King of the Goblins—Chapter 43

Althidon called over some of his students, who lined up in front of me. Each of them held a wooden practice sword in hand and looked to Althidon for instruction.

“Now, look,” the Sword-Master said in his gruff voice. “Aaron here is going to use magic on you. Don’t worry, he’s not going to hurt any of you. But it might be difficult to move your legs, or your arms. I only say this so you’ll know what to expect and won’t panic when he does it.”

“Thanks,” I said.

Three of them lined up in front of me, swords held ready. I thought for a moment, then backed up another twenty paces. I wanted to treat this as if I were coming across them in a tunnel or in one of the cave cities. I nodded at Althidon to let him know I was ready.

The moment he clapped his hands I reached out with magic, immediately connecting with their blood. The three soldiers rushed towards me, swords held in front of them.

Splitting my focus three ways was incredibly difficult. To be honest, it was above my skill level at that moment. I struggled to stop the flow of blood in their legs and failed, so I immediately switched gears and worked one at a time. 

The man on the far right suddenly staggered and fell to his knees. Even after being warned, his eyes widened in shock and he slapped at his leg as if trying to get it to work. He let out a stream of choice words and glared at me.

Faced with only two, I held my shield and spear ready and took on the next man. I did the same to him, and he tripped and fell, cursing loudly. 

With only one man left, it was sword versus spear. While he was a much more skilled fighter than I was, I had the advantage of a longer reach. I kept my spear point aimed at his face, enough to keep him from getting close. Then I pulled all the blood out of his arms.

His sword fell from suddenly numb hands and both arms dropped limply to his sides. I continued, pulling blood from his legs and he stumbled, then fell as I struck him in the chest with my spear. Yes, the goblin soldiers would be wearing armor, but I didn’t want to hit this man in the face and break his nose.

I quickly moved towards the other two soldiers, who were both trying to crawl away, and tagged them both with my spear. As soon as I was done, I released my hold on their blood and let it return to normal.

“Ahhh!” one of them said, rubbing his legs. “It’s like needles.”

When he said that, I realized it probably felt like his legs had gone to sleep. Not the most pleasant thing, for sure.

“Well done,” Althidon said, crossing his arms and giving me a frown of approval. “I noticed you went one at a time. Are you not able to handle two or three men at once? Surely you can do two men at the same time.”

I somehow avoided making a joke about his phrasing. “Not yet, no,” I said. “It’s just too difficult to split my focus that much. Hey, thanks,” I said, clapping one of the elven students on the back as he walked back to the training grounds. He grunted something in reply and kept moving.

I heard clapping and looked over and saw Leena applauding me. She favored me with a smile. Next to her, Taranath nodded, clearly impressed.

“So, first you beat both Taranath and my father, and now three men at once,” she said. “What other secrets do you have?”

I laughed. “You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” I took a deep breath and turned back to Althidon. It was time to get this over with. “I have some bad news, Althidon, although we can work around it.”

“What is it?” he asked, his eyes narrowing. “I don’t like bad news.”

“Same,” I said, then waved Taranath over. When he came closer, I lowered my voice a bit. “Silvy told me that Ralcor wears a necklace, a pendant. It doesn’t make him fully immune to magic, but it makes him strongly resistant to it.”

“Are you kidding me?” Althidon asked in a flat voice. He did not sound happy at all.

“That certainly changes things,” Taranath said, looking concerned.

“Now, hold on,” I said, raising a hand. “I can still affect him somewhat. I can’t kill him with my magic, but I can slow him a bit. And the others can use magic on the environment around him, enough to slow or stop him. Plus, I’ve got Taranath. I don’t see it being a problem.”

“Who are ‘the others?’” Leena asked, suddenly interested.

“The women I’m marrying in a few days,” I said without thinking. 

“Ah, yes,” Leena said, giving me that appraising look again. “Three women, correct? What kind of man marries three women?”

“Aaron is no ordinary man,” Althidon said, crossing his arms and frowning at me. “This is concerning, Aaron. We need to plan for it.”

“If you can slow him, I can get a few arrows in him,” Taranath said. “I have no problems hitting a moving target, as long as it’s not too fast.”

“We’re going to be okay,” I assured them. “I had Silvy practice something last night. She can open up a big hole in the stone floor. It’s not the fastest movement, but if all three of the women do it right beneath Ralcor’s feet, it’ll be a huge inconvenience for him.”

“And then I fill him with arrows,” Taranath said. 

“Exactly,” I said. “So, it’s not that much of a problem. It just changes things slightly. We still have the upper hand, and remember, Ralcor is the only one with this issue. Everyone else will go down easily.”

“Wait a minute,” Leena said, taking a step closer. “Did I hear you mention—”

“This is not for you,” Althidon said firmly. “I apologize for keeping secrets from you, my daughter, but you will understand in a few days’ time.”

She frowned, first at him, then at me, and then at Taranath for good measure. “Fine,” she said, and went back to leaning on the railing.

“So, in the end, this really boils down to one single fight,” I continued. “Getting to the throne room will be relatively easy. Once we’re there, I have a feeling Ralcor will try to bait me into a fight. If all of us work together, we can take him down, no problem.”

Taranath nodded. “As I said, I should easily be able to fill him with arrows.”

Althidon frowned, but nodded. “I don’t like it, but you’re right. This seems like a large problem on the surface, but with Taranath there, you’re going to be fine. Just make sure you protect him at all costs.”

“Yeah, what he said,” Taranath said with a grin.

“I’ll do my best,” I said dryly. 

“Alright, I’m going to get something to eat, then continue training the others,” Althidon said. “You’d best head back to Silvy and work with that goblin automaton.”

“I plan on it,” I said, offering Althidon my hand. He shook it firmly.

“Are you still up for this?” I asked Taranath.

“Of course,” Taranath replied. “I gave you my word. I will be there, right by your side. Well, slightly behind you.” He laughed.

When she realized I was leaving, Leena approached me. She stood in front of me, examining me from head to toe for a moment.

“You’re handsome for a human,” she said, although somehow the words held not a mote of flirtation.

“Thanks,” I said. “You’re okay for an elf.” 

Her eyes widened in outrage, and I took that moment to wink at her, then hurry away.

I laughed as I made my way through the elven city of Caelora. I had a strong feeling that Leena was interested in me, at least in some way. Well, I was already promised to three goblin beauties, so I wasn’t available. Although Zia definitely seemed interested in her.

I was used to it taking a while for me to find Zia and Tressi, but after spending an hour searching the forest, I saw no sign of them. With the shadow stone in my mouth I walked in every direction and saw other goblin women, but not mine. The forest was large, so I had probably just missed them.

I walked back to the entrance of the goblin tunnel and waited for them there. Another hour went by. Two hours. Three. Four, and the sun moved behind the top edge of the mountain, enough to cast shadows on the mouth of the tunnel.

Figuring I had probably just missed them, I decided to go ahead and make my way to Silvy’s house. I’d catch up with them there.

However, when I got close enough to see the entrance to the goblin city, I found only one guard standing there. After so many days of there being two guards, I found this strange.

A cold feeling grew in my gut. Something was clearly wrong. I thought back to that group of goblin soldiers I had passed that morning. Had they gone to Silvy’s house?

Panic suddenly filled me. I had to get there. 

The lone soldier guarding the entrance stood right in the center of the tunnel, not at one side, so slipping by him simply wasn’t possible. I frowned, as I knew what I had to do.

“Well, I guess the killing starts a day early,” I said, and reached out with magic.

He never stood a chance. I pulled all the blood from his brain, then stopped his heart. The goblin soldier collapsed to the ground, dead in a matter of seconds.

Just in case I was overreacting about this whole thing, I decided I still needed to hide his body. Especially this close to our attack, I couldn’t be too safe. 

I rushed forward and picked him up, then threw him over my shoulder. He was a solidly built man, but fortunately only about five feet tall, so he didn’t weigh that much. With him on my shoulder I hurried through the forest, alternating a fast walk and an awkward jog for a solid ten minutes, where I stuffed him beneath some bushes that I recognized. They had berries, but they were poisonous, so no one would come close.

After that I ran back to the tunnel. I hurried down it, keeping my eyes open for any additional guards, but didn’t see any. That cold knot in my stomach grew.

I turned onto the path that led to Silvy’s place and jogged the entire way there. As soon as I arrived, I threw open the door, and my fears were confirmed.

The kitchen table had been knocked on its side, as had two chairs. A pot of stew had been thrown across the room and splattered against the wall. The pot itself was upside down on the floor. 

Of Silvy, Zia, and Tressi there was no sign. At that moment, I knew they had been taken.