King of the Goblins—Chapter 34

Silvy eventually rolled off of me, then curled up next to me and fell asleep. Needless to say, I slept very well that night. The next morning when I woke my eyes, I felt fully rested. Silvy woke only a few minutes after me, and leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. 

“What’s your plan for the day?” she asked. 

“Lots,” I said. “I’m going to hit the hot springs, then head to Caelora to practice with my spear. Althidon said he’s going to teach me how to fight with a shield as well.”

Silvy nodded. “Good. You’ll need any advantage you can get.” She yawned and stretched an arm over her head, then plopped her head back on my shoulder. “Ugh, I don’t want to get out of bed this morning.”

I reached down and grabbed onto her butt, then gave it a squeeze. “Well, I know a way we can pass some time.”

Silvy laughed. “I would, but I’m a little sore after last night. It’s been many years since I’ve done that, so I’ll have to get used to it again.”

“That makes perfect sense,” I said, then kissed her forehead. “Well, let’s start the day, I guess.”

Silvy yawned again, then pushed herself up to a seated position while I climbed off the bed. I grabbed my pants and pulled them on while Silvy slowly climbed down. I turned to get a nice view of her round bottom as she stepped down, and couldn’t help but smile. 

I had never done anal with a woman before. It was pretty awesome that my first time was with a woman with such an impossibly nice ass.

“Let me get you something to eat before you go,” Silvy said, walking into her kitchen without bothering to put any clothes on.

I pulled my shirt on over my head, then grabbed my shoes. I decided to try the socks Elasha had made for me as well.

I went into the other room and sat in a chair, then pulled on the socks. They were as soft as brand new cotton ones.

“This should work,” Silvy said after a moment. She handed me a large slice of bread with mashed berries on top, drizzled with honey.

“Thanks,” I said, taking a bite. It was every bit as good as I’d hoped. I stuffed my feet into my shoes, then scarfed the rest of my breakfast.

At that moment, a knock came at the door. 

“I guess I should put some clothes on,” Silvy said, turning to walk towards the bedroom. “Come in,” she called out.

The door immediately opened and Zia and Tressi came in. They caught a glimpse of a naked Silvy leaving, and Zia suddenly grinned.

“I guess I missed the fun,” she said, transferring her smile to me. “At least we get to see you this morning before you go.”

“Perfect timing,” I said, standing up. I went over to the two women and hugged them both tightly. Silvy came out of the bedroom after that, lacing up the bodice of her dress. She walked over to me and hugged me as well, and I kissed the top of her head.

“I’ll see you all in a few hours,” I said.

“We’ll probably see you in the forest,” Tressi said. “Silvy keeps us busy.”

“That’s the price for me teaching you magic,” Silvy said. “You keep food in my kitchen.”

“Not the worst agreement,” Zia said.

“Alright, let’s get right to it,” Silvy said as she sat at the table. 

I took that as my cue to leave. I told them all goodbye, then popped the shadow stone in my mouth and left.

The narrow path that led from Silvy’s house was quite familiar to me, now. It hugged the very edge of Tunnel City, all the way to the entrance tunnel. That allowed Silvy to live her life without ever interacting with anyone. It also allowed me to make my way across the city without being noticed.

When I got to the mouth of the tunnel I had to wait a few moments. A soldier stood there, looking bored but still vigilant. He stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and after a few moments he turned to look down the tunnel. Once he did that, I hurried by, continuing until I was sneaking through another tunnel to the next part of the sprawling underground city.

Fortunately, the hot springs were in the next section. Unfortunately, they were quite busy this morning.

Glowing lights set in the walls and ceiling gently illuminated the area, such that I was still mostly invisible but had to be careful. All of the pools nearby were full, some with lines of goblins waiting to enter. 

I slowly walked around to the other side, trying to find some pools that weren’t as popular. Of course, I made sure to take a moment to appreciate the naked goblin women climbing in and out of the hot springs. They certainly were gorgeous.

With my back against the stone wall, I moved all the way around the area that contained the hot springs, until I reached the furthest one. Most of these were empty, so I decided to take a chance.

What I didn’t expect was that as soon as I removed my clothes, they lost their invisibility. It seemed that items had to be touching me in order to be affected by the shadow stone. Well, hopefully no one noticed the clothes suddenly sitting there.

As quietly as possible, I dipped into the water and hurriedly scrubbed myself down without splashing or making too much of a ruckus. Goblins had excellent hearing, and I didn’t want someone to get scared and report something to one of the guards. Just my luck I’d wind up having to fight one while naked.

The moment I was done I hopped out of the water, once again realizing I had forgotten a towel. I didn’t know any elemental magic either, so I couldn’t use that. I had no real choice other than to stand there and drip-dry for a few minutes.

It took a solid fifteen minutes, but soon I was dressed and leaving that area. Once I got to the main tunnel I again had to wait for that soldier to look away so I could slip by him unnoticed.

I picked up a small stone from the floor of the tunnel as I hurried down it. I needed any and all advantages I could get, and I wasn’t above using looney tunes-level diversions.

When I arrived at the tunnel entrance, I stood there for a moment, holding the stone in hand. I had to do this just right or it wouldn’t work. Once I stood right behind the guard on the right, I threw the stone at the guard on the left, striking him on the side of the neck. 

“Hey!” he shouted, clapping a hand to his neck. “The fuck was that for?” He marched over to the other guard, hand on the hilt of his club.

“What was what for?” the other guard asked, glaring at him. “What are you, drunk or something?”

“You hit me with a fucking rock!” the guard shouted.

I slipped behind him and hurried across the patch of grass in front of the tunnel, then ducked behind the first bush I found. After turning around to face them, I decided to try my luck.

The two guards stood there, shouting at each other. Using blood magic, I reached into the body of the man I had hit with the rock and made his arm move. I was careful with the muscles I made work, which resulted in him slapping the other guard across the face. It was a crude slap, like a broken marionette, but it got the effect I wanted.

They both stood there for a moment, each man looking shocked. The man that had done the slapping looked down at his hand like he had no clue what was going on. Two seconds later, the punches started.

Laughing to myself, I hurried away towards the tree I used to access the elven city of Caelora. In my excitement I ran up the first stairs, which of course left me heaving and out of breath a hundred feet up. I took my time finishing the rest. No one needed to see the hero struggle, after all.

Once in the city I walked around a bit, taking an alternate path. I looped back a few times, trying to memorize the layout. Caelora had a very organic feel to it, with practically no straight lines. That made sense, since the entire city had been magically grown from the branches of those massive trees. It mostly consisted of large islands connected by wooden bridges.

I found Elasha’s shop, but the door was closed. I had been planning on thanking her for the clothes, but it looked like she was starting late today. That was fine. She wasn’t the most pleasant person.

After that I continued on until I came to the training grounds. As usual, Althidon was there, running a group of young men through several drills with practice swords. He stepped aside when he noticed me approaching.

“Good morning, Aaron,” he said. “The look on your face speaks of stress. How are things at home? Are you ready to fight?”

I took a deep breath. “Security is getting tighter by the day, and it’s only a matter of time before more soldiers come snooping around Silvy’s house and find me. I don’t have a choice. I have to be ready, and as soon as possible.”

“That’s the right answer,” Althidon said. He walked over to the weapons rack and grabbed a wooden shield and handed it to me. “Let’s get started.”