For once, as he piloted the copy drone plodding through the snow-covered road, Marcus felt incredibly grateful for not having to do that particular trip in person. The weather had worsened significantly over the past few hours, eventually turning into an actual snowstorm, and winds were too strong for anything to fly, forcing the copy-drone to travel on the ground. Moreover, since Marcus didn't want to alarm the goblins too much by sending a Juggernaut or any other scary-looking drone to their village, the copy-drone had to travel on foot.

“I should really make some kind of smaller ground transportation drone.” He thought. “Maybe some kind of horse-shaped drone. I'm sure that would come in handy.”

His musings were then suddenly interrupted by a sensation of cold numbness coming from the copy’s body, making Marcus realize that the drone was freezing to death. He immediately focused on trying to make it warm itself up, moving frantically while rubbing his limbs, all while cursing himself for not having given the drone any clothing besides a white tunic, which was only useful for the sake of public decency. This oversight was probably understandable since his drones had never really been bothered by the cold before, but still he probably should have seen it coming. After all, unlike the other drones which were designed for efficiency, the copy-drones were basically just clones of himself, and he knew from experience that extreme cold definitely affected him.

He also realized that there was a real risk that the drone would die of hypothermia—not that it'd be a big loss, since he had laid several more Copy drone eggs, but it'd certainly be an annoying setback since he'd have to wait for them to mature before he could make use of them. Still, by now it was too late to make it come back, as the trip back to the Hive would surely be fatal, so Marcus had no other choice but to make the drone endure and hope that it could reach the goblin town before the cold would kill it.

Luckily, after a few minutes the wind started dropping and soon the storm subsided almost entirely, leaving the copy free to proceed towards its destination. And after only a few minutes, it was finally in sight of Goblinia.

Over the past months the once small and peaceful rural village built on top of a hill had turned into a town whose size rivaled Brettholz itself, though the provincial capital still firmly held the edge when it came to the quality of its buildings. Goblinia was, for the most part, a cluster of makeshift hovels and huts that clung to the sides of the hill like mushrooms growing from a dead tree trunk, without any apparent order or plan behind it. A single dirt road, the continuation of the one Marcus was currently walking on, cut through the outskirts of the town and led directly to its center, where several bigger buildings were visible. Security also seemed surprisingly lacking, since Goblinia lacked any sort of wall or fortification, and only a few watchtowers kept guard over the surrounding areas. Still, the sentinels (if there were any) failed to see the approaching drone, since when it reached the entrance to the town all that stood in its way were three bored-looking guards, all hobgoblins by the look of it, who were huddled around a small fireplace at the side of the road to keep themselves warm. They didn’t notice the drone’s presence even when it was literally right behind them, as they were too busy drinking from a flask of wine.

Luckily for them Marcus’s minion wasn't there for any hostile purpose, so he just made his drone audibly clear its throat to attract the guards’ attention.

“Good day, gentlemen.” He said, rather sardonically. “Can I ask you something?”

The hobs immediately turned their head towards him, and surprise and alarm flashed in their eyes as they suddenly grabbed their weapons, but Marcus immediately raised his drone's arms in a conciliatory gesture.

“Don't worry, I mean no harm!” He said calmly. “I just came here to speak with Trakk. Is he in town?”

The guards looked at him with suspicion for a few seconds, their hands still on the handle of their weapons, until one of them nodded.

“Yeah, he's in town.” The hob said. Then, he asked: “You're the Vex Queen, right?”

“For most intents and purposes, yes.” Marcus replied, deciding not to bother to explain that this body was a cloned one that he was controlling remotely.

“Why do you want to speak with the General?” The goblin asked in a suspicious tone.

“I need help on a certain matter, and I was hoping that the General would give me some advice.” The Vex Queen explained, telling the truth but avoiding to give too much details.

Fortunately that seemed to be the right thing to say, as the hobs immediately relaxed a bit after hearing that.

“Oh, that makes sense.” Another guard commented. “The General knows a lot of things, so there are always many people who want to ask him things.”

“The problem is that he often tells you more than you ask for.” The third chimed in. “I went to ask him where I should dig a hole once, and he kept talking about latrines and shit for an hour. When I left, I was so confused by all that talking that I even forgot that I had to dig the hole to begin with.”

“Yeah, he does like to talk.” The second one replied. “And to make things worse he loves to use all those big, fancy words that no one else really knows what they mean. I guess they do make him sound smart and important, but I'd like it more if he kept things simple.”

“Oh yes. I hate when he does that. Gives me a headache everytime he speaks.”

“Uhm... sorry to interrupt you.” Marcus said, drawing the attention of the goblins once again. “But I'd really need to speak with Trakk as soon as possible. Could you tell me where I can find him?”

“Oh, he should be at the headquarters.” The second one replied. “He's always there most of the time.”

“Well, if you can tell me where the headquarters are, I'll go meet him there.” The Vex Queen said.

“Just go down the road and you'll end up in front of the headquarters.” The goblin pointed at the top of the hill. “It's the big building with all the flags in front of it. Can't miss it.”

“Good. I'll be on my way then.” Marcus nodded. “Thanks for your help.”

“Wait!” The first guard cried as the Vex Queen started to walk away. “You can't go alone! Let one of us accompany you!”

Marcus stopped and turned to quizzically stare at the goblin.

“Thank you, but it's not really necessary.” He said. “If the headquarters are as easy to find as your colleague said they are, then I think I'll be fine even on my own.”

“No, it's not that.” The guard explained. “It's that the General told us that all strangers should be accompanied by at least one guard when they enter Goblinia. If we let you go alone we're in for a really harsh scolding. And being scolded by the General is no joke.” He shuddered. “I don't know how he does it, but his words can feel worse than lashes sometimes.”

“I see.” The Vex Queen nodded. “In that case, I suppose I'll have to ask one of you to accompany me, if it's not too much of a bother.”

“It's fine. I was getting bored of sitting here anyway.” The goblin said. “A stroll through the main road will help keep me warm until the next change of guard.” He turned to his colleagues and said: “Gobb! Dok! You two wait here until I come back. And don't even think about drinking while I'm not here, or I'll tan your sorry hide!”

“Awww, c'mon Ik!” One of the two guards said with disappointment. “We were drinking together only a few minutes ago, until this chitin gal interrupted us! What's gonna change if we have a couple more cups while we wait for you to come back?”

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

“I don’t trust you to not empty the whole flask if I’m not here to watch you.” The one called Ik replied. “And lashes are the least you'd get if you are caught drunk while on duty. Also, call me Sergeant Ik when we have visitors. We've got appearances to uphold, after all.”

“Man, the General is really rubbing off on you.” The other goblin commented. “No wonder he made you a sergeant.”

“No wonder he made me a sergeant, what, Gobb?” Ik said.

Gobb hesitated for a moment, looking confused, but then he groaned and rolled his eyes as he answered that question.

“No wonder he made you a sergeant, sir.” He said in an exasperated tone. “Here. Happy now?”

“Not really.” Ik replied. “But that will have to do.” He turned towards Marcus. “Sorry for the wait. We can go now.”

The goblin then guided the Vex Queen towards the center of the town, ascending the hill as they did so. While walking Marcus also studied his surroundings with an analytical eye, taking mental note of everything he saw.

From an engineering and architectural perspective, Goblinia was an absolute mess. The huts were shoddily built with salvaged materials, often seemingly one strong wind away from collapsing, there were no clear roads apart from the main one and trash was piled at every corner. Moreover, Marcus could also smell the pungent odor of excrements in the air, meaning that the town also lacked sewers or any other sort of proper waste disposal, something which coupled with its overcrowdedness made the whole place a sanitary nightmare.

However the inhabitants didn't really seem to be bothered by the appalling condition of their town. Despite the cold, Goblinia teemed with activities just like any human town, with countless goblins crowding the streets, each partaking in different activities. Human-hobs were talking or bickering with each other, while orc-hobs were more prone to actually brawling, albeit in a rather friendly way, and a few unevolved goblins played in the snow like children. Feral goblins were more rare and usually roamed in packs with others of their kin, as did the vex-like goblins, while the occasional gargoyle and other rare types usually walked alone.

All of them gave Marcus and the goblin accompanying him a wide berth, but they still looked at him with extreme interest and curiosity.

All in all, the goblins went about their daily life pretty much like any people would, something that came as quite a surprise for Marcus. He had always held the impression that they were wild and uncivilized, with only a few exceptions like the General, but watching them now he realized that he had been wrong, at least in part. Sure, they were rough and uncouth, but the Vex Queen had seen much worse behaviors in the slums of the human cities of his previous world, and besides the goblins had the excuse of having just recently built their town.

Realizing that this was the first time that he thought of the goblins as people, Marcus suddenly felt a bit ashamed of himself.

“I guess I’m not completely immune to prejudice.” He thought. “All of this time, and I still kept seeing the goblins as the dangerous beasts that tried to kill me when I met them in the Caligare forest.”

Eager to somehow fix this, he turned towards the guard that was accompanying him and tried to make some conversation.

“Sergeant Ik, right?” He asked. “Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions while we're on our way?”

“Sure. Ask away.” The goblin replied.

“Good. So... how are you and your people doing outside of the forest? Do you like living here in Brettholz?”

“We're doing fine.” Ik shrugged. “It's a bit boring here, but I prefer being bored to being eaten alive by some beast. Back in the forest we always had to be on guard against the predators coming to get us.”

“Yeah, I completely agree.” Marcus said, remembering his own experience in the forest. “At least here I can relax a bit. In the forest you never knew when some beast would try to attack you. And even when I built my hive big enough to fend off most animals, the damn goblins started to try and kill me...”

He stopped all of a sudden, remembering who he was talking to a bit too late. But luckily, Ik seemed to take that comment in stride, letting out a chuckle in response.

“Oh yeah, sorry about that.” The guard said with a smirk. “But to be fair, it was the General and the other higher ups that insisted that we should kill you, and even then it was because we thought you Vex were some kind of dangerous wild species. We had no idea that you could be talked to.”

Marcus nodded. That was pretty much the same explanation that Trakk had given him. However, he decided to needle Ik for a little more information, just to confirm whether or not the General had truly spoken for his people back then.

“Oh really?” He asked. “Does that mean that if you knew that I could talk and be reasoned with, you wouldn't have attacked me?”

The goblin took a few seconds to reply.

“Maybe?” He then said. “I don't really know. We fought a lot against some races and tribes that could talk, like the orcs, but with others we had peace. For example we traded with the Kobolds and the Nogs, and we left the Orikini alone as long as they did the same.”

“I see.” The Vex Queen said. As vague as it had been, that answer felt quite honest, and he was pretty satisfied with it, especially since it meant that Trakk had probably told the truth. “Out of curiosity, what are the Nogs and the Orikini? I've never heard about them before.”

“The Nogs are the Swamp Dwellers.” The guard explained. “They are very small and kinda look like frogs with very long noses. They are not very strong, but they swim very fast and are very good at hiding in water. We often traded tools and weapons for their smoked fish. They also made a very good liquor using some kind of swamp plant, and sometimes they shared it with us. They were nice, in their own way.” The guard paused for a moment, scratching his armpits. “I don't know much about the Orikini, because they almost never went out of their territories and they killed anyone who entered. But at least they didn't attack us as long as we stayed out and they took care of every other threat that came from their direction, so they weren't the worst neighbors to have.” He paused for a moment, trying to remember something. “I only saw a few of them once, when the General spoke with their leaders to try to form an alliance against the orcs. They were tall, pale and they all wore weird wooden masks.”

“And what happened to that alliance?” Marcus asked. “Did they fight with you against the orcs?”

“No.” Ik replied. “They refused to ally with us, or with anyone else for what matters. They said that they would deal with anything that would enter their territory by themselves.” He sneered. “As far as I know they were completely wiped out by the Blue Terror, but at least they kept him occupied while we escaped to the Ashwood Hills.”

“I see.” The Vex Queen muttered, processing all the info he had received. It seemed that life in the Caligare Forest had been much more complex than his own experience had led him to believe, with its own politics and balance of powers, even if they were much more brutal than the ones he knew about. In particular, the fact that there were so many different races in the Forest made for some really unique interactions, at least from his point of view.

“How is it possible for so many different sapient species to coexist in a single place?” He wondered. “I know that everything is possible, but from what I saw in this world you can't throw a rock at a forest without hitting some new race squatting in the bushes. It seems hardly plausible that they all just evolved naturally.”

As he was thinking, he and Ik finally reached the top of the hill, where the rudimentary wooden huts gave way to bigger and better built constructions. Most of them were the houses from the old village, but there were also several clearly new buildings, mostly warehouses and barracks, which looked of a much higher quality compared to the huts of the lower parts of town. The streets were also much more clean, and the persistent smell of sewage had all but disappeared.

The goblins that populated this neighborhood were also much better behaved than the rest of their kin. Groups of goblin guards marching in perfect unison patrolled the streets, while goblin artisans, builders and others of less immediately identifiable professions scuttled around looking busy.

Finally, Marcus and his escort reached a big building with several flags dangling from its windows. Ik guided the Vex Queen towards the door, and once there he gestured for him to wait as he knocked.

Almost immediately, another hob opened the door, and he and Ik exchanged a few words that Marcus was too far to hear. He saw the other goblin giving him a curious look, but then, after a few seconds, Ik turned towards him.

“I’m sorry.” The human-hob said. “But the General isn’t available right now. He went to the Mothers’ house, and he will probably spend the night there.” He paused for a moment and added: “If you want to wait for him here, we could provide you some accommodation for the night as well. We have a few spare rooms in the headquarters for messengers.”

The copy-drone’s face remained completely expressionless, but in his real body Marcus grimaced. Tiny’s condition was steadily getting worse by the hour, and he didn’t know if he could afford to waste an entire night before taking a decision about her fate.

“I’m a bit in a hurry.” He said. “Couldn’t I go to speak with Trakk at this Mothers’ house? I promise it won’t take long.”

For some reason, these words seemed to make Ik really outraged.

“What!?!” He cried angrily. “A stranger entering the Mothers’ house? Impossible!” He snarled. “They will never let you in!”

“Well… it’s not as if I have to get in.” The Vex Queen said, taken a bit by surprise by the goblin’s reaction. “We can just remain outside, check if Trakk is willing to come out to talk to me, and then go away.”

“If he’s visiting the Mothers, then the General won’t see you.” The guard replied in an adamant tone.

“Well, that’s for the General to decide, isn’t it?” Marcus said.

“Wrong.” Ik corrected him. “That’s actually for the Mothers to decide.” He paused, and then sighed. “But I guess that I should accompany you there. Then it’s up to what the Mothers decide to do. Follow me.”

And then Ik guided Marcus away from the headquarters, while the Vex Queen wondered who these Mothers might be.