The Goblin Queen and the Sigil of Altazan (The League of Sinister Means Book 2)

by H. K. MacTavish

  What was that? I pause and listen.

  “It’s them,” Gerald says.

  He doesn’t know that. Does he? No. I don’t hear anything now.

  “Nice try,” I say.

  Still, I do need to hurry up and finish. I walk to the side of the tunnel and on the cave wall I carve some lightning bolt runes. The lightning will be drawn to anything wet, like, say, three heroes that tripped the water runes. But I don’t want the lightning to fire right away. There was a rune that would delay a rune from popping off. What was it? I wish my memory was better. Maybe it is in Alistair…no! I have it! Yes, my memory is coming through for me! I’ll just carve this five second delay rune by the lightning runes…like…so. Excellent. By the time these fire the heroes will be wondering why a trap got them so wet. Then, zap! Oh, how I wish I could see it!

  I stand back. Connecting runes uses a special spell that I know by heart. I start by chanting and then pointing at one of the contact runes, then at another and a golden string links them. One by one the contact runes are all connected. Next I point up to the water runes and the string floats in the air drifting as if a breeze is hitting it. Now I point at the lightning runes and the rune of delay and then back to the first contact rune.

  The string disappears.

  “What happened?” Gerald asks.

  “The trap is set,” I say. “Let’s go.”

  I watch to make sure my goblins go down with Gerald before I follow them. If one of them tries to head back up this tunnel I swear I will spear him with ice.

  So far this part has been going as expected. I’m feeling pretty good. I mean, I’m still feeling the draining effects of casting all those runes but I’m feeling more energetic than I thought I would be. Maybe I could put more traps down. If anything it will force them to walk slower as they look for more traps.

  “Stop here a moment,” I say.

  “More runes?” Gerald asks. I just smile. “You are really intent on killing them, aren’t you?”

  He actually looks concerned. Did he think me such an easy villain before?

  “I just want them to stop. If I thought writing a letter asking all of you to leave would have accomplished that task, I would have done exactly that,” I say.

  “You could have not been a villain,” Gerald says.

  “You could have not been a hero,” I say.

  “Touché,” Gerald says.

  This trap will be simpler. If Katie or Cassandra catches the runes maybe they won’t be expecting another trap so soon after the last one. And if they just get wet or if they have some damned protection from lightning, then I’ll need to switch up the elements.

  Ice. It will hurt and give them hypothermia, god willing. I will carve four more contact runes like before.

  There. That went faster than last time. Now for the water runes. Just two I think. I’m hoping that they are wet from before but if they aren’t, or if they have some magic to dry them, because fuck my luck today, then they’ll be nice and wet.

  Good. I take a step and pause. Am I lightheaded? No. I’m just imagining it. I’m fine. Now for the ice runes and the rune of delay. I carve them on both sides of the cavern, two on each side. There, one side is done and I stand up…whoa. I put my hand to the wall as the room starts to spin. I can feel my heart racing and I feel a little sick to my stomach.

  “Are you all right?” Gerald asks.

  “Like you care,” I say.

  Does he think I’m an idiot?

  I need to take a rest from casting. All these runes are great, but I’m going to need to be carried if I cast anymore. How many ice runes did I get done? Just two ice runes and a delaying rune on the one side? It will have to be enough. I still have to connect them with a spell. I get to my feet and take a moment to steady myself.

  The room is starting to spin. I feel nauseous and lightheaded. I better not pass out. I shouldn’t have done these extra runes. I was feeling well enough for a bit of a fight and I should have appreciated my position and not risked it. Shit. Okay. Just take a few steps.

  Does Gerald look concerned? Why is he concerned for me? I’m his jailer.

  I stand before the runes and link them with my spell as I did before. The golden strand disappears once I’m finished and I take a step back along with a deep breath.

  I feel like shit. I need to compose myself. I can’t let Gerald know that I’m this weak. He probably thinks that I’m an easy target that he can ambush and then run away from.

  I blame the heroes! I wouldn’t have to trap this tunnel if they weren’t here! I walk over to Gerald once I’m done, smiling in his handsome face. I put on a show of poise and vigor that I don’t really possess at the moment.

  “Let’s go,” I say with confidence. That confidence is forced but I’m certain that Gerald doesn’t realize it. He just nods and follows me.

  We walk down the tunnel and it feels like ages. I know it isn’t ages. It’s only been maybe twenty minutes but it is such an agonizing twenty minutes.

  “Highness!” a goblin yells, pointing ahead.

  They must see something in the darkness.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “Look!” a goblin says excitedly.

  I can’t see in the dark! I sigh. I can’t get angry at them now. I don’t have the energy for it. I’ll just walk forward and see what’s so important.

  Ah. The cave splits here. There is a path that goes downward to the right and one that goes to the left. The left tunnel doesn’t seem to be going down.

  “Which way do your patrols run?” I ask.

  “This way!” a goblin says, pointing to the left.

  If the goblins are making their warrens larger, down is the way I should go, especially if that path is one that they don’t normally take. Otherwise when I said ‘take me to the warrens’ earlier they would have led me down here. And taking into consideration that they are expanding into the deep deep, down is deeper. I guess…

  “Highness!” a goblin says.

  “Yes?” I ask.

  “Do you see?” it asks.

  Obviously I don’t. I! Can’t! Fucking! See! In! The! Fucking! Dark! Morons! By the gods I wish I could slay a goblin to let off some steam.

  “See what?” I snap.

  “A body,” a goblin says. He walks down the left path.

  A body? What did my patrols find? Oh…oh no. It better not be the peasant woman. I really will strangle one of these goblins with my bare hands. That should make Gerald happy to see.

  I walk over at a quick pace with the goblins leading the way. There, on the ground, I see a pair of goblins. They are dead and there is only one spear on the ground with some javelins spread out.

  “Something else is down here,” Gerald says.

  He wants me to think some beast has found its way down here. It isn’t a beast. It’s that peasant woman. She sure didn’t seem keen on using any skills to prevent herself from being captured but now, well, she sure as shit is cutting through my goblins with apparent ease.

  She clearly went to the left. No matter how lucky she’s been this far one of my patrols will eventually catch her. I have a lot of patrols down this way. At least I better.

  What if there aren’t any? I haven’t seen any patrols of goblins yet. Granted I haven’t spent a lot of time walking down this path but surely I should have seen one patrol. And this peasant, if she escaped killing a pair of goblins and now killed two more, would she be able to defeat one of my patrols? Is she really some sort of hero or just lucky? I can’t take the risk, can I?

  No. I need her and the last thing I want is her telling the other peasants where they can sneak into my domain. I need to stop her and drag her back with me.

  “We are going this way,” I say, pointing to the left.

  “After the poor woman still?” Gerald asks as he follows me past the dead goblins.

  I guess he can piece together who killed these goblins.

  “Of course,” I say.

  “The warren
s could be down the other way,” Gerald says.

  “Yes,” I say.

  It is a chance I’ll have to take.

  And I know I should move the bodies. The heroes, if they don’t suffer enough at my traps, will follow the trail of bodies. I can’t do anything about that now though. I am too weak and I don’t feel like wasting the time yelling at my goblins.

  “You would be safer…” Gerald begins.

  “I will defend my domain,” I say. “I said I would take this peasant woman back with me, and I meant it.”

  “Why is she so important?”

  “That is my business,” I say.

  “Is it her birth? She is a secret noble or hero?”

  “No, nothing like that,” I say. She has just never been shown a good time.

  “Just use me,” Gerald says.

  “How noble,” I say. “What makes you think I would want you?”

  “My father was a lord. If you need noble blood...”

  “Not for this spell,” I say, interrupting him and his noble sacrifice routine.

  “What can I say to make you forget this woman?”

  “Nothing,” I say. “If I let her go now I’ll just have to find a replacement or find her again. And taking her again will be tougher with the village on guard. The village is on guard, I’m assuming.”

  “It is,” Gerald says. He could have lied but didn’t. Maybe it would look like such an obvious lie. Let me see if I can get more bits of truth from him.

  “How many heroes are there?” I ask.

  “A few,” Gerald says.

  “So they just sent you four in after me while the rest waited behind?”

  “If we don’t return in a couple of days the others will be after us,” Gerald says.

  He’s lying. Or an idiot. Why send only four heroes if you could send six, or eight, or a dozen? Gerald may be many things, but an idiot isn’t one of them. Being a terrible liar is in his wheelhouse though.

  “So they will be a couple days too late. You know I can do a lot of things to you in a couple of days,” I say, playing along with his deception.

  “Yes, but you haven’t,” Gerald says.

  “And how do you know I won’t?”

  “You’ve had many opportunities to kill me or torture me. I don’t know your reasons, but I know you want me alive,” Gerald says. “Even if that reason is as a hostage for a confrontation with my friends.”

  “Get in my way and you’ll learn how disposable you truly are,” I say.

  “It is sad, that you view all life as disposable,” Gerald says.

  “Not all life. I love my sister,” I say. Even if she gets on my nerves a lot.

  “The Dark Queen is really your sister?” Gerald asks.

  “Yes. Why? I thought everyone knew that? Isn’t that what the bards sing about when they sing about the two of us?”

  “I thought it was more the sisterhood kind of sisters. Or maybe the sapphonic kind.”

  “Sapphonic?”

  “Gay,” Gerald says.

  Eww. Eww! He just gave me a quick image of me and my sister…eww! Absolutely not!

  “I am not a lesbian!”

  “You say that as if there is something wrong with that.”

  “There is! Me, having sex with a woman? Bleh!”

  “So you think everyone should be like you?”

  “No. It’s fine if for people to make that choice,” I say.

  “Choice?”

  “What would you call it?”

  “I was born this way,” Gerald says.

  “So it is a deformity you mean?”

  “No!” Gerald says. He’s getting mad. Isn’t that what he was driving towards? What else could he mean by, I was born this way?

  “Well, the way you said it, you were born that way. It sounded like an excuse,” I say.

  “It was an explanation,” Gerald says.

  “On why you’d rather peg another man in the ass rather than a beautiful woman?” I ask.

  “Not in so many words…”

  “Then how many words would you use?” I ask.

  “You’re trying to get me riled up,” Gerald says.

  “I’m just having a conversation. I say simply that some people choose to have sex with someone the same sex that they are…”

  “And it isn’t a choice…”

  “It’s okay. I’m fine with your choice. You can choose to be with who you want,” I say.

  “Why doesn’t it sound that way?”

  “Oh, don’t get me wrong. I am disappointed,” I say.

  “Disappointed that I won’t choose to sleep with you?”

  “Yes. It’s a waste,” I say.

  “A waste? I don’t see it that way.”

  “Well, of course not. But it is. You are handsome, well equipped…”

  “How do you know…”

  “Oh, I know,” I say.

  Fine, I don’t know. It’s really just my imagination, but so what? He doesn’t know that!

  “You were born with many gifts,” I say.

  “Thank you?”

  “It isn’t a compliment,” I say.

  “Of course not…”

  “You could have had a good time with me. Once I’ve taken care of your friends of course.”

  “And after killing my sister and my friends I would willingly sleep with you?”

  “Why not? You like fun, right?” I ask.

  “First of all, being gay isn’t a choice…”

  “But it is. You could sleep with a woman, you just don’t want to.”

  “What? How is that?”

  “Well, you could slip your proud member into a woman’s vagina, right? It isn’t like your penis is shaped oddly, right? So it fits. Easier than a rear entry into a man. That must just be messy and real tight…”

  “Wow. Okay, let’s start off with that technically, yes, I could stick my…penis…into…you. Technically I could. But I don’t want to.”

  “As I said, it is a waste,” I say.

  “Let me approach this from another direction,” Gerald says.

  “Can two men do that?”

  “Okay. I didn’t realize I just said that. That one is on me. Let me rephrase…I can talk about this in another way, since you can’t seem to see things outside your own little viewpoint.”

  “There is nothing little about my viewpoint,” I say.

  “You told me you would never sleep with another woman,” Gerald says.

  “Of course not!” I say. Why would I?

  “But, your tongue would work on a woman just the same as a man,” Gerald says.

  “No, it couldn’t. A woman doesn’t have a penis,” I say. Does Gerald even understand basic anatomy?

  “How do you think two women have sex sometimes?”

  “Well…you could use a tongue. But I never would.” I say.

  “But you could,” Gerald says.

  “I would never choose…”

  “Is it really a choice for you?”

  I’m not talking about that kind of choice. He’s twisting my words around! I mean, I could choose, like he could choose, but I don’t want to choose, but he…fuck! That is what I’m saying! I’m not wrong! I refuse to be wrong! So…whatever! So it isn’t a choice! Go fuck yourself Gerald because you sure a shit don’t want to fuck me!

  “Fine,” I say. I will not accept that I was wrong!

  “So, not a choice for me,” Gerald says.

  “Fine!” I say.

  “So, will you admit that you were wrong?”

  He won’t shut up about this!

  “Absolutely not!”

  I still think it is a waste of a handsome man like that…wasted on other men and not me! So it isn’t his choice, exactly…or at all! Screw it! I don’t care if it is his choice or not! And the thought of two women having sex puts me right off!

  “It isn’t like you’ll have time to dwell on it. You will be dead or captured in a couple of days,” Gerald says.

  “It w
on’t come true simply because you keep repeating it,” I say.

  Pools and Vision

  We keep traveling down the cave in silence. I think Gerald is as pissed as I am. Why doesn’t he understand what a waste it is to me that he is gay? He pretends to think of others but he clearly can’t see things from my point of view. I’ve gone out of my way to see things his way but he refuses to see them from my vantage point. I guess priests aren’t perfect.

  I’m feeling a little stronger since casting all those runes. I haven’t felt this bad since Branok…well it has been a while. Just thinking of that day when he…no. Lorelei s right. I need to forget about him and that day and move on. Where were the heroes then? I guess there wasn’t enough money and fame in it for them. Maybe I should be honored to be a villain of such standing that four known heroes have knocked on my door.

  What is that? My light is...it is reflecting on something up ahead. What is that? Gems that my goblins didn’t tell me about? A trickle of gold or silver resting in the mountain?

  “Water!” the goblins cry out and rush ahead, leaving Gerald behind me. I turn back to him and point to the pool.

  “Get going!” I order.

  “Easy,” Gerald says. “I wasn’t going to try anything.”

  “I know you’re not. I want you where I can see you,” I say.

  Gerald walks ahead of me and together we walk to where the goblins are slurping up some water. The pool isn’t too large, just fifteen feet in length. It is odd shaped with water dripping down from above. Maybe some is seeping in from the cracks in the wall too.

  Gerald kneels down sipping some of the water a bit away from the goblins. He spits it out.

  “Cave water isn’t great to drink,” I say. “Put some in your hands.”

  Gerald does and holds it. I cast a quick cleansing spell.

  “Drink it,” I say. Gerald does and this time he doesn’t spit it out.

  “I could do that if I had my focus…”

  “You could also cast more than that,” I say.

  “I could,” Gerald says.

  He’s trying to be honest again. If he tells me how dangerous he is with his focus, does he think that I’ll trust him? He’s a fool.

  What was that?

  Nothing. My mind is playing tricks on me. The goblins should be the ones guarding this area not…are they playing in the water now? No!