by Kevin Culp
“Where do we go from here, Archaeus?” Korana asked.
I thought about that. We had six days before the other goblins and whatever this monster was arrived. That should be plenty of time to heal up and prepare for battle. In this case, we were the ones inside and they would be the invaders, but we also had tons of their citizens inside. Archaeus wasn’t the type to take hostages, but what would happen if they suddenly attacked us? We needed a plan.
“I think we need to get the slaves that are currently here out. Maybe lead them to a nearby town. We also need to do something to address all the non-combatants here and verify whether any may become hostile. Kreego, do you know where the slaves are?”
“King’s slaves in rooms. Other slaves in houses. Everyone off street when attack start.”
“Well, let’s see to these slaves first. You said there are some that were beaten for entertainment. Let me see if I can help take care of their wounds. Unfortunately, all my healing is spent, but I can still help make them comfortable.”
Kreego walked to the door to the left of the throne, and I followed. When he opened the door, there was a strong stench that came from it. It smelled like a dead carcass on the side of the road in the middle of summer.
The room was ten by fifteen feet with shackles set all along the sides. There were about six individuals in here all men. Four of the men were humans, one was an elf, and the final one was a dwarf. It was hard to tell their ages with how haggard they all looked. All of them had graying hair and in many cases, this looked to be premature, but it was still hard to tell. They were covered in wounds and many of them were festering and looked green and bruised.
There wasn’t really much response from any of them when the door opened, but one of the humans on the left wall was particularly still, so I checked him first. The man was dead, but I released him from his shackles and laid him gently on the floor.
“Come in here and help me get these men out,” I said to the others.
They all helped, and we carefully pulled the men out of the room one by one. They barely acknowledged they were being moved, and at this point, I don’t think they even recognized we weren’t goblins.
Once we got them all out, I began to clean their wounds. I was using my water skin to wash them, but that ran out after the first man. Kreego then handed me a small mug. I remember when we had found it. It was a Dwarven mug that could create any non-magical beverage. Normally, dwarves used it to make liquor, but it could also be used to create water. I slowly went over each of the men and washed their bodies. I was thankful that Christina put her stuff in my bag since she had brought soap with her.
I cleaned the dwarf last, and once I had finished, he coughed and spoke in a strained hoarse voice. “Thank you, sir. Are we truly safe?”
“I believe so, but we are still in the goblin’s territory. I will do my best to ensure your safety.”
He passed out as I said it.
“Are there more slaves through there I take it?” I asked Kreego.
He nodded. “That is the King’s chambers, so it where he keeps… wives.”
I didn’t like how he said the word wives and wasn’t looking forward to this next room. I opened the door, and it was about what I expected. A large luxurious room with a huge four-post bed in the center. There were multiple women chained to the bed, all of them were scantily clad. There were also several cages around the room with women inside. These were literal cages like you would keep a dog in or some other large animal.
“Archaeus need these,” Kreego spoke from behind me.
I turned to see he was holding a keyring, and he walked up beside me.
We walked into the room and went to the bed first. The girls didn’t look physically hurt, but they seemed just as disoriented as the men had. A few of the women were pregnant. There were four women in total on the bed, one was human, one was an elf, and surprisingly, the other two were goblins. I wasn’t sure why the Goblin King even had to keep his goblin wives chained up, but then I thought about what he looked and acted like and didn’t question it. I couldn’t leave the goblin slaves just because of what they were though. I had to treat them all equally. We unchained them but just let them continue to lie on the bed since it was still better than the floor.
“Why are they so disoriented?”
“King no like wives talk back. He give drugs to keep them… compliant. Not enough kill them, just enough to do this.”
So basically, he was chaining his wives up and keeping them drugged into a near-catatonic state. I couldn’t imagine a worse leader figure. No wonder this whole goblin society was so messed up. We began getting the girls out of the cages. The others didn’t come into the room for this. There was only one set of keys, and we didn’t know which went where, so they couldn’t really help much anyway. They tried to use their bedrolls and covers to make the freed men and women comfortable on the floor outside. Christina and Phillip even let them use some extra clothes they had packed.
The girls in the cages weren’t in as bad of shape as those on the bed. They were terrified of coming out on their own when we opened the doors but thanked us when they knew we were actually letting them out. My diplomacy played a big role, no pun intended.
All the cages were empty, but Kreego said, “There one more. She was old king wife. Good at raising kid, so King keep.”
We went to the back of the room where there were two more doors. I started to open the one on the left, and Kreego stopped me. Apparently, it was the bathroom, and I would sorely regret opening it. So, I opened the other door. Inside was… a nursery?
It was a ten by twenty room with about ten cribs in it. All of them seemed to be occupied. There was also a pile of blankets in the center and a young light green goblin-like creature lying on it. I assumed he was a hobgoblin, though definitely a few years older than any of the rest in here as they all seemed to be infants. In the back corner of the room, there was a rocking chair with a woman sitting in it holding a baby.
She was human with salt and pepper hair and worn skin. She had a baby in her arms and was actually smiling, which seemed out of place. I could tell that she was once very pretty, but this place hadn’t treated her well. Not that I would ever think being that King’s previous wife could treat someone well. She seemed to remind me of someone at a glance, but I couldn’t tell who given her condition and the rags she was in. A mess of burns covered her eyes, and they were closed, though I could tell she couldn’t see even if they were open.
“Who’s there?” She asked in a kind voice.
“My name is, Archaeus. I am here to rescue you from this place.”
“There is no rescuing me from this place.” The woman replied.
“We are here to help.”
“That is a wonderful thing, Archaeus. I will forever be grateful to know that someone even made the attempt, but I do not think leaving here will solve anything for me.”
There was great sadness in her voice. It seemed that tears should have accompanied her words, but I assumed her tear ducts were too burnt to even function. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she had gone through here.
“Archaeus, Kreego said there was one more.” Christina walked up to me.
She looked into the room and stood in shock as tears welled up in her eyes. “Momma?”
Chapter 16
The woman just seemed confused at first. “I… I’m sorry. Who are you?”
Christina faltered for a moment. “It… It’s me, momma… Christina.”
“Christina… But you couldn’t be. No, Christina couldn’t be here. Don’t tell me you’re the King’s newest wife?”
Christina rushed across the room and went to hug her mother. She stopped when she noticed the greenish-yellow baby in her mother’s arms.
“Mom… The King is tied up in the other room. I’m here to help. I didn’t know you were here, but I’m here for you.” Christina was crying, and I could tell how distraught she was by the strain in her voice.
/> A few moments of silence passed. Christina had slumped to the floor in front of her mother. I could see the confusion on her mother’s face, but also a deep sadness buried under years of pain.
“Christina… No, you couldn’t really be here… Thi… This must be my imagination.” Her face showed confusion, pain, and to some extent a resolve to convince herself she was right about this not being real. Beneath it all, however, there was a glimmer of something else. Hope.
“Momma, I’m really here. Please believe me.” Christina cried and pleaded with her mother.
A few moments of silence went by. There was a wide array of emotions playing across the older woman’s face. Some of it was hard to tell through the burns on her eyes. There was confusion, pain, denial, hope, fear, and sadness. Eventually, her expression softened, though more as if to play out a pleasant dream than really believe all of this.
She stood with practiced care and walked over to an empty crib where she laid down the child in her arms. Slowly, she approached Christina, who was still slumped in front of her chair. She lowered herself to the floor and slowly put her arms around Christina. Christina became aware of being in her mother’s embrace and hugged her back. The two women sat on the floor sobbing. I could tell that her mother was crying, but her burnt tear ducts did not function. This lasted for probably fifteen minutes with neither of them saying a word.
I suddenly realized that theirs wasn’t the only crying in the room. A few of the babies had woken up during the commotion. I wasn’t certain what to do about crying babies myself, and something told me that Archaeus had no experience with this either. Suddenly, I realized we would have to find something to do with all these goblin babies. Even if the king was awful, we couldn’t just let a bunch of innocent babies die, and the King would not be remaining here.
I didn’t think them crying was any kind of crisis. Something told me that if it had been, Christina’s mother probably would have broken her embrace with her daughter to address it. I gently ushered the two women out of the room and closed the door. It was a solid wooden door, so I imagine that it blocked most of the noise from outside.
The women continued to hold their embrace for several more minutes. Phillip had stepped into the King’s room at one point and saw what was going on. He immediately turned around. Kreego had also stepped out of the room.
Part of me wondered if I ever made it back to my world if my reunion with my mother would be anything like this. We didn’t have a very close relationship, but I can’t deny that I missed my family. I just randomly went missing, and they had no idea what kind of state I was in. In some ways, I guess it felt that what had happened to me was a frightening tragedy, but I always kept my mind away from that. Most days now, it was an incredible opportunity. Seeing these two being reunited definitely made today one of those days, but this adventure still had a long way to go.
Eventually, the two women stopped their embrace.
Christina looked at her mom. “How did you end up here? I mean it was humans that kidnapped you, so why would you be with goblins?”
Her mom sighed. The memory was obviously not very pleasant to her, but she began to speak. “After they captured me, I’m not really sure where we traveled. Eventually, they put me in front of some noble. Based on what the King said, I believe it was one that lives near the capital of the Largon Empire. The noble was upset with the men who took me saying that I was too old. They then brought me somewhere where they dumped me from the wagon and knocked me unconscious. I woke up and was with the Goblin King. Apparently, he has or had a deal with that noble where the goblins leave his territories alone, and he sends the Goblin King slaves occasionally.”
“That’s awful,” Christina said.
Her mother nodded. “I became one of the King’s wives for a while after that. Most of his wives are killed after they have a child, but I was kept around to help raise the children.”
The way she said it made me feel there was more to this that I should realize, but I shoved it to the back of my mind. I wanted Christina to have time with her mother without me interrupting.
“What happened to your eyes?” Christina gently brushed the back of her hand across the burnt flesh on her mother’s face as she asked.
“Apparently, it’s the King’s tradition. He doesn’t like to keep the nanny chained, and goblin babies are exceptionally light-sensitive, anyway. I’m not sure why he doesn’t just let goblin women raise them, but instead, he uses humans and pours acid over their eyes. He claimed it would make it easier for me to adjust to always being in the dark.”
I could tell that Christina was getting angry again, and apparently, her mother could as well even though she was blind. She grabbed Christina’s hand that was on her face and held it in both of hers. She kissed it gently. Christina sighed and her anger seemed to abate.
“And who is this kind man with you, Christina?”
“Mom, I want you to meet Sir Archaeus Velnir. He’s… someone very special to me.”
A slight smile came to the woman’s lips. “I am very pleased to meet you, Sir Velnir. My name is Sarah. I never would have imagined my little girl to end up with a noble. I mean no disrespect to you, Archaeus, but what happened with Joseph, Christina?”
“I’m sorry, Mom. Joseph died in an orc attack.”
I guess I understood why she left out all of what she apparently went through with Joseph along the way. Her mom and dad had arranged her marriage to Joseph before her mother was taken. Joseph had been pretty rude about it all and couldn’t take a hint to leave her alone after the engagement was broke off when Sarah had disappeared.
Her mom looked very sad from the news, but her eyes being unable to produce tears, she shed none.
Christina started sobbing. “There’s something else I need to tell you, Mom.”
“What is it?”
“Umm… It’s about dad… He… Dad…”
She sighed deeply and pained grief showed clearly on her face, but I could tell that years of dealing with abuse had hardened her so she was able to maintain her calm. “I take it Randal has also passed?”
She said it like a question, but it was obvious she knew the answer.
“Mmm… hmm.” Christina managed to make out between sobs.
The two embraced again for a short while longer, and Sarah did her best to console her daughter.
“Well, I had wondered how you had gotten to me. I guess you being a noble, Archaeus, that there is an army waiting for us outside?”
“No, ma’am. It’s just four of us. Well, six now with you and Kreego.”
She seemed to be in disbelief. “How would four of you have gotten so far? I was only outside of the King’s chambers a few times while I still had my sight and even after, but it seemed that the goblins had a massive army holed up in this mountain.”
“Archaeus, is extremely powerful, Mom. He could probably take on the Royal Army single-handedly, but that’s not all. A lot of the goblins had left to invade areas in the Varnelion Kingdom, and they took many prisoners. Our goal was to get here before they returned, so we could secure the mountain and rescue the prisoners as they are brought in.”
“I don’t know how one person could be more powerful than an army, but I know my girl isn’t a liar. I’m proud of you, Christina, for standing up for people and trying to help, but I wish you hadn’t gotten involved in a world of violence like this.”
“Me too, Momma, but now that I’ve found you, I’m glad I did.”
Suddenly, I heard Kreego. “Archaeus, King wake up.”
I looked at the door and saw Kreego standing there. I nodded and left the room. The two women followed me out the door, Christina holding her mom’s hand to lead her.
“You imbeciles! How dare you treat a King like this!” The king was screaming in a shrill voice. He was speaking in common again.
I stood over the goblin, looking down on him. “A true King doesn’t torture people. He treats them with respect and leads them. It is a
King’s job to serve his people not the other way around.”
I’m sure that even King Varnelion wouldn’t really agree with that statement, but he had seemed like it really was his goal to make his subjects happy and help his Kingdom thrive. In my home country, that was the concept of Democracy. I’m not saying that I really agree with the people that ended up in charge, but the people voted on the president that they felt would serve their interests best. It was then his job to fulfill his promises, and he wouldn’t be voted again if he didn’t serve the people as promised. That being said, it too was a system that often ended up corrupt, and I tended to stay away from politics.
“How naïve you swine! You will not get to live to see it, but the rest of these will be my slaves. It is a King’s privilege to use his subjects as he pleases. It is my right! They are my property! Kreego, kill this man now! Your King orders it.”
Kreego laughed. “You not Kreego King. You bad man.”
“Ugh, you imbecile!”
“Who is the powerful man that Kreego told me about? The one with strong magic.” I asked.
The king laughed. “Why he is the man who will be the death of you. He is a demon with power the likes of which you can’t begin to comprehend. He is a creature of the Under Realms that bears the source of all dark magic. You cannot hope to defeat him so make things easy on yourself, submit to my will, and die here now.”
“I think it would surprise you the power I can comprehend. I’ve killed many demons of unfathomable power in the past, and if this one wants to cross me, it will end the same. Is he the one who led your men through the Under Realms?”
“You fool. You should just die here and now while you have the chance. You are in for a world of pain, and he will free me once you are dead. I cannot promise, however, that your allies will have the option of just being my slaves once he arrives.”
“I don’t think he will tell us much else. Let’s gag him and put him in one of those cages.”
“What!!!”
The King fought and screamed as Kreego dragged him towards the room. A few moments after they disappeared, the screams became exceptionally muffled. Kreego came back out of the room a minute later and closed the door.