Goblin Nation

by Jean Rabe

  “Should leave now,” he said, each word hard and distinct.

  “But—”

  He growled from deep in his throat, and a line of drool edged over his lip and spilled onto his chest. He bent over and stabbed a finger into her chest, toppling her.

  “Now, while Skakee still breathes.” The words left a bitter taste in his mouth.

  She sucked in a great gulp of air at the threat to her life and scrambled backward, kicking up dust and bumping into the legs of her fellows. She got to her feet and shook her head again.

  “So sorry,” she tried. “So very, very—”

  Direfang took a step closer and closed his right hand into a fist, the skin paling around his knuckles.

  She broke into a sob and whirled, pushing through the goblins behind her, little feet thudding against the dry ground and sending up puffs of dirt.

  Goblins started arguing, some pointing at Skakee, others at Direfang.

  “There could be another fight, Foreman,” Grallik said, padding up to the hobgoblin’s shoulder.

  “What did the wizard say?” That came from Rustymane, who understood very few words of the common tongue.

  “Quiet!” Direfang bellowed.

  The arguing grew louder, and Direfang gestured to Grallik. The wizard nodded, sending a stroke of fire down behind the assembly. The scent of burned earth filled their nostrils.

  “Skakee did wrong,” Direfang said loudly. His throat ached from the effort; he felt weary. He heard a rustle in the branches overhead and looked up. A few dozen goblins were hanging on thick limbs, listening and watching from a safe distance. “Skakee was punished. Simple.”

  “Direfang had no right,” one of her clansmen risked speaking up. “Direfang cannot—”

  “Cannot keep order?” the hobgoblin asked. He took a step toward the bold goblin and bent low to stare him in the face. “Someone must keep order, Grimstone, or chaos will rule this city.”

  Several goblins agreed with Direfang, nodding vigorously and whispering that Skakee was indeed wrong to hurt such an old, clumsy goblin.

  One of the Skinweavers pointed to a shrunken head dangling at his side. “Better to fight elves than goblins,” he said loudly for all to hear. “Better to collect elf heads.”

  “Grimstone is wrong,” a hobgoblin named Gralin said. “Direfang is right.”

  Grimstone held up his right arm and slapped his elbow with his left hand. It was an obscene gesture that riled up the goblins near him.

  “This clan did not want to have a city at all,” a Fishgatherer said. “Not yet. No buildings yet. Wanted to explore first. This is a very big forest; this spot might not be the best.”

  One of his clansmen pushed him. “The river is good here. This is a fine, fine spot.”

  Arguments swirled, with some goblins agreeing there might be a better location for a city, one clan suggesting the mountains far to the east would be a good place for the goblins to live in caves. Another said caves would remind him of the Dark Knight mines, and he could not live or eat there.

  Direfang’s stomach churned more violently, and he felt bile on his tongue, listening to all the endless chatter.

  “Underground is for goblins,” a youngling suggested in a low voice. “Should not build homes. Should dig them. Father said Direfang is silly. Goblins belong in the earth where it is dark and comfortable and where the rain does not reach.”

  A Boarhunter recommended all building stop and the army press south … then north again, forever wandering in search of better game and taking whatever they needed from the land.

  Direfang guessed there were nearly two thousand goblins in the vicinity, most of them trying to utter an opinion, a few shouting they were hungry, voices rising angrily. His mind drifted away from the confrontation with Skakee and Grimstone. Again he thought about finding a way to feed all of them.

  Grimstone repeated the obscene gesture and spit at Direfang again. “No right. In the mines Direfang was a foreman. Here Direfang has no—”

  “Order!” Direfang hollered. Whispers continued, like the drone of a swarm of insects. “Order! Grimstone can follow Skakee.” Direfang rose to his full height and set his fists against his hips.

  “Direfang is wrong.” Grimstone puffed out his chest. One of the taller goblins, at well more than three feet, he was also one of the stockiest, with a belly that spilled over a leather belt. “Direfang cannot say which goblins stay and which goblins go. This is a city for goblins, not a city for Direfang.”

  “This is not a city for chaos.” Direfang lowered his voice solemnly, the murmurs in the crowd fading so they could hear him.

  Grimstone used the obscene gesture again and again, directing it at only Direfang. “This is not Direfang’s city.” He insisted, waggling his fingers in the direction of Qel’s home. “This is not a city for a human or a …”—he searched for the word—“gnoll. Not a city for a Dark Knight wizard.” He pumped his fist in the air. “This is a city only for goblins. Direfang should leave. Skakee should come back.”

  The thought teased the hobgoblin’s mind—leaving. It would be the easy thing to do. His stomach wouldn’t churn, and he could live without the constant chattering and squabbling of this or that clan. They could well build the city without him.

  “Direfang must leave,” Grimstone continued, adopting a haughty pose.

  Direfang recalled that the same pudgy goblin had caused a stir on a few occasions in the slave pens. Then, too, he had tried to pit one group of goblins against the other. An instigator, Grimstone was. Direfang stared at the instigator.

  “Direfang must follow Skakee and never come back. This is not Direfang’s city.” Grimstone waved his arms, trying to get the goblins near him to agree.

  Rustymane passed by Direfang and strode right up to Grimstone. The hobgoblin had a grin splayed wide on his face.

  “It is not Grimstone’s city either,” Rustymane said. “I agree with Direfang. Time for Grimstone to follow Skakee.”

  “Yeah, time for Grimstone to leave.” That came from Sully, who held Direfang’s axe over his shoulder. “Past time.”

  “Past time!” hollered Keth from up in the oak tree. “Well past time!”

  “Past time!” became a chant that swelled, drowning out all other sounds as more goblins came to investigate.

  Grimstone’s face fell as the tide turned against him.

  Flamegrass clan members grabbed at the large goblin, who managed to wrestle himself away from the first bunch. But more came at him, accompanied by Boarhunters and Rustymane. They jostled and pushed until Grimstone was overcome by the throng. Then they pushed him south toward the bluff and the river.

  “Leave, Grimstone,” Rustymane said, grinning. “Find Skakee and start a city for two.”

  Grallik stood just behind Direfang and tipped his chin up to speak into the hobgoblin’s ear. “In your effort to avoid chaos, Foreman, you could well have helped to nurture it. From here on, your goblins might decide on a whim to oust this or that troublesome character with little provocation.”

  “Then hope that the goblins do not want to oust a wizard,” Direfang said grimly, flashing a look at the human. He retrieved his axe from Sully and headed north to cut down a tree.

  7

  THE STONETELLERS

  A STORM-TOSSED CITY

  Direfang slept on the bluff near his spire, or rather he tried to sleep. His thoughts wouldn’t let him rest. He was thinking too much, mostly about Skakee, a young goblin he’d been fond of once and who he had sent away. She’d been helpful on the journey to the woods and had never caused any real trouble before. But she’d seriously hurt Rockhide and really had shown no remorse for doing so.

  Such behavior couldn’t be tolerated in his city. His city? He shook his head. No, Grimstone was right about that. The city belonged to all of them.

  He hoped Skakee was faring well. He’d never cared for Grimstone and didn’t worry over what happened to the pudgy goblin. But Skakee … maybe he should have hand
led the matter differently.

  Direfang had visited Qel late the previous night. Rockhide had still been with her, sleeping soundly as the two of them talked. She’d said a few of the old goblin’s ribs had been broken and that the tip of his nose had been bitten off; what was left of it looked infected. Another chunk of flesh was missing from his cheek. His legs were terribly bruised from being kicked, and both of his ankles were sprained. She’d spent quite some time pouring her magic into him.

  “More than one little goblin caused all these injuries,” she’d said. “Had you stopped the fight any later, the old one would have died. Pity they would pick on one of so many years.”

  Direfang saw that Rockhide was shivering under a blanket, and he remembered feeling cold when Qel had tended the wounds he’d received from a bloodrager. The healing was painful too, he knew.

  “The old goblin will live,” she’d told him as he stared.

  “Rockhide,” Direfang said, wanting her to speak his name.

  “Rockhide will live,” she corrected herself. “I have trouble remembering faces and names. But I want him—Rockhide—to stay here the rest of this day and tomorrow. I worry about the infection. It may spread, and I may need to use more spells.”

  Qel’s home would be shared with Orvago in the new city; Direfang thought it best that both of the mystics from Schallsea stay together. And the site was near the home of a few trusted hobgoblins who served as both protectors and spies. Her home would not be as small as the goblin houses when it was finished; it needed to be big enough for the two to sleep in and to accept a few patients. Too, Direfang wanted her and the gnoll to be reasonably happy there. The fight again illustrated the importance of having healers in the city.

  Grimstone had been wrong about that, Direfang reflected. The mystics were useful to the goblin nation.

  Posts had been driven into the ground to mark where the walls would go, and the skins of two bloodragers had been stretched across half of the space to serve as a roof until something better took its place. Lines dug into the ground showed where two interior walls would go; he doubted that the other homes would have the same luxury of divided space.

  Direfang himself had not selected a spot to build a home, nor chosen goblins or hobgoblins to share it with. He didn’t know if he would ever. He’d had too many walls in his life—in the mines in Steel Town then being relegated to one of the pens where the knights had kept all the slaves. On one hand he thought it would feel good to have a building he could call home, a sense of ownership and a place of safety, where he could keep the chest filled with maps and books. But he also liked the idea of living out of doors, with nothing surrounding him. Some of the clansmen were digging burrows into the ground rather than building something they called a “too-human home.”

  He rose and stretched, shaking off thoughts of Skakee, Rockhide, and Qel, and deciding he might sleep later—if sleep would come. It was the hazy time before dawn, and the wind was the strongest it had been since they settled there. It blew warmth across his face, with all the small branches clacking and making so much noise he couldn’t hear the lapping of the river. He headed east, along the edge of the bluff, staring at goblins upon goblins sleeping curled close to one another. He listened to their snores as he threaded his way through them—snores loud enough to be heard over the noise made by the wind. Only a few dozen goblins within his line of sight were up, either getting an early start on the day or not yet having gone to sleep. One waved to him. There was a sea of bodies, and more beyond the range of his vision.

  All of it a dream and a nightmare, Direfang thought.

  So many goblins in one place could never be captured like the small tribes and clans had been by the minotaurs and ogres in the Nerakan mountains. There were simply too many goblins for any force to capture, overcome, or enslave.

  Safety and freedom in numbers, he’d preached to the horde when he first urged them to stay together. As he looked around, there were more than he’d ever anticipated. He hoped Mudwort was not calling more.

  There would be room enough for them, certainly—Direfang had seen a map, and the forest looked as though it went on forever. But more goblins meant more chattering, more fights, more trouble finding food. He held his hand to his forehead.

  Would Skakee be all right? he wondered.

  He passed homes in various stages of construction. There were as many different styles of buildings as there were clans. The closest one to the edge of the bluff was nearly complete and resembled the tavernkeeper’s in Steel Town because the logs that formed the walls stood on end. It lacked windows, though a charcoal-drawn square on the logs on the west side indicated where one might be cut. The door was merely an opening with a deer hide hanging across it. The roof was crooked, made of branches woven together with vines and pitched like the tavernkeeper’s had been, high and sharp. The roof rattled in the wind, and he knew that the snores seeping out from behind the deerskin had to be loud because he heard them clearly.

  A tent had been pitched close by, patched with animal hides, and tilted to one side. A corner of it was loose and flapped like a one-winged bird trying to take off. Several Skinweavers were sleeping inside, a small black pot sitting just beyond the entrance. Direfang wondered if they had boiled elf heads inside the pot.

  A little farther on, Direfang saw a group of homes that were essentially lean-tos. Impatient members of the Flamegrass clan had built them quickly and haphazardly, unwilling to spend more time on something more substantial. Despite the time they’d spent chopping trees and clearing sections of ground, only a few dozen homes were essentially finished. It would take months, the hobgoblin knew, before there were homes for everyone.

  “Months and months,” he muttered to himself, pausing to stare down the bluff. “Maybe years.” On a wide stretch of bank, some of the Fishgatherers had started to build one large building that would likely house twenty or more of their clan. It boasted a foundation made of stones they’d pulled from the shallows of the river. Logs lay near it, but not even one wall was started. The clan slept between the foundation and a stand of cattails that bent almost flat in the wind.

  He felt a drop of rain and looked up. More drops hit his face. He closed his eyes and relished the feel of wetness, until the rain started to come down harder. It rat-a-tat-tatted against his hide and the lean-tos, and it woke up goblins sleeping outside unfinished dwellings. It pattered against the ground that had for long days been hard and dusty. In fact, it hadn’t rained for days, and so many of the ferns and wildflowers were wilted and brittle.

  Direfang held his arms out, welcoming the deluge and a chance to wash the stink from his clothes and hide. He had a brief pang of worry over some of their supplies, but most were in chests—all of his books and maps were safe, all of it was tucked beneath the mushroom canopies of the big willows.

  Many of the goblins did not share his gladness for the rain. Many howled and cursed as they scattered, looking for shelter. The Fishgatherers found it beneath an overhang of the bluff—Direfang watched them scurry there; then, though, a few of them raised their hands to the dark sky and danced.

  The slap of goblin feet competed with the pattering of rain as the goblins scrambled for cover. He slowly turned to survey the bedlam, seeing a bunch of goblin fingers poking out from under the tent in an effort to hold it down. The loose corner flew free, and more of the tent flapped wildly. Nearby, goblins crowded into the home with the tilted, high-pitched roof.

  Lightning flashed and in that instant, Direfang saw goblins who had been sleeping in a big oak scramble down the trunk. Another flash of lightning was followed by an unusually loud clap of thunder. He felt the ground tremble beneath his feet. Some of the younglings cried in fear, and their parents told them it was nothing to worry over. It was not like when the earth bucked in Neraka, and the volcanoes erupted. It was merely a storm.

  A scream followed another flash, and Direfang watched the home that had been built to resemble the tavernkeeper’s totter.
Goblins spilled out from behind the deerskin door just as the walls fell apart and the roof started to slowly cave in.

  The rain pelted sideways, and the Flamegrass lean-tos took flight, goblins frantically trying to grab at the hides and sections of thatch that were careening across the open ground. He stood and watched helplessly. The rain was a solid sheet of gray that had turned patches of dirt into wide puddles and bent the smallest trees. He saw shapes in the gray, goblins scrambling from one place to the next, and in between gaps in the thunder, he heard their curses and the whoops of some of the younglings who seemed not to mind all the water.

  The rare torrent went on for what seemed like a long, long time. At one point the wind blew so hard, it took Direfang to his knees. Then it suddenly lessened to a gentle patter, the bluster gone out of the storm. The sky was still dark, dawn held at bay by the still-thick clouds. Direfang’s eyes were keen, and he didn’t need the light to see.

  Most of his city was in ruins. All it had taken was a great storm.

  Walls had collapsed, roofs had blown away, and there were no traces of some of the lean-tos. Direfang padded toward Qel’s and discovered the bloodrager pelts torn loose from the posts. But Orvago had stopped the wind from stealing them; he and Qel held them around Rockhide in an attempt to keep the old goblin dry.

  A few of the homes—or rather the frames of homes—had withstood the onslaught, but as Direfang had noted earlier they were better constructed than the majority. They were the property of the Boarhunters, the goblins who had seemed practiced at cutting down trees.

  Another home not far from the edge of the bluff appeared to be unharmed. He headed toward that place. It was small and squat, the logs that made up its sides were short and rose little more than two feet off the ground. The roof was a tightly woven mass of grasses and thin branches.

  “Mudwort?”

  Direfang knelt at the entrance. He’d seen her building it, with the help of Sully, who she’d somehow coerced and directed into doing her bidding. The building was unlike any of the others, and he peered inside what passed for the door.