The Goblin and the Empire

by JD Cole

  Ercianodhon’s curse had destroyed her ability to have children.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Ercianodhon was the last one through his ethergate, following the hordes of his army into the courtyard ahead. This time he was fully adorned in his gleaming white and gold armor. Most of the pieces were lined internally with rags soaked in cooling salves to ease the armor’s contact with his skin. It also helped buffer against the pain of being struck, but not by much. To keep enemies at bay, he also had his fearsome trident, forged of mythrill, trinigar, and powerfully enchanted gems to boost his own skills and endurances. Not an inch of him was left exposed for blades to pierce; the eyes of his helmet were narrow slots that ran down the length of his maw, but meshed with fine mythrill wiring like a fishnet. A cleverly designed section of his armor running the entirety of his spine protected his tail and wings, with several plates of varying size and materials covering him like metal feathers and only slightly hampering his ability to fly.

  Khun Rhee was near enough that the Goblin King could make out the details of his armor as he rode his mount through the sea of shadowlanders, killing vampyres, irenaks and minotaur like they were nothing. “Come on, then,” Ercianodhon growled. “You have the gall to use my father’s power against me? I won’t bother to torture you, I’ll just kill you and drink your life force as it is. I wonder if I will get some of Father’s soul along with yours?”

  In the distance, those cursed humans were continuing to keep his forces from reaching the escaping slaves. He would deal with Tirapan in due time. Fearsome enemies they were —he had not forgotten the suffering they’d inflicted during the Sen’giza war— but they were mortals, nonetheless. And after these events, he now had the will to endure any pain to exact revenge on all of the Faery Realm.

  The goblin troops began giving Khun his space, commanded as they were by Ercianodhon’s very thoughts. The irenaks and other loyal fae took their cue and left the General alone. Khun paused over a hundred paces away, just beyond the killing range of the Goblin King’s invisible life-stealing field. Even at that distance though, Khun Rhee could feel the effects, as could the gherat. The beast noticeable weakened, looking as if it suddenly needed a nap. Khun dismounted, slapping the gherat’s rump after sliding to the ground. The six-legged creature gratefully turned and charged back toward the walls, its armor deflecting most of the stabs and slices from goblins and irenaks as the gherat crushed and swatted its way through them, studiously avoiding the numerous minotaur and trolls in its path.

  Khun stepped forward, claymore held ready in both of his hands, a stone look of determination on his face.

  Ercianodhon walked casually toward him. “The last faery to personally challenge me was King Bekitin. You remember him don’t you General?”

  “I do,” Khun answered, pacing to keep himself outside the Goblin King’s area of effect. “He battled you with honor and courage.”

  Ercianodhon laughed with genuine humor. “Honor and courage? The sprite was deluded into thinking the Birthright could save him. He fought like a fool, and died like a fool.”

  “He saved his son, and countless others,” Khun replied coolly, “sacrificing himself to keep you from murdering his people and his family. But you know nothing of selfless sacrifice.”

  “You’re right,” Ercianodhon snarled. “I only know how to be sacrificed. And what did my sacrifice gain you people? A few years without worry of necromancy, while you all continued warring and killing each other, hmm? So noble and courageous.”

  “You exist only to kill and feed and torture. I will not debate morality with a creature like you.”

  “Very well, we can commence with your death. I have already killed your new Queen, and she didn’t even put up a fight. I do hope you offer more sport than she did.”

  Khun’s eyes narrowed. “You lie,” he hissed, keeping the deception alive.

  “Yes, sometimes,” the Goblin King replied with an evil grin that Krin could practically see through his helmet. “But not today. The truth is far more delicious.” He gestured to the General. “Come now, and avenge her if you can!”

  Khun Rhee had been steeling himself for this moment ever since this war had been approved by the council. With the exception of a sprite monarch wielding the Birthright, he was the only faery who stood any chance of surviving an encounter with the world’s first Goblin. Khun himself was keenly familiar with sacrifice, remembering the day tens of thousands of years ago when he had obeyed his duty to become swayeveh, a Dragonhold; giving up a future with the young mystic girl he loved more than anything, to forever alter his mind and physiology by allowing himself to be turned into a living prison for Kraayek, the Illeyark who had raped Yizidia Windham, thereby killing the queen-to-be by impregnating her with this wicked monster.

  “Drenistozahs Ossecturan,” Khun whispered. Ercianodhon grunted loudly as Khun’s spell magnified the weight of his armor, pulling him into the ground. A low rumble sounded from deep in the Goblin King’s throat even as he dropped to one knee. With great effort and more magic than he’d wanted to use this soon, he broke Khun’s spell and lurched to his feet, only to find the General had rapidly closed the distance between them.

  Necromancy immediately began to feed on Khun as he charged. But in return for his personal sacrifice in becoming a swayeveh, the mystic had inherited much of the imprisoned Kraayek’s power. It was the only way to actually imprison a Dragon: using his or her own immense magic against them. Most of that god-like power was dedicated to the sole purpose of keeping Kraayek bound. But the extra magic that went unused flowed into Khun himself, in some cases making him even more powerful than someone who had mastered the Birthright. He charged now, trusting that power to sustain him against necromancy long enough for his troops to get the slaves to safety.

  ~

  Kelli stepped through the ethergate into Khun’s command camp with Dufangen, Sorvir and five of her guards. The ethergate immediately closed behind them, as the wizards struggled to hold it open in this warded area even for as long as they had. The Sprite Queen, her helmet open at the moment, stared at the ghastly scene of the battlefield. Pieces of shadowlanders and goblins littered the entire area, chopped up to ensure no new goblins rose from the remains. In the distance, she could see a large portion of the Goblin King’s army washing through the woods into the great forest, to the sound of gunfire and explosions. She saw Paladins atop the walls in Matari firing their vissin weapons into the city.

  “What’s this, then?” someone barked behind her. Kelli and her group turned to see several sprites, dwarves, vampyres and elves, all heavily armed and armored, and a few humans surrounding General Sean Vox. The sprite who’d demanded the question stepped forward, then spotted Dufangen. “Counselor? What are you doing here?” His eyes then immediately went to the strangely armored human surrounded by members of the Crown Guard.

  “You will-” Dufangen started, at about the same moment Pembruh Meshra began to speak. But Kelli leaned down to grip her shoulder, and Dufangen held her tongue, as did Meshra when he saw the gesture.

  Kelli took a few steps to present herself to everyone. “My name is Kelli. I have inherited the Birthright through Arii Leemwen Moniscii, and I am your new Queen.”

  All of the faeries looked at each other, skeptical and bewildered, but when they looked to Dufangen to counter Kelli’s outrageous claim, Dufangen merely nodded. “The Queen is here to confront the Goblin King,” she announced.

  Everyone save for the humans immediately dropped to one knee and bowed, shouting “My Queen!” nearly in unison.

  Kelli looked around the numerous camps, using the Birthright to slowly feel everyone’s presence. Her attention was immediately drawn to the hospital camp, and she turned to the army leaders. “I can’t spare too much energy before I take on the Goblin King, but,” she pointed toward the triage areas, “if there’s anybody close to death, please take me to them immediately!”

  “As you command!” replied the sprite who’d harshly ques
tioned her at first. Before flying off to follow him, Kelli turned to the humans, taking in the sight of Sean Vox for the first time. “I would like to meet with all of you when this is over.”

  “I would appreciate that, your Highness,” Sean agreed.

  Kelli entered the large tent just behind the sprite commander who’s name she really needed to learn later. But at the moment she was made speechless visiting her first battlefield hospital. Numerous faeries lay beneath bloody sheets, many of them clearly missing limbs, eyes, ears. The sprite who’d led her here was in a far corner whispering with a vampyre —one of the doctors— whose eyes widened before looking over at Kelli. He nodded frantically to the sprite and made his way to Kelli. “Highness,” he bowed his head low, but only for a moment. The gesture quickly ingratiated him to the new Queen, who appreciated that he didn’t waste time with protocol. He waved his arm at the left side of the tent, where a large area was curtained off. “The fae there do not have long,” he said softly; whispering was useless around wolves, kathet and elves. “We care for them behind cover so that the others aren’t made to watch them expire.”

  Kelli nodded and quickly made her way inside the hospice section. There was even a separate exit here so the dead bodies didn’t need to be carried out in front of the other patients. The smell of death and decay almost overpowered her, but she forced herself to stand next to the first patient, an unconscious wolf with a ghastly, infected wound in his head. Kelli removed the bandage, touching the wound and concentrating, feeling her anger rise at the bacteria and organisms she discovered eating the wolf alive. She immediately killed them off and used a burst of blood magic to heal the damage done to his skull and his brain, then sealed his wound. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes to review her handiwork, her gauntlet coming away from the matted fur sticky and red despite there no longer being a bleeding hole in his head. She washed her hands and moved from one patient to the next, healing as best she could. The impressive skill she’d gained in shi’un with Sorvir had been long since forgotten, but much of her experiences remained, if nothing more than fleeting intuition as she worked. There were almost twenty dying fae in all, with most of the others, she learned, having been spirited back to the elf capitol at Jenshire by Khun Rhee.

  When she finished, she pulled the doctor aside. “I’ve done what I can for them. They’ll all live, but I’m afraid I’m not skilled enough yet to understand head injuries. Some of them might wake up… different. I’m not sure, sorry. But they’ll survive.”

  “Thank you,” the doctor threw his fist over his heart and bowed again. “My Queen, from the bottom of all our hearts, thank you!”

  “When the war is over, or at least, when I’ve dealt with the Goblin King and regained my strength, I will try to help with the rest of the soldiers.”

  By now, the rest of the camp was alive with the news that there was a new Sprite Queen who had traveled from Windham to meet them. When Kelli stepped out from the hospital tent, she was met by over a hundred fae, all of them suddenly confused. But the royal guards surrounding her shouted “Kneel before your Queen!”, and like a wave rushing outward from her, the crowd knelt with fists over heart. Kelli could hear them murmuring “queen” and “how” and “human”. Unsure of what she was supposed to do, she raised a hand for attention, and as one the faeries aimed their gaze at her.

  “I-I know you have a million questions,” she shouted. “Yes, I am a human, but I am of the bloodline of Arii Moniscii.” Kelli blazed the Birthright through her eyes, allowing emerald light to bathe everyone immediately in front of her. Cries of joy and surprise sounded as she defeated one of the wards in front of her and forced an explosion of flowerbeds and berry bushes to appear from beneath the gathered faeries. “You have fought bravely to save people enslaved by the Goblin King, and look!” she pointed in the distance, to where an obvious mass of refugees were being herded toward the camps by the army. “Those slaves are free because of you!” The fae cheered at the sight and at her words. “The Goblin King is coming here himself to try and stop you, which is why I’m here. You have all done your part… you have worked actual miracles here! But now it’s my turn. I swear I will keep the Goblin King off of my armies until you can get those slaves… no, not slaves, they aren’t slaves anymore! Take your brothers and sisters home, fae!” Again a raucous chorus bombarded her, and Kelli summoned her levitation cloak, closing her helmet and flying quickly toward Matari with her guards. As they flew, her army waved and cheered her on, bringing even more fae —the support troops guarding and tending the camps— to join them from all over the sprawling tents behind the battlefield.

  ~

  Ercianodhon brought the butt of his trident up to deflect Khun’s claymore. The two warriors clashed in a dazzling display of weapons discipline, equally matched in attacking and defending. Magical energy arced as they threw spells at each other, using everything in their elemental arsenals to overcome each other. The Goblin King blocked another downward slash from Khun’s mighty sword. Ercianodhon used one of his trident’s enchantments to shine a bright beam of light into Khun’s eyes. Khun did not immediately react except to close his eyes in pain, but Ercianodhon shoved him backward and took advantage of the General’s momentary blindness by swinging ferociously at his head. The blow nearly knocked Khun unconscious, and even ripped the thick wyrm-leather straps that held it in place. Around the battling titans, occasional explosions continued to remove scores of shadowlanders from the courtyard as the humans resumed their mortar attacks.

  Khun dove back to safety, pulling the helmet free as his vision slowly cleared. Two of his sharp, feline-like teeth had been cleanly knocked out of his skull, and he spit them on the ground, blood dribbling down his chin. His cat-like ears flittered in annoyance, and eyes cleared enough that he could make out shapes and colors. He focused on the King, whispering a spell. Lightning breached the sky, but Ercianodhon lifted his trident just in time to absorb the attack, sending directly at Khun instead. The General, in turn, raised his hand and caught the lightning bolt against his armored palm, gritting his teeth as he fell to one knee. He stabbed his claymore into the earth and channeled the electrical blast into the ground, holding it in place beside him and converting the power into an earth spell. The entire episode happened in less than a few eye blinks, and Khun immediately hefted his sword from the dirt, sending a crackling, earth-splitting attack back at the Goblin King. Ercianodhon stumbled as a huge rift opened up at his feet, jolting him through his armor. He screamed in anguish and beat his armored wings to lift him above the pit that threatened to swallow him, then dove at Khun with his trident held ready to thrust.

  “Ekaturossi,” Khun whispered, flourishing his claymore one-handed. He used the wide blade to momentarily hide his free hand as it gripped the dueling blade at his hip. His spell charged the dueling blade with elemental power, and as the claymore swung out of the way, Khun launched the dueling sword at Ercianodhon. The magically-charged weapon spun at Ercianodhon’s chest like a rotor blade. Ercianodhon sensed the magic and lifted the tip of his trident to knock the sword away. His strike triggered the magic however, and what seemed like a lake’s worth of water exploded from the sword and showered over him, instantly freezing into a solid, jagged block of ice to trap the King.

  The ice block fell to the earth, and Khun roared another earth spell, creating pit of quicksand to swallow the frozen Goblin King. But before he could further entomb Ercianodhon, the icy block expanded outward with numerous spiky growths, most of them directed in Khun’s direction. Caught off guard, his earth spell broke as he dodged to the side. The ice block shattered, sending frozen projectiles in every direction, even killing some of Ercianodhon’s own irenaks and vampyres nearby as several shards pummeled Khun to the ground.

  “You,” Ercianodhon shivered, clearly in pain, “will pay for that.”

  Khun struggled to his feet, blood pouring over his left eye where a large icicle had nearly pierced his brow. Many spots on his armor near
the joints, where the material was not mythrill, were dinged or torn open. Huge clouds of white smoke suddenly began to rise in the distance outside the wall, and Khun knew that meant his troops had secured the slaves and were making their retreat. No one was completely safe yet, but General Khun Rhee had accomplished his goal: Matari’s slaves were free, and all he could do now was trust the allied humans and fae to protect them. He took a deep breath, then spread his hand toward the Goblin King, hurling a gale-force ether spell at him. “Here is my payment,” he growled, charging in behind his spell with his sword raised.

  Ercianodhon opened his wings to use the ether spell to his advantage, letting it carry him into the sky rather than push him backward. As he retreated aloft, he launched his trident through the wind at Khun. The three spear-like points practically ignored the wind as the trident bounced off Khun’s chest, knocking him backward. The trident’s enchantment carried it directly back into Ercianodhon’s hand. Khun rolled over, coughing. Despite his mythrill armor protecting him from impalement, the blow had a massive amount of force behind it, and having the wind knocked out of him in his quickly deteriorating state was a death sentence.

  He had barely managed to get up on his hands and knees before Ercianodhon crashed a heavy foot into his side, sending him back into the crushed cobblestones and dirt. The Goblin King tossed Khun’s huge claymore away and stared down at the General in contempt for a moment. Then he began hammering at the Dragonhold’s chest with his trident, each blow growing more harsh and furious as Khun coughed and suffocated, trying to breathe. Ercianodhon swiped at Khun’s head with the back end of his trident, and the General rolled over, gasping as he began losing his vision. Ercianodhon stabbed his trident into the ground and sat beside the dying Dragonhold. He was exhausted and reeling not just from being electrocuted and frozen, but the reverberations of his armor against his flesh and bones during the entire battle. His wrathful episode just now had made it infinitely worse, and he would be paying for it for days to come. Most of his goblins had already fallen over lifeless as he no longer had the energy to control them.