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

by H. K. MacTavish

  “I have,” I say.

  “Can I see?” Gerald asks.

  I shouldn’t show him, but…I can’t see the harm. It isn’t as if the goblins will be wowed by the key. And I really want to show someone who can appreciate it. I reach into my pocket and show him the platinum key.

  “It’s gorgeous. Did you find out what it unlocks?”

  “No. Not yet,” I say. “I tried a large impressive looking door but it was the wrong key.”

  “You could try scrying the location you know,” Gerald says.

  That…isn’t a bad idea. If I can concentrate on the scrying spell for long enough. It is easier to scry on things close to you or things that you have seen before.

  What if the heroes are too far away? This may all be a colossal waste of time.

  No. It isn’t a waste. If I can’t scry on the heroes then I know they are far away. At this point, that is good news and worth getting water to scry.

  “I know,” I say.

  I’m not going to let Gerald know that I hadn’t considered scrying on whatever this key unlocks. It would make me look inferior to him.

  “This basement doesn’t look like it goes down deep enough,” Gerald says.

  “It is certainly looking like that,” I say.

  And it is. I really should have planned this better. I reached the basement of a building ‘before’ the waterfall. After it? The water below is just too far down. And I don’t think there are going to be sub basements. It would be nice but…nope. No sub basements here. Well…shit. This was a waste of time.

  “Hey, have you noticed...” Gerald says as he bends down to look at a bone. The goblins point their crude spears at him but I hold up my hand.

  “It’s okay. He’s picking up a bone,” I say.

  “You noticed it?” Gerald asks.

  “I did. It doesn’t make sense. Why would the bones survive in a place like this for so long?”

  “And what are your conclusions?”

  “Poison is the lead cause,” I say. “It is the source that I haven’t figured out yet.”

  “There are a lot of spiders here,” Gerald says.

  “Yes, and have you seen the damage to some of the breastplates around here?”

  “Yes,” Gerald says. “Like...like this one here. Holes, right in the center of the armor.”

  “Yes. The holes were made with some sort of puncturing weapon. And with a lot of force.”

  “Like…spears?”

  “Or teeth,” I say.

  “Giant spiders?” Gerald asks. “No teeth but fangs…I think. Right?”

  “If it is some beast, it has to be a good sized one to bite through dwarven plate armor. See this breastplate?” I say kicking over the piece of armor Gerald was just looking at.

  “Yeah.”

  “See how big the puncture marks are?” I ask.

  “That could be a spear,” Gerald says.

  “It could be poisoned spears. But whatever it is, the weapon, or fang, has to fit in here.”

  “And that is the mystery then, is it?” Gerald asks.

  “It has been hundreds of years if not longer. Look at this place Gerald. The wood has crumbled in places, furniture is gone, clothing has decayed to nothing. If it isn’t metal or stone or these bones it is gone. Whatever happened here happened long ago. That fort where I was residing in until you four invaded, is well over a couple centuries old. And there are no signs up there of…whatever caused this.”

  “Some creatures of the deep prefer to stay in the deep,” Gerald says.

  “What do you think caused this?”

  “Deep elves,” Gerald says. “They employ poisons, spiders, and love thrusting swords and piercing weapons like spears and pikes. And they hate dwarves.”

  “They must have crushed the dwarves then, because there are no pieces of deep elf armor or weapons lying about. All of this…the bones, the armor plates, it is all dwarven. All of it. I haven’t seen any other styles.”

  “We can figure this mystery out.”

  “Not before I find a pool of water,” I say.

  It is at that moment that I hear a goblin scream. Is something attacking one of my goblins?

  I drop what I’m doing and run to the first floor. I barge out into the street with Gerald right behind me and I see two dead goblins in the street. I hobble…strange that I didn’t notice my pain as I ran…over to the bodies.

  Each body appears to have been pierced with some large thrusting weapons. They aren’t bleeding like they should for wounds like that.

  I quickly turn and look all around me but I don’t see anything.

  “What happened to them?” Gerald asked.

  “Could it be your friends?” I ask. It would make sense. The heroes aren’t idiots; they can see exactly how the dwarves died. They may even know about this place.

  “It isn’t them,” Gerald says.

  “How can you be certain? How can I be certain?” I ask.

  “It isn’t our style. We don’t ambush two goblins and run away. My sister would try to rescue me,” Gerald says.

  “You’re confident of her,” I say looking past him. Was that a shadow of something by that building?

  “I am,” Gerald says. “You’ve seen us fight. Is this how we would handle things?”

  No, sadly it isn’t. They would just charge in ready to hack and slash and burn. That means I have no idea what did this. But I have more clues. Such as, whatever did this to the dwarves is still around. And that kind of terrifies me.

  “Do you know what did this?” I ask.

  “No,” Gerald says. I turn to him but before I can say anything he says, “Really! I don’t know!”

  “Goblins! To me!” I yell.

  The goblins all come scampering to my side.

  “What now?” Gerald asks.

  “Now…now we find a place to defend. Something with thick walls preferably.”

  “You should give me my holy symbol…”

  “No! I didn’t give it to you to heal me with, why would I now?”

  “We don’t know what this is! Please! Let me help you!” Gerald says.

  “Or hinder me,” I say. “You’d just love to stab me in the back, leave me crippled here for whatever killed these dwarves to finish me off!”

  “No! I’m a hero, remember?”

  Does he expect me to be so inept as to give my prisoner a weapon? He is clearly taking advantage of the situation. Of me!

  “I’ll manage without a priest aiding me,” I say.

  “I will not try to escape,” Gerald says.

  “Like you already tried to?” I ask as I start to hobble down the street with my goblins. Where can we hold up? That one large building I saw earlier? I couldn’t get in. Could all my goblins together open that door? Maybe I should find some other place…

  “I admit, it doesn’t reflect upon me in a positive light…but I promise you, I will not hinder you in any way,” Gerald says.

  “Just because this creature killed a couple of goblins doesn’t mean it can kill me!”

  “Did you see those wounds? The same that was on the dwarven armor…”

  “And yet it fled as we approached. If it were so capable, why did it do that?” I ask.

  “It would be safer…”

  “For you. Not me. I don’t intend on fighting that thing while also preparing a defense against your friends with you capable of striking me in the back. I don’t need three foes right now,” I say.

  “Fine,” Gerald says.

  He’s pissed but what can I do? He’s a hero. I don’t trust him. At all. He took the first opportunity to flee. That failed because he couldn’t see. With that holy symbol, he’s got a spell to fix that problem. Then the heroes have their little healer back. No. Gerald has to remain here, as my prisoner. Or it is I who will be the one trying to make a deal.

  What was that?

  “Did you hear that?” Gerald asks.

  “I did,” I say. A goblin starts to move in the d
irection we are looking, which is an open doorway. “No! Back here!”

  “But highness…”

  “Back. Here.”

  “Yes highness.”

  For fuck’s sake! Obey me! I’m trying to save your miserable little life. I only have a limited number of you left. Not the effectively unlimited number I assumed I had earlier that I really didn’t have because today was the day the goblins decided to expand their warrens.

  My luck has just been shit all day. My stomach is grumbling too.

  “You are getting hungry,” Gerald says.

  Shit. Was it that loud?

  “I’ll manage,” I say.

  “I haven’t eaten in a while either,” Gerald says.

  “And neither have I. What’s your point?”

  “We need to eat. And drink,” Gerald says.

  “Let me guess, if only I give you back your precious holy symbol so that you can conjure us up some food and water…”

  “And I can heal you. I see you’re still limping. And I can help fight…whatever it is that is out there,” Gerald says.

  “The answer is…”

  “Look. Maybe my friends are coming. Maybe they aren’t. We took a direct path, down a river, into this large abandoned city. They have a lot of obstacles in their path. Maybe they can overcome them without me to heal them. Maybe they have to retreat and get reinforcements. I don’t know. But…that is another thing I can help with,” Gerald says.

  Help me? What is he talking about…oh! I know.

  “Water for scrying? You’d give me water to spy on your friends?”

  “And to see what that key opens. And maybe see what is out there trying to kill us.”

  “Those are all excellent points…”

  “And you can stop limping,” Gerald says.

  I would love to heal this injury. The physical part of it. The humiliating part of it is something that no one will be able to fix. Memories are for fucking ever.

  “I give you my word. I will do nothing to hinder or harm you. Or your plans,” Gerald says.

  That last part looked like he didn’t want to say it. If it was so hard for him to say, could he be telling me the truth? Having a priest aiding me now could be…advantageous. I do want my beaver to stop fucking throbbing. And I’m hungry. And thirsty. And cranky.

  “Can your magic help me open up a large and possibly locked door?” I ask.

  “Maybe. I’ll have to see the door,” Gerald says.

  “Stop a moment,” I tell the goblins.

  “Yes highness,” they say.

  I reach into my pocket and feel around for that holy symbol I took from him.

  “Cut his hands free,” I order.

  “Highness?”

  “You heard me you mutated toad. Cut the ropes from his wrists,” I say.

  By the gods, I hope I’m not making the ultimate mistake. Gerald could do a lot of damage to me right now.

  A goblin starts to saw through the rough bindings around Gerald’s wrists. It doesn’t take long before he is free. I hand him his holy symbol.

  “Here. If you betray me…”

  “I won’t,” Gerald says.

  “You don’t get a second chance with me,” I say.

  “I understand,” Gerald says.

  I hope he does. As fond as I’ve grown of Gerald if he tries to stab me in the back I will feed him his nuts down his throat!

  “Let me heal you,” Gerald says. He touches my cheek and the pain is gone. The physical pain, I mean. The damage done to my pride is probably eternal.

  “Thanks,” I say.

  Wait. Did I just thank a priest?

  “You’re welcome.”

  I mean, he did heal me, but at my command and…just don’t think about it Vivian. You’ve got a lot more to deal with.

  “Now, do you want to eat?”

  “Let’s not eat in the middle of the street. Let’s get to that building I was at earlier.”

  “That sounds fine with me. Lead the way.”

  Solace and Sight

  “What do you think is out there?” Gerald asks. “Every time I think of something, I find it doesn’t fit exactly,” Gerald says.

  “I don’t think it is deep elves. If they conquered this city and are still here, why are they not here in force? Plus the lack of any other kind of armor other than the dwarf’s doesn’t make me think they were even here.”

  “They could have taken their dead in the assault.”

  “They could have. But why conquer this place and then leave? I know they don’t like the dwarves but, doors are still locked. That doesn’t make sense.”

  “No. It would be odd for an invasion force to just walk past open doors. And…dragons? But they would have eaten the goblins,” Gerald says.

  “Yes. Or dragged one away but none of the other goblins are missing,” I say.

  “The fact that the goblins weren’t eaten seems to speak of something killing for other reasons. Could it be a golem?”

  “One ordered to strike and then hide? Armed with a poison blade? That is still poisonous after all these centuries?”

  “A magical blade…that had to have been copied many times to kill so many,” Gerald says.

  “Oh, I am sure some people here died when they were trampled to death,” I say.

  “You say that a little too…cheerfully,” Gerald says.

  “Why not? It lowers the body count of whatever this thing is,” I say. “Whatever is out there didn’t kill everyone here. The dwarves killed some of their own.”

  “I suppose it does make whatever is out there less of a killing machine.”

  “So, it doesn’t kill to eat, it doesn’t want to stay and fight, but it was powerful enough to kill an entire city of dwarves hundreds of years ago, but it doesn’t want to move on and conquer more territory, but it likes remaining here, and it uses some sort of poison.”

  “That…that sounds like a complete enough list,” Gerald says.

  “Oh, what the hell are we fighting here?” I say.

  “Perhaps we shouldn’t linger.”

  “Where are we going to go? Not back. That only closes that gap to your friends,” I say.

  “Further on we might encounter more of, whatever is around here,” Gerald says.

  “My goblins will be here soon,” I say.

  “If they weren’t killed by whatever is out there.”

  Fuck. It never crossed my mind once that those goblins I sent out to the warrens were killed on the way. On a scale from the loosest whore to the tightest virgin, how fucked am I? Because, I’m feelin’ kind of loose at the moment.

  “There!” I say, pointing to the building I was at earlier.

  “That is a big building.”

  “And an equally big door. Dwarves are clearly overcompensating,” I say.

  “I would have to agree,” Gerald says. “And the door is locked?”

  “I managed to move it a bit,” I say.

  “I doesn’t look like it has moved in centuries,” Gerald says.

  Is he calling me a liar?

  “Let me see if it is locked,” Gerald says. “Bring your light orb over here please. Thanks.”

  I look over his shoulder. Looks like he picked up some things from Katie.

  “It isn’t locked.”

  “So it is rusted shut. But it is gold and silver.”

  “The hinges may be iron.”

  I look at the hinges and, maybe, they are iron.

  “It looks like it might be iron…”

  “Let’s try opening it together.”

  “Fine,” I say.

  He is grabbing the handle? Not trying to use magic? He is looking at me.

  “Ready?” I ask as I grab the handle. Let’s get this over with.

  Gerald grabs the same handle. The handle is large enough for both of us because, see my earlier comment about overcompensation.

  “Ready,” Gerald says. “Pull!”

  I pull. I can hear Gerald grunting. The door kin
d of makes a squeaky sound. It wants to open, but it is solid.

  “Are we supposed to pull or push?” I ask.

  “Pull,” Gerald says. “See the hinges up there? Why? Did you try pushing with your magic earlier?”

  Yes.

  “No.”

  “Let’s try again.”

  “Fine,” I say.

  We pull on the door handle and it is starting to move. It isn’t moving enough. And that is the problem.

  “Damn,” Gerald says, breathing hard. “Okay, I think I have a spell to get us in. If I hit the door hard enough I can knock it loose. Maybe.”

  “That I can help with,” I say. “I can employ a telekinetic push of my own.”

  “Good. The door looks like it pulls out, as I said, but if we can maybe shake some of the rust off the hinges, just enough to pull open the door slightly, we’ll be inside.”

  I wonder if the whole door is iron. I bet it is. The dwarves just covered it in gold and silver creating a false exterior of wealth. If it is rusted shut then we won’t be able to get inside. Centuries of rust might just keep that door shut.

  “Good!” I say. We might as well try.

  We back up and prepare to cast at the door.

  Gerald casts and then I cast. The door shakes and we make a lot of noise. Gerald and I both stop and look at each other.

  “That was too loud,” Gerald says.

  “I agree,” I say.

  But it was only one blast. These doors are ancient.

  “Let’s see if one blast was enough,” Gerald says.

  We both walk up to the door and together we pull on it. It screeches again but this time it moves! We’re opening it!

  “Keep at it!” Gerald says through grit teeth. I close my eyes and concentrate on the door. Both Gerald and I lack a lot of upper body strength but together we’re getting this done. I pull on the door and feel it give again.

  Is it stuck? I don’t feel it moving anymore. Nope. I don’t think it’s going to move again.

  There! It did move!

  I open my eyes and Gerald and I let go of the door. The door is open wide enough that we can both squeeze through.

  Gerald goes in first followed by half of my goblins. I enter nex…oh fuck you! My ass is not stuck again! Gerald is turning to look at me. I’ll just force myself…

  Rippp…

  Oh, go fuck yourself fate. Seriously, just pull your pants down and have at yourself you fucking whore!