The Three Thorns

by Michael Gibney

  “Then I think Abasin maybe in luck with you at the helm, chap.” The troll smiled in respect to Tommy.

  “I-I’m not afraid either, I just wrestled a bull horse with wings, you know,” Sebastian added after a few seconds of awkward silence.

  “That a boy.” Cecil smiled to Sebastian, motioning for him to keep his large glasses from sliding off his nose again.

  “You will lead us to this castle, no bargains necessary.” Tommy barked his order as if the ability to command came from somewhere deep inside him.

  The new world was already changing them and they could feel it. Tommy’s eyesight had altered and his confidence was growing to an almost fearless high. All Ban Pan could do with the bold little human was obey his orders.

  “Very well…Prince of Abasin,” the troll replied, placing his claw on his heart.

  “Um…before we fulfil any prophecy, we’re going to need a decent pair of shoes. I’m a size six,” Sebastian spoke up, motioning the troll to cut down a new pair of shoes from the grove.

  Tommy kept close to the troll as the group began their journey together. The others trailed behind along the edge of the enormous cliff side Cecil and Sebastian had flown up.

  The edge stretched into the distance as far as the eye could see. The road was tiresome and dangerous, but if they were lucky enough not to be deterred from it, its route would eventually lead them straight to the Stained Castle, just as Ban Pan had promised.

  25

  Goblin Versus Goblin

  Lemis fell off his omnicorn when it crashed onto the castle’s top balcony, shredding through a large piece of royal carpet. In a flash, the chief sea guard found himself surrounded by members of Saul’s guards.

  “Wait, I’m General Lemis, I’m the chief sea guard of Denasin. I’m a servant! I am a servant!” the pathetic creature protested as the royal guards pointed their glistening scythes and glowing staffs at his throat.

  “What brings you?” one of them hissed.

  “Please! I seek the favored Knight, Jodo Kahln!” Lemis shrieked as the royal guards left him to resume their stance in a militant line, confident that he was no longer a threat.

  Without warning, an undertaker who worked in the prisons far below appeared at the top of the lift shaft.

  “Lord Lemis, I have some of your surviving troops waiting for you outside my dungeons, if you please,” the disease-ridden creature said smoothly, coaxing the new arrival to join him on the rickety and grimy elevator. With what little dignity he had left, Lemis brushed his armor and jumped back on top of his omnicorn. Saul’s royal guards were infamous for killing unannounced visitors and Lemis knew how lucky he had been.

  “We’ll make our own way, rat,” he spat back at the undertaker, before he flew off the edge of Saul’s castle toward the few remaining troops below. “Give me news,” he demanded.

  “Jodo Kahln has gone to counsel the king of the goblins, Lord Lemis,” said one mutant sea guard.

  “Borland,” Lemis whispered back in shock. “Stay here and wait for my return. I must consult with Jodo Kahln,” he barked at them as he prepared to take flight into the black skyline.

  ***

  The Nockwire stood on higher ground to keep watch for any foul play or unwanted attention a gremlin or goblin would inflict upon Jodo Kahln and his new baggage.

  “Keep up, old man. Lose track of me and you’ll never get out of here alive,” Jodo warned, walking confidently across one bridge of many thousand.

  “Indeed, you wouldn’t want to get lost in a place like this…something worse could happen to you than scrubbing my back,” taunted Thestor.

  “I doubt that very much,” Jennings muttered under his breath, amusing Jodo who’d been the only one to hear his insult.

  Jodo walked steadfast across each of the descending bridges that led toward the city below the blue fog. As they got lower, Jennings noticed little shacks, shelters, and half houses welded onto the rocky cliffs on either side of the inlet. Screeches from goblin families fighting their neighbors penetrated his ears.

  “Trespassers!” one goblin growled out through the mist of the mountainside.

  “You’re not welcomed here!” another goblin creature yelled down at them.

  “I smell human stink,” an elderly goblin mocked.

  “Call the goblin guards,” one older goblin screamed.

  “Fresh meat! Fresh meat!” chanted a group of young goblins.

  “Kill them!” another random goblin called out.

  “Gobble their skin…gobble them all up,” screeched a cackling female.

  As Jennings studied the grotesque creatures, he noticed how well their houses and shacks had been built and how closely they resembled the stone walls. It was inventive camouflage. Even Jodo couldn’t tell the difference between some of the crafted houses. It was obvious to Jennings that these goblin folk were creatures of intelligence. The threatening jeers failed to intimidate the knight and his Nockwire assassins, which reassured Jennings that he was in safer company than he realised.

  They had only crossed the entrance to the Goblin City, and already an inconspicuous goblin guard flew silently above the weakest target. Its dangerous claws reached for Jennings’ withered neck while it landed discreetly behind him.

  Jodo Kahln didn’t have to see the trouble brewing, for the powerful knight simply sensed the threat. Using his dark magick, Jodo pulled the scrawny man away from the creeping goblin. When he landed at the feet of the unconcerned Nockwire, Jennings realised Jodo had safeguarded him from harm.

  The goblin fiend cautiously hopped back a step and crouched, squinting at the young warlock.

  “You’re intruding here,” it hooted.

  “King Saul may permit your kind to live here, but may I remind you that this city still belongs to him. And since I have jurisdiction, it is you who are invading my path, goblin,” Jodo explained, approaching the goblin guard.

  “King Borland never mentioned your arrival, human,” the goblin insisted.

  In one strike, Jodo’s blade penetrated the stubborn goblin’s gut, finalizing their discussion.

  The goblin’s eyes rolled back in its head when Jodo released his blade. Its life slipped away instantly.

  “You, human!” beckoned another voice. “In what name do you spill goblin blood?”

  Jodo turned to face four new goblins that blocked the connecting bridge that lead to another. “By order of your true King, Saul of Abasin, I demand to meet with Borland,” Jodo called out to them. The goblin quartet huddled together to deliberate their minimal options.

  “But you are human,” one goblin tittered in disbelief (for no human had ever graced their kingdom before that night). Using his magick, the knight levitated the dead goblin and threw the carcass across the bridge until it tumbled toward the group of goblins.

  “You want to end up like him?” the brash knight threatened, winking back at Jennings and his Nockwire assassins.

  “Follow us…you’re obviously daring enough,” another goblin sneered.

  The quartet of guards jumped off the bridge and took flight. Without hesitation, Jodo took hold of Jennings by the scruff of his neck and threw the weakling over the bridge, then jumped overboard to join him.

  Jennings screamed, trying to dodge each rope, chain and plank that zoomed past him. A large piece of mountainside came into clear view and was seconds away from breaking his fall when Jodo grabbed hold of the man’s collar and pulled him aside.

  Jodo and Jennings flew past goblin buildings and factories when they broke through the fog to the gigantic goblin city beneath.

  The Nockwire watched over them from above when Jodo and Jennings followed the four flying guards into a cheering crowd made up of thousands of goblins, hobgoblins, and gremlins surrounding a cage fight.

  The grisly spectators screamed chants as they watched a cage fighting match kick off between two large and dangerous hobgoblins.

  “You wanted to
meet with our King, there he is,” the leading goblin guard told the human pair, pointing to a large sheltered booth at the very top of the stadium’s center. “Just so you know, only the disobedient are summoned into His Majesty’s presence without invitation. I find it amusing that you request to meet with King Borland, uninvited. You humans are as crazy as the stories I’ve heard,” the goblin leader snickered.

  “I like that word. Crazy!” Jodo laughed, patting the goblin on the back while he pushed Jennings in front to lead the way, brushing past the four goblin guards in defiance. “Oh, there is one story you haven’t heard about us crazy humans, my brute,” Jodo continued, turning back and leaning to whisper into the goblin guard’s ear. “I was the craziest.”

  Magick poured out of the knight’s steel gloved hand, splashing over the goblin’s face. The cursed creature started to scream. “Please stop!” the goblin leader begged while the dark spell gradually changed his form.

  “What have you done to me?” the goblin leader wailed in horror after it looked down at its new amphibious form.

  “The same thing I did to the last jester that found it funny to mock my humanity. I guess we humans are just spontaneously crazy,” Jodo teased.

  Goblins and gremlins licked their lips, surrounding the transformed creature. To goblins, frog and toad creatures were a much sought after delicacy. The sniggering knight took one look at his cursed creation and turned his back. The ill-fated creature tried to slither away but it proved impossible. The feeding frenzy erupted. Creature upon creature fought amongst the ever-growing crowd for a bite; like a school of flesh eating piranhas. The feast lasted merely seconds.

  Jodo and Jennings made their way through the scary crowd of vicious and raucous goblins. The knight turned to point his finger at the old man.

  “Keep close to me; we’re in unfavorable company. If you lag behind, I’ll leave you behind. Do you understand?”

  Not wanting to upset him, Jennings simply nodded his head in silent agreement. Jennings felt a new fear of the knight and was only too glad to stay on his good side, if there was a good side to stay on.

  Rows of hideous faces watched the unwelcomed humans walk through the large gathering that circled the cage. Most, if not all, were astonished, for no human had ever dared to step foot inside the Goblin City before, never mind two of them. To the goblins, what their uninvited human guests had done was nothing short of suicidal. For a goblin to even spot a civilian near the outskirts of the city was unheard of, and now two humans, thought to be extinct, walked amongst the thousands of goblins inside their city.

  Roars became screams. Screams became yells, and then the yelling turned to mere whispering chatter. Jennings kept close to his captor. The silence made the old man’s blood run colder than usual. Even the fighting hobgoblins peered out from the large cage to catch a glimpse of the human guests that had brought their match to a standstill.

  Impervious to the hostile atmosphere, Jodo confidently marched up the steep steps toward Borland’s private booth, only to meet a row of specially armed goblins at the top. As the knight ignored their request for a body search, the row of armed goblins stretched out their arrows. By a powerful display of magick, Jodo Kahln triggered every arrow to backfire onto each goblin, in sync. One by one, their bodies collapsed and lifelessly toppled down the narrow steps toward the stage cage. The rattling sounds broke the dead silence around the stadium.

  “Who is the fool who disturbs our Ruler’s game?” barked a scrawny gremlin from Borland’s lavish upper circle.

  “You only have one leader. Or have you forgotten His Majesty already?” Jodo snapped. “You need to remember your allegiance. All of you do. You have rotted in this derelict devil’s pit too long. Look at you. You’re a disgrace to your true King. You’ve been too busy getting fat and slothful on King Saul’s offerings while our enemies grow strong. This charade stops now.”

  “Shut that human up!” the scrawny gremlin ordered from its safe spot on Borland’s balcony. A crowd of hobgoblins surged around the knight, scraping their weapons along the concrete steps in an attempt to intimidate Jodo into submission.

  Jodo calmly kept his eyes on the scrawny spokesperson, showing a confident smile the moment his two Nockwire assassins landed behind him, breaking large chunks out of the stone steps. The mighty tremor lifted the surrounding hobgoblins off of their feet. Several hundred goblins pushed one another back to keep a safe distance from the nine-foot beasts.

  The two cage-fighting hobgoblins began to quietly flee in opposite directions at the sight of the Nockwire, climbing out of the cage ring in haste.

  “Forgive us, my Lord, I see now the seriousness of the situation,” the scrawny spokesperson muttered timidly.

  “Walk with me,” Jodo smoothly ordered Jennings. The Nockwire stood patiently still upon the steps, watching for any would-be renegade that dared stir up a lynch mob.

  Jodo and Jennings strode between the remaining guards and gate crashed Borland’s private and luxurious VIP lounge. The morbidly obese Goblin King lay in the comfort of a troll-furred rug that was draped over his throne chair, keeping his back to them.

  “What is this travesty? Where is my game? Why has it stopped?” the Goblin King sputtered at several female goblin servants that pampered him, waving his legs and arms in the air like a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum.

  “My Liege, we—that is I…err,” stuttered his scrawny spokesperson.

  “Stop your mumbling in my earhole. Korrell, take care of this fool,” Borland said to the wall. For a moment, Jennings thought the Goblin King to be a loony that talked to imaginaries, until a camouflaged figure appeared out of the darkness.

  The cloaked figure crept upon the scrawny gremlin and put it to sleep with a single stroke of his blade. Jodo confidently raised an eyebrow at the masked, cold-blooded killer, inspecting him as a possible threat. Korrell’s mask had an optical design that resembled the eyes of a fly or wasp. Its mouth area revealed rectangular shapes on either side that represented the fangs of a viper snake. It was a sinister and ghastly visor, which sent quivers all over Jennings’ body.

  Borland slowly turned round in his luxurious chair to lay his beady eyes upon the dangerous soul who had interrupted his most favored game.

  “Well, well. If it ain’t the knight of all knights…Jodo Kahln. Your reputation fits you…like a steel glove,” Borland teased, joking amongst his servants as they laughed at Jodo’s steel gloved hand.

  “Still predictable though,” he added. Borland licked his huge lips and spat into a bowl held by one of his female goblin servants. “If my mind serves me, you were the only human I had the unfortunate task to work beside…a long time ago.”

  “Well, that unfortunate task has reached a critical level, Goblin King,” Jodo said as he stepped aside to reveal the frail and pathetic looking Jennings who stood in silence, embarrassed by the sudden attention.

  “What? Another human?” gasped Borland, spitting out liquid substance over his new carpet. His hands and feet began flapping around in excitement again. “Not possible! I thought you were all extinct,” he puffed at the befuddled old man.

  “Extinct?” Jennings asked, feeling both perturbed and bemused at the thought.

  Borland groaned in discomfort and wriggled out of his chair onto his fat feet.

  “Where does he come from?” Borland demanded, staring at Jodo.

  “He’s not of this world,” Jodo confirmed.

  “He’s a son of the old world?” Borland guessed. “For a moment I thought humans still existed somewhere we had overlooked.” Borland laughed with relief. “At least we can be assured that you cannot procreate by yourself,” he spat back at Jennings.

  “I’ve always admired you, Jodo. For one to betray one’s own kind so easily and without a sense of guilt or remorse is a trait even we mere goblins do not have the heart for,” Borland sighed.

  “That is because you are not born with hearts, my Lord,” J
odo wittingly replied.

  “Ha! And all the better for it,” Borland sniggered back.

  “King Saul requests your help. I’m here to take your goblins with me to the Stained Castle,” Jodo said.

  “May I ask why?”

  “Our enemies are to gather there. They carry a weapon that could destroy us if we don’t stop their illegal meeting in time,” Jodo said loudly, pressing the issue.

  “Interesting. This weapon they possess, what is it exactly?” Borland casually asked.

  Jodo sighed, frustrated at the goblin’s persistent pestering. “If you want my co-operation, Jodo, at least tell me what it is for.”

  “The Children of Abasin have returned,” Jodo said slowly.

  Borland immediately commanded his servants to leave the room. “The Three Thorns? Ha! Not possible. They were killed at birth…you must take me for a fool,” Borland rasped.

  “With all due respect, I did not come all this way to waste my time insulting you. I am telling you the truth. The Three That Are One live,” Jodo insisted.

  “How can this be?” Borland demanded.

  “Simple. They were misplaced, Sire,” Jodo corrected politely.

  Borland eyed the young man up and down before his irritation got the better of him. “You mean you misplaced them, more to the truth,” Borland mocked.

  “Either way you look at it, they’ve survived.” Jodo clenched his teeth and stared back at the Goblin King, hate and murder filling his thoughts. “If we could focus on the problem at hand,” suggested Jodo through gritted teeth, his tone increasingly belligerent.

  “Very well, you may take what troops you need. Try to finish your job instead of sweeping it under the carpet this time,” derided Borland, rudely turning his back on the human pair.

  Borland sent Korrell to gather his top soldiers when a familiar voice spoke through the entrance. “I have my own troops standing by. We’re ready to follow you, my Lord,” the voice rattled.