King of the Goblins—Chapter 32

That thought lasted until I got back to the mouth of the tunnel that entered the goblin city. 

Several groups of goblins walked in and out of the tunnel, but what bothered me most were the two goblin soldiers flanking the entrance. The sun was still up, so I would be partially visible if I tried to cross the clearing between the forest and the tunnel itself. In short, I was screwed.

“Well, that’s not good,” I muttered. We were still in the shaded area of the forest so I was invisible, but two more steps and the guards would likely see me. “Hey, pretend you two are talking.”

Zia turned to Tressi. “So, what are we going to do?”

“I need to learn their schedule. That might help,” I said. “But for now, we need a distraction. I could just kill them, but I think that would be a bad idea at the moment. It would just attract the wrong kind of attention. I mean, that one soldier already suspected Silvy, so it’s only a matter of time until other people realize that the crazy old woman living by herself is actually plotting a coup.”

“We can distract them,” Tressi said. “If we can get them both to move to one side, you can slip in unnoticed on the other side. Once you’re in the shadows, you’ll be good.”

“It’s worth a try,” Zia said. 

“How are you going to distract them?” I asked. 

“Just watch,” Zia said with a wink. 

Zia held her elbow out and Tressi looped her arm around it. Then, the two beauties walked straight towards the mouth of the tunnel. I saw Zia lean over and whisper something, but it was too quiet to hear.

As they approached the soldier on the left, I immediately saw what they were doing. I moved to the right, slipping through the trees until I was twenty feet away. Once both of the soldiers had their eyes on the women, I dashed across the clearing, until I was pressed against the stone cliff. 

They spoke with the guard on the left and it was clear from the beginning they were flirting. Zia had his full attention immediately, and Tressi looked over and smiled at the other guard. After a moment, that guard crossed the entrance of the tunnel and stood next to the other one, casually leaning an arm against the side of the tunnel.

That was my moment. I carefully crept closer to the tunnel, my eyes on the two soldiers. At that time I was grateful for my running shoes, as they were silent on the rocky soil.

“We just wanted to thank you for keeping us safe,” Zia said, twirling her hair around a finger.

“You’re both so brave,” Tressi gushed.

“It’s not the easiest job, but someone’s gotta do it,” one of the guards said, sounding very proud of himself. 

“Yeah, there’s always the threat that someone will attack, so we have to stay alert,” the other guard said. He suddenly jerked his head to the side as if he heard something, his hand going to his club. “Ah, just a bird.”

I suddenly wished I could use blood magic to make them piss themselves, anything to take them down a rung.

Wait a minute. Could I?

I reached out to the one soldier’s body with blood magic as he continued to explain how tough he was. I searched through his body, everywhere that blood flowed. It wasn’t the easiest thing, but I had enough of an understanding of biology that I eventually found his bladder. Blood vessels surrounded it, and I gave them all a squeeze.

I had to cover my mouth with a hand to stifle a laugh as the guard’s eyes suddenly widened. He looked down at himself and took a step back.

“What’s wrong?” the other guard asked, looking him up and down. “Mate. Did you just fucking piss yourself?”

“I don’t know what happened,” the soldier said, looking down in shock at himself.

Zia and Tressi took that as their cue to hurry away.

“Stay safe!” Tressi said as she moved towards me.

“I can’t believe you fucking pissed yourself,” the guard said.

As the two ladies walked towards me, I reached out and touched Tressi on the shoulder. She jumped slightly, then smiled.

“Did you do that?” she asked, her voice quiet.

“Yeah,” I whispered. “I didn’t realize I could until just now. Looks like I still have lots of learning to do.”

“I can’t believe you made him pee his pants,” Zia said, grinning broadly. “Silvy’s going to love that one.”

I left my hand on Tressi’s shoulder as we walked, so she would know I was there. Zia and Tressi talked about the food they had foraged that day, and I simply walked with them. We passed by another guard, but he was too focused on Tressi’s unlaced bodice to notice the slight shift in light that was me.

We finally reached the end of the tunnel, and the three of us turned sharply to the right and went to the narrow path that led to Silvy’s house. I stayed in front, as I walked much faster than them and sometimes having to walk so slowly got on my nerves. When I got to Silvy’s place I looked around, then pushed the door open and removed the shadow stone.

“Welcome back,” Silvy said as she stirred a large pot that bubbled over a magical fire. She gave me a smile and looked me up and down. “Nice clothes.”

“You were right,” Zia said as she set her forage sack down. “It’s easier each time we do it.”

“Huh?” I asked. Were they talking about blowing me?

“She had us practice our magic in the woods,” Tressi explained. “Before you found us, that is. Just simple things, like pulling the water from soil, digging holes, moving rocks around. But it really helps us grow more comfortable with magic.”

“And the more you practice, the stronger you’ll be,” Silvy said. She walked over to me and gave me a hug. “How did your training go? I see you brought a spear home.”

I held her tightly for a moment, then released her so I could lean the spear against the wall. “Yeah, just a practice spear. I figured I’d use it with Greg for some more realistic sparring.”

Silvy nodded. “Good idea.”

“Tell her what you did,” Zia said, suddenly smiling. 

Silvy stared at me for a moment and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “I already don’t like the sound of that.” Her mouth curved into a concerned frown.

“Go on, tell her!” Zia said.

“You should have seen it,” Tressi added. “It was so hard not to laugh.”

Silvy’s eyes stayed on me and she raised a slender eyebrow. “Well?”

I sighed. “I made one of the guards piss himself.”

“You what?” Silvy asked. Her face went from shocked to angry to outright laughter.

I shrugged. “I had to let them know I had passed the guards, and it was the first thing I thought of.”

“That’s the only reason you did it?” Silvy asked, her eyebrow still raised.

“Well,” I began.

“Oh, they deserved it,” Tressi said. “You should have heard them, Silvy! They do nothing but stand there all day but the way they explain it, they’re saving our entire people on a daily basis.”

Silvy chuckled. “Yes, I suppose that would have been a sight. And probably less likely to bring attention back here.” She gave me a concerned look. “So is that a new trick you’ve learned?”

“I think so,” I said. “To some extent, I can affect any part of the body where blood flows. I can kill, I can heal, but it looks like I can do other things as well. I’m not sure yet what all I can do though. It’s kind of a hard thing to practice.”

Silvy took a deep breath and went to the table, where Zia and Tressi were already seated. “Go ahead and try. Just don’t kill me.”

“You mean—”

“Yes, I’m giving you permission to use blood magic on me,” Silvy said. “Just don’t kill me. I know you’re smart enough to make that distinction. But if exploring will help you learn, then explore.”

I pulled back a chair and sat across from her, wondering exactly what I would do. “Thank you for trusting me,” I said. And with that, I reached out with blood magic and touched her.

It always started with a vague feeling, like I was nowhere specific in her body. Perhaps I was feeling all of her blood; I didn’t know, to be honest. After a few seconds my magical touch seemed to solidify roughly in her midsection. I could reduce and increase blood flow to certain areas, so I decided to start there.

“Oh,” Silvy said, her eyes widening slightly. She looked down and gently unlaced the front of her dress, showing how her skin was flushed. “That actually feels rather nice.”

Yes, I had increased blood flow to her breasts. Call me a child, I didn’t care.

I made sure to avoid her internal organs, but I pushed and pulled on her blood flow around her body. She winced as I all but stopped the flow of blood into her hands.

“Can you move them?” I asked.

She weakly flexed her hands twice, then tried a third time and couldn’t. “That is rather unpleasant.”

I quickly restored circulation to her hands and moved on. That was a solid attack I could use against someone: halting their blood flow into their limbs so they couldn’t move or swing a sword at me. I was familiar with that and had used it a couple times already, but I began to wonder what else I could do.

Using blood magic, I felt through one of her arms, noting how the blood flowed in capillaries in her muscles. I was able to make her biceps muscle contract just slightly, enough to make her arm move. 

Silvy’s eyes widened, and I think I looked just as surprised as she did. I focused all of my concentration on that one muscle and the blood flowing through it, and I was able to make her arm move again.

“Incredible,” Silvy said. “I have heard of this, but blood magic is so rare I didn’t think I’d ever see it.”

I branched my control out, making her shoulder muscles flex as well, and managed to make her lift her arm off the table. The motion was crude and jerky, but it was enough to let me know what was possible.

“I think I have an idea,” I said. “But I need to practice this. A lot.”