by A L Issett
“My you need to get to know your future countess” Jakob said snobbily. “She and her sister have been here for a day and you have not said two words to them other than greeting them at the door”.
“I was with father Jakob” I said trying to keep myself calm.
“Father is addled, he doesn’t know if you are there or not and will be dead soon” Jakob said as he started up at me. “Now I want you at midday meal and you had better be there”.
“Jakob I already know Irina, I am sure you know that already” I said in a voice that betrayed how angry I was.
“You mean your little crush?” Jakob said as he even laughed a bit. “Josh you don’t have the means or the looks to take care of a girl like that. Why would she want to be with you when she could have me? Now enough of this nonsense, you will freshen yourself up and present yourself. Honestly Jakob, you are as difficult as your mother was”.
I watched him walk away and became upset, but it could not be helped. I put on a nice pair of clothes and met them at their midday meal.
“Here he is, our future protector!” Gertrude said as he gave me a hug. “I hear you are leaving soon, are you scared?”
“No, I think I have been trained well” I replied and tried to return her smile, after all it was not her I was upset at.
“Josh will be gone soon enough to either bring prestige to this family or die horribly, either way he will fulfill his service to the King, my uncle” Jakob said as he stuffed a biscuit into his mouth whole.
“Perhaps we will serve together Josh” Jan said lightening the mood. “All mages have to do at least three months on the borders, I plan on coming back here to finish my time”.
“So Josh, when are you expected to return?” Irina asked trying to engage me in conversation.
“I probably will not” I replied and took a sip of my water to avoid her asking me anything more.
“What do you mean you will not, not even to see your father?” Irina asked.
“Josh expects father to come visit him when he gets better” Jan said saving me. Suddenly two things happened, two things I would remember for as long as I live. Matilda cried out in agony as she flew in the door and told us father had died. I did not even get out of the room before a messenger flew through the door to tell us the goblins had launched a surprise sneak attack and was on their way to our estate, currently they were ravishing Halter, the only town between us and the border. I flew to my spear as it was readily available. Jan went to get the carriage but when he went outside he could see Goblins pouring over the countryside and right up into our estate.
“They are already here!” Jan cried out as Gertrude screamed. “We have to assume they have already attacked our horses and the Humphrey”.
“There is still the secret passage, take your bride and leave” I will hold them off as long as I can.
“What do you mean you will hold them off Josh?” Jan said as he spun me around.
“Just like I said, I only have myself to worry about, you have Gertrude and Jakob has Irina” I replied as I could hear bodies splashing into the water outside. “Go Jan, take as many servants as you can with you, I’ll be right behind you”.
“You heard him Jan lets go now” Jakob said as he pulled my brother along. I steeled my nerves and went to grab my bow, from there I headed to the second story and could see the carnage.
I was not too worried about them swimming across the moat, from the amount of blood they found out it was filled with sharp objects designed to kill. I nocked and arrow and fired, the shaft appeared in a big goblin’s chest and sent the thing to his death. Goblins for the most part were a little smaller than humans and were thin. Where they excelled at was their numbers, A goblin could become pregnant and give birth four times a year and by five years old a goblin was sexually mature. Despite only living 30 or so years the number of warriors they could throw at us gave them a significant advantage. I unleashed another arrow, this one found a goblin’s eye socket. A goblin screamed and pointed up at me, my arrow found him in the neck, a horrible way to die. I looked for the goblins who seemed to be in charge and let another arrow fly, this one killing a goblin archer who had spotted me. Goblin weapons were a poor copy of ours as they did not have the craftsmen we had. I could see another goblin archer and took him down as two arrows slammed into the window, inches away from where I sat. I moved rooms and continued my one man assault, hoping Jan and the others made it, the more time I could give them to escape the more time they had to rally a group of fighting men and the king’s army to stamp out this threat. I fired arrows until I ran out, the archers for their part figured out I was targeting them and left the field, much to the chagrin of a goblin shaman. I ran out of arrows before I identified the shaman, they were rare I knew amongst goblins and their magic dealt with transforming the body, rather than human magic which was external like fire and lightning. I watched in horror as a small tree was cut down then dragged towards father’s estate, well Jakob’s estate now. With that tree they would be able to cross over and there was nothing I could do about it, the drawbridge was not that tough and a dedicated army could get it open in about three minutes. I cursed out loud and went to grab the heavy shield I often trained with and began putting on as much armor as I could as fast as possible. I could hear the drawbridge creaking now, they probably got some rope and hooks on it and was trying to tear it down. I was out of time as I grabbed my spear and released the latch holding the drawbridge. The draw bridge slammed down and I could see it had smashed some poor unfortunate goblin who thought he would make it out of this a hero. I walked to the middle of bridge holding my spear and dared them to come one. Two figures pushed their way through the crowd, these goblins were bigger than the rest, nearly my size and obviously they had been worked on by the shaman. The one on the right picked up a sword and charged across the bridge, I stuck at an angle with my spear which caused him to jump to my left, my shield arm. I swung my shield outward and easily sent him in the water. The next goblin brute was a bit smarter and tried to stay on my spear side. I pierced him easily in his foot, he paid so much attention to not falling off of the bridge he left himself open. As the Goblin brute cried out I shoulder charged him into the water as a flood of goblins rushed forward to overwhelm me. I was killing them as fast as I could stab as I stayed low and let my spear do the talking. Goblins dropped all around me as an arrow its way in my leg. I dropped to a knee but continued fighting, killing even more of the green horde. I knew my count had to be at least at thirty on the bride alone as two arrows slammed into chest and my shield was yanked away. I stabbed another as my spear was yanked away. I was on my knees surrounded by enemies and had no weapons. My vision darkened as I ripped the arrow out of my leg and buried it inside a goblin’s eye as my world went black.
I could remember little else then, I thought I found myself being carried when I gained consciousness once but my savior was a goblin which couldn’t be right. I could hear language being spoken another time I arose , It sounded guttural I thought as it was hard for me to make out. I had horrible nightmares throughout, I dreamt I was cut open and goblins danced and ate my heart. Other times I dreamt they shared it with Irina and Jakob. Whenever I did gain consciousness, at least I thought I did all I could remember was pain, horrible pain.
CHAPTER 3
Balrog
Balrog was chosen to go on the first raid into human lands in years. The raid was well thought out, they had been digging tunnels for years that traveled underneath the human guard post, they would hit them from the behind and inside as another force hit them from the front. The humans had become fat and lazy and the only way to gain power was by proving yourself in battle. Balrog’s master, the shaman Bison had come up with the plan before his death at the hands of a boar. Balrog continued his work and today, in the middle of day it would play out. Balrog marched his army towards the front of the human lines, he had seen their sentries but Balrog wanted to be seen, he wanted everyone at the front so they
wouldn’t be paying attention to their backs. Balrog would lead this charge for the great chieftain Sagat to gain prestige. Balrog would marry his daughter and one day become chieftain himself, the only way his rival, the only other shaman in existence Cyrax could win her had was if he found the goblin that was able to take the heart of the mighty Fell Beast. A fell beast was a creature who could walk on two legs or four and could kill a goblin with a few swipes of its claws, it was even bigger than a human and twice as strong. The speed of the fell beast combined with its stealth and agility made it an excellent hunter. As Shamans, he and Cyrax both learned from Bison who taught them both the secret of the body. Their creations were called the Revan, in order to make them wolf hearts, boar hearts even a human heart had been given to an goblin. It took skill to cut out an goblins heart and replace it all the while chanting the healing ritual but it could be done. Those given the gift became bigger, tougher, meaner. The Goblins with the boar heart started to grow coarse wiry hair and their bodies and huge tusks which shot out of their lower jaw. They gained a huge amount of size and although slower they could pack a punch. Those with wolf hearts became faster and able to track a lot better. The human heart was not that big of an upgrade, the goblin that received it learned human speech and was slightly bigger. It could be said that goblin was slightly smarter than everyone else, but Cyrax deserved no praise. No matter how hard anyone had tried though none had been able to take a heart from the fell beast. The thinking behind it was that fell beast were highly resistant to magic, but never stopped any of the great goblin shamans from trying. In order to receive a heart you had to match the animal’s spirit, the fell beast was a terrifying hunter who would rather fight to the death than be captured. The fact both Balrog and Cyrax had succeeded in capturing one spoke volumes and had all the other goblins talking. Well Balrog caught one and Cyrax had seven and the only way Balrog caught his was that it was a juvenile at the time but that was a different story. The fell beast could not be tamed and would kill any who went near their cage. Today thought that didn’t matter, what would matter is that he would sack the human lands and attack the home of one of their powerful chiefs. Balrog signaled for his drummers to start playing their harsh melody, he would frighten the humans before he killed them, the rest of his troops were already underground. Balrog heard a cry go up inside the post, followed by men leaving the walls. Balrog signaled for his main troops to press on as the guard post was easily over ran. The gate opened and Balrog could see dead humans everywhere. Unfortunately Cyrax’s creations, the twin goblins Dearth and Udax were dealing a lot of the damage. They each had the heart of a wolf and took on that animal’s instinct and were killing humans easily. Balrog ordered 20 goblins to start loading up treasure to present to the chieftain as the rest of the party pressed on to the small human settlement Balrog knew was ahead somewhere.
Balrog went straight through the settlement and picked up his pace, he would lay siege to the human ruler. Balrog ran with the majority of his fighting men and could see Dearth and Udax keeping up easily. Balrog knew Cyrax would try to take some of the glory since the great chieftain insisted Balrog take the pair. I was a good run, about an hour to get to the where the human ruler lived but it was no mistaking his hut. It was bigger than the other human huts and was surrounded by water. Balrog watched as his troops jumped inside the water and was cut to shreds by whatever the humans had it filled up with. They would need a raft of some kind to get over. Balrog sat and thought about where a raft would come from as a human appeared with a bow and killed one of his warriors. Balrog was incensed as the human killed another one, then another one. He sent word for his archers to fire upon the human, but the human was too god and picked his archers off easily. Balrog threw down the head dress that marked him as a shaman and his long coat. The human was wisely picking out targets and he didn’t want to stand out.
“Bring me a tree, we have to get over there” Balrog said as he grabbed a random goblin. The human was killing at will as twenty goblins came up hauling a small tree. It was thin but it would do, when Balrog saw the arrows had stopped flying he got back into his clothes as shaman as the tree came closer and closer. Balrog ordered the tree to be laid over the gap and gave hooks to his fastest goblins. He watched as the goblins swiftly moved across the fallen tree carrying the hooks attached to rope and placed them on top of the funny human closing board. Balrog had studied up on them and sent the word for his goblins to pull down this human door. The door started to budge, then it flew down as if hit from the other side and killed two goblin warriors with it. Balrog smiled as he knew the fight was coming when a single human came out, wearing the metal skins. Balrog had one of his own special warriors here though, perhaps his greatest work surpassing even that of the Revan.
Balrog had taken his masters work even further and called his creation the Chosen. These were goblins who were put under extreme torture while Balrog poured magic into their bodies for many months. The chosen had powers unlike those ever seen, one could split himself into two goblins, another had the ability to move much faster than a normal goblin could, the strongest of his Chosen though was Brix, he had the ability to change himself into whatever substance he was touching. The problem with the chosen though was that they were short lived, while the Revan had unusually long life spans. Whatever gifts the goblin god Ferer bestowed upon the chosen were handed out randomly. Currently there were only four chosen alive, the three mentioned earlier and Balrog’s prized creation, Vlora. Vlora was the first female goblin to undergo the training to be one of the chosen and she passed. The great chieftain did not even know about Vlora, Vlora had the ability to see what was going to happen a few moments before it did. She had saved Balrog twice already from goblins seeking to provoke him into a fight, no doubt the work of Cyrax. Balrog looked at the human with the metal skin and great shield and went to ask Vlora what would be the best course of action when the two Revan that the king made him take of Cyrax’s shouldered him out of the way. One gave a shout and went to face the human alone. Dearth was perhaps the greatest of the Revan still living and had a body and musculature matched by none. Dearth grabbed his weapon and charged across the bridge, something about this human made Balrog weary though. The human struck first then used the movement to push Dearth off the bridge and into the water filled with sharp things that could not be seen.
“He will kill many after he is through with Udax master” Vlora said as she whispered into Balrog’s ear. “I will be able to help take him down, when I shoot I need someone to take his shield. I cannot see anything after that”.
Balrog nodded as first Dearth climbed out of the water followed by Udax, both Revan were bloody from the sharp items in the water and would be in no condition to fight. Balrog sent wave after wave of goblins across the narrow door that served as a bridge of sorts and watched in horror as the human cut them down. Vlora whistled as Balrog told a passing goblin to worry about taking the shield away. Vlora shot the human once, then twice more as the man went down, still fighting. Balrog looked on in admiration as the human unarmed pulled an arrow from his body and killed the nearest goblin before he fell under the numbers. Balrog looked on in happiness as his goblin army streamed into the human dwelling and would soon bring the human in power to his knees.
“Master, the human leader has fled, we will find no one else inside except a dead human” Vlora said as she walked alongside of Balrog until they came to the human warrior’s body.
“This one fought hard in order to let his masters escape, he would have made a great Revan” Balrog said as he stepped over the human.
“This human still lives master, you could try to make him a Revan if you wanted” Vlora said as she bent down to check the human warrior.
“Bah, girl!” Balrog said and dismissed her. “A human Revan? Whoever heard of such a thing? Humans are not strong enough to undergo the process”.
“Master, do you doubt the strength of this human after so many of our kind lay dead?” Vlora said as she s
tood up.
Balrog thought about her words and decided to take the human. Vlora was unlike other goblin women, they were things to be possessed, Vlora had actual intelligence. After sacking the human’s dwelling Balrog had done his damage and left the lands of men before their great army could be brought to bear. The humans had overtime pushed the goblins off of the lands of fertile hunting and into the mountainous waste lands, where the only food were the stringy goats, some birds and the dead. Sure occasionally a boar or something would cross over or the wolves but they were few and far in between. The fell beast killed many goblins who tried to hunt them which made them not an adequate food source either. The land was easy to defend though with the goblins having the high ground anywhere they went, the humans had tried to take them on here, each time ending in many of the pink fleshy creatures killed.
The trek back into the homeland took less than a day after all of the human valuables were packed up, including human slave women for his army to enjoy. Balrog rejoiced as he stepped foot in his homeland then began the long march to where the great Chieftain was located, high up in the mountain in the city Gobi. The march would take much longer than the week it took to come down the mountain but it would be worth it. The human he was carrying for drifted in and out of consciousness, he would feed him small amounts of death root to keep him sleeping until he could properly break him.
ACT II
I tensed as I knew the pain would come again. The goblin through some unforeseen magic shook his bone at me, it was a thigh bone of a human I thought. The goblin shook it and chanted as pain wracked my body causing me to scream out. I wished for death every day at this torture, I wished to join my father in the afterlife but the goblin would not let me die, instead he looked pleased with himself every time he came to inflict more pain on me.
