D’Oillelat kept Kyle’s eyes for a moment before turning to pace about the room. “First things first, what do you know of Er’Mithren’s history, Courier?”
“Not much, beyond that your civilization has ancient roots, even by universal standards. And that there was a civil war not too long ago, in which your father was deposed and the Council stepped into power.”
She nodded as she paced. “That’s as a good a foundation as any,” she said. “And from the outside, I suppose that’s as much as you’d need to know. There was a power struggle, my father lost, and now I’m desperately clinging on to the remnants of power. Does that sound about right?”
“I wouldn’t have necessarily put it in those words, but close enough,” Kyle replied, deciding that honesty was the best path.
“Let me ask you, Courier. How do you think monarchies come into being? What do you think makes them sustainable?”
Kyle was about to respond, then paused. On Earth, most monarchies had stopped acting as a form of governance long before the planet’s awakening. The Alabaster Court and Archdrake Supremacy were the closest that Kyle was aware of inside Collective space, though they were each a far cry from true monarchy.
After some thought, he replied. “I’d like to say that caring for one’s subjects is the key, but there will always be groups of people that disagree with the actions a leader takes. With that in mind, I suppose that it has to come down to power. If there are unique opportunities, heritages, or resources available, it isn’t too much of a stretch to think that royalty could consistently remain among the strongest on the planet.”
D’Oillelat looked at him, a sad smile. “You’re not far off. Power is a component, certainly. If my father was stronger, much stronger, he never would have been deposed. Leadership is much simpler when you’re powerful enough to stop all dissent, after all.”
Leadership, or tyranny? Kyle thought. Kyle knew where he stood on the issue, but decided that sharing that particular sentiment would be unwise.
“It’s ironic,” D’Oillelat said. “My great-great grandmother was the first to really see the erosion of her authority, understood that things were going to have to change. She started to make preparations for a slow transition of power, which her son and her son’s son continued. It was supposed to end with my father, a fate that he railed against as much as he could. Still, he might have seen the error of his ways. Then I came along.”
“I don’t understand. It almost sounds like you blame yourself for everything that happened. How do you play into this?” Kyle said.
She stopped pacing, facing Kyle squarely with her hands on her hips. “It has everything to do with me. Tell me, Courier. What am I?”
“The Queen of the Resistance?” Kyle offered.
She waved a hand at him, a hint of exasperation in her voice. “Not that! Well, sort of that. I mean, what species am I?”
Kyle shrugged. “I’m honestly not sure. Probably a troll, with body enhancement spells?”
“Wrong.”
“Fine then, a really tall goblin?”
“Try again.”
“A really short ogre?”
“Nope.”
She had a wry smile on her face now, arms crossed. Kyle sighed. “Alright, I give up. What are you?”
“The Queen of the Resistance,” she said in a mocking tone.
Kyle gave her a flat look, and she let out a chuckle. “Sorry, I was having too much fun there. Do you have any idea how annoying it can get when everybody around you treats you like royalty?”
Kyle shook his head. “Not a problem I’ve ever run into.”
“Trust me, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Back to the matter at hand. I’m a high goblin. The first in a very, very long time.”
“What’s a high goblin?” Kyle asked.
“Just what it sounds like; a goblin that’s elevated above others. I’m a variant that has aspects of all the goblinoid races. My body regenerates like a troll, my bones and muscles are as strong as an ogre, and my mind and eyes are as sharp as a goblin.”
Kyle pondered this for a moment, then shook his head slowly. “That’s impressive, but that’s not enough to maintain a monarchy for millennia. There has to be something more.”
She stopped pacing and grinned. “It’s nice to see that you’re getting it. You’re exactly right. On its passive merits, the high goblin species is powerful, but not overly so. None of us really understood the potential, until I crossed into D Grade.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the room appeared to darken, the shadows around her deepening. “My evolution gave me a new skill, a domain ability. Sentient creatures of all types are suppressed in my presence. Their attacks against me lose power, their ability to block my attacks gets reduced, and when my boosting skill is active, some can’t move at all. Well, with one newfound exception.”
He raised his eyebrows, activating Identify in an attempt to understand the concepts at play. There was definitely mana suffusing the room, feeling like an extension of D’Oillelat’s own. Beyond that, however, he had a hard time piecing together what was going on. As far as he could tell, the mana didn’t carry any direct intent or direction. It simply lingered in the air. Of course, if I’m not the target…
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“I take it I’m the exception you mentioned?” Kyle asked.
“You are,” she confirmed.
“Nobody you’ve met could resist the suppression? Ever?” Kyle pressed.
“Not until about 15 minutes ago, no.”
Kyle paused for a moment, considering.
“Wait, does it work on the shrikes, too?”
She gave him a knowing look. “To a lesser extent, yes.”
Kyle had to admit, he was interested. He’d never heard of a species getting their own active skills beyond whatever passive attributes they had normally. Her simple existence challenged much of what he knew to be true.
“And this power you have is what caused your father to change course?” Kyle asked, deciding to shelve his curiosity for the specifics to get back to the matter at hand.
She nodded. “Correct. The domain was much weaker back then, but father saw the potential. If he could harness my power, he wouldn’t have to abdicate. He wouldn’t have to watch as his way of life, his privileges, eroded away. He could be the king he always wanted to be.”
There was a turmoil in her voice that Kyle caught; a mix of longing, anger, and grief. He gave her a moment, then asked, gently, “What happened?”
“I stopped being his daughter, and became a means to an end. The fuel for his dream. My life turned into a non-stop battery of test after test after test. Looking back, I think it was around then that I lost him. He was consumed by his visions of grandeur, the ‘restoration of an age’ as he called it.”
“But how?” Kyle asked. “All due respect, you’re clearly powerful, but you’re one person. That’s hardly enough to build an empire.”
“My father was power-obsessed, not an idiot,” she said. “He understood this, of course. His goal was to try to find a means to isolate the genetic component of my domain skill. If he could, he thought that he would be able to pass it along to his supporters, to his most trusted advisors. At least, that’s what he said he was going to do.”
She sighed, turning away from Kyle as she resumed pacing. “If that was ever his intent, he never got that far. He set up a testing facility on the far end of the planet, where he was experimenting with my blood. He got it wrong.
“People noticed that some of his vocal critics disappeared, smaller ones first, followed by some of his strongest opposition. He never seemed bothered by the rising unrest, telling me that it would all be okay, that there was nothing to worry about. And then the facility had its breach.
“It turned out, his experiments never succeeded in replicating my domain skill. Instead, they found a method to warp goblinoids, turning them into incredibly powerful abominations. They stayed controlled, contained. Until they weren’t. Dozens of juggernauts broke out of the facility, now called Railen’s Folly, and massacred the citizenry.”
Kyle took in a sharp breath. He expected the triggering event for the civil war would be bad. This was worse.
D’Oillelat continued. “The final straw came when one of his opponents who had gone missing reappeared, having managed to escape the facility during the breach. He decried the atrocities my father committed, and demanded my father’s death. He became the rallying force behind the coup.
“I think it was at this point that my father realized how much power his ancestors had given up. He didn’t have the loyalty or systematic authority to put up a real fight. So, he said his goodbyes to us and turned himself in to the rebels, where he was summarily tried and executed for his crimes.”
Kyle frowned. “Wait, he turned himself in? I thought that this was a bloody conflict?”
“If you stop interrupting, I’ll get to that part,” D’Oillelat admonished. “As I was saying, father was executed. The problem remained, however, that the new leader of this Council knew about me, knew about the secret of my domain skill. He suffered under the hands of people loyal to my father, people who had no problems committing atrocities in his name. No, for him, my father’s death wasn’t enough.
“Just days after the execution and promise for a peaceful transition, they struck. Anybody who was loyal to my father, anybody who voiced support, anybody who was simply satisfied with the status quo, was rounded up. I had a group of soldiers burst into my room, and I was taken, too. I didn’t resist, thinking that we would be facing arrest or exile. That made sense to me.
“Instead, an order was given for our execution. All of us. Drokh was the captain who had detained me. I don’t know what he saw in that moment, while I awaited my fate, but he decided he wouldn’t follow through. Some were like him and disobeyed orders. Others followed theirs. When it was all said and done, the decision for the mass executions also pushed enough people away to plant the seeds of the Resistance.”
Kyle let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. The hero worship that seemed to surround Drokh made a lot more sense, given what D’Oillelat shared.
If she noticed his tension, she didn’t mention it, instead continuing her tale. “There were sympathizers, people loyal to my father out in the plains and hills. The shrike population was always denser out here, but we were able to get a foothold. Slowly, we’ve been able to get a better foundation, even though more refugees and exiles seem to be sent to us every week. We don’t have the resources for everybody, and the Council knows it. I also couldn’t see a world where they’d let me live, which is why there’s been no meaningful attempt to negotiate peace before this.”
“What made you change your mind?” Kyle asked.
“What better chance do I have than an off-worlder representing an alien conglomerate powerful enough to destroy our whole planet?” She countered. “Besides, if Drokh detected any traps, he would have executed you long before you got this far.”
Kyle felt a weary smile cross his face. “They all may have mentioned that a time or two. So, with everything that’s transpired, what do you want to do from here?”
A faraway look entered D’Oillelat’s eyes, a moment of pause before she spoke. “I don’t have much choice but to trust you, one way or another. Tell me, how do you think your employers would respond to what’s happened so far, what you’ve learned?”
Kyle considered for a moment. The existence of a high goblin and the cultural significance of D’Oillelat’s existence would be groundbreaking to the Verdant Republic, and the betrayal from the Council would not be well-received. At the same time, her father’s crimes left plenty of room to argue for the legitimacy of the current government. If there’s one thing he knew about the Verdant Republic, it was that they loved their procedures.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. I know that they wouldn’t be pleased with the attempt on your life, or using me as an intermediary to deliver an explosive device. I’m also confident that they could negotiate a peaceful transition of power, but I’m not entirely sure what that process would look like or how long it would take.”
She met his eyes, resolve clear in her gaze. “Do you believe that they would work to ensure the well-being of my people?”
Kyle nodded, no hesitation this time. “Absolutely.”
“Then it seems like you have a report to make.”
Kyle nodded. “It seems I do. Will you be alright?”
D’Oillelat scoffed. “Please, I’m more than fine. We’ll hold on, as we have. Just be careful, Kyle. I’m not sure how the Council will react to your return, one way or another.”
It was Kyle’s turn to smile, as an ember of anger burned in his chest. “All due respect to the Council, I don’t particularly care how they react. They’ll be in for a lot worse if they try to keep me here. As far as I’m concerned, the job they hired me for is done.”