The lines quickly covered the entire royal seat and moved on to flow down the steps, creating mysterious patterns that lit up the room wherever they went. Soon enough they reached the floor and were able to show their full glory. Circular patterns where the lines converged, exact angles and perfectly straight lines that appeared arbitrary at first, but when looked at more carefully, each line clearly served a purpose in the network of light, though it was impossible to tell what that purpose was.
The light pushed away the shadows within the castle, revealing several details about the building itself. The wooden pillars holding up the roof were carved full of childishly simple renditions of countless creatures and places. Giants, dragons, fishers, things neither of the men had ever seen or heard about, grand palaces, temples of major gods and capital cities of several powerful nations were identifiable on their surfaces.
The stone walls of the castle were covered by a mural, depicting five beings of clear importance. On the right side of the door, the background was a bright and sunny sky. Under this happy summer sky, sitting on a meadow of colorful flowers, were a tall woman, engulfed in fire and wearing an iron mask; one of the ancient simulacra, merged with a mass of flesh, skin and bone; as well as some kind of an orb that appeared to suck the colors and shades from its surroundings, making them plain black and white.
On the left side of the entrance, the background was a peaceful and clear night sky, full of stars that lit the same field of flowers that continued from the other side of the room. The two residents of this side were a small girl with infinitely long sliver hair, which she had wrapped around herself, and a large beast with a beautifully intricate robe, a white mask and a pair of massive white wings, who caressed what appeared to be a decorated egg.
The change in their surroundings was so sudden and large, that the visitors of the court of green did not even notice the queen herself descending from the throne, escorted by her housecarl.
The queen was definitely shorter than most adults, and to the great disappointment of the visitors, rather plain in appearance. Over her long, wet hair she wore a helmet with a pair of antlers stuck to it in a way that made it hard to tell if they sprouted from her head or if they were simply a part of the helmet. From the antlers dangled several strange and common items, no doubt as a part of the first custom they had witnessed. The queen’s pale skin appeared slightly blue because of the lighting but her eyes glimmered noticeably turquoise, almost glowing on their own. The most noticeable piece of clothing on her was a long, white cloak that covered much of her body, but the black dress under it was only barely second to it, as it had a copious number of leather straps sewn onto it, and tied to all of these straps were an impressive collection of small items. Keys, shards of glass, bits of metal, pinecones and much, much else, all clinking together as the queen pranced around. Unsurprisingly, she was also missing one of her black socks.
“Wait, you’re just some brat?!” Rupert immediately yelled as he noticed the ruler that had tormented them all morning.
The queen laughed. “Just some brat? Do you want the list of beings and people that you should ask about that? Do you want me to start with the gods or mortal rulers? Beasts or creatures that have and will change the world with their powers?”
“Rupert!” Hissed the young merchant, asking him to show some respect for their host, no matter who she was.
“I am Anastacia, Queen of Goblins, End of the Spectrum and the Simulacra Matron – among many, many, many other things.” The girl grinned and walked around her guests, getting a better look at them, no doubt planning new and creative ways of harassment.
Against the wishes of his friend, Rupert opened his mouth again. “But you’re like fifteen or something? Seriously, should we be talking to your parents? I can’t believe we’re so serious when dealing with some twerp.”
Queen Anastacia took a deep breath and turned to Charles. “I really tried to like him; you know?” She sighed and snapped her fingers, the sound of which echoed in the castle.
Rupert immediately collapsed onto the floor, not because he was hurt or otherwise incapacitated, but because he suddenly felt a massive weight press down on every inch of his body. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t move a muscle or even yell, as his chest was crushed against the glowing floor of the castle, barely letting him breathe.
“You come to my land, interrupt my nap and call me a brat. I’m probably just as old as you and could fit you both into that wine bottle if I wanted. So next time, think what you say and who you say it to.” She snarled and released poor Rupert from her spell. “Next time he speaks, I’ll curse him to vomit marbles for a week – and yours will come out of the other end.”
“I… I can only apologize for my business partner’s behavior. His talents lie elsewhere, but he is good company… once you get to know him.” Charles pleaded and slowly backed just a bit further away from the queen, who had suddenly turned quite terrifying despite her stunted looks.
No doubt having measured the worth of her guests, Queen Anastacia returned to the pool in the middle of the room and gracefully lowered her feet into it – without removing her remaining sock. She wiggled her feet and addressed some of the goblins flocking around her while letting Charles help his friend back up.
The machine following her every step sat down next to her but kept a watchful eye at the men from under its hood, though its role now appeared somewhat redundant, as the queen appeared to have no need for protection.
“Now, you had some business with me?” The queen asked with a much calmer tone and leaned against the housecarl’s shoulder. “Explain while I still have some patience for you.”
Charles hastily fumbled with one of the larger pockets attached to his belt and took a long time to get it open. He had lost almost all of whatever bits of courage his greed had given him, and his hands were shaking more than ever. Yet, he was so close and Queen Anastacia’s attitude towards the wine had confirmed that she did not care for gold in the slightest. All he needed to do was to convince her that cooperating with his plans for the area would ensure that the tribe would be left in peace – which was technically true, at least for a while.
“I… I... I have come to tell you, fair queen, that through some potentially prosperous twist of fate, I have come into possession of the deed for these lands.” He stuttered and presented the stamped paperwork for his purchase. “I haven’t come to evict you or anything like that, but merely to ask for your help in my plans for these fine woods.”
Queen Anastacia raised a one of her eyebrows quizzically and grabbed the papers offered to her. Appearing to only skim through the text, she flipped through the pages and smirked. “So, owning these few slips of paper means that you own acres upon acres of untamed woodland?” She asked.
“Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that, but yes.” The young merchant nodded humbly.
“That’s some mighty powerful paper you’ve got there, outranking a queen and all that. Thousands of wild animals, probably millions or billions of insects, a couple of arcane beings, an entire buried fortress, all residing on your land, because you tossed a few pieces of shiny metal at someone and got given this wad of paper and ink.” The queen giggled and peered at the papers against the sunlight coming in through the hole in the ceiling. “There’s even a watermark here, so it must be very important and official.”
“Ye… yes. It is enforced by the crown of Stoneharbor and recognized by every relevant nation in the area. You can see the seals, so I assure you it’s no forgery.” Charles explained, hoping that the queen would understand that simply ripping the paper wouldn’t make him lose the ownership.
The queen chuckled. “Well the throne is right there; I suppose that’s yours now too. I guess you’ve figured a suitable rent for us as well then? That was the plan, I assume?”
The young merchant started to get his hopes up. He had expected a bit more resistance to the idea, but whoever this Anastacia kid was, she obviously understood the complicated nature of land ownership and the benefits of friendly relations between the tenant and the owner. Even if she was some kind of a powerful mage, it was still definitely more convenient to deal with a civilized person than some wild spirit.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Say...” Queen Anastacia interrupted his daydreaming. “How does King Rudbeard the Fifth fare? Still enjoying the fact that his wife and kids didn’t get assassinated because I was there? I should pay a visit to him some day.”
Charles smiled, though it was a bit surprising this queen of goblins would know the name of the king ruling his home country “I don’t personally know- wait what?” He soon realized what the queen had said.
The goblin queen lifted her cloak slightly, unraveled one of the leather straps from his dress and tossed whatever had been tied to it at the merchant, hitting him directly in the face. The item made a metallic ping as it hit the stone floor and bounced around a bit.
Charles kneeled to pick up and take a look at what it was. The queen had thrown a silver ring with the unmistakable coat of arms of Stoneharbor minted on it. Upon closer inspection, he could see the engraving on the inside:
“Lady Anastacia, Knight Master Hellion of Stoneharbor.”
Seeing that, all he could do is nervously laugh and smile while showing the ring to his friend, who joined in with his awkward smile.
A Knight Master of Stoneharbor was such an esteemed rank, that some possessing it could have walked right up to Charles’ father and demanded him to hand over the entire merchant empire and get away with it, and one telling his barely known son to piss off from a piece of land they decided to camp in wouldn’t even reach the king’s ears.
Usually, these valiant people were men and women who had devoted much of their lives to the betterment of Stoneharbor, its people and its royalty. Each of the Knight Masters were unique in their position and purpose, and this was denoted in the last part of their title; for example, Knight Master Arcana was the current crown magician and Knight Master Medica was the leader of the School of Healers. What ‘Hellion’ meant in this strange girl’s title was anyone’s guess, but it probably wasn’t good for Charles’ plans.
Though his shaking hands made it difficult, Charles tried to find anything, even the smallest flaw in the details while still clinging on to the faintest of hopes that the ring was a fake. After all, they were a priced possession and forgeries pretending to be signets of past Knight Masters were common enough, but unfortunately, nothing seemed to be amiss with this one. The quality of the silver appeared to be up to par as far as he could tell, the dimensions of the band were accurate and the coat of arms, depicting a compass rose on a ship’s sail with a sea dragon coiled around the mast, was flawless. Though he didn’t have the drafts used by official authenticators with him, and even in his stunned state, Charles could tell without a shadow of doubt that the ring was genuine and the small lass, who was currently feeding her second sock to a goblin and fondling her housecarl’s thigh, was one of the highest ranking paragons of heroism known to the kingdom of Stoneharbor.
“Who… who are you?” He stuttered in confusion and kept staring at the ring.
“I am Queen Anastacia, Knight Master Hellion of Stoneharbor, The Rogue White One and The Light in the Primordial Night – among many, many, many other things.” The girl smiled innocently. “But don’t worry about it. I won’t pull rank on you. The land ownership matters tend to be something my king handles, since his people have owned this area for thousands of years, and if he agrees to your terms, I’ll sign anything you have. He’s out, collecting berries at the moment, but should be back any moment now.”
“So there is a king…” Charles exhaled. It meant that there was still a chance, a chance that this king of the goblins was someone he could deal with. However, their case was in shambles thanks to the oppressing presence of Queen Anastacia and her mockery of diplomatic discourse. To have any chance of succeeding, they needed to regroup and fix their appearances. “Would Your Highness mind if we stepped out for a while? If I may be honest with you, your title has made us slightly nervous and a bit of fresh air would do wonders…”
Queen Anastacia laughed mockingly. “Sure, sure, but I need to leave with the priestess that should come here soon enough because my moms want me home for lunch. If he doesn’t come back by then, you need to leave – I’m not leaving you alone with Leggy and the goblins, for your own good.”
Charles nodded and left the silver ring on the floor before dragging Rupert outside as fast as he could without outright running.
Neither of them was exactly sure what had happened to their original plan, but Charles had had his pride as a businessman thoroughly crushed, his nerves at their limits and was just completely drenched in cold sweat. While Rupert’s torments had been more physical, he was in no shape to bring anything worthwhile to the negotiations – assuming he had ever been. All of that had gained them absolutely nothing as far as the original idea of essentially having the goblin tribe do much of their work for them while also paying rent for residing in the area.
“We should just cut our losses.” Rupert said, still sore from being crushed against the floor.
Charles didn’t respond and sat down on the grass, not caring if his expensive clothes got any dirtier than they already were at this point. He released the goblin tied to his shin and took a deep, calming breath.
The mood outside was still nothing less than enchanted and did wonders to help the merchant collect himself. With the fog clearing up, the birds were singing, the sun was shining, and the fresh scent of a forest wafted from the castle’s surroundings. For a couple of city-folk, who were far from being used to it, seeing and feeling it for a second time over was no less refreshing that it was when they first arrived there.
Suddenly the constant murmur of goblin noises that flooded the area died down and the few of the small green critters that were still bumbling around outside rushed into the castle to see something there.
Both Charles and Rupert were curious about what could pull them in like that, but not curious enough to expose themselves to whatever mockery the queen still had in her sleeve, so instead of peeking inside, they simply listened with bated breaths.
Starting with a barely audible hum, a quiet melody resounded from within the castle. A crystal-clear sound of someone vocalizing a calm string of long notes that echoed from the stone walls and soon after, from the trees around them, creating a strange chorus-like effect on the voice and somehow bolstering it to a point where it sounded like the field itself was singing.
At first it sounded like the entire song was just series of vocalizations with no particular rhyme or reason to them, but the longer one listened to it, the clearer it became that they were, in fact, long and drawn-out syllables. They still didn’t form sensible words, but there was a definite message behind them, almost like they were spoken in another language.
Mesmerized by the beautiful song, the pair slowly forgot about preparing to meet the goblin king. Both of them just laid on their backs on the grass and stared at the clouds drifting by above them. The pain in Rupert’s hand subsided almost completely and Charles’ blood pressure evened out while they reminisced about doing the same thing while skipping lessons and chores as young lads.
“Are you sure we can’t just leave? Just sell this damned place to someone else for what you paid for it and act like this never happened. There’s no way dealing with her is worth any amount of money.” Rupert suggested and closed his eyes, just for a while.
“Maybe… I still want to meet this king of theirs. He could be a man of reason who could be bargained with, not like we lose anything by at least seeing what he’s like.” Charles pointed out, still holding on to his dream of getting rich, though Rupert could tell from his voice that he wasn’t as sure of himself anymore.
“Easy to say for someone who didn’t almost get crushed. Based on our luck, she’s the lesser evil of these woods and this ‘king’ will just straight up eat our faces or something.” Muttered Rupert in response as the aching pulse returned to his hand. “I don’t know what I’m more pissed about; that we missed out on seeing her naked or that even if we had, there would have been nothing to see. You promised me dryads!”
Charles laughed dryly. “I made no such promises, you made that leap; and besides, had we seen something, we’d be dead – and still might die if she overhears us.”
Just as he said that, both of the men could feel just the lightest pressure on their throats, so light that it was hard to tell if it was just their imagination running wild, or Queen Anastacia reminding them of their place. Regardless, it was certainly enough to silence them about the subject.
After waiting for a couple of minutes, just to be safe, Rupert opened his mouth again. “Do you think she’s even a human?” He asked.
“Hard to say, she might be some kind of a demon or whatever. I find I hard to believe someone claiming to be our age would be a Knight Master, so she could be some kind of a spirit that doesn’t age – those know magic too, right?” Charles theorized with his hopelessly limited knowledge on the subject.
Rupert shrugged. “Maybe, but she did say that her ‘moms’ were going to make her lunch. No idea how she’d have lunch if she was an immortal spirit or whatever. On a related note, I’d like to know more about-“ He said before being interrupted by the snapping of undergrowth and branches in one of the woodlines near them.
Emerging from the shadows between the tall trees was a nightmarish sight: a humming and whirring knight-like automaton of stone, much like the housecarl, but bulkier and much, much, much scarier. It was covered from head to toe with crimson mess of what looked like blood and twigs that contrasted the streaks of light blue light spread over its armor. In its hand, it held a wet, partially full sack that dripped more blood onto the grass by its feet as it slowly approached the men.
Rupert scrambled back up to his feet in panic. “Not worth it anymore?!” He asked for a confirmation to just dash away as fast and far as possible, but his friend was no longer by his side, and instead was already scurrying down the road towards the direction they had originally arrived from.
Seeing her visitors run for their lives and screaming like scared little whelps, Queen Anastacia leaned against the wall of her castle by its entrance and peered into the horizon with a smug, satisfied smirk on her face. When the men had disappeared from sight completely, she turned around and pranced to one of the wooden pillars holding the roof aloft while humming the song she had sang earlier.
Among the engravings of beasts, there was a tally of thirteen lines lined up next to each other. The queen grabbed one of the metal pieces hanging from her and carved a fourteenth line by them.
Proud of her work, she cracked her knuckles and stretched. “I really should do something about this place being on sale all the time - can’t even have a nap without some greedy upstart moron barging in.” She mumbled to herself and turned to address her tribe. “Alright, guys, get the bath ready! King stepped on a blood puff again!”