Lobix stared at Laryn for several seconds. His arm shook slightly, gripping the knife to Kenna’s neck.

  Laryn spread his open hands in a gesture of peace. Lobix’s eye winked spasmodically. The creature had been terrified, and seemed surprised that the gamble had worked.

  Lobix slowly removed the blade from Kenna’s neck, but still gripped her arm. Kenna shook herself free, and rose.

  Laryn glanced over his shoulder, looking to the woods where he knew Harrat’s men lay in wait, watching. They wouldn’t risk charging into a pack of goblins. They’d wait, tracking Laryn and Kenna until they could summon reinforcements.

  This was the safest place for Laryn and Kenna, until they could shake their pursuers.

  “Are we friends, then?” Laryn asked

  Lobix grunted, slipping his blade back into its sheath. “Not friends. Perhaps not enemies.”

  A gang of goblins carrying ropes and chains approached cautiously.

  Laryn placed his hand on his sword, and the creatures froze. “No chains,” he warned them. They looked to their leader. “I come with you willingly, but we won’t be bound.”

  Lobix nodded. “No chains. But—” he looked at Laryn apologetically. “Guards.”

  Laryn acceded to the request, and a pair of mages along with several regular goblin soldiers were assigned to each of the humans.

  They journeyed several kilometers to the north that night, before once more setting up camp.

  The goblin food was bad, but Kenna spiced it with some of the peppers that had survived the fighting, and the mild heat made the food much better.

  The goblins set up a tent for Kenna and Laryn, and a crowd of them watched with unabashed leers as they waited for the two humans to head into the tent and ‘get after it.’

  Kenna retired from the fire alone, rolling her eyes. “Lurid creatures,” she muttered.

  Laryn did not intend to join her in the tent; despite Lobix’s promises that they were not prisoners, he did not feel safe. Who knew what the rank and file of the goblin cohort might get up to?

  The lurking creatures were clearly disappointed when the symet fem left, and expressed their distaste at Laryn’s symmetrical form and masculine scent. But his presence seemed to be enough to keep them back, as they lurked around the edges of the camp fire. So he tended to the flames, and ignored them.

  He worried about this move. He was delaying his return to Vallor. But he hoped that he’d also be distracting Harrat, and leading his men away from the kingdom. Furthermore, he was creating space to get the spell module and get back to Vallor.

  He had his doubts that the module would even help that much, but perhaps it could buy them more time until the return of his messengers.

  Had Lawal discovered anything more about the void cult in the libraries of Alvanasara? Would she even care to send aid to Vallor, when Ollen came to her with his tale?

  Would Hober be able to find a coresmith, or rally a fighting force?

  The thoughts of fighting forces turned his attention to the goblin camp. Most of the creatures here seemed to be more intelligent than Krupp. That wasn’t saying much, but the point that Kenna had made about the first human settlers in Cataria making a bad impression on the elves stuck with him.

  If the goblins were organized and capable of fighting, perhaps they could be persuaded to join the fight against Harrat. Open a new front against Fort Envin, and split Harrat’s attention.

  Krupp clearly hated Harrat, and Lobix had seemed relieved to find out that Laryn wasn’t a ‘Harratman.’

  As Laryn turned ideas over in his mind, Lobix entered the circle of his firelight. The squat goblin crouched on his haunches by the fire, examining Laryn, and the stump on which he sat.

  “Thank you for your hospitality, Lobix,” Laryn said. “We were very hungry.”

  Lobix waved a hand dismissively. The firelight illuminated the right side of his face, leaving the drooping left side in shadow. It allowed Laryn to see what the creature would have looked like had he been more… symmetrical. He found himself surprised to find that, had he been taller, and less green, Lobix might have been a reasonably handsome human.

  “What are you doing out here, Lobix?” Laryn asked.

  The goblin grunted. “Lobix was looking for void.”

  “Did you find any?”

  “Some. But Lobix kill it.”

  “Good,” Laryn said. “We need to kill it.”

  “Lobix also looking for you,” the goblin said.

  “Me? Why me?”

  “You been killina void too. Grimby hear about you.”

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  “How?”

  Lobix shrugged. “Goblins. But maybe Grimby not so keen to meet, witha killin’ an a fightin’ witha Harratmen.”

  “You mean that she’s upset about humans,” Laryn said. “But you know that we’re fighting with the Harratmen too?”

  Lobix nodded slowly. “Lobix hopin’ a know it. But needa know what alla humans doin’ in the woods, followin’ the goblins.”

  The goblin’s hands rested on his legs, perfectly still. Laryn became aware that the goblins around the camp had faded back into the darkness.

  One wrong move and he might bring the entire goblin camp down to fight against him. What did they suspect?

  “They’re Harrat’s men,” Laryn said. “They’re following us.”

  “Why?”

  “Because… they want Kenna. Uh, the fem.”

  Lobix nodded grimly.

  “Do goblins marry?” Laryn asked.

  The goblin tried on the word, but it sounded strange and foreign from the creature’s mouth. “Marry?”

  “So no,” Laryn said. “Well Harrat thinks that Kenna belongs to him.”

  Lobix’s face wrinkled in disgust. “Like a stick? Lobix finda good stick, an keep.”

  “Like a stick,” Laryn agreed.

  “Humans crazy,” Lobix said. “No can keepa fem. Only fem say, come, go, stay, leave, an goblin do it. Fem not stick.”

  “That’s right. Fem not stick. But Harrat doesn’t know that. He sends his men to find us and we run away.”

  “Lobix protect alla fem. Protecta queen, protecta Kenna.”

  Laryn nodded in appreciation. He… still didn’t trust the goblins. No telling what their definition of ‘protect’ might include. But he felt he was getting somewhere with Lobix.

  “Lobix, why don’t you like Harrat’s men?” he asked.

  Lobix screwed up his face and spat in the dirt. He glared at Laryn. “Alla human stink. Harratmen stinka most. Killa many goblins. Steal. Hurt. Break fems. Wanna kill alla Harratmen.”

  “Me too,” Laryn said. “I want them to leave. I want them gone. They’re as bad as the void.”

  “Worse,” Lobix said.

  “Will you tell your queen? That we hate the Harratmen and we want to fight them, together with you?”

  Lobix laughed. “Lobix no speaka queen Grimby. Lobix too ugly.” A look of passionate delight crossed over his face. “Lobix seea Grimby once. Perfect symet.” The goblin pressed his hands together. One was slightly larger than the other, and a few of his fingers bent at odd angles, so that the hands did not line up.

  “Was most incredible day,” the goblin continued, look of extasy fading from his face. “But not chosen to lie with. Instead havea children witha ugly fem. Ugly likea Lobix.”

  Laryn tried not to grimace at the strangeness of goblin culture. If he could win over the goblin Queen, and forge a kind of alliance, perhaps they stood a chance against Harrat.

  The creatures clearly already hated Harrat.

  “Lobix, where did all the goblins go?” Laryn asked. “We’ve found abandoned mines, and rumor has it that the warrens of Grekhol are empty.”

  “Lotta goblins in Grekhol still,” Lobix said. “But many goblins go north.”

  “Why?” Laryn asked.

  “Seeking the mother.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Lobix gestured vaguely. “They go to the mother.”

  Laryn did not find this to be enlightening.

  “Who is the mother?”

  “She is just the mother,” Lobix said, sounding somewhat exasperated. “Not who.”

  Laryn moved to a new topic. “How long till we arrive in Grekhol?”

  “One more day,” Lobix said. “Then the next day to go to the palace.”

  The following day proved a long march northward. The trail they followed occasionally came within view of what Laryn guessed was the Lewin river. Forested hills gave way to grassy plains, and then they entered the outskirts of Grekhol.

  Mounds of earth—overgrown with grasses and vines—dotted the landscape. A dusty trail wound between the hills, and the company followed this trail.

  “The outer warrens of Grekhol,” Lobix explained. “Many goblins once live here, now, all empty.”

  Their journey continued on like this for a time, and Laryn couldn’t help but check behind them for signs of pursuit. He knew that Harrat’s men would be following, but wherever they were they kept out of sight.

  Around midday, Lobix led them into a gaping hole in the earth. An old but well crafted stone arch held back soil and sod. Laryn’s interface informed him that he stood on tiles claimed by Grekhol, influence level 4.

  Goblins ignited torches, and they pushed on into the darkness. The passage echoed with a distant memory of a thriving civilization; the bones of a city now decaying beneath the earth.

  An occasional skylight pierced through to the sky, sending a ray of light down into the corridor. Goblins appeared to be living here, and Laryn caught glimpses of houses, animals, and what he guessed were goblin children.

  No passage was straight. The road bent and curved, spiraling into the depths, and tunnels met with it at strange angles leading to unknown sectors.

  The passing troupe of goblin fighters attracted some attention, but once the onlookers noticed the two humans in the midst of the column, they began pressing in, searching for a better view.

  Lobix’s soldiers pressed in around the humans, sheltering them from molestation, but the crude calls of excited goblins still made Kenna blush.

  Their passage through the warrens took what seemed like several hours, though the passage of time in the tunnels was hard to track. Laryn didn’t think they’d moved far as the crow flies, but he felt the weight of earth overhead. Their path had led them deep underground.

  Eventually they reached a massive cavern. An oculus glowed overhead, casting light straight down onto an ornate palace. Lights shimmered in the darkness all around, like stars in the night sky. The palace rested on an island in a great lake of water.

  Voices echoed in the distance, but the continuous drip drip drip of water overwhelmed all else.

  They marched along a stone isthmus which narrowed to permit no more than 5 abreast as it stretched across the lake to the island.

  “Woah,” said Kenna. “I didn’t realize Goblins were such builders? Do you think they could have built this?”

  Laryn took in the palace, laid out before them in perfect symmetry. “I think that they’re more capable than we’ve been led to believe,” he said. He suddenly felt nervous about meeting Grimby. Who was this goblin woman, who called herself queen in this place?

  After a hasty discussion with guards at the gates, Lobix brought Laryn, Kenna, and their escort through, leaving the remainder of his force outside.

  Laryn noted that the goblins guarding the gates seemed more proportionate than many of the other goblins. One had a slight limp, and the other had a gimpy arm, but they were remarkably more human looking than Krupp. Perhaps it was just the darkness playing tricks.

  As they were lead through the halls, Lobix grew more and more excited. The goblin continually wiped sweat from his brow, and wrung his hands.

  “Lobix, is there anything we should know about meeting the queen?” Laryn asked.

  “Oh, ah, respect Grimby,” Lobix said. “Do not be overwhelmed by Grimby’s beauty.” The creature was breathing heavily at mention of the queen’s appearance. “Tell howa heart pounds an howa Queen’s appearance strikes.”

  “Okay,” Laryn said, shooting a sideways glance at Kenna.

  “If too much, is okay to lie down,” Lobix said, bobbing his head.

  They reached the massive doors, guarded by a hundred of the sturdiest looking goblins that Laryn had ever seen.

  A goblin in a white robe opened a large chest, and gestured for them to place their weapons inside of it. Reluctantly, Laryn removed his sword. Kenna placed her knife beside it. The goblin then ran his hands along their sides, searching for anything hidden.

  When he found nothing, they were led forward. The doors swung open, admitting them to the throne room.

  Kenna gasped.

  Lobix rolled his eyes in ecstacy, then fainted.