The Goblin and the Empire

by JD Cole

  “We did it,” Kassak shook his head in disbelief. “We really did it!” He clapped Nim on the shoulder, and the old ranger cracked a grin in reply. After carefully resting Tom beside him, Lumina sat heavily next to the rangers, happily clasping forearms with each of his elf friends.

  A cute little vampyre child, dressed in spritish finery and her long black hair gleaming beautifully, threw her arms around Taryn’s waist, squeezing with all her little might. “Thank you, thank you, Master! I vow to serve you loyally for the rest of your life!”

  Taryn was obviously embarrassed, unsure whether he should return her embrace. He settled for patting her on her back as she continued to hug him. Samantha walked over to the pair, grinning at the sight. “Wow, she looks just like you, Taryn.”

  “Adorable,” Jezrimeli smirked, sheathing her sword on her back. “You guys battled minotaur and infiltrated the Goblin King’s castle, and still had time to start a family.”

  Julian joined them all, his face grim. “I just spoke with a couple of our recovery teams, including the Ripwinger pilots. We have a couple of Clavetrackers in the area —land transports— but they’re contacting Bartley to see if he can get someone at Windham to ethergate us directly to the castle.”

  “How is Graon? Can’t we get to him somehow to use Incerra?” Kassak asked eagerly.

  Julian took a deep breath. “I am sorry, my friends.” The Paladin lowered his head.

  “No…” Kassak shook his head in denial.

  “One of our pilots kept watch over him in the hold,” Julian said, “but he passed not long after we went through the waygate. I am so sorry.”

  Everyone slowly sat in the dirt, overcome by the news and their fatigue.

  Kassak’s eyes pooled. “What are we going to tell Hoille? Jinniae and Tilisi?”

  Nim wrapped his arm around Kassak’s shoulder, and looked around at the team. “Graon has a wife, and twin daughters.”

  The sprite and humans all cursed in their own languages at hearing that.

  “I will personally do whatever it takes to see they are taken care of,” Lumina promised.

  “We all will, Paladin,” Nim nodded.

  Mae knelt beside Derek, resting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Derek stared into the dirt, one arm resting on his knee where he sat, his other hand propping the rifle up beside him. “Where’s the Ripwinger? How far are we from Matari?”

  Julian answered. “The Ripwinger’s about five hours away.”

  Jezrimeli finished, “And Matari is over two week’s march to the south. Why?”

  “I’m not done with this fight,” the Hood replied, his eyes glowing red.

  “None of us are,” Kassak glared.

  “Damn straight,” the zerivade stood. “I joined up to kill shadowlanders, and all I’ve done so far is poke a minotaur a couple times.”

  A moment later, an ethergate opened behind them, and Brevha Moniscii gestured them through.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Maxillion and Lagraen, together with Denn and a handful of survivors from their battleprok, detoured down a street to avoid a massive group of irenaks between them and the wall. They had helped a trio of Paladins, including Attrick Ja’Elios, to navigate deeper into the city where the Paladins used their powerful weapons to attack one of the refineries and a guildhouse whose sign indicated it specialized in rune crafting. Several more slaves managed to escape from the refinery during the attack. The Paladins had then retreated in another direction to join more of their fellows to destroy an armory that had been discovered, while Denn had led the battleprok near the remaining refinery, hoping to free more slaves from their workplace. They had been unsuccessful in that endeavor but collected a wolf ally who’d gotten lost in the excitement, and were now in full retreat with the rest of the army to secure the slaves that had been freed.

  They all froze at the sound of a harsh shout.

  “Impossible! You’re dead!”

  The elves and dwarves rushed around another corner and found themselves in the courtyard, the cobblestones completely hidden under the bodies of goblins and shadowlanders, many of them smoldering from an obvious human attack. It was impossible for anyone to miss the huge winged creature in white armor.

  “The Goblin King!” Lagraen whispered. “Dragons protect us!”

  It was Denn who first managed to see beyond the Goblin King, a glint of light from bloodied golden armor lying in the dirt. “No, please sweet mercy, no…”

  It was Maxillion who first managed to see high above the Goblin King, a glint of light from the silver crown of an impressively armored woman, shrouded with a green cloud of light that clung to her like a cloak. “Graon, my boy, you did it… you really did it!”

  Maxillion turned to his companions, lifting his sword to point at Kelli. “Fae! The Birthright is reborn! The Sprite Queen is here to fight for us!”

  At that moment, they all noticed that the goblins before them were suddenly struggling to rise. “Long live the Queen!” Maxillion shouted, charging into the midst of the undead with his sword swinging. His battleprok roared in reply and quickly joined him, fighting for their new Queen.

  ~

  Kelli floated through the sky, magically pulling huge chunks of earth from the ground and hurling them into Ercianodhon’s head. The Goblin King was moving sluggishly, only managing to avoid a few of the several projectiles. Kelli suppressed the wrenching emotions that stirred as she realized Khun Rhee had given his life to wear down the Goblin King, giving the sprite armies, and even her, the chance to survive. She continued hammering him with rocks using her Birthright magic, quietly searching her armor’s spell book to form a plan of attack.

  “You,” Ercianodhon continually evaded, dropped, and recovered himself under Kelli’s withering attack. “You should be dead!” He lifted his trident and launched a huge pillar of flame up at Kelli, but the queen was more than nimble enough in the air to avoid the attack. She felt something ping off of her armor, then several more pings, and she noticed that goblins were beginning to rise all over the field, some of them archers who were shooting arrows at her. She next saw that a small number of soldiers —her soldiers!— were throwing themselves into the fight, cutting down those archers and everything else that belonged to Ercianodhon. From the streets behind the elves and dwarves, she saw a large group of irenaks trying to flank them. “Petriz,” she mindspoke to one of her guards, “help them down there! I will handle the Goblin King!”

  “Highness, I will remain with you and send the others,” he replied.

  Kelli narrowly evaded an attack of elemental lightning from Ercianodhon’s trident, just a fraction of it splitting off to strike her armor. Its enchantment was true to Devon’s word, and she didn’t feel a thing. She glanced at Petriz, whose emerald eyes marked him as part of House Moniscii, and sighed. “Fine, but I only want you to back me up! If you end up getting hurt by of one of my attacks, I’m gonna’ be very upset with you! And,” she added to make sure he obeyed, “I will force everyone in Windham to watch me sit by your bed nursing you back to health!”

  “No, my Queen! I-I mean, yes, I will do as you say, Highness!”

  With her orders given, Kelli focused all of her attention on the Goblin King. She felt rage burning in her gut; it was a familiar anger that threatened to explode and consume her with hatred, however fleeting, for the source of her anger. She sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes as she zoomed erratically to throw off Ercianodhon’s aim. Moments later she had calmed herself and she stared at Ercianodhon. She recalled a spell she had created when fighting the Chek’than in Boston, grabbing him with a hand made of stones and dirt, but she could not figure out how to do that again.

  Instead, she called up one of her armor’s spells, a ward against ether magic. The courtyard and the ground and walls surrounding it glowed momentarily as the ward was created. Ether magic was now even more severely restricted in this area; Shadowland sorcerers had placed wards of their own throughout Matari to prevent anyone but the
mselves opening an ethergate, but now Kelli was preventing everyone from using ethergates. She feared the King evading her to attack the slaves or the army, or worse, to return to his castle and discover Derek’s team. She considered using the other elemental wards available through her armor, but the one she’d just cast had used a lot of magic, and she didn’t want to risk using up the armor’s power knowing there were other built-in spells she planned to use shortly. She activated one of those spells now.

  “I do not hate you, Goblin King,” her voice boomed from the sky. Nearly everyone in the city could hear her, and she wanted to make sure she conveyed honor and strength to everyone listening. She had no interest in treating Ercianodhon respectfully, but using his given name when most faeries knew him only as the Goblin King was an unnecessary provocation. She had determined at Windham that, as unlikely as it would be to reason with Ercianodhon to achieve peace, she would not allow pettiness or hatred in her dealings with him. Her memories from shi’un with Sorvir were muddled and hazy, but she still remembered why he hated the sprites… and she clearly remembered from her Lifishi’un that the Goblin King hated the Chek’than almost as much as he hated the sprites. He might one day be an ally against the aliens, or at least another powerful enemy they’d have to deal with.

  “I pleaded with you for peace,” she continued, “I don’t want war! But today you’re gonna’ learn that I will not tolerate your aggressions against my people!” Summoning her basic skill in control of water and fire elements through the Birthright, she began attacking, first by forcing flames to ignite on his trident. The metal was in no way flammable, but her repeated casting began quickly heating the trident in Ercianodhon’s hands. Next, she enchanted the moisture around his head, chilling the air almost to freezing temperatures.

  The Goblin King hissed in growing discomfort, launching elemental attacks in rapid succession from the trident, not caring that he was quickly draining its magic. On his periphery, he saw four of Kelli’s guards slaughtering a large company of irenaks, while elves and dwarves whittled away at his goblin forces with each passing moment. He shook his head, unable to believe that this could happen. He turned and started to charge at the faeries to steal their strength-granting life force, but the Sprite Queen, somehow fresh and full of energy despite his fatal curse, blocked him from high above with one elemental attack after another. His enchantments were near depleted now, and he used the last bit of the trident’s magic to shine a blinding light up at Kelli’s face. She raised her arms to her face, blocking the intense beam and crying out in pain. At that moment he reared back and threw the trident with all of his might toward her. Petriz quickly swerved around Kelli and struck the trident with his sword, deflecting it at the cost of his blade which shattered near the hilt.

  Ercianodhon had launched into the sky immediately behind the trident, screaming. “I will not be condescended to by a human brat!”

  Petriz could not evade in time, and his wings evaporated as the King’s necromancy clawed at his life force. The sprite fell from the sky, unconscious.

  Kelli was still blinking away the stars in her eyes when she felt the wave of necromancy wash over her. Thanks to the Birthright, and possibly her human blood, she had more of a buffer against it than other faeries, but the pain still hit her, hard. Half blind, she managed to shoot skyward with a cry towards the Ythsimerin, then flew backwards to try and gain some distance while her vision cleared. She flew evasively for several moments until she could see a little better, but her muscles still ached from having her life force siphoned so violently. Shaking her head, she peered down at the courtyard, seeing Petriz lying among the still goblins. She could feel his life force, weakened but steady, and she sent a spell washing over him to boost his natural healing. She shook her head again and realized that over near the gate, Ercianodhon had crashed back to earth. She floated down cautiously, watching him lift himself up on one arm.

  The Goblin King was clearly exhausted and in pain, though Kelli did not discount the possibility that he was faking. He slowly began working on latches at his jawline until his helmet came loose, then slowly lifted it off the back of his head and dumped it to the ground. A glint from one of the apartments at the edge of the courtyard caught his eye. He lowered his head and gritted his teeth against the anguish in his body. “Well?” he shouted, sucking in deep breaths. “You have won the battle, Kelli Ingram.”

  His eyes widened suddenly as he felt his connection to Incerra severed. He might have had enough strength to open an ethergate to his blood chamber, but the Sprite Queen’s wards defeated his attempt. He drooped his head and growled in frustration, saliva spilling from between his razor teeth to the blood-soaked earth. He raised his arm up at her in invitation. “What will you do now? For the first time in history, a sprite monarch has me at their mercy.”

  “Not the first time,” she shook her head sadly.

  “You don’t get to pity me,” he scowled. “Take her!”

  Just then one of his necromancers appeared atop the distant apartment complex, trapping Kelli in an invisible web. Three more necromancers appeared from their hiding places around the courtyard, one of them single-handedly attacking Kelli’s guards, preventing them from flying to her rescue. The other two hurled ferocious spells at Kelli, relentless in their assault. Her ethereal cape flexed and expanded, swirling ghost-like as she struggled to free herself.

  Ercianodhon slowly pulled himself to his feet, and motioned at the necromancer holding Kelli trapped. With no small effort, the vampyre began forcing Kelli toward the ground. Her armor continued to protect her from the deadly attacks, but every blow drained the armor’s power, and she would be near enough to Ercianodhon to suffer his necromancy in just a few short moments. “It looks like I get to kill you with my bare hands after all,” he said, relishing her cries of terror as she fought desperately against her restraints.

  « CHAPTER 31 »

  The Final Battle

  “It may be possible to open another ethergate to Matari,” Brevha answered Derek. “But every one of our mages is exhausted from the constant demands of the war, not to mention the shields and wards being maintained over the castle ever since the Queen was recovered.”

  The rescue team was back in Windham, enjoying a quick meal and catching up on news from the front. Tom was resting in lavish guest quarters near the room Kelli had used, with Vanessa and the Kunali’is —Christian and Erica— waiting there with him.

  “Why is Matari hard to ‘gate to?” Derek asked. “Wards or something again?”

  Brevha nodded. “Very powerful wards.”

  “Matari is technically in the Badlands,” Taryn added, “but the Goblin King’s warding —the same magic that makes it difficult for us to create ethergates in the Shadowlands— extends out to the city. Legend says it took the King over a century to create those barriers against us. To make matters worse, the entire area around Matari is also warded against anyone not lacing their spells with dark element.”

  “And nobody except the King and his necromancers uses dark element,” Derek followed.

  Brevha nodded, “Precisely.”

  “No word on where Devon went?” Derek asked.

  Brevha shook her head. “The Dragons and young Lady Kimberly vanished shortly after Kelli journeyed to Matari.”

  “Okay, I’ll posit the same question I did about Gedaschen,” Derek said. “Do those wards, curses, whatever, extend out to the sky?”

  Brevha squinted one eye. “No, I don’t believe so…”

  “Not beyond the city’s borders,” Taryn confirmed, slowly nodding at the Hood’s line of reasoning.

  “So you could open up an ethergate in the sky pretty easily and just let us drop through?”

  Taryn looked around at the gathered mages, nodding with more confidence. “We could indeed. Historically, the tactic is considered foolish, but this is one of those rare situations that warrants it.”

  “Foolish?” the Hood tilted his head. “You mean it never occu
rred to you guys to ethergate a boulder on them from the sky?”

  “The area above the city is warded just like the ground,” Taryn explained. “But there is no practical way to move a significant military force through an ethergate opened in the sky, and there is rarely a situation that calls for a small amount of sprites or vampyres to fly into enemy territory this way. Attacking from an ethergate in the wide open sky would normally constitute a suicidal tactic.”

  “You guys really need to play Portal,” Derek grumbled.

  “Well, I’ve got wings,” Jezrimeli said. “Count me in.” She looked at the rangers. “If you don’t mind the indignity, I’ll let you hitch a ride.”

  “Not even a Dragon could keep us from going, Jezzy,” Nim declared. Kassak’s determined eyes spoke his agreement with Nim.

  “I can’t fly,” Derek admitted, “but I’m great at falling, and this is my idea, so of course I’m going.”

  Samantha popped a trio of capsules free from one of her pouches, handing them to the Hood. “I’ll skip the falling part, but I have a full box of ammo I’ve yet to use.”

  “I am not skilled at transmutation,” Taryn said, “but I think I can manage a minor transformation to safely descend from that height.”

  “I am uncomfortable with sending Incerra directly back to the Goblin King after we have just gotten it back,” Brevha said.

  “You have my word I will remain in the camps where Kirama’s talents can be put to good use,” Taryn replied. The sprye seemed consenting, if not convinced.

  “I don’t like being left out,” Julian said.

  “Sorry,” Derek said. “I know it sucks, but this is our only way to get there.”

  “We understand,” Lumina said. “But it grates, nonetheless. Please take us with you in spirit.”

  “I’ll dedicate my first hundred kills to the both of you,” Jezrimeli promised.