time, time we likely do not have. It will take even longer to scale the slopes of the Gedaschen range to find a quiet way into the castle. There are places within the Badlands that we could open ethergates to,” Derek observed the several points of interest Meshrah pointed to, all of them significantly distant from Gedaschen Castle. “But unless we can devise some ingenuity that will get us into the castle immediately, without also getting us all killed, there is no getting around the fact that from this border,” the vampyre waved his finger across a swathe of badland country, “the rescue party must make their way on foot to the mountains.”

  The group stood and followed Meshrah as he walked all the way to where the image of Gedaschen Castle stood. “Though these areas of the mountain are not well-populated, the rescue party would still need to be on guard for solsdren, as well as the possibility of wyrm nests.”

  “Wyrms?” Derek asked. “Solsdren?”

  “The wyrms, many of the commoners mistake them for Dragons.” A magic image of such a creature appeared, but this time it was an actual, detailed depiction. The thing looked spooky. Derek was impressed. “Giant, flying lizards. Very nasty, very territorial. Very dangerous.”

  “Mmkay, and solsdren?”

  One of the elves stepped forward. “Master human. I am a vyzen, a wood elf. The solsdren are ice elves. They are physically similar to my people, but with a high tolerance, even a preference, for cold climates. They live in the icy slopes around Gedaschen, and are known for using cold-based magics, sometimes as a weapon but mostly in powerful defensive spells.”

  “So, we bring extra thermite. Got it.”

  The faeries traded glances with each other, but none of them knew what “thermite” was.

  Derek paced the magical image of Gedaschen, studying and thinking. He realized something when looking at the size of both Gedaschen and Windham. “Could you focus this image and show me what it actually looks like?” The mystic nodded and adjusted his spell. Derek glanced back and forth at the two castles once more. “The castles look similar to each other in your image. Is Gedaschen built like a mirror to Windham?”

  “Yes, the exterior, at least.”

  “So the interior of the castle, is it exactly the same as Windham, too?”

  “Unknown,” Meshrah replied. “No one has ever been inside and lived to report on it.”

  “What are the odds it would be the same, considering how exactly he copied the exterior?”

  “Apologies, but I cannot answer that with any confidence.”

  “S’okay, I was mostly thinking out loud,” the Hood agreed. “What would it take to get a spy inside to find Kelli’s- sorry, the queen’s dad?”

  “A Dragon,” the vampyre answered, to the muted chuckles of his peers. “The mystics cannot even scrye the Goblin King’s holdings.”

  “Scrye?”

  The faeries looked at each
other incredulously as Meshrah responded with a stutter. “It... it is the method of spirit sight.” The Hood gave no indication that he understood. “To unshackle the spirit from the body in order to witness events across great distances?”

  “You can do that?”

  Meshra missed a breath before letting out an exasperated sigh. “Yes. Yes, Master Hood, the mystics can do that. What, exactly, can you do? What do your people offer to this quest, other than Undine?”

  “I believe a challenge is in order,” came from another vampyre in the group. Murmurs of agreement spread.

  “Caution, Master,” Undine warned silently.

  Derek gazed across the collection of faeries. “Fair enough,” he said. “I don’t disagree that you have no reason to trust me, and I certainly cannot expect you to place confidence in the only unknown individual at your table. I do not have the weapons or equipment here that I plan to use in this... uh, quest. So, I cannot immediately demonstrate their value to you, we will have to wait until the mystic council allows the humans to retrieve the items and bring them here.”

  “If I may be blunt,” came from a sprite advisor, “we all know the legends surrounding your people… but they are just that. Legends. We believe you are only here because you were with the queen when she was found in the human world. Our fear is that you are, for lack of a better word, an ornament... your presence merely a political concession to the queen’s family.”

  “Ah, gotcha,” Derek nodded. “Is that the consensus, then?” Derek saw everyone nodding sternly. “All right, can’t say I blame you for having no confidence in the foreigner. I’d definitely feel the same in your place. So, what about this challenge? What would set your mind at ease?” The magic topography disappeared from the balcony.