The Queen of Dragons (Tales from the New Earth Book 8)

by J. J. Thompson

  “What is that?” he muttered.

  A minute later he began to curse silently. It was the other end of the tunnel. He had crossed under the entire mound and had found no way to enter it.

  There must be door somewhere down here, he thought. There is foulness seeping into the river from some point; I saw that from above. So where is it?

  He looked at the murky, discolored water in disgust.

  Could it be underwater, he wondered. Ugh.

  No, that couldn't be right. Goblins weren't engineers; they simply weren't that bright. An opening under the river would only flood back into the mound and probably undermine its construction. The door must be along the riverbank, somewhere. But where?

  A sudden cacophony of sound rose up above the roar of the water and Aeris instinctively shot upwards to the tunnel roof and moved out to the center of the river. He looked back into the darkness, blinded somewhat by the daylight behind him.

  Curses, shrieks and cruel laughter mixed in together and the elemental glowered in disgust. Goblins.

  He moved toward the sound, still invisible, and stayed as high above the water as the tunnel would allow him to. He'd been right; there was a way inside.

  A shaft of light, yellowish and erratic, pierced the gloom from the tunnel ceiling and Aeris dropped down quickly to avoid it; invisible or not, a goblin mage might detect him if there was one about.

  Shadows made the light moved and dance and the elemental stayed back a dozen feet and waited, listening.

  A torrent of foulness fell through the opening; garbage consisting of bones and rotting flesh, unidentifiable bits and pieces of offal, and a great quantity of fecal matter, all rained down into the river. The smell was indescribable.

  Aeris moved back in revulsion but kept listening to the unseen goblins above. They were arguing in their horrid language and, while he certainly wasn't fluent, the elemental could follow what they were saying somewhat.

  “Gant says we must treat the prisoner better,” one of them howled. “No more abuse and better food.”

  Obviously it was difficult for the beasts to hear each other above the echoing sound of the river below and they were shouting to each other. As the conversation went on, Aeris soon realized that there were only two of them.

  “Why? Why must we?” the second goblin bellowed. “We need no prisoners. Kill him, I say!”

  “Aye, I agree. But Gant says otherwise. Do you want to go against him? Challenge him? That I would like to see.”

  And the goblin laughed cruelly.

  His companion said something that Aeris couldn't make out.

  “Yes, his magic is terrible,” the first one shouted. “And he takes many days to kill his enemies. Do not anger him, if you value your miserable life. Come now, toss this fool into the river and we can get back to our duties.”

  Both goblins laughed loudly and there was a shivering scream from above.

  The elemental watched, wide-eyed, as he saw the flailing body of a goblin fall through the hole and splash into the river. The emaciated creature clawed and smashed at the water, attacking it as if it was alive, but sank quickly and disappeared.

  Goblins can't swim, Aeris reminded himself.

  The laughter began to fade and the flickering torchlight faded with it. The pair of servants were leaving.

  Aeris waited until he could hear and see nothing through the opening and then flew toward it. He peered up into the darkness above and rose slowly, ready to retreat at the first sign of a trap. Fortunately, the way was clear.

  He found himself inside a long, low room that stank of feces and rotting offal. Piles of the unspeakable detritus were pushed up against the slimy walls and several wide chutes in the ceiling were dripping with tainted liquid. Apparently they led to the upper levels of the mound and this was the collection room for such waste.

  As he floated above the opening in the floor, a flood of putrid garbage slid down one of the chutes to splash into a pile on the floor.

  Aeris backed off, revolted and then shot across the room toward the only exit, a doorway leading into a narrow hallway.

  If I could vomit right now, I would, he thought in disgust as he left the miasma of rot behind. Now where does this lead?

  A few feeble torches hung along the walls of the passageway, more than enough for Aeris to see by. He was pleased that the goblins needed at least some light to function; unlike the dwarves, he could not see into the infra-red spectrum.

  The floor was filthy and the stone walls and ceiling were roughly built. Cobwebs hung from the corners and the whole place gave off a feeling of neglect.

  These creatures obviously care nothing for their home, Aeris thought as he watched legions of tiny bugs scurrying across the floor.

  They are vicious brutes, through and through. Cruel, sadistic and evil. Perfect tools for the lords of Chaos.

  The sound of goblins speaking up ahead pulled the elemental out of his chain of thought and he stopped and listened intently.

  This time, the speakers weren't shouting and Aeris couldn't make out exactly what was being said. He would have to get closer.

  Slowly, cautiously, he flew down the hallway, hoping that whoever was talking wasn't a magic-user. He didn't know how powerful goblin mages and wizards were, or if they could sense him while he was invisible, and he didn't want to find out.

  The passageway opened up into a large room, with doors on all four walls. The ceiling was still low, no more than seven feet in height, but the room itself was at least fifty feet in length, and almost as wide.

  Aeris stopped at the entrance and looked around. It looked like a storeroom of some kind.

  Dozens and dozens of crates were piled roughly in a haphazard fashion all over the room. Heaps of old clothing, piles of useless appliances, rusted tools; it looked like the goblins had been raiding the ruins left after the dragons had destroyed mankind's cities.

  Like maggots on a corpse, Aeris thought with fresh revulsion.

  Two goblins were combing through the piles, occasionally speaking to each other in desultory fashion. They were short and twisted little things, covered in open sores and old scars.

  Aeris looked at them closely, sizing up his enemy.

  Both of the goblins' faces were criss-crossed with deep wrinkles and the elemental assumed that they were quite old. Neither was more than four feet tall and their limbs were as thin and hairless as sticks. They had long, pointed noses that wobbled like they were made of rubber when they spoke, and fumy yellow eyes.

  Their mouths were wide and almost toothless; a few rotting fangs were all that remained. And judging by the revolting stains on their simple tunics, these were the two that worked in the garbage room. Apparently they had been relegated to menial tasks because of their age.

  They pawed through the spoils; examining, poking and prodding, occasionally sniffing at things like dogs. Aeris guessed that they were looking for anything useful, and also that they were trying to figure out what some of the things actually were.

  “Haggs, come look at this,” one of them growled.

  He was holding up an old toaster, something that Aeris recognized from a picture in one of the books he had read, but had never seen used.

  The other goblin, Haggs, shuffled over to take the appliance from his partner. He turned it over and over in his filthy hands, poking into the slots on top with a twisted claw.

  “What is it?” he finally asked, obviously stumped.

  “Dunno, that's why I gave it to ye. Think it can be melted down?”

  Haggs shook the toaster, ripped the dangling cord off of it and tossed it away and then threw the appliance on to a cart that Aeris hadn't noticed. The cart was already piled high.

  “Yeah, probably. Durg, stop asking me to look at this crap. Just make yer own choices, okay? I got me own job to do.”

  “I were just asking,” Durg muttered as the other goblin returned to his own pile.

  “Well don't. They'll be bringing in more loot tomo
rrow and we gotta get through all of this junk and toss out whatever we can't use to make room for it. So anything metal can go to the forge, any clothes small enough we keep and the rest is for the river, understand?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get it.”

  “Good. Now shut up and get back to work.”

  Charming fellows, Aeris thought. The question is, can I get by them undetected?

  The answer was yes. Keeping close to the walls, the elemental flew slowly around the room toward the nearest exit. He had no idea where it led, but decided that he had to start somewhere.

  It turned out that the goblin mound was a maze, and a disorderly one at that. Passages met and separated seemingly at random. Rooms just appeared at various intervals and Aeris couldn't grasp the layout of the place.

  Whoever made the plans to build this edifice was insane, he told himself at one point as he reentered a room for the third time from a totally different direction.

  I mean, what is the point of all of these useless hallways that loop back on themselves?

  After spending several hours fruitlessly searching the mound, Aeris was ready to explode with frustration. The good news was that the average goblin couldn't seem to sense him while he was invisible.

  He had discovered the huge forge where the goblins were busily melting down the spoils that they had plundered from human cities and forging the metal into armor and weapons. He'd also found several rooms used as barracks, with dozens of rough beds infested with bugs where the goblins slept.

  A kitchen busily churned out meals for the troops; disgusting slop made out of ingredients that the elemental thought were best left unknown.

  There was room after room with nothing in them at all; maybe they had been built for future use. But Aeris checked all of them, afraid that he might miss something.

  But he hadn't found any prison cells or a dungeon of any kind. Even more worrying, he hadn't seen a single magic-user amongst the population. Not one. And he knew that they were here, somewhere.

  But where, he wondered as he slipped into yet another small room.

  That thought had just entered his mind when he froze. Perhaps he'd become so blasé about the goblins being unable to detect him that he'd become careless. Or maybe he was just mentally exhausted. Either way, he almost doomed himself as he blithely flew into the room.

  Standing in the center of the chamber, staring into a pulsing ball of purple light that was sitting on a marble dais, was a goblin dressed in black robes.

  He was staring into the globe, a hood pulled down low over his face. In his left hand was a crooked iron staff. On his right, a silver ring glittered in the gloom as he made gestures over the purple orb.

  A wizard!

  Aeris gaped in shock, unable to quite grasp what he was seeing. He'd become so used to seeing the other goblins scurrying around like rats that to see this mysterious figure standing there, wielding power, was hard to grasp.

  The wizard raised his head and stopped waving his hand over the globe.

  “What is this?” he hissed as he turned toward the doorway. “I sense...something. A disturbance.”

  He began to whisper roughly, a chant that made Aeris shudder. He was casting a divination spell.

  The elemental turned and zipped out of the room, moving faster than he normally would have inside of the goblin mound. He didn't slow down to look back and he didn't try to mark his route; he simply bolted in a blind panic.

  He could almost feel the malevolent power reaching for him, grasping at his invisible body, trying to find him. He flew around corners, ducked and weaved past unsuspecting goblins, dove into open hatchways and finally stopped as he felt the magic drain away and dissipate. Somehow he had managed to evade the spell.

  Elementals didn't have hearts, but if they did, Aeris' might have burst. Instead, he huddled in a dark corner and shook so violently that he couldn't move. His eyes were closed and every sense was on high alert. But he could hear and feel nothing.

  When he had finally managed to get himself under control, the elemental looked around and discovered that he was completely lost.

  Wonderful, he thought fearfully. I don't even know how to get out of this horrible place. And I still haven't found the prison, if there actually is one. But I'm sure that those two goblins mentioned a prisoner. I'm sure they did.

  He examined the small cubbyhole he had found himself in. A pile of rusted tools; crude hammers, a few chipped axes and an oddly-shaped wrench had been left here and Aeris found nothing of particular interest in the room.

  He peeked out of the doorway and saw a long, straight hall that was more brightly lit than most that he had seen. The floor was worn and well traveled and fresh torches burned brightly in brackets on the walls every ten yards or so. No one was in sight.

  Aeris couldn't decide which way to go and ended up heading to the right randomly. He had just begun to float in that direction when he heard voices coming from the opposite end of the hall.

  He stopped dead and spun around quickly, fear making him shake.

  To his relief, it wasn't the wizard. Instead he saw a pair of goblins shuffling toward him, both of them hunched over, with one pushing a flat cart ahead of them. Surprisingly, he recognized the pair of old creatures that he'd seen when he had first entered the mound.

  His fear dissipated as he watched them approach.

  Now where might you two be going, I wonder.

  The goblins were, as usual, arguing with each other as they hobbled along and Aeris rose up to hover near the ceiling and listened closely.

  “This slop is too good for the likes of him, I tell ya,” one of them, Haggs, complained to the other.

  “Tell that to Gant,” the other, Durg, responded as he pushed the cart. “He's got his back up today. More than usual, I mean. Told me especial to feed up the prisoner.”

  He stopped and looked at Haggs.

  “And no more playing, get me? Gant said if he finds one more bruise or cut, he's gonna feed us both to the river, after he gets done with us. Got it?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Haggs grumbled, his loose lips drooping in a pout. “What's the point of keeping a prisoner if we can't have no fun with 'im?”

  “Shut up and do as yer told. Or I'll report you myself. I ain't dying cause you can't control yerself.”

  They glared at each other, their few remaining fangs bared.

  Haggs finally backed down and ducked his head.

  “Okay, I'll be good. Let's just get this done so we can get our own food.”

  “Fine. Come on.”

  They began trundling along again, the crooked cart squeaking loudly. Several covered bowls rested on top of it and bounced alarmingly as it moved.

  Aeris watched them angrily, a cold feeling burning deep inside of him.

  Had they been talking about Simon? Had these monsters been torturing him for sport? Or did they have some other unfortunate in their grasp? Either way, Aeris had to follow them and find out.

  He kept well back of the pair and trailed them silently. The hallway came to a four way split and the servants turned left. The ground immediately sloped steeply downward and became a spiral, turning counter-clockwise as they descended.

  Aeris could hear the old goblins begin to pant as they carefully shuffled down the slope. The floor was worn down enough to be slippery and they had stopped arguing and were concentrating on keeping their footing.

  The descent went on a long way; long enough for the air in the hallway to become not just chilly, but cold. The temperature change didn't bother Aeris, but Haggs and Durg were noticeably shivering by the time they reached the bottom.

  When the floor leveled out, a long, wide passageway lined with torches led to a heavy iron door guarded by a pair of armed goblins. Unlike the servants, these two were young and fit, muscular and almost twice as heavy as the old goblins.

  They wore crude armor made up of bits of plate steel, chain mesh and leather. Their swords, however, looked new, and gleamed wickedly in t
he light from torches hanging on each side of the door.

  The guards sneered at the servants and Haggs and Durg ducked their heads and were careful not to make eye contact with them.

  “Food for the prisoner,” Durg mumbled while his partner just stared at the floor and shivered.

  One of the guards stepped forward and lifted the lid off of one of the dishes.

  “What's this?” he snarled as he sniffed loudly. “This slop is prime. He don't need it,” and he hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward the iron door.

  “We should just help ourselves,” the other guard growled. “Give him whatever's left over.”

  He reached for the bowl.

  “Gant's orders,” Durg said quickly, keeping his head down. “And he said he'd be down later to make sure that we obeyed them.”

  “Said no more playing with the prisoner either,” Haggs whined. “Not fair but he's the boss.”

  Both guards froze as they heard the name of their leader and exchanged wary looks. With twin scowls, they stepped back and one turned to slide back a heavy bolt on the door and yank it open.

  “Fine,” he snarled. “Feed him. And no funny business. If I hear one scream, I'll flay you both and save Gant the trouble. Understood?”

  “Yes, yes, understood,” Durg said quickly.

  Haggs' head bobbed hurriedly in acknowledgment.

  “Good. Go.”

  The old goblins scurried past the guards and through the open door.

  Aeris waited a moment and then approached the doorway, watching the grumbling warriors to see if they could sense his presence. But all they did was mutter obscenities and stare dully down the hallway, looking right through the elemental.

  Reassured, Aeris flitted past them and followed the servants.

  Beyond the main door was a row of smaller iron doors, all closed and bolted. Haggs and Durg were trundling past all of them and Aeris got closer to them and waited to see where they would go.

  The goblins surprised him by walking by all of the cells. It was very dark in the passageway, lit only by a few sputtering torches, and it took the elemental a moment to notice a solitary door directly at the end of the hall.