Lily
“Damn it, Owl Two.” Lily snapped angrily as she looked at the man standing impassively next to a workbench. Even now he was tinkering with the metal figure. “You knew this was happening and you said nothing?” Lily was furious, though in truth much of that fury was directed at herself. She’d known what was happening, she’d just been too scared to look in on Samantha in the last week. She clutched her mouth, feeling bile rise up in her throat. It wasn’t the first time in the last few weeks that she’d felt nauseous, but she forced it down.
“You went into this with full understanding of the possible outcomes,” Owl Two said. “Now instead of retracing old ground, which will do nothing to change the situation as it now is, how about we watch the recording and see what happened.” Lily opened her mouth for a retort, when part of what he’d said registered in her mind.
“Recording? This isn’t happening right now?” She looked at the battered women on the screen, hoping against hope that they were both still alive.
“No, they have already decided on their course of action. I merely thought you would like to know the context of their decision.” Lily ground her teeth in rage at this obtuse fool, who was arguably the smartest man on the continent.
“Fine.” She said at last, taking a deep breath and turning back to the screen. She hadn’t missed much, just Thomas kicking the downed Song and laughing, while Andona asked her questions.
“Let’s try this again, shall we?” She asked sweetly, looking down at the whimpering woman. “Why were you in such a hurry to rush to the traitor?”
“Lady Lily is no traitor.” Song spat, her melodious voice twisted, as she spoke through mangled lips. “She’s the White flame’s first wife and he left her in charge during his absence. You are clearly the traitors.” She tried to spit at Andona, but Thomas’s booted foot took her in the mouth. Lily winced at the similarities between this and when Samantha had tried to spit at her captors, and her eyes blazed into Thomas’s snickering form.
“Let’s hurry this up,” Eric said. “We’ve already gathered everyone together to take the cave. If she doesn’t give us something useful soon then we’ll just have to take her to the farm and let her watch as we kill a few hundred of her people.”
“No. You crazy…” Songs voice twisted and distorted as the entire scene started to move at high speed. Lily blinked, momentarily lost as to what had happened.
“I am running the recording in fast-forward,” Owl Two explained. “Much of this isn’t necessary until… here.” He said as he slowed the feedback down.
“Ok,” Song sobbed. She was a mess, her hands were now missing a few fingers, and they’d taken one of Samantha’s eyes, in a bid to make her speak. “I’ll tell you… Just, stop hurting Sam.” The goblin sobbed brokenly into her restraints as she spilled her secrets.
“Lily sent a small number of us scouts into the tunnels secretly when she sent us away.” She began, words muffled from pain and anguish. “We took all the stone carver rats with us, to dig a secret tunnel into the throne room… Lily wanted to take the throne without having to fight the batlins at all. I came back looking for her today because…” she paused and shook her head, only continuing when she got another backhand blow from Thomas.
“Aaahhh… ok, ok… I came back because we’d reached the courtyard just outside the throne. All we need to do is funnel enough people through to tie up the king’s guards while Lily sits on the throne and the city will belong to her.”
“Sounds like bullshit to me,” Thomas said and spit to the side. “There’s no way she’s been doing that behind our backs this whole time.”
“No,” Eric said, the gears clearly turning in his head. “She slipped up, weeks ago… but I remember. She said, if only her husband hadn’t wanted to take the city by force. When a gentler touch was all that was needed… or something like that, I can’t remember exactly. She knew, she’s been playing us this whole time.” Lily watched as he jumped to his feet and viciously kicked the goblin. He kicked her until he was forced to stop from lack of breath.
“…Ok,” he panted. “Let’s go. We’ll have to split the troops, Andona you can take the cave. There are only two of them in there after all, how much fight can they really put up. Thomas and I will take the bulk of our forces down to capture the city. We’ll take this one,” he kicked the now unconscious Song, “with us to show the way.”
The screen changed. They were now overlooking the training grounds that had become Eric’s camp. There were over three hundred men and women gathered around. Their armor and weaponry were an eclectic mix of styles and materials, though they were predominantly dressed in locust lamellar. The troops themselves were also an eclectic mix. Most of those here weren’t the cream of the syndicate crop. They were the ones who’d slipped through the cracks before, who hadn’t stepped up when they’d been called on to do so. Only now that they were relatively safe, did they choose violence.
fifty of the group had been separated out, and Andona stood with them. Standing close to her were Andessa and her team, Mike and his fellow human and the unnamed elf were jeering and cheering along with the crowd as Eric and Andona whipped them up. Standing a little apart from them, however, was Andessa and Tupelo, whispering quietly to each other.
“Can you get it so we can hear them?” Lily asked, pointing at the pair. Without anything changing that she could see, the roar of the crowd was muted as the voices of the two whisperers came into clearer focus.
“…isn’t what I signed up for, Andessa.” Tupelo said, speaking into his shoulder to not be overheard. “I lost my daughter to starvation in the honeycomb, after that I was too grief stricken to fight. When we came here, I wanted to enlist, but Unyielding oak lived up to her name, and wouldn’t let me in. when Eric said he wanted to make us all equals… well anyway, this isn’t what he promised us.”
“I know tupelo,” Andessa said, just as quietly. “My cousin is blinded with the lust for power. She’d just gotten it in the White mane before her husband was killed. Now, she wants it back at all costs… I don’t want to do this either, but she’s family. What do I do? Who would take me in if I abandoned my kin.”
“The White flame, that’s who.” Tupelo said, “Wish I’d have just waited until he got back, or joined the damn food corps. I bet Guts would have put me where I belonged if I’d have only asked someone other than that hardline old crone Unyielding oak. I didn’t realize just how good we had it here, until Eric and Andona ‘saved us all’ from our inequality… what a joke.”
“Thanks, Owl Two.” Lily said, having heard enough. Her emotions still swirled with rage at what had been done to Song and Samantha, but she’d been watching Andessa since she saw her team fighting in the simulations. The only team who regularly practiced, despite how the training field had been taken over by Eric’s group. She, and the elf Tupelo, were good people who’d just got mixed up with a bad crowd.
“If possible, can we avoid killing those too?” She asked, turning to her two companions.
“There are dissenters in every organization,” Staz said after a beat. “That whole army are the ones from the lord’s syndicate, and these two are just rebelling against the new organization. There are more than the two of them in there who don’t agree with what their doing, but they will do their best to kill us when they get here regardless.” He wasn’t scolding or insensitive. He was just stating facts. Lily marveled at how similar and yet completely different Staz was from Owl two. Staz thought about the people when speaking of strategy or tactics, Owl Two thought only of numbers and opportunity costs.
“I know, Staz,” Lily said at last. “But there will be enough killing soon, let me save at least these two lives.” She said, doing her best to be earnest with her sparring partner.
“Very well,” Owl Two answered for them both. “The two will be off limits, But this is old footage. They will be here in less than five minutes. We should get into position.” Lily frowned in consternation at the armored man.
“So, when you said it was time, you meant… right now.” She said with a sigh. “Ok, Let’s do this.” It was strange, Lily had been feeling sick for weeks, just thinking about this moment. Now that it was finally here though, she felt fine.
“I will take the northern tunnel; you take the southern tunnel. Staz, if you would accompany her, please.” Owl Two said as he walked away. “There should be no…”
“We’ve been over this,” Lily said with a wave of her hand. “Just do it already, I’ve got a camp to put back together.” With that, she nodded at Staz and set off towards the southern tunnel.
“This seems very much… over contrived.” Staz said, once they’d reached the newly installed gate on the inside of the curved tunnel. “Why go through all this trouble? These people don’t seem worth the effort…”
“Hold on,” Lily said with a raised hand. “They’re coming.” She could hear them, the voices echoing down the passageway. The tunnel wasn’t long, but it had been naturally curved, and Owl two had exacerbated that curve to prevent people from shooting into the cave from outside. She’d shushed the oni because if she could hear their voices, then they could hear his deep tones.
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“Ok, Jewel.” Andona said in her faux friendly tone. “It’s time to prove yourself to the cause. Everyone, group up. When the gate opens, I want everyone in as quickly as possible. We want to take them completely by surprise.”
“No problem,” Jewel said. “But you’re really not going to hurt her right? Just lock her up until she learns that she’s been manipulated by that damned White flame’s assistant, right?”
“Oh, Jewel. You poor stupid girl,” Lily thought sadly. Wishing she could tell Owl two not to hurt her but knowing it would be wrong. Jewel was an adult and knew what she was doing. Tricked or not, there was no place in the syndicate for those who would turn on their fellows.
“It’s too late for cold feet now, Jewel.” Andona said, the friendliness melting away from her voice. “Now open the gate, so we can finish this.”
“Bu… Understood ma’am.” Jewel said, with a sigh, that Lily could hear all the way down the tunnel, followed by the click of the gate’s lock releasing. She’d done it, if they all rushed in there would be no going back.
“Move, now.” She heard feet on stone, and then. “What the…?” Lily was able to see Andona’s look of shocked surprise when she rounded the corner at the head of her group. She was a cruel woman, but she wasn’t stupid. “Get back out, Get back out now…” the outer door slamming shut, and the near silent shots from the ceiling mounted turrets, cut off anything else she might have wanted to say.
“Again, I have to ask.” Staz said looking down at the twenty odd bodies. “Why did you guys go through all the trouble of emptying the camp of your loyal followers. Give these, obviously unqualified, people command, let them abuse your people, and torture my lord’s most loyal followers… when taking them out was this easy? I think Hunter, was it? I think that Hunter could have taken them out in their beds without anyone being the wiser much easier than this.”
“because” Lily said with a sad sigh, looking at the only two people still standing in the locked tunnel surrounded by their dead Companions. “My husband might be brutal in combat, and just as hard on himself as he strives for improvement… but he’s soft on the weak. He sees himself as the hero in a story, or that’s how Owl Two put it anyway, and would never condone killing or banishing people for doing nothing but grumbling about what he’d given them.”
“But these people, clearly planned on doing more than grumbling.” Staz continued for her, “by setting up the stage for them to show their true colors, you cut out the cancer before they could take root and affect a larger number of the syndicate… it’s impressive.” He nodded his massive head while scratching his thick lower jaw right under his thick tusks.
“A course of action that lord Ronin should have taken, if he had been made aware of the situation. Though, if I’m being honest… I respect him more now, knowing he has engendered such loyalty in his people that they would jump through this many hoops to keep his sense of morality intact. Because, after they hurt his people, and broke into his home, there can be no doubt that they were the bad guys… well played my lady.” Lily scoffed at the praise.
“It was all Owl two’s plan. He got Benjamin’s buy in to keep his men out of it, yet still be available in case things went sideways, before bringing me on board. I never would have been able to go through with it without his insistence… and your sparring sessions to keep me busy.”
“…Um… I don’t want to interrupt, but… what are you going to do with us?” Andessa asked, from where she stood beside tupelo in a knee-deep pile of bodies. The sound of a second slamming gate, and more muffled shots floated over, letting Lily know that Owl two had finished off his ‘guests’ as well.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on the situation; I know you were an unwilling party to this.” Lily said. "And… I just couldn't bring myself to kill you all. But we’ll talk about it later, for now put these on.” She tossed them a pair of control collars, neither made the catch in their shock and they splashed into the pooling blood. Nevertheless, they both picked them up and hurriedly snapped them around their necks.
“Now, clean up this mess. Weapons gear and anything else worth keeping from both tunnels in a pile over here. Take the bodies outside and line them up. I’ll have the goblins collect them for fertilizer soon enough. After that, get cleaned up and wait for me in your tents. I’ll be along soon enough.” The pair set to their grizzly task, knowing that to delay an order with a collar on would be accompanied by a painful shock. Having given her orders, Lily turned with Staz and returned to the workshop.
“This encounter has been concluded,” Owl two said once he’d rejoined them in the workshop. “There is still the matter of the battle for undercity to consider, however. Sadly, I do not believe that battle will go as smoothly as this one did.”
“Ok, can we back up a little.” Staz said from his cross-legged position on the floor. A position that still had his head on a level with owl Two’s. “I thought the plan was to trap them in the tunnels and kill them. What is happening underground? Didn’t the goblin woman say there were only a few of them and they’d dug a secret tunnel for you? I’d say it’s likely to go about as rough as it can go.”
“Sorry Staz,” Lily said running her claws through the fur on her face. “I forgot I never actually told you the plan, and I know Owl two wouldn’t have if you had no part to play.” She added, giving the helmeted head a scowl.
“The original plan was to trick them into attacking undercity. But only as a distraction. I know you haven’t been down there, but we have maps…” as she spoke, Owl two pulled up an overhead map of the mushroom forest and the farmland on the far side of the river, along with the massive stone city on the far end. “…thank you, owl two. Anyway, it’s too far a distance to the city to tunnel under it in just a few weeks or months. Even with the stone carver rats doing all the work. So, we sent all our goblin scouts into the caves. They have been slowly integrating themselves into the goblin population down there and, hopefully, into the city and more importantly the castle.” Lily drew on the map with her finger as she pointed out the areas she talked about.
“The gorge is too wide, and deep, to easily cross and the batlins and hobats cover the entire ceiling beyond the mists of the mushroom forest. So, we worked out a way to get our people into the city, and a distraction…”
“Let me guess,” Staz said before she could finish her explanation. “You have that tunnel set to come out right in the middle of a field or something, probably with a goblin insurgent nearby to alert the bat creatures that intruders have come calling… then the goblins in the city will make a run on the castle?”
“Pretty much,” Lily said. “We also had our moon elf friends do us a favor, and ferry over several elves and bugbear to the mines, and we never actually sent the thirteen kaldarr to the wall either. K1 had them set up camp in the tunnels, with several rifles apiece, and enough ammunition to down an army of batlins, to help add to the chaos… we’ve waited long enough. It’s time to take that city for my husband. I’m just sorry the plan cost our people so much pain and… Samantha!” Lily said with a shout, “I forgot about Samantha. They took Song with them, but Samantha is still in the cave and they…”
“I’ve already relayed a message to Benjamin,” Owl two said. “He dispatched Karr’s squad to get her. In fact, they are already on their way back. I’ll do what I can for her, and I’ve already got lord Ronin’s pod ready for her. It’s the one most closely tuned to human biology, so there is a high likelihood of a full recovery.” Lily felt a flood of relief at that.
“Thank you,” she said. “Then if you haven’t already, get ahold of Benjamin and let him know I’m coming out. I need to solidify my husband’s rule over his people again in the wake of this tragedy.” They talked a bit longer, but in the end, Lily went out to be seen and reassure their citizens that Eric and his tyranny had been dealt with. She took Staz with her too, nothing like ten feet of solid muscle to make the seven-foot-tall bugbear men feel reassured.
* * *
Lily
Lily blinked hard, trying to clear the clouds from her vision as she continued to work. It had been two days since they’d ended Andona. Two days spent putting the camp to rights. They’d begun moving the goblins back in with the rest of the population. Both seemed happy with the arrangement since the goblins would be taking over sanitation duties again.
Apart from the goblin reintegration, there were the tents Eric and his people had commandeered from their fellows to build their own section of camp that had to be returned. The crafting area that had been monopolized by Eric and Andona’s men to be returned to the workers who’d been using it up to the point of their take over, and so many other, minor, matters that she felt best she take care of herself.
Samantha thankfully was doing well. Owl two had been forced to transplant an eye in place of the one she’d lost. But thankfully, there’d been a woman in the cave attack who’d had the same-colored eyes as Samantha, and Owl two had taken one of them as a replacement. Lily shuddered at that memory. Before meeting the enigmatic Owl Two, she would have sworn that taking a body part from one person and giving it to another was impossible. Yet, when he said he could do it she didn’t even waste time on disbelief. Her husband’s assistant was many things, but a liar wasn’t one of them.
That didn’t mean she wouldn’t have nightmares for years to come, as the man performed surgery on the unconscious pilot. Lily had insisted on being there, but in hindsight, she might have been happier if she hadn’t been. The blood and the noises that were made during the process… she shook off the thought. It didn’t matter, that woman had been an enemy, and Samantha was a friend. A friend who hadn’t deserved what happened to her.
Putting Samantha from her mind, Lily focused on the task at hand. Namely, trying to talk sense into Staz, who was gearing up to head down into the tunnels.
“Listen, Staz.” She said, doing her best to remain calm. “I want to go down there as much as you do, but they have a two-day head start. There’s no way you can catch up before they get to the battlefield. Besides, the tunnels down there are tight in a few places. K3 told me once that he had to take his armor off a few times to squeeze through. I don’t think you would even fit.” Her argument stemmed mostly from the fact that she wanted to go too but couldn’t. She knew that but was too tired to care.
“Lady Lily, I respect your opinion, I really do.” The oni said with a shallow bow. “However, lord Ronin made it clear that I was to use my own judgment before excepting orders… for some reason he seemed to think, someone, might have unhealthy ideas about what I should be doing.” He quite deliberately did not look at Owl two, Lily noticed, not that she could disagree with his logic. It also sounded like something her husband would say.
“So, as much as I understand your frustration at not being able to come with me, I will be going. All I am doing now is simply giving you the courtesy of a warning before I go.” He was polite, but firm. A trait Lily was quickly coming to associate with the giant. He didn’t threaten, or yell, or even raise his voice. He just spoke as if anything he said was the truth, because he had that much confidence in himself to make it that way.
“Ok,” she said at last, knowing she couldn’t make him see reason. “But that doesn't change the fact you are too big to get down there.” She was just being spiteful now and they both knew it, but she had gotten used to his presence at her back. Maybe it was time to find herself a bodyguard with impressive mass. Her husband had always had K3 at his back, she wondered if he would switch to Staz. She doubted it, the pair of them had a strong bond. Staz’s next words brought her tired mind back on track, she blinked hard again, not realizing she’d been drifting.
“If that is your only concern, then let me lay it to rest for you,” the oni said with a wide grin. He then spoke a few words in a guttural language she didn’t understand and started to shrink before her eyes. Over the course of a minute, he went from nearly ten feet tall exactly, to around six and a half feet tall. They were now very much of a height, though the oni was still much thicker than her in build.
“Does this set your mind at ease?” He asked with a wide grin that showed too many teeth.