King of the Goblins—Chapter 36

The three of us hid behind some bushes for several minutes and watched the goblin guards at the mouth of the tunnel from a distance. It was possible that Zia and Tressi could distract them, but we had to be careful. Not all of them were so easily duped.

The guards standing there were the same ones I had provoked into fighting each other this morning. Their faces showed several bruises, and they stood there with the sullen looks of men that had recently been punished by their superiors. No, flirting wouldn’t work on them at all. 

“Have you figured out what you’re going to do yet?” Zia whispered next to me.

“I can’t think of any way to sneak by them,” I said. “I’m going to have to use magic, and that’s going to escalate things. There seems to be no way around it.”

Tressi frowned. “And you have to be careful that using magic doesn’t lead more of them to Silvy’s place.”

“Exactly,” I said. “And while I’m sure they’re assholes, I don’t want to kill them.”

“I almost wish you would,” Tressi muttered. I looked over at her and she looked back at me and shrugged. “Most of our men are assholes, Aaron. With Ralcor as king, goblin society has become such that men are generally rewarded for being assholes. Nice men are indeed rare.” She turned to look back at the guards, her full lips twisting into a frown.

“There will be plenty of killing when I take over,” I said. “There’s no way to avoid that. I’ll be fighting for my life. I don’t want any extra blood on my hands, though.”

“Well, you don’t have to kill them, you know,” Zia said. “Can’t you do other things with your magic?”

She was right. As I was learning, I could control their bodies, at least to an extent.

With that in mind, I used blood magic to feel my way through their bodies. I couldn’t manage complex movements on multiple people at once, so I simply reduced the blood flow in both of their arms and legs. 

The soldiers immediately realized something was wrong. They looked down at themselves, then at each other.

“You feel that, too?” one of them asked.

“Yeah,” the other guard replied. “Is this what you were talking about earlier?”

“I told you, something else moved my arm.”

I focused on the guard on the left, and he sank to his knees. He looked down at his body in disbelief and rattled off a string of foul curses. I pushed and pulled on his muscles and he fell forward, so that he was lying face down.

“What the fuck is going on?” the other guard asked. He glared at his legs as he, too, sank to his knees. Controlling so many muscles was incredibly difficult, but I managed to make him lie on the ground as well.

“Not very subtle, but that’ll work,” Tressi said.

I took the shadow stone and slipped it into my mouth. “Just give me a moment, then come after me. Wait until they recover so they don’t see that we’re together,” I said. The women nodded.

As I walked towards the two prostrate men, I tried to think of something to say to them. Even though I was invisible, they would hear me walk by them. I had to make the best of this situation and mislead them.

Something Althidon had said floated to the top of my mind. The spirits of the fallen. I didn’t know a thing about them, but I was pretty certain I could improvise.

“Your king killed us,” I said in a raspy voice as I walked between the two men. “He killed us, and we seek revenge. We yearn for vengeance. All that stand by Ralcor shall fall.” 

I nodded to myself, satisfied with how ominous that sounded. They still couldn’t move, so I released my hold on their blood flow so they could return to normal after a moment. After that, I hurried down the tunnel, as far as I could go while still being able to see them.

Less than a minute later, they pushed themselves up to their hands and knees and began talking to each other. I couldn’t quite make out their words, but they seemed shaken. Good.

One of them looked down the tunnel while the other soldier scanned the area in front of the mountain. As soon as they began to calm down, Zia and Tressi approached, acting as if they had seen nothing. The guards asked them something, and once the ladies shook their heads the guards let them pass.

“I’m right here,” I whispered as soon as Zia and Tressi stepped close to me. I placed a hand on Zia’s shoulder and followed them down the tunnel.

“What did you tell them?” Tressi asked.

“I pretended to be a spirit,” I replied. “A spirit of someone Ralcor killed. I said vengeance was coming.”

Tressi and Zia exchanged a concerned look. “You’re definitely going to have all these guards on edge,” Zia said.

“I know,” I said. “I don’t think there’s any way to avoid that, to be honest. I figured I might as well use it to my advantage. Maybe I can hurt their morale and make them not want to defend Ralcor.”

Tressi shook her head. “I don’t think that’ll work. Everyone knows how Ralcor is. If a soldier refused to fight for him…. Well, he’d probably just be tortured to death. Or worse.”

“What’s worse than being tortured to death?” I asked, not entirely sure I wanted an answer.

But at that moment another guard became visible in the distance. I kept quiet, remembering how sensitive goblin hearing was. Luck was with me and the guard was so focused on the two women I was able to slip by him without concern.

I moved in front of my future wives and walked down the narrow path that led to Silvy’s house. Once we got there I pushed the door open and held it for the two women. As soon as we were all inside I removed the shadow stone from my mouth and set the shield on the table.

“Welcome back,” Silvy said as she stirred a small pot of stew that filled the room with delicious aromas. “Just put your gatherings over there.” She pointed to the counter next to her and Zia and Tressi filled the area with fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

“Hey, I had a question,” I said. I walked up to Silvy, bent down, and kissed her on the cheek. She blinked, looking slightly surprised, then smiled up at me.

“What is it?” she asked.

“The spirits of the fallen,” I said after a moment. I had a feeling this was a touchy subject. “You mentioned them days ago, and Althidon brought them up today.”

“No,” she said flatly.

The suddenness of her answer took me aback. “Well, I was wondering if—”

“No,” Silvy repeated, more firmly this time. “I don’t think you understand, Aaron. What Ralcor did to those people was so bad, they refused to fully die and enter the spirit realm, as we usually do. Their spirits roam our cemeteries, our crypts, refusing to go away.” She stirred the pot for a moment, then brought the ladle to her mouth and tasted it. “Almost there. This will be ready shortly.” 

“So, what’s so dangerous about these spirits, then?” I asked.

Silvy took a deep breath and turned to me. “They are blind with their desire for vengeance. If given the chance, they will kill anyone and everyone possible in order to get to Ralcor.”

“Sounds like they could help me,” I said, crossing my arms. 

“No,” she said firmly. “You are not a goblin, Aaron. You are a human. They would see you as an invader and kill you on the spot. And being killed by one of those spirits is a horrible ordeal. They tear the very soul out of your body.”

“Where are the goblin cemeteries?” I asked.

Silvy frowned at me for a moment before answering. “Go to the hot springs. Instead of taking the tunnel to the royal city, go north. There’s another tunnel that leads down to them. Don’t go there, though. Those spirits would not be glad to see you.”

I tucked that bit of knowledge away in the back of my mind, but decided to leave it be for now. Silvy seemed worked up over that topic.

“Tressi,” Silvy said, taking a step away from her stew. “Add a bit of heat to this.” She pointed at the small pot.

Tressi nodded, then her eyebrows drew down as she focused on the stew pot. A moment later, steam rose from the top of it. Zia smiled and clapped her hands.

“You two are learning almost as quickly as Aaron is,” Silvy said, placing her fists on her ample hips. “I could almost believe the gods sent all of you as an answer to my prayers.”

I walked up to her and pulled her into a hug. “I’m assuming they did,” I said, making my voice light. “After all, I know you were really praying for the gods to send someone for you to fall in love with.” I chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

Silvy didn’t answer. I looked down at her and saw her blushing slightly.

“Silvy?” I asked. “What did you ask the gods for?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, pushing away from me. “You two,” she said, pointing at Zia and Tressi. “Let’s continue your studies while Aaron trains with his spear.” 

Well, I knew not to push things. Silvy could be touchy at the best of times. I grabbed my shield and went into the bedroom, where my practice spear rested in the corner. After fetching that, I turned on the goblin automaton.

Greg appeared in front of me, looking villainous as always with his scowling face and raised fists. He observed me holding the spear and shield, and a moment later a large knife appeared in his hand.

“Well, looks like someone is ready,” I muttered. Silvy probably altered him and made him slightly smarter.

I stood there for a moment, spear and shield ready. I had the advantage of a vastly superior reach, but Greg was fast, damn fast, and fought with the viciousness of Mike Tyson in his early years. For a moment I thought of how I would approach my attack, if I—

Greg suddenly rushed forward, knocking my spear to the side. He slammed his elbow into my shield, then rammed his knife into my stomach over and over like a prison shanking scene in a violent movie. 

“Holy shit, enough!” I said, stepping back. 

Greg took a step back and stood there, ready to go again. My heart pounded after that. I let my spear lean against my shoulder and felt at my stomach. Even though he wasn’t real, I was amazed I wasn’t bleeding out after that attack. I had never seen anything so savage in my life.

“I made him slightly more aggressive,” Silvy called out from the next room. “I figured you needed to step things up.”

“Gee, thanks,” I said back to her. 

I kept my eyes on Greg, watching for even the tiniest movement. At least now I knew what to expect from him. My shield stayed in front of me, my grip on it firm. With the difference in reach, there was no reason he should get the better of me.

Keeping my stance low, I thrust forward with my spear, aiming for the center of his chest. My attack was fast and well-aimed, and nearly hit him. I knew he was a quick bastard though, so when he deflected my attack with his knife, I was ready.

Greg rushed forward, ready to perforate my sternum again. I slammed my shield into him, putting the strength of my legs into the motion. It knocked him back three feet, and he stumbled and fell on his ass. I immediately rammed the point of my spear beneath his jaw. A killing blow if there ever was one.

Once I pulled back, Greg pushed himself to his feet, once again ready. We practice the same movements over and over, and I got better at keeping my spear between us. On several occasions, when he tried to attack me I simply put my spear in the way so that he impaled himself. 

Althidon was right about one thing: I was a fast learner. In fact, I progressed so quickly with the spear and shield I surprised myself. Perhaps Silvy’s gods really had chosen me as some sort of goblin savior. 

I certainly hoped so. I needed all the help I could get.