by Kevin Culp
“I’m sure you can find yourself a pretty girl too, Kreego.”
“Oh, Kreego find lots of pretty girls.” He nodded as he said this like he was proud of himself.
“Goblin girls?”
“Kreego no kiss and tell.”
I had a feeling when he said it that it was more of a please don’t make me relive those memories than anything else. I’m guessing that the inner John was just screaming about whatever had transpired since he had arrived here. Even if I wanted to ask what that was, I guess we couldn’t really talk about it, and he clearly didn’t want Kreego to think about it.
We walked into the city, and I was pretty confident that I could get us back to the house we had met Turny in front of. Luckily, Archaeus had a memory as good as mine, and before too long, I was certain that it was the same location I had met the young goblin. The streets were as barren as they had been the day before. Obviously, the people of the city still didn’t feel safe.
“Kreego, can you knock on the door and ask if Turny is there?”
I stood off to the side as Kreego approached the door. I could see that people were frequently peeking out windows but hiding behind the curtain again as soon as they thought I noticed them. They were more curious than they had been the day before.
Kreego knocked on the door. There was no answer for a while, and he knocked again. We continued to wait. Eventually, the door opened, and I heard the voice of a female goblin speaking in their native language.
“What you want?” She asked.
“Is boy name Turny here?” Kreego responded.
Her voice now sounded strained as if she was trying not to cry. “Is something wrong? Please, not take boy.”
“Kreego not take. Kreego and Archaeus need help.”
I couldn’t see what transpired, but eventually, I heard a familiar voice.
“Turny not betray. Turny protect family.”
“Turny, okay. Follow Kreego.”
The familiar young goblin stepped outside, this time without the sword. He saw me as soon as he stepped out.
“Turny surprised you not dead.”
“Did you want me to be dead?”
“Turny not know. Turny think maybe easier if you dead. Turny not like you dead though.”
“I can respect that.”
“What you need from Turny?”
“I know you are young, Turny, but you are brave. I want you to help us convince these people that I’m not going to hurt them. I’m not hoping to convince them I’m not an enemy. I’m not trying to be an enemy, but I know I have already killed many and will still be doing more that will take away from the daily lives of those here.”
“What you mean take lives?” Turny seemed concerned.
“I don’t mean take lives. I mean that I wish to free the slaves that are here, which will affect how they live.”
“Turny no care about slaves. Some do.”
“Does your city use the same currency as ours?” I pulled out a few gold coins as I asked.
“Ooohhh yes, Turny like money. Other goblins like money too.”
“Do you think the goblins would be willing to sell their slaves?”
“Turny think yes. Lots of money, goblins sell slaves.”
Buying the slaves could propagate their idea that it’s not wrong, though taking them could just make the goblins resent me. Also, the ones that had slaves likely paid for them at some point under a society that allowed them. It would be fair to reimburse them.
“Turny, I know you are young and can’t be expected to be a representative of your people. Are there any individuals you could introduce me to that would be considered respected members of your society?”
“Ummm… Turny take you to smart goblin.”
I gestured for Turny to lead the way, and he started walking. We wandered through the city for a short while until we came to one of the larger homes that I had seen. Turny walked up and knocked on the door.
An answer came immediately. “What idiot is at my door at a time like this!”
“It Turny. Promise you be safe. Please answer.”
I heard some shuffling in the house and the door opened. This was the first time I had seen an old goblin, and it was kind of funny. He looked like a wrinkled old frog. He had no hair on his head but enormous tufts of grey hair sprouted from his nose and his pointed drooping ears.
The door slammed almost as soon as it opened. “I thought you said it was safe, Turny.”
“Turny no think he bad guy.”
I think what surprised me most is that this old goblin wasn’t referring to himself in the third person and seemed to be using proper sentence structure though he was still speaking the goblin language. I wondered if he said I because he actually is important here and it’s accepted or if he does it out of self-importance. Turny leading me here made me want to believe it was the former.
The door opened again. “Well, I guess if this old man is going to die here it’s going to happen either way. Come in.”
I had to duck walking through the door, but we ended up in an open room. There were bookshelves lining the walls. I didn’t think he was a mage, but I couldn’t help but think that this was a goblin version of Gregory. He led us to a small table, but I wasn’t about to try to sit in the tiny chair.
“How can I help, tall one.”
“My name is Archaeus Velnir. I did not come here to kill your people, though I cannot deny that I came with the knowledge that it would be a part of the mission. I came to save those that have been captured and enslaved here, particularly those that were recently taken and on their way here with your army right now. King Leonard Hunkerman will be coming with me to pay for the crimes against our people. I will also be taking the slaves that are currently here with me. I do understand that many of the goblins here did not acquire their slaves by force but did so in a manner lawful to their civilization. As such, I wish to offer fair compensation. I am asking that you help me negotiate peace with your people and develop a society not dependent on a king.”
The old goblin seemed to be lost in thought for a few moments. He scratched his small chin covered in wispy white hair and looked up. Eventually, he came to a conclusion.
“I believe that what you have said is reasonable under a few conditions. Goblins will probably sell off all their slaves pretty willingly mostly due to how giddy they can be for a few gold coins. They probably won’t realize the repercussions of not having them until you are long gone. I can negotiate on your behalf, but you still have a fight with the army to look forward to. Not only will they not accept what I have negotiated, but there is one among them that people likely fear more than you at this moment. In the long run, goblins respect those they fear more than any other.”
“Can you tell me anything about this being?”
“Right now I fear him more than you, so no, I cannot.”
“Well, can you help find a place for a few people to stay for me for the next few days?”
“I can probably manage to find some empty beds. I can recognize that the actions of our society breed hatred against us, and as such, I actually trust that you mean us no harm and will try to inform the people of this. Perhaps getting the town feeling safe enough to roam the streets again will play a role in making them more comfortable with your proposal.”
“I certainly appreciate your help. Is there a name I may call you?”
“You may call me Grennick.”
Chapter 18
The next few days were relatively productive. We were able to find a location for the men and women we had rescued to stay and get them some better clothes to wear, though they were still mostly rags. The withdrawals had gotten a bit worse for the King’s wives, but we were able to keep them relatively comfortable. The goblins watching the people actually seemed to be taking good care of them. After we had spoken to Grennick, I went and got Phillip, who helped me fetch the horses. They weren’t too happy walking through the cave's entrance, but everything seemed okay
once they were inside.
Most of the women’s stories were similar to those of the men. Taken from some town in either the northern parts of the Largon Empire or southern parts of the Varnelion Kingdom. A few of them had been taken from Irisia which wasn’t surprising given that it was just to the east.
The old dwarf Oegim couldn’t walk but insisted that he didn’t mind the stone and didn’t want to leave the throne room. I asked him if he wanted to sit on the throne, but he said that he didn’t deserve the seat of his father. Part of me felt I should point out it was his father not him who lost the city, but I thought he might not appreciate someone pointing out his father’s failure. Christina tried to help him exercise and made sure he was eating well, though this late in life, I wasn’t sure that it would be possible to rebuild muscle no matter how hard he tried.
I insisted that Christina, Korana, and Phillip didn’t leave the throne room without either myself or Kreego. Maybe I should have put more faith in the goblins especially when I was entrusting the care of these people we had rescued to them, but we had little choice with the freed slaves. I couldn’t risk something happening to one of my allies, both for their own safety and as a liability.
Turny visited occasionally and even Grennick had made the trip to the throne room. He had negotiated stay for each of the people I had rescued until the day after their forces arrived for one gold piece each. He had also negotiated that all the slaves in the city would be relinquished at a price of fifteen gold pieces each as long as I defeated this creature that I still only knew as a demon. Apparently, there were just over 200 slaves in the city. As people started coming out of their homes, I began seeing other slaves on the street occasionally. They were members of all kinds of different races, and I spoke to the ones I could. They seemed to not want to stall too long on the street for fear of trouble, but most of them didn’t seem to be too horribly treated. That was, of course, relative. They were still slaves and occasionally beaten for not fulfilling their task or something of the like, but to most of them, that was a rare occasion.
The day before the army was to arrive, we all sat down and tried to finalize our plan.
“Kreego, there is something I hadn’t thought a lot about. I’m guessing the army won’t all be arriving at one time. Do you know where the entrance to the Under Realms is that they used?”
He shook his head.
“How will I tell if the demon is with them?”
“Kreego think he lead. He not goblin or hobgob.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me about what he looks like?”
Kreego scratched his head. “Skin like death, pale purple or black. Has short horns. Very tall. Taller than Archaeus by two heads.”
That was actually useful information. It was starting to sound like I really was fighting a demon. Tall, horned, and pale blackish-purple skin. Unfortunately, I had no knowledge skill that would give me much information there, and while Kreego was normally our knowledge character, he didn’t seem to either. Either that or the creature was rare enough that Kreego had failed his roll.
“So, Kreego will be outside the mountain and off in the distance. If we encounter the demon, he will stay at a distance while I challenge it. Kreego will also kill those holding the current captives before they know what’s going on. Korana, Christina, and Phillip stay in the cave back near where it opened up into the city and keep any that get past me from getting into the mountain. Zeus will start just behind me. If the demon doesn’t seem to be there, he will go back and signal for you to come help with the fight. Otherwise, he will retreat and help you with your fight. Any questions”
Christina spoke up. “Archaeus, are you sure you can fight this thing alone? I mean I know it’s a risk, but to not even know what’s going on. I just won’t feel comfortable not knowing your safe.”
“I feel the same way. When I fight this demon, I doubt I can just stand in the entrance of the cave. It is likely that some goblins will rush past me, and you will have to fight them without me. Not knowing whether or not you are safe will be terrible.”
“I guess we are both in the same circumstances then, but you have to fight this demon we know nothing about.”
“And you have to fight an unknown number of goblins and hobgoblins with no one who can heal.”
“I still have my ring.” Phillip piped up.
I had forgotten about the ring. It could be useful. “That is true. Just stay back during the fight, Phillip. Use your bow and rush in if Christina or Korana need healing.”
He nodded.
“I think it goes without saying, Korana, you should save your breath attack for when the hallway gets crowded.”
I felt better about the fight coming up now that I had Kreego with me. Even if we wouldn’t by fighting side by side, and I had to fight this demon alone, just knowing he was going to be on the battlefield made things better. At the end of the day, we all traveled to the cave's entrance and set up to take watches. The last thing we needed was to be stuck in the bottom of the city when the goblins started arriving.
The night passed uneventfully. It was colder on the surface that down in the mountain. We had kept pretty much all the torches in the throne room fresh, and after the goblins came from their homes, they relit all the ones up top that had since burned out. It looked like it had snowed a bit more as it was now about four inches deep on the ground. I was definitely starting to worry about how cold it would be traveling with all these captives back to the Varnelion Kingdom. I’m sure they were freezing on their way here now. I guess that didn’t matter if I died here though, so I needed to focus on the task at hand.
I had been communicating with the prince over the last few days. I let him know we had taken Gurknille and had an agreement in place to free the rest of the slaves here once we had taken on this demon. He requested that I inform him when we started heading back to the Varnelion Kingdom. He would make sure that a small force would meet us at the border with plenty of supplies to help get these people back to their respective homes safely. We had already realized that walking towards the border with several hundred people would look suspicious, but he had stated he would contact the Largon Emperor and take care of things. He felt that if he informed the Emperor that a mercenary had contacted him about freed prisoners after storming Gurknille that the Emperor would have no choice but to let us pass in peace. In the end, he was still worried that a war may ensue and was convinced more than ever that the Emperor had knowledge of this that he was not revealing.
I heard a whisper next to me. “Kreego think they be here soon.”
“Have you seen them?” I asked.
“Not yet.”
After a few moments, I could tell that he had walked away again. It was midafternoon. According to Kreego, the Demon would be arriving late in the evening. The attacks were coordinated to a degree, but they didn’t all have the same distance to travel. The demon should be the second group to arrive which was also the largest, but I still wasn’t certain what to expect. There were five groups in total and some of them would likely not be here before tomorrow evening. The hope was that we wouldn’t have to fight them all if the later groups realized we had killed the demon.
After another hour, I heard a whisper again. “Group coming. Few minutes.”
“How many?”
“Ummm… Forty hobs, Hundred gobs.”
“Is the demon with them?”
“Nope.”
“Get in position. Zeus, go signal the others.”
“Got it, boss.”
Zeus loosed a low growl of affirmation and turned to head down into the tunnel.
I stood there in the cave's entrance looking out over the snow-covered field. I saw small footprints run off into the snow and knew Kreego was making his way towards the enemy. I drew my sword and held it at my side. I started to hear some noise to the left and turned to see a large band of green figures marching over a small hill. I only hoped they weren’t smart enough to notice Kreego’s fo
otprints. As the enemy drew closer, the others joined me.
As the force got closer, I began to observe the positioning of their ranks. When I had pictured it, I assumed that the hobs would be marching out front with the goblins all in line behind them, but they didn’t seem to differentiate. The group looked like a large force of goblins with just the random splattering of hobs among them. These individuals were all wearing leather armor or chain shirts, and most of them had swords or clubs though there was the occasional spear. In this case, however, the spears had proper metal tips. They noticed us when they were about two hundred feet away and came to a stop. One of the larger hobgoblins from the group stepped forward and pounded his chest.
He yelled across the gap in the goblin language. “What your purpose humans?”
I stepped forward. “We don’t mean you any harm. We are only here to free the captives that your people have taken. Lay down your weapons, release the captives, and you may rejoin your families inside.”
He looked confused for a moment and glanced back at the army behind him. He scratched his head. “We many people. You little people. What you do?”
“There may not be a lot of us, but you know the force that was here when we arrived, yet where are they?”
He seemed confused like he was working on a hard math problem. “They weak goblin with no good weapon. We strong goblin with good weapon.”
“I admit they were not impressive, but would you still expect us to be completely unscathed after fighting hundreds?”
Judging by the strained look on his face, he was running more ‘calculations’ in his head. “We kill you then you be scathed.” As he said it he charged.
The army of goblins behind him began to charge. There were a few hobs that I noticed in the back didn’t move, but a few moments after the rest had charged forward two of them fell. The charging army didn’t seem to notice.
“Zeus and I will stay in front outside of the cave. Girls, stay in the entrance. Phillip, stay in the back bow at the ready. You may not have many opportunities to fire, but I don’t want to let any through, so we need to hold the entrance.”