by Kevin Culp
Phara and Boon were now in our stables. Archaeus actually had some ranks in Animal Handling and Riding, so I had been working on continuing Phara’s training. She probably took a step back from changing trainers, but it was something fun for Christina to help me with and for us to do together. We had also hooked them up to the carriage a few times, just to see how well they handled it.
I looked over Christina’s character sheet almost every day and her experience never changed by so much as a single point. While she didn’t gain any experience, I got a pleasant surprise when after a few days with the new horses she gained skill training in Riding and Animal Handling. I still wasn’t certain if people here could just gain skill ranks by performing a skill or if this was a combination of her performing a skill and having unspent ranks from her previously gained level. Either way, it was nice to see Christina gaining new skills.
Overall, the only way things could have been better would have been if all my friends had strolled into town with a method to travel back to our own world. As much as I wanted that, I was also questioning if I would want to go back even if I could. There was no telling whether it would be possible to bring Christina with me, and I wasn’t certain she would want to go. I also wondered if she would still love me if I was William rather than Archaeus.
Christina and I were having lunch in the tavern when the door burst open. Rin and Kayden were helping support a soldier. I didn’t recognize him, so I assumed he came from the party camped in front of the cave. His armor was smeared with blood. He was holding one eye open but seemed strained to do so, while the other had blood pooling over it. He was gasping and I could see his mouth was full of blood. I immediately rushed to him and used Healing Hands.
He stood there for a moment relieved to be clear of pain. All his wounds were closed, and he no longer looked tired, though he was still covered in blood. He smacked his mouth slightly, and the look on his face showed he had a foul taste in his mouth. I assumed this was from all the blood.
I turned and looked at Irene. “Can we get this man some water, please?”
The man came to his senses. “My apologies, there is no time for that. Archaeus, you must come with me. The men, nearly all of them have been killed or taken.”
“Get this man some water and then follow me!” I yelled it and then ran out the door.
Christina followed me.
I didn’t have my armor on, but I had my weapon which is what was most important. Christina had taken to carrying her short sword and wore my ring and amulet. Her Armor Rating wasn’t much better with my armor on since she had gained her class, so I was confident in her defense. Whatever we had been facing had taken down veteran soldiers, but with those magic items and her own Blade Dancer Ability, Christina’s Armor Rating was likely higher than theirs.
I wasn’t certain of how fast the soldier had gotten here, but it took Christina and I just shy of an hour to got to the mouth of the cave. We encountered nothing along the way, but as we got close, the forest became silent. There were bodies everywhere. Not just soldier bodies but also goblins and creatures that looked similar to a mix between goblin and human.
I could probably identify the goblins because I knew Kreego so well. They were small, green, and looked somewhat anorexic but had pot bellies. They had round heads and large pointed ears. Many had an overbite or an underbite, and they all had well-pronounced canines. I felt internally that I should know what these hybrids were called too, but Archaeus had no knowledge of it.
I needed to get some knowledge skills, but I was pretty certain that I couldn’t gain any new skills without gaining a level, and Archaeus had received a total of 2 experience since getting here. One was from the Orc Dread Knight and the other was from my fight with Raion. Everything else had been low enough level that he didn’t get any experience from the fight. Currently, I was at 3857/21000 to reach level 21. Levels 1 to 20 required an amount of experience equal to the level to be attained times 100, but once you reached level 20, you were considered epic, and it required the level to be attained times 1000 to advance instead.
Total there seemed to be about 25 goblin bodies, 7 of the hybrids, and 8 soldiers. There should have been at least a dozen soldiers out here. The soldier in town said some were taken, so I guess that left 3 of them from here, but there were likely also a dozen that had been inside the cave. Judging by the number of dead goblins, it looked like the soldiers had put up a decent fight but had been overwhelmed by numbers. All the soldiers were dead, but after combing through the bodies I found a goblin that was still breathing. Just as I was pulling the goblin away from the rest of the bodies, Rin, Kayden, and the soldier showed up.
The soldier noticed that the goblin in my hands was breathing and drew his sword. “That green murderer.”
Rin caught him before he began to charge and held him back.
I wished that I had a rope to tie up the goblin, but I put my foot on its chest and then used Healing Hands.
He sputtered a few times, gasped for air, and then grabbed my foot struggling to break free but to no avail. “Vur nim sesh a sii.” He squealed in Goblin.
I could tell he wasn’t speaking common, but I also somehow understood it. Archaeus did his best to make his allies feel comfortable, so he had learned Goblin to converse with Kreego in his own tongue. The goblin had said, “Let go filthy human.”
I tried to focus myself to speak with him. Once I started speaking, I could tell it worked by the expressions on my allies’ faces, but to me, I was just speaking like normal. “I don’t wish to cause you harm, but you do need to tell me why you are here and where you took those men.”
He seemed surprised that I spoke his language. “I tell you nothing. You will be slave to our lord. All fall under the might of Leonard Hunkerman.”
I’m sure I would have broken down laughing had this not been a dire situation. If a goblin boss being named Leonard wasn’t enough his last name being Hunkerman really just killed me. I guess there was no knowing yet if he was a goblin, one of those hybrids, or something else entirely yet, but it was still hilarious. Truthfully, it wouldn’t surprise me that much to hear a name like this in my world, but in this situation, it was just too funny.
I looked him in the eyes. “All these people here want to hurt you. They kill goblins. I want to work with you to help save our friends and even to save you. One of my best friends is a goblin. I can’t say he’s always honest, but he is one of the best people I know. Wouldn’t it be better for both of us if we worked together and found a solution that could benefit us both?”
His eyes darted around at the other four people staring daggers at him and then back at me. I risked a look at my notepad and saw I had rolled a 12 on my diplomacy roll which came to a total of 42 which should be enough to sway most, but assuming he had hatred for me to begin with it wasn’t going to bring him all the way to loyal or even helpful by any means. Neutral was about the best I could hope for. I removed my boot from his chest, and he didn’t run which was a good sign.
“Why trust you?” The goblin asked.
“Is there anyone else here you would like to trust?”
He looked around at the other four again then back to me.
I pulled a handful of gold, probably about twelve or thirteen coins out of my bag and showed them to him.
He quickly jumped up and snatched the coins greedily. “Next time, that should be lead. We come through tunnels for long time. Paths be safer now, let goblin territory be big.”
“How long were you traveling in the tunnels?”
He shrugged. “Maybe month or more.”
“Do you know where you are from? Were you from this kingdom or another? What were the nearby towns called?”
“Goblin no care bout human place. We from Gurknille.”
I looked to the others. “Have any of you heard of Gurknille?”
Rin spoke up. “I have. It’s in the northeast of the Largon Empire, the nation to the south. It’s one of the larger goblin enc
ampments in the area. They have played a big role in a lot of the raids on human settlements in the south of the kingdom and the north of the Largon Empire. The Varnelion Kingdom has actually offered a few times to deal with the encampment, but the Largon Empire wouldn't accept help from an outside nation, so we have often just been stuck fighting them back when they cross the borders.”
“How far is it from here?” I asked.
“Probably three weeks on foot. Less by horse.”
The goblins had at least a two-hour lead on us. Not only that, but they seemed to know how to travel in the Under Realms. I wasn’t sure what our course of action needed to be, but we would need to decide something quick.
“We need to form a plan. Find out whether it will be better to follow them through the caves or go straight there. I’d wager that there is less of a chance of the taken soldiers being in good shape if we intercept them on the other side, but they also know the tunnels better than us, and it’s likely we could just get lost. Rin, can you escort this goblin to the town? I believe we can find some shackles and a room for him to stay in until the town hall is complete. There is supposed to be a cell there once it is complete.”
The goblin was counting his coins when Rin grabbed him by the arm.
“We had deal! We had deal!” He squealed.
“I promised you wouldn’t be harmed. I understand this wasn’t a direct crime by you but an assault by your people. That being said, you still must be punished for your actions.”
I looked at the soldier. He was separating the bodies and pulling out his men, laying them gently in a row. He was definitely not being as gentle with the goblins and hybrids. He had what I assumed was a holy symbol in his hands now, though I couldn’t see it well enough to determine the deity it was to. I don’t think he was any kind of Paladin or Cleric, just religious in general.
“I mean no disrespect to the men that lost their lives here. It’s obvious they put up a good fight with how many enemies are dead here, but were any of the enemies particularly powerful?”
He made some kind of gesture that seemed to be akin to making a cross and turned to face me. “I wouldn’t say so. They overwhelmed us with numbers. These were good men and great soldiers, but the more we killed, the more they came until we couldn’t fight them off anymore.”
I focused myself and summoned Zeus. The giant white wolf appeared in front of me. “Guard this man and watch the cave while he attends to the dead. Escort him back to town if needed once he is finished. Kayden, stay here and assist. Burn the goblin bodies but try to not be too disrespectful.”
Kayden moved to help the man and Zeus moved to the cave’s mouth and laid down. Christina and I turned and headed back to town. We weren’t far behind Rin. She was fighting with the Goblin a bit. The image was strange and kind of looked like an adult and a child. He was about three feet tall, and she had a firm grip on his wrist, but he was kicking at her ankles and trying to free his arm with no success.
When we got back to the town, Rin went to find Lendon, and Christina and I went back to our home. I could tell Christina was deep in thought, though we didn’t discuss much along the way. It was still just midafternoon by the time we got home. I sat down and began to write the prince a letter explaining to him the events that had unfolded and asking his opinion on it. Once I sent it, I went to the room and saw that Christina was lying in bed, so I crawled in beside her and held her.
She spoke quietly. “It’s happening again.”
“What’s happening?”
“Things are getting bad. Every time they get bad, I lose someone. I don’t want to lose you.”
I kissed her cheek. “You won’t lose me.”
“How do you know?”
“If a camp of goblins could kill me, I’d be long since dead.”
“What about the rest of the town? Uncle, Irene, Korana, we can’t just leave them here defenseless.”
“They won’t be defenseless. I assure you we will make sure they are safe and protected before going anywhere. Going through the caves might be better because we know they aren’t getting past us to come here. Then again, we don’t know if there would be other paths, and we could likely get lost along the way.”
“I think it’s a risk no matter what we do. I am glad though that you are saying we and know that I’m not letting you do this alone.”
“It needs to be more than just you and me though. I’m not sure who all will come, but we need a real plan. To be honest, I know you can handle yourself, but I don’t want to be the only one there to help protect you either.”
“I know you want to keep me safe, Archaeus, but part of me learning how to protect people is learning how to protect myself. I’ll always lean on your strength while you are with me, but I want to trust my own strength as well.”
“There is still a lot to learn before we leave. I just hope that we can save those men.”
We laid there for a while until eventually Christina got up and cooked us dinner. Truthfully, it was probably very lazy of me to not have spent this time preparing and talking to the town. I kind of used the excuse to myself that I needed to hear from the prince before making a decision. In reality, I was just trying to savor the last normal night I would have Christina for quite a while, and I think she knew that, so she didn’t press me too hard. Eventually, we went to bed, and I don’t think I could have done anything to mentally prepare myself for the weeks to come.
Chapter 9
I woke up and heard Christina in the kitchen cooking. My first thought was that I wish she had stayed in bed, so we could cuddle a little while longer. When I opened my eyes, there was a letter sitting on the nightstand next to me. It seemed to be my Letter of Sending. If I had to guess, it was in my hand when Christina woke up, and she had set it on my nightstand. Immediately, I sat up, grabbed the letter, and opened it.
Sir Archaeus Velnir,
I apologize that I did not respond to you immediately upon hearing this tragic news. Unfortunately, yours was not the only such report that my family was receiving at that time. As I had informed you, there were several such entrances to the Under Realms that had become more active in recent weeks. Yours was not the first to receive such an attack from the goblins. The night before last, there was a goblin raid on the town of Thies just south of the capital. I had intended to inform you of this, but was busy with strategy meetings and had assumed that the soldiers there could handle any attacks that may have come through. There were three other such attacks yesterday before and after yours. The groups seemed to have some coordination, though not to the degree that all of them were perfectly synchronized. The Army is mobilizing. There will be a much larger force stationed at the front of the Under Realms entrances soon, but we are being spread between many such areas and cannot march in force through the Under Realms due to our limited knowledge of the tunnel systems and the impracticality of having an army in such a confined space. We also cannot march on Gurknille without the consent of the Largon Empire, and they are still unwilling to work with us. This has led many to believe that they are working with the goblins. We had no idea that their numbers were as great as they have proven to be.
With all of this information, I must make a request of you, Archaeus, which I do not take lightly. Would you assault the goblin encampment of Gurknille? We cannot send an army across the border without being discovered, and it would be declared an act of war. They may still see it as such given that I am certain they are informed well enough to know that you are nobility in our Kingdom, however sending an individual on what can be perceived as a rescue mission can be explained away a lot easier than sending a military force. Also, if you go alone and succeed, I believe they will be too wary of you to want to start a war. I know you did not want to be used as a military force or political leverage, but as of now over 150 people have lost their lives and nearly eighty have gone missing with the count still rising. I’m sure we can both agree this is something that needs to be taken care of. I look forward to y
our response and hope we can count on your assistance.
Sincerely,
Prince Leovald Varnelion
It was pretty shocking to read all of this, but there was also something oddly calming about it. It made me feel guilty thinking that way, but I now had a sense of direction. The inner Archaeus in me had been screaming while I had been playing house all this time. He didn’t know what it was to be still, and it wasn’t really until now that I truly understood why I had this feeling of unrest all this time. Archaeus needed a mission, and this was it. We would take out these goblins and save those people. The path to take was now clear. I would wait to leave until the army showed up to keep the town safe and then head straight to Gurknille. The Under Realms still needed to be searched, but knowing where this force was going, a direct route would be better than risking getting lost. I would be giving them a two-week lead, but my travel would go so much faster, that it was still likely that I would beat them there. I got out of bed and prepared my spells.
When I finished preparing my spells, I lifted my head and saw that Christina was on the opposite side of the bed kneeled down with her hands folded and eyes closed. This was actually the first time I had seen her pray. She had said before she didn’t know much about the gods but wanted to believe that there were greater beings out there to look over them. I waited a few minutes while she finished and then looked up.
She looked concerned. “Everything will be okay, right, Archaeus?”
I nodded
We went to the kitchen, and I explained everything in the Prince’s letter. We started to form a plan of where we needed to go from here. I had said that I didn’t want it to be just me and Christina, but I also wasn’t completely certain of who I wanted to come with us. I didn’t particularly want to put all of my students at risk, and while there would be an army here, I didn’t want to bring Rin given she was still the best fighter in town. We had a bit of time to plan, but I wanted to know that we were going in with a strategy, especially if Christina would be at risk.
