Orange light stabbed into Lan’s eyes as his mind spun and pain pulsed through his body, in all but his left arm, which felt like it wasn’t there. Sounds of cheerful screaming filled his ears forcing him to try and open his eyes. When he managed to do so, Lan stared at the night sky as the night runner passed above. It was already midnight… I have been out here longer than I thought. Lan reflected as he realised he was moving before drifting out of consciousness.

He jolted awake as something pulled on his arm, increasing the fervour of cheers before a voice barked them down as he slipped into the dark again.

Something hit him in the head, and Lan stared again long enough to look around. He was moving. He was floating. No, he was lying on something hard. When he was finally able to roll his head to the side, Lan was greeted by a sea of green faces, amber eyes and gnashing yellow teeth.

For a moment, his mind cleared, registering the danger, and he tried to run only to find that his body wouldn’t move. Raising his head, Lan saw the arm of the giant goblin around his waist, along with ropes tying him down to a board. That was all he managed to see before the effort of lifting his head left it swimming in a fog, and the darkness took him again.

Golden light filled his eyes as the urgent feeling from the Wisp entered his mind again. Lan groaned. This really wasn’t the time for this.

Time for what? Wasn’t he just running? No, he was being attacked. Attack by… before Lan could remember, he stopped moving and felt the world turn on its axis, leaving him slumped against his bindings to the sounds of greater cheering from the sea of screeching voices around him. Then as if it had been a part of his dreaming, a sudden silence fell over them.

Lan tried to open his eyes, finding a wave of goblins washed in orange light looking at him with the shadow-casted tree line behind them. The rhythmic thumping of something solid into the ground filled his mind, the sound of which made him drift again as it simultaneously reminded him of a walking stick, and Lan found his mind wandering to thoughts of Fanin, the former woodcutter, who had lost a leg to the tree that would become his walking stick and if he was still using that same one. He hadn’t seen the man in years.

Just before his mind was lost, pain ripped through his body as Lan was jolted back to life.

[Hp 0 > 1]

[Targeted magic cast: Spark of Life – A controlled stream of lightning that can be used to bring one back from the brink of death. Notice. Overuse can cause pain.]

Gasping, Lan strained against the ropes restraining him as he looked around. He was tied to a wooden board in the centre of the clearing next to the Goblin King’s tent while all around him were goblins fixated on the being in front of him.

Blinking hard, Lan tried to focus on it. Dressed in torn mage robes adorned with bones, a skull, and fur was a tall skinny goblin with elongated facial features and a beaked nose set on skin with a muddy green-grey pallor.

Without any preamble, the goblin grabbed Lan’s face, the point of its nails digging into his skin as it moved his head around before looking into his eyes and grinning at him.

Lan fought not to recoil at the smell of rotten flesh on its breath, which only lasted a moment before it was forgotten when the goblin spoke in High Trayveian.

‘Hmm… you are the one that killed the Knighted and its band, are you not?’

Lan just stared blankly at the goblin. Its voice was soft and high, sometimes taking on the characteristics of a person speaking with a raw throat. While holding some words for too long and other times not long enough, leaving it to sound like the barks and shrieks of its own tongue. Even still, there was no doubt about what Lan had heard.

Lan stared wide-eyed at it, which the goblin seemed to draw some amusement from as its face stretched into a smile of satisfaction.

‘Did you think the words of man were beyond my kin, or are you surprised that we can even speak at all.’

He wasn’t. Lan knew that goblins could speak even before today. He knew of at least two times that academics tried to make contact with goblins, only for one team to come back wounded and the other to never be seen again.

Like most people, Lan thought that despite being capable of speech, goblins could not learn anything other than Obishe. To his horror, he had been wrong.

‘It’s-’ Lan wrenched his face away from the goblin's grip. ‘only a surprise that you are doing so now.’ Reminding the goblin that it hadn’t already killed him wasn’t the smartest move, but the fact that it hadn’t told him that there was a reason. It wouldn’t be much, but any reason to keep him alive was a chance for him to get out of this.

‘And why wouldn’t I wish to talk to you? You have answers that I want. Once I am done, then you can die.’ The goblin said, its eyes lighting with the colour of the bonfires as they opened wider. In them, Lan saw that under the caricature of a mage that he was looking at lived the same monstrous creature that made up the writhing mass calling for his death.

‘Now, you are the one that killed the Knighted One, yes? The fools that ran away are sure that it is you. But how?. You are weaker than a Knighted, but they say they watched you kill them, so how?’

‘Do you want to know if I did do it or how I did it?’ Lan asked.

‘Are you saying you didn’t?’ the goblin asked curiously.

‘No, I did, but that was two questions at once.’ The moment the last word left Lan’s mouth, pain ripped through him as the goblin touched his stomach.

[Targeted magic cast: Spark of Life – A controlled stream of lightning that can be used to bring one back from the brink of death. Notice. Overuse can cause pain.]

Lan screamed as the ember of his health flickered wildly from being extinguished and reignited again and again, all while lightning raced through his veins.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

After a moment, the goblin ended the lightning without even acknowledging what it had done, and Lan slumped against the ropes.

‘Answer…’

Lan laughed, ‘Right-’ he coughed. ‘I was stronger when I fought it.’ he said greedily. What he said was true, even if it wasn’t the whole truth. He wouldn’t give up everything so easily, even if it meant more pain. All he had right now were answers, and every answer was another second taken from his life, so the goblin would have to pry them from him.

The goblin blinked, then frowned, ‘How…’ it said before looking down at Lan's hand, spotting the ring. ‘It is this…’ the goblin spoke without a hint of doubt as it reached for Lan’s hand.

‘How did you…’ Lan started before shutting up when he realised his slip-up. Seeing this, the goblin stopped and smiled at him.

‘This ring does not just have magic within it but something more. It has power within… and something else.’ The goblin frowned before taking the ring between its nails and tried pulling it free. Of course, the ring wouldn’t even move, just like when Lan tried. When that didn’t work, the goblin retrieved a knife and brought it close to Lan’s hand.

‘Wait!’

The goblin did, pausing and looking up at Lan.

‘You don’t want to do that.’ Lan breathed before shaking his head, trying to clear it. ‘If you do, you will be relieving me of the burdens of more than just a finger. Because that something else is a curse.’

As if faced with a viper maw, the goblin withdrew its hand back into its robe sleeve as its eyes widened. Lan didn’t know if the ring had the type of curse that would punish those who tried to remove it incorrectly, seeing as it was a benefit more than a curse. He really didn’t know too much about curses, but from the looks of it, the goblin knew more, enough to know not to mess with the potentially volatile object.

‘And it is what makes you stronger?’ It asked, seeming to weigh the new information.

‘You know I have never seen a goblin so versed in magic like you.’ Lan stated, dodging the question. Which seemed to work as the goblin smiled at the compliment

‘Even before I joined the army of The Highest, I was blessed to hear the voice of the Brood Mother, so I knew to take the books of those my tribe hunted. Some of those books contained spells and other knowledge, and now I am a mage.’ It said that like just having the title somehow took it away from men. It wasn’t like it was trying to impress him. It was clearly just enjoying the thought before returning to the ring.

‘Are there others that have these rings?’ the goblin mage pressed without missing a beat.

‘I don’t know.’ Which was true. Really he didn’t know if that madman Art was going around handing the shackle out to everyone he passed. Either way, this was enough to make the goblin frown.

‘No matter, you still lost to the rogue and titan,’ the goblin mage said as if reevaluating the situation. ‘It was said that you breathed fire.’ The goblin mage asked, then waited without a hint of bias or incredulity, ready to take whatever Lan could say and judge it fairly.

‘Breathe fire? If I could breathe fire, you wouldn’t have a face right now.’ Lan said once again, speaking only the truth.

[Targeted magic cast: Spark of Life – A controlled stream of lightning that can be used to bring one back from the brink of death. Notice. Overuse can cause pain]

Lan roared, unable to clinch his jaw before the lightning locked his spine. The crimson flame shook wildly before returning to normal as the lightning fled from his body.

‘Hmm, you are right.’ The goblin mage mused

‘Then why by the Light did you shock me.’ Lan groaned.

‘You did not answer my question.’ The goblin mage stated before smiling at Lan and wrinkling its nose. Smelling Lan’s gauntlet, then his pocket. With a grin, the goblin reached into it and pulled out the bundle of blood-red silk.

‘This,’ The goblin grinned triumphantly as it held the wrapping up to Lan’s face. ‘How does it work.’ It asked with intensity in its eyes, the interrogation momentarily forgotten as its fascination took hold.

Just give him a little bit, Lan thought.

‘If you cut it with a mana stone, it will catch on fire.’

The goblin mage reached into Lan's pocket again, retrieved the mana stone between two fingernails and frowned at the stone before dropping it and the fire silk to the ground.

‘You don’t even need me to answer questions. You don’t seem to have a hard time working it out on your own. So can I take it that you are the one that planned all this?’

The goblin mage grinned at this.

‘I may have been the one to suggest moving closer to the human stronghold. Although we aren’t ready for an attack yet, this does give us a great opportunity to strike at the surrounding camps while being a strong enough force to stop any retaliation.’

As the goblin spoke, it turned, and Lan started slowly turning his wrist, digging the shield’s blade into the rope near his hand. This is just like any other negotiation. Just keep him talking, Lan thought to himself. There were always answers in what they said and didn’t say.

The chance of him escaping was next to none, even if he could cut through the rope without being caught. Maybe the Wisp could blind them and help him make a run for it. There was also the fire silk; if he lit the whole thing at once, the explosion could do some damage. Even if in the open space, it wouldn’t be as effective. There was also still a chance he could talk himself into a more advantageous position, which he could break free from. No matter how hopeless the situation doing anything was better than waiting to die.

Finishing what it was saying, the goblin mage turned back with Lan's sword in its hand and brought the tip to his throat.

‘This sword smells like… that cloth, why?’

‘Still trying to work that one out myself.’ Lan said. He was sure Cawl and Cali would have told him if the sword was meant to work with the Fire Silk. The fact they hadn’t must have indicated that they didn’t know.

‘More strangeness… are there more of these blades?’

Lan looked at the goblin mage for a moment before realising that it was trying to size up the city's defences using him. Although they were interrogating the worst person if they wanted to know the city's strength. The fact that they were even doing so was worrying.

The Swarm was little more than an ever-growing mindless horde in the stories. If there was a mind behind the chaos, one that could command them, Lan couldn’t see the heroic final battle where The Swarm is broken against a united army when one of them could tell them to retreat or not engage in the fight altogether. Guided evolutions instead of mindless growth, Lan could see larger Titans ripping down the gates to the city as the rogues killed the city's defenders while a tidal wave of Knight Led goblins carved an ocean of blood in their wake. And what else was waiting for the city…

‘I don’t see why they couldn’t. This sword was only a prototype.’ Lan said. If he could make them hesitate or falter even for a day longer than they would, that would increase the chance that someone else would come across The Swarm if he couldn’t make it back.

‘Hmm.’ The goblin hummed, seeming more focused on the blade, and after a moment, lightning burst from the goblin’s hand and arched over his sword, but it didn’t change or start to glow. With a dismissive look, the goblin dropped the weapon.

‘If you untie me, I can show you how it works.’

In one fluid motion, the goblin redirected the lightning at Lan, and when his skin stopped smoking, the goblin looked at Lan’s shield arm before dismissing it and removing the potions from his bag and looking at him, then dropping them too.

‘There is one thing that I wish to know now.’ It said moving close.

‘Yeah, and what is that?’

‘They say that you are one that walks with the light? Is that true.’ As if called by being mentioned, Lan saw the Wisp flying towards him. Even before it reached him, he got the feeling from it again.

‘In…’ Lan paused as the Wisp darted past the goblin mage without it seeming to notice. ‘a way.’

‘What does it want.’ The goblin asked intensely.

‘That was what I was trying to find out before I ran into your camp. It looks like neither of us will learn what that is now. ‘You know we could always go find out before you kill me.’ Lan joked, which made the fact that the goblin mage considered it all the more surprising.

After a moment, the goblin shook its head, ‘Your fate has already been decided. All you can do now is entertain the king with your death.’ The goblin mage said before slashing through the ropes with its dagger.