No! Take a breath Vivian. You can’t fix what’s happened. You can only work on the present and the future. Getting angry won’t get me anywhere. Those heroes, forcing me down here; this is all their fault. If they didn’t come knocking on my door I wouldn’t be here now! In pain! Dress ripped! Fucking impotent! And my goblins...they did not respond to me when I called. I’m their fucking queen! They will obey me! This is as much their fault as the heroes! If I didn’t need the goblins I would wipe them all out!
Deep breath. Deep breath. In. Out. Clear your head.
Don’t think about the pain. Don’t think about the humiliation. Don’t even think about the hole in your dress. No one is around to see it and if they were, so what? So someone is catching a glimpse of your undergarments. It could be worse you know. Your underpants could have ripped and you’d feel a draft reminding you that anyone approaching you would get an eyeful of ‘you’.
It’s more than that. I feel naked. I feel vulnerable. I have been so used to having goblins around me at all times to protect me. Now I have only my magic, diminished as it is. It is hard to cast with distractions, as was proven when Cassandra suffered from a headache. My, aching, well, nethers, is keeping me from my full potential! I can feel the impotent rage building…that fucking peasant dared…
Deep breath. You’ll get through this Vivian.
I approach a street corner and slowly poke my head out from around the corner. No one is there.
Clever Vivian. It isn’t as if no one will see the light from your spell first. If someone wants to ambush me, they will. I’ll just have to be as prepared as I can.
What’s that?
Something moved behind me. I pause…my heart is pounding. Those were certainly just rocks falling. This is an old ruin. Rocks no doubt fall all the time. They probably were falling when I was with my goblins and Gerald. I didn’t think that they were anything important then. Why now?
I continue walking. I look down the desolate street wondering if something is looking at me from the shadows of the open doorways or crouched just out of sight from my light. This street looks eerie and the hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end.
Keep moving Vivian. Don’t think about that. You are the threat. Remember what your sister told you when you were scared? We do not fear what goes bump in the night. We are what goes bump in the night. If anything is in those buildings it is you they should fear!
I miss Lorelei. I wish she were here. She’d love to be here. She’d have raised all these bones up to be a proper army. Plus I’d have some company that wasn’t a goblin or an insipid hero.
Where am I even going? This city is enormous. Why haven’t I ever heard of it before? Well, because it is old, that’s why. Chances are I have heard of it, I’m just not making the connection. I can see some writing carved on stone signs, if those are in fact signs, above the doorways and along the tops of buildings. I at first thought it was just a decoration but knowing that this is probably an old dwarf city that could be dwarven. Not that I can read it but I have seen enough of the language to recognize it as dwarven. Maybe.
There it is again! Something moving is causing rocks to fall. Something is out there. Could it be the heroes? My goblins?
There is nothing but silence now. I can only hear my own breathing. I look around and I can’t shake this feeling that I am being watched. Like something is about to creep up behind me.
I spin around!
Nothing is there. Calm down Vivian. Calm down. There is nothing there. I turn back around and continue on.
My dress is wet and sticking to my legs and I’m not even noticing. Am I scared? I’m the Goblin Queen! I don’t get scared.
What the fuck is that? What is out there? Is it stalking me or is it something else? My heart is about to leap out of my chest! I turn slowly around a corner and just see an empty street.
All these buildings are the same. Same size, shape, all very uniform. I thought dwarves were great architects. There must be some large buildings in this place. Maybe even something I can use to get to the warrens.
Stupid! Stupid!
I was near a source of water! I could have cast a scrying spell. Why didn’t I? Because I was in too much pain on account of that peasant! Fuck! This is that peasant’s fault. If she had just been a docile prisoner I could still have her, Gerald, and at least four goblins. It isn’t my fault that any of this happened. All of this happened to me because of the heroes, the peasant…even my goblins abandoning me to extend their warrens. They are at fault! They are to blame! Not me!
That is the one upside to being alone. There is no one that can screw up my plans now! But I will need the goblins to get rid of the heroes. Which was their job in the first place! By the gods, why is this happening to me? Why? What did I do to deserve this?
I’ll tell you what I did to deserve this. Nothing. That’s what.
I should try and find another source of water so I can cast a scrying spell.
I pat the scroll on my hip. I could cast this and use it to summon some cold water. But what if the heroes attack? Or something else? I can only cast this spell once a day or it will cause damage to my body. And obtaining water is not worth risking frostbite.
What about my ice spell? I cast some ice so it sticks to the wall of a nearby building. Or an ice spear. Yes. Except I would need it to melt. If I could remember my flame spell I could melt some ice.
I’ll just have to keep looking. Maybe once I find some water I can try and locate whatever is out there. I should probably figure out if I should laugh at myself for ever being so frightened or if I really should just pee myself good and proper.
The shadows feel like they are living. They are swaying this way and that, coming closer, as if long tendrils are stretching out to get me. I know it is only the way my light orb is casting the shadows. It is all I can focus on. Well, that and my pain. I still can’t somehow ignore that! Or forgive it!
I wonder where Gerald is. Lost in the darkness I bet. It’s his fault for running away. If he hadn’t I could have had the goblins drag that woman back to me. I really need my goblins back.
I turn my head quickly down another street as I pass it by. It is the same as the others. But wait! At the end, the street turns left and it looks like the ceiling rises a bit.
I step cautiously down the street and peer into the dark recesses of the open doorways and windows. My orb plays wonderful tricks on me showing me all sorts of phantasms and demons, ever so briefly before the light changes position as I walk and those cackling fiends staring at me turn into something mundane. Narrow eyes drift about as the objects in the rooms are illuminated better, lean figures shrink into nothingness when the light stops casting a shadow of a bone stuck upright.
Up ahead I see the street turning to the left. That, at least, was no illusion. If I can find some of the larger buildings I might find something useful. These all look to be just as useful as a trash heap. Bones and ancient armor aren’t going to do me any favors.
I pause as I hear more rocks falling.
It might be entirely possible that this ruin is just that, a ruin that is crumbling around itself. It may not need anything to aid it other than time.
Still, something slaughtered all these dwarves. There could still be something lurking here in the darkness.
And Vivian, remember, that was a long time ago. Whatever killed the dwarves is likely dead as well, or it moved on.
No scorch marks. The buildings are all intact. Can’t have been a dragon. Dwarves always tell tales of how their homes get attacked by dragons. Hedonistic bullshit if you ask me. The stories just boil down to ‘Our stuff is so great dragons want to get their hands on it.’ They’re just trying to make everyone else jealous. Still, dragon claws could pierce the armor like I saw. And, you know full well Vivian, that not all dragons breath fire. There are many different types of dragons in this world.
Some bones are lying here in the street. No armor. Must be civilians, their clothes havin
g decayed into dust long ago.
So why aren’t their bones gone? Bones don’t last forever. Don’t bones usually last in a dry and arid environment not a damp one like this, so close to a river? And the bones are just, well, just lying out on the street. And I know for a fact that dwarf bones, while sturdier, aren’t that different from other bones. I know that from my dear sister who knows a thing or two about bones and enjoys telling me all of the particulars about them.
I bend down and pick up a bone. It is heavy. I bang it on the ground and it breaks into several shards.
Heavy but brittle. Lorelei would know why these bones were here. I wish she was here with me. Then I wouldn’t be alone.
If I die here, I’ll never see her again. I need to cont…wait…what is that? The bone that broke, it glitters a bit. Like it has been crystalized. But what could cause that?
Obviously whatever killed these dwarves infected them with something that went right to their bones, preserving them as these heavy, brittle, remains. Oh! I wonder if Lorelei could raise one and ask it questions! If she was actually here. I bet she could do that.
Well, I don’t know anything that crystalizes the bones of living creatures. It is interesting but it isn’t getting me rid of the heroes, getting me to my warrens, or allowing me to cast the Sigil of Altazan. I’ll leave them as a curiosity and move on.
The corner is just ahead. I step towards it, turning around the corner a bit, and I see…
A longer street, but, oh, how the ceiling rises dramatically! And the buildings! Aren’t they gorgeous? Where have I been? The slums? Down this street are beautifully crafted buildings with large, ornate pillars and statues of dwarves in armor. Oh, and statues of dragons. Don’t they look magnificent! There are always statues of dragons with the dwarves.
There are buildings with steeped roofs, buildings made out of marble and a couple that are concrete. They are all beautiful works of art! This…this should be my new home I think. This is truly a kingdom for a queen! And thanks to the dwarves determination to overcompensate I don’t have to duck into any of the doorways. But first, I have to get to the goblin warrens.
This city is so massive…it could take my goblins years to properly search through everything! And the treasures that must still be here. I bet there haven’t been any heroes here in years. No heroes means plenty of plunder for me! I wonder what treasures could still be here? This key I found must lead to some sort of treasure. If everyone left in a rush they should have left all their possessions behind. Most of that will have decayed into nothing but the gems, the gold and silver, and anything imbued with magic! That will all still be here! And it is all mine! The entire city’s worth of treasure! Mine!
There are those rocks falling again. The buildings here all look to be in good repair…I wonder what is falling down? I don’t trust goblins to check the structures around here. I can do that. But across the entire city? It will take time. Perhaps I will train some goblins to look for cracks. I’ve trained some on how to properly build and fortify my lair above me. I can do the same here. I just need to be patient.
And the room! I could house so many goblins here! I wonder where the dwarf king resided? I need to find a building that looks like a Batarian oligarch’s home. Something large, with gold and velvet. Although the velvet is probably gone.
Well, I shouldn’t seek out a building that is about to collapse, that’s for sure. For now I should put my dreams of renovations aside. I need to worry about getting to that future. Right now the heroes, if they are alive, will be making their way here and I am not prepared to fight them alone. I need my goblins!
I am truly alone. For the first time in, well, quite a long time. There is not a soul with me except, perhaps, the skeletal remains of this decaying city. Which makes me feel even more alone.
No. I am not alone. The shadows are with me. The ghastly things, leering at me as I pass, twisting away from the light as I pass. They are nothing more than ghosts of my imagination. This place is dead Vivian. It has been dead for some time. You should worry about what might have moved into this city since the dwarves were chased out and killed. Remember what your sister told you, you are what goes bump in the night. You have nothing to fear from shadows. They need to fear you.
I walk down the street and marvel at the city. I can’t help but dream about what this city must have looked like when it was full of dwarves. Not that they would take kindly to a human like me, and certainly not a villain who leads an army of goblins. Still, to see a vision of what it must have looked like when it wasn’t a ruin would be a joy.
It is not long before I find a large domed building to my right, down a very wide street. The ceiling of the cavern now stretches nearly a hundred feet above me. I can only estimate how far above me it is as the light from my orb doesn’t reach that far. I can make out a shadowy image of the ceiling and see what might be stalactites, perhaps.
But this building with the dome; this building looks important. It could have countless items of power or wealth! Or the paper remains of a long dead bureaucracy which does not sound quite so exciting. The doors are metal, with gold and silver woven into a knotted design.
I use my magic to push open the door. The door stutters and shakes but it doesn’t open. This pain…it is keeping me from opening this door! I try and push again, but the door barely shakes. It must be either locked or barred.
Wait! I have a key! I reach into my pocket and pull out the platinum key. An impressive key for an impressive door! I stick the key into the keyhole and turn.
Nothing. Figures. I stick the key back into my pocket. This must be the center of the town, except isn’t that where the king’s palace would be? Maybe it is elsewhere.
I’ll try one more time. I push on the door and I hear it squeak a bit. So it isn’t locked? Did I move it a little? I look and see that maybe it moved a centimeter. I don’t have the strength right now to open this.
I look around at some of the other buildings and, what is that down the street? Is it a fountain? Please be a fountain! Or a pool! I don’t really care at this point! Just a source of water would be great!
Reunions
I limp down the street, moving faster with my injury than I thought possible. I can make out the stonework of the fountain. It has to be an old fountain. I just need it to have some water inside. Please, please let there be some water.
I grab the edge of the fountain and peer in.
Shit balls! Nothing!
It is as dry as the rest of the street. There is a statue of a dwarf warrior in the center of the fountain and it does look like it spit out water into the fountain at some point in the city’s history. But no longer; water doesn’t flow here anymore.
But I do know where water flows. There was a waterfall nearby. If I can find that river then I at least have the water I need to scry with.
I start to make my way down the street. I can hear the sound of stones falling behind me. Or is it something scraping against stone? It doesn’t matter. It is just the ruin settling or something collapsing under the weight of time.
The water should be in this direction…right? I look back behind me and I see the fountain, but just barely. I turn back around and continue on my journey. And it has become a journey.
My stomach is starting to grumble. There is nothing here to eat, nothing to hunt. So in addition to the heroes hunting me, my goblins lost to me, I may still end up dying of starvation. That is just, great. Just wonderful.
If I had cast the Sigil of Altazan, food wouldn’t be a problem. I could summon a feast, right now! Some chicken, slowly roasted with a side of potatoes, or perhaps a nice salad…
Stop it! You’re just making yourself hungrier Vivian. Get to the river and cast your scrying spell.
I need to find out where the heroes are, where my goblins are, where Gerald is…I need to know a lot of things and I need water to scry with!
What was that?
I pause and my heart starts to race. That wasn’t the
sound of stones falling. That was something scampering. I look left, where the sound had come from. There isn’t anything there. I look right and see a side street.
I hobble over to the right and duck around the corner. If something comes into view I’ll just start casting. I don’t know what I’ll cast. Remember Vivian, you don’t have to kill it. Just wound it. Or scare it! Yes. You are what goes bump in the night! Just scare it away!
Maybe fire! Lots of creatures in this world shy away from fire!
Of course I don’t remember fire so it will be ice. Ice shards shattering around someone can scare them away, too. I’m in too much pain to engage in a protracted fight. I need to make this short.
There it is again! Like tiny feet racing against the stone streets.
Oh my…what if it is a spider? Could there still be giant spiders here? Large spiders can pierce through armor easily enough. And their poison…could that have crystalized the bones I’ve seen? They came in and wiped the dwarves out and stayed behind…
Because spiders march in armies and conquer territories. Smart Vivian. No, it is something else. But…don’t deep elves employ giant spiders? Isn’t there a deep elf called the Spider Queen?
I don’t want to fight a giant spider. Really, I don’t want to do that! I’m not the biggest fan of regular spiders, but giant ones? No way!
That scampering…it’s coming! It’s coming closer! Whatever it is, it is almost here! Is it tracking me? Should I run? No. I can’t run. I’m hobbled. This is where I will make my stand. Please don’t be a spider. Please don’t be a spider.
I turn to glance behind me. It is just an empty street. I turn back around and see nothing has come into view.
More scampering; it is louder, more consistent. They are almost here, whoever ‘they’ are. When they poke around that corner I’ll hit them with an ice spear!
Wait. It stopped. Did they hear me? I glance behind me to see if anyone is there. I don’t see anyone. I look back to the street where ‘they’ were coming from. It wasn’t my imagination, was it? There was actually something coming this way, right?
The Goblin Queen and the Sigil of Altazan (The League of Sinister Means Book 2) Page 22
