King of the Goblins 2—Chapter 24

I bounced the shadow stone on my hand a few times, wondering if there was any use for it in the fight. Probably not, but I kept it in my pocket like always. Better safe than sorry.

I strolled through the hot springs with my head high, for once not taking the time to admire the beautiful women bathing. At least there were only a few people there at the moment. The day of a troll attack was not the best time to be lounging around in a hot spring.

After passing through the tunnel that led to the Tunnel District, I walked over to where a group of soldiers rested. They immediately snapped to their feet and saluted me when I came near.

“Yes, yes. Okay, that’s the only salute for the day. Got it?” I said.

They all replied in the affirmative.

“Have you heard anything yet, Your Majesty?” a young soldier asked.

“No,” I told him. “The moment a scout sees anything, I’ll be one of the first people to know. But so far, I’ve heard nothing.” I walked over to the weapons rack where the spears leaned against the wall and grabbed one. Well, I was better with a spear than with a sword, so it seemed doubly appropriate.

I left the soldiers there and walked down the long tunnel. Even with the attack approaching, workers pushing carts filled with loose stone moved back and forth in the tunnel. They were really working overtime digging that new tunnel, for which I was grateful.

Four soldiers stood at the mouth of the tunnel when I got there. Of course they immediately saluted me. I wanted to put an end to it, but ultimately it was appropriate for them to salute their king. It just got annoying at times. 

“Any signs of trolls yet?” I asked.

“Nothing yet, Your Majesty,” said a man with a gruff voice. “We stand ready, though.”

After a moment I recognized him; many months ago, I had hit him in the head with a small rock as a distraction while sneaking out of the tunnel. He had immediately attacked the other soldier there, thinking he had done it. Well, at least I knew the man was a fighter. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to hold any ill will against me. 

I almost asked why no one had a looking glass, but then I remembered how sharp goblin eyesight was. Plus, it was hard to see far through the dense forest.

With my spear in hand, I left the tunnel and wandered around a bit. First, I went towards the pile of rocks to my left. It was damn near the size of a school bus now. 

Two armed guards flanked a young woman that worked with magic there. I could feel the power in her, even though I couldn’t use elemental magic. She held an incredible amount of magic within her, and used it to melt and fuse all the loose stone into a solid block. 

I stood there and watched as the pile of stones suddenly shifted. The guards jumped back, but the woman held her ground. The pile of stones gradually flattened and grew wider until it formed into a massive foundation. It took her probably ten minutes to do, but at least the outer edge of it was fused into a solid chunk of stone.

The woman staggered and one of the guards rushed forward, catching her beneath the arm. He held her against him and she stayed there for a few minutes, breathing heavily. 

I was really only capable of two things with my blood magic; killing and healing. I couldn’t imagine how much strength it took to move that much rock. Well, I had felt how much power she held inside her and it had been a considerable amount; more than I could hold, and according to Silvy, I was about as strong as they came. I decided to approach them.

I held up a hand, halting the guards before they saluted me. The woman opened her green eyes and gave me a faint smile. She was a pretty woman with brown hair so dark it was almost black. At that moment she had it in a thick braid that nearly reached her waist.

“Good morning, Your Majesty,” she said, her voice weak.

“Are you alright?” I asked. “Just tired after handling that much magic?”

She nodded. “I’m the only one strong enough to make the foundation. What you see here, plus it extends ten feet below the ground. It won’t move for a thousand years.”

“Wow,” I said. I reached out for her and the guard passed her to me. “If anyone has earned a break, it’s you,” I told her.

“Oh, Your Majesty! I’m okay, really,” she said, moving as if she wanted down. 

“Nonsense,” I said. I kept my grip on her and held her tightly against me. “Thank you,” I told the soldiers.

“Where are you taking me, Your Majesty?” she asked, clearly concerned that the king himself was holding her.

I was tempted to make a joke about her being one of my new wives, but she’d probably take it seriously and leap at the opportunity.

“I’m taking you back into the Tunnel District so you can rest for a while,” I said. “You almost passed out there a few seconds ago. It’s okay, relax. I’ve got you.” I squeezed her a bit, hoping she would accept the gesture as something friendly. “Hold on to me, okay?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she said, and reached out. 

She wrapped her arms around my neck as I turned and walked back towards the tunnel. One of the benefits of our size difference was that goblin women were easy to carry. She was probably eighty pounds at the most, and I was a decently strong guy. Carrying her was a piece of cake.

“I’ve never seen anyone work with stone like you,” I said as we entered the tunnel. The soldiers there saluted me again and I gave them a nod.

She gave me a hesitant look before finally thanking me. Had I finally found the one shy goblin woman? Considering how many of them flirted with me on a regular basis, I found it a bit strange.

“Hey, relax,” I said quietly. “Everything’s okay. No need to be stressed around me, alright? Just hold on tightly to me.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she said. She kept her grip around the back of my neck.

“No, tighter,” I said.

“Um. Okay, Your Majesty,” she said, and held on a bit tighter.

“Uh oh, I think I might drop you,” I said.

She held me even closer and a smile finally broke through her shyness.

“There we go,” I said.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I’ve just never been around royalty before.”

“No need to apologize,” I said, looking around the tunnel. “Hey, how quickly can you move stone?”

“What do you mean?”

I stopped and turned to face the tunnel wall. “If you were well-rested, how quickly could you move this wall? Even just a small section of it, like to block someone.”

She frowned for a moment. “Stone is hard to work with, Your Majesty. It resists any kind of movement and has to be forced into place. It would probably take me, I don’t know…maybe ten or fifteen seconds to move that wall a foot. Just a small section of the wall, that is.”

My thoughts churned. “I don’t want you to work on the tunnel again until the attack is over,” I said. “I may need you for something more important.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” she said. “Whatever you need, I’m here to serve you.”

I looked down at her after she said that. Had anyone else said that, they would have been flirting with me. But she actually meant it.

“You’re a nice person,” I said. “Hey, I have a question. Your magical talent—is that hereditary? Does your mother have any talent with magic as well?”

She began to loosen her grip on me, so I looked sharply at her arms. With a giggle, she tightened her grip on me until she was about as close as could be. A bit of innocent flirtation was nice, and it also made it easier to carry her the length of the tunnel.

“My mother is strong with magic as well, yes, Your Majesty,” she said. “We didn’t know until just recently, since Ralcor all but outlawed magic.”

“And she uses the same type of magic as you?” I asked. Would all my children be capable with blood magic? That could prove to be dangerous if any of them wound up lacking in morals.

“Not entirely,” she said. “My mother is strong with elemental magic overall, just as I am. But her strength lies more with water than with stone.”

“So your magical strength is passed down to your children, but not necessarily the exact type of magic?”

She nodded. “As far as I understand, yes. Um, Your Majesty.”

We reached the end of the tunnel and I took a right turn. I walked towards where they were building the tunnel. Several women rested there, and another drank from a water skin. Men pushed carts filled with loose stone away from the building site. They were all working hard. I approached the bench, waving away the bows and curtseys.

“Thank you for carrying me, Your Majesty,” she said.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Coraline, Your Majesty,” she replied. She pulled her hands away, probably assuming I was going to set her down.

I walked over and sat down on the edge of a bench and plopped her on my leg. She gasped and I looked down at her arms. With a shy smile she put her arms back around me.

“Take as long as you need to rest,” I told her. “You’ve earned it.”

Something about her shyness was attractive to me. Every day I dealt with beautiful women practically throwing themselves at me. It was nice to be the pursuer every once in a while. Besides, she was quite beautiful.

She shifted on my leg and got comfortable. After a brief hesitation, she leaned towards me and rested her head on my shoulder. I felt her body relax in my arms after that, and just enjoyed having her there.

Other women saw us and smiled. It looked like Tressi was right; the people wanted to see me with women. They wanted me to have a million kids. I let my hand slide down to her waist and kept it there.

Ten minutes later, Tressi and Leena walked into the area. Leena nudged her wife and pointed my way, and then they both walked over to us.

Everyone bowed and curtseyed for them; my wives accepted it much better than I did. They were better at that whole royalty thing than I was.

When Coraline noticed the queens approaching she moved to slide off my lap, but I held her tightly there. “You’re fine,” I told her quietly. “You don’t need to go anywhere.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she whispered.

Tressi and Leena stopped in front of me, pointedly looking Coraline up and down.

“Taking your kingly duties more seriously, I see,” Tressi said. “Who is this?”

“This is Coraline,” I said. “I believe she’s our most powerful magic user, at least when it comes to working with stone. That magical power will be passed down to her children.”

Tressi put her hands on her hips and nodded approvingly. She looked Coraline up and down again, more thoroughly this time. “I accept,” she said after a moment. “Leena?”

Leena examined her as well. “It’s important to have strong magic users among you. With you being the father, you might wind up with some men finally able to use magic as well. Besides, she is awfully cute, and brown hair is rare among the goblins.” She punctuated that with a smile.

“Is everything okay, Your Majesties?” Coraline asked. She looked nervous.

“I would say so,” Tressi replied. “It looks like King Aaron is taking his duties more seriously.”

Coraline turned and looked at me. I found myself at a loss for words; even though it was expected for me to sire many children, I couldn’t think of a way to just ask her if she wanted me to impregnate her. Fortunately, Tressi saved the day.

“Coraline, right?” Tressi asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she replied.

“We approve of you having children with King Aaron. The more, the better. You may start whenever you are both ready.”

Well, hard to be more direct than that.

Coraline turned to me, her eyes wide. “Oh, is that true, Your Majesty?” She blushed all the way to her hairline.

“Looks like it,” I said with a chuckle. I leaned forward and pecked her on the lips. “We should probably focus on the battle first, though.”

Leena shrugged. “If the trolls don’t show up for a while, I see nothing wrong with you taking care of business. After all, that’s the future of our people.”

I just held Coraline tightly and laughed.