The Goblin and the Empire

by JD Cole

  Khun was just starting to regain his breath, and he rolled onto his stomach, struggling to crawl toward his dueling blade nearby.

  The Goblin King stood and pulled the trident free, then walked over to Khun and stomped a foot onto his back to hold him in place. “I will probably regret killing you and releasing Kraayek back into the world,” the Goblin King said. “But the beautiful thing is that, no matter what he might do to me, what he does to the sprites will be magnificently worse!” With that, he plunged the center spear of his trident through the base of Khun’s neck and into the earth. Ercianodhon stepped back and stared for several moments, half expecting Khun Rhee to lift himself up and pull the trident free.

  But Khun Rhee, the legendary swayeveh, known for most of his life throughout the Faery Realm as Dragonheart… was dead.

  With a sickening sound, Ercianodhon pulled the trident free and stepped back once more, watching and waiting with no small amount of fear. He looked around and up at the sky. “Well, father?” For several moments he stumbled one way and another, looking for any sign of Kraayek, eager to meet his father for the first time and get whatever torture awaited over and done with.

  But there was nothing. Ercianodhon stalked back to Khun’s body, kicking him over to stare into his lifeless eyes.

  “What have you done?”

  Ercianodhon looked up. Several sprites ringed the sky high around him, and someone he took to be a vampen hovering in their midst, a flowing cape of pure green light behind and about her. He raised his hand to block the sunlight. “Who… ?”

  Kelli reached out to Khun with the Birthright, praying to find just a spark of life that she could fan into a flame. But the General who’d started a war to save her life, a great hero she had never gotten the chance to meet and thank, was gone. And with him, the Dragon Kraayek, who was to blame for all of this.

  Kelli took a deep breath and opened her helmet, staring down her nemesis as he froze in shock at the sight of her. “Who am I?” she finished his question venomously. Her helmet closed and her eyes blazed white with fury. “I’m the Sprite Queen.”

  « CHAPTER 30 »

  The Rescue: Part 3

  Kirama sat next to the sacrifice table, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth. After all these ages, she dared to hope that her nightmare was finally over. The Sprite Queen herself had breached Ercianodhon’s castle, albeit in spirit form; but even that was a feat no one else in history could claim. And the Queen seemed confident that she would be able to send someone to rescue her, along with Tom Ingram. It seemed like a wild fantasy… but the Queen had already done the impossible once. Couldn’t she do it again?

  For countless hours now, Kirama had sat here, eyes closed, concentrating and “listening” for the faintest hint of blood magic being cast near her. Tom’s condition hadn’t changed at all. He still hosted Ercianodhon’s curse, but aimed as it was at his daughter, it had no real effect on him. His physical wounds had long since healed up. But he was in a deep sleep that nothing but time could ever wake him from. Kirama hoped the new Queen could somehow forgive her for doing that to him.

  She flinched as a sudden sensation tickled the back of her neck. Her eyes opened and she shot to her feet, where she froze and waited, hoping to feel it again. There was nothing for a long time, but then she felt it again and she dared to hope. Somebody had just cast a healing spell. That didn’t remotely mean it was a sprite who’d come to rescue her… but in all her centuries here, she had rarely felt the essence of blood magic being used around her that was not immediately corrupted by the Goblin King into the dark element. Her bare feet padded quickly across the stone floor to one of the blood chamber’s exits, the one with the most direct route to a greatstair. She could not travel very far from Incerra, nor could she handle the dagger herself. But whoever had cast that minor healing was nearby. She had to find them.

  Out in the hallway, she cautiously made her way to the main intersecting hall that led to the greatstair. Stopping at the corner, she peered around the hall entry, but it was empty. Unsurprising, as almost no shadowlander had any business near the blood chamber without Ercianodhon’s express command. She knelt and pressed her palm to the stone floor, closing her eyes and concentrating once more, hoping for one more signal. She received it almost immediately and stood, creeping into the large anteroom that served as a hub branching out to the other halls. She looked around expectantly, but saw nothing.

  “Little sister,” a familiar voice whispered. Kirama spun as Mae lowered her concealment spell, revealing herself and the rescue team.

  “Undine!” Kirama just managed to keep from squealing with joy. She rushed into the hooded elemental’s embrace.

  “Why are you naked?” Mae asked, standing back to look at her sister. “And your hair, everything, you look horrible!”

  “The King has cursed me,” Kirama said, peering with fear and curiosity at the humans. “I look the way he wants me to look. Helpless and defeated.”

  Mae looked at Derek, shaking her head with obvious distress, then recast her cloaking around the team.

  Kirama had tears running down her face. “Undine! Oh, Undine, I can’t believe you’re here! How? How did you get in, how did you find me?”

  “My master,” she gestured to the Hood, “is the most brilliant human who ever lived. He crafted spells for me that let us walk right past all these shadowlanders.”

  “Truly?” Kirama sniffled, looking around at everyone.

  “Gotta admit,” Nim said quietly, “there’s no way we coulda’ got this far without the Hood and Mae’s magic.”

  The Hood’s eyes narrowed. “This is a team effort, guys. We wouldn’t have gotten this far without all of us, especially Graon.” Heads nodded solemnly, but Samantha caught his attention. She closed her eyes and shook her head subtly. She can still see in the Ripwinger… The realization struck Derek in his gut like a punch from a heavyweight, but he managed to keep from looking at Nim or Kassak. He had to make sure they’d survive to mourn their friend.

  “Mae?” Kirama blinked. “Undine, Mae, whatever, please get me out of here! The King is horrible, the things he makes me do!” she cried.

  “Kelli’s dad,” Derek whispered. “Where is he?”

  “Yes!” Kirama wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry, you’re right, we need to get the Queen’s father out of here. Follow me!”

  Kirama guided them back to the blood chamber. Samantha covered her nose and mouth, and soon everyone else did, too.

  “This is… disgusting,” Samantha said.

  “Not at all a theater,” Taryn added, “at least not a proper one.” The blood chamber did indeed have amphitheater seating like its counterpart in Windham, but instead of a stage, the seats were arranged around a horrifically equipped torture chamber. The various tools and equipment caused the team no small amount pain just by the very sight of them. Mae dropped the concealment and materialized near Derek as the team began wandering apart, aghast at their surroundings.

  Jezrimeli walked among some of the larger machines, her orange eyes narrowed in anger. “I would love to see someone use these on the King himself, see how he likes it in front of an audience.” She paused in front of a giant metal spike bolted to a heavy oak platform. The base of the spike was wider than most faeries’ torsos, surrounded by rings holding chains and manacles that stretched out to each corner of the platform, connected to winches and making the purpose of the device obvious. The dried blood on the spike had blackened, blending into the metal, but was plainly obvious on the oak panels. “I’d pay front-row prices to watch that thing rip him in half.”

  “Makes me wish we’d brought a nuke,” Derek said, not quite believing what he was seeing. Then he spied Kelli’s father lying on the blood encrusted table and the team ran over to him. “How is he?” Derek asked. “Can we wake him up?” Tom’s clothes were torn and bloody, but except for the dagger in his leg he didn’t appear injured at all. Derek’s hand began to reach for the dagger, but Kirama stopped hi
m.

  “You mustn’t touch it! Not yet!”

  The Hood quickly withdrew his hand. “What? Why can’t I pull it out?”

  “Ercianodhon may sense if anyone touches Incerra, and… and… the binding will trigger as soon as anyone but Ercianodhon grabs hold of it. I have been so desperate to escape that I’ve held that magic ready like a spring-loaded trap.” She looked around at everyone, shame on her face. “You have to understand, I cannot bear being his slave, I would use any irenak or solsdren to escape if I could! And the King will certainly know when his curse over me is broken.”

  “Ercianodhon?” Nim asked. The other faeries also looked quizzically at Kirama.

  “That is the Goblin King’s name.”

  “I never knew he had one,” Jezrimeli spat. “He sure as ekhiva doesn’t deserve a name, if my family could be stripped of theirs.”

  “You have nothing to be ashamed of, Mistress,” Taryn assured the elemental.

  “How is Tom?” Derek asked again.

  Kirama shook her head. “I had to cast an powerful healing spell on him to save his life. Once the blade is removed from his leg, that wound will heal up as well. But it means he won’t wake up for a long time. You will have to carry him.”

  Everyone’s eyes were then drawn to the intricately crafted dagger standing upright from Tom’s thigh, its “eyes” seeming to stare them down in an eerie, stoic manner. Attention then quickly moved from the blade to Taryn.

  The vampyre wizard looked at the pitiful little elemental. “Mistress, I am Taryn Ohe, of the Royal War Council at Windham. If it helps you escape the Goblin King’s curse, I humbly ask to be bound to you.”

  Kirama’s eyes sparkled. “I have been wishing longer than you can know to hear those words.” She looked around worriedly before returning her attention to Taryn. “But we must be ready. Do you have an escape plan?”

  “I am going to try and open an ethergate. I cannot open one directly to Windham because of the wards both there and here, but we agreed I would try to reach Cotinesh in the Borderlands. Failing that, we will try to leave the way we came, through one of the King’s waygates.”

  “Could you wait and break the curse after we get outta’ here?” Jezrimeli asked. “Give us a head start on King Pissy-whats-hisface figuring out what we’re up to?”

  Kirama shook her head. “I don’t know for sure. I am commanded to keep the blood channel open between Tom and the Queen until she is dead.”

  “What, dead?” Derek exclaimed.

  “I believe she is safe from the curse now,” Kirama said, calming Derek. “But as long as the Queen is alive, the King’s last command compels me.”

  “His commands will be void once the curse is broken, yes?” Taryn asked.

  “Yes,” Kirama nodded, “but again, he may immediately return and attack us when that happens.”

  “So why can’t we just carry Tom and Incerra through an ethergate or a waygate, then do the binding?” Derek asked.

  “Because Incerra is bound to this theater,” Lumina said, looking around the blood chamber before settling his eyes on Kirama. “Isn’t it?”

  Kirama nodded. “The curse weaved for the Queen drew its strength from the lingering dark element that corrupts this chamber. Unless the Queen dies, or my own curse is broken, Incerra must remain within this pit of evil to accomplish the task he commanded of me.”

  “Great, so the moment we break the curse, we’re dead. Terrific,” Jezrimeli said.

  Derek pointed at the Paladins. “Your long range signals are still scrambled?”

  “Unfortunately,” Julian confirmed after fiddling with his radio, then turned to Taryn. “What’s the most direct route out of here, either to a waygate or any other exit?”

  “The route we took was surprisingly the most direct I am aware of,” the wizard replied. “But that waygate chamber does not exist in Windham, I believe it is a library there. So there may be other waygate chambers much closer that I am not aware of.” He looked at Kirama, but the child shrugged.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know where any waygates are. I only know the way from here to the dungeons.” She shuddered and curled her arms around herself.

  Derek looked at Taryn. “What are your honest, no kidding odds of opening an ethergate here in this… ?” he spread his arms and shook his head, at a loss for descriptions.

  Taryn scratched at his forehead and rubbed his cheek, pondering the question with obvious distress. “I honestly cannot answer that.”

  “There is one more thing that must be considered,” Mae said, stepping from behind Derek. “I was remiss for not thinking of it before we came through the gate.”

  “Yes,” Kirama agreed. “The binding can cause temporary effects on my new master. I cannot say for certain what will happen,” she looked at Taryn, “in fact there is a good possibility that nothing will happen, but the worst case scenario is that you will lose consciousness for a short while.”

  “Could you define ‘short while’?” Taryn asked.

  “I was out for almost a whole day,” Derek revealed. “But I thought she did that on purpose.” Mae bowed her head in regret.

  “Forget a day, even a few minutes is too long,” Julian objected.

  “I agree,” Jezrimeli said. “I’m eager to kill something, but not if it means having to fight through all of Gedaschen to get out of here.”

  “Do you have to be conscious to maintain an ethergate?” Derek asked the wizard.

  “I can open an ethergate that is charged with enough power to remain open for a short period without my control. There is always the risk that some enchantment here will kill the spell, or that the Goblin King might appear and be able to follow us through if we do escape.”

  “And there’s always the possibility I might shart a bag of gold or that Jezzy will give birth to a litter of gnomes,” Nim grumbled. “Our options’re limited and we ain’t got time for this, so just make a decision and deal with the consequences!”

  Jezrimeli knocked Nim’s shoulder with a light tap from her fist. “If I ever have kids, I’m telling everyone you’re the father.”

  “You’re right,” Derek said. “Okay, we’re back to playing a crappy hand against a stacked deck. This is what we’ll do. Taryn, you’re gonna open that ethergate and give it enough padding so that you can bind with Kirama and we’ll have time drag you through if we have to. If the gate ends up not working, you-” he pointed at Kassak, “bind with Kirama. No offense, but we’re already carrying Kelli’s dad, and you’ll be an easier load than Taryn.”

  The vampyre looked at Kassak. “He is right, ranger. That would be the best course of action.” He looked then at Kirama. “Apologies for all the back and forth, Mistress. But are you agreeable to binding with either of us?”

  “Wizard, I would be agreeable with binding to a geragun if it would get me out of here!”

  “What do we do, then?” Kassak said.

  “Whoever is going to bind with me only needs to grab hold of the dagger’s hilt. You will immediately become my master, and hopefully the curse breaks right away.”

  “Hopefully?” Jezrimeli growled.

  “I am confident this will work,” Kirama said, standing firm. “I have had centuries to study the King’s curse within me, and I know at this moment,” she pointed at the dagger, “that Incerra has been starved almost completely of his dark element. With a new Master binding his life force to me, I can burn the rest of that cursed energy out of the weapon and take complete control of it!”

  “You’d better be right,” the zerivade grumbled.

  “You ready, kid?” Nim clapped Kassak’s shoulder.

  “One way or another, we’re gonna use that dagger to save Graon,” the young ranger replied.

  “I will carry the queen’s father,” Lumina volunteered, locking his hilgrad to its connector on his backpack.

  “And I’ll get Taryn, or Kassak,” Samantha added, holstering one of her VECs.

  “All right, everybody get c
lose and get ready,” Derek said. The group gathered next to the table near Tom, except Kassak who climbed up onto the slab and knelt near Tom’s leg. Taryn took a deep breath, and cast his spell. An ethergate tore open before them, not quite tall enough for Jezrimeli to stand upright in, and only slightly wider than either of the Paladins. Orange light from the late afternoon sun poured into the blood chamber.

  Taryn reached over to the dagger. “That gate should hold at least as long as the waygate that brought us here. Be quick!” He grabbed Incerra by the hilt and pulled it free of Tom’s leg, at the same time that Lumina hefted the unconscious man onto his shoulder. Taryn held Incerra and stared at Kirama.

  The elemental drew a deep breath, her eyes fluttering closed. “It is done,” she said, her eyes still closed. Taryn appeared unaffected as Kirama shouted, “Quickly, let us leave this evil place!”

  Lumina ran through first with Tom, followed by Taryn. Derek quickly ushered everyone else through, then hopped into the gateway behind them. The rescue team stood on a dirt road at the entrance to a small village. Each of them spun and held weapons ready, Mae included, fearing the enemy would materialize through the ethergate at any moment. But after a few moments, the gate zipped itself closed and disappeared.

  “We’re in Cotenish,” Nim observed. “I’ll be a troll’s ass hair.”

  “Did that actually just work?” Jezrimeli dared to relax her stance, standing tall and letting her blade fall to her side as she looked around. “Nothing’s ever that easy!”

  Julian was already on his radio, reporting their position and hoping one of the roving recovery teams was nearby or that word could be sent to Windham. The village was deserted, having been evacuated over a month ago along with all the other Borderland villages by Khun’s forces. All of the rangers from these villages had been requisitioned to fight in the war, leaving them indefensible. Roaming troupes of elite soldiers from Windham, known as the Color Guard, were tasked with patrolling the Borderlands against any Shadowland mischief while the elves were away.