As we waited to find out whether we would be granted an audience, Damecus suggested that we cast connected voice before entering. He phrased the request delicately… saying that it was simply in case any of us can provide insight and information during the negotiations. But I know damn well that it is so that we can coordinate a counterattack if things go to shit. Which I still fully anticipate.

  Darling came back out. Which is a stupid name. She calls everybody darling, so I don’t really think assigning it as his name really works… or did she just mean she was going to keep referring to him as darling because that’s what she calls everyone? Regardless of her intention… everybody seems to be referring to him as Darling now… apart from Agaroth… who seems to be calling him Harry Hardon. But I have grown to expect that from Agaroth… the nickname thing confused me at first, but I mostly just ignore it now.

  Anyway… going off track. Darling gestured for us to follow him into the cave. Smutisha went to follow, but Dietrich placed a hand on her shoulder and her and Farrow walked ahead of Smutisha. Which is a good idea really. Smutisha isn’t exactly a combat expert. She may be pretty nifty at negotiating… but if the Grim attack and she is at the front then she will likely end up dead. Dietrich and Farrow can certainly handle themselves… if a fight breaks out, they will be fine.

  After Darling, Dietrich, and Farrow, Smutisha followed. Then I walked with Phoenix… followed by Keith, Damecus and the spear goblin… then finally Agaroth and Kiyui, with Feifer toddling along by his feet. Smutisha wanted the females to lead as a negotiating strategy. She is definitely trying to take advantage of the desire for females that the Grim have.

  That stunt she pulled outside threw me a little… although, knowing Smutisha, it really shouldn’t have. I hope that she isn’t going to rely on that as her primary negotiating tactic once we meet their leader. I know that these guys are sexually motivated… but that makes me more nervous… not less. Get them too worked up and I doubt they’ll let us leave. Hell… I’m surprised they’ve allowed us this far into the cave.

  Incidentally, I really do not like this cave network. I mean… caves aren’t my favourite thing to begin with. They remind me too much of when I was little. They are never somewhere that I would choose to be. But this one being a goblin nest makes it worse… every noise that I hear… every odour that I smell… just sets me on edge… and I was on edge to begin with, so I am way too fucking close to the edge right now.

  It feels like we have been walking down these tunnels for ages. It’s probably just my anxiety… but fuck… how long can one tunnel be? I’ve been checking the walls as we go… there haven’t been any forks or alternative passageways… just one long tunnel… it is unnerving.

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  The tunnel finally opened up into a large cavern. Apart from the tunnel that we entered from, there were three other tunnels in the room. One was at the exact opposite side of the cavern. One was halfway up the wall to our left and the other was kind of imbedded in the floor below and to the right of the tunnel in the middle of the wall.

  Kiyui’s ears pricked up and his face sunk. He spoke quietly and softly so that only we with connected voices could hear him.

  Kiyui: “I hear screaming.”

  Keith: “What?”

  Kiyui: “Screaming… I hear a woman screaming.”

  Damecus: “I hear it too, intermittent bursts… roughly one minute apart.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to focus on my hearing… but I couldn’t hear anything. Keith sniffed the air… good idea… why didn’t I try that first? Fuck, I’m an idiot. I sniffed the air… I could mostly smell the vile odours that goblins create… but there was a definite, undeniable, female odour… more than one in fact.

  Keith: “I smell females. Human females.”

  Dwynfel: “Blood, sweat and something else that I can’t put my finger on.”

  Damecus: “One of the females in giving birth.”

  Dwynfel: “What?”

  Damecus: “The intermittent screaming, the timing between each scream, it is due to contractions.”

  Gods… how long have these goblins been here? Taking a woman and holding her for long enough to reach full term… this nest is definitely not a recent development.

  Kiyui: “We need to find them and free them.”

  Smutisha: “Stay your hands, darlings. We knew they would likely have prisoners here. Their release will be part of the negotiations.”

  Agaroth: “Are you takin’ the piss? Those lassies are probably gettin’ royally…”

  Smutisha: “Quiet. If the negotiations go south, then we free them by force. Either way, they will be freed. But if negotiations succeed then maybe no further women will have to suffer as they have.”

  Agaroth: “Fuck’s sake, fine.”

  Smutisha: “Remember, darlings. If we can accomplish this, then we can prevent future suffering. That is what we hope to achieve here. Now do try to look convivial.”

  Convivial? Fucking hell… how am I supposed to look convivial in the middle of a Grim nest? Knowing that there are obscene things happening to innocent women down one of these tunnels. I don’t want to negotiate with these monsters… I want to kill them… I want them all dead.

  I’m trying to breathe slowly and calmly but, in all honesty, it isn’t working. I think I’m going to start hyperventilating again. Breathe in… breathe out… breathe in… breathe out.

  As we continued forward, we eventually reached the tunnel at the far end of the cavern. The walls dripped with moisture; the ground was slippery as a result. At least they seem to have had the sense to reinforce the ceiling in this part of the tunnel. There are wooden beams up the walls and across the ceiling. There seem to be a lot of loose rocks up there… oh shit… trap… it’s a trap.

  I heard the sound of a rope being pulled taught and a beam becoming dislodged. I grabbed Phoenix and pushed her back into the cavern as the ceiling collapsed in front of me.